It’s Christmaaaaaaaaaas!
So short and sweet today, no calorie comparisons! And because it’s Christmas chocolate is definitely a perfectly acceptable breakfast food this morning!
Enjoy! Merry Christmas 🎄🍊🍫xx
Tag: healthy foods
Tuesday tip: Merry Christmas!
Tuesday tip: Merry Christmas! 🎄
It’s Christmas Eve! So my only tip today – is to enjoy your Christmas tomorrow! However you are spending the day – have a lie in, spend time with friends, family, (or animals) that you love, maybe take a gentle walk, enjoy yummy food, watch Christmas tv etc.
If you’re working then take some time out when you can to do something that you enjoy. Don’t stress about what you’ve eaten, or how little exercise you’ve done, just enjoy the tastes and yummy food, a day or two won’t kill you! Get back to your normal eating and training pattern afterwards and you’ll be back on track in no time.
Hope you have a lovely Christmas 🎅🏼🎄xx
‘Just a quick festive drink…’
‘Just a quick festive drink…’ 🥤
At this time of year all the coffee shops bring out their range of festive coffees and hot chocolates. You’re out Christmas shopping, or meeting up with friends and family, so you just grab a quick festive drink to enjoy and get you in the festive spirit. You’ll drink it in minutes, and possibly have a snack with it, without really thinking or noticing. But that’s ok, because it’s just a festive hot choc, and it’s Christmas….
These drinks do vary but are all pretty high calorie. This particular example is a Cafe Nero hot grande salted caramel hot chocolate – with skimmed milk (not even semi or whole milk) and comes in at over 500 cals and almost 60g sugar.
On the other hand that selection box contains 5 chocolate bars, with less calories and sugar. Now whilst I’m sure you could eat a selection box in one sitting (I certainly could) most people probably wouldn’t . You’d probably spread it over a few hours or possibly days, rather than eating it all in one go and certainly wouldn’t have it with a snack (unlike the hot choc).
Christmas is definitely a time to relax a bit on calories and certainly a time to focus more on sharing memories and happy times with people you care about. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be aware of the calories in some of the treats you are having.
Knowledge is power so being aware of the calorie content of things, and also of our own perceptions of the things we consume is always a good thing.
If you want the festive drink – have it and enjoy it. If you want to eat your way through a selection box in one go then go for it. Just be aware of the calories so you’re making an educated choice!
Merry Christmas 🎄
Xx
Tuesday tip: Happy Healthy Christmas
Tuesday tip: Happy Healthy Christmas 🎄
Managing the amount of calories we consume can be especially difficult during the festive season. Ideally, we want to find a happy balance between joining in with the fun without going totally overboard and ruining our healthy eating regime!
This is the advice I give my clients:
#1 Spread the damage – if you have an event coming up try to cut down kcals in the days leading up or after. I’m not suggesting you starve yourself as that will result in overeating later. Instead try to save 100-200 kcals a day for a few days to buffer the social event e.g if you have a Friday party where you may overeat/drink by 800-1000 kcal, reduce your daily intake by 200 kcal from Mon to Thurs. You’ll barely notice 200 kcals a day!
#2 Cut the Booze – Drink is the biggest contributor to weight gain during the holidays. Often we drink socially over several hours so it’s hard to track. You could stick to low calorie drinks – but what if you don’t like them? The best thing is to drink what you want and control the quantity instead. Plan for a set number of drinks (e.g 4/5) of whatever you like. That way you’ll appreciate it but not feel deprived. In addition drink a big glass of water before you start (as you’re bound to be dehydrated from all the festive rushing about) to help prevent you being thirsty and knocking back the first drink too fast. Have a glass of water after every couple of drinks too.
#3 Keep Active – incorporate a little activity in to your Christmas Day. Face it – we’re all going to over eat on Xmas day (an average of 4000 – 5000 kcals). You’re not going to burn that off in one day, but it will make you feel good if you get active – maybe an early morning run, or a post lunch family walk, or an evening walk to look at the xmas lights!
#4 Don’t Stress – try not to stress too much about those extra Christmas day kcals. As long as they’re not representative of your normal intake the effects of the overindulgence will be short lived. Get back to your normal eating and training pattern as soon as you can after the festivities and you’ll be back on track in no time!
Enjoy! Happy Tuesday 🎄🤗xx
‘I’m going out for a curry, so I may as well just forget the diet’….
‘I’m going out for a curry, so I may as well just forget the diet’….🥘
You’re trying to lose weight/fat, you’ve been ‘good’ (ie within your calories) all week, but you’ve got that curry with your friends on Friday night. Well there’s nothing you can do to control that right? It’s going to be a write off, so you may as well just switch off and go full out – I mean the diet is ruined anyway right? So what’s a few more beers and that extra naan?
It doesn’t have to be! You don’t need to avoid social situations, and you don’t need to just totally switch off and go mad either. If weight loss is going to be sustainable for the long term then you need to find ways to manage social events and inevitable take aways and meals out without throwing the towel in every time.
As you can see from above the difference between the two curry options are massive. For most people that 1,301 dinner is still going to take them over their calories for the day BUT it’s a lot more manageable within the context of the week overall. You can easily offset some of those cals with a lighter breakfast and lunch that day, and reducing calories by 100-150 a day for a few days either side (that’s just cutting a snack or a coffee or two out!). Switching from a creamy based curry to a dry, tandoori option, going for plain rice, having one poppadom instead of 4, and switching to a lighter beer means you can still have a really nice meal. You can still drink with your friends if you want to, and you can still have a fab night out without blowing weeks of effort in one fell swoop. And of course you’re probably less likely to want to eat rubbish the next day if you’ve had a few less beers…
Sustainable, long term weight management is about working out ways to compromise and manage social events without them always been all or nothing! So you can still have fun, still eat out, still have delicious food, but still stay on track!
Enjoy 🤗
Xx
Every Step Fitness 