Updated March 08, 2014.

Over Christmas, or indeed any extended holiday period, excessive eating and drinking and too little exercise can cause you pack on the pounds and lose fitness as well. You can do something about it. Apply these tips and maintain your fitness -- and keep those pounds off.

Weight Management and Fitness Tips

• Compensate, compensate, compensate!Successful weight losers and maintainers know how to use this technique, which is just common sense. The idea of compensation is simply to keep energy input (food) and energy output (activity and exercise) in balance so you don't put on the pounds.  It means that if you've eaten to excess one meal or day or week, or not kept up with your activity program on a daily or weekly basis, then in the next period, you 'compensate.' Eat light for the next meal or day, or exercise harder or more regularly the next day or week. You do have to understand that you have overeaten or under-exercised, and then to have the will to adjust in the next period. It may sound simple, but too few actually implement it. It allows you to enjoy some of the foods and relaxation you like without getting the whole metabolism out of balance. Compensate.

• Limit portions or limit meals, or both. You need to prevent overeating and over-drinking one way or another. The snack meals at morning and afternoon can pile on the calories. Control these, or compensate the next day or meal and cut back or even fast for that meal. Have several alcohol-free days each week.
• Cut back on fat, refined carbohydrates and sugars, and alcohol. This is food ceasier said than done when you want to enjoy yourself, but excesses of these three food categories are mostly where the excess calories and body fat come from. Reduce intake of fried foods, fatty cuts of meat, cheeses, fatty processed and packaged foods, pastries, sweets, cakes, pop and soft drinks, beer, spirits and wine and similar foods. Cutting back does not mean eating none of these; you are entitled to enjoy the festivities -- but be selective.
• Exercise or train five days each week, and make sure you move seven days each week. An hour of brisk walking expends about 300 calories. That's pretty much the equivalent to a big fancy slice of pecan pie, so you need to be active, very active during any period where you are tempted to overeat fancy foods. If you're on holidays, stay active because incidental, non-exercise activity is important. We all like to read and relax on holidays, but make time to get moving, even if it's recreational walking, skating or skiing.

• Do 2-3 workouts each week of at least 600 calories. Yes, this is asking a lot for most people on holidays, but you can reach this by jogging for about 50 minutes (at around 6 miles/hour pace), even in two different sessions. Or, you can do a weights session of 9 exercises of 3 sets of 12 repetitions, and do a 20 minute jog the same day to give you approximately the same energy expenditure.
• Play a lot; move more. Play with the kids, the grand kids, the nephews and nieces. Any type of activity that is not formal exercise is important because it helps keep your metabolism higher so you burn more calories during day-to-day activities.

See more questions and answers about weight training and fat burning for additional tips about how weight training and exercise in general affects fat loss.