Christmas.

The number 1 thing I look forward to at Christmas is spending time with my loved ones.

Spending time playing games and eating.

The work and club Christmas meals, Christmas dinner, advent calendars, selection boxes, mince pies, Christmas pudding, brandy butter, spiced cookies, baileys, mulled wine, bucks fizz and on and on the feast goes!

It’s relentless!

It’s a time when your months of hard work can be undone in just a few days. But it doesn’t have to be this way! You can still enjoy your favourite Christmas treats if you’re savvy!

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Tip #1: Avoid Grazing

One of the big problems at Christmas is the grazing. Every time something sweet, carb-based (mince pies, biscuits, crackers, peanuts) or a sweetened drink passes your lips, your blood sugar will significantly increase and you’ll go into fat storage mode. At Christmas, we graze AND we have our main meals. You’ll be in fat storage mode A LOT!

You can still eat your normal meals but try to keep the nibbles and drinks to immediately after your main meals. This gives your body more time between meals to allow your blood sugar to come back down.

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Tip #2: Fasting

Something I get lots of my clients doing is fasting because it flips the switch from fat storage to fat burning. This can take many forms and the most popular option is to skip or delay breakfast. By doing this you have a long overnight fast, which allows your blood sugar and insulin to decrease.

To feel good whilst fasting:

1. Drink plenty of water (you lose more when you fast)
2. Break your fast with a protein-rich meal. This could be eggs, protein pancakes or a fry-up (skip the fried bread) for example.

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Tip #3: This or that

Another client tip that’s useful at Christmas is to either have carbs with your main or have a dessert, not both (or if you want to be really strict then don’t have either!).

So if you particularly look forward to desserts, skip the carbs (potato, pasta, rice, bread) with the main meal.

If you’re a big drinker then I’d include this in the equation. If you want to drink more than a couple without undoing your hard work then it’s worth considering skipping the carbs and dessert.

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Summary

Allow yourself to indulge on the big day; one high-calorie day can actually boost metabolism!

If you have numerous social events that involve eating off-plan during the Christmas period then follow the above tips to avoid undoing all your hard work.

After Christmas, to help you get back on the wagon, use my FREE ‘5 Day Detox to Curb Carb Cravings’ to get you back on track and super focused.  Sign up below!

The eat less move more concept is a very small part of a very big picture. It’s the part of weight management that has the least impact, especially when you have your hormones to contend with, and I’m not just talking about oestrogen here.

I have women contacting me every day, who tell me “I’m virtually starving myself, why am I not losing weight?!” It’s because they haven’t addressed the underlying cause of weight gain; hormone imbalance.