Enjoying Christmas is important and consuming a little bit too much, of a little bit of what you fancy is inevitable.
Here are a couple of little tricks you can do which will help you manage your weight this Christmas, whilst still enjoying the festive period.
1 – Consider a fast – this is particularly good for those who are inclined to eat a lot in one sitting. For example, if you cant train, try and delay your first meal until a little later in the day (maybe1/2pm). This will encourage your body to burn fat whilst fasting. You also will stand a better chance of eating less calories.
2 – If you aren’t going to be training as much you will not need to eat as much – sounds obvious but you probably don’t need that gel or sports drink.
3 – When drinking alcohol try to limit carbohydrate intake and increase protein. This will help control the amount of energy consumed as carbs are easy to overdo.
4 – Try to avoid beer and opt for spirits or wine – mainly because spirits and wine are less calorific.
5 – If you eat a lot one day and know you are going to train the following morning, do so without breakfast. This will only work if you are training early the next day. The theory here is that you will be more likely to burn the stored muscle glycogen if you’ve not eaten since the day before. Bodybuilders call it fasted cardio and it is a staple for many as they try to get to ridiculously low body fat %.
More than anything though, enjoy Christmas.
Its a time when we spend time with those to whom we are irreplaceable, instead of those to whom we are replaceable.
Regardless of anything else that is something to be celebrated!
Jamie “ho ho ho” Leighton