Anxiety and Christmas
Not even a week to go to the big day and there is already an overload of festive cheer everywhere you look! Two weeks ago it seemed wherever I looked there was food - adverts or people eating it, the day before my competition we travelled down to London and spent the day in the Westfield Shopping, I was anxious as my weight had to be at a certain figure or below and the thought of having no scales before the big weigh in on Saturday morning was really stressing me out! Now it’s all over my anxiety has subsided and I can eat relatively normally now although as my goals are still not quite over for 2018 I will still keep an eye on keeping that weight around the 61.5kg mark. Obviously come 25 th December it all goes out of the window for one day, no exercise and I eat what I want and as much as I want!
Alcohol is different though, I had been tee-total for 3 months in anticipation of my race, so after it last Saturday we decided to go out and celebrate. We didn’t go mad but I had a few cocktails and wow did I feel the effects last week! My sleep and mood were affected for the around 4-5 days with Friday being the day when I felt relatively free of the negative effects it brought. It's made me rethink any alcohol consumption and the days of having more than 1-2 glasses of wine at Christmas have gone to be replaced with a few glasses of organic prosecco and maybe a few (weak) cocktails at new year! I have felt alert, fitter and fresher since giving up alcohol and to be honest it wasn’t really missed until I had family down and they had a few drinks on the Saturday and I had to contend with my green tea! It's definitely a positive for your physical and mental health to be able to either become teetotal or cut down your alcohol consumption to a few units a week.. You will definitely reap the benefits of feeling refreshed on awakening, good sleep and more energy, positivity and the results of your workouts will improve too.
The bottom line is that Christmas day is one day out of the whole year when I don’t think you should stop yourself having anything. If you overindulge for 1 day of the year it's not going to make you unhealthy for the rest! Just be rational about it, it's the biggest treat day of the year, but the next day - Boxing day- is the day to jump on that rowing machine, go out for that brisk walk that raises your heart rate, get moving, this will make you feel better about what’s being put in your mouth for the next week. Still be mindful of what your consuming and whether your hungry BUT don’t let it be all-consuming to you and make you feel guilty and resentful of this time with family and friends.
I hope you all enjoy Christmas and leave the anxiety and guilt at the door. Celebrate all the goals -fitness or lifestyle-you have achieved in 2018 and look forward to making new goals within your life for 2019. Make 2019 your year to improve your quality of life in the present and future by moving and sweating more!