Surviving the christmas socials!

First of all Happy Christmas, because it has started hasn’t it, the festivities, the winding down, the odd mince pie here and there, the Christmas do’s and sorry to be a grouch but possibly the start of the extra few pounds you could gain over the season!! Unless you are one of my Xpress campers who have decided to do the opposite and spend the next week ramping it up getting their bodies ready for the Christmas onslaught!

Either way I want to spend the next few days giving you a few last minute survival tips.

So first of all, the Christmas socials ……..

Most importantly don’t leave the house without a plan of attack you could easily find yourself consuming 2000 calories plus before you know it.

So here are some survival rules to follow:

Have a plan – decide what you’re going to eat and what you’re not going to eat before you get there.

Take your own offerings if the party is at home or in the office, such as vegetables crudities, with homemade hummus dips, , fresh fruit and nut salads

Nominate yourself as the driver – with 7 calories per gram alcohol can be a real demon in your fat burning plan. Alcohol is actually a poison to the body and therefore it will try to eliminate it immediately, metabolising those calories before burning fat, meaning it will not be able to burn off the calories you have consumed through food thus adding them to your waistline

A 550 ml can of Stella Artois contains 221 cals, 4 of them and you’ve hit your 1000 calories without even hitting the buffet, or for the ladies a 175ml glass of white wine will be 130 cals, vodka is not too bad at around 50 but then if you add coke you can also add another 70 cals, and any kind of alcopops or red bull type mixes you can be looking at around 220 per bottle.

If you are going to have a few drinks then choose wise, add soda and ice to make the drink longer and sip instead of guzzle! And have a glass of water in between each drink – your head will thank you for this in the morning as well as your waistline!

If there is a meal involved choose wisely, soup or a prawn cocktail (without the sauce!) are great starters, turkey for mains is ok, but go easy on the sauces, the sausages, roasted potatoes, Yorkshires, stuffing etc, try and fill up on the vegetables as much as possible.

A fish course can be a healthy option so can the veggie options, but watch out for extras such as pastry or cheese that top up the cals and remember you don’t have to clear your plate!

If you still have room for desert then the fruit salad will be the best option. But as it’s Christmas and if you really can’t resist then leave half of the desert on your plate, and offer the rest to someone else so it isn’t sitting in front of you!

Try to make the decision before you go that you are going to stay away from the nibbles and appetizers, these are dangerous as they are high in calories and often in bowls where you can easily dip in and out grabbing a handful here and there, 10 dry roasted peanuts are about 45 cals, so a handful can easily come in at 100 cals, and whoever has just one handful?

Do a workout before you get ready! Get yourself moving for 30 minutes and get off to a great start, it will make you feel great and get the blood flow to your muscles giving you a bit more definition and a healthy glow later try a quick run, or circuit of 30 seconds of each of these, repeat the circuit as many times as you can in 20 minutes with little or no rest

Squats Jumping jacks Push ups Skipping ( with or without rope) Plank Burpees Tuck jumps

Lastly, make sure you spend most of the evening on the dance floor and not by the buffet, dancing can burn up to 400 cals an hour, more if you throw a few head spins and windmills, so hit the floor and cut some shapes!