December for most people means yummy food and drinks. With some tweaks you won't gain any weight over it. So here's how not to get fat in december.
- Go for low GI food whenever possible (as little white/sweet carbs as possible)
- Prefer fat stuff over sweet stuff
- On a binge day
- Have 30+ grams of protein at the first meal of the day
- 100-200mg of caffeine at big/bad meals
- Apply the next bullets too
- With unhealthy stuff (especially sweet)
- Take citric juice (lemon, lime)
- Little exercise a minute or so before and an hour or so after (air squats and wall pushups in the bathroom will do)
- Have a glass (300-500ml) of water with every glass of alcohol
- Lift weights (both men and women)
Explanations
Low GI
The glycemic index is a measure of how much your blood sugar and insulin spike as a result of eating a food. The higher the response, the worse it is for you. The index goes from (globally):
- Super High: sugars regardless of source. Soda and fruit juice have similar properties (though fruit juice has nutrients that soda doesn't)
- High: white carbs. Think white bread, rice, potato etc. Avoid them if you can.
- Medium: complex carbohydrates. Very dark bread (breaks when bent), beans/legumes, pumpkin
- Low: fats, protein etc. GI isn't everything. But when it's about weight gain it kinda is. In december, stay low GI and your body will stay low BMI.
Protein at the first meal of the day
Props to Tim Ferris. Basically it effects your blood sugar and hunger levels positively. It's one of his favorite tips to those wanting to lose weight (30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking up).
Caffeine
Basically makes the food you eat leave the body faster. Boosts your metabolism a bit too, but we mostly care about keeping crap food in your body as short as possible.
Citric juice
Reduced the GI of a meal. Consider it damage control for sweet stuff. We're not sure why it works exactly. Probably something to do with enzyme inhibition.
Exercise before and after
First off: you don't need to go to the gym or anything for this. When I eat sushi (NOM) I do some pushups and squats before the meal starts. If it's in a resteaurant I go to the bathroom, if it's at home/friends people are used to me doing this kind of stuff. using your muscles activates GLUT4 receptors. Basically it does what insulin does, but without the need for insulin. Yay.
Water
Do your liver a favor, drink a lot of water (or unsweetened tea). The liver:
- Cleanses toxins
- Manages cholesterol, levels
- It a big player in fat metabolism Drinking helps your liver stay in shape. 1 glass of water with 1 glass of alcohol is damage control. Even if you don't drink alcohol, drink a bunch of water/tea anyway.
Lifting weights
Moving some metal around has profound benefits on your body fat. It is more effective than cardio. Basically the body will burn more energy both during and after exercise, which is what we want.