Are you worrying about getting through the next week or two without it negatively impacting upon the progress that you have made this year?

Well, I can safely inform you that the success of your year will be defined by what you do between 1st of January and 23rd of December (roughly).  It certainly won’t be defined by what you do over the Christmas week.

BUT, if you are worrying about the next week or so I want to stop you right there and allay a few of your fears.

Your health is defined by many factors and is not solely down to what enters your mouth.  In fact I would say enjoying and eating the foods you love is a key factor in happiness.  A miserable diet is no doubt going to contribute to a slightly unhappier you.

Weight management and diet control is much more successful when an individual has an understanding of the science of fat loss and weight loss rather than a fixation on good and bad foods.

Typically a weight loss client actually wants to alter their body composition i.e. lose body fat, which is actually different to weight loss. However this sort of client will typically say “I want to lose a few kgs” or “I want to be 9st again”.  The trouble with monitoring your weight is that you can have quick dramatic drops as well as increases which can be misleading if you cannot explain what is occurring.

Fluctuations in fat mass occur with large fluctuations in calories.  So to see a considerable change in your fat mass in just one week is not very likely.  However your weight in contrast can have huge fluctuations.

Weight changes occur due to calories in and calories out, the type of food consumed, muscle/liver energy storage, water storage, food in transit and going or not going to the loo.  Whereas fat mass changes are purely due to calories in and out.

So to give you a greater understanding of what will happen over the next two weeks, only about 15-20% of the weight gain that you may experience will be fat mass.  Meaning that a couple of ‘normal’ eating days post xmas/New Years will see you return close to your pre xmas weight.

So don’t panic! 

To give you an example of what just 1kg of fat mass gain would look like for myself between the 24th-1st I would have to consume an extra 1000-1200 extra calories per day for 7 days, which is highly doable.  That roughly is me increasing my calories from approx 2300 kcals per day to 3500 per day every day for 7-8 days consecutively.  That’s a big increase in food consumption for just 1kg of fat mass, and if I was then to increase my fat mass even further, there would be an even larger increase in calories, which for me is where I would draw a line in the sand and stop at some point.

That 1kg of fat mass will also correlate with an extra 1-2 kg of water and energy stores, which will be what disappears when your normal diet resumes post Christmas.

Which is why the scales can paint a really horrible picture unless you know what’s really happening.

To help you understand what a 1kg of fat mass alteration looks like, check out this short video I created : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJA4xpom1a8&t=13s

If you are someone however who is still interested in trying to lose further body fat or weight I would advise to just be aware of the possible scenarios ahead and maybe bring your calories back up to maintenance.  Diets at times can be challenging so a break can be good to motivate you to kick off again in the new year.  They can also be very demoralising if you do not manage to stick to them.

For those who haven’t perhaps got the best relationship with food it is hard to say relax and eat what you want, but I hope this blog allays some fears to enjoy the festivities as much as possible.

Here are some rules that I typically try and stick too…

Consume just 2 meals per day.  Typically for me there is a lot of grazing so I look to make some small alterations by reducing my meal structure from 3 to 2 meals.  This may seem like a bit of a diet strategy but actually it is more me listening to when my body wants to eat.  Generally meals are a lot larger and there are more snacks available so hunger doesn’t often arise too frequently.

Continue to be active.  Exercise is a good way of offsetting some of the extra calories you are consuming.

Set small boundaries. Since I have been a boy I have had intrinsic boundaries, such as fizzy drinks at the weekends, no more than 1 chocolate bar a day etc.  These may seem mad to a lot of people but it actually sets a few restrictions that typically I am very good at adhering to without the feeling of missing out.

Be mindful and choose the foods you would prefer to eat and neglect those that don’t bother you as much. You do not need to eat everything because it is Christmas.  It is so easy to just mindlessly pick at foods through out the day, so maybe just take things out of reach.

Set a date to resume your post xmas “better habits”, typically 2nd of Jan for most.

The big take home point is do not worry. Two weeks of indulgence is ok and won’t adversely affect your health. 

Enjoy your family especially in times of uncertainty and if that means having a bit more food then so be it.