Nutritionist Naomi Mead gives her advice for shifting the pounds this New Year.
After all the excesses of the festive season, it is unsurprising that one of the most commonly vowed New Year resolutions every year is to lose weight. If dropping a few pounds is high on your list, or you simply want to get a bit healthier, here are some top tips to support you this January…
Banish the guilt.
First and foremost, don’t beat yourself up if you have had an especially indulgent Christmas and New Year. Remember that it’s what you eat on a regular basis that affects your long-term wellbeing, not that extra helping of Christmas pudding on the 25th December.
A short period of over-indulgence over the festive season is not a health problem, and should be enjoyed and celebrated without regret.
Think balance not deprivation.
After a festive blowout, it’s can be very easy to fall into the mindset that you need to go on an extreme detox or diet – but these are almost always ineffective.
Yo-yo dieting and calorie restriction can have a slowing effect on the metabolism. In other words, they can impact on your ability to lose weight in the long-term. On top of this, when you restrict calories, levels of your hunger hormones go up substantially, revving up your appetite and testing your willpower.
Don’t get on the scales.
After a few days of Christmas eating, you are likely to weigh a bit more. This normally isn’t because you’ve gained body fat, but because you’ve retained water due to the extra salt you’ve consumed in all that festive food.
Stay away from the scales, and instead focus your energy and attention on the steps you’re taking to get your healthy eating back on track. Drinking plenty of water, eating lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, and staying away from processed foods will help to bring down the post-festive bloat. Try on your jeans once a week to keep track of how you’re going.
Clear your house of the Christmas leftovers.
If it isn’t there, you can’t eat it! But if you know that you have a kitchen full of biscuits, chocolate and Christmas cake, you will eventually succumb – research says so.*
Once all the festivities are over, clear your fridge and cupboards by freezing leftovers and giving them away (you’ll easily find some grateful recipients!)
Restock with healthier snacks such as raw nuts, fresh fruit and chopped up vegetables; foods that you can just grab when you’re hungry or having a post-Christmas craving.
Plan ahead.
Most of us are in goal-setting mode in January, making it the perfect time to get organised. The hormone ghrelin, released by the stomach when you’re hungry, is thought to activate the brain’s reward system and draw us to high-calorie junk food.
By taking your own home-prepared lunch and snacks to work, you can make well thought out choices, rather than those that are fuelled by hunger. Spend a couple of hours on a Sunday preparing some food for the week, and you will be thankful for it once the madness of your week begins.
Homemade soup is something you can batch cook and freeze very easily, and is a great way to up your vegetable intake. Putting a portion of your dinner in Tupperware for lunch the next day is another time-efficient option.
Make specific exercise goals.
The second week in January is almost always the busiest of the year for gyms – full of shiny new leggings and great intentions! However, statistics show that attendance numbers nearly always drop off back to normal by mid-February.
For those of us who aren’t natural exercise bunnies, simply ‘going to the gym more’ is just too vague a commitment. The key is to make very specific exercise goals e.g. two spinning classes a week, and a yoga class every Sunday. Plan your exercise in advance and physically schedule this in your diary each week to make sure it happens.
Consistency is crucial; two sessions a week long-term will be much more effective for weight loss than a week of five exercise sessions and then nothing at all for three weeks. Make a plan that is realistic for you, and stick to it.
Walk more.
Exercise not only burns calories, but boosts self-esteem and puts you in a positive mind-set, further encouraging you to make healthier food and lifestyle choices.
In addition to your scheduled exercise, simply moving around more by increasing your step count can help to achieve your weight loss goals.
Get familiar with the pedometer function on your smartphone and use every opportunity to walk around, setting yourself weekly step targets. For example, phone meetings can be conducted whilst pacing up and down the office!
Stair climbs are fantastic for building and toning muscle, and are an easy way to squeeze a bit of a workout into your lunch break, or when you’re at home.
