Christmas Drinks? A PT Tells Us How To Stick To Dieting Goals And Still Have Fun Tonight

The Christmas season is a minefield of nights out, office parties and casual ‘lets have a mulled wine!’ get togethers. If you’re trying to stick to a healthy eating plan – or even make it to the gym regularly – you could soon find yourself slipping.

Surely there’s a way to stay *somewhat* on track with your health and fitness goals without waving goodbye to a festive social life altogether? There is, as it turns out, and we got the lowdown from Amanda Moroney of Recalibrated Bodies, who has stayed on track with her fitness and diet through many a holiday and festive season. She gave us her foolproof tips for staying on plan, so read on…

A photo posted by Amanda Moroney/ Daniel Brack (@recalibratedbodies) on Dec 7, 2016 at 4:13am PST

Don’t drink mindlessly
Alcohol is everywhere at Christmas, but that doesn’t mean you need to drink it every time it’s offered. Yes, there’s mulled wine up for grabs, but if you’d be just as happy with a cup of tea or some sparkling water, then why add needlessly to your calorie intake? “Alcohol is very calorie dense: it contains almost as many calories as fat on a gram-to-gram basis,” warns Amanda. “Try to eliminate it or say no where possible, but if you are drinking, stick to low calorie beverages.”

Not all drinks are created equal
A night out on red wine cold do much more damage to your goals than a few vodka sodas, so choose your drinks with caution. Mixers like tonic water can be higher in carbs and sugar than you might realise, so do your research first.

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate
“Have a glass of water with every drink,” advises Amanda. Not only will this – hopefully – keep you from consuming less alcohol, but it’ll also ensure you stay as hydrated as possible. “Being dehydrated by as little as 2% can impact your workout performance by as much as 20%,” says Amanda, “so you should be drinking as much water as possible every day.”

Plan ahead
On the day you plan to drink, stick to a low-carb diet and fit in a workout if you can, to build up a calorific deficit. “If you’re counting macros, for every standard drink you plan on having, you should take out around 25g of carbs from that day’s food intake,” says Amanda. That’s around 100g of cooked rice, or one and a half slices of white bread, to you and me.

And most importantly…

Enjoy yourself!
A wild night out or a selection box raid might not be on-plan, but it’s not the end of the world, either. “You don’t have to be perfect with your diet to get results,” says Amanda.  “Treats here and there are not going to automatically be stored as body fat just because they’re ‘bad’. What determines fat storage is energy balance, and provided people are still eating healthy most of the time, they can still achieve results.”

For more in-depth information and advice on diet, workouts and nutrition, follow Recalibrated Bodies on Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook. You can also contact them directly about their meal and training plans via their website.

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