DISCLOSURE: This guide is only going to be beneficial for those who have a couple of festive celebratory events. For those who have several of these types of events each month, it’s very difficult to live a healthy lifestyle whilst consuming vast amounts of alcohol and unhealthy food. With that being said, you can certainly limit the effect of your indulgences with a few simple steps.
The festivities are fast approaching and some of my clients have already started having their Christmas drinks and parties. So, this has prompted me to write a short guide on how to stay on track at Christmas and enjoy the festivities without hindering your goal.
Planning for success
To stay on track at Christmas, the first thing you must do is plan out your social calendar. Put all of your dates into your monthly calendar clearly. The next step is to plan which are the big events, which are small-medium, and the ones that aren’t really important/you don’t want to go to. This will allow you to control which events you want to go to and the chances are, you’ll enjoy those ones more for two reasons.
One, the events you really want to go to, you can let loose a tiny bit more, have a bit more of a party and it won’t be a huge hinderance. And secondly, the ones you get dragged to but really don’t want to go, you’ll probably end up consuming more booze and food than you would have hoped for and then feel terrible the next day, both physically and in some cases emotionally (hungover, no training, lethargic, not supportive to health and fitness goals).
Banking your calories
Bank your calories throughout the week. Banking calories at the start of the week can account for the extra calories you’ll ingest over the course of a Christmas party evening (MyFitnessPal is great for tracking calories).
Say your daily caloric intake was 2,400. Banking 300 calories each day from Monday to Friday for example will give you a daily caloric consumption of 2,100, allowing you an extra 1,500 calories on the day of the Christmas party. Now this will allow you to eat relatively normally during the course of the week and will make sure you can still train and live an optimal lifestyle, but account for some of the partying at the weekend.
Just as an example, 1,500 calories will get you 6 pints of Peroni beer, or 13 gin and slimline tonics (single measures). If you had only 6 gin and tonics, then that’s 690 calories. Add a McDonalds festive burger, small chips and a bottle of water to help sober you up, then that brings you up to 1,600 (so slightly over).
Dinner and drinks with friends
Food and drinks out with friends can be an easier occasion to plan for. My suggestion is to plan where you’re going to eat and then look at what’s on the menu. Make a realistic decision whether you’re going to want to spend more of your calorie budget on food or drink with friends (please try your absolute hardest not to do both).
Set yourself a cut-off point as to when the night is going to end. This is going to take a little discipline, but you can still enjoy the night with friends and family without getting carried away.
Stick to your training routine
Finally, keep as much of a standard training routine as possible. Now, I’m not saying make sure you train legs on Christmas day and spend 2 hours in your home gym (unless you really want to). Take the time to enjoy the day, however that may look for you.
Spend it with friends and family. Head out for a nice walk, or sit down and watch a load of crap telly. Whatever it is that you do, make sure it’s supportive of your health and fitness and try to maintain a normal routine around the special occasions.
By keeping this routine, the chances are you won’t come round to New Year’s and have to rush to get back into shape ready for the spring. Treat this time as normally as possible for your health and fitness, but make sure you do enjoy yourself!
If you’re looking to stay on track at Christmas and are in need of a qualified nutritionist and fitness coach in Hampshire, just drop me a message and we can have a chat!