4 Ways To Stop Christmas Weight Gain
Here are 5 tips on how you can stop putting on weight over the Christmas and New Year period
1. Eat Less Sugary Carbohydrates
At this time of year, it can be very difficult to avoid foods that contain lots of sugar in them such as sweets, mince pies and bread which can have a big effect on weight gain over Christmas. This happens because the hormone insulin has been spiked up which means that if you keep consuming sugary carbohydrates over a number of days which is what 85% of us do over Christmas, then this is going to be stored as fat which in turn will lead to weigh gain. It is VERY hard to say clear of these foods because of all the advertising that is involved with foods like this especially Coke.
One way that you can stop this from happening is by making your own treats with something like Stevia instead of sugar which is a natural deriving sugar and gluten free bread which will stop joint inflammation and bloating and both of these can be found in most supermarkets these days.
Sugar in general is your worst enemy especially this time of year because of it being in nearly EVERY food that we buy these days so try to cut down on processed sugar and replace this with fruits such as oranges and grapes
2. Sleep More
Most people this time of year will on average get around 3-5 hours sleep which is nowhere near enough when you should be getting 6-8 hours sleep a night. By NOT getting enough sleep, this can affect your other hormones in the body such as your Cortisol which is the stress hormone and your Insulin which are your blood sugar levels. When we don’t get enough sleep, the body starts to think that we are going into a catabolic state or in other words eating away at our muscles of which can then lead to fat storage because the body is using muscle as fuel instead of fat.
Sleeping more especially at Christmas might sound silly and boring but this is probably the most important tips out of ALL of the tips that I am sharing with you today because of the significance that this has on the body and mind and the way we think about food
3. Do More Exercise
This might sound like a chore to most of you to do exercise over the festive and New Year but this can REALLY improve your mood and the way you feel about eating bad food and rather reaching for the more healthier food. Christmas dinner if done correctly then be one of the MOST nutritious meals that you can have because of the protein content in the meat and vegetables and healthy carbohydrates.
This can be used as a good post workout meal on Christmas Day which is a waste of time for most people but if you do this, you will have more energy and be more happier. You don’t need to head off to the gym to work out over this period, you can literally do a workout in 5-10 minutes in the comfort of your own home for example you could do 3 exercises back to back with no rest i.e. press ups (lady press ups if you need to) that work the chest, squats that work the legs and glutes and tricep dips that work the bingo wings or the back of the arm. Do this for 3-6 rounds and have 30 secs – 1 minute rest and you would be finished within 5-8 minutes which you would of burned around 50-150 calories which is not bad for a few minutes work.
4. Drink Less Alcohol
Alcohol is the MOST calorific macronutrient out there of which it has 9 calories per GRAM which is a lot when you think this is the time of year that people are more likely to overindulge with Alcohol and in turn put on weight. Some examples of alcohol are beers, spirits, wine and cocktails and if you consumed say 5 drinks, you can take in around 500-800 calories JUST with these drinks alone which is a third of a males calorific and nearly HALF for a women.
If you do decide to drink over this period, then have a glass of water between each beverage as this will reduce your alcohol intake as water will LOWER the insulin hormone and in turn will help you in NOT overindulging in alcohol.
5. Relax
My final tip is very simple and can help massively in preventing overeating which is relaxing. Relaxation is one of the most overlooked ways to lower the amount of food intake that one person has especially this time of year. By relaxing, you can lower your stress levels by HALF which will massively help in you not getting stressed over the most mundane things such as buying loved ones presents and putting the Christmas decorations together which can be quite stressful for MOST people which will lead you to eating the wrong foods so you seek comfort in something that you think is going to calm you down when in fact this will have the opposite effect.
I would recommend that you set aside at least 5-10 minutes a day where you meditate and clear your mind of all of the stressful things that you have going on in your head. I would also recommend to do this in the morning which will get you into a positive mindset.
I hope that you learned something from this and I want you to take action on some of this and see how you feel by doing some of it and I GUARANTEE that you won’t put ANY weight on at all if you follow these tips.