Avoiding the Holiday Pounds



     MSN had a great article on How to Stay Slim During the Holidays.  Then I read a great suggestion about High Intensity Interval Training or HIIT.    
     1.  Break up Your Exercise – yes, you are supposed to exercise an hour a day but it doesn’t have to be an hour all at once.   It can be 10 minutes here, fifteen minutes there.  Park your car far from the front door, go up and down the stairs a few extra times.  Go for a 15 minute walk if you don’t have time for a longer walk.   
     2.  Exercise with a friend – more fun to go for a walk or to the gym with a friend.      
     4.  Dance to some holiday music – dancing is great exercise and can burn off some calories.       3.   HIIT – Geralyn Coopersmith, global director of performance and fitness training at NIKE, Inc.  recommends HIIT. (BHG.com).  She notes that this type of training burns more calories and more fat.  A study of women working out 3 times a week, 20 minutes at a time using HIIT, burned more calories and more fat than women who worked out twice as long but at a slow and steady pace.  Her HIIT for a stationary bicycle is:
              • 5 minute warm up
              • One minute sprint
              • Two minute recovery
              • One minute sprint
              • Two minute recovery
              • One minute sprint
              • Two minute recovery
              • One minute sprint
              • Recovery
                I tried the HIIT workout on a stationary bike and it was great.  Definitely felt the calories burn off during the sprints.     
     5.   Stay hydrated – if you are thirsty you are becoming dehydrated.  
     6.  Focus on veggies/fruit – at a party, load up on the celery, lettuce, cucumbers and for fruit the grapes, melons.  A Los Angeles nutritionist, Jackie Keller, tells celebrities to pile their ‘plate high with asparagus and green beans a few days before a “be-seen “event.  They’re high in filling fiber but less likely to expand your stomach”.   
     7.   Treat yourself - it is the holidays and it is OK to enjoy the food and fun.  At a resort this week, the first dinner out, I ordered whatever I wanted.  Yes, the meal was high in calories, but oh so good.  The next night I had a lighter meal, good but not quite so calorie laden. 
Sources:   How to Stay Slim During the Holidays. ,   “Get Intense”,  Dec. 2014,  BHG.com,  Image Source: HIIT
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Stay Hydrated This Summer

Image
At long last, SUMMER!!    With the heat and humidity, we need to focus on staying hydrated.   Water is always a good choice for hydration.    MSN has an interesting article on  5 Easy Ways to Stay Hydrated This Summer .   Stay away from the sugar sweetened beverages loaded with sugar and calories.   Yes, enjoying some lemonade is fun but it is not a juice and it is loaded with added sugar.    What are some ways to stay hydrated?   How do you know you need hydration?   Thirst is the first sign of becoming dehydrated.   Your body is telling you to drink more fluids.   Eight cups is a good goal but you may need even more when exercising outside or being outside in the heat. Unsweetened Coffee – most people think coffee dehydrates you, but coffee is a fluid and can count towards your daily fluid intake.   And coffee can help you feel more alert and keep you energized.     Unsweetened Ice Tea – ic...
Read more

Get Ready for New Food Labels!

This week the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced proposed changes in our food labels.    Major changes in the food labels appearing on everything from chips to soup haven’t changed much in 20 years.   So what are some of the proposed changes? Serving sizes – ever look at the serving size on ice cream.   It states one half cup is the serving size, yet who eats only one half cup?   In teaching my nutrition class, I show a video in which the dietitian notes the one half cup serving size on ice cream.   The students are always surprised it is so low.   When I told my husband, he insisted that one half cup was too low and went to the freezer to prove it.   Of course, the ice cream container verified that one half cup is the serving.   So one of the proposed food label changes is to increase the serving size on foods such as ice cream to reflect what people actually eat.   Thus, for ice cream the serving size will increase fro...
Read more

Easy food habits to adopt for a healthier you in 2023.

Image
So many people develop New Year’s Resolutions focusing on giving up things or on losing weight.   Why not focus on adopting some healthier habits in 2023 and some healthier lifestyle changes?   Last year I discussed some recommendation by a   nutritionist in London, Kate Llewellyn-Waters, on how you can adopt a healthier lifestyle.   Below are some of her easy-to- adopt suggestions and I have added some suggestions of my own. Protein at every meal – Protein is filling and helps stave off those hunger pains between meals.   What are some high quality protein foods?   All animal foods provide high quality protein.   Focus on lean proteins like chicken breasts.   Chicken and other lean meats, provide not only high-quality protein but also many nutrients like iron, zinc, selenium and many B vitamins.   B vitamins are known as the energy vitamins as they help your body produce the energy needed for all your activities.   A top-rated pro...
Read more