Don't let Christmas Break You!

Don't let Christmas break you! Well Christmas is almost here but it doesn't mean you have to break your waistline! Some of you may be taking a well earned break and enjoying a few days or 2 week holiday. With so much time on your hands you may be tempted to indulge in the finer things over the weekend and let up on your good eating and training regime. To help you stay on track this Christmas, here are some tips to keep you from blowing out your diet!

Stick to your Routine.
The holidays are great aren't they? You can sleep in, relax and take your time doing whatever you want. Your normal routine of preparing food goes out the door and because you're home, you tend to graze throughout the day - or forget to eat at normal times. You probably tend to get hungrier so you find treat foods to snack on to fill you up and by the end of the weekend you've gained a couple of kgs! Before you get to that stage, make sure you stick as close to your normal snack and meal times as possible. Sure you can have the occasional treat or glass of wine but it's important you eat the nutritious meals you've been doing all your working week too.

Keep trigger foods out of the pantry!
At a time when tasty Christmas food and chocolates are all around us, it's hard to control ourselves sometimes. So the best plan of attack maybe to keep the 'trigger' foods ie the high calorie foods that we can't stop eating out of the house.

Bread is very easy to eat and once you start, some of us can't stop. Other people find chocolate, lollies and ice cream are their trigger foods. Instead of having these in the house, try stocking low calorie alternatives such as yoghurt or fruit to curb the sweet tooth.

Keep busy. Idle minds and bodies can cause you to eat so the best way to overcome this is to keep busy. Use the time you have to catch up on the odd jobs around the house. Move your furniture around, do the gardening, redecorate the kids room or even go on that long walk you said you'd do when you have the time. Once you're busy, you won't even think about food. And when you get hungry from all this activity, you'll of course be reaching for a healthy snack such as a protein bar or shake right??!!!

Be prepared when travelling.
If you're lucky enough to be travelling this Christmas make sure you take a stash of healthy snacks with you. There's nothing worse than being hungry. When you're starving you'll go for that stale sandwich, cold pie or a chocolate bar or 2 at the service station - so be prepared. Take some protein bars, protein powder, nuts, hard boiled eggs or rice crackers with you so you won't have to reach for the high calorie food.

Get rid of waste
Some of you maybe hosting a lunch or dinner for your friends and family. No doubt they'll be plenty of leftover potatoes, delicious treats and array of meats that didn't get eaten. During the dinner, you've been good at eating your protein and didn't overindulge on your carbs. And you didn't even have dessert. Don't let the temptation of having leftovers in the fridge be your downfall! If there are leftovers, give it away to your guests - especially the dessert. And if there are no takers then throw it away. OK it might be wasteful but it's better to waste than for it to sit on your waist!!

Be Generous
If you've been lucky (or unlucky) and been given lots of Christmas choccies then I'd recommend you give some away. Keep the most tastiest one you like and let someone else have the calories of the rest.

Dinner Party Tips Dinner parties can provide the biggest blow-out of your diet so I'd recommend taking these precautions: If buffet style, sit furtherest away from the buffet table so you won't go back to fill up as often. Fill up on protein and vegetables before indulging in the treats so you won't overdo the sweet stuff. Limit yourself to a couple of glasses of nice wine as alcohol contains lots of sugar calories.

Getting Back On Track
OK, so by the end of the holiday you may not have followed the above recommendations.
You've broken your diet, but it's not the end of the world. We're all human and sometimes we succumb to food glorious food and overindulge on it. However, don't let one bad binging day lead onto 2 or heavens above 3 days! Get back into your routine and you'll soon be back into your condition before you let your mind wander. If you're finding it hard to return to a sensible eating and training plan, seek out your friends or instructor and they'll help you get back on track.

Hope you find these tips helpful and have a Merry Christmas everyone!
from Lisa @ Go Figure