Healthy Habits: Stay Stress Free and Lose Weight this Summer

As Summer Break is rapidly approaching you may be interested in some great tips on how to keep your weight loss plans on track, relax and enjoy a sunny break instead of stressing your way through it.

 

Summertime is often billed as the season of relaxation and having some much-earned fun in the sun. So why does the idea of all of that downtime often feel stressful? Plenty of reasons: There are vacations to plan, there are kids underfoot at home, there’s a mountain of work to do before you get to take the aforementioned trip – and there’s the lack of a routine that can wreak havoc on the waistline.

“Learning to recognize your own stress triggers can be helpful, because it enables you to work around and cope with them better,” says psychologist Sue Wright, who specializes in stress and self-esteem issues.

 

Here our Slimming World experts make some suggestions for surviving the summer and emerging more relaxed and pounds lighter.

1.       Delegate. List the skills of each family member, and when it comes time to go on an outing, get them all to lend a hand.

2.       If you find yourself giving in to the wishes of everybody else in the family – every time – use the “broken record” technique. For example, if the kids are pleading for extra goodies at the store as you shop for a vacation, check that your terms are fair, stick to them without giving in and keep saying no.

3.       Restaurants and hotel buffets tend to be very generous with pre-meal extras such as olives, bread drenched in oil or butter, and nuts - and let’s face it, they’re hard to resist! A combination of choice power and food know-how will help you make the best decisions. If there’s meat, trim the fat; if there’s a salad bar, go easy on the mayonnaise-laden foods; and fill up on plenty of undressed vegetables, rice or potatoes.

4.       If your hotel has a pool, make the most of it – whether it’s a few quiet lengths in the early morning/late afternoon lull, or exuberant splashing with the kids.

5.       Try a “stress map.” Randomly fill a sheet of paper with everything that is troubling you, and then step back and decide which area needs to be dealt with first and which ones can wait. Then brainstorm just one step you could take today. The idea is to find some way ahead (there will be one) and take it, so you feel in control instead of overwhelmed.

6.       Practice the art of serenity. Take each situation in stride, remembering that some things just aren’t worth worrying about. That glass? It is actually half full!