Christmas is about spending time with family, buying each other stuff you don't need and probably can't afford and watching terrible Christmas movies.
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Tip 2: Those 'Christmas weight' stats are not about you
The whole obsession with Christmas weight seems to be borrowed from northern hemisphere cold Christmas where people eat comforting wintry food, preferably near a fireplace.
Let's face it: it's summer in New Zealand so this Christmas weight crap has no place here. We're eating ice creams and drinking icy beverages to stay cool, not comfort eating to stay warm. We're likely to be moving more than those where it currently gets dark at 5pm and we sure as hell are getting a healthier dose of vitamins from this glorious sunshine. That is not the reality for Christmas in the majority of the world, where these weight loss articles are written.
Northern hemisphere weight loss is not written with you in mind, this isn't a winter wonderless. Do not bypass the pav.
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Tip 3: Check your privilege
Not wanting to sound like your mum (but already sounding a bit like your mum): you're in a pretty privileged position out in this big wide world if you get to choose to not put many calories in your body.
Yes, this is my version of the "but there are kids starving in Africa" and if there is something that can be said for that universal parenting argument is this: it's true. So quit counting calories, eat them up, savour them and be grateful you get to do that.
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Tip 4: Keep moving
If you're really worried about overeating, I know no amount of me telling you to stop worrying will work. What will work every single time, however, is moving your body.
The thing about Christmas in summer is that, other than making little sense (I mean, listen to any Christmas song, ever), it's the time of the year when we're all the most active. Unlike those poor freezing people in the northern hemisphere, huddled up at home under blankets, we get to be out and about moving and enjoying the sun. All these articles you see online about Christmas weight don't take into consideration people spending Christmas in summer. They're not talking to you so, please, stop listening to them.
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Tip 5: No one cares!
This tip is, by far, the handiest life lesson of all and it applies to a lot more than just Christmas calories. Nobody cares if you have 26 scorched almonds while binge watching all the Home Alone movies (and if they worry about any part of that, it should be the fact that you're bingeing on Home Alone movies).
If you consumed more calories because you spent longer sitting at the table with loved ones then it doesn't really matter what you ate: those were good calories.
Eat when you're hungry, eat whenever you want, eat until you feel satisfied.
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Tip 6: Won't someone think of the children?
Listen, if you can't help yourself counting calories, at least refrain from any talk about weight loss or calorie counting near children. Family time means you are likely to be sitting around the table with younger impressionable people who really don't need that kind of negativity in their life.
Notice your words around children and young adults when referring to food as you could be influencing their relationship with it for years to come. Avoid at all costs attaching some kind of moral value to food. Food is not good or bad so, if you can't help doing it for yourself, please do it for them.
Handy list of things to count instead of counting calories
When you're overcome with holiday stress and start reverting back to watching what you eat and calling three almonds a "treat", take a step back and count these things instead:
- How many friends you caught up with this season
- How many times you sat with your family, laughing echoing around the room, and you thought "this is nice, we should do this more often"
- Alternatively, how many memories come to mind of time spent with family who's no longer around and makes you think "that was nice, I wish we'd done that more"
- How many cold drinks in the sun you had
- How many smiles and hugs you got from people you surprised with your thoughtful gift
- How many times you walked into a store and Mariah was going on about what she wants for Christmas and you, like a true Buddhist monk, didn't even launch into a killing spree
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