Christmas Excesses: Effects and Practical Ways to Limit Them

With Christmas also come great moments with family and friends, parties, business lunches... times when we all give ourselves some leeway to skip some (or a few) workouts and eat and drink more than usual. Although these celebrations are highly recommended in terms of emotional well-being, no one is surprised if we say that they can also have certain negative consequences for health. Who doesn't gain some weight after the Christmas holidays?

How does Christmas affect us?

Interestingly, weight gain at Christmas has even been confirmed by scientists. In 2000, a study was published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine that determined that during Christmas we gain on average around half a kilo of body weight.¹ Although this data does not seem very striking, the problem is that the researchers observed that this weight gain was not lost in the following months, persisting even through the summer. In other words, the excesses of Christmas can have certain long-term repercussions, at least if appropriate measures are not taken. In addition, another curious aspect was that participants who were already overweight or obese were the ones who had the highest risk of gaining weight during Christmas (more than 2 kg).

On the other hand, as we have already mentioned on previous occasions regarding vacations, even relatively short periods without training can have quite negative effects on our performance. For example, we have known for decades that a total training break of just 2 weeks can cause our maximum oxygen consumption ₍VO2max) to drop by up to 5 – 7%.^2,3 And although that fall is usually recoverable after a few weeks of returning to training, the ideal would be to try to attenuate this detraining. But how can we do it?

Fighting the excesses of Christmas

As with any holiday or detraining period, a slight loss of fitness is likely to be inevitable during the holidays. However, we can mitigate this loss to a large extent with a few simple measures.

For example, a study published in the British Medical Journal evaluated 272 participants who were divided into two groups.⁴ One group was instructed to weigh themselves and record their weight daily during Christmas, and received nutritional and physical activity guidance to follow during the holidays; the other group served as controls. At the end of Christmas it was observed that while the control group gained about half a kilo (0,37 kg), the group that performed the intervention not only did not gain it, but also reduced its weight by 0,13 kg. Although obsessing over the scale and weighing yourself every day may not be necessary or recommended (especially on holidays), this study does show us that being mindful of what we eat and how much we move can largely curb the excesses of Christmas.

Similarly, other researchers have evaluated the effects of training during the holidays not only on weight, but also on cardiometabolic health parameters and on the capacity for fat oxidation. ⁵ Specifically, this study analyzed 38 participants who were already doing high-intensity interval training. However, when Christmas arrived, they were divided into a group that continued to train 3 times a week and another that stopped training. By the end of Christmas, the non-training group had not only increased their body weight (0,7 kg), but had also worsened their fitness and cardiometabolic health (with increases in blood pressure and various markers of glucose control). On the contrary, the group that continued to train 3 days a week during Christmas not only did not suffer these negative effects on body weight, physical fitness or cardiometabolic health, but also reduced their cholesterol levels.

These results are in line with those observed in a study carried out by Dr. Jesús García Pallarés on elite canoeists during a 5-week detraining period.⁶ In this study, it was observed that if instead of stopping completely the participants performed only two days of strength and one day of aerobic training per week, the drop in physical fitness was attenuated by more than half (example, losses of 3 – 4% of strength instead of 8 – 9% and loss of 5% in VO2max compared to 11%, if they did not train).

Conclusions and recommendations

Although we all like to enjoy Christmas celebrating with family and friends, the accumulation of several days of excesses can have certain repercussions on our physical fitness and even our health. To avoid this, it is not necessary to deprive ourselves completely of these celebrations, but we can greatly attenuate their effects with a few small changes to our behavior. For example, in order to enjoy more "free" time, we can greatly reduce the volume and frequency of workouts (by up to 50% or more), but maintain the intensity of the workouts. In addition, maintaining at least one day of strength training a week can be key to maintaining muscle mass and strength. Therefore, including just two high-intensity workouts (e.g., less than an hour session including sets) and one day of muscle strength per week can be enough to maintain fitness during a period like Christmas. On the other hand, beyond training, we should try to stay relatively active during this period, taking the opportunity to walk between celebrations and avoid sedentary activities.

Author

Pedro Valenzuela de Fissac.com

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References:

1. Yanovski JA, Yanovski SZ, Sovik KN, Nguyen TT, O'Neil PM, Sebring NG. A prospective study of holiday weight gain. N Engl J Med. 2000;342(12):861-7.
2. Coyle EF, Martin WH, Sinacore DR, Joyner MJ, Hagberg JM, Holloszy JO. Time course of loss of adaptations after stopping prolonged intense endurance training. J Appl Physiol Respir Environ Exerc Physiol. 1984; 57(6):1857-1864. doi:10.1152/jappl.1984.57.6.1857
3. Houmard JA, Hortobagyi T, Johns RA, et al. Effect of short-term training cessation on performance
4. Mason F, Farley A, Pallan M, Sitch A, Easter C, Daley AJ. Effectiveness of a brief behavioural intervention to prevent weight gain over the Christmas holiday period: randomised controlled trial. BMJ. 2018; 363:k4867.
5. Ramirez-Jimenez M, Morales-Palomo F, Ortega JF, Moreno-Cabañas A, Guio de Prada V, Alvarez-Jimenez L, Mora-Rodriguez R. Effects of Exercise Training during Christmas on Body Weight and Cardiometabolic Health in Overweight Individuals. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020; 17(13):4732.
6. García-Pallarés J, Sánchez-Medina L, Perez CE, Izquierdo-Gabarren M, Izquierdo M. Physiological effects of tapering and detraining in world-class kayakers. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2010; 42(6):1209-1214. doi:10.1249 / MSS.0b013e3181c9228c