Excuse Busters: Remain a holiday hunk

PHUKET: So the festive season is here, as if you hadn’t noticed. Now, I’m not going to be Phuket’s very own Ebenezer Scrooge and tell you not to indulge and have fun (I’ll let Craig do that), but I will give you some tips on how to lessen the impact of excessive eating followed by vegging out in front of bad Christmas TV.

First of all, if you are going to exercise, get it out the way. Recruit a friend and/or get the family involved.

Go for a morning bike ride or hike up to the Big Buddha, the key is to get some calories burnt off before you eat your weight in turkey, potatoes, gravy and Christmas pudding. Most people skip training over the holidays, but this is the time when your muscles should have the highest insulin sensitivity so the food you eat will go into your muscles instead of your fat cells.

A simple body weight workout that will help you stay lean during the holidays is: 100 push-ups, 100 lying leg raises and 100 lunges (50 with each leg). These workouts should be spread out through the day into three or four mini workouts. For example, when a commercial comes on the television, bust out 25 pushups, 25 leg raises and 12 or 13 lunges with each leg. Do this four times during the day and you’ll significantly improve insulin sensitivity.

Use the holidays to add muscle. You can find body weight workouts online that require little to no equipment. Put simply, you can make better use of those extra holiday calories by providing growth and repair instead of fat gain.

EAT YOUR VEGGIES AND PROTEIN FIRST

I’m a guy who really enjoys food – and I’m not talking about boiled fish with a smidgen of brown rice. Chicken, potatoes and heavy Thai dishes are all frequently part of my diet. Now, if you eat too much and at the wrong time, some of these things can really wreak havoc on your waistline. The trick when you sit down for one of your holiday meals is to eat your veggies first since they’ll gently fill you up without inducing negative result from eating too many carbs. Also make sure you eat the majority of your protein source to keep insulin levels in check.

After you’ve enjoyed your main meal, head down to the beach and walk for about 30 minutes before going back home to gorge on Christmas pudding

DRINK LOTS OF WATER

You should do this anyway when living in the humidity of Phuket. However, it is especially important during the holidays when you will be consuming an abnormal amount of food and alcohol, which is going to leave you dehydrated. So, help yourself and top up with a few extra bottles of water – it will work wonders in helping you feeling good throughout the day and lessening the threat of a hangover.

— Krix Luther