Charlotte Roycroft-Davis explains why people gain 3-6 lb over Christmas and keep it on: aggressive food marketing, the all-or-nothing mindset from yo-yo dieting, and less daily movement. Three fixes: drop the guilt-driven "diet head" mentality, eat mindfully without using Christmas as an excuse, and add low-intensity activity like walking or stairs instead of formal gym sessions.
Hi! Well, it's that time of year again when everywhere you look is wall-to-wall party food, mince pies, chocolates, and alcohol. So much money is spent on marketing to make you buy food and drink at Christmas, and it really does influence your decisions. It's so easy to overeat and many people really pile on the pounds. Did you know that a large portion of people's yearly weight gain is caused by overeating and decreasing their activity levels in one week at Christmas? And because there's far more pleasure to be had in consuming the seasonal goodies than there is in the effort of losing them later, the few pounds gained are often not lost at all after the holiday period. So each year many people put on about 3 to 6 pounds and then after Christmas is over they typically only lose half or two-thirds of that fat. Now if you have a Slimpod programme you'll obviously be far more in control of food and drink than you would would ordinarily be, but it's so easy to get drawn in and not be conscious of what's being consumed at all. So I thought I'd give you a few tips to help you keep on top of things. You can obviously still have lots of fun— that's the Slimpod way— but you'll be doing it without the guilt, and the bonus will be that you can still get into your usual clothes in January. Which of course would be a great result. Now, tip number 1: be very aware of diet head creeping in. And what do I mean by this? Well, when you have a history of yo-yo dieting, which a lot of people have, you might find an all-or-nothing behaviour creeps in. It's actually called 'what the hell' behaviour. Yes, it's so common it actually has a name. But stop that in its tracks. There's no place for it in your life because it does so much damage and it causes so much guilt. Tip number 2: Be aware of what the marketeers are doing. They're hypnotizing you to eat more. By elevating the importance of food at Christmas, they make you focus on it. So the trick is to avoid thinking of Christmas as special or important where food is concerned. It really doesn't need to be an excuse to eat all the mince pies and chocolates you can stuff down. It really doesn't. Also, be a bit more mindful of what's going on— what's going into your mouth. I'm not saying you should deprive yourself at all. But it, that, it's that season when things can just get a bit out of control, and then you'll just end up beating yourself up, and we don't want that. Some people don't increase their weight at this time of year at all. So what do they do differently to those who do pile on the pounds? The answer is what tip number 3 is all about. People who don't put on weight are far more aware of the balance between the extra food that they're consuming and how much they're burning off. In a study, the people who burned it off did, did it by increasing their activity level, while those who put on the fat didn't. And I don't mean sticking on the Lycra and going to the gym, not at all. This is just about extra walking or some squats each day. The thing that happens to so many people at this time of year is that routine just goes out the window and the daily gym visit or the weekly Zumba class just doesn't happen. They— everybody's just too busy. They don't realize that they can easily burn off the extra calories and the fat by just doing something that doesn't require going to an exercise class. So the idea is to just be a bit more mindful and pay attention to this. You can consciously increase your activity level during the holiday season to prevent weight, weight gain. It's not difficult to do if you're aware of it. When you think about it, Christmas involves so much sitting around, so even if you just get up and walk around the house or do some squats Watts for 5 minutes. It's still movement. Or better still, go for a walk, go up and down stairs rather than taking a lift if you're still working in the Christmas season. Do a 10-minute YouTube exercise video. Stay active and you'll feel really great while celebrating and having fun. So all that's left for me to say is to have a fabulous festive season and a wonderfully peaceful and healthy 2022.
