Holidays are fast approaching, and with that the rainy season has begun!
What? Rainy season? Yep, I mean the raining of cookies, turkeys, candies, cakes, etc; the rain of friends who are only too happy to make us eat lots of cakes, of course with good intentions! However, once we get drenched in this rain we end up adding a few extra pounds – usually 5-10 – to our otherwise healthy body!
So what do you do? There is no need to worry because in this article I will talk about two superb weight loss strategies which would help you halt holiday weight gain dead in the tracks!
1. Workout please: You know, a lot of people can avoid the holiday pounds if only they take the time to workout regularly. If you have never worked out in life, at least do it in the holiday season.
You are going to eat a lot of junk foods at this time so, unless you workout regularly, you won’t have any way to burn off the excess calories and you would end up with a fat belly and flabby arms!
If you are already working out then make sure to increase the level of intensity of your workouts! For example, if you usually do strength training for fifteen minutes per day, increase the duration to twenty or twenty-five minutes, or at least increase the intensity of the exercise!
DO NOT wait for the New Year in order to begin your workout regimen! Believe it or not, it is much easier to keep the annoying pounds away than losing them later on!
I would also suggest that you do cross-training, meaning that you start doing a completely different type of workout than what your body is accustomed to; or take up a completely new sport! This would shock your body and it would start burning fat and building muscles like crazy!
2. Take your focus away from food: Food shouldn’t be your focus in the holiday season! You should certainly eat but NOT overeat! If you find it too difficult to resist the temptation of food, take a walk, meet some of your old friends, immerse yourself in your favorite hobbies, read some Christmas story books, etc. You can also go for shopping (for anything other than food) or workout for an extra hour! Do anything except eating!
One trick I have found to be especially useful to take my focus away from food is that of keeping the food at a place which isn’t at my arm’s reach! If you keep food just under your nose then it is much harder to resist the food cravings than if you keep it in another room or upstairs. When you have to make an extra effort to eat, you are less likely to overeat!