​
Hey Reader.
​
You're entering the time of year when every weekend becomes booked up with Christmas drinks, and socials involving copious amounts of alcohol, excessive food and a real desire for comfort food.

But how can you navigate all this and progress towards your goal?

In today's issue of Lean Lifts, you'll find out how. Let's go.

Managing Expectations around Christmas socials

Before anyone tells you the average weight gain over Christmas is like 5lbs or something. It isn't. It's closer to the 1.2lb mark, or 0.4kg for us UK folks as seen here.

So in fact, you don't need to do ALL that much different to what you're likely going to do, because let's face it. 1lb is pretty easy to shift.

Saying that, if you're wildly celebrating Christmas, here are some tried and tested strategies that around 1400 clients or so have successfully used in the past to maintain their weight, or better yet - still see results on the scale.

Alcohol

Swapping your beers and wines for lower calorie options like slimline gin and tonic, and spirits with diet mixers is also an easy swap. You'll save yourself the 150+ calories or so (per drink) and probably drink quite a few less.

I'd always advise having two non-alcoholic drinks between them too.

Vodka, Soda & Lime → Coke Zero → Water → Vodka, Soda & Lime.

In maths, if you were to drink 4 glasses of wine at 220 calories each (880 calories in total), and flipped it to this it's roughly 105 calories per drink. That's 210 calories over 4 drinks.

880 calories - 210 calories = 670 calories saved

That's pretty sweet if you ask me.

​

Portions

Eating out is tricky at the best of times, but with the amount of times it'll likely happen over Christmas, it becomes that much harder to stay on top of things.

Eyeballing your portions like the below helps set a guiding principle so no matter where you are, at home, a restaurant, friend's house you know what best to eat.

Step 1: Pick your protein Aim for 1-2 palm sizes of meat, fish, eggs, dairy or beans

Step 2: Pick your carbs Aim for 1 fist-sized portion of grains or starches.

Step 3: Pick your plants Aim for 2 palm sizes of fruit, salad, or vegetables like broccoli, spinach etc.

Is it perfect, not sure. But it's pretty close. If you're wondering about fats, don't worry. They'll be covered in the oil the foods are cooked in, or the types of carbs and protein we choose. Let's not overcomplicate things here.

Making hard choices the easy choice

A lot can be said for making hard choices easier. Go through the list below and see what small tweaks you can make to ensure it's easier to make healthier choices.

• Pack your gym bag the night before.
• Put healthy snacks in clear containers in the fridge (and unhealthy ones in dark containers or foil).
• Buy ready-made protein shakes and leave them in the fridge at eye level.
• Pre-cut your fruit and vegetables so they can be quickly grabbed and added to meals or snacks.
• Set reminders on your phone to workout and block the time out on your calendar for this. Tell your family ahead of time your intentions to work out.

On the flip side...

• Make unhealthy snacks disappear from your eyesight by asking others to put them away, or place them in difficult-to-reach areas of your house.
• Remove all junk food from eye level in the cupboard. When you open your cupboard, you don't need that chocolate bar staring you in the face.

​

And if all else fails, practice self-compassion.

Self-compassion isn't a copout for poor behaviours and justifying a weekend of overeating but it is something to fall back to when you feel you've messed up. It gives you space and an acceptance of the situation. It'll regulate your emotions and allow you to reflect on them for long-term solutions.

What you don't want to do is beat yourself up, because you'll realise you'll be beating yourself up many times over the years.

A quick DB At Home Workout

Most of us have dumbbells now. Thanks lockdown. Here's a quick 15-minute workout you can squeeze in on the days when you feel like you just don't have time to do a planned workout.

A1 - Step-through Lunge x 6/leg
A2 - Prone Pressout x 12
B1 - Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat x 8/leg
B2 - Hand Release Press Ups x 10-12
B3 - Side Plank Reverse Fly x 12

You'll run through A1 & A2 with a 30-second rest between exercises. Aim for 2-4 sets depending on the time you have available. Then run through B1 to B3 with 60 seconds rest between exercises for 2-4 sets, again depending on how much time you have.

Well, that was pretty long. Sorry about that. My wife always says I don't talk much 😂. Clearly, I just write instead.

Anyway, This Monday, November 25th, I'll be sending you an email for my only coaching sale of the year for Black Friday. It's strictly online as all my in-person spots are full. This will be for either my brand new 8-week Starter Pack for both men and women (separate plans) and my 1-2-1 online coaching too.

If you don't want to hear about that, just click this.

Have a great weekend. I'm off to spoil my daughters as last week was filled with wedding celebrations.

~ Sam

When you're ready, here are a few ways I can help: 🏋🏼 Coaching: If you're interested in working with me 1-on-1, you can learn more about the SBF online coaching program here. 📲 Starting Strength: Grab my 8-week Online Starting Strength Program to follow proven workouts that get you stronger, leaner and fitter here. 🤔 Questions: Have a question you want me to answer in a future email? Drop your questions here. Your email preferences 📧 Your email address is: Reader Need to update your email address? Do that here. Don't want to hear from me again? Well, that hurts but you can unsubscribe here. Sam Beagle Fitness, R/O 32 High Street, Northwood, HA6 1BN

​