Having lost weight, I find myself approaching what is probably the worst time of year for staying slim. I saw on BBC Breakfast News the other day a feature about Christmas food. The average calorie intake on Christmas Day is supposed to be 9000! Can that be right?
I started thinking about this. It sounds impossible. That's about four days' calories all in one day. But then a modest slice of a typical Christmas Cake is 900. Christmas Pudding, especially dosed liberally with cream, brandy butter (and) custard will be around there, too. The best bit of a traditional Christmas dinner will be the turkey. A lean, high protein meat. The stuffing, chipolatas and bacon will be another story.
The real risk at this time of year is the jumbo tins of chocolates, the mince pies and the biscuits which are out on every coffee table waiting for the visitors. Then there's the drink. There was a Two Ronnies sketch some years ago. It was set in an off licence, and Ronnie Barker was buying gallons of drink; all the spirits, wines and beer, as well as the Christmas staples you never seem to think of at other times, Advokaat, sherry, cherry brandy et al. The punchline was: "If it wasn't for the kids, I don't think we'd bother"!
It's easy to say that you can enjoy Christmas without overdoing it. If you are in a weight loss phase of a diet, you will need to stick to your plan and just remember that next Christmas will be different.
If you have shed the weight, then you need to consider two things. Can you enjoy Christmas without it setting a pattern for your future? We all need to celebrate and we all need to indulge ourselves from time to time. What will you do afterwards? You can eat your Christmas dinner, you can have a mince pie or two and you can have a drink. Will you do the same thing on Boxing Day. We are heading to a four day holiday weekend, with Christmas and Boxing day falling on Saturday and Sunday, we will have Monday and Tuesday as bank holidays. Is this going to turn into a four day binge with just a three day gap until it all starts again on New Year's Eve?
My advice is to do what you should always do when you are successfully controlling your weight: think about your food. Enjoy your Christmas dinner. Have a drink. Don't do it the next day. If you are following the plan, you should still be checking your weight every day. You know what to do if your weight starts to go up. Do it.
For those of you not yet onto my plan, stick with me. I'll be explaining more in my next post.
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