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Personal trainer tips: How to survive Christmas

First things first, remember it’s Christmas; it’s a time to enjoy yourself and to spend with family. It is vital to remember to not be too hard on yourself, but also ensure you don’t go completely off the rails.

It is always a difficult time of the year with all the sweet treats, drinks and pressure around, however we have a few simple tricks that could help you stay on track:

Food

Allow yourself a treat. If you don’t, you’re going to drive yourself mad and who wants to be the person eating a salad all the time? Make a conscious decision about when and what you are going to allow yourself and stick to it. Stay on track with your nutrition plan the rest of the time; this will help to stop you from overindulging. As always, NEVER let yourself get hungry. Try and avoid saving your appetite for the big Christmas meal, eat normally throughout the day and you are less likely to go as overboard when it comes to that lovely Christmas roast dinner.

Drinks

There are so many Christmassy drinks around: from seasonal coffees and mulled wine, to the simple fact we just spend loads more time socialising and drinking over the festive period. Just do the same as with your food: decide what you are going to allow yourself and stay on track the remainder of the time. Be realistic.

Exercise

It’s always a bit more difficult to squeeze exercise in when you’ve got all the family in and around the house, but make sure you get at least one workout per week in that you enjoy, and allow yourself time to complete this. Also, you can pick some of your favourite exercises and complete them throughout the week i.e. Monday: 100 air squats; Tuesday: Walk 20 minutes and 10 push-ups.

Christmas is also a great time to fit in some of those lovely R&R activities and you get the family involved too! Go for walks, ice-skating, or even have a go at indoor rock climbing. There are loads of