There’s no harm in cutting yourself some slack and letting loose during the holidays. You’ve been working hard the entire year, so you deserve to give in to some temptations and enjoy the festivities. The merry atmosphere, however, can cause you to party just a little too hard. If you’re not careful with how much you eat and drink, you’ll feel horrible entering the New Year.
When you consume excessive amounts of fatty foods, sweet treats, and alcohol, your body will have difficulty breaking them down. Your stomach also expands beyond its normal size and pushes itself against your other organs, causing discomfort. You feel bloated and lethargic, so you might not have the energy to perform your daily tasks. In addition, more than feeling sluggish after days of partying, you’ll also be more susceptible to developing gout, diabetes, and hypertension if you don’t start making healthy choices.
That said, recovering from your holiday-related self-indulgence can be tough, especially when the lethargy is preventing you from feeling motivated. Thankfully, there are a lot of simple things you can do to help you get back on track after your holiday partying. Let’s take a look at some of them.
Stay Hydrated
Drinking a lot of water helps with digestion by speeding up the metabolic process. It’s also a good way to flush out the toxins from your body and compensate for the water loss from drinking alcohol. Staying hydrated also gives you energy; when you get enough water in you, you can slowly but surely get out of your sluggish state more comfortably.
It’s also important to drink plenty of water throughout the day to avoid getting dehydrated. Dehydration can cause you to crave unhealthy sugary snacks and drinks.
Get Enough Sleep
You’ve been staying up and partying the night away during the holidays, so it’s only fair to give yourself ample time to rest. Getting enough sleep allows your brain and body to recover, and it also recharges your body. As a result, you’ll have the energy to conquer the day the moment you wake up.
At the minimum, you must get at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night. Depriving yourself of sleep can upset the hormone balance in your body and weaken your immune system. Lack of sleep can also increase your appetite, as well as your affinity for foods that are high in fat, calories, and carbohydrates. This makes you more susceptible to unhealthy weight gain.
Follow a Healthy Diet
After eating a lot of sinful holiday dishes, you might think that going on a crash diet will help you return to a healthy weight faster. However, crash dieting doesn’t work because it can actually slow down your normal metabolic rate. This will make it more difficult for you to lose weight in the future. Going on an extreme crash diet can also cause severe muscle loss, putting you at a greater risk of heart-related problems. That’s why if you want to go on a diet, you must do it the healthy way.
It’s recommended to eat three balanced meals a day, but you can break it down to 5 to 6 small meals, so you can better monitor the things you eat. You also don’t have to cut carbs entirely out of your diet. You can still incorporate a reasonable amount of carbs into your meals to ensure that you’re getting the energy you need to get through the day.
Engage in Physical Activity the Right Way
It’s no secret that exercise can help you lose weight, so it’s not unusual to see people hitting the gym after the festive season to get rid of their holiday weight. When exercising, however, it’s smart to start simple and slow. Going on an intense workout right after days of partying hard might overwhelm you, because your body needs time to readjust itself before it can handle strenuous exercise. If you do intense exercise routines right from the get-go, you’re more likely to injure yourself or feel really sore after the workout.
When you resume your fitness regimen, start with something light and then gradually include more challenging workouts as the weeks go by. For example, you can start your first week by going out for a walk at least once a day. Then, on the following week, you can incorporate lifting light weights into your routine.
Be Kind to Yourself
It can be challenging to get back into the swing of things, especially when you know that you’ve overindulged yourself. It’s easy to be wrapped up in a lot of guilt and shame for failing to eat healthy or missing a few workout days. However, surrounding yourself with all that negativity can affect your mental health. When you find yourself in low spirits, remember to take be kind to yourself. It’s not easy to get out of your post-holiday slump, but the fact that you’re doing something about it is a huge win in itself.
Attending holiday parties is a great way to end the year with a bang. However, if you plan to indulge yourself during the festivities, make sure you’re ready to take the necessary steps to recover from all that eating and drinking. Doing so will ensure that you’re ready to greet the New Year with a healthy body and mind.
