We all have a problem area on our bodies. For some of us it’s our unladylike thighs, for others it’s our unsightly muffin top and for far too many of us it’s our jiggly arms. Yes, excess arm fat is a problem far too many of us suffer from, even the slimmest of us too I’m afraid to say. When it’s all covered up by our sleeves it’s not too much of an issue but what happens when summer comes and we want to wear that gorgeous sleeveless dress or a bikini? We don’t want our ‘bingo wings’ spoiling our look! No way, we want lovely, slim arms that we can be proud of. Don’t panic though, ladies, just because you’ve got a bit of excess arm fat just now doesn’t mean things have to stay that way. There are things you can do to help you slim down your arms and tone them up. Follow this list of twenty tips on how to lose arm fat fast and in no time at all you’ll be dying to show off your lovely arms…

1. Workout With Resistance Bands

When I was trying to tone my arms, I found the absolute best exercises were the ones done with a resistance band. You can pick up a resistance band from your local sports shop and it will either come with a list of suggested exercises or you can find more online. Working out with a resistance band is great as you can just stand in front of the TV while strengthening and toning your arms – I found it was great fun! My only tip is don’t overdo it, if you’re just a beginner that’s okay, it takes time to build up your strength and endurance.

2. Stretch Regularly

If, like me, you don’t have a very active job and are sitting behind a desk all day or something similar, it’s likely you don’t get much exercise during working hours. This can cause your arms to become lazy and store fat, possibly causing your problem area. To combat this, try getting up every hour and stretching your muscles, giving particular focus to your arms. This will help your blood to circulate through your veins better too.

3. Walk

Despite all the recommended exercise you get for blasting arm fat, I’m afraid you can’t spot reduce a certain area of your body, that’s why it’s important you workout all your body. Set aside a bit of time each day to go for a walk and you’ll find your burring more calories than you would otherwise. Walking’s great because it’s so leisurely and helps you to lose weight without even realising it.

4. Jumping Jacks

Jumping jacks are fantastic – fact! I love them and aim to do them daily. Every time I get up from my desk I force myself to do fifty, that way throughout the day I’m getting a workout without really taking up any time at all. As you jump, you work your abs, your arms, your inner thighs and your calfs, meaning you get a full body workout. Start off just doing a few at a time and increase the number as you build up your endurance. As well as being great for your arms, jumping jacks are a great form of cardio too so they keep your heart and lungs healthy as well.

5. Push Ups

I know, I know, I can hear you all groaning at just the thought of doing push ups. They’re awful, right? Well, while they may seem a pain to do, they’re amazing at toning your arms while giving you a defined and flat stomach. If you find doing real pushups hard, start off by resting on your knees. If you can’t do too many at once, don’t worry. Start off small and work your way up. Perhaps add a rep each day or go that bit lower. Your arms will be toned in no time!

6. Invest In A Medicine Ball

Medicine balls, they’re those overweight basketball things? Right? Right! You may never have used one before and I’m betting some of you weren’t even sure what they were but trust me when I say they’re amazing. They make your workout so much fun so you hardly notice you’re exercising. There are loads of exercises you can do with a medicine ball to tone up your arms so, instead of rambling on, I’ll simply direct you to the world wide web (more specifically, YouTube) and insist you have a browse.

7. Yoga

Yoga is great for so many reasons I can’t count them all. It’s great for helping you de-stress and relax, for helping you to strengthen your core, for increasing flexibility and not to mention toning up – mainly those pesky arms. You may think it’s not for you but I recommend giving it a chance. Don’t knock it until you try it, you might find yourself pleasantly surprised. And don’t worry if you don’t want to join a class, there are plenty of DVDs you can follow in the comfort of your own home.

8. Exercise DVDs

Speaking of exercise DVDs, there are plenty of them you can buy that will help you to tone up your arms. A lot of them will focus solely on your arms too. They range in time from anything from ten minutes to an hour so anyone can fit them into their busy daily routines. Simply set aside a space of time each morning and press play. Starting your day by exercising is also a great way to get you motivated for the day ahead too.

9. Go Swimming

Swimming is a great way to tone your body, especially your arms. All the different strokes include your arms and the subtle yet forceful resistance of the water adds to your workout. Within a few weeks of regular swimming you’ll find yourself toning up all over and your arm fat will be vanishing.

10. Dancing

Whether you believe it or not, dancing is a great way to help you eliminate that excess arm fat. You don’t have to join a class or anything fancy like that, just stick on your favourite CD and dance around your living room for thirty minutes each day. You’ll be moving your arms without even realising it while giving the rest of your body a workout too. Dancing is great for you all round, not just for your arms.

11. Believe You Can Do It

Seeing as we’re just over half way through this list, I’m going to throw it out there that you need to have confidence in yourself when you’re trying to tone up or lose weight. If you don’t believe you can do it then you never will, fact.  Give yourself rewards when you reach each of your mini goals to keep yourself focussed and spur yourself on each day. You can do this, you’re worth it so don’t give up!

12. Jump Rope

Chances are, a lot of you haven’t jumped rope since you were a child but I highly advise you start. It’s a great form of cardio that works out your arms and your legs, not to mention it’s kind of fun too! You may not be able to do it for long at first but stick at it, it will come with time, as will those beautiful arms.

13. Lift Wights

One of the best ways to change the fat on your arms into muscle is to lift weights. Don’t worry, weight lifting won’t make you look all bulky like you may think, it makes you look toned and slender while building up your strength. If you don’t fancy weight lifting every day, why not invest in a set of weights you can attach to your wrists and wear them while you dance or walk. This may not seem like much bur trust me it makes a massive difference to your workout.

14. Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate!

I’ve said it before and I’ll likely say it many times more – you need to drink plenty of water. I cannot stress how important that fact it! Whether you’re trying to lose that extra fat or not, you need to drink six to eight glasses of water per day to stay in tip top health. It’s great because it flushes the toxins out of your body, keeps your skin looking great and keeps you healthy. When it comes to losing that extra fat, water helps to keep you full so you don’t eat to excess, therefore you’re taking in less calories and burning them off your body instead.

15. Count Those Calories

As with when you’re trying to lose any type of fat, you need to take a look at how many calories you’re eating. It’s recommended that women eat two thousand calories per day to remain the same weight but if you’re trying to lose weight I recommend you cut down (just be sure you don’t eat less than twelve hundred calories to remain healthy). With dieting you can’t pick and choose where you want to lose fat from however but on the plus side this means you’ll be losing pounds and inches all over your body, not just your pesky arms.

16. Eat Healthy

Speaking of calories – just because you’re counting them doesn’t mean you can fill up on chocolate bars and stop eating when you reach your limit. Losing weight and fat is as much about what you eat as how much. You need to have a well rounded balanced diet or else your arm fat is going no where. If you need some tips, try reading one of my other articles 50 Healthy Foods To Lose Weight.

17. Boxing 

As I’m sure you can imagine, boxing is a great way to help you lose arm fat seeing as you’re throwing so many punches and jabs. The great news is, you don’t have to sign up to a class to do it either (unless you want to, of course) or even own a pair of boxing gloves. Simply make a space in your house and start mimicking all the moves. This is where a set of wrist weights would come in handy for even better results too. Just set up in front of your TV and get punching, easy!

18. Herbal Supplements

To give your arm fat a little extra kick out the door, you might want to consider a herbal supplement to speed up the process. You’ll find the internet littered with hundreds of these ‘miracle’ supplements that claim to burn off fat but please, please don’t even consider them. Instead, if you think a herbal supplement may suit you, visit your doctor or chemist to get advice on what you should be taking and what actually works.

19. Don’t Give Up

While these may all be tips to help you lose arm fat fast, keep in mind that there is and never will be an overnight fix to your problem. You have to work hard and eat right, all the while staying patient and pushing yourself to hold on. Keep in mind why you’re working so hard, why you don’t want to eat that bar of chocolate. I always find it helps to have a picture of what I’m aiming up somewhere I’ll see it each day or knowing that I’ll get a reward when I reach my goal. And remember, the bigger the reward (alongside your fab new look, of course) the harder you’ll work for it.

20. Cosmetic Surgery

First off, let me start by saying that this should only be your absolute last resort. Secondly, you should only really consider it if you’ve already lost an awful lot of weight and have been left with sagging skin on your arms and in other places too. Any reputable doctor/surgeon won’t even consider you for skin removal surgery if you’re overweight or haven’t bothered to exercise as it’s likely you can manage to lose your excess arm fat naturally. That’s why it’s important you follow all the previous tips (possibly several times over!) before you even consider this tip. It’s expensive, it’s painful and it should always be a last resort.

In just about every women’s magazine or website you’ll find countless articles on how to lose weight, slim down and tone up. It’s a daily topic of us everlasting dieters and I confess I’m guilty of adding to the fuss and writing plenty of these articles myself. What about those women who aren’t looking for a quick diet fix are are seeking the opposite however? For one reason or another there are countless women out there on a mission to gain weight and a lack of informative articles to help them succeed. That’s why I’ve created this guide filled with thirty tips and tricks to help women gain weight fast (and healthily!). Here goes…

1. Up Your Calorie Intake

As obvious as it may be, this point is definitely worth a mention. If you’re on a mission to gain weight fast then your very first step should be to up your calorie intake to start packing on the pounds. It’s reccomended that women eat 2000 calories per day simply to stay the same weight so going above this is a sure way to help you gain weight. Eack pound of fat is made up of 3500 calories so adding just 500 extra calories to your diet each day will help you gain one pound per week. The more you eat, the more you gain, simple!

2. Add Muscle

It’s a well known fact that solid muscle weighs more than fat so adding muscle to your body is a great way to help you gain weight while still looking lean and toned. The best way to gain muscle is to do plenty of weight bearing exercises such as lifting weights. You can also do weight bearing exercises against your own weight and do things like squats and pushups. Don’t worry, adding muscle doesn’t mean you’ll begin to look like a macho man either, it just means you’ll be lean and toned while adding pounds to your body too.

3. Eat More Protein

To build muscle, you need to feed your body right and the best way to do this is to consume plenty of protein. It’s great for building muscle which as we just covered keeps you lean while adding pounds to your frame. The best protein fills foods are fish, turkey, tofu, beans, eggs, yoghurt, nuts and seeds – they’re all bursting with goodness and will help you to build muscle and gain weight. Did I mention how tasty they all are too?

4. Snack Constantly

I love this tip! Sadly I’m one of these people who needs to shed a few pounds rather than gain them but it doesn’t stop me envying this point. Snacking constantly is great for helping you to gain weight as it ensures you’re constantly getting a flow of calories into your system. Try to snack on high calorie foods such as nuts, seeds, chocolate etc to get plenty of the calories you need. Be sure to eat a healthy snack now and again too though as there’s a big difference between gaining weight healthily and harming your body with too many bad foods.

5. Drink Soda

When you’re trying to lose weight it’s recommended that you stay away from soda full stop as it’s full of sugar, calories and bloats you so it stands to reason that when you’re trying to gain weight you should drink plenty of it. The syrups they use in soda are, as I said, full of sugars and soda which your body finds hard to digest therefore gets stored as fat. It’s a great way to gain weight and so easy too!

6. Cook With Oil

There are so many healthy, calorie free cooking aids out there it’s hard to keep track of them all so the good news is that of you’re trying to gain weight you don’t need to! Feel free to layer your pan in oil and drizzle your foods with it too before you pop them in the oven. Oils are full of fats which tend do go straight to your hips once eaten so they’re great for helping you to gain weight. Another plus? Food tastes so much better when cooked in full fat oils too!

7. Drink Dairy

Remember when you were a kid and you’d be told to drink a pint of whole milk on your break every morning at school? Well, teachers did that for a reason. Whole milk is full of fat which helps you to pack on the pounds but it’s also really good for you. It’s loaded with calcium which is essential for building strong bones and also keeps your hair and nails looking great too. If drinking a pint of milk a day doesn’t sound like you then eat a large bowl of cereal, enjoy a milkshake, add cream to your tea – just whatever you do, drink dairy!

8. Never Skip A Meal

Sorry to state the obvious again but you’d be surprised at how many people still ‘forget’ to have breakfast even when they’re trying to gain weight. It’s essential you eat three solid meals a day to help you gain weight, the simple reason being that every calorie counts. And yes, eating breakfast does heighten your metabolism meaning you burn calories quicker (great for losing weight) but like I said, calories are calories and it’s essential you get plenty of them.

9. Add Butter

Too many of us skip adding butter to our sandwiches, our toast, our mash potatoes in the hopes of being healthy but when you’re trying to gain weight it’s essential you do the exact opposite. Add as much butter as you like, layer it on thick and watch as the pounds pile themselves on. You can add it to your food, cook with it or (if you’re a glutton like me!) simply eat it with a coating of chocolate powder on top. The dairy treat is a great source of calories and fat, the perfect combo for gaining weight.

10. Increase Your Portion Sizes

Instead of choosing a small plate from the cupboard, reach for the largest one and be sure to fill it with food. Increasing your portion sizes is a great way to up your calorie intake and help you to gain weight. If you’re not used to eating big meals, it may be hard for you to handle at first and you may get full quickly but keep it up and your stomach will soon stretch, allowing you to eat more, so you can eat those all important extra calories.

11. Eat Later At Night

When losing weight, experts recommend you don’t eat after seven o’clock at night so it stands to reason that when you’re trying to gain weight you should do the exact opposite. Feel free to have a late night supper or a midnight snack, the worst that will happen is it can go straight to your hips! Eating fatty, high calorie foods late at night is great because it means your body won’t have a chance to burn the extra calories off while you sleep.

12. Enjoy Eating Carbs

I love carbs but, as a constant dieter, I have to stay away from them. They’re full of starch, calories and are heavy on our stomachs. Eating them is a great way to pile on the pounds so, for those of you looking to gain weight, feel free to indulge in pasta, bread, potatoes and remember to enjoy them on behalf of me! Don’t feel like you have to be healthy and eat brown varieties of carbs either, indulge in whatever you like and watch as the pounds creep on.

13. Get Plenty Of Zzzs

Whether you’re looking to lose weight or gain it, it’s essential you get plenty of sleep – at least eight hours per night to be exact. Sleep helps our bodies all round so it’s vital we indulge ourselves in it. This isn’t just a tip for anyone looking to gain weight, it’s for anyone looking to lead a healthy life.

14. Eat Every Few Hours

I mentioned snacking throughout the day and getting your three meals a day but why not take it one step further and eat every few hours? Not just snacks, small meals too. To gain weight, we need to eat as many calories as possible and this is a great way to do just that and not feel too full while doing it. Lets all take a leaf out of the Hobbits’ book and enjoy Second Breakfast, Elevensies and all the rest!

15. Eat Less Water Based Foods

It’s all good and well eating lots and often but if you’re eating mostly water based foods such as cucumber and watermelon then you’re not going to get anywhere when it comes to losing weight. Fruits and vegetables are the worst offenders for being water based foods so be careful which ones you indulge in. Bananas, sweetcorn and potatoes are all great for helping you gain weight as they’re healthy but also very filling.

16. Talk To A Pharmacist

Sometimes despite all our best efforts, some of us will struggle to gain weight. If this sounds like you perhaps you could go and talk to a pharmacist, they’ll be able to advise you on any supplements you could take to help you gain weight, as well as any additions to your diet. They’re trained professionals and bound by a confidentiality law so don’t feel afraid to speak to them. Their advice will be tailored to you and speaking to someone about any fears or questions you have will be immensely helpful.

17. Add Cream

Yum! I simply love this tip! Not only is it effective but it’s ridiculously tasty too. The method – add cream to everything you possibly can. My mouth is watering already! Replace milk with cream in your tea, pour it on your strawberries, add a dollop of whipping cream to your serving of cake or eat it with the butter and jam you already have layered on your scone. Cream is full of calories and fat so it’s perfect to help you gain weight as well as being one of the tastiest food accompaniments out there in my opinion.

18. Remind Yourself Why You Started

Every time you feel like giving up, it’s important to remind yourself exactly why you started. If you can’t be bothered to lift some weights today, you don’t feel like adding cream to your coffee then look in the mirror and examine your progress. Once you remind yourself of why you can’t give up and how well you’re doing then it will be that much harder to take a day off and let go. Stay motivated, stay strong, you’ll get there.

19. Be Consistent

It’s no good having two super calorific days in a week and eating hardly anything the other five, or even five calorific days and two days where you eat very little. This is an all or nothing deal and you won’t see results if you don’t stay consistent. Eat roughly the same amount each day and keep your calorie intake up, don’t let it drop. If you’re attempting to gain weight by building muscle it’s important you train at least five days a week or your efforts will be as good as worthless.

20. Enjoy Ice Cream

Eating ice cream is a great way to pile on the pound and gain weight fast as it’s so light meaning you can eat an abundance of it in one go. It’s full of sugar and calories so it’s perfect for helping you to lose weight. If you don’t like eating it on it’s own that’s fine too as you can have it with fruit, dessert, cake, anything! Plus, there are countless different flavours of ice cream out there so there’s likely to be something to satisfy your sweet tooth.

21. Keep A Food Journal

Keeping a food journal is the perfect way to help you keep track of exactly what you’re eating and if it will help you to gain weight or not. By looking over your food journal you’ll be able to identify if there are times when you eat too little, days you skip meals and exactly what you’re eating full stop. You’ll be able to examine any problem areas in your diet and improve them. Plus, seeing it all wrote down is great motivation to do better the next day or the next week which will keep you focused on your goal.

22. Indulge In Fruit

Yes, fruit may be healthy but it’s also full of sugar so feel free to indulge in as much of it as you like. Yes, it’s low in calories but all that sugar doesn’t go to no use. The sugar you find in fruit is natural too so by eating plenty of it you’ll be fulfilling your bodies daily sugar needs while not damaging your body with bad foods. It’s healthy and can help you to gain weight! Win, win!

23. Cut Down On Exercise

Exercise burns calories which you need to help you to gain weight, therefore if you’re trying to add a few extra pounds to your figure you should cut down on exercise. I’m not saying stop completely, that would be bad for your body even if it was helping you to reach your goal, just do a little less. If you go for a walk every evening, perhaps only go a few times a week and catch up on some TV the other times. If you always take the stairs, jump in the lift. If you park at the far end of the car park, enjoy pulling up just outside the door. You get the picture!

24. Double Your Fat Intake

The more fat you eat, the quicker you’ll gain weight, period. Therefore it stands to reason that to gain weight you should up your fat intake. I don’t recommend going above double the amount you’d usually eat however – we’re trying to help you add a few extra pounds, not damage your body after all.

25. Eat Peanut Butter

Peanut butter has lots of added healthy benefits as well as being unbelievably tasty but it’s also full of fat and helps you gain weight like few other foods can. A great way to gain weight is to enjoy a few heaped spoons of peanut butter right before bed. Your body won’t have time to work it off so you’ll quickly start gaining weight as well as enjoying a tasty late night snack. If eating it straight out the jar isn’t your thing then explore your culinary skills and make a PB & J sandwich – it’s just as tasty and does the same job when it comes to gaining weight.

26. A Potato A Day…

I mentioned before about eating extra carbs but few carbs will help you gain weight as quick as the potato. Eating just one a day – be it in the form of home-made fries, a baked potato, roasted, boiled or mashed – will see you packing on pounds in no time. For a bit of variation, you can also turn to sweet potatoes for a bit of extra flavour. To really get the benefit of gaining weight while eating potatoes, be sure to layer them in butter, oil and all those tasty little extras we can’t have when we’re dieting.

27. Enjoy The Cinema Snacks

If you’re off for a trip to the cinema (or anywhere else for that matter!) use the day as an excuse to indulge in all the snacks your venue has to offer. Don’t just go for a small popcorn, you want the extra large with a soda too! A day out anywhere is a special occasion so be sure to enjoy yourself by eating all the tasty treats you can. You’ll enjoy your day all the more seeing as your tastebuds will be tingling and your waistline will love you for it.

28. Dine Out More Often

Have you ever noticed how when you visit a restaurant or a cafe the portion sizes are more than double what you’d feed yourself at home? I used to think I was imagining it but no, it’s for real. When you eat out you’re served up near three times the recommended amount of food meaning your plate is piled high with goodies. If you’re trying to gain weight, eat out as often as you can for the sake of these mammoth portions. When we go out we tend to have the mentality of we must eat it and it would be rude not to finish so you’re likely to eat more. As we covered before, eating more means extra calories and extra calories means extra pounds. Yay!

29. Ask A Professional

If you’re still struggling to gain weight then perhaps you should ask your doctor what their thoughts are. They’ll be able to tell you if there’s a medical reason you’re not gaining weight, what your ideal weight should be and they’ll also be able to give you lots of other advice on how to gain weight. Before you embark on this mission, I advise you see a doctor first in any case just to be sure it’s healthy for you.

30. Add Sugar

So many of us avoid having sugar with our meals but, when you’re trying to gain weight, it’s a great additive. You can sprinkle it in your tea, coffee, over your cereal, pudding, pancakes – just about anything you can think of can be sweetened by using a little sugar. I like to eat healthy and have bowls of fruit but when I’m feeling naught I layer them in sugar to make it extra sweet.

I wish you the best of luck if your journey to gain weight. If you’ve got any extra tips or have any questions I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to send me in your thoughts and I’ll get back to you! In the mean time, enjoy your weight gain and stay positive!

(all images sourced via pinterest.com)

We all know turkey as the thing you eat for days after Christmas Day because your husband/dad/best friend bought the biggest turkey they could lay their hands on and once the skin was ripped off the bird, no one really ate much else from it.

Before you get depressed about how many days you’ll be eating turkey curry for, let us remind you of one very simple fact – YOU CAN DO SO MUCH MORE WITH TURKEY THAN CURRY & SANDWICHES! We talk about this in greater detail shortly, we promise you. You can make sausages, burgers, bolognese, pizza, stews, casseroles, salads, sandwiches that will knock your socks off and much, much more!

This is something that should come as good news to you. Turkey is one of the healthiest meats out there and does so much more than just subdue your hunger. We don’t mention it in our investigation of so-called “super foods” but maybe we should have done…

Protein

We know that turkey contains protein and that is something we’ve already covered. What we haven’t covered is exactly how good the protein found in turkey will be for your body. You need this to stop your muscles wasting away. Children need it for their growth spurts. Elderly people need it to nourish the cells in the body. It helps to build both bones and muscles, and helps with maintenance and development.

Sadly, most protein rich foods are high in fat content. Turkey is not one of these foods. Turkey goes the other way entirely. Raw light meat in turkey will contain just 0.3g of saturated fats per 100g. Lean, raw beef on the other hand, has 1.7g of saturated fat per 100g. Do you see what we mean?

Selenium

You’ve heard of selenium but you’re not entirely sure what it is… It’s okay – that was us too before we investigated things a little closer. Our lack of knowledge about it means that most of us aren’t getting enough of it, but this is actually very important to assume your immune system is working as well as it should be plus preventing and protecting against damage to the nerves and cells in the body. We told you it was important!

Foods that are high in selenium include fish, lean meat, eggs and brazil nuts. Turkey, as you may have guessed, contains amazing amounts of the nutrient. 100g of lean turkey will give you about 20% of your daily recommended intake of selenium, and once you throw the brazil nuts and boiled eggs into the salad with spinach that you should be making, you have a dish that is high in selenium, low in calories and low in fat too! What more could you possibly want?

B Vitamins

B Vitamins are another vital thing in your diet and comes in plentiful amounts in the good old Christmas turkey! Before you throw that Boxing Day turkey curry in the garbage, be aware that the B vitamins that you can find in turkey help to unlock energy from the food that you eat. Unless you want to feel sluggish after your meal, this is important. It will help to beat fatigue, reduce the tiredness that you will feel throughout the day plus keeping your red blood cells healthy. Why not try grilled turkey with a side order of roasted new potatoes and garlic roasted asparagus… It’s lovely!

Phosphorous

Another one that you’ve probably heard about but not really understood is phosphorus. This is needed for the development of the bones in the body, and also for normal growth. Just like the selenium, this mineral helps to unlock and release the energy within the food that you eat and in turn, this will make you feel better in general. There’s quite a few foods that will contain this and aside from turkey, you will find that best are grains, dairy food, rice and poultry.

Of course, with all the good there must occasionally come some bad. In the case of turkey, certain parts of the meat can contain high amounts of saturated fat which isn’t good for your cholesterol. There are things that you can do to avoid this, of course, and one of the best is to know which parts of the bird are right for you. For example, the dark meat will contain more fat than the white meat in its raw form. Dark meat has 0.8g saturated fat and white meat has just 0.3g. Roasted dark meat can contain as much as 2.0g in 100g! That’s such a great jump!

That’s all that we can find really for the bad in turkey… It’s a great thing that it only has one con for all those pros! One final pro that you should probably know about before you go running to grab the turkey leftovers is that the lean breast meat can contain as LITTLE as 150g in 100g portion. Roast lamb can contain 240 calories plus, depending on how it is cooked! Again, that’s a pretty staggering jump!

Have we convinced you of the good about turkey yet? If we haven’t, check out some of the other posts on the site. We guarantee you’ll be hooked once you’re finished!

We all love the good old traditional Christmas day dinner – you can’t deny that. However, there is nothing to say that you can’t liven things up a little bit from time to time, especially if you could be adding flavour while taking away the calorie content… Aren’t you intrigued now?

There are a few foods out there that are well known to be super foods. They are classed as super foods because of their high nutritional content and the fact that they all contain powerful antioxidants that could even help you to reduce your chances of getting cancer and other potentially fatal conditions. Wouldn’t you liven up your Christmas day dinner if it meant your entire family being a bit healthier?

Salmon

Salmon is something that can turn up on the Christmas day table but normally in buffet style with the form of smoked salmon slithers. Salmon contains a ridiculously high amount of protein which we all know is good for rebuilding the cells in the body. With just 4 ounces of salmon, you could crank your daily total of protein up to almost 60%. Not just good for rebuilding cells, protein is good to encourage the metabolism to increase weight loss. You’ll feel fuller for longer which means you are likely to ingest FEWER calories, and it’s tasty too!

Although you wouldn’t normally think about incorporating salmon into your Christmas day dinner, there are a few ways that you can manage it. For example, you could swap the prawn cocktail starter for a salmon and spinach warm salad?

Spinach is actually another super food so this will kill two birds with one stone and we will talk about that in a moment. Back to the salad and you need just a handful of ingredients for this tasty delight. You’ll get the good mono-saturates fats from the extra virgin olive oil that you’ll need, and with a pinch of salt and pepper, a couple of handfuls of roasted pine nuts, 450g of fresh spinach and 300g of fresh salmon, you’ll have a great and unique starter created in no time.

Spinach

We’ve already discussed the idea of spinach being a super food and you’ll understand why in just a moment….

There are very few calories in spinach. There are however, plenty of vitamins including vitamins A & K, vitamin C, iron, and once again, plenty of antioxidants and properties that have suggested reducing the risks of dementia and similar medical conditions. The vitamins in spinach not only help your brain as you get older but also keeps you looking more youthful for longer. The vitamin C is especially good for this!

The good thing about spinach is that you can use it in any way that you would normally use lettuce in a salad. We’ve already broached the idea of a spinach and salmon salad starter for Christmas day, but you could also use this in your actual Christmas day dinner. Leafy greens are very good for you during the winter months, and spinach is just one of the ones that you will find in abundance. You could consider making something like a spinach and tortellini Christmas soup for your starter on the big day, and it is actually one of the simplest and healthiest things to make. It’ll take around 25 minutes from start to finish but you don’t need a great deal of ingredients:

• 2 cans of vegetable broth or stock 
• A packet of tortellini (around 9 ounces)
• 15 ounces of kidney or cannellini beans
• Chopped and diced Italian tomatoes (or one can of) – this can be adjusted to your taste
• Fresh spinach 
• Basil, salt, pepper, shredded Asiago cheese

Making the soup is so simple – you get yourself the biggest saucepan you can find in your kitchen and throw in the broth which should be bought to the boil. Throw in the tomatoes, the beans and some salt and pepper and let it simmer for a few minutes. Chuck in the tortellini and let it cook for about 4 or 5 minutes and then add the spinach which should be cooked until wilted. Each bowl can be then topped with the cheese and you have yourself a very simple and very effect Christmas day starter that is packed with the good stuff. Again, the tomatoes in this recipe brings us nicely to the next super food!

Tomatoes

This fruit is so good for you and for so many different reasons. There have been studies performed by the guys at Tianjin Medical University that showed those eating tomatoes between 2 and 6 times per week were 50% less likely to suffer with depression. The first super power this super food seems to have is making you happy and at this particularly stressful time of year, you need all the help you can get, right?

Not just good for lowering the chances of you suffering with depression, tomatoes can also help you to lower your risks of getting certain cancers, heart attacks and much more. It would be very safe to say that these foods are very good for you.

If you want to incorporate tomatoes into your Christmas day dinner, why not try one of these great dishes:

Tomato and Basil Salad Starter:

This fabulous starter is great for those that don’t fancy the spinach and salmon salad! You need a few different varieties of tomatoes chopped down so that they look good, a few fresh basil leaves, bread that you can make into croutons (or a bag of croutons if you are lady like us!), some parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon juice. You’ve probably got some of these things in your house already, right?

You could even try your hands at large tomatoes stuffed with bread crumbs and parmesan cheese and you can even use it to make a slightly healthier Bloody Mary cocktail! Easier than you thought – right?

So there you have them – easy and healthy changes that you can make to your Christmas day dinner to bring it into our modern homes. Healthy, disease-preventing and incredibly tasty… what more could you possibly want?

**Delicious food pics found on Pinterest.com

As much as we all love the festive period, one thing that we can’t stand about Christmas is the amount of weight that we tend to put on. We have been focused on healthy eating at Christmas recently and with very good reason – it has been well documented that people get fat over Christmas!

We’ve already taken a closer look at some of the clever ways that you can be healthier at Christmas from swapping certain foods to incorporating well known “super foods” into your Christmas day dinner. All of this information can be found at the links at the bottom of this page…. We promise they are well worth reading!

There are some very smart tips that you should know about when it comes to trying to avoid weight gain at Christmas. We won’t keep you waiting any longer. Are you sitting comfortably?

Thinkin’ Ahead

Right girls, if you know you are going to go out later on tonight for dinner, don’t starve yourself today otherwise you will OVEREAT later. If you want to avoid putting on too much Christmas weight, you’ll need to start thinking ahead. Rather than starving yourself for the entire day and then pigging out later on in the luxurious restaurant, have a few smaller meals set out. Eat a good breakfast to get you started for the day, have a healthy yet small salad for lunch and remember to enjoy a couple of pieces of fruit or rice cakes as your hunger-avoiding snacks throughout the day. Starving yourself will only make you overweight and retain calories in the body anyway. It’s not worth it.

Christmas Candy! 

We know that the best thing about Christmas is all the candy and chocolate you have access too… and it’s perfectly okay to eat them in abundance! To prevent overeating on the sugary delights, make sure that you only have one box of chocolate open at once and make sure that you put the unopened ones away somewhere so that they are out of sight and out of mind. If they are right there in front of you, there is a good chance that you are going to want to eat them. If they aren’t there, you won’t be thinking about them. It makes sense, right?

Take Treats to Work Day!

It’s great to be able to enjoy tasty treats such as mince pies and chocolate in the office during the festive period but when it comes to bringing in YOUR tasty treats, try to make them healthy ones. Take in some tasty oranges or christmas (healthy) themed snacks – we will look at these later. You made them so it makes sense that you will eat them… if they are healthier for you, you are just doing yourself a favour. The other guys and girls in the office will love you for it. Just because those mince pies are on the table in front of you doesn’t mean that you need to eat them. Sometimes you just need to have some will power. We actually talk about making healthier mince pies in Top 10 Tips to Make it Through Christmas without Getting Fat! (Part B) – why not take a closer look?

Christmas Buffet-Bonkers!

Just because there is a buffet doesn’t mean that you need to eat EVERYTHING in it! DOn’t hover by the buffet table because you are going to reach out, grab something that you probably shouldn’t grab and pop it in your mouth. If you’re on the other side of the room, or in another room entirely, you are less likely to munch out. It just makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? Grab one plate, fill it and eat it. Try to avoid going back for more and if you do, make the second plate a healthier one.

Christmas Day Portions!

The vegetables should take up a third of your plate when it comes to the big day dinner. If there is more meat than vegetables, you’re doing it wrong. The easiest way to keep track of your Christmas weight gain is to maintain proper portion control. You could be eating the healthiest thing in the world but when you have a portion designed for five grown men, you’ll still get fat.

Change your Fat!

Rather than spreading goose fat on the spuds this year, spray them with a low-calorie vegetable oil. Use a non-stick baking sheet rather than oil to cook the roast potatoes. Avoid using butter on your vegetables, or at least try to cut down. You don’t need to smother everything in the unhealthiest stuff around in order to make it taste good. If you use the water that you cooked the vegetables in with the gravy, you will get just as much flavour as you would from using the fat that you cooked the bird in. Sometimes it’s the smallest things that will end up making the biggest difference.

Skin the Turkey!

We know the skin is the best bit but it’s going to add a whole heap of calories to your Christmas day dinner. Why not leave the skin out, or just have a mouthful and let someone else have the rest. We know it’s tasty but is it really worth all those extra calories? Just think – if you cut cut out the turkey skin, you could have a mince pie or a glass of wine guilt-free later!

For more information on keeping your calorie count down this Christmas, why not check out some of the other articles on the site:

• Top 10 Tips to Make it through Christmas Without Getting Fat! (Part B)
• Top 10 Tips to Make it through Christmas Without Getting Fat! (Part A)
• We Love Turkey, Don’t You?
• Easy Christmas Food Swaps for a Healthier Christmas

**Photos of the beautiful food found on Pinterest.com!

We took a really good look at the health benefits of turkey recently and we feel the need to boast more about this delicious food. In fact, some of our team are now so excited for Christmas Day, just so she can play around with the turkey leftovers and try some of the recipes that we have talked about. We can’t work out if she is optimistic… or sad?

Either way, we feel the need to show you some of the great swaps that you can make to make full use of the lean, low-calorie, low-fat, high-protein meat. Let’s make the switch – are you ready for more turkey?

Turkey Carbonara

We love ham and bacon and all sorts of pink meat in our carbonara. We have been known to throw chicken in with gammon and bacon, added full-fat cream, thrown wine in… Let’s just say that we have been very bad when it comes to spicing up our carbonara. It’s a pretty calorific meal if you aren’t careful but thankfully, we’ve found a few days to reduce the calorie content down a bit for you… without having to sacrifice any of the taste!

You’ll obviously need the pasta, turkey bits, bacon (or low-fat ham), button mushrooms, parmesan cheese, 300ml of low-fat yogurt, 150ml fromage frais, salt & pepper and a chopped onion. You can throw some garlic in there too if you wanted!

Making the meal is easy – put the onions, garlic and oil in a pan, let them sizzle for a bit and then add the turkey. Cook the pasta as you normally would and make the sauce by heating the salt and pepper, fromage frais, low-fat yogurt and garlic in a saucepan. Throw the cheese of choice in there and grate some extra for the topping and if you are feeling really adventurous, you could even have a bash at making your own garlic bread. This meal is delicious and we guarantee that you will love it. We made extra and even ate it cold for lunch the next day – it’s that universal.

A large (ish) portion of this contains just 500 calories, 50g protein and a good helping of fibre too! What’s not to love?

Sticking with the Italian theme, we bring to you another healthy favourite:

Turkey Lasagne

You make this as you would any other normal lasagne but with this one, you substitute the beef mince for turkey mince. Get yourself some fresh tomatoes in there and you have your daily portion of “super foods” and homemade, whole-wheat garlic bread can be thrown in for just 600 calories per portion. There’s a whopping 60g+ in this dish too so you know you are doing your cells a favour!

You could add cous cous to grilled turkey done on the lean grilling machine you undoubtedly have in your kitchen – throw some asparagus on the side, or even some spinach for another “super food” boost, and you have one of the easiest dishes out there. There are hundreds of dishes just as simple as these too. Just have a think about anything that you can make with meat and you can do the same thing with turkey. Bolognese – use turkey mine. Sausages – make your own with turkey mince. You could also use the mince for burgers. Chunks of turkey, or even strips of turkey, can be covered in breadcrumbs or a healthy homemade batter and air-fried for tasty goujons, nuggets, crispy-style patties… It’s up to you – the possibilities are endless. Marinate it, stuff it, mint it, morccan it, mini pizza it, Irish it, roast it, stew it, pie it… Literally – the possibilities are endless!

For now, why not have a look around some of the other diet and weight loss articles regarding Christmas? We can help you to fight against Christmas weight gain this year. We’re giving it a shot – why don’t you join in on the fun?

**Pictures sourced from Herinterest.com

We’ve paid a lot of attention to keeping a trim figure over the festive period. If you guys are anything like us in the Herinterest team, the belt definitely needs letting out a bit once we are down with your Christmas feast. Clothes don’t fit quite as well after Christmas as they did before. Some of us have even been known to go up a whole dress size! That’s not good, right?

Luckily, there are plenty of tips that you can use to ensure that you don’t suffer with putting on the pounds at Christmas time. We’ve looked at why you shouldn’t turn up hungry and how sitting by the nibbles is a very bad idea. We know that it’s not wise to lose track of how many nibbles you have popped in your mouth and also why you should never deny yourself a festive treat – see it’s not all bad news! It’s time to to focus for the final five tips on how to make it through Christmas without getting fat.

6. Swap it! 

We talk about some of the healthier swaps that you can make in Healthy Christmas Snacks for a Very Merry Christmas. We won’t repeat ourselves. We also discuss some of the easiest things that you can swap in Easy Christmas Food Swaps for a Healthier Christmas. Sometimes the smallest of swaps can make the world of difference. Even doing something as tiny as changing your dips could save you over 100 calories so it is well worth investigating! Just in case you needed a little bit of gentle persuasion, let us hit you with the facts:

a – Swap the sausage meat stuffing for a orange, cranberry and roast chestnut stuffing and you double the flavour and cut out over 100 calories per 100g. 

b – Swap the butter on your vegetables for a spritz of light oil olive and some herbs and you will cut out 40-50 calories per serving.

c – Swap the brandy butter with your Christmas pudding for low-fat custard and you’re losing about 50-70 calories. 

7. Slow down on the booze… 

It’s easy to get carried away when you’ve had a drink. It’s easy to lose tracks of exactly what you’ve eating or been drinking. Alcohol is filled with empty calories and it blurs your judgement which brings a double whammy. You’re going to be ingesting empty calories with the booze and once it hits you, you’re likely to overeat on the nibbles, overfill your plate at the buffet, and eat more than the required amount of chocolate cake to satisfy one person. By all means let yourself have a good time and enjoy a few tipples but just be aware that when you get carried away, so does your focus.

8. Swap the booze!

If you don’t want to cut out the booze in your festive season (who could blame you) try exchanging your usual tipples with something a bit easier on your body and lighter in calories. Switching wine to vodka and light soda, for example, can cut out a whole bunch of calories and if you are usually a beer-drinker, swapping to a spirit can make the world of difference. You will also notice that these drinks with mixers are going to hit you less noticeably than wine or beer. Try some of these easy swaps:

a – Swap a Long Island iced tea (400 calories) or similar cocktail for a glass of white wine (100 calories)

b – Swap a martini (200 calories) for a light bottle of beer which only as 105 calories

9. Eat more fruit!

It has been shown that water-based fruits such as cantaloupe, blueberries, apples, oranges, strawberries, peaches and watermelon help to make you feel full, and help you to feel fuller for longer. Grab an apple as you jump in the car to go to that fancy restaurant for dinner and you won’t eat too many calories with your meal. There are vegetables which can have the same effect too including – cucumber celery, broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, carrots, squash and tomatoes. Leafy greens are a good idea as well – these are in abundance at this time of year and they certainly taste delicious. On top of that, they are filled with nutrients which can make getting through the colder winter months much easier. It’ll even give your immune system a boost!

10. Look at what you’re drinking! 

You will be surprised at how many cocktails you are putting in your body from drinks that AREN’T alcohol based. Soda, for example, is well known to be particularly bad for you if you are trying to watch your weight. Your average serving can contain around 100 calories as well almost ten teaspoons of sugar. What’s the point in that? You wouldn’t eat a spoonful of sugar so why would you drink that much sugar? You wouldn’t add that to your morning cup of tea, would you?

Fancy coffees are also a danger drink to keep your eye out for this Christmas. We know that you are going to want to enjoy that Irish coffee but these “posh” coffees are already calorie-laden without you having to add booze to the mix. Sugar and cream also add even more calories so you should probably think twice about it before you enjoy it…

Ideally, you will want to drink as much water as you can during this rather toxic festive season. Water helps to flush the bad stuff out of your body and, when you are drinking, can prevent some pretty nasty hangovers. You don’t have to go as far as drinking a glass of water in between every alcoholic drink but having a couple of glasses or bottles of water throughout the evening is only going to benefit you in the morning… we’ve all had one of those dehydrated hangovers! We know how it feels!

So there you have it – the second part of our Top 10 Tips to Make it Through Winter without Getting Fat! If you’ve not seen Part A, take a peek! Also, if you have any great tips of your own, feel free to throw them our way. Every little helps!

**Photos sourced from Pinterest.com

We all know how it goes at Christmas – you get invited to plenty of parties, dinners and social events. You eat far more than you were intending to, either by going up for second helpings of those lush roast potatoes or a few extra slices of turkey, or by eating too many peanuts from the snack bowls that everyone seems to be putting around. You drank a years worth of calories last night in wine too, right? It’s hard work trying to keep on top of your weight at Christmas – who really has the time for that?

Luckily, we are paying special attention to not putting weight on over the Christmas period, and we are trying a lot of the tricks ourself. Why not have a go at some of them and let us know how you got on… We’d love to hear what got you through Christmas without putting on a few extra pounds! For a few more hints and tips, you could check out some of the other articles that we have featured in the prevent weight gain at Christmas series:

• Easy Christmas Food Swaps for a Healthier Christmas
• Prevent Piling on the Pounds at Christmas 

For now, we are going to focus on the important tips that you will help get you through the social events this Christmas without eating and drinking too much. Are you sitting comfortably?

1. Never turn up hungry!

This is a bad idea for so many reasons. If you arrive hungry, you are going to snack throughout the day or night. If they have served dinner up for you and their other guests, you will probably overeat, more out of starvation but possibly out of politeness. If you have a healthy yet small meal before you go around there, you will be eating more healthy foods and less bad foods and this, in turn, can help you to prevent piling on the pounds at Christmas. For example, having a nice low-calorie Caesar salad before you head out to your friend’s for an evening of wine and nibbles, you will eat less of the high-calorie nibbles when you get there. You could have a sandwich before you go, a bowl of soup, whatever it is that you like, but just make sure that it is a low-calorie meal.

2. Never sit by the nibbles!

If you are at a party at a friend’s house and there is a bowl of nuts right next to you, you are probably going to eat them. If you go to a social event where there is food or nibbles, the more attention you pay to the food, the more you are likely to eat. Mingle and walk around the groups of people at the party – talk and have a good time. Isn’t that the point of a party anyway? By diverting your attention away from the food, you are less likely to eat and more likely to have a good time. You never know you might even make some friends!

3. Keep your pace!

If you are going to enjoy the munchies and nibbles, don’t tell yourself that you will only eat for the first hour or so that you are there, and then you will stop. This won’t work. You are more likely to over-eat in that first hour to compensate and chances are; you will continue to eat throughout the evening anyway, especially if you are drinking and you don’t have as much will power as you normally would. Think about it logically – when you tell yourself you can’t have something, you just want it all the time, don’t you? This brings me nicely to my next point…

4. Don’t stop yourself! 

Obviously we are not saying that you can cram as much food into your mouth as possible, we are just saying that you should never debt yourself something that you really want. If you want a piece of Christmas cake, have a piece of Christmas cake. Just don’t have two pieces of Christmas cake. There is nothing wrong with letting yourself have a treat and you might find that denying yourself this pleasure could be detrimental to your determination to not put on any weight at Christmas. If you tell yourself not to have a piece of cake, you are going to be thinking about it all the time and there is a good chance that you will give in and have four pieces of cake. Just let yourself have a naughty five minutes every now and again and you will find that, because you aren’t saying “NO!” to anything, you will find life is much easier.

5. Count your nibbles!

As much as we don’t want you to deny yourself anything, we would suggest that you keep an eye on how much you are putting in your mouth. It’s easy to stick five canapés in your mouth and only remember eating three, especially if you are drinking as well. If they are on cocktail sticks, stick the cocktail sticks in your pocket so you can keep a tally of what you’re heading. Just try to keep on top of things… as best you can!

Keep your eyes peeled for Part B of our healthy eating for Christmas tips, and make sure you check out some of the posts we’ve put up in our Christmas series! Why not have a look at some of the following:

• Prevent Piling on the Pounds over Christmas 
• Easy Christmas Food Swaps for a Healthier Christmas

We all overindulge at Christmas time; something we look at in greater detail in Prevent Piling on the Pounds at Christmas. This time, in our Christmas healthy eating series, we are going to look at the healthiest of food swaps that you can make to ensure that you don’t pile on the pounds and remain healthy through the festive period.

From start to finish, we’ll look at how you can make your Christmas dinner one that isn’t calorie-filled and we are about to show you how… Are you ready?

Turkey

We’ll start with the obvious – the turkey. You can’t have a Christmas day dinner without turkey, can you? The good news about turkey is that it is a pretty healthy meat anyway. There’s plenty of protein and if you remember to remove the skin, it’s pretty low in fat as well. There are lots of B vitamins packed in there, and this is great for the production of energy.

As long as you remove the skin, your Christmas dinner will be relatively healthy. Sadly the skin is often considered the best bit so it might take a bit of will power on your side to turn it down. Just by removing the skin, however, you have the option to save around 40 calories on every portion of turkey alone. If you normally have two helpings of this white meat with your Christmas dinner, that’s 80 calories saved straight away.

Swap the skin for just the white meat and that’s a potential saving of 80-100 calories straight away! It’s as easy as that.

Gravy

Gravy is well known to be high in salts and fat so if you want to make it into a healthy alternative, you should drain the fat and juices from the turkey, leave it to one side and wait for the fat to solidify on the top. Scrape this off (although it sounds pretty disgusting) and just use what is left. By doing this, you are removing the highest fat content and you can make the gravy much healthier to eat with your Christmas dinner. You should also try to avoid adding any more salt to the meal to ensure that you don’t consume too much on this festive day.

Roast Potatoes

Most of our team love our Mother’s roast potatoes, especially on Christmas day, and if you feel that you can’t live without them for this Christmas coming, have a couple but swap the rest for a jacket potato instead. 100g of potatoes that have been part boiled and roasted in olive oil will add an extra 150+ calories on your Christmas day dinner, and will also add around 5g of fat into the mix. The average baked potato has around 50-60 calories less, depending on whether you use butter or low-fat margarine. That’s one of the easiest swaps that you can make and most of us make more than one type of potato on Christmas day anyway, don’t we?

Vegetables

You can have a Christmas day dinner without a nice helping of vegetables and the good news is that these are actually very good for you… depending on how you cook and prepare them. We are all guilty of smother our vegetables with butter so try avoiding the butter altogether or swap for a low-fat spread instead. This swap alone could save you around 50-75 calories. If you don’t like the vegetables bland and without butter, why not try adding some spices or herbs to them as you are making them? You add flavour without calories when you do this and you will find that not only does your Christmas day dinner taste lovely, it’ll also be a bit healthier for you as well!

Why not add some Brussel’s sprouts to your meal? They may stink before and after you eat them (let’s not pretend they don’t make you smell…) but they are packed full of good stuff including B vitamins and vitamin C, and have anti-oxidant properties which can help you to protect yourself against things like cancers and other potentially fatal conditions.

Christmas Pudding

You can’t have a Christmas day dinner without the Christmas pudding and this is one of the most calorific parts of the dinner. Well, that’s if you put aside the snacks you are going to be munching down on throughout the day. The pudding itself will be pretty low in fat content whilst still being high in carb content. There are some good things in there though – lots of calcium and iron, potassium and B vitamins.

When it comes to the custard, there are a couple of swaps that you can make to ensure that your Christmas day dinner isn’t too calorie filled. Making it with low fat milk is a good start, or you could even get reduced fat/calorie custard ready-made in cans these days which basically does all the hard work for you. It will be healthier if you make it yourself, of course, but who really has time for that on top of everything else on Christmas day?

So there you have them – the easiest swaps that you can make to your Christmas day dinner to make it much healthier. By doing these simple tricks, you could lose up to 500 calories and even more in some cases!

We will continue to bring you the very best hints and tips on how to prevent yourself from getting fat at Christmas time. Why not keep your eyes peeled for more…?

We all know how it goes – you there’s so much good food around the festive period and it would be so rude of you to say no and turn it down. Everyone piles on the pounds at Christmas and although it’s one of those things that we seem to have accepted as a nation these days, there are still ways that you can avoid it if you are smart. You don’t need to cut out all the bad foods and drinks that you love to enjoy at this time of the year – you can still have all of those things. Sometime’s its about substitution. Sometimes it’s about portion control. Mostly, it’s about being smart.

So, we are going to dive right on in and bring to you the very best tips to avoid piling on the pounds at Christmas:

Understand the Three Causes

According to researchers, there are three main reasons why people tend to put on weight at Christmas. The first reason is because they get lazy. When was the last time you went to the gym? Your world has been taking over by demanding children and hard to get your hands on Christmas gifts. You need new sneakers but you can’t possibly treat yourself right now because you have even more gifts to buy. You also need to make sure that you have all the right foods in, that the place is getting cleaned because you have the family coming over to yours next year and in short, you have very little time to dedicate to yourself as it is, let alone going to the gym or going for a fun outside. Plus it’s getting cold now, right?

The second reason why you are likely to put weight on at Christmas is because it’s getting cold and you have a tendency to comfort eat. Why would you eat a cold, healthy salad on a crisp winter evening when you can have a nice calorie-laden dinner followed by a rich cake and lots of sugar-filled custard. We are all guilty of doing it! Comfort eating out of cold and stress is the worst!

Finally, we come to our third reason – over-indulging. You want that extra slice of cake and custard and it’s fine because “It’s Christmas!”. It’s okay to let yourself go a little overboard at this festive time of year but remember that this things are still only okay in moderation. That’s the first thing you need to learn!

Smart Choices

When it comes to learning how not to get fat over Christmas, you need to understand that you have choices to make and the right choices will be good for you whereas the wrong choices will be bad. This is common sense when you think about it but common sense and reasoning seem to out the window once the Christmas lights are switched on!

The average person will put on between five and ten pounds over the four weeks surrounding Christmas which is pretty staggering when you think about it. This amounts to above 500 extra calories per day. That’s not hard to do – the odd luxury chocolate out of the box; these are probably worth around 100-200 calories. The skin on the turkey on Christmas day – that’s about 50-100 calories. Missing out on the butter on the vegetables can cut you down by around 50-100 calories. You could probably say no to that glass of fizzy soda too – that’ll be around another 50-100 calories depending on which one it is. Read the labels of the foods that you are over-indulging on and take a good, hard look at how many extra calories you are ingesting! Sometimes you SHOULD give up that third glass of wine to have the chocolate cake instead. Do you really need a third glass anyway?

Boozy Boozy!

Speaking of wine, booze is your enemy at this tie of year. Alcoholic drinks are filled with empty calories that will cause to put on weight, bloat out, get gassy and get drunk. Do you really want to be the drunken cousin/sister/friend/aunt at this year’s Christmas gathering? We didn’t think so…

Not only are boozy drinks filled with empty calories, they are also likely to lower your inhibitions and this can cause you to eat more than you usually would, as well as snacking when you probably shouldn’t. You’ll be surprised at how little weight you will put on weight you give up boozing just for one Christmas. One of the members of our team did it and she only put on two pounds over the four week festive period. The rest of our team averaged a weight gain of seven pounds when they carried on drinking throughout Christmas. We’re just saying…

For more information on weight loss, why not check out some of our other weight loss posts? Weight loss tips are weight loss tips all year round and you never know, you might just find whatever it is you’re looking for to avoid getting fat this Christmas!

*Funnies found on Pinterest.com