Hello Everybody,
You have spent months on your walking for weight loss program and healthy diet. You have lost weight and are feeling rather pleased with yourself. Quite right too, it was an effort but it was worth it. You are a Star, you really are.
Then suddenly along comes Christmas, unannounced - except by every superstore in the land from the beginning of October. But time passes and Christmas can creep up on you quite easily. So, what to do?
The answer is enjoy yourself. After all you spend 50 weeks of the year living a healthy lifestyle, or if you are taking weight loss and fitness seriously you do. To eat everything you want once a year - maybe three times if you count your birthday and Easter - will not cause a major disaster. Maybe you will even find you do not much like rich food anyway.
Of course, if you want to, you can enjoy some healthy food at Christmas. It is just a matter of doing what you have been doing all year. Do not drink too much alcohol, eat dry roasted rather than salted peanuts, eat dips instead of crisps, but not creamy or cheesy dips, beware of chocolates. This is all very well, but these few minor things will not make a great deal of difference over the short term. You may be eating out, or eating food prepared by other people. You are likely to have no control over the main meals, where the calories are, and all you can do is eat smaller portions.
Your exercise level will reduce as well. A postprandial walk is excellent, but a stroll with friends and family to the pub could well make matters worse. It is not impossible that you are so used to your daily walk that you will not want to leave it out, even on Christmas Day. If that is the case just go, nobody will miss you for half an hour and, if you are with your family, a cooling off period may be no bad thing.
I fear what has been described as your ‘Christmas Weight Maintenance Goal,’ is unlikely to be achieved. Do not worry about it. A feeling of failure is the last thing you want on Christmas day.
Just weigh yourself on 1 January and, when you have recovered from the shock, set a target to lose the extra pounds in six weeks. But do make sure you are back to your original weight before Easter, or the chocolate will send you into a wait gain spiral you hoped you had given up. I do not think of this as yo-yo dieting. I think of it as not avoiding weight loss at all costs. You are in control and you can lose or gain weight whenever you wish. Enjoy.
See you soon,
Peter Stockwell
20 December 2009
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