And so it begins. The chocolate fest. Kiddies rush into my dental surgery with chocolate smeared across their faces, denying any knowledge of the little chocolate token they had for breakfast (I say little, the size of those adbent calendars, they might as well be eating a full half pound bar at a time these days…oh wow, I sound like my granny…). We all relish the excuse for a little extra sugar at this time of year, but should we really be making an excuse at all…?
Stop guilt trippin’.
Don’t get caught up in that classic December binge and January starve people.
STOP GUILT TRIPPING YOURSELVES PEOPLE.
Weight goes up and down. Appetite goes up and down. Motivation goes up and down. We are disciplined, then we need relief. We need to think about all these things.
The first thing we all need to do, is learn to stop beating ourselves up. We know, from actual real life science by actual proper boffins, that the binge/starve cycle and the totally regimented to the total animal off the leash attitude is unhealthy and leads to poor relationships with food and overall weight gain and poor health. So why do we keep doing it? Well, it’s a complex problem, but let’s just say we love a good dopamine hit and we have a secret desperation to “fit in”.
It’s a societal norm that we must sit down and stuff our oversized elasticated sweatpants full of turkey and yule log and make sure we have celebrations for breakfast. So we all do it. But what if we just ate enough? What if we listened to our OWN bodies and learned when we were full, when we’d had enough trifle and when we were ready for veggies? What if, better still, we learned to incorporate all the things we love about Christmas into an actual healthy lifestyle?
I’m guilty of being completely on or off myself. I used to be completely regimented around racing and then come December, all bets are off and you’d have to fight me for the Miniature heroes tub (but you can take Celebrations – Bounty is for losers). I came to realise it wasn’t good for me. By 26th December, I’d feel lethargic, training was really hard, I felt unfit and none of my lycra was particularly flattering. I’d basically pushed myself back 10 steps. Now, my approach is more balanced. I understand where all my favourite foods fit in to the bigger picture, I understand that I need to nourish my body AND my mind and sometimes that takes a bit of give and take when it comes to my food choices. One thing I’ve got much better at over the years, is intuitive eating and portion control.
The trouble is, so many of us have switched off all the mechanisms in our bodies which stop us from binge eating and repeating these depressing all or nothing cycles. We’re just not listening to the complex and finely tuned processes going on. NOBODY should be guilt tripping themselves about how much they’ve eaten, ever, not just at Christmas. But this becomes much easier when you learn how to have a better relationship with food and actually listen to what your body wants. Believe it or not, your body is pretty good at regulating itself. It’ll tell you when it’s hungry and what it needs if you listen. But most of us don’t. At Christmas nowadays, I just don’t overeat like I used to. And I enjoy it much more! I’m staying fitter and healthier over Christmas and getting back to training in January sooner than I was before.
But that’s not because I make an active choice to “be healthy” over Christmas, it’s because I’ve worked hard on building healthy habits all year round which mean come Christmas, I’m just there, living my best life. And yes, I’ll have a good crack at a family size turkey, but I’m rubbish at it. Because I know when to give up. And my eyes are on a bigger prize; feeling good when this is all over.
As a complete self-declared oddball – recently described as a “human anomaly” – I have absolutely zero desire to fit in. I have an overwhelming desire to win, I’ll admit, but otherwise, I exist solely to fulfil my own purpose in life. I get all sorts of comments at Christmas. When someone sees me tucking into a box of choccies it’s “Oh I thought you were healthy?” but when I decline seconds on a Yule log or some sort of obscene festive doughnut, that makes me an outcast too. I legit don’t give a crap. It’s laughable to me that people’s ideas of food and nutrition are so black and white. You CAN enjoy Christmas and all its festive delights without putting on 10 stone, but if that’s what you want to do, then you do you! Equally, if you want to stay on track and enjoy what December has to offer, then rely on the strategies that you’ve worked hard to build over the years and trust yourself. Be and oddball!
So what’s the take home? Relax. Stop beating yourself up. Stop guilt tripping yourself – this is not constructive. Enjoy what you want to enjoy, remember that we all need a break. But also remember that December is just another month for you to enjoy the things you love – and that can include normal training and food too!