The holiday season is upon us once again. This is usually not an ideal time to try to lose weight. But making small changes to your eating routine with intermittent fasting can help you avoid the dreaded holiday weight gain. It’s about being mindful of what you eat, how you eat and how you treat your body.
Avoiding Holiday Weight Gain With Intermittent Fasting & Keeping Your Body
Here are a few tips to help you get through the 2022 holiday season filled with food, drink and sweets.
Stay Active With Friends & Family
Cut back on cell phone and television time as much as possible, especially during meal time. Focusing your energy on meaningful conversations and connections at the dinner table helps slow down the pace of eating. This increases the chance that you’ll be making mindful decisions about what you’re putting in your mouth. It’s never a bad idea to take a break from screen time to enjoy the ones you’re with.
Make time to move your body. It’s easy to get so sidetracked by running around, wrapping, cleaning, and visiting that you forget to exercise. One benefit of having people around is having built-in workout partners. After dinner, suggest a movement-focused activity. Take a group walk or play a friendly game of football or basketball instead of plopping down on the sofa to watch television.
Get your mind off the food, help aid digestion, and lower blood sugar by spending 30-60 minutes exercising together.
Eat Smaller Portions At Meals & Snack Less
Keeping tabs by tracking your intake is an effective method for weight management. Create a habit by using a food journal or mobile app to track everything you eat and drink each day. When the holidays arrive, you’ll be able to mentally gauge how to avoid overloading your plate. Try eating like Europeans! Graze upon smaller plates of healthier foods throughout the day, rather than sitting down for one huge feast. Those who eat larger portions tend to gain weight more easily than those who don’t.
Eating between meals is a surefire recipe for losing track of how much you’re eating. Before you reach for that granola bar or cookie, try drinking a cold glass of water. Dehydration is often mistaken for hunger, so aim to hydrate calorie-free first. If you’re still in need of a snack, reach for fruit, whole grains, or cut up veggies. It’s important to try to be mindful of this, though. If you find yourself chomping down because there’s food around instead of hunger, it’s important to acknowledge it and redirect yourself.
Get Plenty Of Good Sleep
Unfortunately, sleep is not too often a priority. But it’s one of the most important things to give yourself, especially during the holidays. Sleep affects your weight, thanks to ghrelin, which is your body’s “eat more hormone.” So make sure you relax and sleep well. People who get less than seven hours of sleep a night tend to consume more calories throughout the day, thanks to the rise in ghrelin.
Eat Balanced & Nutritional Meals
It’s always good practice to treat fruits and vegetables as the main dish, with meats and proteins your second and minimal to no refined carbs. Try keeping a bowl of fresh fruit options on the counter to make snacks a no-brainer!
There will be more opportunities to drink alcohol over the holidays. Try to remember that liquid calories (including the non-alcoholic kind) add up. Consuming too much wine or spirits can lessen impulses and lead to overeating and making less healthy choices.
Speaking of non-alcoholic beverages, watch your sugar intake. Avoiding soda, fruit juices, sports drinks, and the like can save hundreds of calories a day or more. Add in the sugary baked goods and confections that come with the holiday season and you’re consuming an unexpected added calories a day. Put the cinnamon roll down, and reach for a banana or sweet sugar snap peas and hummus, instead.
Practice Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting offers many benefits such as boosting metabolism, improving sleep, minimizing the effects of not-so-healthy foods, and even helping you increase muscle. It’s a great strategy to use through the holidays to reach your goal of little to no weight gain or even weight loss.
If you’re new to IF, take it slow and steady but start now before the holidays arrive. Begin by reducing your eating and drinking intake window to one 8-hour period of time, such as noon to 8pm. This gives your body 16 hours to digest everything you ate and begin tackling your body’s energy reserves (stored fat) to keep you going. Long term intermittent fasting can help you be healthier and more comfortable in your body. Metabolic switching will help you achieve incredible health goals
When you fast intermittently, the holidays don’t have to be a recipe for weight gain and unhealthy behavior. Plus, you don’t have to spend the first month of a new year full of regret and tight pants.
With tools like Citravarin Fasting Mints and a personal fasting coach, it’s easier than ever to create new habits and stay in control of your health this holiday season and beyond. You’ve got this!