I’ve always enjoyed the end of year festivities, as it has always given me opportunities to attend functions that provide free food and for me, FREE FOOD has always meant EAT AS MUCH AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE. For some reason I just find that fun and some of you on social media get a slight form of amusement from my #overfeeding also.
In the past, I had never worried about my body fat percentage, unless I was
dieting for a competition, so in the ‘offseason’ I would usually sit anywhere
from 12-22kg over my stage weight (not very lean).
This offseason I am making an effort to reduce excess body fat gain, as it just
makes getting lean (when I eventually do decide to get lean again) so much more
of a stress on the body. So this end of year festive period was not such a
positive this time around! The ridiculous number of Christmas parties and end
of year functions, meant for me, my calorie intake and body fat level were
definitely going to be on the increase.
Pictured: A recent shot of Aaron Curtis
So what can one do, if enjoying this period is just as important to them as
maintaining their body composition? It is quite simple. One just has to make
room for all the excess calories!
Lets say the average person has 4 functions to go to, at which they wish to
indulge, over a 3 week period this festive season. So that will be 4 feedings where they will be
going well over their daily calorie intake (by how much will obviously vary
from person to person).
What one could do, would be to drop their total daily calorie intake (lets just
pluck a random number here) by 400 calories. So they eat 400 calories below
their current levels for 5 days of each week, giving them a 2000 calorie per
week deficit to help compensate for the over indulgences that are going to
occur.
Pictured: A recent shot of Aaron Curtis
Now it would be great to track your macronutrients and calories exactly, even
at these festive functions, so that we knew the exact deficit and surplus to
choose, but the majority of people are not going to do this. If you do not wish
to track everything 100% then there won’t be an exact number you need to choose
for your deficit, nor will there be an exact amount you are allowed to consume
at each function, but the idea of ‘making room’ in your calorie intake over a
few weeks, so that you can enjoy yourself during the end of year period, whilst
not gaining too much weight, still holds true!
For optimal body composition and metabolic health, we would definitely not
restrict calories so much, just to have short binge periods, so you really need
to choose what is most important to you and alter your nutrition accordingly.
Be well. =]
Aaron Curtis is a successful natural bodybuilding competitor and personal trainer so if you need help with your diet or training program you can contact him via his Facebook page for more information: https://www.facebook.com/skinnyaaroncurtis
