The greatest time of the year is finally here!
With all the holiday celebrations with family and friends comes all the FOOD! Now, don’t feel like you have to deprive yourself of the food and festivities that come with this time of year!
Its all about finding a balance of letting yourself indulge but not losing yourself this holiday season and letting yourself go overboard.
Here’s a list of my 5 tips you can keep in mind while enjoying your holiday season! :)
1. PRIORITIZE the Protein!
Protein has a high thermogenic effect meaning that your body uses more calories to digest protein (20-35% of calories) than it does for carbs and fats. Protein also has a stabilizing effect on your blood sugar and will help you to feel full!
Increasing your protein intake will boost your metabolism and help to maintain your muscle mass, both key ingredients in losing fat and keeping it off.
2. Drink lots of water and make sure to eat your fiber!
Making sure you are drinking enough water and eating foods high in fibre will definitely help with satiety! Fibre tends to sit in your gastrointestinal area longer, which pulls fluid into the area, making you feel full for longer!
Fibre also helps blunt the secretion of sugar, which will help with the all the yummy desserts you may plan on enjoying ;)
3. Never arrive to a party or dinner hungry.
Starving yourself all day up until the social event often leads to overeating and making many poor nutritional choices. Try to keep your diet clean throughout the day, eating a smaller meal about an hour before your event. Protein and healthy fat sources are great options that will help fill you up so you’ll be less likely to overindulge at the event.
4. Feel free to add in some extra cardio sessions to your workouts!
To maximize your chances of avoiding the holiday weight gain, make sure you stay active! If you're finding if hard to schedule workouts into your busy schedule, try out HIIT (high intensity interval training) style workouts. HIIT will help you to burn fat faster with a less overall training time! (Want to read more about HIIT training? Check out my blog under the 'fitness' tab- "Lets Talk Cardio")
5. Don’t eat the leftovers the next day.
Try to leave the holiday food for the holiday itself. It’s hard to get back on your normal diet the next day after your cheat meal if you are staring at the tempting foods in your fridge.
Instead, enjoy your indulgences over the holidays but get yourself back on track with your goals the next day!
Overall, it is the holidays and it comes only once a year so by all means, ENJOY IT! You only live once and these times you share with your loved ones create memories you'll always have.
But by just being a little mindful of your choices you are already that much more ahead, leaving you pumped and motivated for the new year instead of frustrated or upset that you let yourself go completely over the holidays!