So the team and I had our Christmas lunch / day out back on December 22nd at Indigo Yard in Edinburgh’s West End.

It provided a rare opportunity for us (minus coach Graeme who was struck down with the lurgy unfortunately!) to catch up in a social environment away from the gym and speak about non-work stuff.

As part of the lunch we all drank alcohol and ate food you wouldn’t consider part of a clean eating plan. Let’s just say our set menu was 3 courses and none of us skipped on the dessert.

Shock horror, right? ????

Well, contrary to popular belief, even as personal trainers and nutritional advisers we do also let our hair down.

We’re only human and we do like to enjoy ourselves by eating what we want to eat and drinking what we want to drink.

We don’t follow a super strict diet plan year round and diligently monitor every single calorie we consume.

I actually think it’s massively overwhelming and counter-productive to do so.

Not only will doing this take away any enjoyment of eating and the whole process of losing weight anyway…

But you’ll probably even feel a sense of guilt or shame if (when) you ‘fall off the wagon’ and eat or drink something that’s not part of your healthy nutrition plan… ????

And in turn that will FURTHER reduce your enjoyment of the whole process and make you feel bad about yourself.

Over the festive period I know many people struggle with these feelings in particular.

You want to ENJOY eating and drinking all the typical Christmas foods and drinks…

But you also don’t want to gain weight.

Oh, hello anxiety…

So what can you can do if being super strict is not necessarily the best approach?

Honestly, the key is always found in balance.

NOT in an ‘on it’ or ‘off it’ approach like so many people take.

Just like my team and I did on our Christmas lunch, we enjoyed ourselves and ate what we wanted to eat WITHOUT feeling guilty about it.

How? Because we don’t eat like that every day.

We probably eat like that 10-15% of the time.

The rest of the time we eat healthy foods, make healthy lifestyle choices and stay active.

This allows us the best of both worlds – to maintain good health and a healthy weight / body shape without any major restriction to what we can and can’t eat.

Is that not a better way to live than to send yourself on a massive guilt trip for not following your latest diet plan to the letter?

I certainly think so.

And it’s also what we teach all of our clients here at the studio with great success.

My point?

Give yourself permission to enjoy yourself whether it’s Christmas or any other time of year, without feeling guilty.

Eat what you want to eat and drink what you want to drink (without going to excess of course).

Know that the odd meal (or day) of indulgence won’t have a significant negative impact on your health or waist line as long as you are making healthier choices the rest of the time.

Commit to building healthy habits this new year, so that healthy living becomes ‘just your way of doing things’, rather than a short-term attempt at weight loss.

That way, you’ll never feel anxious about a social event or eating out again…

And THAT is where the freedom and enjoyment to lose weight or maintain a healthy life WITHOUT anxiety comes from.

You can do it, and if you ever need help, you know where we are.

I hope you had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year. ????

Luke

If you over-indulged this Christmas and are struggling to create new healthy habits this year to finally shift the weight and feel good about yourself and your appearance, the Luke Bremner Fitness team are here to assist you.

We understand how difficult it can be to know what to do to lose weight, especially with so much conflicting and confusing advice around exercise and nutrition.

If you’d like to find out more about what we do and how we can help you can book in for your non-obligation consultation at our private studio by clicking the link below.

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