Give Yourself Weight Loss for the Holidays

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

12 Nov 2006 10:23 AM

It's the holiday season and while Santa may be a jolly old soul with a belly that jiggles like a bowlful of jelly, that doesn't mean the rest of us are interested in the same. So it's time to make a few lifestyle changes in order to give yourself some weight loss instead of weight gain for Christmas.

The average person puts on about 5 pounds between Thanksgiving and January 1st. 5 pounds sounds like a lot, but it's really not. To burn one pound, you need to burn 3500 calories, you can do this in 7 days by putting out 500 calories of effort per day - so if you can burn one pound a week in effort, you can burn the full five in the five weeks between Thanksgiving and New Years.

Still, my suggestion here wasn't to increase your exercise to 90 minutes a day in a season when time is short for everyone. So here are the key items to put on your nice list - your nice to yourself that is and they can help you make preventing weight gain and even encouraging weight loss a possibility this holiday season.

• The holidays are a time to be whole, increase the whole grains in your life - before you go to a party or a holiday dinner, treat yourself to some whole grain toast, whole grain bagel or oatmeal - this not only gives you some complex carbohydrates that take longer to digest, it's healthier for you than a lot of the junk foods out there and can help curb your appetite
• Water, the before, during and after meal aperitif because it fills your stomach up, keeps you hydrated and if you drink it ice cold, your body has to burn a few extra calories to warm it back up
• Buffets are not your friend, if you are a large gathering where the buffet is the choice - head for the fruit and vegetable end of the table for your first course and then try slivers or samplers of the rest rather than filling your plate from any other part of the table
• Your feet were made for walking, whether it's an after dinner stroll or holiday shopping, get out there and get walking because studies have shown that walking reduces the amount of fat in your blood
• Exercise regularly, I don't care if it's just 10 continuous minutes of exercise a day - I did crunches in bed before I got up this morning and then did a series of stretches over five minutes before hitting the showers - the more you actively use your body, the more your body can work for you
• Get a massage at some point in the next six weeks, it's a great way to pamper yourself and reduce your holiday stress that can lead to over eating
• Don't skimp on the sleep, Americans are chronically sleep deprived because we're always going to bed later and getting up earlier, shut off the late show and enjoy another hour or more of sleep. When you don't get enough, your body actually produces lower amounts of leptin, a hormone that affects your hunger

Don't feel like you need to deprive yourself or do overkill to make all of this a possibility. These are lifestyle changes that would help throughout the year, but the holidays are a great time to make them a gift to yourself.

What will you do this holiday season to help reduce weight gain?

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Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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beau22 (17) 14 Dec 2006 11:27 AM

Heather,

Great article and alot of useful information. I agree 100% with what you've said. In fact I wrote a similar article on my blog listing some of the tips you've mentioned. Too many people are reactive during the holiday season. A little bit of proactivity can really go along ways in keeping your weight goals in line.

Happy Holidays