How to survive Christmas, your ultimate guide

The build up to Christmas gets longer and longer each year and it seems that once the big day is over, there can be an anti-climatic feeling surrounding the festive season. It’s no longer Christmas but it’s not New Year. There are left over selection boxes and tubs of pringles, possibly a box of shortbread and some festive cheese. The TV is alright during the day and so the urge to put your feet up, watch the tele and eat the junk food is overwhelming. And why not? It’s the one socially acceptable time of year to just do nothing.

However, if you are the type of person who makes the same new years resolution of “lose weight.” “get fitter” “un-do the christmas weight gain” you might feel loads better following my guide to a healthy festive season.

Ainzlies’ Ultimate healthy guide to Christmas:

1. Enjoy Christmas day . Relax on the eating and the exercising, allow yourself to just be. Follow the guidelines for a successful planned cheat meal and give yourself a break.

2. Keep the unhealthy food out of the house. After the big day itself we are focusing on damage limitation. This isn’t easy when you are given boxes of chocolates as presents but use this as an opportunity to share the joy and take a box round to a friends house. Have a night in and relax. You will still eat some chocolate or biscuits, but it’s better to share than to stay in and eat an entire packet by yourself.

3. Don’t forget to eat your healthy food too. Yes, you could have a bag of chocolate coins for breakfast, but do you usually have that for breakfast? The answer is probably not. Don’t neglect your good quality whole food diet for an entire two weeks. Stick to the 80/20 principle. 80% whole foods and 20% fun foods. Be honest with yourself here. Fruit cake is not in the 80%, sadly.

4. Keep a food diary. I don’t mean tracking calories or using apps that make you feel bad for your macronutrient ratio. Simply use a pen and paper, or the notepad function on your phone, and write out your meals for the day. This keeps you accountable and helps you to pick up on whether the 20% is becoming more like the 50%.

5. Stay active. If you are lucky enough to have two weeks off, that gives you more hours in the day to do the things you enjoy. If anything this gives you more time to exercise. If you are working or use this time to visit family and generally be just as busy then sign up for my 12 days of Christmas workout. Quick and effective, it will give you a workout without taking up your morning.

Alternatively, get out and walk. Walking is excellent exercise, easy and free to do. Stay healthy and active throughout this time, just as you do throughout the rest of the year. Your body will thank you and you’ve got a head start on all the new gym bunnies in January ;)

Enjoy your Christmas everyone.