5 Reasons For Xmas Weight Gain (And What You Can Do About It)

As Christmas is rapidly approaching, are you worrying about piling on the pounds? Wondering how your body will handle all the Christmas nights out and feasts that come along with it? Are you looking at your schedule over the next few weeks and seeing an ever expanding waistline?

Here are 5 reasons why we put on weight in the holiday season, and what you can do about it:

Holiday Weight Gain Reason #1 Schedule Changes

Once the holidays arrive, a strictly scheduled week begins to unravel. Suddenly there are 3/4 day weekends with ample opportunity to sleep in and be lazy. Not to mention the Xmas parties with heavy eating and drinking, gyms that either close early have new and unpredictable opening hours. Travelling to see friends and family takes you to new and different places, where working out is not at the top of your priorities.

The best way to handle these schedule changes is to plan ahead as much as possible. For example, you can check with your gym in advance to find out what the holiday hours are, and on days when your gym may be closed or unavailable, plan an outdoor session or research some home body weight sessions. On long weekends, set exercise goals that get you moving before you get too busy, such as squeezing in 20 minutes of exercise before 9 a.m. 

Holiday Weight Gain Reason #2: Stress Increases

At the same time that your schedule changes, you also suddenly have added pressure of shopping, family obligations, and changes to your daily routine. As a result of this added stress, your blood pressure and heart rate can go up, your motivation for exercise can go down, and you can gain weight and retain fluid as your body produces of a hormone called Cortisol.

Ironically, of the best ways to control stress is to exercise. For this reason, i advise doing a little something as soon as you wake up, even if its just a couple of sets of squats, pressups etc and a little stretch, all this takes less than 10 minutes and will help you relax. This will also decreases stress enough to squeeze in a bigger exercise session later in the day!

Remember the only workout you will regret is the one you dont do.

Holiday Weight Gain Reason #3: Food Everywhere

As if it weren't hard enough that all this added stress makes you want to eat more, it seems that there are usually cookies, mince pies, snacks,chocolate and drinks in constant view during the holidays. It's no secret that when tempting treats surround us, we're far more likely to eat them.

The solution to this is simple: Hide the treats and snacks during the holidays. Keep cookies in opaque, non-transparent containers. Cover and place pies or other desserts back into the refrigerator immediately after you're done with them. Put alcohol in a closed cupboard. Avoid putting dishes of sweets or chocolates out on tables and counters. These snacks are what really rack up the calories as it becomes mindless eating.

Holiday Weight Gain Reason #4: Cold Weather

Cold weather can also be a reason for holiday weight gain. After all, who wants to go out for a brisk morning walk or jog when you have to spend all that extra time putting on multiple layers, gloves, a hats and so on. Even driving to the gym can be annoying when the roads are covered in snow or you spend the first half of your workout just trying to warm up.

A good solution for this problem is to keep your body as warm as possible throughout the day. For example, when it's cold outside, try do small bursts of exercise throughout the day - simple movements that use alot of muscles. If your working alot then try squeeze these in on your breaks . Just this small amount of activity can keep your body warm and ready to exercise when it actually is time for a workout.

Holiday Weight Gain Reason #5: Peer Pressure

You probably wouldn't be reading this article if holiday weight gain wasn't an "accepted" societal normality. "Santa belly," "festively plump," and "food coma" are terms that are freely thrown around during the holidays. And if all your friends accept something as normal, it's less likely to bother you. For this reason, it's easy to feel less guilty about overindulging and becoming lazy during the holidays.

But wouldn't it be much better if you could arrive at Jan. 1 with a New Year's resolution other than "lose weight"? Dont fall into the mentality of ill start at new year, so for the time being im going to eat as much rubbish as i can - this will only mean that when you do eventually start it will take 1 - 2 weeks longer to see results compared to if you had just started before you went on your final flourish.

This season, consider not succumbing to peer pressure and societal acceptance of holiday weight gain and instead stay physically active and avoid unplanned eating.  Remember Christmas is what you make it, if you see it as a few days relaxing and eat fairly well then your body will stay where it is - but if you see it as a 10 day binge then expect to see a dramatic increase on the scale.

Try not to break your routine too much and still exercise during the festive season.

Your body will thank you when the New Year rolls around.

The Gym .. Is it for you?

Its getting to the time of year now where people inevitably put on a bit of excess weight, so come January ,the gym seems the place to go to lose that extra weight and get into shape.

Fair enough …. A lot of other people go there and it quite often pops up in conversations. They have nice shiny equipment, people to talk you through an induction and write you a BASIC programme (I use that word lightly) you may occasionally see others sweating whilst using the shiny equipment along with some occasional grunts and groans depending on the individuals drive to succeed. The TV’s are on and the guy in the tight t-shirt behind you is taking unrewarding breaks inbetween exercises so he can check his ‘guns’ out in the range of mirrors the gym has provided. All this in an air conditioned facility where the latest music hits are pumping out of the surround sound.

''Yea this is where I need to be'' You Think !!!

Following the initial excitement of joining the gym and telling everyone about it, the realization of what you have signed up for sets in and it starts to lose its appeal. As you often hear the gym has a shelf life for many, usually about 2 months – not much good when gyms usually sign you into a 12 month contract, people stop going and still pay the direct debit anyway.

Why is this? Why do people give up after a few months even though its still costing them money?

One of the biggest reasons is that you get absolutely NO Nutritional Advice or Plans – you are effectively left to fend for yourself as soon as they have you as a member. Another reason is that the gym is a very lonely place for someone who has never exercised before and dosent really know where to start.

As I just mentioned, you will be given an induction on how the machines work and a basic programme dependent on what you want to achieve, what he / she failed to mention is that they just performed a Blue Peter impression of ‘heres one I made earlier’ and just put your name on it. So that’s the programme sorted now for the Nutritional side of things ….

If you follow my Facebook / Twitter you will notice that the majority of things I talk about are related to food. 75% - 80% of your potential success is down to the food and drink you consume. Not only quantity but quality aswel.

Why they don’t offer any sort of advice is mainly down to the fact that no body on the gym floor is qualified enough to answer them, Personal Trainers are the people you see training people, the instructors that are just walking around cleaning things and answering questions have minimal knowledge on things like this and cant give you any in depth advice or plans. Nutrition is such a key part in any physical changes and the fact that the gyms give you absolutely no advice is a poor show in my opinion.

ANYONE can get fit. If you move a bit more than you usually do then you are getting fitter – your body is pumping more blood around the body and your muscles are functioning more than normal. This is all good but if you really want to change your body shape then you need to be addressing what is eaten along with effective workout routines.

Sure people lose weight, body shape initially changes when you first attend the gym and start exercising, but as I said above your body is suddenly doing something its not accustomed to and the body reacts and changes to this new stimuli. Awesome – a few pounds down In the first week!

However is you continue with the same programme that you were given originally, working at the same intensity after a few weeks your body will get used to that – it wont need to expend as much energy or calories to cope with it and the results will inevitably dry up.

For some, results are very slow, even when they stick with the gym for 6 months plus.

The reason ….

Yep, people do things that don’t challenge them!

Walking on a treadmill … this should be a daily occurrence, not something you choose to get fitter or to push yourself.

Reading a book or watching TV whilst riding a bike.

Doing 60 minutes on the cross trainer and pretty much getting off in the same state that you got on.

You need to push yourself and be raising your body temperature – not keeping it at the same level. Move your body in many different ways using as many muscles as possible if you actually want to change it. Im talking about movements like Squats, Deadlifts, Presses, Lunges, Jumping and Twisting.

Use free weights like Dumbells and Kettlebells, after a few weeks of this type of training staying in the 15 – 20 rep range and taking small rests – increase the weight and decrease the rep range to 12 – 15 reps and SLIGHTLY increase the rest periods between sets.

Stay well clear of the nice shiny weight machines. Why?

They move in a fixed range of movement – something that our limbs don’t.

Take a shoulder press for example, you sit on the machine then push your arms up and down, your body is moving at exactly the same angle each time you push it.

Compare this with lifting a heavy box up onto a shelf at home  … its not going to move in the same range as a machine. Its going to wobble, left, right overhead etc if you use the fixed range  machines too often – you will only work specific muscles in THAT particular movement pattern or range. So when you come to lift the box, chances are you could cause injury because you haven’t trained the muscles in an unstable environment that you would get by using free weights (Dumbells / Kettlebells)

Another MAJOR thing you need to think about is this;

Most people are sat down from the moment they get up. Breakfast then train, bus or car to work, sit down when they get to work, then again at lunch, get back in the car and go to the gym and …….. sit down on the bike or on a machine !! No wonder people have bad backs, hunched posture and pot belly's  Everyone is shrinking!!! Stand Up, Reach, Twist, Jump – make yourself longer and leaner!!!

When performing cardio, look to perform short, sharp intervals. Rather than going through the motions on the rower for 20 minutes. Set it up for 200m, row flat out on a medium to high resistance, rest for 40 seconds then go again another 5 – 10 times. Then you will know you have pushed yourself!

The other side of poor results is the lack of motivation or accountability. After a days work, pushing yourself through a tough workout isn't a massive priority for many. Finding a gym buddy can help this and will help keep you on track with workouts as you will feel bad about missing them if you're letting someone down. Just make sure the session doesn't turn into a social event.

If any of the above are ringing true then do something different!!

Gyms can work for people, if you're motivated, have a structured workout plan with progressions for when your body adapts, you are able to push YOURSELF to the limit and have a sound nutritional plan at home.

If you don’t have the above then look into something that does provide the elements your missing, nutritional plans, motivation and more importantly results.

Many people turn to Personal Trainers when they realize they are seeing nothing from just signing up to a gym, so in the long run it works out a lot more expensive as they are paying for a gym membership aswel as extra 1:1 training – with gym prices now a days that’s usually an extra 1 or 2 Personal Training sessions per month that you could of had.

Common sense says that it would be easier to hire a freelance PT straight away, who should give you nutritional advice from the word go and make sure your workouts are constantly different and progressive, then when you reach your goal, reassess the situation rather than buying into a 12 month contract.

A freelance PT will also work around you and your lifestyle whereas a PT in a gym can only work around the hours they are working that week and try to fit you into that.

Whatever you decide to go with, make sure you stick with it and give it a good go. The human body doesn't change overnight.

REMEMBER:

Fad Diets - Why They Dont Work !!

If you want to lose weight it is difficult to know where to start, especially with so many fad diets out there, there is always a new big thing that’s sweeping the news and has people hopping on it in no time.

Truth of the matter is weight loss and diets are massive business – it’s a business that will never ever go out of fashion as long as humans are on this planet, people will always want to lose weight and In the least amount of time, cue the next fad diet …. With their fancy advertising and outrageously hot models, promising you the same results.

The first thing that in my opinion that needs addressing, is the human thought process towards the word diet – to me diet means a temporary thing that you do until you achieve whatever your goal is. If you enter with this mentality you are gearing straight towards failure, what’s the point in doing all the hard work if you’re going to slip back into your old ways and eating habits as soon as you get to where you want to be? We should be looking for a lifestyle change, something that is still manageable long after you meet your goal.

Anyway back to the fad diets, whether its low carb, low calorie or low fat they all usually mean one thing. IT’S NOT SUSTAINABLE. I’ve had countless amounts of conversations with individuals that have lost so much weight on Weight Watchers, Slimming World, Lighterlife or some other fad diet they are spending money on – the one thing they had in common? They had put it all the weight back on if not more than what they started with. Everyone likes easy solutions, so if there is an easy solution the chances are people are more likely to jump on that, than turn to a professional in the fitness industry for help, unfortunately people put their trust and money in these diets for little or no long term results. If all these diets really worked then absolutely everyone would be on them and staying on them, there would be no business for all these companies as no one would be overweight.

Il try and explain how your body works, so this might start getting quite scientific now but please bear with me. Everyone’s body has  a daily (BMR) Basal Metabolic Rate (the bare minimum of calories the body needs to survive and function correctly) this varys from person to person depending on lifestyle, exercise etc and a RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) the number of calories you should be taking in to stay at the same weight.

So let’s say for convenience sake a woman's RDA says she should take in around 2000 Kcal to stay at the same weight, her BMR is probably around the 1500 mark. What happens when you go on a diet that restricts food sources or calories is that your body adapts to it and lowers its BMR. So let’s say after a week of a fad diet where your body is taking in 1200 Kcal your BMR will probably be around 800 Kcal. Yes you will be losing weight at an unhealthy rate, but most people don’t realise that the weight they are losing is more likely muscle than fat if they are going on one of these diets. Anyway fast forward a few weeks – you have managed to reach your goal and have got down to your ideal weight. Your happy with where you are in relation to your weight etc and start eating regular foods again (foods not permitted on said diets) chances are these will be the high calorie foods that contain a ridiculous amount of refined carbs, saturated fats and a lot of sugar as you’ve been depleted of these so much your body will crave them.

So you have started eating all these foods again, your body’s BMR is still at 800 Kcal (that’s all it needs to survive now) and you start putting 2-3000 Kcals back into your body as you feel the diet has done its job. Take 3000 Kcal for example, that’s an extra 2200 Kcals per day that your body no longer needs to survive – you can probably see where this is going, that extra energy gets stored as fat. Begin the yoyo cycle that nearly every serial dieter enters.

As I mentioned earlier these are big businesses and big businesses tend to earn a lot of money out of this. It’s a simple cycle – person goes on fad diet, loses weight. Person comes off diet – gains weight back. Person then reverts back to old fad diet as they know it has worked in the past for them.

To put things into perspective 3500 Kcal makes up one pound of fat, so based on the above ratio you will be putting on 1 and a quarter pounds every 2 days after coming off one of these diets.

Easy ways to spot a fad diet:

1.       You are drastically cutting calories – any more than 500 per day is too much and will throw your body into starvation mode (where it will burn muscle instead of fat)

2.       You are spending most of your life wishing the diet would be over so you can eat regular foods again.

3.       You are eliminating a food group: Carbs or fats - Don’t be afraid of fats, choose the correct ones and they help burn fat.

4.       You are spending large amounts of money – businesses like money and they won’t be afraid to put your health in jeopardy for it. Lighterlife costs something like £70 per week for some packets – that’s not food in my opinion.

5.       You are relying on one food source, Special K diet, Grapefruit, Maple syrup and so on.

There are more, but these are the most easily identifiable ones.

There you have it, don’t be fooled by flashing advertising and branding, it’s the same old con. If you want to lose weight and keep it off then create a small calorie deficit (no more than 500 Kcal Per day) have a well-balanced diet, take part in regular exercise and have everything in moderation. Aim to lose 1 – 2 lbs per week and it will be sustainable in the long run. Happy eating.