Tammy’s Tips 9
This is the time of year where the eating marathons begin. Between Halloween, Thanksgiving, the holidays, New Years, and add in the colder, darker days, it’s what we’re programmed for to survive. The problem is we no longer need to stock up on and store more fat. We don’t live in caves and we generally have too much access to food whenever we want it. Along with this is the socially accepted practice of gorging and binging simply BECAUSE it’s November and December. Match that with the well intentioned thought “I’ll start my (insert favorite new years goal here) in January”. We also know full well that IF we actually do start on that nutrition, health or fitness goal January 1st, statistics show within 2 – 6 weeks, the overwhelming majority of those people quit. So take a second and do an honest internal scan – what’s your plan? Will you REALLY start going to the gym 4 days a week and have a tight diet starting Jan 1 – NO exceptions? What have your past successes looked like? All I’m saying is that if you know yourself well, and you have a tendency to fall off the wagon why give yourself the reason to have to get back on in the first place? Why does Jan 1 have to be the magical day to start fresh? Why not maintain your hard work during these next few weeks so you don’t have to fight to get back to where you were but you can continue to improve throughout? Don’t misunderstand me, I love food and look forward to the goodies during this time of year just as much as the next person BUT with some planning and self control you can enjoy the meals, treats and parties without causing too much damage. Here are some tips for the season:
Moderation – can’t stress it enough and if you read my articles regularly I feel I’m always including this. There’s no need to deprive oneself BUT there should also not be a free for all.
Use portion sizes to help you out. Choose smaller, whiter plates – it gives the illusion of having much more food than a larger, darker plate – we eat with our eyes first. Divide your plate in half – one half is fruit or veg, the other half is divided into ¼ protein, ¼ carbs (pasta, grains, mash potato or sweet potato etc).
Snacking – keep yourself busy and as far from the treats as possible.
Drink lots of water and especially before you sit down to a meal and at least one 8 oz glass in between alcoholic beverages.
If you slip – don’t beat yourself up. Reset your intentions, figure out what went wrong and why to determine if you could preemptively avoid a similar occurrence.
Don’t stop your exercises and in fact, you may want to ramp up a bit during this season to compensate for all the extra empty cals you may be taking in. It doesn’t have to be a lot but consider adding an extra day of exercise to your week even if it’s going for a long walk. You may also consider adding 10-15 extra minutes of cardio to your regularly scheduled workouts or add a mid-day 10-15 min body weight burst (think, jacks, squats, pushups, crunches, jog on the spot etc. or my CARDIO combos).
