How to Quickly Lose Weight After Christmas and
In time for Carnival
By CASSANDRA JAMES
By CASSANDRA JAMES
Although we all love Christmas and New Year, few of us love the weight
we invariably gain as a result of all the holiday festivities. But, never fear,
after Christmas and New Year you can lose weight fast. It just means following
these quick tips.
1. Exercise Every Day - While
this might seem obvious, it's amazing how many people think losing weight fast
after Christmas and New Year can be done while plonked in front of the TV all night.
Get up and exercise. Fifteen minutes walking around the neighborhood every
night, walk the dog, half an hour on a treadmill, or exercise bike in front of
the TV. All of these activities, if done every day, will give you at least a
2lb weight loss over a month, just for the exercise itself. If you watch what
you eat too, there's no reason you can't drop 10-15 lbs by the end of February
2. Freeze or Throw Away The Christmas/New Year Leftovers - The problem with Christmas and New Year is, not only is there
food on the holiday day itself, but there's usually boatloads of it left
afterwards. If you have a lot of food left over after the holidays, either
freeze it and eat a little at a time over a couple of months, or pass it on to
someone else or throw it away.
Leaving
huge piles of leftover Christmas and New Year goodies lying around will do
nothing but tempt you to continue eating too much.
3. Re-gift Food Gifts - Another
great way to lose weight fast after Christmas and New Year is to give away the
food you were given as presents. If you get lots of food, chocolate and candy
as Christmas and New Year gifts and it doesn't have obvious holiday packaging
on it, re-gift it to someone else in January.
While I
love chocolate and candy, I can't have much of it in the house as I can't stop
myself eating it. So, every year, right after Christmas I pass on the holiday
goodies to the security guards in my building, the maids or various friends who
aren't worried about losing weight. I live in Thailand, where food gifts over
the holidays are too many to count. If I kept everything I get, I'd be still
eating it in July and be an extra 20 lbs heavier.
4. Cut Out Just 300 Calories a Day - Find a way to cut out 300 calories a day. That's a candy bar,
chocolate, a latte, a dessert - anything that's at least 300 calories. To lose
one pound, you need to cut out 3,000 calories so, with just 300 calories a day
omitted from your diet, that's over 3 lbs you'll lose by the end of January
without even trying.
5. Join SparkPeople - If you
don't have time to go to a weight loss group in your town, join SparkPeople. An
amazing weight loss support website, not only do they have tons of resources
for people trying to lose weight fast after the holidays, it's all free too.
Get calorie counters and meal plans, meet other people in the chat rooms who
are trying to lose weight and, most importantly, drop 20 lbs by the end of
January. SparkPeople can show you how.
6. Eat Breakfast - I don't
know how many people I meet who think, losing weight after Christmas and New
Year means cutting out breakfast. Not only will you feel tired and sluggish if
you do, you'll also not lose weight. Starting the day with breakfast gets your
metabolism moving. If you don't eat it, your first meal of the day is lunch
and, because your metabolism is slow, it will take that much longer for your
body to burn the food it's eating. Thus turning it into fat. They don't call
breakfast 'The most important meal of the day' for nothing.
7. Eat Lots of Fruit - One of
the healthiest and most filling snacks is fruit. It also hits that 'sweet
tooth' craving and stops you reaching for candy, cake or chocolate. Like a
doctor once said to me, "I've never seen anyone get fat on fruit".
