How Not to Gain Weight Over Christmas and Still Enjoy It
The simplest way not to gain weight over Christmas is to separate the handful of days that genuinely matter (Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve) from the ten or so ordinary days in between, and to eat and move normally on the ordinary ones. Enjoy the big meals fully, without guilt and without “saving up” by starving beforehand. Keep walking daily, keep two short strength sessions a week, and keep protein steady. What causes festive weight gain is rarely Christmas dinner itself. It is the open tin of biscuits, the second bottle and the sofa from the 23rd to the 2nd.
This post is about the stretch from roughly 20 December to 2 January. If you are worried about the run of work parties earlier in the month, we have a separate piece on staying on track through the Christmas party season.
First, some perspective on the scales
Many people step on the scales on 2 January, see a jump of two or three kilos, and assume it is all fat. Most of it is not. More salt, more carbohydrate, more alcohol and less routine all cause the body to hold more water and food in the gut. A meaningful share of that usually disappears within a week or so of normal eating. Actual fat gain requires a sustained surplus, and while a big Christmas Day can be a large one-off surplus, it is the pattern across the fortnight that decides what sticks. Our explainer on water weight and why the scales jump covers this in more detail.
So the goal is not “no change on the scales on 2 January”. It is “back to normal within a week or two, with little real fat gained”.
Map your fortnight
Sit down with the diary in mid-December and mark each day. It takes five minutes and is the most useful thing in this post.
| Type of day | Typical examples | Approach |
|---|---|---|
| Big days | Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve | Enjoy them. No tracking, no guilt. Walk in the morning. |
| Social days | A long lunch with friends, family visiting, a drinks party | Normal breakfast with protein, enjoy the main event, skip the extras around it |
| Ordinary days | Everything else: often eight to ten days | Normal meals, normal portions, a walk, a training session if planned |
Most people discover they have far more ordinary days than they thought. That is where the fortnight is won.
On the big days: how to enjoy them properly
Do not save up
Skipping breakfast to “make room” usually backfires. You arrive ravenous, graze through the nibbles before lunch, and eat faster than you would otherwise. Have a normal breakfast with some protein: eggs, yoghurt, smoked salmon on toast.
Choose what you really want
Christmas dinner is worth eating. A bowl of crisps you would not normally notice is not. A useful question before reaching for anything is “would I miss this if it were not here?” If the answer is no, leave it.
Take the walk
A walk before lunch or after it does a lot of good. It breaks up a day of sitting, helps you feel less sluggish, and gets you out of the house. Highgate Wood, Hampstead Heath and the Parkland Walk are all reliably quieter than you might expect on Christmas morning.
Pace the drinking
Alcohol adds calories quickly and also lowers the resistance to everything else. Alternate with water, start a little later, and decide roughly how much you will have before the day begins. The NHS guidance on alcohol units is a useful reality check on what a festive glass actually contains.
On the ordinary days: the quiet wins
- Put the tins away. Food that is visible gets eaten. Keep chocolates, biscuits and cheese out of sight, and bring them out deliberately when you want them.
- Eat proper meals. Leftover turkey with vegetables is an excellent high-protein lunch. Leftover turkey sandwiches plus mince pies plus cheese plus crisps is a different matter.
- Keep protein steady. It helps with fullness and supports the muscle you have been building. Something with every meal is enough.
- Get outside daily. Steps fall away dramatically when there is no commute. A 30 to 45 minute walk each day replaces a lot of what you lose.
- Keep a rough bedtime. Late nights followed by late mornings tend to come with more snacking.
Training over Christmas: keep it ticking over
This is not the fortnight for a new personal best. It is the fortnight for staying in the habit, so January does not feel like starting again. Two short strength sessions a week is plenty. If you cannot get to a gym, a basic routine at home works:
- Goblet squat or bodyweight squat: 3 sets of 10-12
- Push-ups (on the floor, a bench or a kitchen worktop): 3 sets, stopping a couple short of failure
- Single-arm row with a dumbbell, backpack or heavy bag: 3 sets of 10 each side
- Split squat or reverse lunge: 2-3 sets of 8 each leg
- Plank or dead bug: 3 short sets
Twenty-five minutes, twice a week, plus daily walks. That is enough to arrive in January stronger than people who stopped completely. Coached clients at the studio on Archway Road usually keep one or two sessions across the holidays, around family plans, and the personal training page explains how sessions work.
When January arrives
Do not crash diet on 2 January. Go back to your normal eating and training routine, give it ten days, and then look at the scales. Most of the post-Christmas jump will have gone. If you want a structured reset, read a new year fitness plan that lasts past February, or speak to a coach about a properly built programme on our Highgate 1-1 training page.
If you have a medical condition that affects your diet or are on medication, or if you are returning to exercise after a long break, check with your GP before changing your eating or starting a new routine.
Questions we get asked
How much weight do people usually gain over Christmas?
It varies a lot, and much of the short-term jump is water and food in the gut rather than fat. Judge it after a week of normal eating in January, not on the 27th.
Should I count calories over Christmas?
For most people, no. A simple plan for the big days and normal eating on the ordinary ones works better and is much easier to live with.
Is it worth training on Christmas Eve or Boxing Day?
A walk is almost always worth it. A short strength session is a good idea if it fits; it is not essential.
Will one big meal undo months of progress?
No. One meal, even a very large one, is a small part of a year. Patterns matter far more than single days. More about our approach at The Highgate House.
Book with The Highgate House
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