Republic of Ireland
With the festive season soon to be in full swing, is the thought of being surrounded by tables full of luxurious food, boxes of chocolate and copious amounts of festive drinks playing on your mind? Our Christmas Survival Guide aims to relieve some of the anxiety often felt at this time of year.
Christmas can certainly be a difficult time of year for a LighterLifer but with the right mindset, determination and support you can manage the festive season like a boss. Check out our top tips on making it through Christmas without undoing all of your hard work.
Set your Christmas Survival goals
Set clear goals, write them down and keep them handy where you can read them daily, just to remind yourself that you have a plan and that you plan to stick to it. Remember to be realistic about what will work for you over the next few weeks.
Consistency is key!
Continuing to make the best possible choices over the festive period will stop things from escalating out of control. If you know you are going to enjoy a festive tipple or buffet, stick to LighterLife Foodpacks during the rest of the day.
Keep a positive mindset
It’s easy to fall into a negative mindset if you go off plan for a couple of days and think ‘I’ve already ruined it, so I may as well just overindulge’. You must remember that one small slip will not undo all of your progress. Our Christmas Survival guide will help you balance your thinking and help you get straight back on track and not dwell on what has happened. Why not head over to our Instagram page and download our free Tracker to keep you focused this month.
Food is not the focus
At every corner you turn there are Christmas treats, festive goodies and winter warmers being advertised on TV and in the shops. The supermarket chains invest a lot of money advertising food and drink during the festive period to tempt us into buying all these unhealthy options just to satisfy their bank balances. Let’s try not to associate Christmas with overindulging in food and drink. Instead let’s enjoy the festive period by spending time with family and friends. After all, the true meaning of Christmas is to bring happiness and joy to others.
Stay hydrated
As a rough guide the NHS recommends the average person needs to consume about 1.2 – 2 litres of water per day, but remember this may not be enough for some. Consume water throughout the day little and often and be guided by your thirst. Drinking enough water will help to keep you full and stop you snacking unnecessarily during Christmas. If you are tired of water – you can always enjoy our Pink Grapefruit drink mix. Why not try one of our Drinks Mix with sparkling water, and drink from a champagne flute on Christmas day. There’s no need to miss out on the toasting.
Planning is key
If you choose to go off-plan, make good food choices where possible. Remember to use a smaller plate, fill half the plate with vegetables, cut all fat off of the meat and have boiled potatoes instead of roasted.
Use our three-step action plan to get back on track:
- Stop – When you’re faced with a big bill you don’t react by going on a spending spree – instead, you spend less to rebalance your budget. Treat your lapse in the same way; acknowledge it, deal with it.
- Think – Review your Christmas plan, your goals and your commitment to what you really want. Challenge your thinking. Come up with some new strategies, or focus on ones that have worked in the past.
- Be – kind to yourself. Give yourself space to be human. This helps stop the vicious cycle of feeling bad because you ate off-plan, eating because you feel bad you ate, and on and on and on…instead pick a date to get restarted and stick to it.
Ask for help
Create the most supportive environment you can to navigate the festive period with ease. Arrange to keep in contact with people in your support sessions for Christmas Day and St Stephens Day, join our Facebook community, and explain to those you’re spending Christmas with how they can help you.
We know it can be hard to keep on track during the festive period, but we are all here to help. To avoid putting on weight you could sign up to our 2 Step plan. Find out more by clicking here.
