THERE’S not much left of 2017 and then the New Year begins. So I’d like to wish you the BEST Christmas and all good wishes for a happy and healthy 2018.

The end of the year is a great time to reflect on what lifestyle habits have been holding you back and what strategies you’ll adopt in 2018 to help you succeed in your weight loss goals.

When the busy-ness of this next seven days is over, take 10 mins for yourself and have a time of reflection.

It really is SO important to do this and I would urge you to find the time – it will get 2018 off to a great start!

In the meantime, there are still 11 days of 2017 remaining and they’re probably the 11 days when people do the most overeating!

There’s a way you can prevent too much weight gain over the next couple of weeks, because it’s always easier to maintain momentum rather than undo damage.

Focus on finishing the year on an upbeat note so you can build on that strength going into 2018!

So how do you prevent weight gain during the festive period?

In several studies researchers intentionally overfed people and discovered that some people put on fat and some people didn’t. Further experiments were carried out to see what actually happens inside people’s bodies that determines whether they store excess food as fat or burned it off.

So what’s happening?

Well, the people who burn it off naturally increased their movement and those who put on fat did not. We’re not talking about going to the gym or doing intensive workouts.

We’re talking about natural everyday movement that seems to stop during the holiday season!

This type of movement is called NEAT. and it stands for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis.

This is the energy expended for everything we do that is not sleeping, eating or sports-like exercise. It ranges from the energy expended by walking, typing, performing physical work around the house/garden to running around after kids and general day-to-day activity.

So how do we put this into practice right now?

Well have a think about CONSCIOUSLY increasing your NEAT during this holiday season.  Make time for post-meal walks and stay ACTIVE during the day (even if it’s cold outside!)

This fascinating video explains why many experts believe that sitting is the new smoking. The message is: Keep your bum off seats as much as possible!

If you’re a member of our Slimpod Club we’ll be posting an activity thread so we can all motivate each other to continue with those Fitbit steps, or dog walking or even a few squats!

Have a great Christmas!