Are you dreading the impact Christmas could have on your weight loss? Are you afraid that you'll slip back to old habits, or that you'll use the festive season as an excuse to indulge?Many people find the Christmas season challenging, but there are things you can do to make the season easier for yourself. Read on to learn more.
CalorieKing.com
HAVE BREAKFAST
In the excitement of opening gifts, it's easy to forget about breakfast. Some people intentionally skip breakfast altogether to save up for a Christmas-dinner splurge.
This year, take a different approach. Have a delicious, healthy breakfast to fill you up and help you avoid snacking throughout the morning. Make breakfast a part of your Christmas traditions, and spoil yourself with a lovely low-fat omelet, a fresh fruit salad, low-fat muffins, or smoked salmon and light cream cheese on rye bread.
AVOID NIBBLING
Nibbles and hors d'oeuvres can quickly add calories and fat to an otherwise healthy meal. If you are dining at home, make sure that any nibbles you serve are low-calorie and low-fat. Try some low-fat dips with vegetable crudités, or bowls of raw nuts and dried fruits.
If you are dining at someone else's house, take along a plate of low-fat nibbles to share.
COOK WISELY
If you're the cook this Christmas, you're in an excellent position to make sure that the meal is low in calories and healthy too. If you need inspiration for a healthy feast, check out the link to our to our website to explore some of the other delicious seasonal recipes on CalorieKing.com
GO EASY ON THE ALCOHOL
Limit yourself to one or two glasses of wine or beer throughout the day. Drinking less alcohol will make it easier to keep up your resolve. If you indulge in too much alcohol, it will be harder to say no to fatty foods. Plus, as your body turns its attention to metabolizing the alcohol – which your body sees as a toxin that it needs to get rid of quickly – any calories you consume while drinking alcohol will be more likely to be stored as fat.
Space your drinks by having a diet soft drink or water between each alcoholic drink. To make your low-calorie drinks seem more festive, have sparkling mineral water with a twist of lemon or lime in a champagne glass, or try fruit juice in a wine glass with a sprig of mint.
White wine spritzers - a mixture of white wine and club soda - are also a delicious way to indulge with half the calories and alcohol.
IT'S OK TO SAY "NO"
Sometimes well-meaning friends and relatives can put a lot of pressure on you to eat an extra helping of food or to try high-fat treats. If you don't want any, just be polite and tell them "No, thank you." If they continue to pressure you, you could try something like "That was delicious, but I'm full right now. I'd love a cup of coffee though."
If you know that pressure to eat is inevitable, it can be helpful to visualize yourself successfully saying "no" beforehand. This can make it easier when Aunt Alice is hovering over you with her plate of Christmas cookies.
ENJOY A TREAT
Don't spend all Christmas day depriving yourself. Special occasions are to be enjoyed, and if you want to indulge in a few treats at Christmas then go ahead! Choose your favorite goodies and really enjoy them (within moderation).
While one day won't cause weight gain, a month's worth of overindulging will! If your lead-up to Christmas is packed with parties, make sure you keep track of what you're eating and drinking and plan for treats along the way. Constantly overdoing it won't help your waistline, but with a little planning you can balance your eating, exercise and treats.
GET MOVING
After a big meal, it can be tempting to collapse on the couch and sleep it off. Instead, why not get moving? Put on your favorite CD and burn off some Christmas calories dancing. If the weather's mild where you live, enjoy a brisk walk or get outside with the kids and help them try out some of their new Christmas toys. If your Christmas is white, take advantage of the opportunities for exercise snow provides: Pack up the family and go skiing, snowboarding or tobogganing. Even a trek in the snow or building a snowman will help to burn off calories and are enjoyable ways to spend Christmas afternoon with your family. Anybody up for a snowball fight?
GET BACK ON TRACK
If you do overindulge, remember that you haven't completely blown all your weight-loss goals. Don't say to yourself, "Well, I've ruined everything now. I may as well finish off this box of candy." An attitude of defeat will send you on a downhill spiral and you could fall back into the patterns that you've been working so hard to change.
Something to remember about sensible eating is that it entails a complete lifestyle change. If your lifestyle is healthy and includes lots of exercise, you will be in a position to accommodate the occasional indulgence. So if you do enjoy a few eggnogs this Christmas, it's not the end of the world.
Just get back on track the day after Christmas with some of your favorite Beachbody DVD's and healthy, low-fat meals.
Enjoy the festive season!
Coach Judy
www.beachbodycoach.com/judyt5000
coachjudyt@beachbodycoach.com
Remember by logging into WOWY you can win great prizes just for Working Out!

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