Surviving A 1st Birthday Party… April 12, 2006
…with your waistline intact!
Having just survived my third daughter’s first birthday party, I thought it a good time to give some tips on making it through a party without ditching your diet and bursting your belt.
- Give yourself permission to eat junk food, drink a little, and have some fun. It’s only for one day.
- Only eat during the hours of the party (e.g. 3pm to 6pm). No snacking while preparing food, and no eating stuff while cleaning up afterwards!
- Serve some healthy food and eat smart (at least a little bit!). We prepared several plates of healthy stuff like raw vegetables and dip, dried fruits, water crackers and salsa, and fruit salad with dessert. If you’re just nibbling while you talk, try to go mostly for this stuff. Other parents will also appreciate the gesture, and one of the kids might surprise you by eating celery instead of chips!
- Sit or stand at the far side of the party from where the food is being served. If you stand right next to the food table, you’ll unconsciously keep reaching for more and you’ll eat way more than you need to. Make your laziness work for you!
- When eating junk food, go for the sugary stuff (lollies, jelly, meringues, etc) more than the high-carbohydrate/high-fat stuff (cake, donuts, fairy bread, chips, sausage rolls, mousse, cream, chocolate, etc). You can still enjoy a bit of both, but try not to overindulge on the fatty stuff.
- Enjoy the junk food that you do eat. Eat it slowly, and really savour the sweetness and flavour. You probably haven’t eaten much for a while, so don’t waste this opportunity for indulgence by just gulping it down!
- Don’t drink too much. It’s a kids’ party, don’t go overboard and get drunk. Besides, there are more calories in alcohol than you’d think. Jogging the next morning won’t be fun with a hangover, either
. - Get involved in the games. It’ll take you away from the food table, and you’ll burn a lot of that sugar off running around, playing musical chairs, dancing, etc. And the kids will love you for it! At the end of the day, the kids are a big reason you’ve been working so hard on getting fitter.
- Give away as much of the leftover junk food as you can after the party. Send cake home with the kids, give away all those half-packets of lollies, give parents leftover/unused food, soft drinks and desserts to take home as a thankyou for helping. The less of this stuff that stays in the house, the less you’ll have to eat over the next few days!
- If you do end up with a lot of leftovers, freeze what you can. There’s no point pigging out on leftover sausages all week when you could freeze them in small batches and use them in moderation over the coming weeks.
- Make sure you get up in the morning and go for a walk or jog. You’ve got to burn off those extra calories!
Technorati Tags: weight loss, dieting, parenting, diet, calories
- Posted in : Diet, Life Gets In The Way, Weight Loss Tips
- Author : admin
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