by Michelle Wilkinson

Created on: April 18, 2009   Last Updated: June 29, 2009

Everybody tends to let their hair down once in awhile, particularly when it is the holidays. Christmas and New Year celebrations give people an excuse to overindulge, as it's cold and icy outside whilst it's warm and cosy inside, and many of them just want to snuggle up in front of the television with a huge box of chocolates they got for Christmas. Often the last thing they want to do is go for a run or do any kind of physical activity which involves leaving the warmth of their own homes.

It is therefore not uncommon for people to end up putting weight over the winter months, particularly around the holidays, as they end up eating more food, often of the highly calorific variety, and doing less physical activity. For people fed up of falling into the trap of putting weight on quickly over the holidays and then spending the next few months trying to lose the weight they gained, there are strategies which they can implement to try to limit the effects of their overindulgence.

Christmas usually involves lots of eating, and most people sit down to a big Christmas feast of Turkey with all the trimmings, followed by a large desert. People usually find themselves gorging on all the chocolates and sweets that people gave them as Christmas presents in between their main meals. No matter how full they get they still cram more into their mouths.

If individuals want to prevent themselves gaining weight they need to keep a watchful eye over what exactly they are putting into their mouths. It can be tempting to simply lose track of the calories being consumed, but if they manage to limit the amount of calories they take in they will feel better about themselves when they end up not having to lose a significant amount of weight.

When planning their meals they should find ways to reduce the calories they consume by choosing lower fat products, as well as reducing their portion sizes. They might want to overindulge on chocolate and naughty treats for that one day, but they can also make adjustments elsewhere in their daily calorie intake in order to offset the excess calories. They may choose, therefore, to get more active.

Exercise is a great way to burn off those extra calories, and doesn't always have to mean leaving the house, although the holidays usually involve lots of relatives staying, and so exercise can give individuals an excuse to leave the home and have an hour or so to themselves. It might be cold outside, but once they have been jogging or walking for awhile, they will soon begin to warm up, with the added bonus of being able to eat a few extra squares of chocolate when they get home.

It is possible for people to have fun and overindulge during the holidays without necessarily gaining weight; they just have to stay mindful of their diet and the number of calories they are consuming. Although the last thing anybody wants to do when they have time off from work to spend with their families is obsess about their diet and activity levels, they will feel better for it after the holidays, when they find that their weight has remained virtually the same, and they don't have to spend the next few months on a diet.

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