#1 - Go to War With Your Best Weapon: Exercise

Just the very look of yummy cookies, cakes, fudges and all that food can send even the strictest sense of willpower flying out the window. There’s not only the temptation of its savory deliciousness, but there are matters of politeness and camaraderie to be taken into account as well. No one wants to turn down Aunt Flo’s legendary Christmas cookies because “I’m on a diet.” You don’t want to sit around a coffee table spread with goodies, pouting while everyone else partakes to their heart’s desire. (What’s with your brother? Does he ever gain weight? Is it even scientifically possible to eat that much and remain skinny?) So in order to avoid making yourself a holiday outcast, you’ll have to do something to burn those excess calories you’re taking in while your team loses badly in a game of Pictionary. The answer is, of course, exercise.

For many of us, lack of activity goes as hand in hand with the holidays as the food itself. Besides shopping, many of us seem to take a break from the more strenuous tasks in our lives during that three or four week stretch. This means you’re not only consuming extra calories, but you’re also burning less of them than at any other time, and that’s a golden way to gain weight. Thankfully, exercise doesn’t have to be very time consuming or even very difficult. If you’ve been lazy about getting some exercise because you don’t have the energy or don’t think you have the time, it’s time to suck it up, and make time.

The best plan of exercise is a combination of walking and resistance training. If you have just thirty minutes a day, you can hit the treadmill or even the streets outside your house for a brisk walk, those holiday goodies won’t stand a chance. If you can pair that with a trip to the gym a few times a week for some light weight lifting, or even a plan of simple push-ups and other body weight-resistance exercises around the house, you’ll come out on the other side of the holidays looking better than you did going in. What better present could you get for yourself?

» Continue Reading - Holiday Attack Plan:  It’s Christmas, Not Foodmas!