After a year of eating healthily and losing weight, a great many people sabotage all their hard work by overeating at Christmas. All that lost weight creeps back on in a matter of weeks and, before you know it, you end having to start the next year with a diet – again.
Christmas IS a wonderful holiday, but it’s also one that seems to last longer each year. Office parties, family dinners, chocolate for presents – what should only be a day or two can turn into a month of eating way too much.
However, what if you could enjoy Christmas without gaining so much weight? How happy would that make you?! Well, I think I have the solution.
A couple of big meals over the holidays will not cause weight gain especially if you reduce the size of your other meals. If you do this, the extra calories from your holiday meals will be “canceled out” by your other, smaller meals.
Meal Replacement Shakes
One of the best ways I have found to do this is to replace one or two meals per day with a delicious, low-calorie shake.
Meal replacement shakes contain filling protein and fiber but are low in fat, sugar, and calories. That means you only consume around 200 calories per shake. During a diet, replacing one or two meals a day with a low-calorie shake would produce fast and easy weight loss, but that’s not the aim during the holidays. Instead, those low-calorie meal replacement shakes will allow you to eat some tasty, high calorie, festive food without gaining weight.
Which shakes are right for you? That depends! You can buy meal replacement shake powders that mixes easily with water such as:
- IdealShake® Meal Replacement Shake – my favorite, why ? explained here
- Vega One – All in One Nutritional Shake – the 2nd of my top 3 review here.
- RAW Organic Meal Vanilla by Garden of Life – my opinion here.
Homemade Meal Replacement Shakes
Or you could make your own.
Homemade meal replacement shakes are often cheaper than store-bought products, but you need to make them in a blender rather than an easily transportable shaker cup. That being said, you could make one at home, put it in a thermos, and then take it with you when you leave.
Not sure where to start? Don’t worry; I’ve got lots of recipes to share with you in my article Meal Replacement Shakes Recipes. Each one is high protein, low carb, high fiber, low sugar, and really tasty. There are shakes for breakfast, shakes for lunch, and shakes for dinner too. Just replace one or two of your regular meals with any of the shakes, and then enjoy your Christmas treats!
Make it effective
This strategy should prevent weight gain but if you want to guarantee no weight gain and even lose weight during the holidays, make sure you also include some exercise in your Christmas routine. It doesn’t really matter what you do so long as you are active for 30 minutes or so a day. I like to walk and jog, but a good yoga practice or hitting the gym can be just as beneficial.
Once Christmas is over, you may find that, despite your best efforts, you did gain a little weight. Of course, this will be much less than normal if you have followed the advice in this article. If this happens to you, stick with the shakes and follow my super-effective meal replacement shake plan. I’ve produced an easy to follow spreadsheet that will help you lose weight quickly and easily. In fact, just a week or two on this plan will have you back to your pre-Christmas weight.
Conclusion
Meal replacement shakes are a great way to prevent Christmas weight gain, and fix it if you do inadvertently put on a couple of pounds. They’re simple to make, delicious, filling, and healthy. Enjoy Christmas but don’t let the holidays make you regain all the weight you have lost; wouldn’t you like to start the New Year without having to make a new diet resolution?
My weight loss plan using Meal Replacement Shakes
15 Meal Replacement Shakes Recipes
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