The Yummy Mummy with no tummy Challenge - Week Sixteen

The cabbage soup diet last week enabled me to lose 4lbs, now I know most of that was water, but it is the confidence boost I needed! And with Christmas just around the corner and so many fun things to do between now and New Year, I know that my diet is going to go to pot!

As I have mentioned before Christmas is all about the turkey and with so many celebrations based around food all I can hope to do is try to stay strong enough not to consume too much food and fizzy drink and make as many good choices as I possibly can. With this is mind here are my Five Top Tips for staying successful on a diet over the Christmas period

1. Decide that you ARE going to stay on your diet whilst celebrating. Sometimes just giving yourself permission not to eat all the food over the Season is enough to make you realise that you don't have to consume to celebrate! If you decide that you have to eat Great Aunt Enid's trifle or it won't be Christmas then understand that you will have to go for a really really long walk to burn it off.

2. Don't go to Christmas parties hungry. If you have a friends or office Christmas party to go to, make sure you eat first. It doesn't need to be anything huge, but something that will stop you snacking on all the calorific finger food. And if you have a host that insists that you try one of everything then just smile politely and tell them that you are sure they taste wonderful, but that you are on a diet so that you can look as wonderful as them in the beautiful dress they are wearing.

3. Mix your drinks, yup that's right forget what you were told about never mixing your drinks I am here to tell you that it is okay. As long as the mixing is one glass of alcohol or fizzy drink and the next glass is water or a fruit juice. Try to limit yourself to just a couple of glasses of your drink of choice as this will stop the calories being poured into you and could stop some embarrassing photos being shown in the New Year!

4. Take in the special Christmas atmosphere, take a walk around your local neighbour hood to look at the Christmas lights, or to see the Town tree, go ice skating, or carol singing anything that stops you from sitting inside. Yes I know that it might be raining and that it is cold at this time of year, but wrap the kids up well and get out it will do you all some good and get some sneaky exercise in too! If it is pouring with rain then maybe get on the Wii, or play a game of Twister, or Sardines, or 30 seconds hide and seek, or Simon Says or... get the idea?

5. And finally don't worry if you do over indulge. You made one mistake so what?! You don't have to repeat it, you can jump back into diet mode now that you have realised!