How to Quickly Lose Weight After Christmas and 

In time for Carnival

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".

Cassandra James, Yahoo Contributor Network