29 April 2024
The holidays are a time for good emotions, meetings with relatives and friends, as well as for an abundance of food and drink. For many of us, however, this can be a real challenge when it comes to maintaining our fitness progress and the good shape we’ve achieved. The Next Level squad comes to the rescue! We have selected 8 useful tips to help you refrain from Easter overeating.
Well, if they still don’t work, you know, we are waiting for you in the hall every day – during the holidays and after them! 😉
When you’re at the holiday table, drinking plenty of water is key. Dehydration can easily be mistaken for starvation.
Have you ever suddenly felt hungry after a large meal? Agree with us that there is no point in taking extra food when your body is actually thirsty.
It is always good practice to have a glass of water or tea up to 20 minutes before a meal. This helps to optimize your fluid intake throughout the day and can keep you from overeating.
Because soups, broths, and green salads are rich in water, they saturate your body just like water itself. Research shows that eating some of these appetizers can contribute to a reduction in the amount of food taken in afterwards and therefore the accumulation of excess calories.
Usually during festive lunches and dinners, the mood is high, you get excited, you can’t wait to try all the delicacies and you start eating quickly and greedily. We guessed, didn’t we?
This phenomenon is normal, especially when you have in front of you mouth-watering dishes such as warm kozunak or aromatic lamb. However, if you manage to eat at a normal pace, you will feel that you are full at the exact moment when you have actually eaten, and not when it is already too late and you feel heavy.
It is recommended that you first take a bite of what you find most delicious. In this way, you will not be in such a hurry for the next meals and you will be able to more easily control the quantity of each one of them.
Portion sizes can be very deceiving. Even if you’re good at calculating your calorie intake during the rest of the year, during the holidays it’s significantly more difficult and you run the risk of underestimating the amount of holiday meals.
Therefore, it is a good idea to choose a smaller plate that, even if you fill it, will collect less food than the big one. We advise you to refrain from refilling it after that, no matter how tasty it is.
Wait at least 5 minutes before reaching for the second course. Sometimes we don’t give enough time to the body to signal us that we have already eaten. That’s why it’s important to take a break before continuing with dish number 2 or 3.
Try it and you will find that you have consumed enough food without having to take extra. Listen to your body’s signals.
Remember, eating regularly is the key to preventing overeating. Try to eat several meals in moderate and varied portions throughout the day to keep your blood sugar stable, avoid extreme situations, and avoid having to deal with uncontrollable emotional hunger.
If you know you’ve already eaten enough, but the dessert table still looks tempting, remember that there’s always time for a snack later. Stop for a few minutes and do something else to distract yourself. This, according to psychologists, is a proven effective anti-overeating practice.
Yes, it can be hard to abstain because our brains are wired to send satiety signals more slowly. This is due to the fact that in ancient times it was vital to eat as much as possible to provide supplies for the future when food might become scarce. But remember that today we live in a world of abundance where lunch can always wait. 🙂
On weekends, you have free time in which you are not forced to sit at the desk in the office or in front of the computer/laptop at home. After the snack, take time for sports. Walking in the mountains or in the city park is a great way to distract yourself, burn the accumulated calories and speed up your metabolism. A beautiful body is built with proper nutrition, but also with sports.
If you are in Sofia on weekends, why not take advantage of the opportunity to diversify your time with something fun and useful, such as group training in one of our gyms? It sounds like an ideal plan for the whole family, as children over the age of 14 can train with us! In the clubs in Druzhba and Mladost, we also offer free children’s training on weekends
You can learn more about them in our article: NEXT LEVEL KIDS: FREE GROUP ACTIVITIES FOR YOUR CHILD IN YOUTH AND FRIENDSHIP
If you are a fan of cardio or strength training, you can always do a holiday workout in our fitness areas at a convenient location for you.
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Remember, it is important to eat in moderation, but also not to blame yourself too harshly if you have been powerless in front of so many delicacies on the table.
However, we are sure that with our tips, these holidays will be different from all the previous ones. We wish you a Next Level Easter! 😉