Sex, Self Confidence and Holiday Weight Gain

Why festive overindulging can affect you in bed, and how to beat it

Too much festive food fun during the holidays can put your sex life on ice.

You are probably wondering what excessive holiday eating has to do with sex? That’s a fair question.

As a dietitian, I appreciate that many of you can’t wait to dig in to your holiday feast(s), but I also want to acknowledge the fact that overindulgence could potentially have negative implications for your sex life.

Sex and the season

There are a few things to consider:

1. Some people may not feel the same level of sexual desire and attractiveness when they are at a higher weight, as compared to a lower weight;
2. Although holiday weight gain ends up being, on average, about 1 lb., weight gained over the holiday season tends to be the single biggest period of time for annual weight gain; and
3. Even people who are actively trying to lose weight tend to gain weight during the holidays.

So now that we’ve put all that on the table, what can you do to keep your weight on track and make sure there is nothing holding you back from the best sex over the holidays?

3 quick tips to save your waistline and your sex life during the holidays

1. Pace yourself: A very common issue that I encounter is people going into holiday gatherings with the expectation of gorging themselves, and they prepare accordingly by not eating all day. Going into a feast starving, after chasing your hunger all day, could be a recipe for disaster and over-eating.
   
   Make a point of going to parties moderately fed, so that you can enjoy the meal without feeling like you need to eat everything in sight.
2. Back off the booze: Alcohol is a calorie-rich depressant that can mess with both your waistline and performance in bed. Pick a single drink for the night, whether that be a glass of wine or bottle of beer, and stick with it.
3. Burn off a little extra: You will never be able to “out run” the extra slices of cake you had at dinner, but mindful eating, in combination with keeping physically active – including having sex! – could go a long way to keeping you fit and thriving over the holiday season. In fact, studies show sexual activity can burn 69 to 100 calories in a half hour.

Working out with your partner is a necessary part of the sexercise lifestyle. Pairing up helps motivate both of you to stay active and take part in regular physical activity, which has been shown to ramp up libido and lead to better sex.

Finally, I would recommend you take a moment to review love2lose.com’s previous holiday article (12 Days of Healthy Holiday Food Swaps), which discusses food choices you can make to save yourself some calories and some trouble over the coming weeks.

Source

Frappier, J., Toupin, I., Levy, J. J., Aubertin-Leheudre, M., & Karelis, A. D. (2013). Energy Expenditure during Sexual Activity in Young Healthy Couples. PLOS One. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0079342

Kolotkin, R. L., Binks, M., Crosby, R. D., Østbye, T., Gress, R. E. and Adams, T. D. (2006). Obesity and Sexual Quality of Life. Obesity. 14: 472–479. doi:10.1038/oby.2006.62

R L Kolotkin, M Binks, R D Crosby, T Østbye, J E Mitchell & G Hartley (2008). Improvements in sexual quality of life after moderate weight loss. International Journal of Impotence Research. 20, 487–492 (2008) doi:10.1038/ijir.2008.32

Schoeller. The effect of holiday weight gain on body weight. Physiology & Behavior, Volume 134, Issue null, Pages 66-69

Yanovski JA, Yanovski SZ, Sovik KN, Nguyen TT, O’Neil PM, Sebring NG (2000). A Prospective Study of Holiday Weight Gain. The New England journal of medicine. 342(12):861-867. doi:10.1056/NEJM200003233421206.

Díaz-Zavala RG, Castro-Cantú MF, Valencia ME, Álvarez-Hernández G, Haby MM, Esparza-Romero J (2017). Effect of the Holiday Season on Weight Gain: A Narrative Review. Journal of Obesity. 2017:2085136. doi:10.1155/2017/2085136.