The festive period can be a time of temptation with food and alcohol, undoing all your hard work this year.

Here are a few tips for staying on track with your fitness progress and maintaining it through this festive period:

  • Get active after meals. Even a 10-minute walk following meals can help with how your body breaks down and deals with those calories you’ve just eaten. Will it go to be used for energy or will the majority of it go to fat storage?
  • Fill up on veggies and meats first, before reaching for the creamy potato salad and pasta salad. Follow the meat and veggies with a glass or two of water before eating the carb and fat-loaded sides. This way you will eat much less of those dangerous calorie-dense foods as opposed to if you packed your plate with them to start with.
  • Try Intermittent fasting to reduce your overall daily calories.

How does this work? Whether you are anticipating a big meal for lunch or dinner, or maybe you’ve overeaten the night before and feeling the guilts. Either way, wake up that morning and start with plenty of water, black coffee (no sugar obviously) and get active that morning. Whether it be a 30min walk, kicking the footy with kids or getting in the gym for a session. Follow that by a few hours of further fasting. I recommend a 15-16hr fast. That means if you ate 9pm last night, waiting until 12-1pm today to eat.

Doing the above will help minimise total daily calories when you anticipate a big feed, but also does wonders for improving your insulin sensitivity. Which in short means less food will be stored as body fat as your body becomes more efficient at disposing of the excess sugars in your system. But most importantly enjoy this time and don’t find yourself stressing over small things.

Follow the above steps so you know you are doing your part, whilst enjoying the food, drink and social gatherings
this time of year brings. Just make sure you are all back in the gym as soon as its over and back on track
to achieving your goals for 2020.