Christmas is a time for delicious food… but one too many festive treats and our waistlines can quickly expand.
Fortunately there are simple tricks everyone can try to keep the weight off over the festive season – and some even claim to be fun.
FEMAIL asked three UK-based health, fitness and lifestyle experts to share their tips, including creating an exercise ‘game’ with playing cards, playing classical music at dinner time and practising just saying ‘no’ if someone offers you an extra chocolate or roast potato.
Use playing cards to create your own exercise ‘game’
The Christmas holidays is a time of playing board games with your friends and family, so why not create your own exercise game that will let your imagination run wild and help keep you fit at the same time, said David Wiener, a training specialist at AI-based fitness and lifestyle coaching app Freeletics.
He said: ‘By allocating each suit or colour to an exercise, and the number on the card dictating how many reps you do, you have the thrill of playing a game and getting fit at the same time. It is also a nice way to get the whole family moving.’
Swap your plate for a saucer
Ashwin Sunassee, Founder & CEO of Wellfinity, said: ‘Eating from a smaller plate actually makes us feel fuller with less food. The more empty space on your plate, the more you eat, it’s even got studies on this.’
Visualise the ingredients
Clair MacKenzie, certified life, health and weight coach and founder of TheBestYou.Coach, said: ‘When you feel the urge to indulge in some sugar and fat laden desert, force yourself to visualise its constituent ingredients.
‘The sugar, the fat, the flavourings and whatever else it contains.
‘When you visualise eating piles of plain sugar, fat, salt, flour – whatever it is – that dessert that you thought looked so delicious may suddenly lose its appeal.’
Practise journaling to track how you feel after food
David said: ‘Spending between 10 and 30 minutes a day journaling or meditating can help individuals to become more alert of their actions and become more mindful during the day.
‘This does not mean logging everything you eat or drink in a day, but rather how you feel after a meal. If you are constantly writing feelings of lethargy and fullness, you will begin to notice a pattern and can adjust your eating habits from there.
‘Alternatively, you can spend some time alone meditating or listening to audio courses to give yourself some time out and a renewed sense of focus.’
Spending as little as 10 to 30 minutes every day can help keep your weight down because it helps you become more alert of your actions and the things you do during the day (stock image)
Turnoff the lights in the kitchen to stop snacking
David said: ‘Once you have finished eating your Christmas lunch, try turning off the lights in the kitchen and shutting the door, as if it to say the kitchen is now closed.
‘This will help keep off the extra pounds as you will be less tempted to go back and snack.
‘Your metabolism is at its slowest during the evening, so your body will not process late night snacks as well as it would during the day, so avoid dipping into the selection box after dinner!’
Count a hundred chews before swallowing
Ashwin said: ‘It seems everything is just all about instant gratification, even the way we eat. Fill up the tummy when you’re hungry.
‘Whatever happened to savouring the bites?
‘Well it turns out the slower you chew, the more surface area you chomp the food into, the more the salivary amylase and digestive juices get flowing, and the postprandial response of your gut increase, and a decrease in energy intake! Who knew!’
Squirt leftovers with washing up liquid
Clair said: ‘If you tend to pick at leftovers, quickly squirt them with washing up liquid as soon as you can, so that you’re not tempted to finish off what remains yourself.
‘Alternatively, if there is enough for another meal, cover up and package in containers and pop away/freeze as soon as possible, so you avoid picking.’
Practise saying ‘no’
Clair said: ‘If you find yourself being offered foods that you really don’t want to eat, try to say a polite no, but if it’s pushy and you don’t want to be rude, consider inventing a sudden bout of troubling stomach condition that you really don’t want to go into detail about!
Smell before you eat
Ashwin said: ‘Yes, we don’t just mean taking a whiff and then gulping it down once, we mean taking the time to actually breathe in the flavours before you eat.
‘A study with 3000 volunteers showed that the more people ate, the less they ate, and the more weight they lost!‘
Visualise yourself in January
Clair said: ‘Think forward to the first of January. Visualise how you will feel standing on the scale having not gained weight over the festive period and feel the vibration of the positive vibes and satisfaction.
‘Remind yourself of that feeling, visualise yourself feeling proud and pleased of your achievement every day before each meal or potential overeating opportunity. Look forward to it, just like you look forward to the anticipation of Christmas day itself.’