4 Easy Weight Loss Tips to Get You Through to the New Year

Our Christmas began early when my daughter and I went to Nuremberg to visit the Christkindlesmarkt or Christmas market. I went there to buy, among other things, angel chimes, only to find that the chimes I wanted actually come from Sweden - and can, therefore, probably be bought at IKEA!

But Nuremberg is much nicer tha
IKEA; the old town dating back to the middle ages and looking like something from a story book. They have the oddest collection of museums including the Hat Museum, Pigeon Museum, ghoulishly the Hangman’s Museum and unrivetingly the Nuremberg Allotment Gardeners Museum. We played safe and went to the Clock Museum.

The Christkindlesmarkt is worth a visit if you want to stock up on Christmas ornaments (wooden and clockwork ones are a speciality), bratwurst and gingerbread. They also do delicious chocolate covered fruit – strawberries, for example, put onto a wooden skewer and covered with chocolate.

What with the chocolate, gingerbread and Glühwein we expected to put on weight. But with a healthy breakfast and miles and miles of walking around the markets we came back thinner than when we set off! Of course we sampled the munchies, but didn’t overindulge. That, and the exercise, kept us trim, which I suppose is a weight loss Christmas message.

So here are some weight management tips to get you through to the New Year without getting bigger:nn* Whatever you have eaten so far, don’t fret about it; as Scarlettt O’Hara said, “Tomorrow is another day”. nn* Don’t feel compelled to finish off leftovers. Put them on someone else’s plate not on your hips. nn* Do enjoy treats. I mea
REALLY enjoy them. Eat consciously, savouring every mouthful with the taste, texture, aroma and all round yumminess of the food. When you’ve done this (eating this way will take you twice as long as normal) decide whether you really need a second mouthful. Will you enjoy it as much? Will it taste the same? Be aware of the “stomach-feel” of the food, not just how it tastes. nn* Enjoy festive eating with friends and family, then prepare to really look after yourself, love yourself, value yourself in the coming year. I will be here to help you do that.

Even though these tips talk about getting through Christmas and getting your new year off to a good start, you can apply them to any time of year such as Easter, Thanksgiving, and summer vacations.nn(c) 2009 Liz Copeland