5 WAYS TO MAKE SURE YOU DON’T GO OVERBOARD ON YOUR EATING THIS CHRISTMAS

1 Remember you have a choice!

Christmas can be a challenging time when  you’re trying to control your weight.

I often speak to people at this time of year who share with me that they have a love hate relationship with Christmas.

They enjoy the time relaxing with their family but they also know that they will overeat.

“Well of course at Christmas time I’m bound to put weight on and then spend half of next year trying to just get back to where I am now”, they tell me gloomily.

The problem here is that you’ve forgotten that you do have a choice.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Not every single human being on the planet is destined to put weight on at Christmas!

Some don’t. And the reason they don’t is that they have made a choice to be more controlled. 

They have already decided in advance of Christmas to be more sensible and pay more attention to what they are eating.

If they can do this, you can decide to do it as well.

2 Make a plan

Don’t let Christmas catch you off guard. If you really don’t want to put on too much weight then make a plan. 

Decide which days you are going to allow yourself to indulge and what level of indulgence is acceptable to you.

Perhaps you decide that on Christmas Day and Boxing Day you will allow yourself to eat what you want but on the other days you will only respond to hunger. 

Maybe you decide that each day over the Christmas period you will allow yourself one high calorie food.

Decide what’s right for you.

Make a plan that is acceptable, realistic and reasonable for you and resolve to stick to it. 

3 Give away excess food

I’m sure some of you will be outraged by this suggestion. 

I’m not saying give away everything. I’m saying that if you truly want to avoid putting on a lot of weight at Christmas you need to remember that it’s not just Christmas Day that’s the problem.

The whole week period between Christmas and the New Year can also be a high risk time.

Lots of high calorie food still around at a time when your normal weekly routine is probably out the window is not a good combination.

Rather than residing to the idea that all this food must be eaten before you even consider returning to controlled eating, you can choose to give it away instead.

If you don’t you’ll need to accept that you will be living in an environment where avoiding overindulge will be challenging.

4 Get pleasure from other things

Remember that Christmas is about more than simply giving yourself the licence to drink and eat far more than you would do normally.

Christmas is a wonderful, enjoyable and meaningful time even without those excesses. 

Being more controlled in that area this year doesn’t mean that Christmas will be dull or miserable unless you tell yourself that it will be.

5 Think of 2019

Pain can be a strong motivator!

Yes you can overindulge this Christmas if you really want to.

But ask yourself right now if it’s really worth it.

Is the brief enjoyment of overindulging worth the pain of spending the next 6 months following the latest diet to get back to where you were in November?

Let’s end on a positive note though shall we so as not to extinguish the Christmas spirit. 

Imagine in your mind now a slimmer, happier and more content you in 2019. A you that is in control of your eating and your life.