The weather is cooling, the leaves are changing colours and snow will begin falling. The hustle and bustle of shoppers will be spread out everywhere. And all this leads to the inescapable holiday season. Oven roasted turkey, creamy mash potatoes, homemade stuffing, tart cranberry sauce, and delicious hand crafted apple pie….yummmmmy!
I love the holidays!
Here’s my video on my Top 6 Tips to Prevent the Holiday Bulge After 40.
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Yes, the holidays are finally beginning but along with the festive atmosphere, there is also the dreaded internal battle of “I want eat everything and please don’t pack on those extra pounds!”
I have been a personal health and wellness coach for over a decade. I have educated thousands of individuals within the past 12 years. I have encountered this dilemma year after year, wanting to enjoy the delicious treats over the holidays and not feel guilty and stress out over every little thing you consume; in other words: overindulging.
Why is this the most challenging issue among the countless fat gaining activities? I will tell you:
You spend countless hours on calorie counting, thousands of dollars on a personal trainer to make you sweat and burn calories all to keep the extra pounds off so you can look and feel amazing in that new party outfit. This also applies to your big wedding day or getting your beach body ready for your upcoming vacation.
The day comes, you throw caution and accountability out the window because you worked darn hard and you deserve to it! But what happens when all the excitement is over and reality sets in? Is it worth all the time, effort and money you dedicated to overhauling the look of your body and then throw it all away? Then the next day you feel guilty and stressed which leads to another fat gaining activity in your body (that I will be another blog post, stress and no sleep = FAT Explosion)
I always tell my clients, “There is no pause button.” The body doesn’t know what day it is and doesn’t reset to the day before.
Now I am not here to make you feel guilty and add more stress to your special occasion, I want to give you a quick reality check and to let you know there are strategies which are proven to help. I know this from experience. I can remember the time when I desperately wanted to look good in my slim fitting wedding suit. I went through the rigours of multiple workouts per week and strict eating habits. The big day came and went, the honeymoon was fantastic and also came to an end. I found it was very easy to pack on those dreaded extra pounds of fat and it has taken a bit of extra dedicated hours to get back even close to pre-wedding shape.
That’s why I am going to share with you my Top 6 Tips to Prevent the Holiday Bulge After 40 which have proven to be successful with my clients. I know it will be successful for you too, helping you with your eating habits and keeping that extra body fat off.
These are my Top 6 Tips to keep your over eating to a minimum, keep the fat off and enjoying the holidays.
Keep these strategies in mind for all other events too; weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, vacation, office parties etc.
Here are my Top 6 Tips to Prevent the Holiday Bulge After 40
#1: Create a pre-event plan. Having set a simple guideline of how many scrumptious hors d’oeurves you will eat, how many helpings of each side dish or main course you will have and so on will help prevent picking at foods all night long. Set a goal and stick to it!
#2: Physical activity. Even if you can only fit in 15 minutes of a quick at home online exercise routine or power walk. A little bit is better than none at all. Your body will be using those extra calories for energy. Download your FREE guide to Keeping the Fat Off After 40. Workouts to stay lean and pain free after 40.
#3: Spend the time food logging. It may sound tedious and time consuming but if you are worried about packing on the extra calories, knowing what you have eaten throughout the day will give you an idea of how much you have consumed and keep you focused not overindulging. And it works!
#4: Track your alcohol consumption. I know this may easier said than done. Research says it takes about one hour for your liver to break down the alcohol of a regular drink. That’s about a 12 ounce beer or a 5 ounce glass of wine. Have a glass of water between cocktails to slow the pace and keep you out of the next day headlines of badly made office party decisions.
#5: say “Thank you but no thanks”. Peer pressure from food pushers will throw any good pre-plan or strategy out the window. You know who they are, those pushy grandmothers who always want you to eat more. The incoherent friend who always has one too many cocktails. Stand up and say no to the food enablers!
#6: Enjoy the occasion. It’s the event you look forward to so let yourself enjoy the time. Don’t stress out over the calories you will be consuming. It’s not the end of the world if you have the one extra decadent chocolate truffle or one extra piping hot piece of apple pie. But it may derail all your hard work if you have too many one extras 🙂
Remember holidays and special occasions are for FUN! And if you need accountability and post holiday fitness training, I’m right here!
Joe Cheng
Online Wellness Coach
joe.cheng@stayfitanywhere.com