Around Christmas time, our main worries are – have we got all the presents we need to get, can we afford them and what’s happening Christmas day…but we also need to add one more thought – “How am I NOT going to gain weight over Christmas?”

3kg is the average weight that a person gains over the Christmas/New Year period and having done some calculations you would need to consume an additional 18000 calories for the month of December or 600 extra calories per day!

An average female should be eating about 1400cal per day to stay fit and healthy (obviously this differs if you are aiming to lose/gain weight) so to add an extra 600cal, you would be consuming 2000 calories per day.  That is even above what an average male should be consuming daily (1800 cal)!

Scary isn’t it?  So what does 600 Christmas calories look like?

• 1 bottle + 1 glass of champagne
• 5 full strength beers
• 3 mince pies
• 2 large slices (200g) fruit cake
• 300g turkey with skin
• 7-8 small roast potatoes (cooked in fat)
• 7 rum balls (my personal favourite)
• 1 ham & cheese croissant
• 130g chocolate covered sultanas

WOW, it’s not hard to realise how easy it is to put those extra 3kg on!  So how do you stop gaining those extra kilos during December?

Now to be realistic, you are not going to put on 3kg over 1-2 days of above average eating, this is more likely to happen if you are eating the extra 600cal per day for 30 days.  So here is your guide to keeping those 3kgs off this Christmas season.

Pre-Christmas Parties

In last month’s newsletter I talked about attending parties and how to stay fit and healthy.  If you can’t remember the tips or didn’t get a chance to read it, here it is again:

Surviving Party Season

So now we have to figure out how to survive the BIG 3 Days Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Did you know that research has found that on average we consume our first Christmas chocolate at 8.30am!

I thought that I would share with you a little about what my family does for Christmas.  Long before I became a PT, I remember Christmas Lunches where I would have to change my clothes because I had eaten so much I felt like I was going to explode.  Now days our Christmas Lunches are much simpler and quite healthy and I much prefer this sort of Christmas.

While this doesn’t mean I don’t have any of the “treat” foods, it just means that we are mindful of what we are serving and eating. So here are my top tips for surviving Christmas Day:

• Serve a lean roast and cook your vegies separately with olive oil spray.
• Try an “Aussie” Christmas – think seafood, BBQ and salads
• Once you have finished your meal, put food away so people don’t get the chance to pick – I know if there is food left out I will pick at it until it’s all gone!
• If you are hosting Christmas, serve food that you want to eat!  If others want treats, they need to have them in their own time.
• If you know your guests will bring that pesky box of chocolates as thanks, suggest that they maybe bring a fruit platter or healthy alternative instead.  Who really needs 15 boxes of chocolates in the cupboard??
• Limit the amount of ‘nibbles’ on offer – you don’t need to continuously nibble (even if the kids are) as the calories will creep up on you.
• Offer non-alcoholic and/or low-cal drinks such as lime and soda, or water.  Try to stay clear of diet drinks (especially soft drinks) as this can cause problems with your metabolism.
• Try not to serve alcoholic beverages too early, while “it’s 12pm somewhere in the world” is funny, just think the earlier you start consuming alcohol the more you are going to consume!
• After Christmas Lunch/Dinner instead of sitting around chatting, why not get outside with the kids and play with their toys or get a group together and go for a walk. Your energy levels will increase and you will help aid digestion.

Remember, you are not going to gain 3kg over a couple of days but these are great tips to keeping yourself on track over Christmas celebrations.

But what about New Year’s?  I swear that I drink more on New Year’s Eve than I do at any other time of the year but as you can see from above a bottle and 1 glass of champagne can lead to a 3kg gain.  Here are my tips for welcoming in 2012 without those pesky 3kg:

• Drink plenty of water – don’t wait until you are parched before drinking water, it means you are already dehydrated.
• Make your first drink for the night a glass of water.  Also try to have a glass of water for every 2 glasses of alcohol you consume.  Your liver (and head) will thank you later!
• Eat a meal before you arrive at your party (obviously this is if you are going for drinks.) If you are attending a NYE Dinner, start the night off with a glass of water and make sure it is filled up just as often as your wine glass.
• If you are thinking of taking something to a party, choose a healthier option.
• Put your dancing shoes on and boogie the night away.  Dancing is great exercise and the more you are dancing the less chance you are eating and drinking!
• Take a glass of water to bed with you at the end of the night, if you have drunk enough alcohol you will need the water to rehydrate you and reduce the chances of the fuzzy tongue in the morning.

So there you have it, my top tips for keeping those 3kg at bay over December so you can welcome in 2012, fit and fabulous!

Merry Fitness and a Healthy New Year,

Katrina

Party season is almost upon us and that means more food, more alcohol and a chance of gaining weight…but what if I told you I know some secrets to staying in shape and maybe even losing weight over the party season?

Here are my top tips for sticking to your fitness goals this party season:

1. NEVER arrive at a party hungry!

This leads to you “picking” at food – and not the good kind.  Chips, party pies, deep fried foods, lollies – these small nibbles can turn into a LARGE problem when too much is eaten.  Instead eat a protein rick snack an hour before your party.  This will keep you full so you won’t eat those nibbles.

Suggestions:

• Yoghurt with fresh berries
• Protein shake with soy milk (or low fat milk)
• small tin of tuna on crisp bread
• 1 scrambled egg

2. Balance your calories in = calories out

To keep your weight steady throughout the party season, you must consume the same amount of calories that you would burn.

If you want to keep losing weight during the party season, then you must burn more calories than you consume.

So if you are eating that extra piece of cheesecake or consuming that extra glass of wine at your next party – just know that you need to burn more calories THAT same day to keep it from reaching your hips.

3. DON’T ditch exercise

We always seem to have never enough time and during party season this “time” seems to disappear completely!  Your regular exercise routine could just be the difference between enjoying your summer at the beach or staying at home!

While you may not think you are able to fit in your full program, why not make it your priority and work all your other events around your exercise routine?  OR if that is not possible, just tweak your program making sure you get 30 minutes of “huffy-puffy” exercise a day – your body will thank you for it.

Calories burnt per hour:

• Cleaning House (light duties) 240 calories
• Walking briskly (moderate) 370 calories
• Dancing (moderate) 370 calories
• Jogging (strenuous) 580 calories
• Swimming (strenuous) 580 calories
• Running (very strenuous) 740 calories

What calories did you burn today?

4. Choose Quality over Quantity

Have you ever heard the little poem about the Pelican?

“What a wonderful bird is the pelican, his bill will hold more than his belican.  He can take in his beak, food enough for a week but I’m damned if I can see how the helican”  Dixon Lanire Merrith 1910

Much of my childhood was spent with my father telling me this poem everytime I went for the “quantity” not the quality – needless to say I enjoy the quality now days.

It is better to go for the good quality food items in smaller portions and enjoy eating the quality foods then to eat large amounts of crap and feel awful afterwards.

Next time you are eating out, just have a look at what you are eating and remind yourself how you feel before and after – I can guarantee that you will feel so much better eating the quality foods!

5. Extending Party Season throughout Summer

Ok, so we have all been here before – party season starts on Cup long weekend and tends to extend until school goes back in Feburary.  So what if this year you shortened that by a month?  Not only will you insides be loving you but so will your outsides as you will be ready for the beach and loving summer.

My theory has always been, if I know I am going to over-indulge (whether it be alcohol, sweets or nibbles) I make sure that I plan the rest of my week so that I get straight back on the healthy wagon the following meal.  This means even in I have a HUGE lunch and don’t feel like eating dinner, I will still force myself to have a healthy meal such as a chicken salad (light) or fish so that my body doesn’t go into starvation mode and store my next meal.

So start planning your calendar so that you know exactly when you will be ‘breaking the cycle’ and when you are going to get back on it.

6. DON’T overindulge in alcohol

Our party culture in Australia is all about alcohol, which is not all a bad thing but again like anything else it needs to be done in moderation.  Like I mentioned in above, you need to know when you are going to be indulging in alcohol and adjust your habits around it.

While we may start with a glass of wine at this party, a few at the next, before you know it you are having a few glasses of wine each night even if you are not going out.  The scariest part about that is not so much the alcoholic tendancies but the fact you are putting in at least 300 calories into your body with each glass of alcohol!

Just have a think about how much wine you drank over the weekend – for every glass of alcohol I want you to write down 300.  Now total up your intake over the two days and divide by two.  How many calories did you consume on average over the weekend?

If it was below 600 that’s good as chances are you have burnt those calories off.

If it was above 600 calories, you’re in a bit of strife as those calories over 600 have all started to make their way to your hips!

Keep an eye on your alcohol intake and your body will thank you later.

7. DON’T skip meals

I hear this all the time and it boils my blood – Oh i’m going to a party and I know I am going to consume lots of food and alcohol so i’m not going to eat for the day.

I’m going to tell you that that is one of the stupidest things I have every heard as you have just added another kilo to your body.  By not eating before a party you have a HUGE chance of over indulging in everything and the sad thing is that because your body has not eaten all day it thinks its in starvation mode and will store everything you are eating – all the cakes, chocolates, fried foods and alcohol will be instantly stored in your body (for a rainy day) as your body doesn’t know when it’s next meal is.

Be kind to your body and stick to your eating routine, your bum, hips and thighs will thank you for it later!

Surviving Party Season doesn’t need to be hard, it’s just about pre-planning and staying determined to each your fitness goals this season.

Let us know what helps you survive party season below.

Katrina

Everywhere I turned this weekend I saw Shane Warne’s Ken-like image splashed around the TV’s and newspapers.  While I am impressed with his dramatic weight loss, he is now looking rather emancipated and  when I found out that he is giving a ‘diet shake’ the credit for the weight loss the first thing I asked myself was “how long until he goes back to his old self again?”

Some of you may be saying, that’s a bit harsh and why are you not supporting Shane with his new health and my answer to you is, I am very supportive BUT…

I know what diet shakes do to our bodies and while they may work in the short term, the long term side effects are not nice.  I remember when I was working in an office (a few years ago now) my manager decided that she wanted to shed a few kilo’s and decided to do a citrus detox.  It turns out that this “detox” involved drinking the citrus water three times a day plus a soup meal once a day.  This ‘detox’ was meant to last for seven days except that on day three she fainted from the lack of nutrients in her body.

While I don’t disagree that ‘diet shakes’ help you lose weight (if you can stick to them for the set time frame) the problem with them is that once you stop the program and go back to eating what you ate before you not only put that weight back on but chances are that you are going to add an extra few kilo’s!

I had a client, Kathy* (not her real name) a few months ago who when she signed up with me was on a diet shake program that allowed her to two shake meals and one nutrient rich meal a day, however more often than not her nutrient rich meal was not nutrient rich or she would skip it completely, which was why she was not getting ANY results with the diet shake. 

In the first month of Kathy’s training, we spent a lot of time working on her diet.  We took out her diet shakes and replaced them with healthy, balanced meals and snacks instead and in the first month her energy levels returned, her skin looked healthy BUT she didn’t lose any weight.

But wait, if she didn’t lose any weight why is eating healthy better than the diet shakes?

The answer is that healthy eating is better for her but by drinking the diet shakes instead of eating proper food her body’s metabolism had slowed down dramatically and we had to reboot her body so that the food she ate would be processed correctly by the body before she could start losing weight.  By the end of her second month with me Kathy had lost 2.3kg by sticking to her new eating habits.

What I did with Kathy was to re-program her eating habits, rather than trying to mask them with a quick fix.  Quick fixes might fix the problem short term but unfortunately if you don’t address the underlying issue/s as to why you have gained weight in the first place, diet shakes, quick fixes and healthy eating won’t achieve a long term effect.

So while diet shakes may be a quick fix option that appeals to you, I suggest that you step back and have a look at your current diet and see where you can make some changes there, rather than drastic dieting.  Chances are that by swapping some food options to smaller, healthier foods you will get the same results but for the long term, not just a quick fix.

For Shane Warne, I hope that he is able to keep the weight off and stay fit and healthy for his family but we will have to see how it all affects him long term.  With that in mind what do you think you can change in your diet to get you the results you want?

Yours’ in women’s health and fitness,

Katrina