How to Stay in Shape During the Holidays

By: Terry Abrams
Most Americans would like to stay in shape during the holidays, but usually don’t understand how to do it. This article outlines a plan to help accomplish this goal.

Start by taking a look at your current lifestyle and eating habits, and make general decisions around what you’re doing. There are 2 main factors to consider in your approach, nutrition and exercising, but there are many questions that you need to ask yourself in order to formulate a basic strategy.

Are you happy with your current weight, or are you trying to lose weight? Do you exercise regularly, or are you sedentary? How long and how intense are your workouts?

You need to build a plan without too much instant shock to your system, and you have to take into account the increased seasonal calories that you will be taking in. I would recommend trying to eat a moderate diet, and increasing your exercise program to combat the extra holiday food that you may eat. If you don’t think you have the time to increase your workouts then you can choose to either decrease your caloric intake, or increase the intensity of your exercise routine. If time allows, I would definitely recommend increasing your cardio workouts during this time of the year.

If you do cardio for 1 hour, 5 to 6 times a week, and add light weights with high reps 3 times a week, then you should be able to get through the Holidays without any weight gain, unless you’re eating chocolate and french fries every day! But if you haven’t been working out at all, then scale down to doing cardio just 3 to 4 times a week, and weights twice a week.

If you’re an athlete or former athlete and can do sports training or more intense activity such as plyometrics, then mixing these into your routine instead of cardio will actually burn more calories. With sprints and plyometrics, a 5:1 rest to work ratio is ideal for training. That may sound like too much rest, but you will need the break time to be able to go all out. The human body is not designed to sustain peak intensity for very long.

I recommend weighing yourself everyday in the morning to hold yourself accountable, and to also know where you stand in relation to your goals. If you are weighing yourself everyday, then you will also know what works and what doesn’t work, and how certain foods and exercise programs affect your weight. Remember, no matter how much you workout, if you eat more calories than you burn, then you will probably gain weight. Not all calories are created equal, so try to limit your saturated fats, trans fats, carbs, and sugars. Try your best not to eat any of these after 7pm, for maximal fat burn throughout sleep.

Just remember that after the holidays are over, your New Year’s resolutions don’t have to be about weight loss and getting into shape, because you’ll already be well on your way there!

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