Staying Lean Over The Holidays!
You know the drill. Most people gain fat over the end of year holiday season. They eat anything and everything in sight. There are plenty of social gatherings and they all center around food! And not just any food but holiday food like pies loaded with tons of sugar and calories not to mention all the processed food available.
In addition to this, there are plenty of time constraints as well, so not only do we eat poorly; we tend to skip workouts or stop working out altogether over the holiday season.
So what the heck can you do to prevent this? How do you overcome the holiday challenges of:
- Too little time
- Too many holiday parties
- Too much stress
- Being surrounded by people constantly encouraging you to ‘enjoy’ the holidays (i.e., eat and drink lots of bad stuff!)
For starters, how about looking at the holiday season in a different way? Instead of trying to minimize the damage, why don’t you make it a challenge to yourself to improve your results over the holiday season? Don’t climb out of bed New Year’s Day, hate what you see in the mirror and try and gather up the momentum to hit the gym and reverse the damage.
You Don’t Have To Wake Up New Year’s Day And Hate What You See.
Hop out of bed, New Year’s Day, check out your improved physique in the mirror, be proud of it, and use that positive feeling to keep improving!
The great thing is, you can do both! You can enjoy the holiday season and improve your health and fitness. It does not have to be one or the other. This brings us to step number one.
1. Be Prepared
Set Some Goals And Create A Plan To Help Yourself From Going Off The Deep End This Holiday Season.
2. Nutrition With A Mission
Fiber has a wide variety of health benefits, both directly and indirectly (due to the loss of fat with a high fiber nutrition program). Fiber plays a very important role in intestinal action, i.e., keeping you ‘regular’. It helps flush cancer-causing substances from your body.
A nutrition program high in fiber is a vital key to any fat loss plan. Fiber helps you to feel full, making it easier to eat fewer calories. In addition, more calories are burned from digesting high fiber foods. In fact, by increasing your fiber intake to 35 grams a day you can burn up to an additional 250 calories. While it’s recommended you get 25 – 35 grams of fiber per day, most Americans get 14 grams of fiber per day. You may want to consider getting 35 – 40 grams over the holiday season. To make it easier to get this amount (and limit your calories) you should consider getting a high quality fiber supplement. One of my favorites is Colon Cleanse by Health Plus.
Getting enough of the good fats will help you lose fat, build muscle, and recover faster from your workouts. In addition, it has myriad health benefits, including being good for your heart.
But that’s not all. Essential fatty acids may also:
Good fats include: polyunsaturated (especially Omega-3′s), such as those from fish and nuts (especially almonds), as well as monosaturated fats, such as those from peanut butter, olive oil, egg yolks, and fish oil. You can also get them from:
To minimize excess calories during the holidays (so you can enjoy the treats) take fish oil capsules every day.
Increasing your protein intake will boost your metabolism and help to maintain your muscle mass, both key ingredients in losing fat and keeping it off.
Specific food combinations can help to burn calories by ramping up your metabolism. As I mentioned above eat carbs that are rich in fiber. They take longer to digest and you will feel “fuller” for longer periods of time.
Along with carbs rich in fiber, take in more protein. Your body burns more calories when you eat protein than it burns digesting either fats or carbohydrates.
Eating more protein to burn fat was confirmed in a study published in the American Journal of Physiology. One group was fed a high protein diet (just over one gram per pound of bodyweight per day) while the second group consumed a protein diet near equal to that of the RDA. The group eating the high protein diet burned more fat than the group consuming protein near equal to the RDA.
Your Body Burns More Calories When Consuming Protein Than When Eating Fats Or Carbohydrates.
One great way to boost your metabolism, burn more calories, and keep you from eating way too much is to have a little whey protein with some fiber about 15 or 20 minutes before a meal.
This goes back to being prepared. If you look at your upcoming holiday schedule and can pinpoint the four or five days you’ll be most tempted or really want to indulge (such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, holiday office party), you can arrange the rest of your schedule to make those your one day per week treat days.
By combining the other nutrition tips (more fiber, protein and EFAs) with a good nutrition schedule, you can enjoy the holidays and make progress!
Your Thanksgiving week may go like this:
Want to indulge in some of those great holiday treats like pie on non-treat days? Instead of having it after a big holiday meal, save the dessert for post-workout. Have a serving of a good whey protein powder with water for your protein and then have that piece of apple or pumpkin pie. Your body is ready to soak up protein and simple carbs right after a workout.
With Some Planning And Discipline You Should Be Able To Enjoy All Those Holiday Treats.
Lastly, when it comes to holiday eating and fighting off Holiday Weight Gain Syndrome, eat slowly and graze. Let’s face it, most of us go to the holiday dinner table already full from the appetizers. Don’t make this mistake. But don’t go to the dinner table starved, either!
Graze (snack) on appetizers like shrimp cocktail, almonds, cashews, and other nuts. And don’t forget some great tasting protein bars. Protein bars and protein powders are a life saver for me, especially during the holidays.
Take a walk after dinner (before dessert if you are going to have it!).
Snack On Appetizers, But Don’t Go To The Dinner Table Already Full.
3. Make HIIT A Focal Point During The Holidays
HIIT Training Is Hard Work And Ends Up Being Avoided By Many.
Conclusion
By putting all these things into play, you can not only avoid the dreaded holiday weight gain syndrome, you can make improvements in your body over the holidays, and all this will leave you pumped up and motivated for the new year instead of frustrated and upset because you let yourself backslide over the holidays.
Your workouts will be hard. They’ll also be very short so suck it up and crank up the intensity for a successful holiday season!
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- Be Thankful – 10 Tips To Staying Lean Over Thanksgiving!
- Twinkies Diet: The Dumbest Nutrition Experiment Ever Performed
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