Ten Ways To Stay Lean and Fit at Christmas

Christmas should be a time to let your hair down and have fun – let’s get that clear from the start!

If you’re spending the whole time worrying about gaining weight, then the chances are that you’ve not done what you should have done for the previous 50 weeks of the year.

That’s my boundaries for festive frivolities…

Two weeks.

If you usually party for the whole of December, eating and drinking whatever you like then it’s likely that you’re one of the people propping up an interesting statistic – half of the annual weight gain experienced by the average westerner occurs at Christmas time. 

If that’s you, then this article could stop that from happening this time around!

Before I give you my top ten tips for staying lean and fit at Christmas, I have to say this…

I would much prefer you to be one of the people who trains hard all year round and has formed such subconscious nutritional habits that there is no need to read this. You just carry on with your usual food and exercise habits, enjoy some nights out, parties and Christmas lunches and barely notice any change in your body.

However, if you got drawn to this article, that’s probably not you! So whilst I suggest you look at consistent lifestyle habits in 2024, let’s look at what you can do to minimise the impact of the extra Christmas calories.

These aren’t necessarily long-term strategies but they are great for damage limitation during what can be a pretty intense period for a lot of people!

PLAN YOUR PARTIES LIKE AN ATHLETE

All good athletes have A, B and C races with A-races being given the highest priority because of prize-money or the value attached to that event. 

B and C-races are still races and carry some importance but if the athlete doesn’t peak for these it’s not the end of the world and may be used as more of a preparation for the big one.

Do this with your parties! 

A-parties are where anything goes. You don’t want more than one per week.

B-parties are where you use the drinking system of ‘Drink the first. Sip the second. Refuse the third’

C-parties are the ones you either say no to or just ‘show your face at’ before making your excuses to leave early.

As I said, if you’re one of these people who has to get smashed at 2-3 parties and client meetings each week in December then there isn’t really much I can help with!

DRINK WATER EVERY 3RD DRINK

On the topic of alcohol, drinking water every third drink will help reduce the alcohol hit and your hangover so you can still exercise throughout Christmas.

Don’t worry, most people won’t even notice what you’re doing until they wonder why you’re as fresh as a daisy the next day! Even if they do, you’re not a teenager. Be an adult and ignore the peer-pressure.

SALT WATER THERAPY

Hangovers are largely due to dehydration and loss of electrolytes.

Drinking a pint of water with a teaspoon of sea salt or Himalayan salt before and after a party can go a long way to reducing the effects.

GREENS DRINKS

Alcohol consumption at a time of year when many immune systems are already compromised due to stress and lack of sunshine, often tips people into getting sick.

Upping your nutrient intake through ‘proper’ food and powdered greens drinks is an easy way to keep vitamin and mineral levels high.

TRAIN BEFORE GOING OUT

If you can schedule it, train before you go to a party.

Use mid to high rep sets (10-15 reps) with short rest breaks. Compound exercises combined in supersets and circuits work well – think squats deadlifts, lunges, overhead presses, push ups, thrusters and so on. Finish off with short but intense intervals of 30-45 seconds.

This will not only be time efficient and reduce your excuses about being busy, but it will increase insulin sensitivity in your cells. In short, you will absorb more of the carbs you eat at the party into your muscles and store less as fat.

USE FASTING TECHNIQUES

Keeping your calorie intake below the weight gain threshold is still possible at Christmas.

All you need to do is reduce your calorie intake at other meals that day. The Warrior-Diet style works well where you can graze in the day but eat big in the evening.

The problem with fasting is that it can lead to lower than optimal protein levels so ensure you eat some light proteins through the day (including protein shakes) to ensure no muscle mass is lost when reducing calorie intake.

EAT LOW FAT FOODS WITH ALCOHOL

We all know that alcohol consumption puts a considerable workload on our liver as it tries to detox what is a poison to our system.

This means it has a lower capacity to produce bile which is used to breakdown fats in the intestines.

Keeping your fat intake down when you intend to drink at least reduces a bit of pressure on the liver and reduces the likelihood of fat storage.

Try to stick with high protein foods and if you train hard as recommended, you should be able to deal with the higher carbohydrate intake typical of Christmas time!

CHOOSE STARTER OR DESSERT

Enjoying Christmas doesn’t mean you have to uncontrollably eat everything in sight. 

Try to choose a starter OR dessert. 

Starters typically tend to be lower in sugar and often contain more protein so I would recommend ‘front loading’ but mix-and-match and you can easily keep 500 calories off your intake at any meal.

DON’T COUNT CALORIES

It’s Christmas. 

If you’re trying to count calories at a party or family meal then you’re in for a miserable time and you’re only going to confirm what you already know – you’re eating too much.

Focus on the behaviours above and you can sit and enjoy your food.

Again, if you need to micro-manage calories for two weeks at Christmas, your lifestyle for the other 50 weeks is likely on the wrong train tracks.

You’d be better spending some time over the holidays planning how to make the whole of 2024 more productive when it comes to your health and fitness.

DON’T WEIGH YOURSELF

As with calories, weighing yourself is just going to confirm that yes, you ate too much yesterday.

All sorts will be going on here which doesn’t reflect the truth. 

If you ate a big meal the chances are some of it’s still digesting and if you ate more carbs than usual, you’re likely storing more glycogen in your body. 

When carbohydrates are digested and stored in muscles they add to your scale weight (but not body fat unless you ate excessively). Not only this but water bonds to glycogen so your ‘water weight’ is likely up as well.

All of this will mean extra weight on the scales which will soon disappear again when you workout.

Don’t weigh yourself. It will only make you feel bad and potentially for no reason whatsoever!

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That’s a simple guide to simple tricks and tips you can use over Christmas.

As with most things fitness, you can choose to take what works for you and ignore what doesn’t but the more you ignore, the more you run the risk of spending the first 3 months of 2024 trying to get back to where you were in November!

You can and should enjoy yourself but you don’t need to be an uncontrolled maniac when it comes to food and booze and you certainly don’t need to stop working out! 

Exercise will GIVE you more energy to get through the crazy times rather than taking it away so keep your head in the game and blast into next year…