Column 35, December 2010

Christmas cheer without the kilos

It's common knowledge that many of us gain weight during the Christmas party/holiday period, however, before you consider boycotting the usual Christmas cheer, consider adopting a few strategies to keep your fitness and waistline intact.

Plan an exercise schedule to accommodate travel and events

Plan your festive/New Year seasons’ training in advance using a calendar to note any functions, events, travel days, and geographic location (which will affect the facilities available).

Start by blocking out days you will not be able to exercise at all - such as travel days - and consider moving hard sessions to the day of a function, and easier sessions/recovery days to the day after, when you may be tired from a late night, or a few alcoholic beverages. New Years eve for example is always a great day for a long/hard session, with an easy day scheduled for Jan 1st.

Set alcohol boundaries before you head out to Christmas parties, BBQ’s etc

I tend to be a realist here, and choose a few key events - Boxing Day races and New Years Eve for example - when I may allow for a little more than the recommended daily alcohol intake… it’s not that I encourage binge drinking! More that I accept my humanness and allow the occasional vice.

As most of us have many more than 2 functions during the holiday season however, it is important to set alcohol limitations for these other events, due to alcohols’ high caloric content, and its negative effect on exercise. Some strategies;

Request diet versions of coke/tonic/lemonade/ginger beer, or soda/fresh lime/lemon juice to mix with spirits, eg;

Rum/whiskey and diet coke
Feijoa vodka and soda plus fresh lime
Gin and diet tonic

Ask for single shots
Mix spirits in a tall glass to dilute the alcohol
Have a water between each alcoholic beverage
Choose low alcohol beers
Enquire if reduced alcohol wines are available eg Bella by Invivo is a Sauvignon with 9% as opposed to the usual 12-14% alcohol content, knocking around 30% off the calories as well.
Consider a shandy - made with beer and diet lemonade/diet ginger beer
Opt for a wine spritzer – half wine, half soda

Aim to be active most days

Runners often set very ambitious training schedules for themselves, and if they don’t feel up to a particularly hard workout, they often opt to have the day off. It is much more effective for weight control to aim to do something most days.

We can easily achieve this by taking the pressure off to train hard, and instead aim to reduce the intensity/duration of runs on tired days, or opt for a non-impact alternative such as cycling/swimming/aquajogging/walking.

Avoid dietary over-restriction to accommodate for functions

It would seem somewhat logical to restrict dietary intake on the days we have functions to go to involving food and alcohol, however, over-restriction can lead to a real blow out when we get there, and the options may not always be the most nutritious.

Instead aim to eat breakfast and snacks at usual intervals during the day, but reduce the calorie content of these meals by reducing the portion of fat, carbohydrate and protein foods, and bulking meals up with high fibre non-starchy vegetables and fruit such as salad items, berries, tamarillos, rockmelon, passionfruit, broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy etc.

Aim to have a snack an hour before you go so that you’re not starving when you arrive.

Have fun with your holiday training

For many years, and despite the extra food and alcoholic intake during holidays, I often find my weight decreases during these times. I am convinced the main reason for this is the extra time I spend getting involved in all the summer activities I love, in addition to my normal training schedule.

Maybe it’s a great time to try a sport you’ve always wanted to do, or get back to your childhood roots. Here are a few summer ideas;

Beach touch rugby
Backyard cricket
Frisbee
Paddle boarding
Water skiing
Boxing training with a mate using pads, gloves and a skipping rope
Kayaking
Sliding down hills on a piece of cardboard (my Mount Maunganui childhood fave)
Kite surfing
Skateboarding/Rollerblading
Swimming
Beach volleyball
Surfing/boogie boarding