Christmas may be the most wonderful time of the year but when it comes to the mince pies, tubs of chocolates, invites to work parties or dinner with friends, it can make even the most dedicated gym goer lose focus. It can be overwhelming and stressful but it really doesn’t have to be so hard! You can enjoy Christmas and all the goodies that come with it, without completely falling off track. Here are my 6 top tips to staying accountable this Christmas.
- Plan ahead. If you know you’re going to indulge in the evening, try to keep on track during the day. Try some lighter high volume, low calorie meals to fill you up. When it comes to the evening meal, you may decide to miss the starter or dessert, or simply have a smaller portion if possible.
- Prepare. In a similar way to the above tip to plan ahead, is to prepare food ahead of time. If you’re going to a gathering where food is going to be offered, try preparing something a little healthier for yourself, or even make enough for everyone to try! It might be a meal or even a healthy take on dessert so you have something to bite into when the cake cutters come out.
- Keep moving. Gyms may have different hours over the holidays, you may have more commitments arranged, but you can still do something! Adapt your usual fitness routine to something realistic. It may be 2 full body workouts instead of a 5 day split, or it may be some home HIIT workouts if you simply don’t have time.
- The early bird catches the worm. Let’s be honest, are you more likely to get to the gym or go for a run before or after indulging in a meal with family or friends? My advice is to get up early, get a quick session in and then get back to enjoying your day with those you love.
- Peer pressure sucks. If you simply don’t want pudding don’t let yourself be peer pressured into it. Just because they indulge, doesn’t mean you have to. It’s safe to say I still suffer from this one. I almost feel like me not having something ruins the fun for them! Which is silly right? Right! You don’t have to explain yourself. What you eat is your decision, what they eat is theirs.
- Don’t punish yourself! (This one is so important). So you ate too much? Had a few drinks too many? Didn’t make it to the gym? It’s the decisions we make after that affect our results. Don’t give up and think… “It’s ruined now”, “what’s the point?”, “I give up”. Equally, don’t restrict yourself the next day in hopes of ‘making amends’. What’s done is done, learn from it and move on, punishing yourself won’t get you any closer to your goals. Say… “That was a great box of chocolates“ or “that was a night to remember”.
Please remember Christmas is a time to be enjoyed so if you want a slice of cake you normally wouldn’t, or want to try a special hot chocolate with ALL the cream and sparkles then let yourself! Be forgiving with yourself and don’t expect to be perfect this holiday!
