HOW TO HAVE YOUR CHRISTMAS CAKE AND EAT IT

Zeroing in on success demands a strategic approach — a surgical strike aimed at either the root cause of the problem or the barricade holding you back. One or the other puts you squarely on the path to success for *insert desired goal here.

I haven't forgotten to complete that previous sentence. It's a good plan of attack for anything you want, for several reasons, not least because:

1. It forces you to identify the problem(s). And;

2. To consider whether you really want what you say you want, or just like the idea of it. 

The earlier you figure that out, the better.

But the festive season is moving sharply into focus. A unique time of the year when we all have broadly the same contributing and limiting factors coming into play. Because, in this instance, those factors are the same: the festive season.

‘Holiday weight gain’— as they call it in the studies. Hard to argue with that. But the limiting factors are, primarily, a pair of ideas: 

1. We can't possibly enjoy this time of the year without overdoing it on too many occasions. 

2. It will be okay anyway because a NYE resolution is waiting in the wings as penance to forgive our sins.

Ideas, of course, that dictate behaviour. And many of us will not need to read the studies to know that not only will you likely gain between 1-3kg this Xmas, but that you’ll keep it. Forever. Which is not great.

Reading between the lines there, it's not all bad news, because quite evidently, you can save yourself the hassle of the resolution. But the bottom of the cliff was never a good place for the ambulance, so the time to salvage the situation, were you so inclined, is now.

But you may not be so inclined, because another limiting factor here is that this holiday pile-on is regarded as normal. No, that's not the right word— the science tells us it’s statistically normal at least, so let's go with unremarkable. 

It is unremarkable that you'll gain a few kilos this festive season. Hell, if anything, it's to be expected. You might even have a bit of a giggle about it.

It's the polar opposite of any fitness, aesthetic or performance goals you might have, but these are easily sidelined.

Less appreciated is that this is a gift that keeps on giving with the three most deadly chronic diseases — heart disease, cancer, and dementia — all resting on the foundation of metabolic disease, so it's no exaggeration to say that's a fatal mistake. 

Which puts a bit of a dampener on festivities. But if you want to rewrite that script and at least consider the possibility you can enjoy the festive season without carrying it around for the rest of your life, fear not, Santa's come early.

In a nod to that great cliche of fitness marketing - the before and after photo - I'm calling it: