Do you have a plan going into this Holiday Season?

Did you know that the statistics say that the average American adult gains over 1 - 3 lbs of fat tissue every year.
A smaller percentage gains up to 5 lbs.
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Add this up over 20 - 40 years, and you can see where that road goes.
​Dwindling muscle strength and bone density and increasing burden of carrying extra fat tissue weight and decreased metabolic function / or increased metabolic disease is not a recipe that produces a good outcome. 

But here is the TRICKY part. Almost 100% of this weight gain occurs from Halloween to January. That means that most Americans manage to stay about the same for almost the entire year. Save for Oct 31 - Jan. So, a great plan to avoid a decline in health is to address what you're doing during the holiday season! 

Also: the most active people gain the least weight during the holidays, and the people that are already overweight, gain the most weight over the holidays. Yikes. Even the most fit and active individuals need to have a plan to address their health and food intake during the holidays, that's how they stay fit and active in the first place. If you aren't fit or active, it's all the more reason to come up with a plan right now to avoid that negative turn this holiday season. 

Strategies: 

1. ​Continue or create a new workout plan and stick with it through the holiday season! Engage in both strength activities and conditioning activities. 
   
   
2. Limit the frequency with which you intake highly caloric holiday foods, and limit the amount of consumption when you do participate.
   
   
3. One of my favorite strategies, is to eat a medium to large very healthy meal, with lots of vegetables, before I attend holiday parties. This way I do not arrive hungry, which is the WORST thing you can do. And even if I do decide to grab something, I end up only eating a small helping because I'm already full, and I can enjoy that small portion without guilt and without significant consequence. The veggies from the meal before contain fiber, which helps reduce the blood sugar and insulin spike that results from eating party foods, as well, which helps to a degree.
   
   
4. My other strategy is to make sure and do something physical the day of the party, whether it is before or after the party, a workout or some type of manual work/walking, anything that gets my metabolism elevated to help restore a proper energy intake/output balance. I try very hard to do this.
   
   
5. Another great strategy is to drink a lot of water during these parties, which will help keep you feeling full and can help you avoid drinking a ton of sugar and calories, and if you do decide to indulge in a caloric drink, you won't need 5 of them because you already had so much water.

Following this line of logic allows the best of both worlds. You enjoy your parties, although in a moderate and tempered fashion, and you maintain your health and wellness, which is better for you and better for your family. And it prevents you from being a statistic, which is awesome. 

Create that plan now. And have the discipline to stick with your plan! 
​If you need help, contact me and I will be glad to help with this :)