Maintain your weight and heart-health during the holidays

One of the toughest times of the year for those trying to lose weight is the holiday season. While the holidays are a time to rejoice, celebrate and share and make family memories, it is also a time for eating and drinking and more eating and drinking. Wherever you go, whatever you do, food always seems to be the central focus. Cookies, chocolates, fruit cake, pecan pie, eggnog, champagne, holiday breads and a multitude of other ‘goodies’ can been seen in the kitchen, at the office, grocery store, drugstore, and friend’s house.  

How can you maintain your weight and heart-health during this season of mouth watering treats?  

For starters, you have to watch your caloric intake. You must use more calories than you consume. Secondly you must be mindful of how often you move around. The more your entire body is engaged in moving, the more calories you’ll burn.   

To use more calories, you need to move around every day. Some people call this exercise, but I don’t like that word–it makes moving sound like a chore. I prefer the term physical activity. Your body was made to move. It wants to move. Movement keeps it healthy. 

Try to move extra-vigorously during at least half an hour of your physical activity so that you can burn more calories. An easy way to know whether you’re working vigorously is that the exertion will make you breathe heavily and your heart rate will increase. 

Want Weight Loss? Do the Math 

One pound of fat equals 3,500 calories. If you consume 3,500 more calories than you burn off through physical activity, you gain a pound. If you burn off 3,500 more than you consume, you lose a pound. To lose 2 pounds a week means you need to run a deficit of 7,000 calories through more activity and less consumption each week. That means burning 500 more calories a day and eating 500 fewer calories a day. 

Here are some physical activity suggestions to help you burn calories and promote heart health during the holiday season: 

• Walking to see holiday decorative displays and lighting shows around the neighborhood
• Plan outdoor activities around the holiday: ice skating, skiing, sledding, snowboarding, snowball fights, build snowman with children
• Park your car further away from the mall entrance for a longer walk
• Take the stairs in the mall and not the elevator
• Take an extra lap around the mall after you finished your shopping
• Dance at the office party this year
• Tidy the house for guest: vacuuming, moving furniture, loading and unloading groceries, making the beds, shoveling snow

 
Now for the tough part— watching what you eat. Following these suggestions will help you maintain a safe level of calories during holiday meals and you’ll still enjoy the food.  

• Remove the skin— and the underlying fat— from chicken, turkey and other poultry before you cook it. To replace the moisture and flavor, marinate the meat before cooking.
• Dilute any juice by 50 percent with tap water or sparkling water.
• Reduce your alcohol consumption by 50 percent.
• Most dairy products, such as cheese and yogurt, come in lower-calorie versions. Buy those for your recipes.
• At work stash your own healthy snacks in your desk so you won’t be tempted to overindulge in the office holiday goodies circulating in abundance.
• Skip the gravy, sauces and extra condiments on your food during holiday dinners
• Eat your regular breakfast the day of a big dinner so you want over eat.
• Eat the veggies without the dips and eat more from the fruit platters and not the pastry trays
• Opt for a broth instead of a cream-based soup.
• Opt for broiled or boiled entrees instead of fried or sautéed.

 
 
I can’t stress it enough: In order to live a healthier and happier life, you must learn to eat less and become more active. But this doesn’t mean that you have to starve yourself, eat only salad for a month or spend 10 hours a day doing sit-ups. In order to maintain your weight during the holidays you will just need to make those small changes.

I recommend creating a plan ahead of time. Create a way for incorporating fitness and good nutrition into your daily routine during the holiday season. Look for healthy holiday recipes for dinner and snacking. Get the support of your family and friends who will be sharing the holiday with you.

Hopefully these tips will help you find a balance between staying fit and also enjoying the fun of the season. Remember, moderation and movements are the keys. Have a great holiday season!