The holidays bring times of joy, fun and laughter. We often have parties and dinners with our family, and overall, it’s holiday treats galore!
You will inevitably gain some weight during the holiday season – if you’re not being careful!
In this blog, we’ll discuss how you can avoid weight gain during the holidays so that the progress you have made so far doesn’t go down the drain!
How Do You Gain Weight?
Okay, if we try and get down to its core with analysis, the conclusion would be that there’s a specific reason why you are gaining weight.
Maybe that was an around house’s way to say “overeating will cause increased weight gain” … But the point is – If you manage the amount of food you consume, you can eat any food type you want.
Essentially, you will gain weight if you consistently go over and above your daily maintenance needs.
And though that happens, we must remember that just a tiny percentage of the weight gained during the indulgence of the holidays is fat.
You also gain:
- Muscle and liver glycogen (stored carbs)
- Water
- Food weight
So here’s a mental checkpoint – Don’t stress it out for a couple of pounds gained.
Focus on longer-term habits!
Let Your Soul Loose
There is a pattern for people to fall too hard into their diet and nutrition plans that their whole perspective on food gets distorted.
This is precisely why one may be worried about overeating for just a couple of days during the holiday period.
If you give your soul more food than your body needs, and you are mentally okay with that and won’t feel guilt, you can…
Leverage The Binge!
Yes, that’s right! – Binging on food doesn’t always have to mean gaining more pounds for unhealthy weight.
Think of indulgence as an abundance of energy that can be used for physical activities and will stimulate the body in a positive way.
In short – Keep active and train during the holidays when your food intake is higher than usual.
Here Are 5 Further Tips To Control Binging
Do you have a problem with self-control? Then overeating during the holidays can truly get out of hand…
But wait… there are ways to manage your cravings!
Check out these super helpful tips.
- Eat sequentially
The human stomach is made to digest almost anything and everything. Nevertheless, different nutrients get chemically digested in different parts of our digestive system.
So, eating your nutrients sequentially in each meal will improve the feeling of satiety and overall digestion and gut health.
Whatever holiday food you eat, eat the carbs and veggies first and then move on to protein and fat.
If there is a mix of nutrients together on the table, fear not! Chew the food longer, as that will decrease the work your stomach needs to do.
- Eat plenty of protein and fats.
To avoid overeating, you NEED to satiate yourself and not constantly think about food.
And that is possible through quality proteins and fats, mainly from animal sources.
However, although animal sources provide proteins and fats that are satiating for us… the most satiating food you can eat is actually…
- Potatoes!
Yes, you heard it right – If the dinner table has potatoes on offer, don’t be afraid to mix it up.
Doing this will increase satiety and make it far less likely to overeat and gain excess weight – result!
To Wrap Up
Managing your holiday eating doesn’t have to be so hard, nor do you have to gain excess weight.
If you stay active and mindful, use that energy to burn the excess food!
