Happy December! The festive season is here. The time when the plans to stick to your healthy lifestyle usually go out of the window. You end the month feeling sluggish and usually a few pounds heavier! We all do it!
We tell ourselves year after year that we’re going to stick to a healthy diet, continue to exercise, and not overindulge or drink too much. How often do you stick to your word?
Here at Totally Transformed, we get it! We know that Christmastime is a time for family gatherings, catching up with friends and work Christmas parties. Sometimes it is hard to stay focused on your goals. But we’ve compiled some top tips to help you minimise the effects that the festive season can have on your healthy lifestyle.
Drinks
We’re all going to end up in the pub at some point over December. Usually, we’ll be meeting up with friends or colleagues for that Christmas get-together. So how do you minimise the impact of alcohol on your healthy lifestyle without abstaining from the festivities altogether?
It’s simple really. Simple swaps in what you drink can be the difference. Lagers and ciders are usually high in calories. Cocktails are even higher and this is purely down to the sugar content of these drinks. Make a swap and go for a drink with a low-calorie mixer (like a Gin and Slimline tonic or a Vodka and Diet Coke). If these drinks aren’t your thing, then alternating an alcoholic drink with water (add a slice of lemon or lime if you want to be fancy) can keep you hydrated throughout the night and help to spread the higher-calorie drinks out.
Meal planning
Try and meal prep as much as you can throughout December. Remember to try and keep all of your meals as balanced as you can. Food pairing is important. By using the eat-well method, you should have no less than a quarter of your plate filled with protein, no more than a quarter of your plate with carbohydrates and for the rest of the plate, try and get into the habit of ordering a side of seasonal vegetables with your meal.
Most of the festive activities we do will fall in the evening. By having a healthy breakfast and lunch, you can feel less guilty about choosing an evening meal that might be high in carbohydrates and calories. Don’t be tempted to skip breakfast or lunch either, this will lead to you getting too hungry by the time your evening meal rolls around. You will end up overeating and if past experiences from ourselves are anything to go by, we always overeat in the form of carbohydrates.
Christmas Dinner
Hands down our absolute favourite meal of the year! What’s not to love? Christmas dinner does not have to be harmful to your healthy lifestyle either. By using the eat-well method we mentioned earlier, you can still have all of your favourite things for your Christmas dinner. Bring on the pigs in blankets! If you can, choose low-calorie puddings (like a homemade trifle with sugar-free jelly). But if you prefer Christmas puddings, go for them. Like we always say, one bad day isn’t going to make you gain fat, just like one good day won’t make you lose it!
However, one of the things that we are most guilty of on Christmas Day. Stuffing ourselves with food and then just laying on the sofa pretending the dishes aren’t there! This leads us nicely to our next piece of advice.
Take some time for exercise.
Picture this, you’ve just had the best meal of the entire year. You feel like you are going to burst at the seams. Don’t make the mistake of laying down on the sofa and falling into a Christmas Day food coma. Put the festive tunes on and have a dance in the kitchen with the family while you wash, dry and get the dishes put away. Or if the dishwasher is responsible for that chore, get wrapped up warm and go for a walk with the family. If the kids got a new bike or a new scooter, they will jump at the chance of taking it for a little spin! Take the dogs with you – they’re always up for a walk! Staying upright and mobile after a large meal can help you to digest your food better and lead to less bloating and sluggishness later on in the day.
Exercise shouldn’t be forgotten about just because it’s December either. Make a pact with yourself to at least try and do some form of exercise for at least 20-30 minutes, three times a week. It doesn’t have to be anything heavy, anything that gets you moving is better than nothing!
Moderation leads to a healthy lifestyle.
If you have been a client with us before, we talk about moderation a lot. Denying yourself anything will make you want it even more and will make you overindulge the first chance you get. So if you fancy a Terry’s Chocolate Orange or a handful of Celebrations, go for it. Just make sure that rather than eating the entire chocolate orange or tub of celebrations in one sitting, you satisfy the craving and then put them away for another day!
When January arrives.
Christmas is over, New Year has been and gone. You are looking in the mirror at yourself thinking. I wish I had just followed my healthy lifestyle to the letter and not gone overboard last month. Stop! Don’t even go there. If we could time travel and go back and tell ourselves on December 1st what we are feeling on January 1st, would it make a difference? Probably not!
You can come to see us. Our Belly Blaster Fat Freezing package will have £100 off in January. Making it £200 for up to 6 areas of Fat Freezing all focused on the abdomen and hips. Every client who has treatments with us gets access to one of our fabulous Healthy Lifestyle Meal Plans. The meal plans are free for clients and contain recipes, shopping lists and an example meal plan to follow.
We have appointments left in January if you wanted to get booked in to kickstart your healthy new you! Book now and pay on the day of your appointment! Or if you prefer, we offer payment plans in 3 easy payments with Klarna if you want to spread the cost.
Need more information? Get in touch with us via email, Facebook or Instagram and we will be happy to support you.