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The holiday season draws near, which means extra holiday pounds. Ladies, how are we supposed to lose weight with two of the biggest, most delicious holidays coming up? Moderation is the key. Not only that, but check out these great tips below. While some may keep the pounds from sticking to you, others will help you shed a few pounds as well. You’ll LOVE these effective ways to lose weight during the holidays.
Table of Contents
Lose Weight During the Holidays
#1) Focus on water
People are going to be throwing a lot of empty calories at you this holiday season: cookies, fudge, cake, pie, etc. We’ve got to cut back on the calories that we ingest. So take a look at your favorite snacks that are centered around the holidays. Is your favorite holiday treat, pumpkin pie?
Well in order to make room in your calorie count for a little piece of pumpkin pie, focus on drinking only water after breakfast. So after your morning cup of Joe, make it a habit to only drink water for the rest of the day. Forgo the soda with your lunch.
Pro tip: Drink a full glass of water about 10 minutes before the meal, which will curb your appetite.
#2) Calorie/food journal
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Carry a palm sized notebook with you so that you can record your caloric intake everyday. In order to keep losing weight this holiday season, you’re going to have to exercise and lose 500 more calories than you intake every day.
So, if you want that extra piece of pie, factor that in and sweat it off. Check out our squats exercise article for some new exercises to try.
#3) Pick two
I suggest picking two treats that you enjoy. Your favorite holiday treats. Let’s say it’s pumpkin pie and sugar cookies. Vow to yourself that these will be the jewels on your dinner crown. Now find a low calorie or low fat recipe of those treats online.
#4) Just say “No”
Tell your friends that you don’t want any holiday treats this year. If you have a friend that always sends you a tin of homemade cookies, call her up and tell her, “Thanks but no thanks.” If you’ve got a family that always looks forward to her cookies, have your man take the cookies and pass them out to the kids so you don’t have to.
If you don’t want to be rude, or if you get a tin of cookies in the mail and will be afraid that you’ll cave (I know I probably would), have one and then take the rest to work with you. Those babies will disappear like hotcakes and you can even tell your friend that her cookies were as phenomenal as always.
#5) Take a walk and enjoy the scenery
Here’s another one of my easy ways to lose weight. I know it’s cold out but before it starts to snow (or even during the first light snowfall), take a walk. Walk for about 45 minutes a day. Why 45 and not 30?
A study at Duke University showed that sedentary folks (who mostly sat around all day, due to work or plain inactivity) would prevent weight gain if they walked for a half an hour but they would lose weight when they started walking 45 minutes a day instead.
#6) Smaller plate
Eat your big Thanksgiving dinner on a smaller plate. Our dinner plates are huge these days. Investing in a set of dishes that are smaller is a great tool to help you control your portion sizes. So this Thanksgiving, eat on a smaller plate and don’t pick up a second helping. If you’re still hungry, fill up your plate with veggies for your second round.
#7) Clean house for guests
Why not have Thanksgiving at your house? Already having everyone over? Awesome! Instead of cleaning everything the day before Thanksgiving, work cleaning into your daily workout regimen.
If you spend a half an hour cleaning something really thoroughly (I’m talking about really scrubbing), you will burn off nearly 120 calories. That’s a chunk of breakfast right there! Or a cookie or four!
#8) Friends flying in for the holidays
If your old friends are flying into town for the holidays, don’t meet them for a cup of coffee. Instead, meet them at the ice skating rink or bowling alley, go apple picking, take your kids to the pumpkin patch, or go shopping for presents together.
If you’re worried about spending the extra funds (because the cost of some of those activities is more than a cup of coffee), then choose a free activity instead: go for a walk in the park (when the trees are changing colors or meet them at your house where you can control the calorie intake and where you can save some pesos.
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Written by Tallulah Ray
It is true that we all “overeat” and make poor choices during the holiday season. I love the idea about focusing on water. I see a can of Coke in the picture. This is one of the easiest ways to add a ton of extra calories. You should drink water for every meal. There are no calories and it is filling too.
Water is always a great idea. It also helps to have a glass of water a half hour or so before the meal to help fill you up. Sipping on a glass of water during meal prep is also helpful.
These are solid ideas. Most of us struggle to just not gain during the holidays; few make it their goal to lose. But these tips make it seem possible. I do have a sedentary job, so I am inspired to find ways to get a walk in. It will also wake me up!
I drink three liters of water a day and I plan to up that a little starting next week. That and exercising is really the only defense I’m going to have this holiday season since I can’t resist all the goodies.
Saying no is hard! I think that’s one of the biggest challenges during the holidays–everyone’s always giving you food or asking you to try something. I’ve started asking people to give us fruit instead of cookies at Christmas. It’s actually gone over surprisingly well.
It is not as hard as most think. Remember it takes you time to realize when you are full. I tend to eat in spurts. I will eat a small meal, a bit of this and that then get up and walk around. We usually have 2 or 3 mini meals through the day, all broken up between sports outside to help burn those calories off!
There are some really useful ideas here. I never would have thought of suggesting an alternate meeting place for friends (where I’d be less likely to eat). I also like the “pick 2” rule. That way you still get your treat, but aren’t indulging too much.
You are so right! Our problem at work is people delivering chocolates to us almost every week for three weeks before the Christmas holidays. It’s hard to resist. I vow to do better this year!
Walking when it is cool out is very invigorating! I even walk when there is snow on the ground. I figure the more I walk the more I can eat (all those goodies). This way I don’t have to just say no.
That is always great! For me I never understood why people don’t think about the water in the foods these eat, especially potatoes. It is almost all water and people think that 8 glasses a day is hard to do. Goodness!
There are some really good tips here! Our whole family actually adapted the smaller plate rule last year and it really made a difference in how much I ate at least. 😉
Absolutely! Working out more is key during the holidays. I say this every time I leave Zumba class – I Zumba so I can eat what I like.
We did the same! We used to have big heavy round plates and now we have smaller square plates. We do use our big plates during the holidays though. They are festive.
I love to eat on holidays and I know that it is not good for
health. It can increase the body weight. I love these tips that you have given
on weight loss during holidays.