15 Tips to Stay Fit and Healthy this 2014 Festive Season
At Cambridge Fitness we understand that keeping fit and slim is hard. Especially when you are faced with the temptations of the festive season. Chocolates, alcohol and distractions make it harder and harder to stick your own goals and plans.
We understand that eating clean and working out 5 times a week (especially around the Christmas season) can be tough. We all have “cheats” meals or days where we eat whatever we like and so we should now and again. We are human after all. However, you should earn the “right” to be able to indulge in those “cheat” meals and days, minus the guilty conscience.
Here are 15 TIPS help you resist urges and keep you healthier year-round.
- Control you’re drinking – It comes to a surprise to many that Alcohol is an easy way to add the calories. Avoid mixed and fruity drinks. And avoid the Egg Nog, as it has at least 350 calories per serving.
- Make workouts a priority – Try early morning workouts. When you write our any to-do lists, try and prioritize your diet and working out. This will make a big difference.
- Eat before you go – You will be less tempted to overindulge if you have already eaten. This means not skipping breakfast and always ensuring that you are full before going into town or somewhere with a lot of food temptations.
- Choose treats wisely – Pick something you only have during the holidays and not something that is available all of the time. E.g. Christmas pudding.
- Don’t skip meals – While it might be tempting to skip meals thinking that will make up for the holiday treats, it is actually counterproductive and can lead to binge eating.
- Don’t set unrealistic exercise goals – Aim to exercise 30 minutes a day, instead of an hour. It’s alright to divide it up into 10 minute intervals during the day.
- Exercise whenever you can – Exercise doesn’t mean just at the gym. Park a distance from the store, use the stairs. Try to keep as active throughout the day as you can and constantly increase the blood flow and movement.
- Make it a family affair – Plan activities to do, such as walking the neighbourhood to view the holiday lights.
- Eat more, buy less – Hunger makes you spend more – and not just in supermarkets, according to a University of Cambridge report. So have a square meal before you start your present-hunt10 Get a good night’s sleep
- Don’t forget strength training – Maintain your muscle mass by paring down your routine to basics.
- Drink plenty of water – Water helps counter the dehydrating effects of travel or alcoholic beverages. Water will also help satiate your appetite as thirst is often mistaken for hunger.
- Spread out your meals – Don’t eat everything at once. Eat dinner early and walk before having dessert.
- Don’t attempt to stick to an unrealistic diet during the Holidays – If you enjoy your favourite foods in small portions, you will feel more satisfied. Trying to stay away from certain foods may cause you to eat more than you intended.
- Go for a morning run. Watch your weight come down as the sun comes up. Sunshine is a great source of vitamin D, which researchers believe can also help keep you trim. A Minnesota study has linked low levels of the vitamin pre-diet to sluggish weight loss.
- Take a snap to stop snacking. December doesn’t have to be a blow-out if you keep a food diary. In a study of 1,700 volunteers, those who kept an accurate account of what they ate lost twice as much weight as those who didn’t. Photograph everything you eat and drink on your mobile phone, or use the Food Scanner app from www.dailyburn.com, and you’ll be put off overindulging. Rick Wilson, director of nutrition and dietetics at King’s College Hospital, says: “Any trick that gives you a snapshot of your diet will raise your awareness of what you eat.”
Sticking to these tips the best you can will ensure a slimmer, healthier version of you throughout the festive season.
On behalf of the Cambridge Fitness Team, we’d like to wish you the best of luck with your fitness journey and hope you have a fantastic Christmas.
If you’d like to chat with us why not send a message to our Facebook page? We’d be happy to respond.