It’s common for those who struggle with their weight to sabotage their progress by throwing in the towel over the festive season. Stress hits like a heavyweight boxer, time constraints push anxiety to new heights, and temptation thrives well into the New Year. Christmas party after Christmas party, get-together after get-together, the silly season can throw a few challenges, asking questions of our resolve, discipline and commitment.

Overindulging is common this time of the year and it can really bring us down when we’ve been making good progress with our weight loss, eating habits, and exercise. The important thing to remember is that it takes a long time to undo good work. The benefits you experience today, with your weight, are down to the work you have done over the last 3-6 months, not yesterday or last week. If you build a strong foundation for this underlying change, it will serve you well for months to come. So don’t throw in the towel because you had a big night at the Christmas party and ate enough chocolate for three people or drank more alcohol than you have all year.

A true test of character is how you bounce back from these one-offs if you have them, and how resilient you are in getting back on track. Moderate your alcohol and high calorie food intake wherever you can; however, remind yourself, if you do have one of these over indulging episodes, that the foundation to your current state of health has been built over the last few months and should serve you well over the next few months if you are able to steady yourself quickly in the aftermath and stay on course.