The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
December generally means a month full of office parties, celebrations and meals out. The temptation to overeat is very high and for those of us wanting to lose weight it can be a difficult time. The internal battle of restricting food is very stressful and can sabotage our long-term goal of permanent weight loss. Christmas is not a time to be on a diet. Instead, enjoy yourself and move towards being healthy by not loosing weight, but by maintaining it. If you're gearing up to starve yourself so you can enjoy all your Christmas favourites, it's not necessary, or a good idea either. Christmas comes around once a year and for many people the food is the most important part of the tradition. Any foods, including traditional holiday treats, can fit into a healthy eating plan. The secret is to be careful with your choices. It's okay to enjoy yourself and splurge a little. But there are several things you can do to balance things out and avoid overdoing it. Many people compensate for the times they overeat by starving themselves the next day, or for a couple of days, until the next party or meal. This may seem sensible to us, but our body has no idea what is going on, and thinks you are actually starving! Therefore, if you are not taking in energy (food), your body will start to conserve energy. So you're achieving the opposite result to the one you were looking for. Your body ends up on a roller coaster of extra eating and then starvation. Unfortunately, this will make it much harder to lose weight afterwards. Also, if you've ever starved yourself for a while, you're much more likely to over eat when you're next faced with food. Food then becomes such a high priority that it can lead to "out of control" eating (not being able to stop eating even though you feel full). There's also the guilt aspect. If you've eaten extra food one day, you may well feel guilty. So you may think that if you starve yourself you can dismiss the guilt more easily by punishing yourself. Instead of embarking on this guilt/starvation cycle, start loving yourself. Weight loss is easier when you approach it from the perspective of loving yourself and taking care of your body. In short, if you do find yourself eating extra food, instead of starving yourself afterwards, just return to sensible healthy eating, without cutting back. There are many ways that you can limit your weight gain at this time of year without restricting or starving yourself such as: Drink plenty of water to keep your body working efficiently - the feelings of thirst and hunger are often confused. Increase the exercise you take part in, perhaps go for a few more walks, try walking up stairs or dancing at parties. All this activity will leave you feeling good about yourself and on the road to a healthy lifestyle. Pick one activity you're going to do instead of starving yourself and continue with this throughout December. You may well find that you've added a healthy habit to your lifestyle, one that you choose to maintain in the future. When you find yourself feeling inclined to skip some food, remind yourself of the one activity you've committed to and do it.
