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When you’re trying to lose weight, the holidays can really make it difficult. Feeling like you should just give it all up and start over next year? There is another way! A way that means you’re still chipping away at those goals and creating better habits for your future. 

So, I’ve put together some of the top pitfalls that people struggle with at this time of year and how to work around them. 

  1. “Later we’ll have some pumpkin pie…” The seemingly endless supply of food. It can be hard not to think about food when it’s almost everywhere you look: Billboards, TV, online… And it’s all many people can talk about during this period, as it’s a big part of the festivities. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that. Food is meant to be enjoyed and is involved in many traditions that bring people together. Big food corporations do tend to exploit that, though. And if you’re an emotional eater, it can be difficult to be surrounded by food, particularly when your blood sugar is crashing.

Work-around: Plan ahead. If you plan your meals at least 24 hours ahead, it by-passes the impulsive part of your brain. By planning in a combination of nutrient dense food (hello, veggies, whole food protein and healthy fat) with non-nutrient dense food (don’t mind if I do, Advent calendar choccies, trifle and prosecco) you’ll be much more likely to stick with it, as the nutrient dense food will help to reduce cravings and sugar lows that cause impulsive eating.

  1. Naughty or Nice? Trying to please too many people. When we’re busy running around saying ‘yes’ to everything for everyone, we get too busy to take care of ourselves. On top of that, taking on too much leaves you feeling stressed out and more likely to try to get some short-term relief by reaching for the kinds of foods that give you a hit.

    Work-around: Learn how to say ‘no’ more often. If you’re only saying ‘yes’ to things just to keep the peace or because you think you should, take a step back. What requests do you want or feel you need to say ‘no’ to but don’t want to disappoint others?

  1. Ho, ho, hold on, it’s year end! Trying to tie everything up at work before the end of the year can be pretty stressful and can take up more of your schedule than usual. This could mean convenience food and more eating out. Plus, stress can trigger emotional eating as a coping mechanism. Double trouble! 

Work-around: Again, plan ahead! You could make extra of a meal you’re making and freeze it. Cooking it from frozen might even be quicker than ordering a takeaway. If you’re really stuck, don’t despair. If you commit to making the best decisions you can for yourself when looking at your meal options, it will still go a long way to helping with your overall goal. It doesn’t have to be ‘all or nothing.’ 

If there are typical places you order from regularly, take a look at their menu and plan a couple of options that are more nutrient dense. The same goes for buying convenience food: They’re not all created equally! Just check the labels. You can do this with most grocery stores or brands from the comfort of your own home, so you’ll know exactly what to go for. Most supermarket convenience food is in small portions, so stay fuller for longer by grabbing a bag of prepared vegetables (like mixed salad or bagged coleslaw) to have with your meal.

  1. Baby, it’s cold outside! Here in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s not only getting colder but the nights are longer. This can make it easier to pass on getting out of the house for exercise. Especially if it’s raining here in Britain! When it’s darker for longer, it can make us lethargic and affect our mood, so we don’t always feel raring to jump into a workout, yet getting ourselves moving actually helps with that.

Work-around: If you really can’t bring yourself to brace the cold, try an indoor workout. There are so many exercise videos available for free on YouTube, these days! Joanne Soh and Rick Bhullar are two of my favourites there. 

Alternatively, you could use an interval timer app: many interval exercises can be done with a limited amount of space and equipment. Signing up for online yoga or pilates classes also wouldn’t require leaving the house. And even the most gentle exercise can still help to get those endorphins going. When you feel good, you’re much less prone to comfort eat, which is something that’s often more tempting in the winter.

  1.  Christmas Wrapping. A lot of companies capitalise on this time of year by concentrating their efforts on advertising that preys on our insecurities and feelings of inadequacy. They repeatedly point out, “Here is the void, and this is how to fill it!” Before you call me a Scrooge, let me say that I think that gift-giving is a wonderful tradition. But not feeling good enough is a by-product of consuming too much advertising. 

The same goes for social media. It seems like everyone is posting about the amazing time they’re having, as though how you spend Christmas is the measure of a person. They’re far less likely to be posting about the argument they just had (about overspending on gifts?) before posing for the ‘Gram! This is another of those pitfalls that can trigger emotional eating. 

Work-around: Limit your consumption of the media- by which I mean anything that exposes you to adverts. You probably have enough going on over the holidays anyway, without having the noise of TV ads in the background or mindlessly scrolling the socials for hours in bed. Choose a goal that reduces how long you usually spend watching TV/using social media but not so much that it sends you into a panic just thinking about it! When we’re more mindful about what we’re consuming, we give ourselves the opportunity to actually question what we’re seeing and hearing, rather than letting it filter through to the subconscious mind as a truth.

For most of the people I work with, emotional eating is one of their biggest challenges. For me personally, this was one of the issues that was sabotaging my efforts, so I know exactly what it’s like to struggle with this. It can be overcome, though! And I can show you how.

I hope that you’ve found these simple tips useful today, either as new approaches or reminders of things you’d already heard or tried. If you’re reading this then perhaps take it as a sign that it’d be worthwhile giving them a go.

For those of you ready to go a little deeper, I have an invitation for you. I have created a special blueprint session: The Holiday Stress Survival Solution. The goal of this session is to help you to find a way to deal with stress eating over the holidays, so that you’re not sabotaging your weight goals. Over the course of 90 minutes we will:

  • Get clear on how stress eating is challenging you;
  • Get specific on how you want the situation to look instead;
  • Put together an action plan on how to get through the holiday season while avoiding sabotaging your weight goals, which you can take away with you and implement right away.

So if the idea of being stuck in the stress-eating cycle is so distressing it makes you want to eat (I’ve been there) and you can’t face another New Year being further away from your goals than the last, this session could be a game-changer for you!

The investment for this kind of session would normally be £155, but as a special holiday deal, I’m offering The Holiday Stress Survival Solution for £100.

If you want to see if this is a good fit for you, schedule a get-to-know-you call for a chat with me about it here: https://ellouiseheather.youcanbook.me 

Or if you know this is an offer you want to take advantage of to get ahead of the holiday stress, you can go ahead and BUY NOW and an email will be sent to your PayPal email to get your session booked in!