It’s Black Friday, and unless you’re in the process of shopping until your bank account is dropping, chances are that you’re laying around in a bout of turkey and pie flavored guilt. And the worst part is that this is only the beginning of the fattest time of the year.
The holiday party season leads to an average weight gain of at least 1 pound every year – for fit people! If you’re already a bit overweight, chances are you’ll gain an average of 5 pounds between now and January 2. Unfortunately, despite $$$$ spent on gym memberships and millions of New Year’s resolutions, most of us don’t lose that weight once we gain it, so it’s easy to see how gaining a pound this year can lead to an unhealthy snowball effect.
The good news is that it’s not too late to stay healthy and maintain your current weight during this holiday season. Unless you’re really hardcore, or have no social life, it is nearly impossible to lose weight during this time of year, but you can definitely maintain your current weight and start the New Year off right. Here are five tips that will help you accomplish that goal – if you follow them!
- Listen to Mom, Eat Your Breakfast. You may be tempted to skip breakfast during this time of year, thinking that you’re saving those calories for later. Unfortunately, that doesn’t really help, as you’ll just overeat by even more calories later. Instead, eat a small, healthy breakfast. Lately I’ve been rocking a banana and spinach smoothie (much more tasty than it sounds!). 2 bananas, a big handful of spinach, and some water equals about 200 calories, but packs a lot of nutrition.
- Chomp Some Veggies and Protein Before the Party. Pre-eating is your friend if you’re trying to avoid tasty temptation. Before going to a social event, try eating a medium sized salad with some boiled eggs or chicken. If you’re vegan, substitute some walnuts. The fiber in the veggies will keep you full for a while and the protein will stabilize your blood sugar and help you fend off cravings.
- Only Eat It If You Love It. Now, I’m certainly not going to tell you skip all wonderful pies, cookies, potatoes, and all of the other sinful delights that we enjoy so much. I mean c’mon, it’s the holidays! The way to do damage control in this area is to only eat the things that you absolutely love. If you would kill for some hot apple pie (and I would!), go for it. Not so hot on peanut brittle? Skip it, it’s not worth your time. A good strategy when challenged by an overflowing dinner buffet is to survey all of the offerings and pick out a selection of 5-10 favorites to enjoy. You won’t feel deprived after dinner, but you also won’t be rolling like a bowling ball when it’s time to leave.
- Drink Clear Stuff. Holiday cheer often includes some delicious adult beverages. There’s nothing wrong with that, but try to be a bit sensible about things. In general, clear beverages (think vodka tonic) have fewer calories than sugary drinks like punch or margaritas. As an added bonus, the lower the sugar content of drinks, the less likely they are to cause hangovers! As an alternate strategy, drink one glass of water in between every alcoholic beverage. Trust me, you’ll feel better!
- Interval Training Revs Your Metabolism. At this time of year you don’t have time to spend 45 or 60 minutes on the treadmill every day. Don’t despair, there is a way to fit in exercise between shopping, socializing, and decorating! The secret lies in interval training, and it’s easier than you think. Instead of working out at a steady pace for a long time, pick the aerobic activity of your choice and do 1 minute of really hard work, followed by 1 minute of very easy work. Repeat this 4-8 times depending on your fitness level. With a 5 minute warm up and a 5 minute cool down, you can get a great, fat melting workout in 18-26 minutes. Try to do this 3 times a week and it will go a long way to helping you maintain your weight.
Bonus Tip: Put Some Money On It. Last year my employer ran a contest during the holidays. Everyone interested put $10 into a pot and weighed in. If you made it to the New Year without gaining more than a pound, you got your money back, plus a share of the pot from whoever didn’t make it. I was a “winner” last year and got a whopping $14 for my efforts – but it worked! I was not about to let anyone else have my $10. You can easily do this with a group of friends or coworkers and it’s a great motivator. The money isn’t the point, it’s the competition that really inspires you skip the second hot chocolate.
As we all know, there are only two ways to control your weight – eat less and move more. During the holidays you WILL be eating more, but it doesn’t have to sabotage your health and fitness. Take the time to enjoy this holiday season, eat your favorite holiday foods, and most of all, spend some great time with your friends and family.
If you enjoyed this post, I’m going to ask you a small favor. Do you see the picture at the bottom of the post that says, Tell a Friend!? Go ahead and click on it and share this post with someone that you think may enjoy it. Thank you!
Photos by severalbees and sirwiseowl
Posted by Maria Gajewski on 11.28.2008 at 4:15 pm// Tagged: Featured, HowTo, personal change , fitness, health //
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Do you make it a habit to practice gratitude? I hope the answer is yes, and if it is not, this post is going to attempt to persuade you that being actively grateful on a regular basis is a great tool for personal development.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the United States. It is the one day a year that everyone in the country is supposed to list a few things that he or she is grateful for – and then promptly eat themselves sick!
I have to admit that I did not appreciate Thanksgiving until pretty recently. It struck me as having all of the hassle of Christmas, without any of the presents. In the past few years, however, I’ve been closely looking at the practice of gratitude and I’ve become convinced that it’s a good thing to engage in far more often that one time per year.
Why Does Gratitude Take Practice?
Have you ever noticed how much of our daily conversations revolve around complaining of some type? I recently tried to go 48 hours without complaining, and I wasn’t very successful! Unfortunately, our brains seem to be wired to notice negative things more than we notice the positive. Turning this around takes some daily practice and habit formation.
Buddhist monks and other spiritual types make the daily practice of gratitude a part of their spiritual development. They keep a daily gratitude list, give thanks to others for very small things, and generally try to embody gratitude as a way of life. You may not have to go that far, but I think there is a lot to be gained from practicing gratitude regularly.
What Do I Get From Being Grateful?
According to one study, excessive complaining and “venting” of frustrations can lead to depression. We often think that “letting it all out” will make us feel better, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. In fact, the opposite often happens and we end up feeling worse, or coaxing our friends into telling us just how bad we have it.
Wallowing in self pity only hampers personal development. We can get demotivated, feel like a victim, and convince ourselves that there is nothing good to build upon in our lives if we get too far into complaining. By intentionally practicing gratitude you can open up your vision to all of the good things you have going for you (hint: there are probably a lot). When you know what you have available, you can see more possibilities for the future and start develop those things, making your life even better. It’s a positive spiral that feels really great when you really get cranking.
A Challenge For You
As part of your Thanksgiving holiday, think of at least 2 things that you are grateful for. Write them down, share them in the comments, or do the easy thing and share them at the What’s Right With You? post at Creating a Better Life. Here is my contribution:
Many things are right in my life at this moment. I have many, many options for the future and I’m excited about taking different paths in the next year. I have enough money to sustain me for quite a while. I have great friends who live in great place, and I have an awesome partner who is smart AND good looking! All in all, I live a pretty charmed life.
For extra credit, take someone aside before dinner tomorrow and let them know how grateful you are to have him or her in your life.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
Photo by eekim.
Posted by Maria Gajewski on 11.26.2008 at 1:04 pm// Tagged: Random Thoughts, personal change, tools //
4 Comments »
Note: This is Part 7 of a 7 part series. The rest of the series includes:
- How to Make Lasting Changes
- From Unconscious to Conscious
- Contemplation & Procrastination
- Preparation & Planning to Act
- 3, 2, 1… Action!
- Maintaining the Change
- Summing it All Up
If you’ve stuck with this series for this long, thank you and congratulations! I hope you’ve learned a lot about what is takes to create real, lasting change. When you think back on changes that you’ve made in the past can you identify the following stages? (Here’s a hint: they don’t always happen in a neat, linear way):
- Precontemplation. These were the “bad old days” before you realized that change had to happen. For some period of time – maybe your whole life up to that point – you stayed stuck in your pre-change ways and may have even been happy there. Then, you discovered that there was a better way to do things or to live and you advanced to…
- Contemplation. At this point you started thinking that you needed to make a change. Maybe you started to feel emotional about your situation and saw ways to make it better. Maybe others started pointing out a need for change and you began to agree with them. Eventually you made your mind up that you were going to change and you started…
- Preparation. When you began making serious plans and doing the background work you needed to begin a change in earnest, you were preparing. You might have done some mental preparation, visualization, and positive thinking. Maybe you enrolled in a class and learned the skills that you needed to change. You could have purchased some supplies or removed some obstacles. When all of this prep work was done you moved to…
- Action. During action you expended the energy you needed to change the direction in which you were traveling. You got up early, or stayed up late, and started the work to create the change that you desire. Action lasts as long as it takes to get adjusted to the change and progress to…
- Maintenance. The final stage of change is maintenance, where the change moves from being very active to being just the way you do things. At a minimum, it takes a person at least 21 days to establish a new behavioral habit, but many changes require even longer to become maintenance activities. When you are in maintenance you gradually take steps to ensure that you don’t regress to your previous state. You “burn your bridges” and put new systems and routines in place to make it easier to remain on the new path.
What Next?
There are only three things you can do when you are in the maintenance stage of change. You can:
- Continue to maintain, allowing your new state to become the status quo,
- Regress to your previous state,
- Or, decide to change some more and begin the process all over again.
Most of us want to avoid regressing, but it does happen – especially when trying to change long ingrained habits such as smoking or poor eating habits. If regression happens, the best course of action is to move back to action as quickly as possible, taking some time for better preparation if needed.
Eventually, many of us want to improve on the changes that we’ve made, so we enter into another round of the stages that change. This can be a really positive thing, since much change is iterative – it is best done gradually. For example, I might want to change my diet from an omnivore diet to a vegetarian diet. Once I’ve adjusted to that, I might want to eat more complex carbohydrates and less sugar, or I might give up dairy products. It’s hard to make all of these changes at once, so it can be helpful to make one change at a time, give yourself a chance to adjust, then tackle the next stage of the change.
Finally, it’s perfectly fine to continue to maintain the change you’ve made, assuming that you are getting positive results. In fact, it’s probably a good thing to give yourself a break after making an intense change. Give yourself a chance to reach an equilibrium again, since trying to change too many things in too rapid of succession can lead to change fatigue and ultimately cause resistance to change.
A Promise and a Request
If you’ve found this series valuable, I have good news for you. I am currently working on turning the series into an ebook that I will be giving away for free on this site. I am currently working on creating some additional content for the ebook and plan to include some worksheets and more practically focused suggestions to help you make real, lasting changes in your life – but I need your help!
Is there anything that you would like to see in an expanded version of this series? Are there questions you have that I didn’t answer? Do you feel that I skimmed over some parts of the process and would like to see more details about anything?
Please let me know what you would like to learn either by leaving a comment below, or sending an email to maria (at) neverthesamerivertwice (dot) com.
To make sure you hear about the release of the ebook, sign up to receive automatic updates from this site using an RSS feed reader or in your email.
Posted by Maria Gajewski on 11.24.2008 at 6:00 pm// Tagged: Changes That Stick, HowTo, change management, personal change //
2 Comments »
I was in Philadelphia this week for a conference and had just a bit of time to wander around town. I saw the Liberty Bell, which was cool, but was floored to see homeless people trying to get warm over a grate less than a block away.
Any thoughts on these types of experiences? How do I process something like this? Reply here, or at http://blog.neverthesamerivertwice.com/.
Mobile post sent by NSRT using Utterli. 
Replies. mp3
Posted by Maria Gajewski on 11.23.2008 at 9:48 pm// Tagged: audio //
1 Comment »
photo credit: d.billy It’s very fashionable within the personal development blogosphere to deride watching television. It is derided as a complete waste of time that can’t ever contribute to growth, happiness, or relaxation. Steve Pavlina doesn’t watch television, so you shouldn’t either!
Well, I watch television. By your standards, I might watch a lot of television. I find it very helpful at times and I’m going to tell you why.
Open Up My Head and Let Me Out
I’m attending a conference this week. It’s a huge conference with sessions ever 1 1/2 hours. Each session include 3 or 4 presentations. Plus, there are plenaries (that’s fancy conference talk for speeches and discussions) at breakfast, lunch, and cocktail hour. This means that in the course of a 12 hour day, I could be exposed to 18-20 REALLY BIG IDEAS. I’m talking about ideas that have huge implications for the way I work, and the way I approach my professional field.
In addition to that, there are side conversations with many, many people. There are also dinners with colleagues and professional friends. Throw in the stress of traveling to a new city (Philadelphia) in spotty weather, a hotel room mix up that resulted in a late night cab ride to New Jersey and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a brain that has just turned to jelly!
I’m an introvert by nature, and I find all this interaction both overstimulating and completely exhausting.
At the end of a long day, I need to watch me some sweet, mindless television to turn it all off.
Alpha Waves, Sweet Alpha Waves
It’s no secret that watching television produces almost instant relaxation. Why is that? It’s because television causes our brains to slip from the more active beta brainwaves to the more relaxed and unfocused alpha brain waves. Normally this isn’t the most desirable thing (think teenager drooling on himself while watching hours upon hours of The Hills!), but in the case of my overheated brain it feels like heaven!
During the day right now I’m probably in very active beta for a long time. I’m taking in new information, doing a lot of visualization new possibilities, forming new neural connections – and I have to remember to use all the proper utensils when I eat! Television offers instant access to the more laid back areas of my brain.
There are lots of things that we can do to relax. Exercise, meditation, and prayer are just a few of them. However, television is a shortcut. And right now I’m really, really tired so I need shortcuts. At the end of the day I can just hobble back to my standard issue hotel room, flick on the old boob tube, and finally start to unwind.
Why is Television Addicting?
Like anything that influences your brain waves, television can be highly addicting. The signs of massive American television addiction are everywhere. Just count the number of TVs in your house right now. If you’re like most people, your home has more televisions that humans in it. Some studies suggest that the average American watches more than 4 hours per day of television – at least half of our leisure time. I know I’ve been guilty of this at times, and you probably have to. Why is it that television seems to suck you in, even when you don’t want to watch?
Have you ever been in a public place like a doctor’s office or airport where a television is playing in the background? You may have no intention of watching it – it’s probably tuned to CNN or some really bad soap opera – but you find yourself staring at it within seconds?
Well, it seems that our survival instinct to observe movement (pdf) is to blame. We are hard wired to pay attention to things that are changing orientation in our physical space, and television provides constant novelty and change to our visual field. Couple this unavoidable attraction with brain wave alteration and you’ve just built the perfect drug.
But all is not lost. You don’t have to be a TV junky. If you really want to cut back on your television watching you can do it. The solution is pretty simple really. Are you ready for it?
Seriously?
Are you sure you can handle it?
Okay, here’s the secret: Get Out of the House and Do Stuff With Other Humans.
If you’re not at home all alone and bored out of your mind, you probably won’t watch television.
Okay, enough of me being an ass. If you have serious suggestions that will actually help people cut back on television watching, please leave your suggestions in the comments. And forgive me, it’s been a long week 
Posted by Maria Gajewski on 11.21.2008 at 8:56 am// Tagged: Random Thoughts //
8 Comments »
It’s Black Friday, and unless you’re in the process of shopping until your bank account is dropping, chances are that you’re laying around in a bout of turkey and pie flavored guilt. And the worst part is that this is only the beginning of the fattest time of the year.
Bonus Tip: Put Some Money On It. Last year my employer ran a contest during the holidays. Everyone interested put $10 into a pot and weighed in. If you made it to the New Year without gaining more than a pound, you got your money back, plus a share of the pot from whoever didn’t make it. I was a “winner” last year and got a whopping $14 for my efforts – but it worked! I was not about to let anyone else have my $10. You can easily do this with a group of friends or coworkers and it’s a great motivator. The money isn’t the point, it’s the competition that really inspires you skip the second hot chocolate.
