Avoid Holiday Weight Gain With One Small Change
January 1st is just around the corner, but waiting for the New Year to start your weight loss plan could mean packing on an additional one to five pounds before the holiday season is over.
And, two things are going to happen to those extra pounds. Either your starting weight will be higher come New Year's Day. Or, those pounds will stay right there until next year's holiday extravaganza, when you'll pack on one to five more pounds.
But, you can stop the cycle today...
With just one small change every week, you can slow down your holiday weight gain, and set yourself up for permanent lifestyle changes, that will lead to lasting weight loss and physical fitness in 2010.
Here are some ideas:
1. Write it down: Pull out a notebook today and start writing down everything you eat -- good or bad, no cheating! Later, you can add calorie counts to your food journal if you want. But, writing down your meals and snacks will help keep overeating in check, and might even teach you what your trigger points are.2. Add just five: Add five minutes of exercise to whatever you're already doing, even if whatever you're doing is nothing. Each week, tack on five more minutes, until you're up to 30-60 minutes of moderate exercise at least five days a week.
3. Substitute: Got a junk food habit or a sweet tooth? Try substituting just one daily indulgence with a fruit or a vegetable instead. Do the same with sugary sodas, by switching one drink a day to diet soda or flavored water. The goal is eventually to cut out sugary snacks and drinks altogether, however by reducing just one daily serving a week, the adjustment won't seem nearly so harsh.
4. Cut 100: Look for easy ways to cut just 100 calories from your diet each day. One hundred is pretty painless, and if you cut another hundred each week for five weeks, you'll be eating 500 fewer calories each day, which adds up to about a pound a week in weight loss.
Deprivation diets don't work, but healthy changes in lifestyle can, and do.
By making one of these or other small changes today, you just might slow down that holiday weight gain that's been creeping up on you.
Already got the health and fitness lifestyle down? Then share some of your own small changes with our readers who are just starting out...
Great suggestions, and they are especially important this time of year.
Since I have some time off around the holidays, I'm looking for fun ways to get more exercise. I'm looking for nice local hikes and great bike rides.
ReplyThose who have the potential obesity due to eating a lot and good on holidays should read this article. Instructions to continue to lose weight on holiday is very practical and easy to administer. What is important that the holiday fun, but keep your weight under control forever.
ReplyYour suggestions are great and very sound. Just sitting here feeling sorry for myself because I've bloated back up to 210 now that my daughter's wedding is over and I'm layed off and bored...and what do I do when I'm stressed and bored but EAT. Just thinking maybe one of these sites or BLOGS??? might give me some of the support that I need. I was about to sign onto the 5 bite diet but with all my experience with dieting that's a losing battle, unhealthy and they will be starving themselves to they're bodies will want to try to hang onto the weight even more and go into starvation mode. If there is one thing I've learned the healthy way is the way to go...it's slower coming off but it stays off better. Hoping a little online support will help me get motivated and get started. The older you get the harder it is. I need to lose about 50 lbs but I'm going to set myself a goal of 20 for now. Anybody else out there ready to get at it before christmas and not wait until New Year's day...help???
ReplyI think exercise is a great key to boredom. If you are sitting around all day, what better way to make yourself feel like you're actually DOING something? It's always much easier to fit exercise in on the weekends because I have the time ... Not having anything to do is certainly not an excuse for not exercising.
ReplyOne thing that helped me lose the last 10 lbs I was holding onto was cutting 100-200 calories' worth of carbs and replacing them with 100-200 calories' worth of lean protein. I felt more satisfied and my body held onto muscle a little better.
ReplyThanks for the reminders! It's easy at this time of year to eat and drink too much, and feel terrible for it. I find it hard to resist the yummy foods, so I back off alcohol and up my exercise to minimise the damage. :)
ReplyAll great tips! I just did a post on this weight gain stuff. Oh, heck, I talk about it all year long! :-) Anyway, yes to food journaling & a proven method for losing & keeping off weight. Too many underestimate how much they eat. Plan ahead too so you know what is coming at you & how you will adjust. Make tomorrow today! Why pick some date in the future to start getting healthy.. do it NOW. And who cares if you "mess up" whatever that is to each person. Juts get back to it right away, not tomorrow or Monday or January.
For me, I just go about the holidays like I do every day of the year. I eat well, exercise & plan ahead for things & events & parties.
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