What to do if you have over-indulged this Christmas?

Christmas should definitely be enjoyed and a big part of many traditions during Christmas is to be around lots of festive foods and drinks which can make it difficult to stick to your health and fitness goals or even feeling good in your body.

Here are 3 easy ways you can get back on track after you have spent the last few days or maybe even most of December indulging.

1. Firstly, do not feel guilty. Christmas should be enjoyed, and guilt will usually only lead to a negative spiral. The number one thing to do is to not feel guilty and give yourself grace. Writing down how you are feeling really helps. After indulging you may feel more feel bloated, gassy, lethargic and unmotivated. Know that these are quite normal feelings after over consuming too much food. Awareness is key and usually when you write it down and become more of aware of it you tend to change your eating habits and begin to eat more foods that leave you feeling better.

2. Get back into a routine with your exercise. If you are away or on holidays go for some extra walks. Remember fat loss is all about calorie control. To lose weight you need to be in an energy deficit, this can be achieved by manipulating your energy in or energy out. So, by increasing your energy out through NEAT (daily movement) or through exercise you will be burning off some extra calories. I have aimed for 10,000 steps every day on average and also making sure I get back into my strength training routine because I know what you don’t use, you lose. If you are on holidays enjoy the extra time to hit the gym or do something active that you usually wouldn’t have time for, Mitch and I love to get out on our paddle board. If you find your stuck with loads of social events, do it first thing in the morning, I could almost guarantee you will feel a million times better. If you feel sluggish and unmotivated just close your eyes, don’t over think it and go to your first session or even a good power walk that you may have been putting off and once you get the first one done you will have gotten the ball rolling and you will start to feel yourself again. Movement will create momentum.

3. Now let’s talk about your energy in (food/liquids consumed) Getting back onboard when you’re on holidays or have some more social events can be a bit more difficult but there are simple things you can do to make sure you don’t feel “crappy” for too much longer. Have a good breakfast which incorporates a good amount of protein in it, this will allow you to stay fuller for longer and stabilise your sugar levels. If you know you have a big lunch or dinner, just make the other meals around that more vegetables, fruits and a couple of sources of protein. Drink your allocated water intake, because sometimes we can over eat because we are just dehydrated. Aim for 1 litre of water for every 30kgs of body weight. Increasing your protein and choosing more protein choices will help you stay fuller for longer which will reduce the chances of over indulging which will mean less body fat gain.

If you have already put some weight on, do not stress. Weight on the scale fluctuates a lot, most of the time it is extra fluid, as most of us will normally have overeaten on carbohydrates and For every one gram of carbohydrate stored in the body (as glycogen) there is approximately 2-3 grams of water retained.

The main thing is getting yourself back on track as soon as you can. Don’t wait until 2020, your health is now and the stronger you can get your mindset and with less ‘I will wait until January 1st, or X Date’ the stronger your mindset will be for 2020.

I invite you to ask yourself when do you want to start feeling better?

We would love to see you at RFT. We have loved helping those get back into the routine and feeling the absolute best this Festive Season!

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