When festivity fills the air, the holiday spirit becomes contagious. Winter, as it is, brings with itself a lethargy and longing for warmth that is found in the most indulgent of foods. Bakeries start stocking up, there are pies on window sills, mugs are topped with hot cocoa. Caution goes out the window and we stop fighting against the holiday spirit and put on the notorious burden we regret as soon as the New Year dawns: holiday weight. There’s no doubt, the holiday season has its own stressors, and gaining weight is a big one!
It does not need to be one or the other, though. You can indulge in your eggnog and candy canes and emerge in the Thanksgiving feast as much as anyone else. There are only a few technical tips and tricks that you must integrate into your lifestyle and you will never have to worry about making the holiday spirit your enemy again.
Be prepared to start out your New Year already feeling like the new self you need to be, having already taken losing weight off of your list of resolutions. Let your body and mind both get the best this holiday season.
1. Plan Your Proportions
Our elementary school food pyramid has been cutting out portions for us from the time when we were learning our ABCs. It is time to take it into consideration a little more when it comes to picking from the dinner table. Yes, you can have that mug of eggnog but do not skip out your portion of fruits and vegetables. Life is not cruel enough to forbid you the heavenly holiday foods you crave all year, it is only a balance you must create between all the foods from the table. Remember your food pyramid and you will have no extra weight to worry about, just a healthy holiday glow from all the portions you make up.
2. Have Rules
The way people let themselves go is quite literally by letting themselves “go”. Holiday weight is not unavoidable – in fact, it may result from people’s belief that there is no stopping holiday weight so they indulge with no stoppers. Have set quantities that you have allowed for certain foods, and have rewards and penalties for how well you abide by those limits. They may have laid an entire dish of creamy baked potatoes but that never means you are entitled to seconds and thirds. Remember the commitment you have made to yourself – not by complete abstinence but by only a little of a good thing. It keeps the novelty factor running and keeps your body and mind happy.
3. Move Around
Yes, there is no work, no college, no commitments. There is, however, joy in the moving around you have decided to completely give up. Remind yourself of how walks in the winter feel so refreshing or do basic morning exercises to remind yourself that while the rest of the world may be giving into the holidays, does not mean that you conform too. Find a few minutes every day to move around, take a walk, do stretches. Remember that this also allows you extra holiday treat time.
4. Pace Yourself
Eating a lot does not make you put on weight. Accept this mantra. It is the how and what you eat that makes you gain the unwelcome weight. Space out your meals by smaller portions, you do not have to eat until the pants come unbuttoned at the dinner table, you can always come back for seconds just give your stomach the time to process and metabolize. Start eating early morning and you will have an entire day of holiday treats, just in smaller, more frequent portions than the overeating tradition of before.
