The famous line from Poltergeist might be echoing in your head: “They’re baaaack.” Yes, the Holidays are indeed back.
It’s barely November, and you might already be fretting about Holiday weight gain. Don’t! If you take a few of these simple tips to heart, you may end up lighter, and happier come January 1.
1. Keep exercising. Exercise makes you feel healthier, which in turn can help you eat healthier. Even if you have already been over-indulging, so what? Get back into the gym…today. Show yourself that you have what it takes to keep control this season.
2. Drink lots of water. Too many sweet and salty foods combined with alcohol can make you dehydrated. When you’re dehydrated, you often feel hungry and tired. When you are hungry and tired, you eat. It’s a vicious cycle that needs to be broken, and a simple glass of water (or unsweetened sparking water) can really help.
3. Fill up on fresh fruit and raw vegetables. To ease that post-Holiday gnawing in your stomach, eat some fruit and lots of vegetables. Fruit and vegetables contain vitamins, minerals, water, and fiber. Fruit can be a good substitute for sugary foods when cravings strike. It might not taste as good as a cookie, but at least you can pronounce the ingredients.
4. Don’t beat yourself up. Look at your whole week, not just one or two days. If you can manage to eat healthily and squeeze in some exercise before and after a feasting spree then all is not lost. Don’t knock yourself or your willpower because your subconcious will hear you. Tell yourself you had fun, but now it’s time to take care of your health again.
5. Eat lightly before and after the main Holiday celebration, and allow yourself some cheating room. If you eat leanly six days before a Holiday and splurge that one day, it really won’t make much of a difference. You have to enjoy life, too. Just don’t let your one day become several days or an entire week. That’s where the real damage happens.
We all have three simple choices every week:
1. Gain weight
2. Lose weight
3. Maintain weight.
Aim for number 2 before each Holiday and number 3 around the Holidays. Remember that every day we have new choices to make, and every day is a new chance to change your life – for better or worse. It your call.
Helen M. Ryan is the author of “21 Days to Change Your Body (and Your Life)”. Visit her blog at
www.realworldweightloss.com
