Surviving Christmas Tip: Plan Your Meals

With all the festivites going on, Christmas and New Years is undoubtedly one of my favorite time of the year.  I get to meet friends, catch up over lovely meals accompanied by weather that is nice and cool in winter. It doesn't snow in Thailand, but the temperature drops to the mid-twenties (celsius).  It's lovely and cool.  Perfect.  And as one of my friends put on her facebook status it is the "perfect weather to get fat."  I think this perfectly describes how we all feel.

A lot of activities during Christmas and New Years undeniably revolve around eating.  We meet, we eat.  We celebrate, we eat.  We travel, we eat. Then we sleep in between those "meets" and "eats."  Oh how easy it is to pack on those pounds that won't just go away.  Nevertheless, do not fear them...there is a way to overcome them and one tip is to Plan Your Meals.

I used to never plan my meals.  I'd just eat what I felt like eating each meal and if I had a big party coming up later that evening so what?  It was an added bonus.  It also added weight.  Now, I plan my meals.  It doesn't mean that I have to bring my own food or count calories, I do it in such a way that I think is more sustainable in the long-term. 

The first step is to check your schedule and be aware of your dining engagements.  Most of the time, parties and get-to-gethers are scheduled beforehand so you know that on those occasions you will be eating.  You probably don't want to go to party and not eat right? That would be no fun.  So go to those functions and eat.  Portion  control though, don't overstuff yourself to the point of no return.  There will be other occasions to eat.

Once you know your schedule, plan out your meals.  For example, if I know I am going to have a buffet dinner tomorrow night where there are a zillion delicious foods awaiting me, I will start controlling my portions more closely the day before.  I'd have a light dinner (the night before), light breakfast and light lunch.  I'd cut down on the snacks and save my eating (and calories) for that buffet.

Third, work out.  Yes, if you know you are going to have a day or two of non-stop eating, work out.  Before a buffet, I'd go running the morning before the buffet and I'd make sure I go running again the day after the meal.  This way, I know I won't pack on pounds.

If you say you have both lunch, afternoon tea and dinner engagements, then my answer to you is to go run in the morning.  Have half of what you would normally during lunch, tea and dinner.  Basically portion control.  You know you will have a full day of eating so don't stuff yourself since the first meal.  Then just make sure you go run it off the next day and the day after if you can.

I have been doing this since I lost my 15 kgs a year ago and I have to say it works wonders.  My weight has not been a yo-yo and it has remained steady in a 1-2 kg range.  After my recent trip to Singapore where I spent a good time eating,  I feared the weigh scale. I didn't have one at the hotel so I had no clue how much I weighed, so all I could do was plan my meals and do my runs.  It worked.  I was 0.5 kg heavier when I returned which is normal.  Weight cannot be that steady all the time.

So fear not the Christmas Weight Gain and Plan Your Meals! :)  Merry Christmas!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Eggs for Easter

Happy Easter! Its Easter Monday today and eggs are in fashion. Okay, in Thailand we don't have the whole big Easter vacation with easter eggs and egg hunting, but its something I always liked as a child growing up in europe. We get to eat chocolate easter eggs and get our hands dirty painting them...ahh, those good old days. What about eating eggs then? Are they good for you given that they are high in saturated fat and cholesterol (211mg versus daily recommendation of 300mg) ? According to nutrition data, a large egg has only 70 calories and are filled with lots of nutrients. Eggs are a good source of Riboflavin, Vitamin B12 and Phosphorus, and a very good source of Protein and Selenium. These nutrients are especially beneficial for you as they a good source of energy, help build up your immune system and also help your mental health. According to Harvard Health, "Eggs are also a good source of choline, which has been linked with preserving memory, and lutein and zea
Read more

It's all in your Mind

For everything we want to achieve in life, I think the most important factor to its successful achievement depends on our ability to control how we think and keep ourself motivated. When I first started out running, I was so unfit I could hardly run for 1 minute.  I gasped for breath and my face would turn completely red.  My stomach and chest would feel a pain and a little voice inside my head would start telling me to stop running and just walk!   The little voice would get louder and LOUDER the longer I ran.  It would tell me all sorts of things, such as "You've done enough running, you've done a great job, just stop and walk."    Sometimes it would say "Your chest hurts and your stomach is having stitches, something must be wrong.. therefore STOP!"   On other occasions it would tell me the time and say "You are running late today, cut your workout short.  You have a long day ahead, save your energy." At times, it would tell me, "I hate thi
Read more

One for All and All for One

The other day I got this fascinating Forward from a friend about decision making. It tells the story of a group of children playing on railroad tracks. One child is playing alone on the unused railroad track, while five children are playing on the active rail. Suddenly, a rain is spotted on the tracks heading straight towards the five children. You have to decide what to do. 1) Do you divert the train onto the unused track to save five children while sacrificing the lone child on the other track? or 2) Would you let the train continue on its path towards the group of five children? What would you do? Most people would in an instant answer that they would sacrifice the lone child to save the group of five children. Sacrifice one in the name of saving many. It's the rational and logical solution. It's for the better "good" of society. One death is better than five. However, there is more. There is a dilemma. The great critic Leo Velski Julian (do you know
Read more