Every year between Halloween and New Year’s, the average American is going to gain 6 to 8 pounds of pure body fat. This number is much worse for us women because we are smaller and we have slower metabolism’s, therefore it takes that much longer to burn off this body fat. When New Year’s rolls around and we can get that fire under our butt to get back in shape, we may very well spend all of that energy only to get back to our pre-October wait. One of the biggest things you can do to crush your New Years Resolutions is to avoid this holiday weight gain now. Project Zero! (Hint, hint more on this later!!)
These are the 5 most important strategies to keep off those extra pounds :
1.Take your head out the sand: what gets measured gets managed. So, if you want to do something about your weight, then you need to know how much you weigh. Keeping tabs on how much you weigh gives you a daily reality check throughout the holidays. It is far too easy to end up gaining 10lbs and not know it until you’ve got 3 months of hard work just to be back at square one. However, if you knew the needle was creeping up you would’ve been able to do something about it when the problem was small. Weigh the same time and use an app to log (vs. trying to remember).
2. Use layaway not a credit card: instead of indulging on Thanksgiving and then telling yourself that you’ll “be good” afterwards, you’ll be far more successful if you eat less for a few days leading to a feast. Saving up to buy the things you want is much less expensive than using credit. The same is true for your weight.
3. Guard the house: willpower is limited. The stress of the holidays makes it scarce. Don’t make the holidays even harder by surrounding yourself with temptation. If you walk by pie, cookies, etc every time you go to the kitchen for water those cookies are going to get nibbled by you (and everyone else you live with).
4. Feed the goose: You are the goose that lays the golden eggs. When you stop exercising “for a week or two” before Thanksgiving because you’re busy that “week or two” is going to be 2-6 months before you know it. When you’re not exercising everyone in your family will bear then brunt of your new attitude. Your family doesn’t need an exhausted, resentful martyr. They need mom at her best. Your family (and work and life) will always ask you to do more than you possibly can do. When you trade your fitness for busy-ness everyone loses.
5. Enjoy Thanksgiving: enjoy Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving. Eat a little less the days before, and enjoy Thanksgiving on November 23rd. Then get rid of the tempting leftovers by any means necessary.