Lifesaver! This One Hack Might Stop You Gaining Weight Over Christmas

Christmas is definitely the most wonderful time of the year but unfortunately it can also be not-so wonderful for your waistline. Sob. With an abundance of mince pies, Quality Street and (our personal fave) mulled wine it’s not hard to see how we pile those extra lbs on during the festive season.

So, while we’re absolutely still going to enjoy the Christmas cheer, we’ll be using at least one – if not all – of the below hacks to ensure we don’t do too much damage.

1. Stay away from Christmas coffees

They might make you feel super festive but Christmas coffees are expensive, highly calorific and loaded with fat and sugar too. In fact, some of the worst offenders (Costa’s Sticky Toffee Latte, we’re looking at a you) have a crazy 600 calories and 73g of fat. Yikes! For the most part, we’ll be sticking with our regular latte, and only indulgencing on a fancy festive cuppa as a one-off treat.

2. Drink dry wine over sweet wine

You’ll inevitably be consuming a lot more booze than usual, but one simple swap you can make is opting for dry wine over sweet. Sweet wines such as Sauvignon Blanc have a much higher sugar and calorie content than dry wines like Chardonnay, so make that small swap and you can totally justify eating another mince pie. Well, sort of…

3. Step away from the tin of Roses

These are some excess calories we can definitely do without. One Roses sweet has a hefty 48 calories so if you grab a handful of them you’ll have eaten a whopping 300 cals without realising. Damn. If you really can’t bear to leave them unopened, exercise control by putting a handful or two in a sharing bowl, and then hiding the rest of the tub in the attic until next year. Just don’t go reaching for them as soon as the bowl’s empty, y’hear?

4. Stick to the rule of three

An easy way to not overdo it when you’re faced with a platter of yummy party food? Say to yourself you’re allowed to have three party bites at each event, this will allow you to try your three faves without overindulging and best of all you won’t feel super guilty the next day. It’s a win-win, right?

5. Don’t become a couch potato

We know with all the free time you have over the Christmas hols its super easy to binge on Netflix but it’s important that you don’t become a bit too familiar with your couch. Use your extra free time productively, go for winter walks with the girls or start a fitness class that you haven’t had time to. You’ll feel all the better for it and your waistline will definitely thank you too. Even a few stretches in the morning will give your body a boost after all the inevitable Christmas food comas.

And if you effed it all up? Never fear, ladypal. Just get right back into the swing of things come the new year. Sorted.

By Laura Somers.

• body
• Christmas
• diet
• food
• health