Why the thought of Christmas food & weight gain stresses you out
(And what you can do about it!)
Ah Christmas – the most wonderful time of the year.
Personally, I LOVE Christmas – the lights, the smells, the food, the festivities – it only comes around once a year and I am here for all of it.
There’s no denying though, that navigating food at Christmas can be an absolute minefield.
Sometimes it feels like there are only two options:
1 – relinquish all control and eat ALL. THE. THINGS.
Or
2 – be uptight and anxious about it, plan exactly what you will eat in advance and worry and panic about food, and your body, the whole time.
I’m not exaggerating when I say I used to swing wildly from one to the other over the festive season, leaving little room in my brain for anything else. I was either planning what I’d be eating next or detailing out exactly what I wouldn’t be eating from the buffet.
I know I’m not alone – just imagine if all that time spent worrying about food and the impact on our bodies at Christmas was spent on something more, well, productive?
Like picking out the perfect gift for your partner (very guilty of an annual amazon search of ‘perfect presents for my husband’ here!) or giving to the needy? Or even – shock horror – just relaxing and enjoying the festive season – catching up with friends you haven’t seen for a while, unwinding if you are lucky enough to get a break from work, watching all the Christmas favorites on Netflix (are you a Holiday or Love Actually girl? I’m team LA, all the way!).
What is it about Christmas food?
So, what is it about Christmas food which has you in such a spin?
Well, for starters, it’s seasonal. Though there’s no law against eating a mince pie in July, generally speaking all the festive favorites start to appear on our shelves around November 1st, and have gone without trace by January 2nd (I’m talking about you, Pret festive sandwich).
Automatically, before you’ve done anything else, all that Christmas food is on that pedestal – the pedestal of restriction. Not through any fault of your own, just by fact that it’s only available for such a short period of time each year makes it automatically something you feel ‘deprived’ of for not having access to all the time.
Not that you do this consciously, of course – not many people are thinking about a Baileys hot chocolate whilst sunning themselves on their annual August holiday in Majorca, but the minute you are reminded that these foods do, in fact, exist – bam – you want them.
It’s the same as anything else you restrict whilst dieting – the minute you tell yourself ‘no, I’m not having that’ makes you fixate on it and want it more and more – often to the point where you can’t resist and suddenly you’re stuffing it in your mouth before you’ve realised what is happening – or if you are even hungry.
Why do you gain weight at Christmas?
We’ll get to that – but first, let’s take a moment to address why it even matters….
IT DOESN’T.
Just like weight gain at any other time of the year doesn’t matter. Our bodies are always fluctuating, and responding to the ebs and flows of our lives.
If the thought of gaining weight at Christmas is worrying you, though – I’d urge you to think about WHY.
Why does the idea of gaining weight at Christmas time bother you so much?
What are you making it mean?
Will your family love you any less if you’ve gained a few extra pounds?
Will you be worse at your job?
Will your friends value your company less on your annual Christmas night out?
I very much hope that the answer to all of the above is no, no and no.
So – if the idea of gaining weight is worrying you, it might be worth spending some time unpacking that. What are you making it mean about you and your life? Grab a pen and your journal, and spend a little time pondering that question.
So really, why do you gain weight at Christmas?
Well, now we’ve established that it really doesn’t matter – do we even need to go there?
For those of you reading this and screaming ‘yes!’ – you win. Let’s touch on a few reasons now.
Firstly, there’s the food.
All the delicious, seasonal, yummy foods that are available during the holidays. You see them as ‘treats’ (referring back to the afore-mentioned rarity of these items) and so you want to indulge – as you have every right to do. You’ll be hard pushed to walk into an office in December which doesn’t have a tin of Celebrations on the go, or a coffee shop which isn’t giving out mini mince pies with its coffee.
Plus, lets be honest, most Christmas food is pretty energy dense – no one’s putting together a ‘festive Christmas salad’ now, are they – certainly with no real enthusiasm.
Chances are, you eat more at Christmas time, either in volume or energy density, which contributes to weight gain.
Add in alcohol
If you drink alcohol, your consumption likely sky-rockets in December. Christmas parties, works Christmas drinks, meeting friends ‘just for one’, pouring a glass of wine just to get through the day when you are spending it with an extended family of 25+ ranging from your adorable baby nephew right up to your deaf and incredibly racist 90 year old nan.
Whereas for the rest of the year you may only drink at weekends, or perhaps at the odd social event – this goes out the window in December – alcohol is everywhere and you are at parties and gatherings galore.
Not only does the calories in the alcohol itself play a part, when you’re drinking you also tend to eat more, both during and ‘the morning after’.
Planned exercise often takes a backseat
Whilst you might be racking up the moves on the dance floor, planned movement is often the first to go as your schedule fills up with drinks & nibbles, Christmas parties and Festive markets. Late nights mean less inclination to get up early for your morning run, and Saturday classes are replaced with Saturday prosecco brunches.
Finally – you’re sleeping less
Those nights out and Christmas commitments take their toll – and chances are you are getting by on far less zzz’s that you usually would be.
When you wake up feeling less than fresh – it’s easy to reach for energy dense foods and sugar and syrup laden coffees to get you through the day… until the cycle repeats itself later that evening, that is!
Once again I want to remind you that NONE OF THIS MATTERS!
YOU make it a problem - and we’ll come on to that later.
Why is weight gain stressful at Christmas?
This really comes back to what you are making it mean about yourself and hopefully by now you’ve taken a moment to figure that out.
The stress comes from fixating on the fact that weight gain means something about you. That you are somehow ‘less of’ a person. Perhaps you feel like your partner won’t be as attracted to you? Or that you are less likely to meet a partner, if you are single?
Unfortunately, we live in a fattest society, where the expectation is that if you don’t live up to the ‘normal’ body standards, at the very least you are striving to achieve them. Gaining weight, therefore, is a move away from what society expects.
Back in caveman days, a move a way from society could literally mean death of an individual – after all, you can’t fight off a sabre tooth tiger on your own. Meet one as part of a pack, and you perhaps stood more of a chance.
Though you’ve little chance of coming across a sabre tooth tiger in the street, our brain hasn’t caught up with that fact, and still signals ‘danger!’ when it recognises a move away from ‘the norm’.
Of course, weight gain over the holidays is expected, and even accepted over the holiday period – for a time. I vividly recall sharing what I thought was a very funny meme a few years ago which went something along the lines of ‘it’s all fun and games… until your jeans don’t fit anymore’.
Weight gain over Christmas is ‘part of the package’ – acceptable, in the short term, much like a mother gaining weight as she prepares to welcome her baby. The minute it’s over though, whether it’s Christmas or the birth of a baby, and the expectation is that one should ‘snap back’ immediately.
How most people respond
Of course, most people respond to this perceived ‘threat’ of weight gain by doing what I’ve no doubt you have a multitude of experience of doing.
That is, drastic crash diets in the new year, unrealistic exercise plans and fitness ‘goals’ laid out in front of you. There may even be an element of ‘prevention is better than cure’ during the festivities - perhaps, for example, you have refrained from eating all day in an effort to ‘save’ your calories for the Christmas party later that evening?
I know I’ve done that on more than one occasion, with the most often outcome being that I got exceptionally drunk exceedingly quickly, either making a complete fool of myself or having to leave the party before it ever really got going.
Look at either of these options, of course, and you’ll recognise the beginnings of the classic diet cycle – reduce calories / increase exercise – often to the extreme as “diet brain” of course has us aiming for perfection in everything we do, with clear ‘all or nothing thinking’ whereby one gym session isn’t enough – we must go five times per week to truly be having “an impact”.
This may work – in the short term. At some point or other though, you will inevitably reach what I describe as the ‘f**k it moment’ – where it all becomes too much, too restrictive, too difficult – and so you break – indulging in all the foods that you haven’t permitted yourself near, perhaps even in a binge-like manner. You feel guilty. Useless. You beat yourself up – no wonder you don’t have a great job / a better sex life/ a loving partner – if you can’t even stick to your diet why would you. Oh yes – that mental filtering comes out in full force – and this is All. Your. Fault. (As far as that diet brain would have you believe).
Ultimately, you feel helpless and out of control – vowing to do better, next time… and so the cycle begins again.
Sound familiar?
Relax !
How to not get stressed out – do this instead!
First things first – kindness and compassion. Never lost during the spirit of Christmas and that goes for yourself, too. Everything you do – I urge you to do it with kindness and compassion, to YOU.
Remember – food is never just about the ‘calories’. If it was, we’d all simply just drink a glass of Huel three times a day and move on with our lives.
Food brings together friends and family, unites communities and co-workers and provides a central, focal point for many a festive celebration. Food is about so, so much more than just calories, macronutrients and micronutrients. Food is a bonding experience, a shared pleasure, a wonderful memory – arguably all of which are healthier than a bowl of steamed kale. Plus – many foods – festive foods in particular – are just plain delicious – and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with indulging just because something tastes really, really good.
Relax, and trust your body. Given half the chance, it will always, always tell you what it needs. Your job is to listen to it – something which is perhaps easier said than done, especially when you’ve been dieting on-and-off for the last ten or fifteen years – perhaps even longer.
Sometimes that need might be a handful of Celebrations with a coffee in the break-out area at work. But chances are, it will also be asking for some fresh fruits and vegetables too – you don’t have to go into a complete state of “all or nothing” just because it is Christmas. Remember, your diet isn’t the sum total of the last thing that you ate – it is the past days, weeks, months even – of everything you’ve eaten. A few more indulgent days over the holidays won’t negate anything else, and really, in the long term, won’t even account for much at all. Eat slowly, and mindfully, with the intention of enjoying absolutely everything that you put in your mouth.
It is totally normal, and very natural, for most people to gain weight over Christmas. There’s nothing wrong with that – as indeed there isn’t at any other time of the year. When you return to your ‘normal’ routine come January, once festivities are over, you’ll return to your bodies ‘set point’ – something that I’m afraid, you have very little control over.
Set Point
What will disturb that, of course, is a forced calorie deficit through either a strict diet, intense exercise program, or a combination of both. Your body doesn’t know that you are intentionally seeking weight loss – it sees a threat to your survival, and reacts with a resolve to ‘stock up’’ next time it can – increasing your appetite to encourage you to seek out food whilst at the same time downplaying your metabolism in an effort to conserve energy. After all, your bodies job is to keep you alive – it doesn’t know that you’d like to be alive, thank you very much – you’d just like to be living in a smaller body.
Wow! That was a lot!
If all this sounds a little overwhelming – fear not! What I’m suggesting here is a big change in mindset, and no doubt is way outside of the realms of what your ‘usual’ Christmas routine may look like.
That’s exactly why I’m writing this article early, to give you a chance to get working on that and get your head around a potentially very different scenario this Christmas.
One where you relax, enjoy yourself and don’t stress over Christmas food or your body this year. I promise you - it can be done!
Why not join my free Facebook group, where you’ll find a tonne of free support and resources to help you do just that!
Further support
If you need help regarding Binge Eating Disorder or any other eating disorder, please seek support from your GP or other qualified medical professional. Beat and Mind are two charities which can provide additional support and have plenty of resources on their websites.