Play a little game with holiday food – Eat this, Not that – to avoid the holiday weight gain!

To play, click here!

From Men’s Health,

Worst movie snack: buttered popcorn Instead: Soft Pretzel with Mustard

Worst chocolate candies: M&Ms Instead: Junior Mints

Worst Licorice-type candie: Twizzlers Instead: Good and Plenty

Worst chocolate bar: Herseys Milk Chocolate Bar Instead: Kit Kat Bar

Worst chewy fruit candie: Dots Instead: Swedish Fish

Budget your calories.  If you are hitting up a party or dinner later on, halve your portions the day of the party.  You can slice 300-500 calories off your daily diet and use those at the party.

Stick to the veggie platters.  ***Choose veggies over fruit when possible too.

Stick to protein platters – meat, lettuce wraps, shrimp…avoid the desserts, pastries.  Too many carbs!

Indulge in one vice – if you drink alcohol, no food.  If you want the food, avoid alcohol.

Talk more than eat.  If you are at a party, do more talking and socializing than eating.  If you are at a dinner table, take a bite, strike up a conversation, take a bite and so on.  Also, put your fork down between bites.  This forces you to chew and to wait and to enjoy your food (and company!).

Shrink your plate.  Eat off of a 20 inch dinner plate rather than a 22 inch.   You can elimiate 22% of calories and 18 pounds a year.

Switch your cheat day.  If your cheat day is Sunday, party is Thursday, move the cheat day to Thursday.

Get back on the horse.  If you splurge one night, get back on the diet and exercise horse the next day.l

Burn it off!

I am finding it hard to get to the gym…finals, Christmas parties and haven’t even started shopping.  And that is before the holidays actually begin and I will be leaving the city for my parents house (aka middle of nowhere, with no gym in sight!).

So here is some tips for working out with no gym from Men’s Health:

Not really related to health, but in case you need a gift guide (ahem, men) check out the Men’s Health gift guide. 

I’m doing this because I was almosted “gifted” with a laundry basket….and jar openers.  My god (and shakes head).

Click here for the Gift Guide.

I’ve posted this before the holidays because I know that I will sleip up once.  From EverydayHealth.com:

Q: I totally pigged out today and feel so defeated. What should I do now?

A:  Congratulations — you’re human! We all make mistakes, and pigging out does not constitute failure on your part. Consider it just a slipup or a temporary setback that you can overcome. Overdoing it at one meal, or even for a full day or two, will not undo all your hard work. The first thing you should do is get yourself back in gear. Here’s how to get started:

Make the rest of your day as healthful as possible. Don’t skip meals, but have a lighter dinner (and lunch too, if you haven’t eaten lunch yet). A bowl of cereal and milk works well for a light meal (measure it out so you don’t eat hundreds of extra calories), as does a container of yogurt with fruit, a big salad, a baked potato with broccoli, or even a sandwich.

Go the extra mile — by adding minutes or intensity — with your exercise routine today and tomorrow. This will give you a head start on getting back on track.

Think about what may have gone wrong. Did you let yourself get too hungry? Were you eating to fill an emotional need? Was the food sitting right in front of you, tempting you even though you weren’t hungry? The more you learn about your behavior patterns and why you slip up, the better able you’ll be to prevent future setbacks. Use a journal to record your thoughts and feelings.

1. If you have to have a drink, chose red wine.
2. Chose white meat over dark, and no skin!
3. Keep gravy to a tablespoon or 2.
4. Chose regular bread stuffing over corn bread.
5. Nix the cranberry sauce – lots if sugar.
6. Eat sweet potatoes baked rather than in casseroles.
7. If you’re going to have pie choose pumpkin.

It’s soon time for the wonderful time known as Christmas.  Parties, drinks, family, food, desserts, visiting, baking, cooking, did I mention drinks?

I am going to do project on how to survive the holidays while trying to be healthy.  It will feature what holiday foods to nix, to keep; how to eat around the dinner so you can have a few favourites; how to squeak in workouts so the drinks/food damage can be neutralized; portion control; how to survive parties; etc etc etc.

Let the holidays begin!

November 26, 2009

Dear Diary,

I went to my nutritionist/trainer yesterday.  I was honestly scared because I haven’t been that religious about eating, and have drank a lot lately.  I didn’t gain though, still at 149lbs but I did lose a bit more body fat!

Goals is to not gain over the holidays and to improve body fat.  Maybe to make shakes that can last me all day (balanced, enough for 3 meals).

Also he showed me workouts for when I have no time to get to the gym.

Upperbody: Pushups!  Start with a set of 15.  Rest 30 seconds.  Do a set of 14, rest for 30.  Set of 13, rest for 30 and so on.  Upper body workout in a short time!

Lowerbody: Squats! Set of single leg squats, each leg.  Then wall squats.  Start at a set of 15 with 30 second breaks.  Work down to set of 1 as above.

Intervals: Do a set of pushups, squats, crunch, sprint.  Do for 15 minutes.

November 20, 2009

Today is the day!  New Moon day, that is.  I haven’t done a Dear Diary in a while.  A little overwhelming this past month. 

I still weigh around 150lbs.  I lost about 15lbs since I started this blog.  Woohoo!  I am seeing a nutritionist, who is also a trainer.  We will be meeting next Wednesday and will take workouts.

I have been keeping up with the workouts when I can.  I do back/chest and 20min cardio, arms/shoulders with 20min cardio, and sometimes legs (need to lose some mass on these) and try to run when I can and light permits.

I have been eating better than in the summer.  No more carrot cake.  I have been drinking more though.  I eat around my workouts and lots of protein. 

Let me know how your workouts and diet plans have been going!