Festive Season is officially upon us, a time where most of us sleigh down the slippery slope of overindulgence. Our exercise routine tends to be compromised by social invitations and tipple temptations. But instead of falling off the bandwagon altogether and feeling pretty awful come the end of December, we have 4 easy, smart and time efficient tips to help keep you on track which won’t take away from your festive fun.

1. Christmas Calorie Savers

With more temptations for festive tipples and treats this month, we could easily end up with a waistline like Santa sliding into 2019! But by making smarter choices, we can cut out consuming those extra unnecessary calories. You might be loading up on the coffees to get you through the mornings after those late nights, but you might not feel too festive after you realise how calorific some of these drinks actually are! Check out the calorie content and think before you drink…. opt for light beers, clear spirits, low-calorie mixers and make your wine a spritzer. An americano has typically just 5-15 calories!

2. FIT in your FITNESS with HIIT

Let’s call a spade a spade, your time is in shorter supply with all the Christmas festivities and the first thing to be compromised will probably be your fitness routine. But you can still FIT in your FITNESS by sleighing smarter and shorter training sessions with a quick 30-minute HIIT session. HIIT helps you achieve a great workout with cardio and strength training, burns a load of calories and furthermore, your metabolism stays in a heightened state for hours afterwards. 30 minutes is only 2% of your day, so there’s no excuses! Check out some of our HIIT videos on our YouTube channel to stay LIT with keeping FIT!: https://www.youtube.com/user/AuraLeisureCentres/videos

3. Keep MOVING Between the Mince Pies

Not into HIIT? Up your game with consciously moving more. Step 1 – Download some Christmas bangers on Spotify. Step 2 – Move. Get your exercise in by walking or cycling to work or utilise the time on your lunch break. Jump off the bus or get out of your taxi early. Although online shopping is handy, get out and shop in the non-virtual world. Walking around the shops and carrying bags will actually get you a decent workout without even realising it. Aim for 10,000 steps a day, that roughly equates to 5 miles which can help you burn up to 500 calories! Nail those steps each day to keep the Santa belly at bay.

4.Plan Fun Fitness Festivities with Friends

We all want to catch up with friends and loved ones over the Christmas period but the default is usually meeting up at parties, dinners and drinks. But there’s plenty of other ways you can connect with people which will also leave you feeling great after. Plan to sign up to fun fitness festivity with a charitable 5km or 10km run or walk. These events take place nationwide and it’s a great way of getting all 4 F’s in the bag – Fitness, Fun, Friends and Festiveness! And another great ‘F’ for the bag is you help to fundraise for a great cause? Crimbo Limbo ( the period after Christmas Day and before New Year’s Eve, when you don’t know what day it is and its mainly spent sitting down and eating leftovers) is the perfect time to plan something kind of exertion excursion with pals!

Author: Niamh Holohan, Aura Holohan Group