November 19, 2024 • 30 mins
Feeling the end-of-year overwhelm when it comes to your health and fitness goals? Struggling to maintain momentum amidst the social events, festive treats, and packed schedules? Don’t worry – The Nutrition Couch has got your back!
In this special bonus episode, Leanne Ward and Susie Burrell share their ultimate strategies for surviving (and thriving) through the December silly season. From realistic goal-setting to practical hacks, we’re here to help you maintain balance without missing out on the fun.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to set SMART, realistic goals to keep you feeling confident and in control.
- Tips for maintaining your weight while still enjoying festive foods.
- The mindset shifts you need to embrace consistency, not perfection.
- Top holiday hacks to plan ahead, make better food choices, and sneak in movement.
Start January on the front foot by implementing these small but powerful changes now. Let’s ditch the “all-or-nothing” mindset and enjoy a balanced, healthy December!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Is the end of year always filled with dread when
it comes to your health and fitness goals. Do you
find it difficult to stay on track with your healthy
eating or is finding time to exercise a real struggle?
Don't worry this silly season. We've got you covered.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
I'm Leanne Ward and I'm Susy Burrow, and together we
bring you The Nutrition Couch, the weekly podcast that keeps
you up to date on everything that you need to
know in the world of nutrition. Today, we have a
special bonus episode planned for you all about end of
year health and fitness goals. We're talking about goal setting,
creating positive mental attitudes towards health goals this time of year,
(00:38):
and also our top healthy hacks to survive the December
silly season. So to kick us off, Susie, we're going
to talk about goal setting. And I know a lot
of people are like, oh, goal setting blah blah, so boring,
but I do think it's really important to actually talk
about some goals at this time of year because everybody
leaves goal setting to January. And that's fine because we
(00:59):
all January reset and it's motivational. It's like the start
of a fresh year. But why can't we do it
in December? Because I love my clients to have really
great goals in December. So we're walking into a fresh
new year on the front foot. The last thing we
want is to start off January feeling heavy and bloated
and you know, having gained a couple of kilos and
(01:20):
we haven't exercised all a month and we just really
feel like crap. It's not a great place to be
starting a new year from. So I love having a
bit of a reset in December and actually getting on
top of some of our goals. But the most important
thing when it comes to goal setting, I've always said
to my clients is to have realistic goals. Often people
will join my twelve week coaching program and I'll say,
(01:40):
right like, what's one of the big goals And they'll
say fat loss and I'll say great, how much are
we talking And they're like, oh, I'd love to lose
twelve kilos in twelve weeks. Okay, Realistically, how long did
that twelve kilos take you to put on? And they're like, oh,
you know, three, four, five years? Okay, so it took
you five years to put it on. We're probably not
going to get it off in twelve weeks, right, So
I think actually setting some realistic goals at this time
(02:02):
of year is super important. And we'll look at our
smart framework, which you'll come back to in a minute,
which I'm sure most bad listeners have heard. But when
we think about realistic goals, the biggest thing I like
to think in December particularly is actually just learning to
maintain your weight, because I think so many of us
swing wildly between either losing weight or regaining it. We
(02:23):
never actually learn to just stop and try to maintain it.
It's such an important concept, and I think people think
I'm either all or nothing. I'm on the diet, I'm
off the diet, I'm losing weight, or I'm wildly regaining it.
Why don't we all learn to reset in December and
just try to maintain the great results that we've achieved
or you or even just maintain our weight even if
we're up a little bit, let's maintain that through December,
(02:45):
so we're not starting January two three kilos heavier like
the majority of Austrains actually are. So when we think
about goal setting, I'm sure most people have thought or
heard about the smart formula So smart goals essentially means
goals that are specific and quite clear, goals that are measurable,
goals that are achievable, relevant, and have a time frame
(03:06):
component to them. So that's SMAART specific, measurable, achievable, relevant,
and have that time frame. For most of us, it
could just be thirty days, because I think setting some
twelve month goals that's all well and good, but often
we're kind of off track within a couple of weeks
and thinking, oh, twelve months, it's such a long time.
I really like to have those smaller goals that are
(03:28):
more within that thirty day timeframe and setting ourselves realistic expectation. Sure,
we can challenge ourselves a little bit, but let's actually
make it quite achievable as well to ensure that we
actually reach those goals as well. So how do you
feel about goal setting and what are some goals that you,
I guess set your clients up for In December.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
I could not agree more that now is the time
to start with lifestyle change. So I've started to have
a client's message about starting in the new year, and
I've said to quite a few of them, if I'm
completely honest, you'll do better if you start now, because
otherwise what happens is psychologically you write off or give
yourself permission to over eat right through November, December, January,
(04:10):
and it is so much harder because for anyone with
school age kids or even working, we tend to work
right up to that week before Christmas, and then we're
also exhausted. We're exhausted until at least the first, if
not second week of January, and then it's straight back
into it. You don't actually have any time for lifestyle
goals at all, and then before we know it, you're
back into the school year, back into the work here,
(04:32):
and it's Easter and you're still you know, ten to
fifteen plus killos or heavier than you were now. Whereas
what I find happens is that it does slow down
a little bit after that first couple of weeks in December,
and it's a really good time to get things lined
up to hit the ground running come January. So sure
you can then go and enjoy your Christmas Day, your
Boxing day, but because your lifestyle goals are front of mine,
(04:55):
you just make better choices now, and the clients you
start now do so much better by February they're ten
kilos down, fifteen kilos down, and I see it time
and time again, so I would agree with you must
a lot of diet kind of content comes out in January.
It's actually a really good time to start to really
think about it now, because you will approach Christmas a
(05:16):
whole lot differently, and it really aids in the mindset
of you have to be on or off, or aids
in reframing that because if we go through the holiday
thinking I'll start in January, it's like you can never
indulge and still keep your weight controlled, Whereas if you
start now, you actually learn how to mindfully make choices
throughout the holiday period and still enjoy all the festive
(05:38):
treats of the season, but learning how to buffer it,
prioritizing movement and exercise, making slightly better choices, you know,
knowing what to put on a platter, or knowing what
seafood or salads to mix with light desserts, so you're
still getting all the enjoyment, but also learning to control
your weight at the same time. And for any client's
planning to travel, I say the same thing, this is
an amazing opportunity for us to practice these skills in context,
(06:02):
So when you're on a plane, when you're on an
island resort, when you're in Europe, you learn how to
make good choices. So it's fitting into your lifestyle rather
than it has to be this standalone detox or program
that you can only do for very brief periods of time.
So I think what I would do and encourage people
at this time of year is to think, right, this
is where I'm sitting in November December twenty twenty four,
(06:24):
and in a year's time, this is what I want
to be different. I want to be fitter, I want
to be leaner. I want to have achieved run a
certain marathon or half marathon. I want to have started
at the gym and set the ball in motion. Now,
don't wait? Why wait? Leand because we just never is
an opportune time, and I find the holidays it's not
like the US, where it's three months off for some people.
(06:45):
By the time you get to the second third week
of gym, we're already talking about getting back to school
and work and there's literally no time. So yeah, I
think it's being really honest with yourself. It's committing to
better choices and really in your mind, isolating out special
social occasions from just running the mist all cannipes and
cheap drinks where you want to spend your calories. And
most importantly, this is not a time to do less movement.
(07:06):
It's a time to do more and really prioritizing that
right through the break. I think it's funny you say
to people about exercising on Christmas Day and they're like, oh,
it's a day off. I'm thinking you got the whole
day go for a walk like it's looking and using
the time you have that is supportive of your health
related goals rather than that idea that you just cannot
link together over indulgence. So yeah, now is the time
(07:28):
to really be considering how you can move through summer.
And people who do it feel so much better because
they start Genuary a few killos lighter and already feeling motivated.
Remember we always say the secret to motivation is action,
and the sooner you start, the better. Why wait.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
And just going back to those smart goals because again,
I'm sure we've all heard it, particularly in you know,
work based scenarios or situations, and it is kind of
a boring framework. But guess what the framework works because
if you're just going to say to yourself, oh, I'm
going to eat more veggies in December and maybe that'll
offset some of the extra you know, social calories. Great,
like eating more veggies is a great goal, but how
are you actually going to do that? And if you
(08:05):
think that my goal for December is to eat more veggies,
how do we make that smart? Is that specific? Eat
more veggies? Yeah, that's pretty good. Is that measurable? Well?
How many more vegetables? Knowing that ninety five percent of
Australians don't actually eat enough vegetables, being that five servings
a day, how to measure that might be to actually
say I'm going to eat five servings of vegetables six
(08:26):
days a week. Maybe give yourself a day where okay,
you might have had a couple of meals out. It
might just be that little bit harder to achieve six
days a week. I'm going to eat five servings of vegetables.
It's measurable? Is that achievable? Yeah? I think so. I
mean I think if you made that seven days a week,
it might make that that little bit harder. But saying
that you're going to do that five to six days
a week makes that a little bit more achievable. Is
(08:46):
it relevant to your goal? Yes, I think for most Australians,
eating more vegetables is absolutely relevant. It will help to
offset some of those extra calories because you're really focused
on finding vegetable based meals. It will help with your
gut health. You're getting in more fiber, you're getting in
more antioxidants, polyphemales, you're getting in a lot more nutrients,
vitamins and minerals too. So it's really achievable and it's
(09:09):
quite relevant to your health goals as well because having
to actually eat more vegetables means that you're gonna have
to think ahead and plan ahead with your meals, which
is only going to be more helpful to your health
journey long term. So rather than saying things like I'm
not gonna eat any sugar, i won't have any alcohol,
or I'm not gonna eat any desserts on Christmas Day,
most of us when we think about setting smart goals,
(09:29):
we think about what can we cut out if we
actually think about it, flip it on its head and
think what can I add in to my journey to
make it more enjoyable and give me some goals to
focus on. I love things like exercise and eating more
vegetables as really smart goals because your brain doesn't go
towards the restriction. Your brain goes towards abundance. How can
I find and eat more vegetables. How can I find
(09:51):
this beautiful restaurant with fresh food that I can meet
some of my girlfriends at and actually order some extra
vegetables for the table. Hey, we can go out for
Italian and have some pea through and have a beautiful cocktail,
but we can also order some extra salads and some
grilled broccolini for the table, and it's going to make
all of us feel better for us. And the last
part of the smart goal is the tea at the end,
(10:11):
which is a time based goal. So for thirty days,
you might say to yourself, I'm going to eat five
servings of vegetables six days a week for the month
of December, And that's basically what a really smart goal
looks like. That is in line with achieving some of
your health goals as well, but also helping to incorporate
more of a positive mental attitude towards health and fitness,
(10:32):
which US is going to talk us through in a
moment is actually, how do we incorporate a more positive
mental attitude at this time of year, Because everyone thinks
it's just about what you put in your mouth, but
it's actually more so about the thoughts and the attitude
that we have towards our own health and fitness journey,
isn't it.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
So much of our approach to lifestyle or any change
in life is about mindset, and I'll just add to
the section on goal setting. The other thing I would
say is start with one or two key goals at
a time, because something that I I see constantly and
I'm guilty of doing it myself, is at the start
of a new year, I'll have thirty goals written down
because you're all motivated, You've got this new journal and
(11:09):
writing it all down. But let's be realistic. Very few
of us can solely focus on our health and lifestyle
for any period of time further than a day or two.
So I suggest just starting with one or two at
a time and build from there, you know, because as
you described to really leaning in, it requires a lot
of time and attention. So one or two big ones.
You might have one dietary related goal and one exercise
(11:31):
related goal and then once you've got those incorporated into
your life, you can build from there. So you know,
it's nice to have a whole range of goals and
it can be very motivating, but it can also be overwhelming.
So I think also just start with one at a time,
and as I said, you can then build over the
course of a year and it all comes together.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
I will also say quickly about those goals as well,
try to self monitor them, because like sou you said,
it's all well and good to have a couple of goals,
it's great, but are you ticking off Do you have
a form of monitoring those goals to ensure that you're
doing that? Do you have a tick sheet? Are you
you something like a smart watch to track your steps
or track your exercise session or your hydration. Do you
have a journal that you're actually ticking off some goals
(12:07):
at the end of each day. Is there a meal
planner on the fridge that you're actually planning at and
ticking off when you're eating enough vegetables each day? So
a form of self monitoring or using some tools that
allow you to self modelor your journey is a really
important aspect of goal setting as well.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
True, all right. Well, the other key thing that of
course is paramount when we're making lifestyle change, is about
getting your mindset right, and mindset can be influenced by
so many different things, you know, So much of our
experience with diets and nutrition is programmed from early experiences
with food or certainly past dieting experience. So if your
(12:44):
past experience for ten or fifteen years has been to
start each new year on a strict diet and then
only fall down a few days later, it's time to
reflect on that and really take into account what may
work better this time. So I think a few of
the key areas of mindset that bring to mind when
trying to create an atmosphere of positive change is get
rid of the idea that you're on or off the
(13:07):
diet and you're either one hundred percent perfect or not,
because that is so powerful in terms of believing that
it always has to be perfect, rather than being consistent.
And really, you know, when it comes to consistent weight loss,
it's about say, having out of twenty eight meals a week,
it's about twenty five and then being pretty good, you know,
acknowledging that in life things will not always be perfect.
(13:28):
And there will always be times when things go off track,
and it's about making the right decision. It's not like
leanne if you eat perfectly and exercise perfectly, that you'll
get better results from someone who does it ninety percent
of the time. It just doesn't work like that. The
human body is regulated in so many different ways. It
doesn't work. It doesn't mean if you try harder and
starve yourself more and exercise harder you'll get better results.
(13:48):
So it's much more about that consistency and just practicing
and allowing yourself to have it a day or things
that it may be off track, and then it's about
simply getting back on. So really trying to ditch that
diet mindset. The next thing to really keep in mind
from a psychological perspective is that as human beings, we
become like those we spend our time with. So if
(14:09):
you're living in an environment where everyone in the household's
really active, you don't eat a lot of takeaway food
or have sweet food after dinner, you're more likely to
go for a walk together rather than sit down in
front of the TV and watch Netflix, you too will
become like that. That is heavily in the data to
show we become like those who spend our time with.
So if you work in an office environment where no
(14:29):
one takes a lunch break and no one leaves the
office for twelve hours, or if your partner sits down
with a bag of chips or packet of chocolate every
single night, or a bottle of wine, or no one
in your household exercises, it's going to be really difficult
for you to consolidate those changes. So we need where
human beings that live in social environments, and we need
support around us. So it really takes some time to
(14:51):
consider as we move into a new year. And if
you spend a lot of time at work or at home,
how are you going to get that support and get
the people around you to be on t with that.
Can you commit with your husband to not drinking for
a month, but also to exercise each night. If you've
got teenage kids at home, can you speak to them
about not having junk food around so it's tempting for you.
(15:11):
If you're in an office environment, can you get a
buddy who will walk with you at lunchtime rather than
just sit and use it as an excuse that you
can't leave the office. That's the kind of structural things
to be thinking about at this time of year, how
to make definite change. So and as a client example,
whenever I have a client who gives feedback like I
(15:32):
can't fit it in in work, it's too hard, no
one takes a lunch break, I know that psychologically they're
not in the best place to be making change because
they're seeing themselves as a victim of the environment rather
than feeling empowered to get the environment to work to them.
So they're using it as an excuse basically, whereas people
who do the best are always looking for opportunity to
(15:53):
change things around, and they may need encouragement to say
or have you ever thought maybe you could eat lunch
at your desk and then go for a walk, And
they'll be like, oh, yeah, it's a great idea. It
just turned across their mind. But when I have more
rigid thinkers who are like, it's really hard at work,
I can't do it. I know we've got quite a
lot of work to do in terms of restructuring environment.
Because then there is a belief that you have to
(16:13):
do or it's not possible to do it, or it's
too hard. In your work environment rather than saying this
is what I need to happen, and this is how
I can get my environment. All the people around me
working for me and my goals, which are you having
certain foods or taking foods with me, or making sure
I get my steps no matter what or whatever that is.
So it's really looking for the opportunities, but also the support,
(16:34):
whether it's in a work environment or at home, that's
really really important. And you may also notice for or
the women listening, and our main listener audience is women
that as soon as you start to tell some close friends,
if you're in sort of group friendships with women, if
you start to suddenly lose weight or eat differently, or
turn down the rice or the drinks at an outing,
(16:55):
very quickly they'll be onto you and be questioning and
trying to subconsciously sabotage. So sometimes you've got to be
all most careful with who you tell and make sure
that you've only got those who are really supportive around you,
rather than people who might feel threatened by some of
your more positive changes. And we give the example that
when people are trying to feed you up and you
say no to things, people will just keep forcing you
(17:16):
to have have some ice cream, have dessert. I'll go
and why are you're not eating it? And sometimes I
personally find it's easier to take it and then not
eat it, whereas some people will say no. You've got
to hold strong and keep saying no, so that person
looks uncomfortable. But these are all the things that go
on and interpersonal dynamics each and every day. And then
the final one, which I think is very very common,
particularly with listeners who already exercise. So I think that
(17:38):
there's a subgroup who think that if you exercise a lot,
you can eat whatever you like. So there's that reward
based thinking. So I've been to the gym today, so
I deserve a couple of chocolates after dinner or it's okay,
I'm going to have that because I've been to the
gym today. Now, if you are a healthy weight and
you were kind of using it as a buffer, so
I want to have a high calorie meal, I'll do
(17:59):
some extra cardio. You can probably get away with it.
But if your goal is fat loss and you've got
weight to lose, it won't work like that. You can
never out exercise a bad diet and you need to
kind of reset the diet and keep the little extras
to a minimum because I find that's the little extras
that slippy in the extra bar in the afternoon because
I've exercised, or the extra coffee or the extra treat,
(18:20):
and that's the extra because remember, when you exercise, you
don't burn that many calories, like what at most you're
burning maybe four hundred calories an hour, so probably two
hundred three hundred calories. Well like just a single Timtam's
got one hundred calories, So it just doesn't work like that.
So you have to be prepared to be quite strict
with the food for a period and really isolate your
extras as a meal off for a special occasion rather
(18:40):
than just adding in a bit of extra food because
you have exercised.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
And I think that's a real mentality of a lot
of people is that oh I can have more because
I did a bit of extra work in the gym,
or really looking at the calories burned and thinking, oh,
I can eat whatever I want. So we're not saying
that you can't enjoy the beautiful You know, there's special
occasion foods, particularly this time of year, but almost be
a little bit picky with it. And I was having
this conversation with my client this year and she hosts Christmas,
(19:05):
and we were starting to talk about it early because
she's like, oh my gosh, I'm freaking out. I've never
really tried to look after my health over December, Like
what am I going to do? And we were talking
about being really picky, and I said, at this time
of year, there's so many just like seasonal treats around,
Like there's a plum pudding, there's the fruit vince tart,
there's rumballs, there's apricot balls, there's you know, Pavlova that's
(19:26):
big in Australia at Christmas time. There's so many things,
not just to mention the run of the meal chocolates
that pop up. Everybody seems to give you chocolate at
this time of year, particularly if you're a teacher. Every year,
my sister comes home with boxes and boxes of roses
and favorites and she's like, do you want someone like, oh,
I don't know, maybe one, not like the seven boxes
that she's got. So there's so many things at this
time of year, of course, and the alcohol as well.
(19:47):
Be picky with it, you know, if you're going to
an event and it's got cheap wine and you know,
not so great CANape is like there's fried spring rolls
in dim sims and they're not that great quality. Do
you need to be eating and drinking there? Can you
have a good filling dinner before you go and just
stick to water and drive home versus the weekend event,
the social event on the weekend. Can that be the
one that you really enjoy because it's got beautiful French
(20:10):
champaigne and you might just have one or two glasses
and you feel really satisfied Versus three or four glasses
of the cheapest stuff, which isn't really that nice anyway.
So we've got to remove that all or nothing thinking
when we think, oh, I've got to indulge because it's December,
or I've got to eat it all because the food's free,
or thinking oh I can eat whatever I want because
I did two gym sessions today. We've got to remove
(20:30):
that type of negative based thinking and form more of
a positive mental attitude towards nutrition in health, particularly at
this time of year, because Susie and I have heard
all of the excuses for over indulgence and the reality
is that it just doesn't service, and it doesn't help
us achieve our goals, and it also doesn't make us
feel great either. So think about your nutrition over the
(20:50):
course of the week, and I think for a lot
of us that will service really well. If you've had
a little bit of a heavier meal, adjust for it
the next day or a buffer out the week somehow
you don't have to think about, oh, I've ruined today,
therefore I ruined the rest of the weekend and start
again on Monday, our start again in January. We've got
to get rid of that all nothing type thinking, and
I think that's one of the most positive steps forward
(21:11):
that we can do in our own health journey.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Going back to the chocolates, there's nothing that drives me
more crazy than seeing like a couple of favorites here
and there, a couple of this, because I know that's
like two or three hundred calories that we haven't even
registered that we've had, whether it's in a school environment
or an office environment, hospitals or you know, all the
extra gifting or people will just keep the chocolates around
at Christmas and grab a couple here or there if
(21:36):
you want to eat or keep your calories controlled. You've
got to keep those mindless munchies out of sight. No
one's saying there's anything wrong with sitting down after a
meal and having a you know, for a share or two,
that's sort of part of it. But when it's that
mindless munching through the day, and I think that's another
really important tip at this time of year. Keep those
indulgences out of sight. Sure, bring them out when you're socializing,
(21:56):
or do what I do, which is regive them so
you know, be quite good on the bus if you've
got a lot of them around, because if they're there,
everyone will eat them. And it's literally hundreds of extra calories.
And a few of those tiny chocolates that you don't
even register, and other foods at this kind of year
that slippy and I saw a lady just at Willy's
buying like six boxes of short bread. So short bread's
one of them too. The chocolate covered nuts, which are
(22:17):
currently half priced in the supermarket, so they're another one.
But you don't have one or two, you have like twelve,
and it's like two hundred calories. So you know, we
all love them. But it's to say we just can't
eat everything, so at least keep them for special occasions
and know that a service two or three not you know,
the whole handful, which is the same with nuts that
tend to creep in as well.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Yeah, and that probably leads us really nicely into our
last section of the potty, which I hope that you
guys are enjoying kind of a special little episode around
how to get on track in December and stay on tracks.
We're starting January on the positive foot, and this last
little segment we're going to talk about is basically our
top healthy hacks for this time of year. So my
top three and then I'll pass over to you, Susie.
Are really just to plan ahead. Like pretty much every
(22:58):
weekend between now and basically January for most of us
is pretty chock full. You know, we're trying to catch
up with friends that we haven't seen in months. There's
probably a couple of work Christmas parties. Like for myself,
I've got my daughter's birthday on the twenty seventh of December,
so I'm planning a three year old's birthday party at
the same time, I've got, you know, Christmas parties with
my team. Susan and I are going to do a
lunch like we've got family stuff. There's so many things
(23:20):
each weekend that if you don't plan ahead, you will
you will absolutely fail. You'll get caught out. You'll think,
oh my gosh, I didn't need I'm starving. The bread
basket looks great. I'll get an entree and may and
I'll have two wines, and then I'll share some dessert
as well. Then you go home and you're like, oh
my goodness, I'm so full. So the first thing I
love to say to my clients is plan ahead and
choose a restaurant yourself when you're thinking about catching up
(23:41):
with friends and everyone goes, I don't mind where we go,
I don't mind. Take initiative and actually book somewhere yourself
that has some beautiful light of fresh meals and fresh food.
If you get left letting everybody else book hand on
your heart, you'll go to Italian three times in a week,
and you'll end up eating pizza or pasta three times
that week, which isn't a bad thing if you want it,
but most of us don't feel great eating a heck
(24:02):
of a lot of pasta and pizza often each week,
So plan ahead and actually choose some lighter options. I
love Vietnamese. At this time of year, it's summer in Australia,
it's hot. I love things like rice, paper rolls, or
like a chicken or a tofu nood or salad bowl.
I think those options are really lovely as well. So
plan ahead with your nutrition, particularly for your weekends. If
(24:22):
you want to socialize and you're doing multiple socializing, particularly
each day, if your friend wants to catch up for say,
in the morning, and then you're seeing someone else at
nighttime for like a big three course dinner, why don't
you think about socializing one of those opportunities while exercising.
So say to a friend, Hey, instead of meeting for breakfast,
do you mind if we grab a coffee and we
can go for a walk at the same time, Or
do you want to go down to the beach and
(24:42):
have a swim and then we can sit and we
can you know, chill and grab some breakfast and eat
it on the beach later on. So there's no reason
we can't socialize and exercise at the same time. Kind
of killing two birds with one stone. You're maximizing the
best of both situations and I've never really had a
friend who've said, hey, do you want to catch up
and go for a I've never really had anyone say
no to me. Most of us are very happy to
(25:03):
move and socialize at the same time. We just don't
think about it. We think we have to be sitting
in a cafe enjoying a wine together, or having some
cake and some coffee together. But we don't have to.
We can actually move our bodies in a really positive
way while we're socializing as well. And my last tip
is to really get yourself like a smart watch, whether
that's as a Christmas gift or you know, your buite
(25:24):
for yourself as well, because they can give you some
really useful feedback in terms of steps. I can't tell you, Susie,
the amount of clients. I have no idea how many
steps they get each day and they're like, I do
pretty well. Then they go and they purchase something like
a smart watch and they're like, oh, I get play
three thousand steps a day, and I'm like, hmm, we
probably want to drive that up that little bit higher
if we can, so it really traps your steps. It
(25:44):
helps you track heart rate and your heart rate zones
in your training. Susie often mentions that we need to
be changing up our training to push that heart rate
up and actually training in a zone that's going to
benefit fatloss. It can track your sleep, hydration, even things
like your stress levels, remind you to sit down, do
something breathing, take a break, or actually get up and
move as well. A lot of the smart watch is
out they can actually set reminders to get you to
(26:06):
move your body as well. So I really love that
regular feedback the smart watch can give you. And I
also think that it's a really great way to self monitor,
in line with what I was talking about in terms
of goal setting, actually having a way to self monitor
your journey as well. And you might want to ask
for a journal from Santa as well, so that way
you can actually write down some of your health goals,
(26:27):
you can self monitor things, and you can actually plan
ahead and track some of your progress in there as well.
They're probably my top three healthy hacks for the December
period is to plan ahead, to try and socialize and
exercise at the same time if you can, and self
monitor and get some good feedback from something like a
smart watch, because it can really give you a great
indication of how you're heading in terms of your healthy journey,
(26:49):
particularly in December. I love it all right.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
My top three are avoid the deep fried foods. So
this is the stuff like the barantine ebles, this spring rolls,
and the salt and pepper squid. Like this is the
mass produced canapees that are served at work functions and
general events like school events, which is not satisfying. They
offer such little nutritionally. They're ultra processed foods and often
(27:16):
have a server trans fats in them, particularly if it's
pastry items like pies and sausage rolls and deep fried
stuff and there's no vegetables, there's no nutritional value. You'll
feel gross eating it. But often we get somewhere at
six o'clock, you're having a couple of wines and you're starving,
and you'll eat several hundred calories of snack food. So
avoid it, like the plague. I have no issue. If
you're going for a beautiful work dinner for this year's
(27:38):
celebration and you're having nice wine and a lovely meal,
go enjoy it, but just avoid the deep fried stuff
and try not even to serve it at home if
you can. It's so much easier to make a healthy
snack plate with some cheeses and some healthier dips and
vegetables and things like fresh rice, paper rolls or different
types of sushi or there's so many options that are
(27:59):
better any of that deep fried things. Because if you've
been to the supermarket land, you may have noticed that
there's a whole growing range of this cannot pay appetizers
that you can heat up in the oven. They're both
supermarket branded and private. And I bought one of the
Christmas pies that Coals had. I think it was like
a truffle chicken pie, the proportion of chicken and it
(28:20):
was so low. It was mostly pastry, like we all
get sucked into it. But if it's got pastry and
deep fried, it's not going to be a healthy choice.
So really try and minimize that type of food. My
rule that I hold all the time is don't go
out to events starving. So always have that veggie rich
meal before you go, because then you can make informed
choices about what's on off of but you're not so
(28:41):
ravenous you're eating everything on display. So if it's an
evening event come four o'clock, make yourself some cottage cheese
on crackers, or a rap with some salmon and a
big pile of cut up veggies. You don't eat before
you go, and then you're not so terribly ravenous that
you're just eating everything that's on display. And then my
third tip is the art of compensation. There will be
times in the holiday period that you eat too much
(29:03):
and that you eat foods that you know probably not
the best choices for whatever reason. Maybe you didn't plan,
maybe you were tired, maybe you'd had too many champagnes,
whatever the reason. But the best thing to do is
then compensate. So the next day, that's the best time
to get up and go for a run, or make
yourself a big plate of or do a big veggie
omelet for breakfast, so you're getting lots of nutrition in
so practice buffering heavier indulgent meals with lighter ones, and
(29:26):
that is a strategy that will serve you well for
your entire life when it comes to compensation, So it's
not about avoiding the indulgent food. It's about if you
have had indulgent food, buffering it and waiting until you're
hungry again to eat and factor in some extra movement,
and then your tummy is going to feel so much
better because there'll be so many people listening who end
up feeling bloated constipated because they're not getting their baseline nutrition.
(29:48):
You will just feel so much better if you keep
that fresh food going in and buffering when you have
had some heavier food and higher fat meals.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Love it all right. Well, that brings us to the
end of our very special bonus end of Your Health
Fitness Special episode. Thank you very much for listening, and
we will be back with our regular episodes very soon.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Have a great week.
Is the end of year always filled with dread when
it comes to your health and fitness goals. Do you
find it difficult to stay on track with your healthy
eating or is finding time to exercise a real struggle?
Don't worry this silly season. We've got you covered.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
I'm Leanne Ward and I'm Susy Burrow, and together we
bring you The Nutrition Couch, the weekly podcast that keeps
you up to date on everything that you need to
know in the world of nutrition. Today, we have a
special bonus episode planned for you all about end of
year health and fitness goals. We're talking about goal setting,
creating positive mental attitudes towards health goals this time of year,
(00:38):
and also our top healthy hacks to survive the December
silly season. So to kick us off, Susie, we're going
to talk about goal setting. And I know a lot
of people are like, oh, goal setting blah blah, so boring,
but I do think it's really important to actually talk
about some goals at this time of year because everybody
leaves goal setting to January. And that's fine because we
(00:59):
all January reset and it's motivational. It's like the start
of a fresh year. But why can't we do it
in December? Because I love my clients to have really
great goals in December. So we're walking into a fresh
new year on the front foot. The last thing we
want is to start off January feeling heavy and bloated
and you know, having gained a couple of kilos and
(01:20):
we haven't exercised all a month and we just really
feel like crap. It's not a great place to be
starting a new year from. So I love having a
bit of a reset in December and actually getting on
top of some of our goals. But the most important
thing when it comes to goal setting, I've always said
to my clients is to have realistic goals. Often people
will join my twelve week coaching program and I'll say,
(01:40):
right like, what's one of the big goals And they'll
say fat loss and I'll say great, how much are
we talking And they're like, oh, I'd love to lose
twelve kilos in twelve weeks. Okay, Realistically, how long did
that twelve kilos take you to put on? And they're like, oh,
you know, three, four, five years? Okay, so it took
you five years to put it on. We're probably not
going to get it off in twelve weeks, right, So
I think actually setting some realistic goals at this time
(02:02):
of year is super important. And we'll look at our
smart framework, which you'll come back to in a minute,
which I'm sure most bad listeners have heard. But when
we think about realistic goals, the biggest thing I like
to think in December particularly is actually just learning to
maintain your weight, because I think so many of us
swing wildly between either losing weight or regaining it. We
(02:23):
never actually learn to just stop and try to maintain it.
It's such an important concept, and I think people think
I'm either all or nothing. I'm on the diet, I'm
off the diet, I'm losing weight, or I'm wildly regaining it.
Why don't we all learn to reset in December and
just try to maintain the great results that we've achieved
or you or even just maintain our weight even if
we're up a little bit, let's maintain that through December,
(02:45):
so we're not starting January two three kilos heavier like
the majority of Austrains actually are. So when we think
about goal setting, I'm sure most people have thought or
heard about the smart formula So smart goals essentially means
goals that are specific and quite clear, goals that are measurable,
goals that are achievable, relevant, and have a time frame
(03:06):
component to them. So that's SMAART specific, measurable, achievable, relevant,
and have that time frame. For most of us, it
could just be thirty days, because I think setting some
twelve month goals that's all well and good, but often
we're kind of off track within a couple of weeks
and thinking, oh, twelve months, it's such a long time.
I really like to have those smaller goals that are
(03:28):
more within that thirty day timeframe and setting ourselves realistic expectation. Sure,
we can challenge ourselves a little bit, but let's actually
make it quite achievable as well to ensure that we
actually reach those goals as well. So how do you
feel about goal setting and what are some goals that you,
I guess set your clients up for In December.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
I could not agree more that now is the time
to start with lifestyle change. So I've started to have
a client's message about starting in the new year, and
I've said to quite a few of them, if I'm
completely honest, you'll do better if you start now, because
otherwise what happens is psychologically you write off or give
yourself permission to over eat right through November, December, January,
(04:10):
and it is so much harder because for anyone with
school age kids or even working, we tend to work
right up to that week before Christmas, and then we're
also exhausted. We're exhausted until at least the first, if
not second week of January, and then it's straight back
into it. You don't actually have any time for lifestyle
goals at all, and then before we know it, you're
back into the school year, back into the work here,
(04:32):
and it's Easter and you're still you know, ten to
fifteen plus killos or heavier than you were now. Whereas
what I find happens is that it does slow down
a little bit after that first couple of weeks in December,
and it's a really good time to get things lined
up to hit the ground running come January. So sure
you can then go and enjoy your Christmas Day, your
Boxing day, but because your lifestyle goals are front of mine,
(04:55):
you just make better choices now, and the clients you
start now do so much better by February they're ten
kilos down, fifteen kilos down, and I see it time
and time again, so I would agree with you must
a lot of diet kind of content comes out in January.
It's actually a really good time to start to really
think about it now, because you will approach Christmas a
(05:16):
whole lot differently, and it really aids in the mindset
of you have to be on or off, or aids
in reframing that because if we go through the holiday
thinking I'll start in January, it's like you can never
indulge and still keep your weight controlled, Whereas if you
start now, you actually learn how to mindfully make choices
throughout the holiday period and still enjoy all the festive
(05:38):
treats of the season, but learning how to buffer it,
prioritizing movement and exercise, making slightly better choices, you know,
knowing what to put on a platter, or knowing what
seafood or salads to mix with light desserts, so you're
still getting all the enjoyment, but also learning to control
your weight at the same time. And for any client's
planning to travel, I say the same thing, this is
an amazing opportunity for us to practice these skills in context,
(06:02):
So when you're on a plane, when you're on an
island resort, when you're in Europe, you learn how to
make good choices. So it's fitting into your lifestyle rather
than it has to be this standalone detox or program
that you can only do for very brief periods of time.
So I think what I would do and encourage people
at this time of year is to think, right, this
is where I'm sitting in November December twenty twenty four,
(06:24):
and in a year's time, this is what I want
to be different. I want to be fitter, I want
to be leaner. I want to have achieved run a
certain marathon or half marathon. I want to have started
at the gym and set the ball in motion. Now,
don't wait? Why wait? Leand because we just never is
an opportune time, and I find the holidays it's not
like the US, where it's three months off for some people.
(06:45):
By the time you get to the second third week
of gym, we're already talking about getting back to school
and work and there's literally no time. So yeah, I
think it's being really honest with yourself. It's committing to
better choices and really in your mind, isolating out special
social occasions from just running the mist all cannipes and
cheap drinks where you want to spend your calories. And
most importantly, this is not a time to do less movement.
(07:06):
It's a time to do more and really prioritizing that
right through the break. I think it's funny you say
to people about exercising on Christmas Day and they're like, oh,
it's a day off. I'm thinking you got the whole
day go for a walk like it's looking and using
the time you have that is supportive of your health
related goals rather than that idea that you just cannot
link together over indulgence. So yeah, now is the time
(07:28):
to really be considering how you can move through summer.
And people who do it feel so much better because
they start Genuary a few killos lighter and already feeling motivated.
Remember we always say the secret to motivation is action,
and the sooner you start, the better. Why wait.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
And just going back to those smart goals because again,
I'm sure we've all heard it, particularly in you know,
work based scenarios or situations, and it is kind of
a boring framework. But guess what the framework works because
if you're just going to say to yourself, oh, I'm
going to eat more veggies in December and maybe that'll
offset some of the extra you know, social calories. Great,
like eating more veggies is a great goal, but how
are you actually going to do that? And if you
(08:05):
think that my goal for December is to eat more veggies,
how do we make that smart? Is that specific? Eat
more veggies? Yeah, that's pretty good. Is that measurable? Well?
How many more vegetables? Knowing that ninety five percent of
Australians don't actually eat enough vegetables, being that five servings
a day, how to measure that might be to actually
say I'm going to eat five servings of vegetables six
(08:26):
days a week. Maybe give yourself a day where okay,
you might have had a couple of meals out. It
might just be that little bit harder to achieve six
days a week. I'm going to eat five servings of vegetables.
It's measurable? Is that achievable? Yeah? I think so. I
mean I think if you made that seven days a week,
it might make that that little bit harder. But saying
that you're going to do that five to six days
a week makes that a little bit more achievable. Is
(08:46):
it relevant to your goal? Yes, I think for most Australians,
eating more vegetables is absolutely relevant. It will help to
offset some of those extra calories because you're really focused
on finding vegetable based meals. It will help with your
gut health. You're getting in more fiber, you're getting in
more antioxidants, polyphemales, you're getting in a lot more nutrients,
vitamins and minerals too. So it's really achievable and it's
(09:09):
quite relevant to your health goals as well because having
to actually eat more vegetables means that you're gonna have
to think ahead and plan ahead with your meals, which
is only going to be more helpful to your health
journey long term. So rather than saying things like I'm
not gonna eat any sugar, i won't have any alcohol,
or I'm not gonna eat any desserts on Christmas Day,
most of us when we think about setting smart goals,
(09:29):
we think about what can we cut out if we
actually think about it, flip it on its head and
think what can I add in to my journey to
make it more enjoyable and give me some goals to
focus on. I love things like exercise and eating more
vegetables as really smart goals because your brain doesn't go
towards the restriction. Your brain goes towards abundance. How can
I find and eat more vegetables. How can I find
(09:51):
this beautiful restaurant with fresh food that I can meet
some of my girlfriends at and actually order some extra
vegetables for the table. Hey, we can go out for
Italian and have some pea through and have a beautiful cocktail,
but we can also order some extra salads and some
grilled broccolini for the table, and it's going to make
all of us feel better for us. And the last
part of the smart goal is the tea at the end,
(10:11):
which is a time based goal. So for thirty days,
you might say to yourself, I'm going to eat five
servings of vegetables six days a week for the month
of December, And that's basically what a really smart goal
looks like. That is in line with achieving some of
your health goals as well, but also helping to incorporate
more of a positive mental attitude towards health and fitness,
(10:32):
which US is going to talk us through in a
moment is actually, how do we incorporate a more positive
mental attitude at this time of year, Because everyone thinks
it's just about what you put in your mouth, but
it's actually more so about the thoughts and the attitude
that we have towards our own health and fitness journey,
isn't it.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
So much of our approach to lifestyle or any change
in life is about mindset, and I'll just add to
the section on goal setting. The other thing I would
say is start with one or two key goals at
a time, because something that I I see constantly and
I'm guilty of doing it myself, is at the start
of a new year, I'll have thirty goals written down
because you're all motivated, You've got this new journal and
(11:09):
writing it all down. But let's be realistic. Very few
of us can solely focus on our health and lifestyle
for any period of time further than a day or two.
So I suggest just starting with one or two at
a time and build from there, you know, because as
you described to really leaning in, it requires a lot
of time and attention. So one or two big ones.
You might have one dietary related goal and one exercise
(11:31):
related goal and then once you've got those incorporated into
your life, you can build from there. So you know,
it's nice to have a whole range of goals and
it can be very motivating, but it can also be overwhelming.
So I think also just start with one at a time,
and as I said, you can then build over the
course of a year and it all comes together.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
I will also say quickly about those goals as well,
try to self monitor them, because like sou you said,
it's all well and good to have a couple of goals,
it's great, but are you ticking off Do you have
a form of monitoring those goals to ensure that you're
doing that? Do you have a tick sheet? Are you
you something like a smart watch to track your steps
or track your exercise session or your hydration. Do you
have a journal that you're actually ticking off some goals
(12:07):
at the end of each day. Is there a meal
planner on the fridge that you're actually planning at and
ticking off when you're eating enough vegetables each day? So
a form of self monitoring or using some tools that
allow you to self modelor your journey is a really
important aspect of goal setting as well.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
True, all right. Well, the other key thing that of
course is paramount when we're making lifestyle change, is about
getting your mindset right, and mindset can be influenced by
so many different things, you know, So much of our
experience with diets and nutrition is programmed from early experiences
with food or certainly past dieting experience. So if your
(12:44):
past experience for ten or fifteen years has been to
start each new year on a strict diet and then
only fall down a few days later, it's time to
reflect on that and really take into account what may
work better this time. So I think a few of
the key areas of mindset that bring to mind when
trying to create an atmosphere of positive change is get
rid of the idea that you're on or off the
(13:07):
diet and you're either one hundred percent perfect or not,
because that is so powerful in terms of believing that
it always has to be perfect, rather than being consistent.
And really, you know, when it comes to consistent weight loss,
it's about say, having out of twenty eight meals a week,
it's about twenty five and then being pretty good, you know,
acknowledging that in life things will not always be perfect.
(13:28):
And there will always be times when things go off track,
and it's about making the right decision. It's not like
leanne if you eat perfectly and exercise perfectly, that you'll
get better results from someone who does it ninety percent
of the time. It just doesn't work like that. The
human body is regulated in so many different ways. It
doesn't work. It doesn't mean if you try harder and
starve yourself more and exercise harder you'll get better results.
(13:48):
So it's much more about that consistency and just practicing
and allowing yourself to have it a day or things
that it may be off track, and then it's about
simply getting back on. So really trying to ditch that
diet mindset. The next thing to really keep in mind
from a psychological perspective is that as human beings, we
become like those we spend our time with. So if
(14:09):
you're living in an environment where everyone in the household's
really active, you don't eat a lot of takeaway food
or have sweet food after dinner, you're more likely to
go for a walk together rather than sit down in
front of the TV and watch Netflix, you too will
become like that. That is heavily in the data to
show we become like those who spend our time with.
So if you work in an office environment where no
(14:29):
one takes a lunch break and no one leaves the
office for twelve hours, or if your partner sits down
with a bag of chips or packet of chocolate every
single night, or a bottle of wine, or no one
in your household exercises, it's going to be really difficult
for you to consolidate those changes. So we need where
human beings that live in social environments, and we need
support around us. So it really takes some time to
(14:51):
consider as we move into a new year. And if
you spend a lot of time at work or at home,
how are you going to get that support and get
the people around you to be on t with that.
Can you commit with your husband to not drinking for
a month, but also to exercise each night. If you've
got teenage kids at home, can you speak to them
about not having junk food around so it's tempting for you.
(15:11):
If you're in an office environment, can you get a
buddy who will walk with you at lunchtime rather than
just sit and use it as an excuse that you
can't leave the office. That's the kind of structural things
to be thinking about at this time of year, how
to make definite change. So and as a client example,
whenever I have a client who gives feedback like I
(15:32):
can't fit it in in work, it's too hard, no
one takes a lunch break, I know that psychologically they're
not in the best place to be making change because
they're seeing themselves as a victim of the environment rather
than feeling empowered to get the environment to work to them.
So they're using it as an excuse basically, whereas people
who do the best are always looking for opportunity to
(15:53):
change things around, and they may need encouragement to say
or have you ever thought maybe you could eat lunch
at your desk and then go for a walk, And
they'll be like, oh, yeah, it's a great idea. It
just turned across their mind. But when I have more
rigid thinkers who are like, it's really hard at work,
I can't do it. I know we've got quite a
lot of work to do in terms of restructuring environment.
Because then there is a belief that you have to
(16:13):
do or it's not possible to do it, or it's
too hard. In your work environment rather than saying this
is what I need to happen, and this is how
I can get my environment. All the people around me
working for me and my goals, which are you having
certain foods or taking foods with me, or making sure
I get my steps no matter what or whatever that is.
So it's really looking for the opportunities, but also the support,
(16:34):
whether it's in a work environment or at home, that's
really really important. And you may also notice for or
the women listening, and our main listener audience is women
that as soon as you start to tell some close friends,
if you're in sort of group friendships with women, if
you start to suddenly lose weight or eat differently, or
turn down the rice or the drinks at an outing,
(16:55):
very quickly they'll be onto you and be questioning and
trying to subconsciously sabotage. So sometimes you've got to be
all most careful with who you tell and make sure
that you've only got those who are really supportive around you,
rather than people who might feel threatened by some of
your more positive changes. And we give the example that
when people are trying to feed you up and you
say no to things, people will just keep forcing you
(17:16):
to have have some ice cream, have dessert. I'll go
and why are you're not eating it? And sometimes I
personally find it's easier to take it and then not
eat it, whereas some people will say no. You've got
to hold strong and keep saying no, so that person
looks uncomfortable. But these are all the things that go
on and interpersonal dynamics each and every day. And then
the final one, which I think is very very common,
particularly with listeners who already exercise. So I think that
(17:38):
there's a subgroup who think that if you exercise a lot,
you can eat whatever you like. So there's that reward
based thinking. So I've been to the gym today, so
I deserve a couple of chocolates after dinner or it's okay,
I'm going to have that because I've been to the
gym today. Now, if you are a healthy weight and
you were kind of using it as a buffer, so
I want to have a high calorie meal, I'll do
(17:59):
some extra cardio. You can probably get away with it.
But if your goal is fat loss and you've got
weight to lose, it won't work like that. You can
never out exercise a bad diet and you need to
kind of reset the diet and keep the little extras
to a minimum because I find that's the little extras
that slippy in the extra bar in the afternoon because
I've exercised, or the extra coffee or the extra treat,
(18:20):
and that's the extra because remember, when you exercise, you
don't burn that many calories, like what at most you're
burning maybe four hundred calories an hour, so probably two
hundred three hundred calories. Well like just a single Timtam's
got one hundred calories, So it just doesn't work like that.
So you have to be prepared to be quite strict
with the food for a period and really isolate your
extras as a meal off for a special occasion rather
(18:40):
than just adding in a bit of extra food because
you have exercised.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
And I think that's a real mentality of a lot
of people is that oh I can have more because
I did a bit of extra work in the gym,
or really looking at the calories burned and thinking, oh,
I can eat whatever I want. So we're not saying
that you can't enjoy the beautiful You know, there's special
occasion foods, particularly this time of year, but almost be
a little bit picky with it. And I was having
this conversation with my client this year and she hosts Christmas,
(19:05):
and we were starting to talk about it early because
she's like, oh my gosh, I'm freaking out. I've never
really tried to look after my health over December, Like
what am I going to do? And we were talking
about being really picky, and I said, at this time
of year, there's so many just like seasonal treats around,
Like there's a plum pudding, there's the fruit vince tart,
there's rumballs, there's apricot balls, there's you know, Pavlova that's
(19:26):
big in Australia at Christmas time. There's so many things,
not just to mention the run of the meal chocolates
that pop up. Everybody seems to give you chocolate at
this time of year, particularly if you're a teacher. Every year,
my sister comes home with boxes and boxes of roses
and favorites and she's like, do you want someone like, oh,
I don't know, maybe one, not like the seven boxes
that she's got. So there's so many things at this
time of year, of course, and the alcohol as well.
(19:47):
Be picky with it, you know, if you're going to
an event and it's got cheap wine and you know,
not so great CANape is like there's fried spring rolls
in dim sims and they're not that great quality. Do
you need to be eating and drinking there? Can you
have a good filling dinner before you go and just
stick to water and drive home versus the weekend event,
the social event on the weekend. Can that be the
one that you really enjoy because it's got beautiful French
(20:10):
champaigne and you might just have one or two glasses
and you feel really satisfied Versus three or four glasses
of the cheapest stuff, which isn't really that nice anyway.
So we've got to remove that all or nothing thinking
when we think, oh, I've got to indulge because it's December,
or I've got to eat it all because the food's free,
or thinking oh I can eat whatever I want because
I did two gym sessions today. We've got to remove
(20:30):
that type of negative based thinking and form more of
a positive mental attitude towards nutrition in health, particularly at
this time of year, because Susie and I have heard
all of the excuses for over indulgence and the reality
is that it just doesn't service, and it doesn't help
us achieve our goals, and it also doesn't make us
feel great either. So think about your nutrition over the
(20:50):
course of the week, and I think for a lot
of us that will service really well. If you've had
a little bit of a heavier meal, adjust for it
the next day or a buffer out the week somehow
you don't have to think about, oh, I've ruined today,
therefore I ruined the rest of the weekend and start
again on Monday, our start again in January. We've got
to get rid of that all nothing type thinking, and
I think that's one of the most positive steps forward
(21:11):
that we can do in our own health journey.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Going back to the chocolates, there's nothing that drives me
more crazy than seeing like a couple of favorites here
and there, a couple of this, because I know that's
like two or three hundred calories that we haven't even
registered that we've had, whether it's in a school environment
or an office environment, hospitals or you know, all the
extra gifting or people will just keep the chocolates around
at Christmas and grab a couple here or there if
(21:36):
you want to eat or keep your calories controlled. You've
got to keep those mindless munchies out of sight. No
one's saying there's anything wrong with sitting down after a
meal and having a you know, for a share or two,
that's sort of part of it. But when it's that
mindless munching through the day, and I think that's another
really important tip at this time of year. Keep those
indulgences out of sight. Sure, bring them out when you're socializing,
(21:56):
or do what I do, which is regive them so
you know, be quite good on the bus if you've
got a lot of them around, because if they're there,
everyone will eat them. And it's literally hundreds of extra calories.
And a few of those tiny chocolates that you don't
even register, and other foods at this kind of year
that slippy and I saw a lady just at Willy's
buying like six boxes of short bread. So short bread's
one of them too. The chocolate covered nuts, which are
(22:17):
currently half priced in the supermarket, so they're another one.
But you don't have one or two, you have like twelve,
and it's like two hundred calories. So you know, we
all love them. But it's to say we just can't
eat everything, so at least keep them for special occasions
and know that a service two or three not you know,
the whole handful, which is the same with nuts that
tend to creep in as well.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Yeah, and that probably leads us really nicely into our
last section of the potty, which I hope that you
guys are enjoying kind of a special little episode around
how to get on track in December and stay on tracks.
We're starting January on the positive foot, and this last
little segment we're going to talk about is basically our
top healthy hacks for this time of year. So my
top three and then I'll pass over to you, Susie.
Are really just to plan ahead. Like pretty much every
(22:58):
weekend between now and basically January for most of us
is pretty chock full. You know, we're trying to catch
up with friends that we haven't seen in months. There's
probably a couple of work Christmas parties. Like for myself,
I've got my daughter's birthday on the twenty seventh of December,
so I'm planning a three year old's birthday party at
the same time, I've got, you know, Christmas parties with
my team. Susan and I are going to do a
lunch like we've got family stuff. There's so many things
(23:20):
each weekend that if you don't plan ahead, you will
you will absolutely fail. You'll get caught out. You'll think,
oh my gosh, I didn't need I'm starving. The bread
basket looks great. I'll get an entree and may and
I'll have two wines, and then I'll share some dessert
as well. Then you go home and you're like, oh
my goodness, I'm so full. So the first thing I
love to say to my clients is plan ahead and
choose a restaurant yourself when you're thinking about catching up
(23:41):
with friends and everyone goes, I don't mind where we go,
I don't mind. Take initiative and actually book somewhere yourself
that has some beautiful light of fresh meals and fresh food.
If you get left letting everybody else book hand on
your heart, you'll go to Italian three times in a week,
and you'll end up eating pizza or pasta three times
that week, which isn't a bad thing if you want it,
but most of us don't feel great eating a heck
(24:02):
of a lot of pasta and pizza often each week,
So plan ahead and actually choose some lighter options. I
love Vietnamese. At this time of year, it's summer in Australia,
it's hot. I love things like rice, paper rolls, or
like a chicken or a tofu nood or salad bowl.
I think those options are really lovely as well. So
plan ahead with your nutrition, particularly for your weekends. If
(24:22):
you want to socialize and you're doing multiple socializing, particularly
each day, if your friend wants to catch up for say,
in the morning, and then you're seeing someone else at
nighttime for like a big three course dinner, why don't
you think about socializing one of those opportunities while exercising.
So say to a friend, Hey, instead of meeting for breakfast,
do you mind if we grab a coffee and we
can go for a walk at the same time, Or
do you want to go down to the beach and
(24:42):
have a swim and then we can sit and we
can you know, chill and grab some breakfast and eat
it on the beach later on. So there's no reason
we can't socialize and exercise at the same time. Kind
of killing two birds with one stone. You're maximizing the
best of both situations and I've never really had a
friend who've said, hey, do you want to catch up
and go for a I've never really had anyone say
no to me. Most of us are very happy to
(25:03):
move and socialize at the same time. We just don't
think about it. We think we have to be sitting
in a cafe enjoying a wine together, or having some
cake and some coffee together. But we don't have to.
We can actually move our bodies in a really positive
way while we're socializing as well. And my last tip
is to really get yourself like a smart watch, whether
that's as a Christmas gift or you know, your buite
(25:24):
for yourself as well, because they can give you some
really useful feedback in terms of steps. I can't tell you, Susie,
the amount of clients. I have no idea how many
steps they get each day and they're like, I do
pretty well. Then they go and they purchase something like
a smart watch and they're like, oh, I get play
three thousand steps a day, and I'm like, hmm, we
probably want to drive that up that little bit higher
if we can, so it really traps your steps. It
(25:44):
helps you track heart rate and your heart rate zones
in your training. Susie often mentions that we need to
be changing up our training to push that heart rate
up and actually training in a zone that's going to
benefit fatloss. It can track your sleep, hydration, even things
like your stress levels, remind you to sit down, do
something breathing, take a break, or actually get up and
move as well. A lot of the smart watch is
out they can actually set reminders to get you to
(26:06):
move your body as well. So I really love that
regular feedback the smart watch can give you. And I
also think that it's a really great way to self monitor,
in line with what I was talking about in terms
of goal setting, actually having a way to self monitor
your journey as well. And you might want to ask
for a journal from Santa as well, so that way
you can actually write down some of your health goals,
(26:27):
you can self monitor things, and you can actually plan
ahead and track some of your progress in there as well.
They're probably my top three healthy hacks for the December
period is to plan ahead, to try and socialize and
exercise at the same time if you can, and self
monitor and get some good feedback from something like a
smart watch, because it can really give you a great
indication of how you're heading in terms of your healthy journey,
(26:49):
particularly in December. I love it all right.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
My top three are avoid the deep fried foods. So
this is the stuff like the barantine ebles, this spring rolls,
and the salt and pepper squid. Like this is the
mass produced canapees that are served at work functions and
general events like school events, which is not satisfying. They
offer such little nutritionally. They're ultra processed foods and often
(27:16):
have a server trans fats in them, particularly if it's
pastry items like pies and sausage rolls and deep fried
stuff and there's no vegetables, there's no nutritional value. You'll
feel gross eating it. But often we get somewhere at
six o'clock, you're having a couple of wines and you're starving,
and you'll eat several hundred calories of snack food. So
avoid it, like the plague. I have no issue. If
you're going for a beautiful work dinner for this year's
(27:38):
celebration and you're having nice wine and a lovely meal,
go enjoy it, but just avoid the deep fried stuff
and try not even to serve it at home if
you can. It's so much easier to make a healthy
snack plate with some cheeses and some healthier dips and
vegetables and things like fresh rice, paper rolls or different
types of sushi or there's so many options that are
(27:59):
better any of that deep fried things. Because if you've
been to the supermarket land, you may have noticed that
there's a whole growing range of this cannot pay appetizers
that you can heat up in the oven. They're both
supermarket branded and private. And I bought one of the
Christmas pies that Coals had. I think it was like
a truffle chicken pie, the proportion of chicken and it
(28:20):
was so low. It was mostly pastry, like we all
get sucked into it. But if it's got pastry and
deep fried, it's not going to be a healthy choice.
So really try and minimize that type of food. My
rule that I hold all the time is don't go
out to events starving. So always have that veggie rich
meal before you go, because then you can make informed
choices about what's on off of but you're not so
(28:41):
ravenous you're eating everything on display. So if it's an
evening event come four o'clock, make yourself some cottage cheese
on crackers, or a rap with some salmon and a
big pile of cut up veggies. You don't eat before
you go, and then you're not so terribly ravenous that
you're just eating everything that's on display. And then my
third tip is the art of compensation. There will be
times in the holiday period that you eat too much
(29:03):
and that you eat foods that you know probably not
the best choices for whatever reason. Maybe you didn't plan,
maybe you were tired, maybe you'd had too many champagnes,
whatever the reason. But the best thing to do is
then compensate. So the next day, that's the best time
to get up and go for a run, or make
yourself a big plate of or do a big veggie
omelet for breakfast, so you're getting lots of nutrition in
so practice buffering heavier indulgent meals with lighter ones, and
(29:26):
that is a strategy that will serve you well for
your entire life when it comes to compensation, So it's
not about avoiding the indulgent food. It's about if you
have had indulgent food, buffering it and waiting until you're
hungry again to eat and factor in some extra movement,
and then your tummy is going to feel so much
better because there'll be so many people listening who end
up feeling bloated constipated because they're not getting their baseline nutrition.
(29:48):
You will just feel so much better if you keep
that fresh food going in and buffering when you have
had some heavier food and higher fat meals.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Love it all right. Well, that brings us to the
end of our very special bonus end of Your Health
Fitness Special episode. Thank you very much for listening, and
we will be back with our regular episodes very soon.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Have a great week.
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