Christmas festivities are over, the lights and decorations have been stored away, the houseguests have gone, and your life seems to be getting back to normal. Except for one thing, that is: you notice a little extra thickness around your waist, your hips, thighs, arms, well, let’s face it– everywhere! Your clothes are uncomfortable and you have an unwelcome extra bulge.
It’s that Christmas weight gain that comes from indulging in one too many of your mother’s butter tart squares, not to mention all those fat laden dips your aunt served up, those extra scoops of gravy, and all those boxes of gooey chocolates that are so abundant during the Christmas season.
No need to despair, of course: there is a course of action you can follow! The timing is perfect because the New Year follows quickly afterwards, and brings an opportunity to set a course of weight loss as part of your new year resolutions. So use this perfect time as an advantage and set yourself a new goal of getting rid of your Christmas weight gain!
1. Unload all the leftovers.
It may seem obvious, but it is very difficult to make healthy food choices when you have the temptation of sugar-laden foods around you! So freeze or give away what you can.
It will be difficult but you may even have to toss some food in the trash. After all, it’s those Christmas treats that got you into this situation! You have no time to be trying new recipes either. They can wait until later in the year, unless they happen to be low-fat healthy food recipes!
2. Stock up on high fiber, low calorie foods.
This is the perfect time to stock your pantry with high fiber foods, such as canned beans and lentils, as well as grains such as oatmeal, wheat germ and bran. Make sure you have lots of green and leafy vegetables in your fridge. It’s a great idea to have washed and cleaned celery sticks, pepper slices, and carrot sticks on hand, when your desire to snack overcomes you. High protein foods such as boiled eggs and Greek yogurt are also good to have on hand.
It’s often a better plan to eat several smaller meals and snacks throughout the day. This keeps your metabolism burning calories, and keeps you from having hunger pangs throughout the day.
If you go too long without eating, you tend to overeat because you do have food in front of you. When you receive your food, you will want it inside of you pronto. It’s not a situation you want to find yourself in!
3. Start a food journal.
Many people who been successful at losing weight have kept a food journal. Get yourself a cool new notebook at your local dollar store for just this purpose!
Recording what you’ve eaten (and when) gives you a clear picture of how much you are actually taking in. It’s helpful to have a book that gives you the caloric value and the amount of fat grams in the foods in your daily journal.
Being able to track how much you are consuming on a daily and weekly basis will give you a clear plan on where you need to cut back. Dieticians have determined how many calories you should be consuming based on your age, height, and gender and current, desired, or ideal weight. There are many online calculators available that provide this information for you.
It’s helpful to know how much you need to consume each day lose a certain amount of weight.
4. Use an online food and fitness tracker.
Once you begin to record what you are eating each day you will want to log not only the calories but also the fat grams and nutritional values of those foods.
A helpful tool here is an app or an online food and fitness tracker. These are really handy because they have millions of foods in their databases that include all the values that you need to track.
Many of the foods are listed by brand name so they are easy to look up. It really cuts down on the time you would take to look up each food item. They even allow you to input your own recipe ingredients to determine the values of your favorite home cooked meals.
Online trackers often include a community of like-minded people that you can connect with. What better way to keep yourself motivated and help others stay meet their weight loss goals at the same time!
5. Start a fitness routine.
No weight loss program is complete without a fitness regime. This will help balance out the amount of calories you are left with each day, since you will be burning some off with the amount of activity you add. No matter what your lifestyle, you can add some amount of activity to your day.
The New Year is often the time that fitness classes are starting up. If you do better in a group, then signing up for a group exercise program is the way to go. Even adding a half hour walk to your day will be a good beginning. Then, gradually increase your time to an hour a day.
Check out what is offered in your community. Your local sports complex will offer Aquafit classes, weight resistance training, and yoga classes that can get your body in motion. Take a positive step forward and sign up for one!
6. Team up with a friend or family member.
Christmas weight gain sneaks up on all of us! You won’t have any difficulty in finding someone in your family, or a friend who is going through the exact same issue as you. Take advantage of this and make plans to work at it together, compare progress and keep in touch to stay motivated.
If you stick with your new weight loss goals, you are bound to succeed. It takes a lot longer to lose those extra pounds, than it does to put them on. Keep a positive attitude and celebrate your successes. Keep in mind how good you will feel when you get rid of that Christmas weight gain!
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Health And Beauty
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