5 ways to indulge this Christmas without gaining weight!

It is almost impossible to avoid what most of us call “holiday weight.” With fresh fruit turned into pie and healthy beans covered in cream sauce, it is no wonder most of us involuntarily gain weight during the holidays.  After all, we are just trying to get our daily intake of fruits and vegetables in the most enjoyable way possible! Thankfully we have Kelly Stallings, Health Psychotherapist, offering us 5 ways to eat without gaining weight this Christmas:

1.       Use your salad plate for your meal. This will naturally cut at least 200 calories. You can fill your plate since it’s a smaller size. Since humans are visual eaters, you will feel that this ‘full’ plate will fill you up and satisfy you. But this doesn’t imply continuously filling up your small plate!

2.       Walk every day. Ensuring you do this physical activity will burn holiday calories. Not only will you be burning those cookies away, but it will give you chance to catch-up with your family and friends this holiday season.

3.       Focus on the social aspect of the holidays instead of the food. This seems though, but if you are more excited about seeing your family and friends than you are about eating Grandma’s cookie plate, you will not eat as much since that is not the focus.

4.       Eat whatever you choose in moderation. Don’t restrict yourself from your favorite holiday foods. That is a set up for a binge. Your will power to not eat these foods will only last a certain length of time and then you will switch into rationalization mode. Rationalizing food typically leads to over indulgence. So eat just a small amount of whatever you want and enjoy every bite!

5.       Wear form-fitting clothes during the holidays to be a constant motivator to make good food decisions and maintain your figure. If you feel good in your little black dress, you will not be as tempted to eat everything on the dessert tray and bust the zipper!

The San Diego Entertainer thanks Kelly Stallings for her tips on eating and enjoying this Christmas! Kelly Stallings is a licensed psychotherapist, speaker and author of Life is Mental: Think Thin to Live Thin, the simple solution for addressing the mental aspect of weight loss.  She has more than 14 years of experience working with people to create significant changes in their life including increased overall physical health by training them on the appropriate uses of cognitive behavioral techniques for healthy living. Kelly’s book and training has been featured on several television news shows, radio shows and popular magazines. She is a dynamic speaker who quickly engages the audience with her warm bubbly ‘no fluff’ personality.

Photo from @tracyhunter via Flikr