How to stay fit over Christmas

It is very easy to let your health and fitness slip to the bottom of your list of priorities over the Christmas period. Your number of commitments shoots through the roof and you have presents to buy, cards to write and parties to attend! Where are you going to find a spare hour to go to the gym? Christmas is so often a time of excess eating and overindulging, frequently resulting in that post-Christmas guilt in January and New Years resolutions to eat less and exercise more!

Avoid the regret and piling on the extra pounds by following these easy steps:

·      Try to find time to fit in a small amount of exercise each day- even 10 minutes of high-intensity cardio like skipping with a rope or running up and down the stairs before your morning shower will help to maintain your fitness without having too much of an impact on your daily schedule.

·      It is always a challenge to keep your calories at a normal level at Christmas. Rich puddings and cakes are full of sugar and fat that any other time of the year would be off the menu to those of us who like to watch our waistlines. Adding cream or brandy butter sends the calorie content of these treats through the roof! Try swapping these for yogurt and crème freiche.

·      We often eat far more than is necessary at Christmas- enjoy your festive feasts but STOP when you feel full! When dishing up fill half of your plate with vegetables before you tuck into the meat, potatoes and all the trimmings. This will make you feel like you have still got a plentiful platter without making you feel bloated, overly full and boosting your calorie intake to way above what it should be!

·      Adjust your daily activities to increase the amount of exercise that you do; Park in the carpark at the far end of town when you go to do your Chroistmas shopping; Take the stairs instead of the escalator or lift; walk to your kids carol concert; take your dog for a walk where you know you will have to walk uphill. You will be astonished by how it all accumulates! To keep track of all of the positive changes you make, why not invest in a Fitbit. The Fitbit Ultra monitors your activity all day to provide you with real-time feedback on steps, distance, calories burned, and stairs climbed to encourage you to walk more and be more active. It wirelessly uploads your data to Fitbit.com so you can gain deeper insight into your daily or monthly fitness and sleep levels with free online graphs and charts. On Fitbit.com, you can earn fitness badges, connect with friends to share and compete on fitness goals, or join the Fitbit community for advice and encouragement. So you can get fit- one step at a time!