Now That the Holidays are OVER: Damage Control

It has been a few weeks since we have taken down our Christmas decors. 

Christmas carols are not playing on the radio and the last of the fireworks of Chinese New Year is no more.

I was hoping that since the tell-tale signs of the Holidays are now all gone, the remnants of the holiday bingeing, the proof of all these festivities would all be gone too. But sadly, unlike the Christmas decors, lights and Christmas carols, with FAT , that is not the case.  It is common fact that taking control of your weight can be hard during the holidays due to series of food-related celebrations during all those reunions and get together parties.  So how can you undo the damage done by a holiday meal so that it doesn’t have such a negative impact on your body weight?

I will be sharing with you how to go about with controlling whatever damage was done during the happiest season of the year.

1. Assessment : What is your number?

First of all, ask yourself: "How much weight did I gain during the past three months?"

Excessive eating and drinking might be the name of the game during the holidays and without you noticing it, the pounds have added up. A great wake up call would be to know that number and use that to motivate you into planning that GREAT COMEBACK!

2. ACT : Just Do It! 

The next thing that you can do to practice damage control is to get into the gym and do a weight lifting session the next day.  The common practice is to gravitate towards cardio training after a high calorie meal, but this isn’t really the most ideal way to go.  Weight lifting is what will use up excess carbohydrates in your system far better than cardio training, so will help to remove the excess calories that you consumed.
Also, weight training will help to elevate your metabolic rate for the hours after the session is completed, therefore will continue to help remove any excess fat that you may have burned off. Think of it as a way to scare off the bad spirits for the New Year.

3. Minimize Carbs Intake For a Week

Third, also make sure that you cut back on your carb intake around a week.   Protein consumption is one thing that YOU CANNOT REDUCE. This is definitely important as this is one of the building blocks to to maintain your lean body mass.

Fat can be reduced slightly, but sudden reduction would make you feel hungry all the time. 
Fat is a nutrient that will help provide some hunger control while reducing your calories, making reduced calorie intake much easier.  Just consider good fat sources like Omega 3 and Flaxseed Oil.

5. Never Ever Starve Yourself!

Finally, the last quick tip to help you recover from the holiday indulgence is to make sure that you aren’t starving yourself.  If you all of a sudden drop your calorie intake way down and keep it there, this would signal the body to start using up muscle mass as a fuel source which would waste all the hard work of the past training sessions that you have had. 
As always, a gradual approach is the best way to go. 
Bring your calorie intake much lower for two to three days and then adopt a more moderate calorie intake after that.

If you follow these quick tips, then you should have no problem reducing the damaging effects that the holiday indulgence that you had.


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