Guide for living a healthy and active lifestyle

Even though no-one wants to admit it, the countdown to Christmas is upon us, and if you want to look good at the ubiquitous Christmas Party then follow the realbuzz.com guide to a healthier you. You know that once the season is upon us, diet and healthy living go out the window, so now's the time to turn your body into a temple.

Exercise - we wouldn't be realbuzz.com if we didn't offer this piece of advice to start with! If you don't already have an exercise regime, then now's the time to start. Even a short walk, at lunch time, and the evening constitute exercise, and there are plenty of other ways, check this page out for getting started http://bit.ly/2loCg0

Monitor - Using a diary or blog to record what you eat and how much you exercise is an excellent start. This helps you to understand where are your 'danger periods' on a daily basis, such as in the evenings when you relax in front of the TV. Once you have found out when you are most likely to waver, it is easier to find ways to help yourself: http://bit.ly/3RCdi

Watch what you eat - eat healthier: Re-fuelling when you are hungry is a good idea, but make sure that you snack on the right things. Good snacks are fruit, vegetable sticks and low fat dips, smoothies and low fat/diet yogurt. Make sure you have your 5-a-day, and are eating plenty of fish and lean meats.

Get support - This is really important if you are to succeed at losing weight in the long-term. Being surrounded by people who will eat the same foods and encourage you along the way is a good idea. Find a 'buddy' or someone in your family to boost your morale. This can really help if you are taking up a new exercise regime; it makes backing out much harder to do! Or find someone on realbuzz.com to help motivate you.

Watch your portion sizes - Next time you are out look at the amounts that your friends eat; you may be surprised at how much you consume in comparison to others.

Set yourself achievable goals - It's important that you have something to aim for, and that you make it achievable. December is just over a month away, you want to have a good healthy way of living built up for the Christmas party season, and a month is enough time to get into good habits! So, give yourself a reasonable target and stick to it!

Follow our realbuzz.com 'Get into your party dress in a fortnight' articles: We've written these articles to help you to get on top of aerobic exercise, reduce your calorie intake, and give yourself some serious strength training: http://bit.ly/LdcPa

realbuzz.com is the definitive guide to healthy active living. The purpose of the website is to help everyone get more out of life by providing them with the tools to live a healthy, active lifestyle. It has a growing number of pages on Health & Fitness, Sport & Leisure, Food & Diet and Active Travel.