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Who doesn’t love holidays? The prospect of fun-filled days spent with friends and relatives, merry making, and of course, the sumptuous food and drinks brings cheer to everyone. However, after the festivities come to an end, one thing manages to stay with us, and that’s the disturbing amount of weight we seem to gain, thanks to all the feasting and lounging around. We don’t realize it during the good times, and when the holidays get over, we are left wondering why we aren’t able to fit into those skinny jeans anymore. Sounds familiar?
Fortunately, avoiding weight gain during the holidays is no rocket science. Some simple precautions can be taken to maintain our weight and waistline and won’t dampen the fun in any way. Read on to know how:
- Keep alcohol intake to a minimum: The phrase “beer belly” exists for a reason.
Alcohol and other hard drinks contain empty calories which are absorbed rapidly
into the bloodstream in our body. Plus, we don’t really keep a track on what we
munch on while we are drinking alcohol, do we? If it is impossible to avoid alcohol
altogether, at least limit the intake to a glass or two. - Eat Slowly: This may seem difficult to do, especially when there are many mouth-
watering dishes on display. Actually, our body takes some time to register the
fullness and relay the message to our brain. Eating slowly and chewing thoroughly
allows our body plenty of time and prevents us from overeating, which contributes
to weight gain. - Be Active: Hitting the gym during the festive holidays, with all the friends and family
around may seem difficult, but the truth is, all the lounging around, savouring the
goodies and watching TV is not doing our waistline any good. Why not take this
opportunity to go for a healthy family walk, or even organizing running races and
other fun-filled physical activities amongst yourselves? An added benefit: it will also
help in closer bonding with one another, while simultaneously trimming down the
fat. - Eat from a smaller plate: This is a classic psychological hack, and it works too. When
we choose smaller plates, lesser quantities of food can fill them up, thereby tricking
our mind into eating lesser than we actually intended to. - Healthy Snacking: Holidays are a time to indulge in all our favourite snacks, but who
says they can’t be healthy? Instead of gorging on deep-fried and sugary stuff, make
sure you include fruits and vegetables as part of your snacks. Whip up a delicious
bowl of fruit or vegetable salad and enjoy! - Drink Water: Sometimes, your hunger pangs may just be because of thirst. Our body
can sometimes confuse the two, making us eat when we don’t actually need to. Next
time when you feel like reaching out for a snack, drink a couple of glasses of water instead. It’ll flush out the toxins and prevent overeating, thus keeping your weight
under control. - Don’t starve yourself just before a party: Keeping oneself away from food in order
to make up for it by gorging on the food at the party is a bad idea. On the contrary,
have a light, healthy snack like a fruit before stepping out of your home. It’ll prevent
you from loading yourself up at the party. - Don’t skip meals: Giving our meals a go-by, especially crucial meals like breakfast
doesn’t help you lose or maintain your weight. Often, this can result in overeating
later on, which is more harmful, as the body finds it hard to process the sudden intake of sugar after an extended, low-sugar period. - Bring your own treat: Another healthy trick to pack your own, homemade low-calorie healthy snack or dish to a party at your friend’s place. Not only will this save you the trouble of guessing the menu, but also you’ll be getting some compliments for your efforts and thoughtfulness. Maintaining your shape is an added advantage.
- Go Fibre: Fibre has the ability to induce a feeling of fullness. Increasing fibre intake
can help reduce the total calorie intake and help you avoid gaining weight. Examples
of fibre-rich foods are fruits and vegetables, nuts, whole grains etc.
It is entirely possible to have a great time and enjoy yourself during the holidays without
adversely affecting your health. Moreover, you’ll be even more motivated when the weighing scales don’t show an irritating shift to higher numbers when you weigh yourself
