Five tips to survive holiday overeating without gaining weight!
It is the season to overeat and give up on fitness goals. With the added stress of the holidays and the extra holiday activities we attend it is easy to quit caring. That is what the New Years resolution is for Right? Wrong, procrastination is never the answer in any aspect of life.
1. Choose one cheat day a week. Yes I said cheat on your Healthy eating plan. I don't like to say diet because diets fail. A healthy eating plan can be followed forever. Now picking that day can be tough some times, if you have multiple gatherings in one week. Following a tunnel with no light at the end is almost imposable. This cheat day will keep you on task because you know Mom or grandma is making cookies that you get once a year.
2. Do not starve yourself on cheat day. I always hear people say I have not eaten anything today to save room for this meal. You will program your body to think it is starving so when you do eat, your body will store as much as it can in fat stores. It does this because it is preparing for long periods with no food. This practice also causes some people to eat to fast. Eat three small meals before the big one with high protein and low carbs. Most holiday food is high in carbohydrates so you will get those later.
3. Eat just the special food. Stay away from the breads and the stuff that is not special to you. The bowls of chips and pretzels are a definite no no, those are not special! That is where not being starving comes into play. You have the will power to stay away from the before meal garbage. With the special food use portion control and save a little room for desert.
4. Stay away from soda! Soda is just plane bad for you, diet or regular style. Soda also does not hydrate you enough. Being well hydrated helps digestion, so drink extra water.
5. Workout on cheat day and the day after. On cheat day do heavy resistance training, yes weights not cardio. If you can do a taxing strength workout (preferably a leg workout) within a couple hours of your big meal your body is looking for food for recovery. The day after is a little tougher because if your strength workout was good enough you will be a little sore. The day after cardio workout should start with a 5 to 10 minute warm up to help with the soreness or be done in a infrared Sauna. After the warm up start with a 30 second high intensity burst followed by a two minute very low intensity bout. Repeat this cycle five to eight times depending on your fitness level.
Enjoy your holidays and stick to your plan, except for cheat day!
