Festive Feasting? Don’t Resort To Working Off Those Calories!

Food And Festivities

With the upcoming Chinese New Year celebrations approaching in February, many will be enjoying their festive snacks and family feasts. These occasions come with their fair share of calories and many may not enjoy the accompanying weight gain. Consequently, some may resort to a variety of drastic measures to reduce it: 6 days of fast-paced, high intensity workouts or harsh dieting programs. These measures are rather unsustainable and may result in long-term health risks.

Weight Gain From The Festivities

For most people, chances are the weight gained during a festive period is actually from water weight and not pure fat weight. After all, no one is tracking the calories of all the snacks they eat, which means they don’t need to panic over the couple days of feasting. However, due to the large quantity of food eaten, you may actually keep up with eating a similar amount of food after the festivities, which will likely promote long-term weight gain. To avoid this, we can take some actionable steps to return our eating patterns back to normal. The first step will be to understand the concept of “satiety”.

The Importance Of Food Satiety

Satiety is a term describing the process that stops further eating, causing a reduction in hunger and an increase in fullness after a meal is eaten. Protein is considered the most satiating macronutrient, while carbohydrates and fats are much less satiating. The amount of fibre in food can also affect satiety. Well, needless to say, pineapple tarts may not be the most satiating food product; after eating the first piece, before you know it, you would have consumed the entire container. How then, can we improve our satiety during the festive season to better our eating patterns and benefit our health and fitness?

Satiate Before Feasting

Before large meals, drinking a moderate amount of water or having some protein- and fibre-rich foods can help boost your satiety, reducing your food portion sizes and dissuading you from pinching on too many snacks. A common strategy involves drinking a protein shake with added fibrous carbohydrates, such as oats.

Not Able To Eat Before The Feast?

Unable to satiate yourself first? In this case, food selection strategies are very important; prioritise dishes with lean meats and vegetables, taking note to drink plenty of water with the meal. Try to avoid topping up dishes with rich sauces such as those typically found in curry-based dishes; while delicious and greatly enhancing the flavour, they go down a bit too easily and tend to contain added sugar and fat which can be counterproductive to your goals.

Energy Expenditure: Burning The Calories

Aside from trying to reduce the amount of food intake through satiety management, another thing that is often overlooked during festive periods is increasing your energy expenditure through daily activity. When visiting relatives, it is common to spend the day interacting and catching up at a relative’s home or a restaurant. Rather than spending all that time seated, a good way to be productive would be to go on a walk around the neighbourhood, especially after a festive meal, which can aid in managing blood sugar and satiety as a bonus.

Festive Family Workouts

Getting a workout during the festivities can be a great stress reliever, helping you make use of the calories from the festive feasting period to fuel future gains or even better, forming a good social activity to perform with your relatives. You can easily book a solo or group workout at one of our Gym Pods, located worldwide! With our help, you need not worry about stressing over your family and diet, and instead you can find engaging ways to enjoy your fitness during the festive period.

Enjoy Your Feast And Fitness

Needless to say, during a festive period, the last thing you should be doing is worrying over your weight and letting that get in the way of your celebrations. By implementing the strategies in this article, you can rest assured that you have taken smart, strategic steps to not only manage the weighing scale but also your long-term health and fitness. In need of professional assistance before, during, and after a festive period? No worries, our personal trainers from The Gym Pod Academy are here to help you, whether it be keeping you accountable or helping you with your workouts! Drop by The Gym Pod and book a session with our personal trainers!

References:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B978012410540900003X?via%3Dihub