First, this year’s holidays may not be the same onslaught of food temptation that were the hallmark of holiday seasons past.
They may be worse.
Yes, you’re not likely to have as many gatherings, with nearly as many people, or as many tempting foods and drinks. But, considering your options for different activities are limited, you might find yourself at home for much of the holidays, with nothing else to do except, well, eat.
Keep These Tips in Mind During This Year’s Holiday Season
No matter how you celebrate this year’s holidays, the following tips will help keep your weight in check, and give you a great start to what we all hope will be the best New Year ever!
- Be Understanding of Yourself – The worst possible outcome from overindulging during the holidays wouldn’t be that you put on extra weight. It would be that you abandoned your weight loss efforts because you felt like a failure after putting on extra weight. That feeling of failure would be driven mainly by a negative inner voice.
Hey, it’s the holidays, we’ve all had a trying year, if you go a little too far, that’s no reason to be unreasonable to yourself. If you were able to keep things on track most of the year, then you accomplished a lot. If you put on weight during the holidays, you’ll work on that. - Take Lots of Small Steps – You don’t have to make every tasty treat off-limits. But do things like drink lots of water, especially before eating. Measure snacks into a bowl instead of eating from the package. Try one new healthy snack. Be more conscious of how much sugar you eat, and drink, and work on reducing it. (Remember, the artificial sweeteners in diet drinks and foods can be just as bad for your weight as sugar.)
- Take a Walk – Any walk. If it’s down to the corner and back, that’s great. Despite the fact that humankind has been walking since we emerged from the oceans, we’re still discovering the benefits of simply putting one foot in front of the other.
In addition to improving your caloric deficit for weight loss, walking has also been recently linked to improving your brain power, being as good for your heart as running and decreasing the risks of a long list of mental and physical ailments, including stroke, heart disease and depression.
If you’re looking for in-person support to keep your weight management on track this holiday season, be sure to call your nearest Herbal One location and speak to a nutritional consultant.
For more ways to increase your calorie deficit, check out our post “3 Easy Diet Hacks to Improve Your Calorie Deficit”.