‘America watch out! Here comes Colin Frizzle… AND HE’S GOT A BIIIIGG KNOBBB!’
Man I hope people get that reference …
I frickin' love Christmas!
The family, friends, thick cut glazed ham, Love Actually (eh eh), the gifts, the post lunch snooze, ham, even the the uncomfortable food baby that grows over the course of the day.
Unfortunately, this time of year can also bring feelings of anxiety about potential food scenarios and how they may affect body composition, thus reducing the potential joy of Christmas.
I’d be lying if I said that many Santa trips ago I hadn’t felt some of these feelings myself to some degree.
Why?
Because I was scared I’d set myself back? That I’d get fat? That the old European lady at my gym would stop staring at my glutes while I hip thrust?
Probably all of the above and more.
All of which I realised aren’t worth the stress or energy.
I get it though. It takes time, consistency and hard work to make changes to your body. And it can sometimes feel like the festive season can unravel it all in the time it takes to say ‘merry …’ and I’ve gained 3 kilos.
Below I have listed my top tips for both minimising the potential fat gains as well as minimising the stress and anxiety associated with food environments out of your control.
6 savvy tips for the festive season:
Keep training.
You're likely going to be consuming more energy dense foods during the festive season. Rather than try fight this by hopelessly setting yourself rigid rules, why not focus on the other side of the energy equation.
We have all this energy coming in so let’s put it to good use. No, I’m not referring to hours of mindless cardio but just continue to attack the bar as you normally would. Instead of looking at the potential negatives of the situation shift your perception to a positive one. You're eating delicious food, your glycogen stores are likely going to be full, stress levels should be low, recovery capabilities higher.
All optimal conditions conducive to gains! You may be surprised. Personally I usually hit some good PR’s around Christmas.
It doesn’t have to be the at the gym either. Farmer carries with a 10 kilo ham in each hand, backyard cricket with the family, piggy backing your niece and nephew…. just getting active will help even out the energy balance playing field.
And if you’ve been dieting leading up to Christmas a small break with increased food can help partially restore hormones that fall during dieting.
2. Avoid mindless snacking
This is more for the actual day of, or around Christmas. One of the bigger issues is the mindless snacking that tends to fill the gaps between bigger meals.
Usually there are 2-3 very large meals on Christmas day depending on the size of your family and their background ("Frohe Weihnachten" to my Austrian brethren). These are the meals we all look forward to, have emotional connections to and should enjoy without feelings of guilt or regret.
But whenever you arrive at a Christmas get together/lunch/party, there are always bowls of snacks around. Pretzels, check. Nuts, check. Shortbread biscuits, check. Chocolate, check. Candy canes, errghhhh check .... (I would put candy canes in the top 10 worst foods ever).
And we eat them.
Why?
We don’t even really want them. They’re not the foods we have thought about for the last 2 months in anticipation. We eat them because they’re there.
Over the course of a day or two these mindless snacks add up.
So be a food snob. If you don’t love something don’t eat it. If the host brings around snacks just politely tell them that you’re eagerly saving yourself for their “insert whatever dish they pride themselves on”. This avoids coming off as rude and gives their self-esteem a mental fist bump.
3.Focus on what you can control.
Worry about the stuff you can control and learn to ignore the stuff you can’t. Great life advice that also fits nicely into this article.
Nutritionist Kate Freeman explains this point perfectly:
“ You eat approximately 3 meals a day. That’s 21 meals a week. During the season leading up to Christmas you may have 4 or more functions, parties, outings or meals per week that are out of your control. If you do the maths, there’s still 17 meals in that week that you can control. There’s really no need for these parties to throw you off track at all”.
During the meals you have control over eat towards your goals and if your so inclined replace some of your starchy carbs and fats with more fibrous veg. Eating on point for the 70-80% of meals you have control over will keep any fat gain minimal.
As Armi Legge says “Consistency trumps perfection"
4. Avoid the ‘ahhh f**k it’ approach
This builds off the above point. I see this all the time and its particularly common in the fitness crowd who love routine. When this routine is broken or changed they see it as a complete failure and decide to write the day/week/month off. It’s what we call the ‘Ahh f**k it’ approach.
Bryan Krahn explains it as this:
"It’s when bad decisions are rationalized, and then allowed to snowball into a series of really questionable play calls."
For example;
‘ I haven’t worked out all week and have a few parties coming up….ahh f**k it, I’ll give training a miss and start again next week”.
Or
“I’ve already eaten and drank more than I should…ahh f**k it, I’ll get back on track on Monday”.
Even the most committed can find themselves completely off their healthy rhythm.
It’s important to realise you’re going to make mistakes. There will be times when you miss meals or have the occasional bender.
It happens. Just remember, you’re in this for the long haul. So don’t cry over spilt eggnog , move forward and get back on the health horse.
5. Fat gain isn’t as fast as you may think.
Not a tip as such but because I love science I thought I’d sprinkle some science in to make any doubters feel better.
A 2014 study looked at the body composition effects of short term overfeeding in healthy adult males. I’m not talking a small increase in food either. Subjects consumed 1500 kcal per day over three days compared to their normal diet!
After three days and roughly an extra 4500kcal extra energy consumed subjects weight increased by 0.5 kg.
Wait…Where’s the good news in this?
There was no significant gain in fat.
The majority of the weight gained was water! And after 1 -2 weeks all subjects weights had returned to normal.
Unless you have a serious reason for being shredded in the weeks immediately post Christmas, is it really worth being neurotic or anxious about something so magical it makes Harry Potter look like a muggle waving a stick?
I think not.
Enjoy yourself and spread cheer rather than beating yourself up. Diet and exercise is supposed to make our life more fun and rewarding not stress us out.
If you’re still sitting there thinking I’m a perverted weirdo due to my opening quote, it’s from Love Actually you sheltered Grinch! Watch it and email me your thanks for introducing you to the best christmas/ romantic comedy ever.
Enjoy your festive season.
Out.