Health And Weight Loss Tips For Surviving The Festive Season

Health tips to keep you on track without spoiling all the fun

learning how to get rid of belly fat is a great lifestyle choice

Another new year and another set of resolutions to challenge us. This year, though, why not make more gradual changes which you are able to sustain as a 'new normal'. Embarking on a crash diet probably isn't the best way to lose weight - learning how to get rid of belly fat may be a better choice. Our bodies like consistency and tend to get upset when there is radical change.

Homeostasis is a term that literally means same state; this refers to a range within which our bodies work most efficiently. Rapid or significant changes to what we eat or drink and the amount of exercise we do typically upsets this balance and is more difficult to sustain.

Christmas tends to be a time of celebration, which includes eating and drinking - often to excess! We don't want to spoil this but neither do we want you to have those guilty feelings afterwards.
Try to maintain your weight at this time of year as losing weight is much more difficult and not too much fun. Here are a few tips to enable you to enjoy the festive season without adding to your waist line:

• Plan what you are going to eat ahead of time and avoid eating as you're preparing/cooking.
• If you know you are having a bigger celebration meal, cut down the amount you eat the day before and the day after; weight is impacted by an accumulation of calories, not a single day
• Allow yourself a few extra treats but balance this with lower calorie fruits and veg, e.g. dried fruits, satsumas
• Have a brisk walk before your meal.
• Use Greek yoghurt and plain ice cream instead of cream or brandy butter which are very high in calories
• Drinking several glasses of fruit juice/juice drinks or sugary drinks will add calories and won't fill you up; this often happens when people are avoiding alcohol. It may even make you hungrier as the high levels of sugar in the drink change blood sugar levels which can lead to further craving
• Try to have low calorie drinks and mixers or add fizzy water to fruit juices
• Remember alcoholic drinks are very high in calories

There are different ways to measure your health, most people tend to focus on weight. Weight is reasonably accurate as long as you view it over the longer term; checking once or twice a month is sufficient.

Another way is to take waist measurements. If you are male, your waist measurement should be below 94cm/38 inches and if you are female it should be less than 80cm/32 inches. A simple check of improvement is that your clothes should feel more comfortable and you are less out of breath when you do similar jobs.

The single biggest impact you can have on your health is stopping smoking. Did you know? You are 4 times more likely to quit with the help of medical based Stop Smoking Services and medication compared with going it alone.

We are becoming far more aware of the dangers of long term inactivity. We have evolved over tens of thousands of years as hunter gatherers. Our bodies developed with this, using movement and the associated muscle activity as part of our whole body health. Regular physical activity can make you more regular on the toilet, reduce changes in blood sugar, improve your mood, reduce your desire to smoke, improve bone strength and reduce the risk of several cancers. Not only that but it's free! If you are concerned about your health, visit your doctor.