Junior Glymph
When did the holidays get so stressful?
It’s supposed to be a joyous season, a season of giving and enjoying friends and family. These days it seems to be a time of year we all get a little anxious about, maybe even dread…with all the deadlines for getting holiday cards written and mailed out on time, making the perfect gift giving list, fighting the crowds at the malls to shop at just the right time to get the best sales, gift wrapping, party planning, party attending, travel, etc….whew, it is a busy season.
Are you feeling overwhelmed already? The best thing you can do for yourself this holiday season to make it bit more enjoyable is to take a step back every so often to de-stress.
Be Realistic
People should realize that relationships will not change just because it is the holidays. Expectations that family, friends, or loved ones will act differently often result in disappointment or unnecessarily strain a relationship. Look for the good and focus on enjoying that.
Plan ahead
Assess your financial situation and then decide on how much to spend on each person. This time of year, meaningful gifts can be more touching and healthful than expensive gifts. Remember gifts of service, such as helping with chores or a massage, are free and may be more appreciated.
Maintain your fitness programs
Just because it’s the holidays does not mean that exercise or healthy eating should stop. Coupled together, healthy living relieves stress and minimizes regret from overindulgence.
Give yourself extra time
Giving to ourselves allows us to better give to other people. Take a few extra minutes to complete a task or to just relax. Saying no to some requests can help avoid feeling overwhelmed.
Be aware of your feelings
Don’t suppress your feelings for the sake of the holidays. If you are depressed or angry, talk to someone. It is better to deal with situations now than to bottle up feeling that can later snowball. Turn to family, friends, clergy or professionals. The key is to turn to someone who listens to you and provides helpful advice. Inappropriate or ineffective listeners can make things worse.
Perfection is the enemy of good
The quest for perfection can often ruin a good thing. Don’t lose focus on the purpose of what you are doing. Realize that others will appreciate and enjoy your efforts no matter what.
Watch Your Spirits.
It’s easy to forget that liquid calories count too. (One cup of eggnog has close to 350 calories!) If you know you are going to drink, switch to lower calorie choices like wine, a spritzer, or light beer. Try to alternate each with a glass of water.
Lend a hand. Reaching out to someone else gets you away from your own worries and puts things in perspective.
Practice Forgiveness.
The most important thing to remember is this should be a season of joy. So don’t be hard on yourself if you slip up. Just get back on track and remember why you are doing this: Staying fit is the best way to live a happy and healthy New Year!
Tips for a Healthy Holiday!
¨ Skip the basting. Choose a plain turkey or plain ham and cook it in a bag to seal in the moisture. And remove the skin before serving.
¨ Refrigerate the turkey or ham juices and skim off the hardened fat before making gravy and use a gravy cup that pours from the bottom to minimize fat.
¨ Use ingredients like whole wheat bread, vegetables, fruits (cranberries, raisins, dates or apples), nuts and your favorite spices for the stuffing and bake it in the oven rather than in the turkey.
¨ Serve your sweet potatoes or yams baked rather than candied and let your guests add butter to taste.
¨ Use skim milk or buttermilk rather than whole milk and skip the butter for your mashed potatoes.
¨ Give your meal gourmet appeal by cooking your green vegetables with garlic, nuts and herbs rather than creamy or fat-laden sauces.
¨ Don’t serve the meal on your largest plates. By using smaller plates you ensure smaller portion size and even that second helping isn’t quite so damaging.
Tantalizing Trivia:
The Holidays By The Numbers
32 Miles Per Hour – The top speed of a reindeer.
778 Hours – The time it would take one to fly around the globe at that pace.
-128.6° F – The lowest official temperature recorded on earth, in Vostok, Antartica, in 1983.
5 Million Tons – The amount of trash produced by Americans between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. That’s 25 percent more than we generate in a typical five– or six-week period during the rest of the year.
602—The number of dreidels spun simultaneously in a “Spin Off” at the University of Maryland’s Hillel back in December 2007.
Super Sneaky Secret to Speed up Your Fat Loss
For most people, eating well is the hardest part of losing fat. When you come to a boot camp workout I am there to push you and motivate you but the one place I can’t be is in your kitchen…that would just be weird. So it is on you to keep yourself disciplined and on track with your nutrition; easier said than done, right. While it’s not my job to be in your kitchen 24/7, it is my job to give you all the information you need to succeed. My hope is that you take it to heart and put it into practice. Here is some information that if you do put it into practice, can really jump start your fat burning…immediately!!!
There is a lot of controversy these days about carbs. Carbs can be your best friend or your worst enemy.
If you eat the wrong kind of carbs (i.e. simple carbs like white bread, white rice, crackers, white pasta, and other processed foods) they will do nothing but expand your waistline. Eating the right kind of carbs (i.e. complex carbs like oatmeal, sweet potato, whole wheat pasta and bread, beans, corn, tomatoes, brown rice, etc) will provide you with the energy you need to make it through your day and through your workouts. Try to be an active/exercising adult without eating ample amounts of complex carbs; it is extremely difficult!
While all carbs are not created equal, the times you eat your carbs are not equal either. If fast loss is your goal you should time your carb intake to maximize your energy and minimize your fat gain. Remember, ALL carbs (complex and simple) turn into sugar once they are in the body. Sugar is the body’s preferred energy source so it needs sugar to function properly. Simple carbs turn into single and very tiny sugar molecules while complex carbs turn into long chains of sugar molecules and are much larger than the simple sugar molecules. As a result, they absorb much slower. This gives your body the energy it needs but in small/slow doses so blood sugar doesn’t sky rocket.
While complex carbs are needed and much healthier than simple carbs, they are still converted to sugar once inside the body. If you are going to eat complex carbs and remain active, you will burn off that sugar before it has a chance to store as fat. But what if you eat complex carbs and are not going to be active like at dinner or before bed? What happens to those carbs then? If you do not burn the sugar from the blood stream then it has to go somewhere and it will almost always store as fat.
So what’s the point of all this? The point is that if you want a little extra boost in your fat burning then be smart about when you eat your carbs. Try to get most of your carbs in before dinner. That means EVERY meal before dinner must include a complex carbs. Again, you will need these carbs for energy. But once dinner time comes…no more carbs!
Dinner should consist of a lean protein and a vegetable and that’s it. Since you are cutting out a major macronutrient such as carbs, be sure to increase the size of your protein portion to compensate for the loss in overall calories. Remember, eating too few calories will sabotage fat loss efforts as well!
By cutting out the complex carbs at dinner you will ensure that there is little sugar in the blood stream when you go to bed and are no longer in need of energy and no fat storing can take place…that’s a very good thing!
When you wake up in the morning your body will need, want, and crave carbs so be sure to eat them! In fact, breakfast should be your biggest, most calorically dense meal of the day. This ensures that you jumpstart your metabolism and provide your body with the nutrients it needs to get through the day with energy and enthusiasm.
So, here is how a perfect day of healthy eating while tapering off the calories and carbs at night would look:
Breakfast: 500 calories or so with a good mix of lean protein, complex carbs, and fibrous carbs (veggies)
• 2 eggs and 1 egg white omelet with peppers, tomatoes, and mushrooms, and a little low fat cheese
• Bowl of oatmeal
• Apple
Mid Morning Snack: 300 calories including a lean protein and a complex carb
• Handful of nuts
• Piece of fruit
• Low fat string cheese
Lunch: 400 calories so with a good mix of lean protein, complex carbs, and fibrous carbs (veggies)
-Whole turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread with
• Lettuce
• Tomato
• Mustard
• Avocado
Mid Afternoon Snack: 300 calories including a lean protein and a complex carb
• Protein Shake with Fruit
• Small handful of nuts
Dinner: 350 calories so with a larger than normal (25% larger) lean protein, and fibrous carbs (veggies)
• Grilled fish or chicken
• Broccoli
Before Bed Snack: 100 calories or so
• ¼ cup of low fat cottage cheese
This adds up to approximately 1900 calories (NO that’s not too much : ) and no complex carbs after 4:00 or so. This is a really good day of eating and if you follow it closely (you don’t have to eat the same exact foods. Just follow the concept and make logical food exchanges) you will experience fat loss at a rate you never imagined; as long as you are doing adequate resistance training and cardio of course : )
So, there you have it…a personal trainer’s dirty little secret to enhanced fat loss but…. shhhh! Keep this between us!!
To register for your FREE V2R Boot Camp session, click the link below and register now:
Come and join us for a fat burnin’, calorie churnin’ workout with other people who have the same goals as you! It’s fast, it’s fun, and it works!
If you would like more fitness and weight loss tips click the “Free Report” link to the right of this article and get my latest reports “Finally…The Truth About Weight Loss” and “10 Ways to Lose Weight…FAST!” They will be emailed to you immediately!
Health, Happiness, and Fit Love
Junior Glymph
Duluth Boot Camps
