How to keep Christmas weight gain to a minimum

If you're conscious of your weight or if you've recently lost weight and are keen to keep it off, the thought of all that lovely Christmas food and drink might seem more of a threat than a pleasure. But with a few tweaks here and there you can minimise your weight gain over the festive season so there isn't a mountain to climb when it comes to getting back in trim...

By Hilary Pereira

Fill up on water

You can take the edge off your appetite by drinking a large glass of water before you start eating. Even a side plate of ‘nibbles’ can be full of calories, and you can limit the amount you’re tempted to snack on before dinner by having a good drink of water first.

A tumbler of water before a sit-down meal is a good idea, too – especially as some of us confuse hunger with thirst and eat more than we really need to compensate.
Count the canapés

It’s so easy to pop one canapé after another into our mouths without keeping count of just how much or how many we’ve had. Try to eat no more than three or four, and choose the healthiest options: skewered prawns, roasted veg or smoked salmon blinis will be less threatening to your waistline than pastries, pâtés and cheese, for instance.
Avoid rich sauces

A little gravy and a teaspoon of your favourite condiment on your Christmas dinner won’t do much harm, but try to avoid adding lashings of bread sauce, cranberry relish and butter or cream-based sauces. You can spice things up with mustard and other seasonings to keep the calories down.
Pile up the steamed and boiled veg

At least a third of your plate should be taken up with steamed or boiled vegetables. If your hosts (or you) are preparing roast potatoes, see if a couple to be left plain boiled for you, and stick to just the one roastie. Parsnips are usually roasted in the same fat as the roast potatoes, so limit yourself to one or two pieces. Try to say no to pigs in blankets and stuffing if you can.

You’ll be congratulating yourself afterwards – and you’re less likely to suffer from the usual post-Christmas lunch bloat, too! After all, there’s no other meal in the year that’s so carbohydrate heavy, yet we manage the rest of the time!
Remove the skin from turkey and the fat from meat

The fattiest part of any poultry is in and under the skin, so it’s best to avoid it in the first place. Once it’s actually on your plate it can be very hard to resist, so ask your hosts to remove it before serving yours – and, if you’re doing the honours, try to resist sneaking bits of skin while no one’s looking.

Just because no one saw doesn’t mean it didn’t happen! If you’re eating pork or beef, trim the fat or crackling off and put it to one side. The meat itself should be filling enough.
Don’t clear your plate

If you find your plate piled high with food, don’t worry about leaving some. Aim to eat no more than you would on a normal day, even if some of the dishes are less healthy than you’d usually serve yourself.

You won’t go hungry if you limit yourself to a medium-sized plateful of dinner – especially as there’s usually a glut of goodies still to come later in the day.
Take or make a fresh fruit salad as an alternative pud

You don’t have to refuse a rich pudding – just take a small spoonful and top your bowl up with fruit. There are all sorts of delicious exotic fruits around at Christmas time so an unusual fruit salad can be just as tasty.

Add a small splash of single cream to make it more special (but avoid brandy butter or thick liqueur creams), and pat yourself on the back for choosing a pud that’s lower-fat overall.
Have another glass of wine or champagne rather than pudding wine

Champagne or other dry white wine contains less calories than a sticky pudding wine or liqueur, so treat yourself to an extra glass of that to go with your pud. The very sweet drinks contain lots more sugar and are higher in alcohol, too.

You can cut even more calories by drinking spritzers (diluting the wine with soda water) if you’re feeling very virtuous.
Take a taster portion of pud

If you haven’t got a low-fat, low-sugar option for pudding, there’s no need to turn it down altogether: ask for a small taster portion and eat it slowly. Christmas foods should be sampled if you fancy them (especially if your hosts have home-made them), but it doesn’t mean you need to accept a full portion of anything.

You’ll be thankful when you step on the scales on January 1 and find you’ve done minimal damage by your own fantastic willpower – and you won’t have had to completely deny yourself anything much!
Choose soft cheese over hard

No full-fat cheese can be classified as a health food, but some soft cheeses (like Brie and goat’s cheese) are slightly lower in calories than hard cheeses like Cheddar and Red Leicester.

Gram for gram, soft cheeses contain less fat than hard cheeses, and although there’s not a huge saving to be made in one sitting, over the whole Christmas period you can make a difference to your fat and calorie intake without passing on the cheese board altogether.
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Elizabeth D. replied 26 weeks 6 days ago

I suggest that you mean "keep weight gain to a MAXIMUM". Or you can say "keep weight gain minimal". Anyone can put on a minimum number of pounds! Thank you for the advice. Take care, and have a great Christmas season.