Weight loss:top tips for fighting the festive flab

With the average adult consuming an astonishing 6,000 calories (that's three days worth of food for the average woman!) on Christmas day alone, it's easy to see how feasting on our favourite festive food can contribute to the additional 1-5lbs of excess weight than many of use are prone to piling on over the party season.

In order to ensure that you enjoy tucking into those tasty festive treats without the worry of a wider waistline, here are my top three tips for fighting the festive flab...

1. Say no to salty snacks at seasonal shindigs.
Although we're all prone to getting peckish at Christmas parties - particularly if we've skipped meals in an attempt to make way for a feast of party food (another festive fail that fuels a fuller figure!) - satisfying our stomachs with savoury snacks such as salted peanuts can not only trigger the temptation to tame thirst with an abundance of alcohol - a nutrient deficient drink that contains 7 calories per gram - but instantly increase our overall caloric consumption - nuts contain a copious amount of calories per small serving and are often over consumed.

In order to avoid super sizing your silhouette by sipping on one too many sherries, steer clear of the salty snacks, say no to unnecessary nibbles and opt for mixers (think vodka and diet coke) as opposed to sugary sources such as alcopops.

2. Sustain sensible food swaps.
Whether it's the temptation of a tasty trifle or tucking into too much turkey with all the trimmings, there's always an array of seasonal staples that are waiting to sabotage our self-control (and silhouette!).

Instead of over indulging in shop brought sweet treats after demolishing a super sized portion (or two!) of Christmas dinner, aim to sustain sensible swaps such as:

• Make and bake festive treats from scratch - this will instantly slash your sugar intake, cut your caloric consumption, allow you to use innocent (ish!) ingredients and leave you feeling less guilty should you fail to sustain self-control.
• Pile your plate with a variety of vegetables - they're bursting with mandatory micronutrients whilst being low in calories, sugar and fat.
• Serve portions on a smaller plate - this will create the illusion of a feast of food and ensure that you don't feel deprived (or like you're on a diet!) on Christmas day.

3. Make time to train.

Although it may be a struggle to squeeze our normal training sessions into a season of socialising and shindigs, finding the time to participate in some form of physical activity will aid the elimination of the excess energy that many of us are prone to pigging out on over the Christmas period.

If you can't fight the festive flab with your usual fitness class - a common concern when gym times get tweaked - opt for blasting the Christmas bulge with body weighted (or walking!) workouts and HIIT - all of which can be short, strenuous (particularly when hiking up hills) and/or squeezed into your social schedule.

Final thought: demolishing a delicious Christmas dinner (and over satisfying our sweet tooth with a selection of sugary treats!) may seem like the social norm, but that doesn't mean that we have to eat to excess in order to enjoy ourselves - particularly when this socially acceptable action has the potential to see us piling on nearly half a stone in such a short space of time.

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