Don't deprive yourself of holiday celebrations; just add in these extras, say experts.
The countdown is on. Christmas, aka calorie-palooza is a mere 20 sleeps away. With the food festivities fast approaching, families and friends are getting set to loosen belts, tighten bibs and dive into all the food with reckless abandon.
An article in Men's Health magazine reports the average person will consume approximately 5,373 calories on Christmas day – that’s the equivalent of 10 Big Macs…yikes. And this is just for the traditional style meal of turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, and potatoes. It doesn’t include the much-anticipated boozy brunches and eggnog treats!
Rather than skipping out on the holiday festivities, experts recommend a few ways to protect our health from the holiday binge:
1. Take guilt off the table. Make a deal with yourself that if you want stuffing, ham or pecan pie, you can have it.
2. Adapt your holiday workout. Don’t overwhelm yourself. Split your physical activity into smaller, more manageable time intervals. Take a 10-minute walk a couple of times during the day.
3. Get a head start on your New Year’s goal. Get a pre-emptive workout in before the holidays starts.
4. Don’t get hangry. Skipping meals can cause you to get too hungry, which can cause you to eat too fast.
5. Drink More Water. Studies show people who drink 500ml of water before a meal lost can lose about 2kg more weight, which equates to a whopping 44 per cent increase in weight loss. Drinking 10 chilly glasses of water a day could lead to an extra 490 calories burned in a week. How refreshing.
