Pre Christmas

The party season has descended upon us and pretty much starts the moment Bonfire night begins.

Here are 5 top ways to avoid putting on weight during the festive season.

1. Add a spritzer to every drink and drink a glass of water between each alcoholic beverage. A glass of wine is around 120 calories but if you half that with soda water you have halved the calories and if you had a water between each drink then you half the calories again. So a night out of 6 glasses of wine could be 800 odd calories( just under half your calorie intake for the day!) but with mixing in the soda and water content you would be left with 240 cals. Or better still have vodka and soda, vodka does not spike your insulin levels the way that wine does, which means you don’t crave carbs after!
2. If you have a night out of debauchery, get back on the band wagon the moment you wake up again. Do not ridicule yourself and go further into a pit of dispairing chocolate bars- jump back on the horse, do a 2 day detox of fruit, veg and fish- and plenty of water and exercise to your hearts content. You can undo what you have gained in a couple of days- but get on it straight away!
3. If you are out at a function that serves crudites, have your meal before you go out so you are full, and then just opt for the celery and carrots to dip into the humous or yogurt dips.

4. Schedule your diary for your workouts. If you, like me, have a full on social diary over the Christmas season chances are your workout days are going to take a back seat. So treat your exercise diary with the utmost importance and make sure you fit it in at least 3 workouts a week. Even if that means they have shortened to 30 minutes, just make the workouts more intense.
5. Get outside! Our day light hours are closing in which means your vitamin D intake is limited and your stress levels may got up, which in turn can lead to weight gain. So go out for a walk in your lunch hour, or opt for an out door bootcamp, or run with a friend to work, or jump on your bike to ride to the station, or if you are a Mum get on your bike with your little one.