How Not to Gain 10kg this Holiday

It has finally arrived… This thing we’ve been waiting for half the year: Summer is here and the promise of holidays is spreading all kinds of good vibes around!  We can pretty much bank on a few stellar sunshiney days, plenty of good times with our faves, and at least a few new adventures in our rare time away from the grind. But this is also typically a time of some, ahem, excess, and I don’t just mean in the gift-buying department. We like to spoil ourselves and our people, naturally, but none of us wants to deal with the excess weight that comes along with it, right? Who wants to waste minutes of this summer worrying about bulging out of our clothes, finding ourselves no longer able to fit into our stylin’ New Year’s outfit?   Ain’t nobody got time for that! So, we’ve put together a neat little strategy to keep you in the sweet spot this summer, without packing on the pounds.

There are a few ground rules we should agree on first, though:

• As much as we want to eat well, it’s no good obsessing about every mouthful or banning any foods from our plates for eternity (because we still have to ENJOY this short life we have! And anyway, that sort of extremism usually backfires and ends in even less healthy binge-starve cycles)
• It’s way time to shift our focus a tad, from how our bodies LOOK to what they can DO! Or better yet, what spectacular things they can help US do this summer.

Now let’s dive straight into the tips!

1. Start hoarding all the wholesome snack you can get your hands on. Things are going to get frantic. We’re going to want to throw our money at every take away in the near vicinity that promises to free us from the burden of actually making food. We know this! So let’s plan for it and fill our bellies with the good stuff when we’re on the run.

2. Get enough sleep! Burning the candle on both ends is cool and all in theory, but really it just makes you feel rotten, look rotten, and make rotten food choice

3. Eat a good meal before get-together, especially if it’s likely that copious bowls of depraved chips and fat slices of malicious ciabatta will be taunting you for hours before the meal is even served. A full tummy will be sure to help ward off all that delicious evil!

4. Keep at that gym game, because this is not a holiday from your own awesomeness, and being fit and strong makes you that much more awesome. Anyway, what kind of adventures are you going to be having if you’re huffing and puffing your way up the sand dune, or have to find ever more creative excuses for not playing with the kids?

5. Talking about adventure, be that person who says yes to trying new things, especially things which take you out of your comfort zone. Do the hike, go canoeing on an ambitious trail, jump at the opportunity to play frisbee in the park or try surfing for the first time.

Here’s to a glorious ending to what has been a pretty tough year. May the good times multiply and our bellies remain firm!