Christmas celebrations can be challenging when you are trying to lose weight. It’s easy to forget how much you have eaten when you drink too much. So how do you get through the silly season without gaining another 2 kilos?

The challenges at this time of year are often considerable, partly due to the type of events and partly due to the change in routine.

Planning is key to surviving the festivities with your waist line intact. Figure out what sort of food or drink is on offer and plan accordingly. In fact if you are going to cocktail parties try and avoid arriving really hungry. It just makes the deep fried spring rolls and appetisers look more tempting. Plan a snack with some protein a couple of hours before the function. It could be a small tub of yoghurt, humuus with some rice crackers or veggie sticks or a large handful of nuts. This means you can wait until they bring out snacks which are a little less calorie laden and you won’t eat as many of them.

Giving up drinking during the holidays can be tough, so try alternating a large sparkling water with your glass of bubbles or red wine instead. A couple of glasses of wine is probably not going to blow the calorie count in a week unless you are having two glasses a night! That works out at 2 bottles of wine which probably isn’t going to add a nice number to your scales. However for the week where you seem to have every night out try balancing it in the morning with a protein shake with some berries. Having a lower calorie but satisfying breakfast will help even out your consumption. Good options for protein shakes include Iso Why or Metagenics French Vanilla Shake as well as Vital Greens Protein for those who can’t tolerate dairy!

Changes to your routine, which often mean you work all day and then have functions in the evening, play havoc with your exercise routine. The worst thing is you really miss out on the regular endorphin boost of exercise as well as the fat burning. If you can’t get to the gym at least think about fitting a half hour walk into your day. I really enjoy coming back from a function and taking the dog up to the oval for a few laps in the coolest part of the day. Well mostly I enjoy it, last week I got attacked by Christmas beetles and got a bit freaked out!!

If all else fails consider a lovely detox and weight loss plan in January 2015!