5 Fit Holiday Habits to Try This Season

5 Holiday Habits to Try This Season

Which habits will be yours over the next few weeks?

Fat Habit #1: “I’ll get back into my exercise routine in January.”
Fit Habit: If you are going to be eating and drinking more than normal, why in the world would you decide that now is a good time for an exercise hiatus? This just makes no sense, and yet I see it every year. I run one of the biggest boot camps in Seattle, and December is routinely my slowest month, with about 50 percent fewer people in classes. Ridiculousness!

Use your workouts as leverage. Even when you are short on time, you can get in a major metabolic boost by doing any of these 20-minute workouts. These types of workouts are specially designed to keep your metabolism fired up for 24 to 48 hours post exercise. That will definitely help you burn off a drink or two and perhaps some peppermint bark.

Fat Habit #2: “Pass the nog please.”
Fit Habit: Let the nog pass you. The fastest way to increase your caloric intake and pack on the pounds is to drink your calories. This is a time of year when high-calorie drinks run rampant. All that creamy cheer will go straight to your hips, give you a sugar rush and leave you hungry.

Choose your drinks wisely. With alcoholic drinks, choose clear liquors, wine or bubbly. Avoid mixed drinks, especially creamy ones like egg nog + anything or hot buttered rum (hello 36 grams of fat). These kinds of drinks can pack up to 500 calories. That is a MEAL—and one that will not keep you full or satisfied for any length of time. My fave low-calorie cocktail option is made with vodka, club soda and lime (not tonic!). It’s 60 calories, and it will make you feel plenty holly jolly. Promise.

Same warning goes for coffee drinks. A peppermint white chocolate mocha is about 500 calories. For real. Save your indulgences for food that you can actually chew. When it comes to coffee, stick with drip, Americano, lattes and cappuccinos. Low-cal hot drinks are a great way to fill up, if you choose wisely. Oh, and don’t forget tea. It’s pretty much calorie-free and comes in a million festive flavors.

Fat Habit #3: “I’ll skip lunch and/or dinner to ‘save up’ for the party.”
Fit Habit: Never go to a party hungry. You will eat way more food than you mean to without even noticing it. In fact, you will likely eat enough calories for an entire day by grazing on munchies all night to make up for that “missed meal.”

On a day you have an event/party scheduled, load up on protein and veggies throughout the day, so you are not hungry when you arrive. This will also keep your blood sugar working in your favor. If you show up to a party with low blood sugar, game over. Make sure to have a high-protein snack before you leave home: a bit of meat, string cheese or Greek yogurt.

Fat Habit #4: “This party only happens once a year. I’m going all out.”
Fit Habit: If you only go to one event over the holidays, this mentality won’t do much damage. But you probably have multiple holiday events that only happen once a year. If you “go all out” a handful of times (or more) it will add up.

Rather than indulging like crazy over and over, choose a couple of indulgences to have in small portions at each event. For example, a bit of the spinach dip and a small piece of cake. (Note: spinach dip is not healthy—it’s more like Mayo Sour Cream Spinach Soup. Just an FYI.) If you have fueled yourself well the rest of the day, you will be content with these small indulgences.

Fat Habit #5: “I’ve had a couple drinks, and I’m pretty sure I deserve to have whatever I want the rest of the night.”
Fit Habit: You are awesome and because you are awesome you deserve to stay in control of your mouth. To curb your irrational thoughts and hankerings regarding food and drinks, be sure to drink a glass of water between each alcoholic drink. This will slow down your drinkable calorie consumption and keep your appetite in check so that you don’t keep eating everything in sight. I promise you will be happy you did this the next morning.

Okay, did you take notes on all this? If not, go back and write it all down on an index card and carry it in your pocket to your next holiday event. Sure, go ahead and pull out your cheat sheet in the middle of a party to make sure you’re staying healthy while you get your holly jolly on. You can be fit and fab as you kick off 2012 or you can be dragging your buns (literally) to the gym, wracked with guilt and regret. You deserve better. Cheers to a fit holiday season!

Sara Dean is the founder of Fit Healthy Moms, an international online community. Sara’s passion is helping moms lose baby weight and burn baby belly fat. Sara launched Fit Healthy Moms to provide moms with the necessary information about postpartum weight-loss. Moms all over the world are currently using her downloadable postpartum weight loss program, 6 Week Pregnancy Weight Loss.