Christmas season is a time for socialising which includes work Christmas parties, nights out, celebrations, gatherings, family get togethers etc here is my advice to help you to make the right choices while having fun and keeping it real, even if you can adopt of a couple of these… it WILL help!!

Remember, if your goal is to lose weight more energy (food) needs to be worked off than energy (food) going in (output needs to be greater than the input). You need to remember to look at each week rather than just the day so each week you need to be in a calorie controlled deficit and a weekend blow out could leave you in a surplus which is where most people go very wrong and therefore gain weight…

The Basics:

• Drink 2-3 litres of water daily – remember to keep hydrated
• Move as much as you can (aim for 10,000 steps daily, 5,000 steps minimum) – use a http://bit.ly/awesomefitbit or your phone step tracker or any other tracker you have
• Remember, the more active you are, the more fuel your body will utilise to counteract the extra calories with the food and drink choices you may be making
• Fit in gym workout or home based circuit session where possible; ideally on the days you know you are likely to consume more calories through food and drink
• Get plenty of rest; 6 hours sleep as a minimum to avoid to many late nights where possible as this will effect your body, energy levels and leave you opting for bad food choices

Food:

• Imagine your hand to be your plate; your portions want to be that size and you want to eat 5/6 of those a day ideally – e.g. 3 meals and 2 snacks
• Your palm is your protein source
• Your fingers and thumb is your carbohydrate and fat sources

Eating out:

When you eat out go for the high protein options for example….

• chicken and mixed veg
• steak and green veg
• fish and new potatoes and veg
• super food salad and chicken
• Greek salad and eggs
• Skinny burger (no bread) and sweet potato
• Mixed bean salad (vegetarian option)
• Fresh fruit or sorbet are better desert options

Food Tips:

• Avoid the bread, chips, pastries etc – you do not need this!
• Go for leaner cuts and tomato based over cream, saucy dishes
• If it is not on the menu… ASK! You are the customer, most restaurants will make what you ask for. I promise you they will; I do this everywhere even now as I travel in Thailand 🙂
• Rest assured no amount of training will outweigh a bad diet!

Alcohol:

• If you must drink alcohol try to limit it is not every day so plan ahead the days where you may want to have a few drinks…
• Drinking shuts down your fat burning hormones so it is better to drink once a week rather than several times.
• Drinking will only make everything else suffer, as you will feel bad the next day and are likely to be less active and make the wrong food choices… but keep it real here 🙂
• The best alcohol options are vodka, lime and soda, gin and tonic or red wine
• Try to minimise cocktails, other sugary drinks and mixing your drinks
• Drink plenty of water to keep hydrated and minimise your hangover; hence drinking vodka, lime and soda is even better 😉

Additional Tips:

• I repeat; no amount of training will outweigh a bad diet!
• Keep as active as possible; at the very lease a power walk every morning would be great (see my day example below), if you can fit in an afternoon / evening gym session or home based circuit session for even 30 minutes that would be even better
• Try to keep to one cheat /treat per day so start your day with a clean breakfast, a well balanced lunch, good snack options then save the cheat / treats / alcohol until later on in the day, the earlier you start the longer you will carry on racking up the calories

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Prea xx