I get it. You’re scared you’re going to put on a ton of weight for the holidays.
The good news is there’s tips you can follow to prevent gaining too much extra weight.
So it’s that time of year again… The time when everyone seems to put on a little extra weight. Everybody loves to stuff their faces with cookies, cake, pies, eggnog, etc. Honestly, I’m no different. I love to indulge in the season’s treats.
However, if you’re not vigilant, you can end up with a lot more than you bargained for. So in the spirit of the upcoming feasts and excess consumerism, here’s a few tips I’ve developed to help people keep their weight from skyrocketing.
What are the best ways to keep thin for Christmas & Thanksgiving?
1. Emphasize protein
Unlike carbs and fat, you’d be hard pressed to have protein converted into body fat by any significant degree. You could have theoretically about 5000 calories of pure protein and a very small amount of it would be converted into glucose and thus almost none would be stored as fat. (it would be almost impossible to eat that much anyways.) So when you have choices, stick to the stuff that is mostly meat. If you’re really concerned with calorie intake, stick to the white meat as it has less fat content. Me, I love the dark meat with more fat to it, since it just plain tastes better.
Get lots of meat and veggies in right away and save the really carby stuff for later on. Good protein sources are of course:
- Turkey
- Chicken
- Ham
- Eggs
- Beef/liver
- Any fish or seafood
Get lots of leafy/green vegetables to go with the meat:
- Broccoli
- Green/yellow Beans
- Carrots
- Spinach
- Salads
- Brussels Sprouts
- Asparagus
- Cauliflower
BRING SOME WITH if you don’t think they’ll supply some! Don’t think the mashed potatoes count as veggies, those are pure carbs, damn it! Get some yams or sweet potatoes instead. Also, the less total carbs you eat, the less chance of getting really sleepy after the big meal. A really carby meal always makes me sleepy.
2. Drink more water
A well-known technique to keep you from overeating is simply drinking more water. Just keep a nice tall ice-cold glass near by and take a sip every few bites. The added volume in your stomach will really help to give you that psychological sense of satisfaction and you’ll find you don’t need as much to feel full. Easy, right?
If you’re really against the idea of drinking water, you could substitute for something like tea or Kefir. If you do go the way of alcohol, just be warned that it will give you more of an urge to eat and eat. If you end up drinking too much, well damn, eat all you want because at least you’ll save yourself a hangover! (Either way, drink your damn water.)
3. Fasting/calorie restriction
“Why are you torturing us, Grandma??”
Well…keto is damn near impossible around the holidays since everyone will be shoving carb-ladent sweets in front of you and it’s hard to resist. Besides, it’s difficult to be a good guest when you’re turning down everything but the turkey!
At the very least, sticking to less total calories is just a good plan in general. This is made more effective by using intermittent fasting. If you fast at all, it will help keep you on track. I personally love holding off my appetite all day until I can finally dig into that one big delicious meal. That way I don’t have to worry about total calories as much. It’s much harder to overeat in 1-2 hours versus 24!
For extra bang for your buck, go get a workout beforehand!
4. Weight lifting/working out
I’ve gone into more details before, but if you work out the day of a binge, you’ll be able to shift those foods from fat storage to muscle-building. While you could get really specific and eat under the BMR for no fat gain, I seriously doubt anyone is going to bring a food scale to thanksgiving! Did you know the Pilgrims were some of the earliest calorie counters? How else do you think they kept such trim figures?
The REAL story of Thanksgiving
So thanks to the miracle of carb-backloading, we can go for a nice full body weight lifting routine and “rip up” our muscles. When we do that, they’ll soak up all those delicious carbs afterwards. If you’re not a weight lifter, at least go for a run or a swim beforehand. It’s not the same thing, but at least you’ll burn some calories that way.
Exercise more often and try to walk off the food if you can. Better yet, if you’re in a warmer climate, go out for a bike ride! If there’s snow on the ground, then go snowshoeing. Something is better than nothing!
5. Bring your own dish!
Nothing wrong with bringing something you personally made, right? While it’s a little harder for family members to understand what Keto is or why you’re doing low carb meals, you can always bring something you made yourself. While everyone is spiking their blood sugar levels with sweets, you can have something that won’t go send you into a carb-induced coma.
Need ideas? Check out these:
- http://www.djfoodie.com/
- http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/
- http://allrecipes.com/ (search for low carb/high protein recipes!)
- Plus more in the links page.
Not sure what to make? Try my DELICIOUS Extra protein squash pie.
Don’t be these people.
Your friend,
-Yossif
PS: talk more. It’s harder to stuff food in your mouth when it’s moving in conversation!
Img Credits: www.wikipedia.org https://secure.flickr.com/photos/gloryfoods/6245311386/ https://secure.flickr.com/photos/25105021@N08/7581621326/
About Yossif
