Navigate Your Way Through The Holiday with Proper Exercise and Nutrition
 Entertaining at your home? Are you a guest this year? Don’t wake up the morning after bloated and beating yourself up for what you ate the night – or day – before. The key to avoiding slip-ups is planning and sticking to the plan. You must prepare mentally to maintain proper fitness and nutrition.
By now, chances are you’ve been working out at the gym and making changes in your attitude, behavior, habits and lifestyle. Why ruin all that hard work on one meal? Think of the holidays as “just another day.” Continue with your gym workout plans – for women, to keep positive attitude, this is essential.
Proper exercise, nutrition and fitness should be the focal point of our lifestyle, but let’s face it: food is a big part of our lives. It’s our best friend and our worst enemy. We associate it with every emotion and its there for every celebration and disappointment.
Every day we are tempted by foods that can derail our achievements. Temptation magnifies with the food pushers, the bowls of nuts, the food and the desserts. Getting your priorities straight will help you maneuver through the day. Ask yourself: Is having the stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie worth the 2 or 3 – maybe more –pounds you may gain from the meal? More than likely, the answer is no.
If you have put yourself in the mindset of “enjoy today and tomorrow I’ll be back on track,” that may be easier said than done. How many of us can jump back on the wagon when we know the pumpkin pie is in the refrigerator? For most of us, enjoy is code for “eat now, worry later.”
So, how can you plan ahead to make sure you make the smartest choices? Create your own rules before the holiday and make yourself a promise to stick to them and your gym workout plans.
Below are some suggestions to maintain both fitness and nutrition.
- Envision the holiday meal. Take a paper plate and draw what you are going to place on your plate, including dessert and appetizers. Place the plate on the refrigerator or somewhere you can see it everyday. Chances are you will stay true to your choices come meal time.
- A taste means a taste.
- Be picky, know what you love and cut the rest out.
- Make a deal with yourself before you sit down: have a glass of wine, an appetizer or dessert.
- Make time for yourself. If you’re stressed, chances are you will be too tired to make good food choices. Just 20 minutes a day of doing something you enjoy – reading, napping, taking a bubble bath, sitting in the hot tub – will help you recharge and refresh.
- Just say “no” to the food pushers, the invites, the lunches and dinners.
- For every invite you accept, decline two.
- Learn the words: “No thank you, I’ve had enough.”
- Make a deal with yourself that you will spend at least 20 minutes every day exercising or continuing your gym workout plans.
- Exercise is not a license to eat. Proper exercise includes proper nutrition.
- If you are hosting Thanksgiving, send guests home with goodie bags filled with leftovers.
- Be in tune to your body – it will tell you when you are full. Fitness and nutrition experts will tell you to know your comfort zone and when you hit it stop eating and drinking.
- Wear tight-fitting clothes. Doing so will make you less likely to overeat because you will be uncomfortable.
- Sit down and enjoy. Practice mindful eating by giving everything you eat your complete attention.
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