5 Unconventional Ways to NOT Get Fat During the Holidays

What is it about the months of November and December that makes us involuntarily shove unthinkable amounts of food into our mouths?? For most of us it is endless holiday parties, leftovers, and alcohol-induced eating.  As the weather gets colder, activities slow down as well. We all know that more calories + less movement = getting fat. Boooooo! Chances are that if you have picked up the latest issue of Shape Magazine they will give you suggestions such as “eat before you get to the party so you’re not starving”, or “limit yourself to one drink”. Frankly, these options suck… not only because they are no fun, but also because they are hardly effective. Lucky for you, I have come up with some tips that work:

1. If you know you will eat a lot at night, skip breakfast AND possibly lunch. Many “experts” will tell you that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and don’t skip it, and you need it. Bullshit. Try simple math instead of “expert” advice. If you eat 2000 calories at your party AND 500 calories for lunch AND 500 calories for breakfast, you will have ingested 3000 calories total. However, if you skip those 2 meals you will only have ingested 2000. This formula can be tweaked. For instance, if you are starving in the morning and you eat a 300 calorie breakfast, you will have ingested a total of 2300 calories for the day instead of the original 2000. Makes sense, right?
2. If you eat a huge meal the night before, don’t eat until you are TRULY hungry the next day. This is another variation of the rule above. I don’t know about you, but when I eat a ton of food at night I usually wake up with a “food hangover”. Many of us will ignore this sensation and eat breakfast because its breakfast time. Or because we’ll faint. Or some other weird reason. YOU’LL BE FINE! Perhaps you’ll only get really hungry the next day at dinner. Or perhaps in time for a late lunch. The key is, wait until you feel the true and real sensation of hunger to ingest food.
3. If you know you have a big dinner at night, get a HARD workout in that morning. Hard workouts raise your metabolism. A higher metabolism allows you to ingest more calories without getting fat. Hard workouts can consist of something like this or this.
4. Do a juice fast the day after a big dinner. Chances are you won’t be too hungry the day after you have an obscene amount of food anyway, so a juice fast will be easy. It’s a nice way to clean out your system and reduce your calories the day after a feast. It will also tremendously help your hangover.
5. Control your eating/drinking at every OTHER party. Sometimes getting wasted and eating everything you see is fun. And satisfying. The key is SOMETIMES. When you’re on your way out make an agreement with yourself on how you will handle this event. You can say to yourself  ”tonight I will go balls out and lose all control”. The next time you can say to yourself “I will limit myself to 2 drinks and 1 plate of food”. Then stick to it. This makes for a healthy balance.