Holiday Weight Management: The Big-Small Meal Method for Effortless Weight Control Without Rebound

Holiday Weight Control: The Small Meal Method – Helping You Control Your "Indulgence"

One of the biggest time-related enemies during weight loss is holidays. I've mentored many students who diligently follow their diet from Monday to Friday, only to disappear on weekends or holidays. After returning from the holidays, they feel guilty and regretful, wishing they hadn't overeaten, only to gain the weight back.

Indeed, many people trying to lose weight feel they've controlled their diet during the week and should indulge a little on weekends and holidays, but then worry that doing so will cause them to gain the weight back, wasting all their previous efforts. Their weight will return to its pre-diet level, creating a vicious cycle.

But this isn't the case. As long as you follow the guidelines during the week and indulge a little on weekends, your weight loss won't rebound, and you can even enjoy holiday treats.

For example, as a mentor who guides others in weight loss and body shaping, I need to maintain a good physique year-round to be convincing.

Therefore, many people believe I must be constantly on strict dietary restrictions, unable to eat this or that. But actually, those who know me know that I always eat a lot at gatherings, eating whatever's available without any restraint. Many friends have told me they feel no pressure eating with me and have a lot of fun, shattering their impression of me as a fitness instructor.

And every time I go home for holidays and eat with my family, I also eat a lot; I'm almost always the last one to put down my chopsticks. To avoid wasting food, I usually finish all the dishes I cook, also because I want my family to be happy to see me eat so much.

I call this "controlled indulgence" during holidays because I'm very clear about how well I usually cook or how to manage my diet after big meals. Maintaining a good figure and quality of life in the long run requires knowing how to manage your diet consistently.

First, I suggest that everyone make "gaining three pounds during the holidays" a positive mental expectation. This deliberately established mental expectation is important. That is, if we want to maintain an ideal figure, we should give ourselves a range of weight fluctuations, allowing ourselves reasonable room for "indulgence." This helps the body and mind relax and also helps maintain a good figure in the long run.

Give yourself a heads-up beforehand, telling yourself that enjoying the holidays while gaining a little weight is not a big deal. And I think it's totally worth it. After all, it's a rare opportunity to enjoy delicious food with family and friends, which is an important part of a good life. You can lose the weight after the holiday. Especially for those who are already in good shape and usually pay close attention to their diet, it's okay to relax a bit and allow yourself to gain a few pounds during the holiday. You won't feel guilty when enjoying delicious food. Everyone can treat the holiday as a reward for maintaining good eating habits.

There are also cheat meals or cheat days in fitness, meaning that maintaining a healthy diet every day is difficult. If it goes on for too long, you'll break down. Relaxing your dietary requirements appropriately won't affect your fitness and fat loss; it will also maintain your metabolic rate and allow you to relax mentally.

Believe me, no one's figure will be drastically different after a weekend or a short holiday. Many people feel anxious about gaining weight after the holiday or seeing their weight increase and simply want to give up on dieting. But as we've mentioned before, this is because of water retention leading to temporary weight gain. You can lose the weight in a few days after resuming a light diet after the holiday.

I guess you might be skeptical. You gained a lot of weight during the holiday, but you still feel like most of it is fat.

To dispel any doubts, let's take a 7-day holiday as an example to see how much fat you can gain during that time.

Let's take an average woman who is 1.65 meters tall and weighs 120 pounds as an example. Assume that during the holiday, due to various gatherings and meals, her average daily calorie intake increases to 3000 kcal. This is quite a lot, roughly equivalent to six Big Mac hamburgers. Most women wouldn't eat that much in a day (even if they could occasionally eat that much, it's impossible to eat that much every day during a holiday).

So, over the 7-day holiday, she would have consumed 21,000 kcal. Subtracting her daily basal metabolic rate and energy expenditure of 1600 kcal, she would have burned a total of 11,200 kcal. So, how much body fat would the extra 9800 kcal (21000 - 11200 = 9800) represent?

One pound of fat is approximately 3900 kcal of energy. Therefore, even if she ate excessively every day for 7 days, she would only gain a maximum of 2.5 pounds of fat. In reality, it's impossible for all the calories you consume to be absorbed and converted into body fat, so you'll likely only gain less than 2 pounds of fat. And on a typical weekend, it's even less of a concern.

Therefore, many people worry that a post-holiday weight gain will completely ruin their weight loss plans and simply give up, but there's no need to.

I've learned that most people give up on dieting because they feel that the weight they've lost through so much self-discipline is too easy to regain, so they simply don't want to control themselves anymore.

Now you know, don't let holiday weight gain affect your mood. Even if you gain 5-6 pounds after the holidays, it's actually only 1-2 pounds of fat; more than half is water.

Because holidays inevitably involve various dining out and gatherings, the intake of mostly high-carbohydrate and high-oil-salt foods causes the body to temporarily retain water, causing some swelling. Many people mistake this for a weight "rebound" or a plateau. However, once you return to your normal diet and lifestyle after the holidays, you can easily eliminate the water and fat accumulated during the holidays within one or two weeks.

If you understand the rate and amount of fat gain, then enjoying delicious food during the holidays is perfectly acceptable.

However, this doesn't mean you can indulge yourself and eat and drink excessively. I think most people should limit weight gain to within 3 pounds; don't let yourself gain too much.

For example, gaining 8-10 pounds after the holidays is problematic. Too much weight gain in a short period significantly reduces the chances of successful weight loss later, potentially due to inertia and psychological factors. For instance, some people might go on extreme diets after the holidays to lose weight, essentially entering a vicious cycle.

For those trying to lose weight and wanting to minimize the impact of holiday indulgences on their weight loss efforts, here's a tip I invented: the "small and large meal" method.

It's easy to understand: a large meal is a high-calorie meal, and a small meal is a low-calorie meal. Personally, I consider a meal around 200 kcal as a "small meal," a meal over 1000 kcal as a "large meal," and a meal of 500-800 kcal as normal.

Let me illustrate with an example.

For instance, a reasonable daily calorie intake for an average woman is between 1500 and 1800 kcal. If she relaxes her dietary restrictions during the holidays and increases her intake to 2100 kcal, this amount won't actually lead to weight gain. Let's see how she can plan her meals.

If she only eats three meals a day during the holidays and nothing else, and each meal is the same size, then 700 kcal per meal is easy to manage and can be largely controlled.