The holiday season is upon us once again. One of the reasons the American waistline is ever expanding is holiday weight gain. Depending on the study, the average American gains between 3-11 pounds during the holidays. Most don’t lose the holiday weight during the ensuing New Year’s resolution rush to the gym. So year after year we Americans get fatter and fatter.
My approach during the holidays is…break even. Don’t gain and don’t lose. Enjoy the holidays, but don’t over indulge. The way I see it, you’re already ahead if you start the New Year even on your weight. Use the ensuing months to hit your weight loss goal.
Here are 10 tried and true tips to help get you through the holidays with minimal damage and plenty of fun.
1. ”Know thy weakness.” – Samurai Strategies. This rule is king of all holiday rules. Know thyself. If you had a heart to heart with yourself you could probably figure out your nutrition strengths and weaknesses…and no it’s not all genetics. Some common weaknesses: carb addict, skipping breakfast, sweet tooth, skip workouts, alcohol. If you know you have a particular weakness then don’t put yourself in a situation to be tested. Your will power will always give out. Case in point, if you know you’re addicted to carbs, meaning you tend to go straight for the rolls and mashed potatoes on T-day, then eat all your protein and veggies first before you even indulge in making a castle of mashed potatoes on your plate. Hopefully by doing so you will be less apt to eat too much of the fattening carbs.
2. Don’t deny yourself. Have you ever noticed that when you completely deny yourself of something you crave it even more? This is the holidays and there is going to be plenty of unhealthy food around waiting to sabotage your fitness goals, my mom’s cranberry jello salad comes to mind. Give yourself a bite or a small serving and be done with it. I have found that often times just a taste is all you need to satisfy that craving. This rule, however, is contingent on rule number 1. You don’t hire an alcoholic to run a liquor store. Likewise, if you know that you can’t just have one bite or one serving without going ape crazy and eating the whole thing, then don’t tempt yourself by allowing yourself the opportunity. Once again, don’t deny yourself, BUT know your weakness.
3. Intense Exercise. Most of you hardly have time during the rest of the year for exercise let alone during the holidays, so drop the long cardio bouts and stick to short, high intensity exercise routines like boot camp style workouts, super sets, circuit training, or interval training. High intensity is the key here. On a scale of 1-10 for exertion, you should be hanging out between and 9 and 11…yup 11. Yes, your routine at the local Curves is circuit training, but the intensity is most likely lacking. A big benefit to high intensity workouts is that they are over quickly…20-30 minutes, but your metabolism is lit up for hours. Even if you only have time for 10 minutes, then by all means do 10 minutes. You’ll eat better afterwards and you’ll feel better too.
4. Stick to 1 serving. No more going back for seconds. One plate and done…enough said.
5. Eat plenty of protein. Fats and carbs are most easily stored as fat. Protein, on the other hand, requires considerable calories just to digest. Some studies suggest 30% of the calories consumed in protein is used in the digestion and breakdown of protein. Most women should shoot for a palm sized serving of protein and men a whole hand sized serving.
6. Eat breakfast and eat throughout the day. Yes, even on Thanksgiving Day, eat your normal meals including breakfast. This will help prevent overeating during the “big meal”. If you know you’re going to a holiday party and you want to avoid overeating eat a small meal before you go. A fast option is a protein smoothie on your way out the door.
7. Eat protein and veggies first. This little trick will help lessen the glycemic load of your meal. Meaning it will hinder the hormonal response when eating carbs to store some for later. Plus you will reach the point of feeling full quicker.
8. Drink plenty of water. Often times we misread our body’s craving for water as hunger, therefore, we eat. The next time you want to eat in between meals, drink some water and see if you’re still hungry in a few minutes. Besides, our bodies just run better when properly hydrated. Shoot for 0.5 ounces per pound body weight a day.
9. Severely cut back or eliminate full fat or sugar foods. I’m not a big fan of sugar-free or fat-free food options in normal routine, but on occasions where fat and sugar are plentiful like the holidays, a low-fat or sugar-free option would be recommended. Choose vinaigrettes for salads, sugar-free jello/cool whip for deserts. Or if you can’t stomach the lower calorie options then opt for a smaller serving of gravy, whipped cream and jello.
10. Avoid mindless snacking. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about eating small meals throughout the day. But don’t skip meals because you’re constantly eating at the snack tray. Peanut M&Ms just don’t offer the same nutritional value as a high protein/veggie meal. Eat your meals every 2-3 hours (meal replacement shakes are extremely convenient during this hectic time of year) and then when you do snack choose healthy options like a relish tray with humus for dip or follow rule number 9 and choose a small helping, all the while remembering rule numero uno…know thy weakness.
11. (bonus tip) Stay active. For heavens sake get off the couch. Pass on the post T-day nap. And, you don’t need to see every football game; catch the highlights on ESPN. Instead, go play a pick up game of ball, go snowshoeing or skiing, do a home boot camp workout. Shoot, even play some Wii …your kids will love you for it.
There you have it some holiday words to live by.
Stay Fit
Mat “the trainer”
Mat Gover BS, CSCS and Pam Gover CPT are Orem fitness boot camp instructors, personal trainers, and real world fat loss experts. They also own EXL Fitness & Performance, a personal and group training studio. To book Mat to speak at your Utah Valley company, club, or organization please contact him by email at matgover@mac.com or by phone at (801) 836.7185. For a free one-week trial to his Orem boot camp to experience the best personal training in Utah Valley please call Mat or drop by the gym (1623 N State St, Orem right next to Costa Vida).
Here is a full body, metabolism boosting boot camp workout with exercises I consider to be fundamental movement patterns. Most other exercises are some variation of these basic exercises. The advantage here is that it can be done virtually everywhere. The only piece of equipment required is the best piece of equipment you will ever own…your body. If you’re on the road traveling and don’t want to miss your workout or you can’t get away from the house to go to the gym. This 20 minute workout will really rock your world.
“It amazes me that most people spend more time planning out next summer’s vacation than they do planning the rest of their lives.” Patricia Fripp, Professional Speaker
The least effective tool in your fat loss arsenal is exercise that burns calories but does not do anything for increasing your metabolism or maintaining your lean muscle tissue. Enter traditional, steady state “cardio” including hard cardio and low intensity cardio. Both these have their benefits in the fat loss fight but should play only a small role.
MHR. Do you know how many hours you would have to walk to burn any significant amount of calories? A 175-lb man would burn about 250 calories/hour and a 130-pound woman would burn just over 200 calories/hour. Because this is performed in the “ideal fat loss range” which means a larger percentage (75% at best) of the calories will most likely be fat that’s still very few calories. Seventy-five percent of 250 and 200 are 188 and 150 respectively. Good job! You just burned off the caloric equivalent of a large apple, and you did nothing to stimulate your metabolism. In a metabolically charged strength workout or a 20-30 minute HIIT you’ll easily burn that and then some, especially when you account for the “after burn” of an elevated metabolism.
In the last post I introduced the 2 most important factors in fat loss…nutrition and nutrition. In fact, nutrition is so important I don’t even bother measuring or testing a client’s body fat unless they have committed to a nutrition plan (preferably Precision Nutrition or The Carb Rotation Diet). This week I’m continuing with the Fat Loss Hierarchy with #3…
