How to Stay Trim During The Holidays
On average, people gain between one and five pounds from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day, which will make your New Year’s weight loss goals that much harder to achieve. Instead of packing on the pounds this holiday season, follow these suggestions to help you make the right consumption and fitness choices throughout the holidays, so you don’t have to worry about losing weight afterwards.
How to Stay Trim During the Holidays
If you’re like most Americans, the temptation of Thanksgiving casseroles, pies and breads is just too great to ignore. On average, people gain between one and five pounds from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day, which will make your New Year’s weight loss goals that much harder to achieve.
Instead of packing on the pounds this holiday season, why not make the right consumption and fitness choices throughout the holidays, so you don’t have to worry about losing weight afterwards? No matter where you celebrate the holidays, from Miami to Tacoma and everywhere in between, you can stay on track during the holiday season.
Stay Active
No matter where you are over the holidays, you can work in a little workout time. Pack a jump rope or Frisbee in your suitcase. Do crunches and jumping jacks before you get in the shower. Park your car far from the store (which you’ll probably have to do anyway). Run up and down the stairs a few times. Walk, run, hike, jog or borrow a family member’s bicycle to take around the neighborhood. If your family has you busy from sunup to sundown, break up your workout into three 10-minute cardio sessions, or fit in as many of them as you can during the day.
Involve the Family
Nothing inspires fitness more than seeing someone else do it, too. After Thanksgiving dinner, invite Mom for a walk, or help Dad shovel snow or rake leaves. Play flag football with all of your cousins, or get out in the snow to burn maximum calories. Building a snowman burns 285 calories per hour, having a snowball fight burns 319 calories per hour and making snow angels burns 214 calories per hour.
Offer to Take Over Cooking Duties
Ideally, if you cook the entire dinner, you can control how much fat, sodium and sugar goes into any dish. For some people, taking over the cooking responsibilities just won’t be possible, due to time restraints and tradition. But if you can even whip up one low-fat, low-calorie, high-fiber dish yourself, you can load up on it during meal times and simply sample the other dishes. You might even inspire a new healthy holiday tradition.
Eat Fruit Beforehand
Pack high-fiber apples, bananas, oranges, pears or prunes into your suitcase, and eat a serving of fruit with a glass of water before a meal. Or, have a 150-calorie, high-protein, high-fiber energy bar with a glass of water to create the same effect. This will fill you up so you can avoid heavier, sweet foods. If you eat before the Big Dinner, you’ll probably have to be incognito to avoid scrutiny, especially from those who worked so hard to prepare the meal.
Load Up on Vegetables That Matter
Fortunately, at Thanksgiving, vegetables are en masse, making it fairly easy for you to select a variety for your plate. At any meal, vegetables should cover half your plate, while protein covers one-fourth and starches cover the remaining one-fourth. Choose high-fiber vegetables such as beans, dark, leafy greens, peas, rhubarb, sweet potatoes and pumpkin. If the sweet potatoes are covered with marshmallows or brown sugar and pecans, try to scrape that topping off and get the good, healthier stuff underneath.
Taste Everything, Eat Nothing
Perhaps the hardest part of staying on the right track during holiday meal time is not devouring the entire dessert table. First, it’s perfectly okay to eat your favorites – just eat less of them. Slice the pumpkin pie extra-thin, and skip the whipped cream. Keep in mind that smells of food are more delicious than the food itself, and any dish loses a lot of its flavor and luster after a few bites. If you’re mentally prepared before you enter the “battlefield,” you’ll come out a winner.
Make Your Goals Known
Your family’s more likely to be supportive if they know what you’re trying to achieve, and you’re more likely to follow through and feel accountable for your own success if you say your weight-loss goals out loud. Some family members are going to object, “Indulge a little! It’s only once a year.” so you should prepare yourself for that. Hopefully, most family members will support your dreams, encourage you to continue on your path and maybe even join you in your walk.
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