Ah, January. The month has a strange feeling about it, doesn’t it? All the family gatherings, company parties, and holiday cookies come to a halt and everything feels kind of quiet. I had a blast this New Year’s Eve attending a friend’s wedding (yep that’s right, a New Year’s wedding), but now it’s January 2nd and it’s time to get back in gear.
According to my trainer Brandon Cole, he says people usually gain 3-5 pounds around this time of year, which really isn’t that much. However, keeping up with your fitness, whether you’re starting out or getting back into that pre-holiday shape, is crucial for maintaining a lean, healthy body. Here, Brandon gives his top 3 tips to help you get motivated this year. Read up!
1. Don’t feel guilty!
Yes, this may be the most important thing to remember when indulging. Feelings of guilt can cause stress and anxiety that may have a real impact on weight gain. Numerous studies show that when we restrict ourselves too harshly from certain foods, the effect often backfires, and we end up overeating even more than planned. The thinking often goes like this: “Well, I really shouldn’t have had that (insert name of delicious dessert item). I guess my diet is ruined! Might as well just say ‘Screw it’ and have chocolate mousse cake for breakfast every day.” It might have been better to eat whatever looked yummy, enjoy it, and forget about it.
2. Stay active
I see it every year in November and December. As the malls become increasingly more dense with crazed shoppers, the gyms become increasingly more sparse. When your schedule is overwhelmed by shopping and family gatherings, it’s easy to let your workout program fade away.
Let me give you two reasons why you may want to stick with it through the year’s end. 1) With everyone’s stress levels running high, your regular workouts may be the only thing keeping you from an epic meltdown in the mall parking lot. It’s been proven that exercise can be one of the best stress relievers around. Don’t let that opportunity go to waste when you need it most.
2) Keeping up with your workouts will increase your self-control and discipline, which filters into to your eating patterns. We tend to make better food choices when we’re staying on top of our workouts. Not to mention, the 400 calories you burned at spin class means you can have, like, two cookies, right? Hey, you earned it!
3. Eat, don’t starve
One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to lose weight or to be “healthy” is to starve themselves until they can’t take it anymore, thinking that staving off food is a good way to control appetite. Another mistake is to go to a party with an appetite like you’ve just been rescued from a deserted island. If you’re like me, you’ve probably had this thought. “I know I’m going to eat a bunch of rich food at the party, so I’m just not going to eat all day and save my calories for when I get there.” Bad move. This usually leads to a frenzied rush to the appetizers as soon as you enter the door. Followed by lingering around the main food table, which results in you finishing off your third plate before you realize what happened. The better option would be to have something light before leaving the house. Preferably something with fiber and protein, but still small enough that you feel a little hungry afterwards. This way when you get to the party, you’ll be more excited to see your friends, rather than the French dip.
Post by: Brandon Cole
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