Reviewed by: Erica An, BNutr&Diet, APD
Eating is such a huge part of Christmas celebrations for so many of us and whilst we still want to enjoy our favourite Christmas traditions, you want to ensure that you are making sensible choices about food and not going completely overboard.
Here are some ways you can save over 1000 calories on your Christmas festivities:
How To Cut 1000 Calories
Alcohol
Being mindful of your alcohol intake is a huge way you can save on those extra calories. Alcohol is very calorie dense and with just a few drinks you can easily blow over on your calorie intake. See if you can set yourself a limit of 1 or 2 drinks and then stick with sparkling mineral water for the rest of the day. Try making the water a little fancy by adding some lemon or lime or even some herbs such as mint.
Portions
For many people, Christmas is about having one big meal after the other so if this is what you normally do, then you need to watch those portions. You can make one of the meals bigger and the other one smaller or make both a little smaller so that you can save some calories over the day. Try to remember the ‘plate rule’: fill half your plate with non-starchy vegetables like broccoli, carrot, asparagus, salad, mushrooms, cauliflower and zucchini. These vegetables are low in calories and will fill you up with great nutrition. Keep the potatoes and starchy vegetables like corn to a quarter of the plate and choose lean meat with all skin/fat/crackling removed.
Fill up on lots of greens and vegetables
If you are the chef then you can take control of the recipes and what is served so make sure you allow for lots of vegetable based dishes that are super delicious but low in calories. In our 12WBT recipe library, we have a massive array of beautiful festive recipes that you can use to show off to your guests and still keep those calories down.
Have a hearty and nutritious Christmas breakfast
Never arrive to your main Christmas lunch hungry as this will only lead to temptation and overeating. Instead, enjoy a hearty breakfast along the lines of poached eggs, baby spinach and mushrooms on multigrain toast. This will keep you full and satisfied which will help to remove the temptation of going for those extra nibbles and over eating.
Dessert
What is Christmas without fruit mince tarts, pudding, trifle and pavlova? These treats are hard to avoid, so my advice is to be mindful and be selective about which one you are going to have. Choose one and enjoy it or potentially share it with someone so that you can control your portion size. Savour every mouthful and be the last one to finish your dessert. The key is to stop there and avoid going for another one. Simply enjoy it- it’s Christmas!!
Keep exercising
Keeping your exercise routine as regular as possible will help to fight off some of those excess calories. Working out also provides the opportunity to maintain some ‘you’ time when things are often a little busy and crazier than normal.
