Tips On How NOT To Gain Weight During Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is an occasion for one to catch up with relatives and friends, dress up in brand new  clothes, dig into all the once-a-year delicacies and cookies, collect or give ang pows and gain weight!  But wait, you don’t have to gain weight during Chinese New Year. It’s possible to not gain an ounce without looking like an outcast and it’s tried and tested by yours truly!  

Here are five simple tips to prevent weight gain during Chinese New Year. 

1.  Watch Your Food Portion and Share Your Goodies

Size matters – the smaller it is, the better it will be for weight loss. If you usually eat a plate of rice and two pieces of chicken, reduce the portion to a quarter plate of rice and one piece of chicken. Better yet, omit the rice altogether and eat more vegetables to fill your tummy up.   

Also remember to share your Coke with someone else.  Just a gentle reminder – a 320ml can of Coke contains about 9 teaspoons of sugar while a 500ml bottle contains a whopping 12 teaspoons!

 

2.  Wear a shapewear

Wear a cheap shapewear to help control your food intake. Big meals will make you feel uncomfortable when your midsection is under compression. With a waist trainer or shapewear on your body, you'll likely feel more comfortable eating smaller meals rather than large ones.

 3.  Eat and Chew Slowly

Try to chew your food thoroughly before swallowing.  Some of you may have the habit of gobbling down your food while eyeing the drumstick on the serving platter, waiting to grab it before anyone else does!  It doesn’t matter if you don’t get the drumstick or another helping of chicken.  You put in fewer calories and don’t have to work so hard trying to shed off the flab after CNY.

The average calorie intake decreased by 9.5% when people chewed 1.5 times more than normal and nearly 15% when they chewed twice as much as usual.

4.  Keep Yourself Preoccupied

There are so many activities that you can do during your CNY visits instead of having your butt glued to the sofa and munch on snacks non-stop. You can join your cousins for endless rounds of Gin-Rummy or Blackjack or update your socials on what you did and ate during Chinese New Year. Just keep your hands off the snacks throughout your time at your friend’s or relative’s house. 

 

5.  Exercise and Keep Yourself Active

There’s no better way to burn the calories from the bak kwa and pineapple tarts than walking or running it off.  You can choose to stand while you play Blackjack and take the stairs up to your apartment unit.

Many studies have shown people burn more calories standing than sitting.  While sitting, they burned 80 calories per hour. Standing burned an additional eight calories, and walking burned a total of 210 calories per hour.

While you’re working out, wear a waist trainer to help you perspire more. With that extra sweat, you will lose some water weight and calories. Such waist trainers can be purchased online from shapewear manufacturers and wholesale waist trainers with logo suppliers, such as waistdear.com at affordable prices.  

 

As cliché as it sounds, no one can help you when it comes to weight control, except for yourself.  Chinese New Year is a happy occasion but remember not to overindulge and regret it when you can’t fit into your pants after the CNY holiday.  For all the cookies, bak kwa and prawn crackers that you eat during your visits, you will have to pay it back through your time and a lot of sweat!