The final two months of each year can add on the pounds. Weight Gain in November and December is a national pastime in the good old USA. Two of the greatest festivals of food (not to mention the extra alcohol consumed thrown in for good measure) Thanksgiving and Christmas will add unwanted calories to anyone s normal diet.
It is difficult to avoid this train wreck, but you can limit the damage to an acceptable level. A good method to keep calories consumed from escalating is to pay attention and tract daily intake. Most people get caught up in the individual numbers and miss the huge amount in the overall number.
In a brief amount of several weeks, you are tempted by many holidaymakers traditional gourmet delights that are very high in fat and low in nutritional value. High sugar content, many food items are smothered in gravy and sauces with high levels of fat, and tempting alcohol concoctions all contribute to the number of calories.
Enjoying a piece of pumpkin pie with whipped cream or apple pie ala mode (750 calories approximate figure just for example) is not different from a normal dessert. But then you add a meal with 7 courses, wine and nibbles before that and you win the prize of 2800 or even more calorie meals. We won t even discuss the snack of leftovers later that night.
Then add a few parties in the mixture and you add several events with this kind of meal, and calories add up fast. Treats people bring to work, you shop and eat out more, and your normal exercise routine may get kicked to the curb too. Avoiding all these extra calories and those tempting treats is darn near impossible.
It is well known that many people gain at least 10 12 pounds during this holiday period. And if you re already a little over your desired weight, it can be a killer to get that extra weight off in January.
Let s say you were already at least 8 pounds over your desired weight at the start of the holiday season, so in January if you acquired additional 12 pounds over the holidays, bingo, you now have a whopping 20 pounds to lose, instead of the original 8. It s a big difference and, according to many authorities, each pound equals 3,500 calories so that means you need to lose around 70,000 calories. Ouch!
Coming to grips with an extra 12 pounds or 42,000 calories to lose in January is not a good thing. Nothing to look forward to for anyone. Most experts recommend a low enough calorie intake to lose 2 pounds a week, so at that rate, those 12 extra pounds will take at least 6 weeks to lose.
A good way to avoid this problem is to maintain a daily count of calories you take in every day. The numbers don t need to be exact, but you need to know the general amounts. Take a look at a guide to calories and check the calories of popular items. It s also important to know how many calories you can have per day to maintain your desired weight (the amount you can eat every day and stay at your current weight).
The size of servings can be a huge factor in having some of your favorites, but never go way over on your base number of calories. Adding a brisk walk for about an hour whenever you have time can burn away an extra 320 calories, running will burn up to 700 calories per hour. The choice of meat rich in protein reduces the calories and requires more effort to digest so they can actually get rid of a few extra calories too.
Each day you can do a total count of calories and if it is high, you can reduce the next day s calories or up the exercise to burn those additional calories. Use the stairs instead of the elevator, park far away from building entrances, walking after each meal for 10 15 minutes is good, drink water, not a soft drink, do not snack while cooking, take the dog for a walk, all these small activities will help burn up some calories.
It is far easier to compensate for 500 extra calories at a time than let them add up and deal with a whopping 42,000 to lose in January. Try not to go into absolute denial on the good stuff that just makes you cranky. Have fun but keep an eye on the number of calories you eat each day and determine how best to compensate.
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