Managing your weight during the holidays can be tough. With the temptations of great food and friends, staying on track with your weight management goals gets put on the back burner. However, there are many habits you can establish during the holidays that can help reduce your caloric intake or burn calories during the day. To help you along your journey, we put together our favorite list of easy to execute holiday weight loss tips that help us avoid packing on the pounds this holiday season.
1. Skip online shopping
Do you shop on Black Friday or Cyber Monday? For those of us trying to lose or manage our weight during the holidays, we suggest skipping the online shopping craze and opting in for in-store deals. Because of all the walking you do in stores, shopping is one of the best exercises to lose weight. Some sources say a three-hour shopping spree could burn up to 495 calories. To make the trip even healthier, skip the food court and pack some fresh vegetables. This year, rather than spending hours online looking for the best gifts, grab some friends and hit the mall for some quality time with your pals.
2. Don’t forget Fido’s walk
When the weather gets colder outside, it’s easy to skip Fluffy’s walk and open the door to let your dog do their business without you. However, if you continue to take your dog for walks during the holiday season, Fido will surely thank you – and so will your body. One of the best exercises to lose weight for you and your dog is going out for a brisk walk. After you shovel the snow or get home from work, get ready to go out with your dog. You won’t have to worry about bundling up because you’ll still have all of your winter gear firmly in place.
3. Have a good breakfast before the big meal
Have you ever tried skipping one meal so you can overindulge in another? At first this sounds like a good plan. However, skipping out on meals the day of a big dinner only leaves you hungry and more likely to consume extra calories during your feast. Most experts suggest eating a small, high protein breakfast if you expect to eat a big dinner. This “takes the edge off your appetite and allows you to be more discriminating in your food and beverage choices,” according to Dr. Connie Diekman, MEd, RD, and former president of the American Dietetic Association (ADA)
4. Resist the cookie dough
Constant snack is something you definitely want to avoid during the holidays. Even little things add up to a major caloric intake. For example, everyone loves to bake cookies for the holidays. Perhaps something people love more than the cookie is licking the spoon after mixing fresh cookie dough. This little indulgence is something you may want to reconsider. Not only is raw cookie dough bad for your health – it’s also loaded with calories. One spoonful from the bowl could rack upwards of 120 calories. Therefore, it’s definitely better to resist the temptation than to spend the next hour licking the bowl.
With these simple reminders, keeping your weight under control during the holidays can be very simple. Practicing these tips should require minimal work, and will help ensure a healthy and fun holiday season for everyone. Who knows? You may even keep up some of these habits year-round!
