Diets at Christmas & Family Holidays

Nutrition

Dieting when culturally unacceptable

Dieting when it’s nearly Christmas… or the family holiday… or it’s a birthday… you get the idea…

Christmas Nutrition

We’ve all been there. The eating plan is going well, you’ve trimmed up and you’re feeling great with an abundance of energy. And then the Christmas trees go up, the mince pies come out, the Baileys goes on sale and the entire country seemingly enjoys weeks of belly throbbing indulgences and eating to excess is encouraged.
So how do we stay good and do without, but feel like we’ve not done without? In my opinion we will all have a different approach, however I advocate for the importance of athletes to come out of the festive period with our mental faculties and relationships still intact as a key goal in December. That doesn’t mean to take the entire month off (or 6 weeks if you’re an early November starter), it just means having a clear plan in place that you agree with and don’t feel deprived by.
I’ve battled with diets on many many many festive periods, and here are a few of my suggestions. The key take is choose something that suits you and make sure you don’t take anyone else’s opinions into account. There’s nothing worse than saying “this Christmas I will/won’t eat” and be met by judgement. Make YOUR decision, try your best to stick to it, and don’t have regrets whether you succeed or your relapse. You can always consider what went well, what didn’t go well and adjust the plan for next year! Not that if you’re dieting this Christmas you’ll be dieting next Christmas, but if you want a long life there will be many Christmases! Each one will have it’s own unique battles with nutrition depending on your goals each year, that is a constant that will always be there. Very few people get away with eating everything in the house without getting a belly ache and having to knuckle down in January in some way or another.

Cake Calculator

A brilliant idea from Dr Gary Mendoza, is to use the cake calculator for any slip ups. All you do is guess (or if it’s pre-planned check the packet) the calories of the offending item you decide to eat. Let’s pretend it’s 400 calories. Then calculate how many calories you need to eat for a week, which if you’re on 2000 per day it’s 14,000 per week, so the cake is 2.8% of the weekly calories needed. If that doesn’t help, then look at a month (60,000 calories & 0.6%) or a year (730,000 calories & 0.05%). Basically when looking at the big picture, a few indulgences really doesn’t matter!

Forget about the diet

Not one I personally recommend, just because I find it mentally demoralising afterwards, and I hate having a bad gut after excessive indulgencing! However some people will find it easier just forgetting about the diet and eating alongside the family. If you go for this method then I recommend three things. 1: Set yourself a strict set of days/weeks that you’re forgetting about your nutrition plan. 2: Make sure that you actually DO forget it and don’t beat yourself up during and after. 3: Pick your plan back up as soon as it ends, NO EXCUSES!

Just keep slimming

Just because it’s December doesn’t mean healthy options aren’t in short supply. We don’t have to throw in the towel if we don’t want to. Maybe you’re 100% happy sticking with it and are puzzled by this whole page. COOL! Well done! If you’re on the fence though and you know this is the right option but you don’t feel able to commit, then weigh up the pros and cons of eating super healthy throughout Christmas and make a decision. Maybe get your family on board and plan healthy meal options or bring your own food to gatherings, hey you could change your family Christmas forever!

Maintain

Another good idea is just to aim at maintenance. Aim to get through to when normality resumes just to maintain. If you’re able to add some walks, runs or bike rides in it will really help to allow extra calories for good maintenance whilst having some indulgences! To maintain you just need to Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and multiply by 1.2 for low activity. Enjoy your calories, try to pack in healthy, nutritious options so you don’t feel like rubbish the entire time, log everything as best you can to keep track, and don’t beat yourself up!

Prepare for relapse

Relapse is a part of life and no nutrition plan is complete without relapsing and going backwards for a period of time. You may relapse into bad habits at some point and the plan you set yourself for Christmas might end up going out of the window. If you relapse, no problem! Remotivate yourself, remember why you started, poke your belly and remember how great it felt before a belly full of Christmas food! Ask friends or your coach for support to get back to your plan in January, by the time we get to February you’ll be feeling amazing! You can do it!

Nutrition Plans

Manage your weight by creating your nutrition plan

I’ve been big. When I started running I was wearing mens 3XL tops because the 2xl felt too snug when I moved. I’ve done every diet under the sun, and the only way I believe I can help you is to find a lifelong nutrition plan that suits you and your food choices.

I don’t believe in restricting and I believe that no food is off limits, but I also advocate a “food is fuel” approach to selecting your nutritional choices. We all have individual goals and our bodies are unique in their own ways, what works for one person won’t always work for another. Therefore I work with my clients to help educate and develop their own individual plan they scan stick to for life.

If you would like to know more and think I might be the right support for you you Contact Me.