Holiday weight gain

What words spring to mind when you think of December?

Bonuses, Christmas presents, re-uniting with your extended family and Grandma’s heavenly Christmas cake...

Whilst for some of us it is not so jolly: it is a time for unsightly report cards, finding out that you did not get a bonus and worst of all: weight gain.

I always find that I always gain a little bit of weight during the holidays, and then when I get back to school I always lose it.

It could be the bottomless desserts we are exposed to, or the endless opportunity to sit in front of the television watching Glee... But whatever it is, it can be stopped (I think). Here are a few of the ways I intend to avoid gaining a couple kilos this holiday:

Have a properly planned workout schedule

It is true that when you actually plan to do something, and actually WRITE it down the likelihood of you following the plan increases by 80%! (Ok, I just made that statistic up). But you get what I am trying to say. This holiday I have been working out almost everyday with Jillian Michael’s Body Revolution and jogging a couple times a week. Perhaps this shall help.

Drinking more fluids

And by fluids I am not referring to carbonated soft drinks and all of that. You can start by sipping water in between meals, drinking black coffee and of course green tea to suppress your appetite.

Have a little bit of everything

Do not completely deprive yourself of any treats this holiday. My approach to eating this holiday is to make sure the bulk of my meals consist of vegetables, and to have desserts and all the “bad food” in smaller quantities. It is holiday after all. It is about balance.

Keep yourself busy          

Boredom breeds a false sense of hunger. In other words, when you are bored you are most likely to eat more. In my experience I tend to eat less during the school terms because I am so busy doing school work, sports and socializing that food is not the first thing on my mind.

At the end of the day, it is about balance. BALANCE. BALANCE. BALANCE.

Imani Dlamini