When it comes to scary things, Halloween costumes do not scare fitness enthusiasts as much as Halloween foods. Oil, sugar, and fatty foods are the worst nightmares for the fit bros.
Jokes apart, every fitness enthusiast almost faces this dilemma of eating healthily on social occasions or gatherings. There are many festivals yearly where nearly all of us celebrate with our friends and family over food and drinks. Having a buffet together or eating in someone’s place makes it hard to stick to the diet as you will have no control over the ingredients. Also, it seems rude if you do not eat. This situation makes one feel guilty as you would not want to go out off the diet or feel left alone.
What to do in this situation?
Remember, fitness is a lifestyle, and it should not interrupt other aspects of your life. Dieting for one day will not make you slim, and eating more for one day will not make you fat.
We suggest you leave your diet for that day unless you are dieting for any competition or something that may get hampered. If you are eating healthy the majority of the time, then going overboard here and there would not harm you. Enjoying food on social occasions will boost your motivation and push you hard toward your goal. On top of that, you will not feel like an outsider.
However, if you are extremely serious about your diet and do not want to feel left alone, there are some ways to eat with everyone and not damage your diet too much.
The tricks are:
• Portion Control
Portion control will also help you eat a variety of foods, satisfy your palate, and reduce the chance of diet burnout. Maintaining total calories is the key; it does not matter whether you consume calories from healthy foods or unhealthy ones. If your total calories can be tweaked with portion control, then even if you go off the diet for a day or two, it won’t hurt that much.
• Carefully Choosing Toppings
If you are enjoying a buffet, be careful what add-ons you take because they can add a ton of calories to your food. Usually, the common toppings that get used are sauces, cheese, and olive oils, which are high in calories. If you want to have some, then take it as a side item so that you will know how many extra calories you are taking.
Even a salad can be higher in calories if loaded with oils and sauces. Even in some cases, a salad can have more calories than a burger because of the toppings.
If there is a customization option, then always go for low-calorie toppings.
• Avoiding ultra-processed foods
In almost all social gatherings, there are snacking options. Usually, those snacks are ultra-processed foods. Not only are those foods unhealthy for our health, but they are also high in calories compared to their portion size.
The common snack foods are chips, candies, chocolate bars, cookies, etc. If you are serious about your diet, skip those foods and go for the main course. It will save you a ton of calories.
Having a healthy snacking option is like finding a needle in a haystack, but if you ever get one, enjoy it.
• Having more protein-based foods
The word protein hits us differently. Suppose you are on a social occasion with good protein options like lean meats, eggs, tofu, or any other good protein source. In that case, your target should be to fill most of your plate with those protein-rich foods.
Protein has a high thermic effect, so it will burn more calories than carbs and fats while digesting. Also, overeating protein is hard, as you will feel full relatively fast because it reduces your hunger hormone ghrelin.
This choice will be the best of both worlds. Protein helps us build muscle, so if you have to cheat on your diet on social occasions, cheat with more proteins.
• Making Up for It
You can always make up for it, even if you eat more in one day, so there is no need to feel guilty about it.
Do the simple math: If you eat a 1000-calorie surplus in one day and create a 200-calorie deficit for the next six days, you will be in a deficit at the end of that week.
If you see some fluctuations in your weight in the next few days, do not worry; it is the water weight that increased, not the fat. Just stick to your diet and do some cardio, and you will return to your original weight quickly.
• Avoid sugary beverages
On social occasions, fill your appetite with foods, not with fluids. Sugary beverages are one of the worst. They provide no nutrient value. Sugary drinks are considered a waste of calories as the only thing they do is spike blood sugar levels and give a ton of calories.
If there are options, go for fresh fruit juices as they will provide micronutrients, or you can have diet pops that do not have any nutrition but are low in calories.
Remember, avoiding is never a solution for the long term; we should enjoy the occasion with friends and family and do not need to worry about diet all the time as we will make a healthy diet a part of our life.
Tell us in the comments if you have ever faced any situation where you need to go out of your diet.