[Featured Image provided by FIT4MOM Corporate]
Ugh! The holidays bring so many things: fun, laughter, fond memories, jolly, celebration, and… AND EXTRA WEIGHT!
Everyone loves Santa, but that doesn’t mean we want to jiggle like he does (unless you’re in Zumba class — in that case, jiggle away!)
I’ve put together 10 tips to help you stay fit during the holidays. Comment below to let me know how YOU plan on staying fit this season.
Here’s your cheat sheet:
1.) SMALLER PORTIONS:
Take SMALL portions of everything you love. It’s easy to take a large portion, but we all know that when you do that you end up eating it all and become overstuffed and uncomfortable… and MAD at yourself. Smaller is better in this case, because you can go back if you REALLY need more to fuel your body.
2.) PARK STRATEGICALLY!
Park far away! We don’t need drive around for 10 minutes looking for the closest spot. Listen, I KNOW how good it feels to snag one of the few front spots, but burning more calories due to a longer walk and saving some gas will feel a LOT better than the fleeting feeling of grasping a close resting place for your trusty rusty.
3.) NO CANDY ALLOWED!
Don’t allow candy in your house. Between the 5 parties you have to attend, the wannabe Julia Childs’ at your workplace, and the boxes of cookies and Grandma sends every year, you have PLENTY of opportunities to get your sweet on. Certainly don’t do yourself (and your kids) a disservice by adding hundreds of extra calories to your daily intake by setting out a tempting bowl of sweets.
4.) CLEAN-UP, YOU SLOB! 🙂
Clean, launder, organize! Tis the season to have people over, so let’s clean, clean, clean! Don’t forget that housework burns calories! Hauling laundry, stretching your arms from your pile of hangers to your pile of clothes and up to the bar in your closet will burn calorie after calorie. Think of this when you are complaining about having to go up and down your stairs because you keep forgetting things. It’s actually a blessing in disguise, because you are burning all of those calories you ate on Thanksgiving and the following holiday celebrations! This goes for scrubbing toilets, decluttering, making beds, dusting, & vacuuming, too!
5.) SPLURGE MINDFULLY, IF YOU MUST!
Save splurges for the actual holidays! Just because it is the holiday season doesn’t mean that your body processes food differently. If you must splurge on turkey, green bean casserole, and pumpkin cheesecake, save that splurge for the actual holiday and don’t talk yourself into thinking it’s ok to eat like that for the entire month!
6.) THIS FOR THAT!
Replace ingredients in your goodies. It is so easy to make things healthier! Here are some really easy replacements:
-1 egg: 1/2 banana
-Oil in baking: unsweetened applesauce (measure for measure)
-Sugar: Honey (see the excerpt below from Cooks.com)
1. Use equal amounts of honey for sugar up to one cup. Over one cup, replace each cup of sugar with 2/3 to 3/4 cup over honey depending upon the sweetness desired.
2. Lower the baking temperature 25 degrees and watch your time carefully since products with honey brown faster.
3. In recipes using more than one cup honey for sugar, it may be necessary to reduce liquids by 1/4 cup per cup of honey.
4. In baked goods, add 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda per cup of honey if baking soda is not already included in the recipe. This will reduce the acidity of the honey, as well as increase the volume of your product.
Moisten a measuring spoon or cup first with water, oil, or an egg before measuring the honey to prevent it from sticking to the measuring utensil. Honey is heavy by weight. A 12 ounce jar equals one standard 8 ounce cup. A quart weighs 3 pounds.
Here are some of my recipes that you might like: Amazing Peanut Butter Apple Oatmeal Bars, Peanut Butter Vegan (or not) Pancakes (replace the sugar with honey or agave), and Pumpkin Muffins: Vegan and Clean!
7.) KICK-START YOUR METABOLISM!
GIve your body the gift of spurts of energy throughout the day. Don’t worry about setting aside a long stretch of the day to workout. Even if you do have a planned hour-long workout each day, ensure you do bursts of exercise at least two other times throughout the day. An example would be to wake up, do a 15-minute workout before heading to work or another activity, walk or run 10-20 flights of stairs right before eating lunch, and then do your long workout after work. Doing this will kickstart your metabolism multiple times a day, helping rid your body of excess calories.
8.) EAT, EAT, EAT!
Set a meal/snack alarm. Along the same lines as number 7, eating more frequent, yet smaller, meals will allow your metabolism to wake up and burn. Imagine your job was to push a wheel barrow back-and-forth between your home and a barn 400m away. You take one trip with an empty wheelbarrow. Then, it a few rocks appear in the barrow. It is still easy for you to take this back-and-forth. You can do it all day, in fact. Now, imagine you have the same wheelbarrow. It’s empty as you walk back-and-forth until “BOOM!” A ton of rocks are dropped into it. You can barely truck it to the barn. Just as you FINALLY get there, another huge load is dropped on top of it. Keeping the load on your metabolism low, yet steady will help it truck along all day!
A possible schedule could be:
7am – Small breakfast, such as a piece of whole wheat toast with pb and an apple or a bowl of reduced fat cottage cheese with sliced fruit in it.
9:30am – Snack, such as a healthy bar (Kind, Luna, homemade like the Apple Bar recipe above, etc.), an apple or banana with pb, or a handful of nuts.
12pm – Small lunch, such as a turkey wrap with lots of veggies and light mayo or mustard or half of a burrito bowl (chicken, carnitas, or tofu; black beans, brown rice, lettuce, tomatoes, and salsa).
2:30pm – See 9:30am
5pm – a 4oz piece of fish with cooked veggies or a 4oz piece of chicken with 1/2 c. of whole wheat noodles and homemade, chunky marinara sauce.
7pm – You might not even need this snack, depending on your full-ness from dinner and how early you go to bed. However, if you go to bed 10pm or later, you might need a cup of berries, a 1/2 c. of greek yogurt (low sugar), veggies and salsa or hummus, or an apple, sliced, with cinnamon sprinkled on it. Try to keep this snack, especially low-calorie!
9.) PLAY, PLAY, PLAY!
Not only will your body thank you for getting out and playing with your kids or pets, but your kids and pets will thank you! Tis the season to be thankful for everything we have, including the short time we have with our children at the age they are! Spend time sledding, throwing snowballs, running around in the park, throwing a ball around, have dance parties, etc. Get moving so THEY get moving. A love of fitness is the best gift you can give your children this holiday season and for the rest of their lives.
10.) WORK OOT! –> yes, “oot”!
Do my 12 Days of Fitness (coming soon!) I will provide you 1 workout a day for 12 days. Phew! Get ready for this!
- This is Tori Stark, pushing her hardest as always.
Do you have tips? Share them below and we’ll feature them on our social media accounts, giving you credit.
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