To ensure you do all you can to avoid holiday weight gain, it’s important to have a plan. The best way to have a plan is to take a look at your life and develop strategies and tactics to avoid overeating. It’s fine to enjoy certain holiday treats, of course, but you don’t have to gain weight to do it.
The following 6 eating strategies to add to your daily routine to avoid holiday weight gain:
- Talk About It – Don’t just leave your meals and snacks to chance. Instead, talk about your plans with your family and even your close friends. Everyone is struggling with the same thing, and in fact, most people will be so glad to focus on something besides eating as much food as possible.
- Slow It Down – When you eat, focus on enjoying what you eat instead of rushing. Plan your activities accordingly, so you’re not in a hurry. If you can’t sit down and spend a minimum of thirty minutes enjoying a piece of pie or a meal, you’re going too fast for your brain to register that it’s satisfying. Savour your food. Please don’t eat it too quickly. Put down your utensil between bites.
- Be Aware of Your Hunger and Satisfaction Signals – When you slow down, you’ll notice that you are more aware of your feelings of hunger or satisfaction.
Only eat when you are actually hungry and until you are satisfied. Understand that frequently your appetite is much bigger than what you need to consume to feel satisfied.
- Cook and Bring the Healthy Dish – If you’re really worried, one way to deal with parties is to cook your own healthy dishes to bring with you to share. You know you can eat what you brought, and you don’t even have to mention that it’s healthy.
- Break Before Having Sweets – Instead of going into your dessert right away after a holiday meal, take some time to digest before moving on. Remember, the holidays are all about creating memories. Go for an after-dinner walk and enjoy your dessert later after you feel hungry again.
- Drink Water, Unsweetened Hot Tea, and Coffee – Enjoying drinks throughout the day will also help keep you satisfied with the amount you’re eating. Drinking unsweetened beverages like hot tea and coffee or just water is preferable since it won’t add more calories to your day, and it’ll fill you up.
The more you plan in advance and develop your own strategies to deal with eating during the holidays, the easier it’s going to be for you to get through it. If you notice, these are really the same strategies and tactics that you can use any day of the year to avoid weight gain and overeating. But, of course, the best thing is that you can still enjoy all the treats from your memories without gaining weight.
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