In today’s issue of FUN, HOT, NO B.S. Fitness Magazine!…
If you find yourself falling off the wagon during the festive season with your fitness efforts…
Sue Heintze, VFT’s on board Featured Body Transformation Specialist and natural Figure Competitor, shares her top 10 Tips For Training and Dieting During the Silly Season. (scroll down)
Enjoy today’s holiday “special issue” and PLEASE leave a comment below by clicking on “Go here to comment on this article” !
VirtualFitnessTrainer.com
VFT – NO BS Fitness!
It’s that time of year where many plans to follow a good diet and training program fall by the wayside. There are too many parties, events, gatherings and many will decide it’s all too hard and let all or nothing thinking rear its ugly head. They’ll just give up now, enjoy the festive season, and start again next year.
Here are ten tips to help keep you active and maintain good nutrition over the festive season!
1. Plan your meals and workouts in advance
Schedule your workouts and meal times in your calendar just like you would any other appointment. If you try to “wing it” and squeeze in your workouts and meals whenever you have time, you’ll find that your daily activities, especially around Christmas time, always seem to “expand” to fill the hours in every day. A great time to exercise is first thing in the morning before work – this time of day doesn’t usually interfere with anything on your social calendar! Just be sure to get to bed early so you are getting adequate rest.
2. Maintain a consistent eating schedule
Continue with your regular pattern of eating small, frequent meals. Many people allow this busy period to throw them off their regular eating schedule. When there’s a big dinner or party scheduled, many people think that skipping a couple of their earlier meals to “save room” for the big one later is a good idea. It’s not. This is a sure-fire way to invite a binge that could set you back for days.
Don’t lose your consistency or your momentum. Continue with your pattern of eating small, frequent meals all year round. When you are faced with a dinner out, just keep the meal smaller.
3. Give yourself permission to have “Free Meals” – and schedule them in
A planned “free meal” here and there helps you to stay on your program better in the long run. If you’re too strict all the time, you will set yourself up for cravings and bingeing.
4. Don’t buy into the low standards and expectations of others
Most people have already planned in advance to fail at fitness over Christmas. You’ve decided to stay strong. Don’t let their negative influence drag you down.
5. If you fall “Off the Wagon”, get right back on it
Even if you fall completely off the wagon, don’t beat yourself up. Just get right back to it without missing another beat. Too many people mess up once and then think their entire progress is ruined. They feel as if everything they’ve done prior to that day was wasted and there’s no sense going on. Even worse, they rationalize, “I already messed up, so it doesn’t matter now, I might as well keep going.”
If you threw in the towel every time you didn’t score 100% on your diet, most people would never get through more than a few days on any structured program. You’re only human. Just because you mess up once doesn’t mean you should quit! Don’t let one small slip keep you from achieving great things.
6. Control your portion sizes
There’s no reason to deprive yourself of things you enjoy, just make sure you don’t overindulge. As long as you enjoy your favourite foods in moderation, and you keep training, it is less likely to end up around your waistline.
7. Don’t make excuses
May I suggest that just because it’s Christmas it doesn’t mean you can’t continue your usual workout program! Often it’s just an excuse, so be wary if you start finding reasons you can’t make the gym. If you really are stuck for time, make your weights workouts shorter by incorporating supersets or tri-sets, for a more intense workout. You can get a great workout in 20-30 minutes utilizing these techniques.
8. Have a competition
Get a few friends together and see how much weight, cms or body fat you can lose by Christmas. What a turnaround – imagine actually losing weight over the festive season! Take photos, measurements, and write an essay. Arrange a non biased person to be the judge. Organize a day of pampering for the winner – massage, facial, nails. You will look a million dollar on New Year’s Eve!
9. Go high intensity
Likewise, for cardio workouts perform shorter, high intensity workouts rather than long, steady state cardio. Try some 15 minute sprinting sessions or stair running. If you have family at home for Christmas get them involved by going to a park or the beach and playing Frisbee, volleyball, cricket or football.
10. Exercise on Christmas Day!
Finally, try doing something different this Christmas – get up early and do a cardio workout on Christmas and Boxing Day morning!! You might get some strange looks from passers by, but imagine how great you will feel after showing so much dedication!
—————————————
Sue Heintze is Owner and Managing Director of Body Transformation company www.idealbodiesonline.com. As a Body Transformation Specialist, Sue has an absolute passion for helping others achieve their fitness and fat loss goals. As Australia’s premier online training facility, the Ideal Bodies Online team has helped an enormous number of people from all walks of life totally transform their bodies and lives.
Sue has competed at State and National level as a natural figure athlete for the past 10 years, and at the age of 41 recently became a first time mum. She writes regularly for Australian Oxygen magazine. Sue recently developed a cutting edge range of instantly downloadable fat loss programs at www.idealbodyblueprint.com.
[wlsp_jvftbasecontentluvthisbanners]
