10 tips to stay on track & handle folks during holidays and celebrations
The holidays are quickly coming and people are are stressed about losing their hard earned results during the party season. I often receive emails from clients asking how to handle business dinners, birthday celebrations, weddings and holiday parties. It’s an understandable concern, so I have prepared a few tips to keep you on track while enjoying life!
- Learn your visual portions– We can’t measure food when we are in a social setting, so visual portions will be your best friend. Understand what your portion of fat, carbs and protein look like when on a plate . This link will has a handy wallet sized portion guide (I don’t recommend pulling it out during your birthday dinner) http://www.webmd.com/diet/printable/wallet-portion-control-size-guide
- If you over indulge do not have the “screw it” mentality – Studies have been done showing most people who think they went off their diet have a tendency to over eat the rest of the day. Having one indulgent meal is ok, having an indulgent day is not ok. It will be much harder to balance out those calories. Stay strong!
- Don’t eat the bread or passed hor d’oeuvres – When bread comes to the table use your willpower to wait for the appetizers or main course. You will save yourself a ton of calories to enjoy during dinner. If there is passed food, dips or bar snacks stick to veggies sticks and pass on any bar snacks.
- Order reasonable foods– If you are following a nutrition plan you understand what reasonable and what is not. Cream sauces & fried food are not- broiled, grilled, and sautéed in olive oil are more reasonable.
- Alcohol – Stick to clear liquors and dry red wine. They are lowest in calories and sugar. If you drink liquor do not have fruit juice mixers rather low/no calorie options such as club soda with lemon or on the rocks with lemon/lime. 2 drinks is reasonable, 4 drinks or more – not so reasonable. Don’t let your alcohol brain tell you what to eat, when our inhibitions go so does our ability to make good food choices.
The hardest part about being goal oriented during a social event, dinner or holiday party are the people around you. Be prepared to hear comments such as “It’s a holiday you can have it tonight” or “You lost so much weight you can eat now”. Phrases similar to this will pop up now and then.
- Politely inform people that you are focused on your goals and you feel good eating in this manner. Tell them that you are indulging tonight but you can not do this every day or you will not see the results that they are complimenting you about.
- If its a birthday celebration, it’s usually expected for you to order dessert , order something you can share, take a bite and offer it to others to finish.
- Eat slowly. Most people overeat so they will be eating longer then you. If you finish quickly it can cause others to question your eating habits with comments such as “You can’t starve yourself” Or ” Are you sure you are eating enough” Of course we are eating enough, they are overeating but we aren’t here to judge them just as the shouldn’t be judging us.
- Keep your self engaged in conversation between courses to avoid picking and eating bread.
- Have fun, it’s a celebration and this is life! You want to be able to eat healthy, stay on track and enjoy your social life. Being in shape and eating well is a lifestyle not a crash diet, it must be sustainable and enjoyable!