15 Tips to Prevent Holiday Weight Gain

Firstly, you may be asking “Why is this necessary?”

Well, apparently the average weight gain during the holidays is 0.37 kg for a lean person and more than 2.3 kg for an overweight individual. It has been found that people rarely lose this weight the following year. This means that in just 5 years one could gain 2 to 12 kg just by overindulging during the holidays!

While making healthy choices during the festive season can be challenging, try these tips to feel healthy and keep holiday weight gain down.

Start With Your Mindset

1. Make a goal to work toward. Whether you want to lose or maintain your weight, or just feel healthy and vital throughout the holidays, keeping this in mind will influence healthy choices.
Need help with your goal? Refer to our post on motivation.

2. Take the focus off the food. The holidays are ultimately about spending quality time with family and friends. Make people your focus by starting up conversations at holiday events, helping the host, and even approaching lonely-looking guests for a chat.

Prepare For Events

3. Go in with a plan. Decide how much you’re going to eat ahead of time (for example, one plate of food and one dessert). Stick to the plan.

4. Bring a healthy plate. Contributing something wholesome to the spread will give you and other guests a healthy choice.

5. Don’t fast. Don’t try to ‘save’ your calories for the event by not eating during the day; being hungry may trigger overeating.
Instead, eating a healthy snack just before the event may help you moderate your intake.

Ideas for eating at Parties

6. Keep food in proportion. Fill half your plate with vegetables, a quarter with grains, bread or potatoes, and a quarter with meat or other protein sources (e.g. beans, nuts).
This will give you a balanced meal that is likely to be lower in calories.

7. Step away from the buffet. Standing at the buffet table may inspire overeating. Instead, serve yourself and walk away.

8. Slow down your eating. Taking the time to chew each mouthful properly will allow you to both savor and properly digest your food.
Doing this helps prevent both overeating and indigestion. Putting your fork down between each bite is a good idea to assist this.
Keep in mind, it can take as long as 20 minutes for the body to register that you’re full, so take a break before you go in for seconds.

9. Choose deliciously. Choose only the dessert(s) that really appeal to you, the one that’s rare or unusual. Leave everything else that’s common and readily available.

Avoid Binge Drinking

10. Keep alcohol serves under four. 
According to the NHMRC Australian Alcohol Guidelines, drinking more than four standard drinks per night is classified as binge drinking.
That is equal to two restaurant servings of wine or two and a half full-strength cans of beer.
Avoiding binge drinking helps prevent hangovers, nausea, and vomiting, as well as overeating calorie-dense junk foods.

11. Alternate with water. A glass of water between each drink helps keep you hydrated, reducing the risk of a hangover. This also slows your alcohol intake, giving your liver more time to process it.

12. Eat before you start. A  meal slows the absorption of alcohol, helping your liver cope.

Stay Active

13. Exercise in the morning. Get a session in before work or other activities like Christmas shopping and events take over your day!

14. Schedule it in. Booking in your workouts as necessary activities will help you stick to them. Add them to your calendar and set reminders for yourself.

15. Have an active Christmas. Incorporate some exercise into your family Christmas ‘do’, whether that’s backyard cricket, footy, or a family walk.

By using the tips above you can look forward to a festive season feeling healthy and vital, and most importantly, preventing dreaded weight gain!

For tailored assistance with weight loss or maintenance over this festive season, Click here to talk to our Naturopath today.

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