Like many others I usually gain some weight over christmas & new year holidays-usually about 7-10 lbs. It can then take me many months to lose the christmas weight !

What can we do to prepare for this and try and keep the gain to a minimum ? Well its about 4 weeks until Christmas so it is worth starting some good habits now in preparation

Here are some quick tips :

1. Leave buying the christmas chocolates until as late as possible. Every year I buy chocolate & biscuits as gifts in November & early December, then I have to buy them again as I have eaten them-lol
2. Make sure you have your 5 portions of different fruit & veg a day. This will help you feel fuller & makes sure you get plenty of vitamins
3. Eat before you go to parties-this will help you to resist snacking on the crisps & snacks
4. Volunteer to drive on a night out-this will mean you can not drink alcohol and you are more likely to stick to healthy options (alcohol definitely weakens ones resistance to temptation)
5. If you are already overweight consider joining a slimming class before Christmas. Many people leave it until the new year which means they overindulge at christmas & have far more weight to lose than if they had joined pre-christmas. The queues to join at slimming classes are huge in the new year-new years resolutions-why wait until the new year ?
6. Avoid shopping for food when you are hungry. The supermarkets are crammed full of chocolates, crisps, snacks & bumper sizes tins of biscuits & sweeets at this time of year and are very difficult to resist when you are hungry.
7. Keep the amount of chocolate you buy for family to a minimum so that you wont be tempted to eat their’s.
8. When at a party or a night out choose long drinks with mixers in tall glasses with plenty of ice-eg gin and slimline tonic, vodka & tonic, white wine & soda, bacardi & diet coke. There are fewer calories in these drinks, and the drink will last longer so you will be less likely over consume
9. Be aware of evening snacking-the long winter night can mean we spend too long in front of the tv & the temptation to snack in the ads can be huge. Think of little jobs you can do in the ads, or if you must snack put a bowl of fruit in your tv room to snack on so at least your snacking is healthy.
10. Get active-when ever you can get outside and enjoy some fresh air and sunshine-wrap up warm and go for a walk. Walking is great exercise and costs nothing to do. All you need is a pair of comfortable sturdy & ideally waterproof shoes & away you go.
11. Consider taking up a new hobby in the evenings that gets you out of the house at least once a week
12. Try some new recipes-winter is a great time to get out your slow cooker & russle up a casserole or a heart warming soup

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