Coming up to the festive season, many of us start thinking about how much we eat and some of the junk we end up putting into our body. With this comes the problem of standing on the scales and taking a gasp as we see our weight much higher than before the Christmas break. Sometimes it’s not just a couple of added ‘lb’s’ that we end up having to shift with our New Year’s resolutions, it can be much more and not the greatest way to see in the New Year. So what can we do to prevent this from happening and still enjoy the treats of Christmas?
Unfortunately, there is no magic wand that can help us with the problem of gaining weight after eating badly. Fortunately, there is something far better……EXERCISE! In the ideal world we would all eat healthily and enjoy some regular exercise which would go hand in hand to keeping us all fit and healthy inside and out, but we all know this isn’t going to happen! Obviously I would always advise everyone to eat the right foods, drink the right fluids and exercise regularly but there are times during the year when we all want to let our hair down and enjoy ourselves. With that comes junk food, alcohol and lack of sleep. Stress can also be a major problem for the body which is why having time to relax and have some fun is important too. So it’s all about finding a balance!
I personally don’t agree with counting calories as that feels very restrictive and no way to live, but it’s common sense that if you burn off the added calories you put into the body with some of the junk food, it helps to keep the weight off. So the solution to the problem is obvious; if you eat fattening foods you have to work harder to burn them off! There is no easy route in life to be successful, it requires hard work and dedication. Fitness is no different and Vince Lombardi has made some fantastic quotes explaining just that, here are a couple of my favourites….
“Dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you’re willing to pay the price”
“A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done”
I think these quotes typify my views to exercise and keeping fit. If we put the work in, we get rewarded for our efforts! You have two choices……
- Make sacrifices and restrain yourself around the junk food and alcohol that helps us pile on the ‘lb’s’ over Christmas. Eat healthily and maintain how you would normally live throughout the year.
- Exercise regularly throughout the Christmas break and be able to eat some treats and enjoy yourself, knowing you are limiting the damage by burning more calories through exercise.
It is harder to lose weight after the damage is done than to maintain it through regular exercise at the time! To give you an indication of how much effort it takes to burn off the wrong foods, here is an example…
A Mars bar contains roughly 280 calories. For a 150 lb person to burn off the calories in a Mars bar they would need to run for about 25 minutes if they were running at a pace of 6mph.
Obviously these figures would change with the weight of the person and speed they run at. This is just an approximate guide but it shows how much effort needs to be put in to burn off one minute of enjoyment from eating that Mars bar, so is it worth it and are you willing to work hard to burn it off?. Now ask yourself this question and the answer will tell you if you should take choice number one or number two above….
Are you dedicated and hard working enough to exercise regularly to burn off the amount of calories you will consume over Christmas?
If your answer is no then stick to choice number one and make some sacrifices, if it’s yes then enjoy exercising over the Christmas period and you’ll have the opportunity to treat yourself too!
I’ll leave you with a tip to a question that so many people have asked during my time as a personal trainer and one that so many people have problems with already and others will have over Christmas…. “What is the best abdominal exercise to get a flat/toned stomach?”
If you do plan on working hard and being able to have the Christmas treats, just remember one thing…..you can do as many abdominal exercises as you want but your abdominals will not show if there is body fat over the top! Sit ups, abdominal crunches and any other core exercise will not be enough to burn the fat needed to see visible abdominal muscles, that comes from cardiovascular exercise for about 30 minutes at a time at a steady pace. There is no harm in building your core strength and when the body fat percentage decreases, the abdominals will be more visible.
Time to start planning your Christmas exercise schedule! Have a great festive period.
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