How to enjoy the holidays if you're on a diet...

With Christmas just around the corner, and much of America recovering from Thanksgiving dinner, I was going to give you a few tips about how to avoid gaining too much weight over the holidays.

But, I decided not to. And there are two very good reasons why.

1. Firstly, I believe that if you're reading this newsletter, you're probably intelligent enough to know that two slices of apple pie contain twice as many calories as one slice. And if you want to eat fewer calories, you simply say "no" to a second slice.

2. Second (and more important) I have absolutely no intention of snacking on raw vegetables or choosing low-calorie desserts — which, let's face it, never taste quite as good as the real thing.

There's nothing I've told you about over the last three years — whether it's a diet, workout routine or food supplement — that I haven't actually used myself, or recommended to a friend or member of my family.

And because I have no plans to restrict what I eat on Christmas day, I don't expect you to either.

Most of the year, I eat the right foods. I also go to the gym virtually every day. So, when the time comes to treat myself, I plan to eat exactly what I want. And I won't feel guilty in the slightest.

When most people eat something they shouldn't, they get very "down" on themselves, then eat even more so they feel better again!

This is a little like getting a flat tire, jumping out of the vehicle, and shooting out the remaining three tires.

Primitive people had to go long periods without eating. The natural response to food was to eat everything in sight. If you've been on a diet, it's quite natural to feel like eating it all when you're suddenly presented with a table full of rich, delicious food.

The only thing I will suggest is that you avoid stepping on the scales for a few days after indulging yourself.

Remember, it's possible to gain several pounds in weight without gaining fat. That's because your body is made up of several different types of tissue, including muscle, bone, skin and fat. When you consume more calories than you burn, the body stores the extra energy, but not always in the form of fat.

Although excess carbohydrate calories can be converted into fat, your body also stores carbohydrate in the form of glycogen (pronounced gly-ka-jun). Glycogen is stored in your liver and your muscles. In total, your body can hold 400-500 grams of glycogen (the equivalent of 1600-2000 calories). Of course, this does vary from person to person. The more muscle you have, the more glycogen you can store.

When you lose weight on a low-carbohydrate diet, much of the weight lost in the first week or so comes from stored carbohydrate and water. That's because glycogen also stores between three and four times its own weight in water. Conversely, when you overfeed on carbohydrate calories, much of the weight you gain will also be in the form of glycogen and water.

A good example comes from a team of Swedish researchers. They took a group of five healthy volunteers, and fed them a low-carbohydrate diet for four days. This was followed by a similar period of high-carbohydrate eating.

Following the high-carbohydrate diet, the glycogen and water content of the muscles was shown to increase. In fact, the average increase in thigh size was almost three percent.

The bottom line is that when you eat more than normal, you'll gain weight. But much of this extra weight will be in the form of glycogen and water, rather than fat.

Reference
Nygren, A.T., Karlsson, M., Norman, B., & Kaijser, L. (2001). Effect of glycogen loading on skeletal muscle cross-sectional area and T2 relaxation time. Acta Physiologica Scandinavica, 173, 385-390