In less than 2 weeks it will be Christmas. The holidays are often accompanied by a lot of
food and not too much activity. Often a feeling of guilt plays a major role in the days after.
How do you deal with these days? And how do you deal with the fear of gaining weight?
Short term ( days): You eat more food and more salty food, which means you retain extra
fluid. Your body weight increases.
Long term ( weeks): You lose the retained fluid again, resulting in little or no permanent
weight gain.
Rule of thumb: The higher the short-term weight gain, the more likely it is primarily fluid
gain.
So most of the time this weight gain will be water. When you go back to your own eating
habits, you’ll lose most of this fluid.
Remember there are only 3 days in December where we celebrate something. So there’s no
excuse to not live a healthy lifestyle during the remaining 28 days of December. It’s hard to
not let go of all the healthy habits you built this year. But you worked hard all year long to get
where you’re now. Try to maintain these healthy habits for the rest of December, and next
year of course.
Tips during the holidays:
- Eat mindful. Really pay attention to the food you’re eating. This will result in choices
that help health and well-being.
- Think about how you deal with social pressure. You decide what you eat.
- Stay aware of the short-term and long-term effects of the holidays on your weight.
- Be careful when applying compensatory mechanisms (move more/eat less). Stay
aligned with your goals instead of your emotions.
- Try to enjoy other things than the food like your family/friends, few days off and the fun!
- In reality it's 3 to 4 days where there are a lot festivities surrounding food, which shouldn't have to turn into a whole month where we slack and feel unproductive and throw our routine out the window.
The most important thing is to enjoy the holidays and the company, especially at this time.
If you’re worried about the holidays and the weeks after, you can always contact us to make
an appointment for a group class, personal training or coaching so we can set up a plan to get you right back on track.
