If you are like most people, it can be challenging to avoid weight gain during the holidays. One of the big problems is family gatherings, which often revolve around eating large meals. I am sure you realize that eating excessively large meals will make you gain weight, but these meals may not actually be your biggest problem during the holiday season. A more significant threat will likely come from what I consider to be hidden sources of calories.
Traditional family meals are obvious sources of large amounts of calories, but they don’t occur all that often. Even if you stuff yourself during a holiday meal, that alone will not cause you to gain 5 or 10 pounds. The real problem comes from the small things you may not even think about, yet end up repeating over and over during the holiday season. These are what I refer to as the hidden causes of holiday weight gain. They may not seem too bad at the time, but they have a cumulative effect that can add a significant amount of weight to your body.
Probably the most common problem is the food items people keep out around the house during the holidays. If your relatives are anything like mine, there are always little bowls or plates sitting around with snack foods like chips, cookies, candy, and of course chocolate. Then there are all the additional desserts and other treats given as gifts from friends and family that also end up sitting out to eat.
All these foods are available to eat any time during the day and while you most likely won’t sit down and eat a whole bowl of M&Ms, there is a good chance you will at least try something. You may even do this without really thinking about it, just because you have walked by a tempting food numerous times or you may end up sitting down for hours with the treats right in front of you.
If you just have one or two bites, it won’t be that bad, but these snacks are often eaten in little bits throughout the day. Even if you are only eating 50 to 100 calories at a time, by the end of the day it can easily add up to over 500 or even 1000 extra calories, depending on what and how much you are eating. If these eating behaviors become a normal part of your holiday routine and are repeated day after day, you have a definite recipe for substantial weight gain.
These holiday snacking habits are additionally problematic, because they typically involve eating unhealthy foods that have little nutritional value. This means you will be consuming a lot of empty calories, which will almost certainly end up being stored as fat in your body. Plus, these types of foods do not really make you feel full unless you eat a lot of them, so there is the potential for eating a huge number of unwanted calories.
Another thing to keep in mind is that eating little snacks here and there will probably have very little effect on how much you eat during your actual meals. You might think eating junk food throughout the day would make you eat smaller meals, but that is typically not the case. Eating meals is a very habitual behavior and if you are used to eating meals of a certain size at a certain time, you will probably eat a similar amount, even if you have consumed extra calories from unhealthy snacks.
I should point out that I am normally not against snacking and I strongly believe in eating healthy foods throughout the day, but this type of eating is different. When you combine regular meal eating habits with additional snacking, all the calories from the snacks end up being unnecessary calories that your body doesn’t need and cannot use, so they have to be converted into fat.
If you want to avoid gaining fat and weight from eating extra little bits during the holidays, you have a couple options. The first is just to avoid all snacking and stick to eating at your regular meal times. The second option is to do some snacking, but hopefully not too much, and then try to eat a little less during your meals. To be honest, both of these options can be difficult, especially if everyone around you is eating large meals and snacking all day.
If you are serious about minimizing your unnecessary snacking and preventing weight gain, the best thing to do is keep a nutritional journal. Writing down what and when you eat is useful any time of the year, but it is particularly helpful during the holidays. If you make yourself write down every food and drink, including each little snack you eat, it will make you aware of how much you are actually eating and prevent you from unconsciously consuming a significant number of calories throughout the day.
Even though there is usually a lot more temptation to eat unhealthy foods in large quantities during the holidays, in the end it is still your decision about what and how much you actually eat. If you look for excuses to splurge, I’m sure you will find them all around you. On the other hand, if you want to prevent unnecessary fat and weight gain, you have the power to control that as well. It all starts with paying attention to your eating habits, taking responsibility for your actions, and making healthier choices during the holidays.
Austin Holistic Warrior 