Top Tips for Managing Social Events
Stick to the rule eat What You NEED before you eat what you WANT: Often the act of eating what you need first stops you from eating what you think you want and if you still want the treat food as you have already eaten what you need first you will want less of it.
Plan your indulgences: If your treat is part of your healthy eating plan for the week you will feel more in control and you won’t feel as if you have blown your nutrition for the week. If you don’t plan for treats it is easy to revert to the “what the hell I’ve blown it anyway” mentality.
Keep things in perspective so you don’t blow it completely: This leads on from the comment above where you don’t plan and have a bit of a blow out. Rather than throw in the towel completely and go hell for leather keep things in perspective and know that one small blowout can be undone.
How to stop mid blow out: Have pre-determined trigger on hand to put a stop to your blow out for example if you are at home you could brush your teeth, if you are out you can have a piece of gum or a piece of fruit to signal you are back on track.
Be selective about what events you say yes to: The more events you attend the more temptations will be an issue. Rather than go to every event going around select the ones you really want to go to and enjoy them without guilt.
Don’t skip meals in order to “save yourself” for later: This is just a recipe for disaster because a: if you drink it will hit you right away and your food choices are less likely to be good in this state and b: it is likely to cause you to overeat because you are starving.
Identify your triggers and set boundaries around them: If you know alcohol is your weakness you will need to decide if you have one does that mean the wheels will fall off and there is no stopping you? If so offering to drive and staying away from alcohol might be the best option. If you know you can have one or two drinks and stop then set this as your limit and stick to your guns. The same applies to any food weaknesses you have also.
Be clear about the true indulgence days i.e.: Christmas Day etc Mark them in your calendar and eat super clean on the days that are not indulgence days. Don’t nibble on leftovers for days after the event; keep indulgence days and clean days very clear.
Don’t ignore overeating signals: Listen to your body and stop when you are content rather than think “this is my free meal and I am gonna make the most of it!”
Think ahead about the impact your choices will make: Before you head out and in the moment think ahead to when you wake up the following day. Will you kick yourself for indulging or are you ok with it because it is part of the plan?
Don’t let your training slide: Two things are going to put weight on you, eating too much and not moving enough. During this time of the year we do tend to eat treat foods more regularly and increase our overall calorie intake so the worst thing you can do is stop training. More training is required not less.
Wear something fitted or tight: Don’t wear anything that will hide the bloat that comes with overdoing it to keep you honest.
At social gatherings hang out with people who have similar goals to you: Gravitate to the people who are fit and healthy and can enjoy an evening out in moderation, it is much easier to stay strong when you are with people who are also keen to be sensible because they know blowing out is just not worth the price you pay.
If you do decided to drink alternate 1 alcoholic drink with 2 mineral waters.
Drink Mineral Water in a champagne glass: This way you still feel like you are socializing like everyone else and it saves you from people making comments about not drinking which unfortunately happens a lot in our culture!
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