Finding Balance This Party Month

It’s one stretch of parties from early December to New Year. Slacking on your eating habits and workouts can lead to that dreaded holiday weight gain. Use these expert tips to ensure that you start 2018 without the extra pounds!

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Before

Keep it clean even from the beginning of the month, says health and fitness specialist and Get Active founder, Chloe Lai. Her tips include: 

✓ Eat clean. Keep to fruits, vegetables and lean meat. 

✓ Reduce simple carbohydrates like pasta, rice, noodles, roti canai, nasi lemak and mee mamak. 

✓ Cut down on alcohol. 

✓ Reduce added sugars. 

✓ Drink two glasses of water before your meals, and at least 35ml of water per kilogram of your body weight throughout the day. 

✓ Decrease caffeine intake to one cup a day. 

✓ Have dinner before 7pm. 

✓ Go to bed before 11pm. 

✓ Exercise five days a week; 45-minutes to one hour per session.

Exercise you can do 

•Warm up with dynamic movements; muscular endurance mainly with body weight focusing on 15 repetitions per side, for 3 sets rather than heavy resistance. Move through the exercises with minimal rest. 

•Plank (side and front), start with 30 secs. 

•Push ups; on knees or toes lunges using body weight or weights. 

•Mountain climbers; elevated or on the floor. 

•Tricep dips on a bench. 

•Squats; body weight or with weights. 

•Body row; higher bar or lower bar. 

•Burpees; elevated or on the floor, push ups can be on the knees. 

•Reverse crunch cool down 

•Full body static stretch 

•45min to 60min of jogging, swimming, indoor cycling, tennis or any team sports.