A fitness expert has shared crucial advice for those trying to shed pounds while navigating the festive season – and it involves abandoning one common practice entirely.
With Christmas rapidly drawing near, individuals maintaining specific dietary regimes or calorie restrictions may be anxious about how the celebrations could derail their health objectives, given the abundance of seasonal fare constantly on offer. In response, personal trainer Jess Hugo has now highlighted one key thing to steer clear of, which can help improve your relationship with food during the festivities.
Speaking on TikTok, personal trainer and sports nutritionist Jess Hugo revealed the essential guidance she regularly provides to her clients at this time of year regarding how to manage their calorie targets throughout the Christmas period.
“If currently in a calorie deficit and you’re freaking out cause it’s literally 20 days to Christmas, which is absolutely insane, here is what I would be doing when navigating the week of Christmas,” she explained at the beginning of her clip.
“So the week of Christmas when you have all of your social events on, and you’re really busy with all of the things, do not open My Fitness Pal and do not track any of those calories.”
She went on to explain that while experienced calorie trackers might have a rough estimate of their consumption, she strongly recommended against logging these figures into any calorie monitoring applications you might typically use.
Jess explained that people have several days before Christmas to maintain their calorie deficit, before treating the festive period itself as a ‘diet break’ to unwind and reset physically, whilst enjoying their ‘freedom’.
You can then resume their calorie deficit when the New Year begins, as Jess emphasised to her audience that exceeding your calorie limit for a few days won’t derail your overall fitness goals or achievements.
“We shouldn’t be living in a calorie deficit, so just remember that when you’re thinking ‘f**k what am I going to do approaching eating at Christmas’,” she reminded her viewers.
She continued: “Also, like your birthday, Christmas literally comes around once a year. It is your opportunity to have a break, have social events, and not actually worry about how much calories is on the food on the table.”
Several followers quickly responded in the comments section, with many expressing gratitude for Jess’s straightforward advice. Nevertheless, some viewers had queries following the video.
“What if you end up eating in a big surplus over Christmas?” one follower questioned in the comments. To this, Jess replied: “It’s fine. Just jump back into the deficit. You might just have ‘more weight’ to lose – which is context dependent as well.”
Another commenter shared: “Trying to tell myself it’s not what I eat between Christmas and New Year but between New Year and Christmas. 5st gone another 3-4 to go next year.
While another viewer expressed: “Thank you so much, I’ve been really in my head about it and this helps!”
This story originally appeared on Express.co.uk
