Surviving Christmas
Christmas comes every year, and every year we hear the panic in our client’s voices about how they are going to survive without gaining lots of weight. We thought we could offer some easy ideas to allow you to enjoy Christmas and all the fabulous foods and drinks associated with it.
1. Put weight loss on hold.
Kick back and enjoy Christmas. Instead of focusing on weight loss, turn it around to being a weight maintance phase, this will allow you to get involved with your friends and whanau and relish the fabulous foods that are available. It only happens once a year so be gentle on yourself and accept that this is not the time to be focusing on losing weight.
2. Take the foods you love to barbeques or dinners.
If you know that desserts are your area of trouble then take a dessert that you adore and is lighter in kilojoules and saturated fats. Maybe you could take fruit and marshmallow kebabs with a mango drizzle, a huge fresh fruit salad, or cappuccino pancetta. Be inventive there are plenty of fabulous low kilojoule recipes out there that taste great.
For a main, consider taking things like fresh veges with a honey and herb dressing that can be cooked on the barbeque. Thai flavours can be introduced to veges to give them a kick. Consider ginger, fresh coriander, lime (include the lime rind) and honey to pour over vegetable kebabs or stirfries on the barbeque. Or take your favourite salad.
By taking foods that you love and are healthy and lower in kilojoules you know that you can load your plate up with these and enjoy the party without having to eat like a rabbit.
3. Always have a look at all the foods before you begin filling your plate.
This is a great tip for any buffet, barbeque or pot luck dinner. Check out all the foods first. We have all experienced just taking a little of everything as you walk around and then finding you have a huge plateful before you reach the foods that you want. By having a look at the foods first you will be able to identify the foods you want without having to wade your way through all the others that you are less interested in.
4. Choose fewer selections.
We all know that if we go to buffet and have a little of everything that we could just eat more and more. However if we just have the one food on our plate we get a bit bored and are happy to leave some. So that chocolate cake that just tasted so fabulous on the first bite is often just a bit sickly by the last. This works due to our taste bubs getting desensitised to the one flavour. If we put less food options on our plate we are more likely to loose interest in the taste and not have to eat it all, and better yet, then can forgo seconds.
5. Know your serving sizes
Identifying your serving sizes will prevent you from overeating.
If you know that you are going somewhere where seconds are mandatory, save some of your serving size for the second lap around.
6. Use a smaller plate.
We all know this tip. A smaller plate makes your brain think it has had more to eat. Frequently when you go to a barbeque there is an assortment of plates to cater for everyone, use this opportunity to grab the smaller one.
7. Use a tall glass.
Again this tricks the brain into thinking it has had more. Use this for your alcoholic drinks. Also add some ice – perfect on a summer day, but also provides less room in the glass for the drink.
8. Have a water for every alcoholic drink – or be the driver.
Alcohol is very high in kilojoules. By having a water in between each drink this will keep you hydrated and cut down on your energy intake.
Offer to be the driver, at this time of year with so much alcohol being consumed drivers are needed! You will find you are supported as soon as you say that you are driving and the pressure for another drink will come off.
9. Accept that there will be great foods in huge quantities everywhere you go.
Make a decision before the silly season starts that you will limit yourself to say two chocolates, or one Christmas tart a day. Do this for whatever your favourite foods are. This way you still get the great foods but have some control on how much you are consuming.
10. Say no to the foods you don’t love.
If there is nothing on the nibble platter that you absolutely have to have, say no. Then, allow yourself a moment to bask in how fabulous you feel after saying no. Give yourself a pat on the back. Save it for something later that you truly don’t want to miss out on.
11. Trade food for exercise.
Allow yourself to have that piece of Pav that you have been hanging out for but trade it for taking the dog for a good long walk the next day.
Step up your exercise plan. This time of year the weather is warm and it is great to get outside and feel alive.
Above all remember summer and Christmas is a great time to spend quality time with friends and family. Enjoy their company and our fabulous summer. You may well find with being busy and warm that your appetite reduces naturally. So kick back and enjoy.
Shapeshifters top 10 weight loss tips
1. Choose a day to begin
It is very easy to tell ourselves that we that we will start tomorrow, yet tomorrow just never seems to arrive. Choose a day, write it in your diary and then stick to this.
2. Tell friends
Once you have told someone of your plans it becomes more real. Also they will be able to offer you support. Tell them of the day and then begin.
3. Don’t crash diet
Crash diets leave you hungry, frustrated and likely to blow out. Further, any weight you have lost will return, plus some extra, as your body goes into survival mode.
Instead, select a simple step to begin. This may be choosing low fat products when shopping. Have a trim latte rather than your usual latte. Leave the butter out of your sandwiches and toast. Small manageable steps are easier than an instant, complete lifestyle change.
4. Keep eating those carbohydrates!
Carbohydrates are essential to keep us healthy, providing essential nutrients that we require. Carbs are good! Look at whole grained varieties of foods, rather than the processed foods. These fill us up and keep us full for longer.
5. Cut back on the fats
Fats contain more calories per gram than carbohydrates or protein. Try to cut down on the saturated and Trans fats that are the “bad fats.” You should aim to have less than 10% saturated fats in your diet. Look at different ways of cooking such as grilling or baking rather than frying to reduce fats.
6. Set achievable goals
It has taken you a while to put the weight on, so it will take a while to loose this weight. Break the big goal into smaller achievable steps. You should aim to lose no more than 1 kilo per week. Write these goals down and refer to them often. It is well known that those who write their goals are more likely to achieve them.
Don’t only focus on the weight loss goals, some weeks you may not achieve this goal making it harder to carry on. The goal may be just to drink 8 glasses of water per day this week. Or maybe to try eating whole-grained bread this week. Set smaller achievable goals.
7. Celebrate your successes.
Give yourself a good pat on the back and a treat for achieving each goal. It might be a facial, a new hair colour, a soak in the bath, or a CD. Select something that will add to your feel good factor.
8. Get some exercise
A combination of exercise and limiting food intake is a proven formula. Gradually increase your exercise levels by increasing the amount of walking you do. Do things such as parking further away and walking. Take the stairs not the elevator, get outside and run around with the kids, take the neighbour’s dog for a walk. Make it fun but try to get at least 30 minutes a day of some form of exercise.
9. Downsize your plates
The bigger the plate, the more you will put on the plate! This has been proven over and over again. Use a tall glass rather than a short wide glass. Look at using blue plates or a smaller favourite plate or bowl. These little steps trick the old brain to think its getting more.
If there doesn’t appear to be enough food, add more vegetables. These will fill you up, provide vital nutrients and help provide much needed fibre.
10. Be kind to yourself
Accept that you will make mistakes as you go along, when it happens forgive yourself and move on. You should never beat yourself up for that extra helping of pudding, it’s happened, now back to the healthy eating plan. However, if the little overeating incidents are becoming a habit them you need to assess how this can be changed.
Above all – Learn to love yourself first, a happy person who recognizes their self worth is more likely to be successful.
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