December is my favourite month. I love Christmas (now I’m no longer working in a supermarket listening to Noddy Holder on repeat), from the lights, the cosiness, giving gifts, and of course, the food. For some, it can be a difficult month when it comes to food, but it doesn’t have to be.

From the many conversations I’ve had with clients about Christmas, one theme often pops up – they correlate more food with more enjoyment. BUT, if you spend a moment to think about it you will realise that it has the opposite effect:

• Feelings of utter discomfort because you’ve eaten as much food as a T-Rex who’s trying to bulk for the winter.
• Meat sweats.
• Feelings of regret and guilt.

So, how much more fun are you actually having? I’d argue that being in control by making some decisions beforehand would lead to you having a better time. In social settings, the peer pressure can be difficult to manage but after the party, you’re the one who has to deal with “the feelings”.

So let me say something seemingly contradictory…

Eat what you want!

The question is, what do you want? Do you want abs that look like they’ve been chiselled out of marble by Michelangelo? Well, you had better head home and hide under the covers then!

For the rest of us who just want to look and feel good, what we want is the right amount of food for our levels of hunger and our health goals. If you have built up the skill of tuning into your levels of hunger, the biggest strategy you can employ is to stop when you’re full. If you haven’t built that skill yet, that’s okay, we have some other options.

Christmas day should be a day to relax, focus on friends and family and not to obsess about food, but because Christmas is essentially a whole month of mince pies and unusual Latvian snacks from Lidl, we need to set some rules for ourselves. Examples include:

• I’m going to eat lots of protein to fill me up to stop snacking
• I only eat one mince pie per day
• I will only drink one glass of wine
• I will drink lots of water to stop me feeling like I need a beer
• I will wear a blind fold when I visit my mother-in-laws so I can’t see the Quality Street tin.

Notice that we’re not restricting anything here, we’re just setting ourselves some rules to allow us to have fun whilst simultaneously keeping our health goals in mind. They’re your rules, so create ones which are in line with what matters to you.

So, in summary: relax on the day, but not for the whole month, create your own rules, otherwise you’ll be spending almost half of the year trying to lose the fat you’ve gained during “the most wonderful time of the year”.

If you found this article useful and you think others would too, please share it with your friends and family.

PT Shaun