Dec
30
So you’ve gorged on pies, cakes, turkeys, ham, cups and cups of eggnog, and lots of other goodies you wouldn’t normally touch with a ten-foot pole on any other day, but since it’s Christmas, you have? Fret not. The few measly extra ounces don’t have to stay around your middle for the rest of the year! That is, if you do something about it and not just wait for the accumulated fat to melt away like snow at winter’s end…
First off, don’t even think of starving yourself! Crash and fad diets won’t help, because they’ll only wreak havoc on your already sluggish metabolism, and make you feel lethargic and blah, to boot. Not a very good way to welcome the new year, in other words. What you’ll need to do is get off your ass and start an exercise regimen targeted specifically to help you shed those pounds you so quickly accumulated over the holidays. And this is where the good news comes in.
Lots of gyms offer special post-holiday promos aiming to help clients get back in shape via fitness plans aided by able trainers on your road to slimming down. You will need this, especially if you’re the type of person who procastinates, and ends up with a bloated figure well into spring and summer. Yes, intervention is key, and a support group that includes people you actually PAY to whip your lardy butt into shape is best!
With physical exertion usually comes a diet sheet trimmed of calories and fats you have to follow to a T, if you’re serious about getting back into shape and losing that Santa Claus gut you suddenly sprouted. It won’t be easy, it won’t be miraculous in manner of Christmas miracles, but it’s better than a New Year’s resolution because you know you’re working hard towards a specific goal, and the end result is a much-improved, fitter you!
Dec
26
Yes, Christmas is the perfect time to go crazy over calorie-laden, festive food and to put off dieting another day…perhaps during Boxing Day, or when the new year has been welcomed with fireworks and fanfare? This, alas, has been the mentality of most people who, during the rest of the 11 months of the year, are otherwise very disciplined when it comes to maintaining their ideal weight. Come Christmas, and all thoughts of eating healthy fly out the window (or chimney, if we’re to stick with holiday visuals).
A few stanzas from a modern-day Christmas poem called “The Month After Christmas” underline this sentiment:
Twas the month after Christmas, and all through the house
Nothing would fit me, not even a blouse.
The cookies I’d nibbled, the eggnog I’d taste
At the holiday parties had gone to my waist.
It goes on and on, bemoaning the fact that one had gorged on one too many lard-smeared bit of Christmas goodie and guiltily wanting to make up for it in a hurry, to wit:
So, away with the last of the sour cream dip,
Get rid of the fruit cake, every cracker and chip
Every last bit of food that I like must be banished
Till all the additional ounces have vanished.
I won’t have a cookie, not even a lick.
I’ll only chew on a long celery stick.
As we keep reiterating in this blog, do not crash diet! That has never helped anyone lose extra poundage in a healthy way. Instead, step up your exercise plans and avoid being bone-idle, and get rid of the mentality that leftover Christmas food will spoil if you don’t eat all of it in one sitting. Most of them will keep for as long as they’re properly refrigerated (especially true with sweets). And for those you simply cannot eat for long stretches of meals, give them away! If you’ve hosted a party and find yourself with much leftover food, by all means, let your guests bring some home to enjoy. Believe me, some festive food taste especially good as leftovers, reheated or otherwise.
More holiday weight-watchers’ tips to come in succeeding articles, but until then:
Unable to giggle, no longer a riot.
Happy New Year to all and to all a good diet!