The buzz of Christmas is contagious, and it’s very hard not to get caught up in the all festivities – it’s nearly Christmas!
I’m sure this is already happening in most workplaces – more treats begin to get passed around the office from those who just want to keep giving. It may be the case that you have already had your Christmas party, but for some it’s hopefully still to come over the next couple of weeks. You may work for yourself, but I bet that doesn’t mean that you stop having a few more treats around this time of year. When you walk around the supermarket at this time of year you almost feel bullied into buying the festive nibbles that are on special offer at the entrances and at the end of every aisle. Obviously you are buying them to enjoy the festive period at home or on your travels as you do your thing.
It’s a huge (massive) challenge at this time of year to keep your fingers off the biscuits, sweets, crisps and such like – everyone else is diving in without a care in the world. In the office I’ve always felt a bit left out in the past, and I’ve usually just caved to fit in with everyone else.
Have you felt like that? Is this how you’re feeling this year?
It’s all about the culture around you. Everyone wants to have fun, they are coming from a good place – In their minds they are doing something nice for others (caring, if you like). If you witness these types of goings-on in the workplace or from you at home, I’m not going to lie it’s going to be very difficult to change.
That’s a bit downbeat, right? I like to think of it as a bit of a reality check. I’m not trying to be negative, but let’s face – it’s still very apparent in the workplace at the moment.
What I want to do is to give you a few tactics to help prevent you from getting bogged down by the bad stuff in the office.
Exercise in the morning (before work) – resistance workouts, especially!
We all know deep down that you can do all the exercise in the world, but you are not going to see any positive changes in your mind nor body whilst you keep eating the “wrong” kinds of foods. With this in mind, by exercising, you are burning calories and with resistance workouts you are going to continue to burn calories throughout the rest of the day. Choosing to exercise you give yourself a little bit of license to eat what you want. You can have a little bit of what you want and you will remain the same (in terms of appearance).
This might sound a bit odd, but hear me out…you should bring your own cakes and treats in.
You can still participate with everyone else and show you are good sport. More importantly you can retain control of what is being consumed. Learn to get into the habit of making things that are typically low in added sugars. A couple of recipes that spring to mind would be my cake pops and my healthy fudge. These would be great for sharing around the office. Better yet my protein flapjacks – these are pretty addictive! So check out my blog for these.
If you are not one for sweets, bake your own bread – use things like oat flour instead of the normal rubbish and bring in a few types of different cheeses. Everyone loves cheese!
Finally, What about the drinking at the Christmas party you ask?
The work Christmas party is something to go out and enjoy. Do you need to get absolutely bladdered/annihilated/drunk? No not really! Hopefully you will be good enough to use some kind of restraint whilst enjoying your time out. A lot of people will go straight to the bar and order a few pints or a couple of glasses of wine.
Wrong people! Just stop right there!
This may sound strange but I am going to say that you should be hitting the vodka. Now, although it is obviously stronger when compared with a normal pint of beer – there are significantly less calories in vodka. Keep the calories low, and the entertainment high, choose your spirit and add a diet mixer to it (again, low in calories). Now for the blokes reading this doesn’t sound very manly, but you need to just man up and enjoy it – show your feminine side!
Vodka and diet lemonade are my typical choices at such events when I am letting my hair down.
Like with most things nutrition and exercise a lot of what I have said is just common sense, you need to just take control. If you can do that, you can spread the Christmas spirit around and share good times with those close to you
Almost inspirational that.
Anyway, I would just like to say Happy Christmas to you all and hopefully I will see some you in the New Year.
Speak soon
Josh