‘Tis the season for holiday feasts, a calendar packed with holiday parties, and weather that can diminish our motivation to train. In November and December, we’re faced with every culinary temptation imaginable, which makes it difficult to maintain peak fitness. Here are a few tips to maintain your fitness goals this Holiday Season!
- Eat small meals throughout the dayto maintain your metabolism. It may seem counterintuitive but skipping meals is not an effective strategy to reduce calories and will ultimately rob you of much needed energy. So pack healthy snacks and keep your energy level high, because moms know, a hungry person is also a cranky person.
- Make an exercise date. Rather than go for coffee or drinks, invite a friend to go to the gym with you, or for a run or walk. You can catch up while you’re both getting your sweat on. It’s a great way to multitask and you’ll save on the calories, not to mention a few bucks.
- Sneak in extra footsteps. 10,000 daily steps a day, or the equivalent of 30-60 minutes or more of walking per day is the minimum daily exercise recommendation to reduce health risks. Park your car further from the store entrance. Opt to walk up the stairs rather than the elevator/escalator. Ditch online shopping and go out to your neighborhood boutiques to do your holiday shopping. You’ll burn more energy and your dollars will support local small business.
- Dial up the intensity level.If you carved out 30-minutes to exercise, make it really count. Rev up your heart rate with less rest and more reps to torch more calories and get a bigger energy boost.
