It is approximately 75 days, 7 hours, 45 minutes and 46 seconds to Christmas!! For those looking to lose weight/gain health, Christmas can be an invariable minefield of tempting situations, social persuasion and overindulgence which can damage our self-esteem and steer us off track from our health goals. However, it does NOT have to be like this. There IS a way to find a balance where you can enjoy the holiday season without feeling like a stuffed turkey!
One of my biggest pet peeves is that the countdown to Christmas now appears to start in August. That said, in order to navigate the Christmas period and keep our minds and bodies fit we need to start to thinking about it now. Here are my top tips for how to change your eating habits to build weight-maintenance skills for success in the Christmas countdown:
‘Skill power, not will power, is the key to success’
Whilst I do believe willpower has a role to play, this role is essentially through the development of effective skills that can help us resist temptation and stay on track. Self-control is like a muscle if you overuse it, it fatigues – leading to falling off the wagon. However, like a muscle, if given adequate training and recovery it can grow stronger over time (more on this in a future blog post).
Why not build your self control now for the Christmas season? How do you do this? Through practicing self-control skills. This is something I’ve looked at recently through my own weight loss research. We found that building self-control skills in how to change eating habits not only helped people lose weight but it helped improve their self-confidence and self-worth too. The interesting thing was that this happened without any changes in their diet or exercise. It was simply through helping people build their skills and change their thinking and weight loss habits.
Successful weight maintenance is like learning an instrument, you are bound to hit a few dud notes when you’re getting started, but repeated practice over time can enhance success. This is echoed in an article which I contributed to in the October issue of Shape Magazine. It talks about how calorie counting is dead and what we need to now focus on is getting our mindset right and build healthy eating habits. So why not help maintain your weight and improve your self-esteem for the Christmas party season? translating the latest research findings on what works for weight maintenance success so you can change your eating habits once and for all.
The countdown to Christmas has begun! Join in now by emailing info@drheathermckee.co.uk if you want to give yourself the gift of #fitness4christmas
Heather
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Dr. Heather McKee is registered in Ireland Reg. No. 687397 with the registered address at 314 Mother Teresa House, Loreto Abby, Rathfarnham, D14 NR20, Co. Dublin, Ireland
This work is in no way meant to replace any medical advice. Dr. McKee is Non-HCPC-registered. Photography by Dylan Madden.
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