Don't Fall Victim to Holiday Weight Gain

The Holidays are a great opportunity to become sedentary and glutinous.  The result can be malaise and weight gain.  Here are 10 tips to power through the Holidays.  Don’t be a victim!  Weight gain and inactivity just don’t happen to you, you have a choice!

  1.  Make time for daily activity.  There is always time.  Make time.  Even 10 or 15 minutes.  Make it happen.  Make it a habit.
  2. Weigh yourself everyday.  You need this accountability.  It measures how well you did the day before.  Did you eat to much?  Weight fluctuations up and down from day to day can happen, concentrate on the overall trend from week to week.
  3. Start right now!  Go weigh yourself now.  Start leading a healthy lifestyle right now.  Don’t start on Monday.  Don’t start on January 1st.  Do your best right now, inaction just digs you into a deeper hole.
  4. Don’t be afraid to say no.  Say no to that 2nd glass of wine.  Say no to dessert.  Say no to appetizers.  Say no to seconds.  Get out of the habit of always saying yes.
  5. Eat vegetables with each meal when possible.  Vegetables are not only great for you, they crowd out other foods.
  6. Drink water.  Try to avoid drinking your calories.
  7. Eat when you are hungry.  Don’t eat at 3pm because you always eat at 3pm.  Are you eating because you are bored, tired, or stressed?  Challenge your habits.  Have you conditioned yourself to eat certain things at certain points of the day?  Not because you are actually hungry, but because it just sounds good?
  8. Use smaller plates and don’t go back for seconds.
  9. Don’t let perfection get in your way.   Make the best decisions you can with the choices presented.  Have the burger, but not the fries and soda.  Don’t say the heck with it, I’m already eating garbage so I might as well go for it.
  10. Limit processed foods and sugar.   Eat whole foods.