Tips on Avoiding Winter Holiday Weight Gain

If you're trying to lose weight, the holidays can be one of the most difficult times of year to stick to your weight loss plan. With Christmas and New Years come the parties and meals you'll attend with their high fat, high calorie, and low nutrition foods. Heeding the following tips can help you to stick to your weight loss plan, even with visions of candy canes and eggnog dancing in your head.

#1 - Avoid alcohol consumption. Martinis, cocktails, and beer are usually very popular at holiday parties, but they're also full of empty calories. When you drink these, you'll also give up a bit of control over your will power that'll make it more difficult to say not to other holiday goodies, and you'll stimulate your appetite to want to eat even more food than you'd normally eat at a party. Have a drink on a special occasion is fine, but don't overdo it at every party you go to.

#2 - Come to the party after you've already eaten a meal, even if it means you show up late to the party. This way you won't feel pressured into eating too much junk food. Showing up late may be insulting to the host of a smaller party, so make sure you're not going to come across as rude to the party host by doing that. Also, move around a bit to interact with the other party attendees; don't just mingle in one place.

#3 - Don't use the holiday season to just sit around. Get outside as well. Play in the snow if the weather allows (this actually burns a ton of calories). Walk up the hill to sled back down and have a snowball fight to get your heart pumping and work off the sweets you may have eaten.

#4 - If you don't have snowy weather in your area, go to the mall and walk laps inside while you're shopping for gifts. Take the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator. You can also go Christmas caroling and do some walking while spreading around good holiday spirits.

#5 - If you get food gifts, like chocolate or brownies, you can still keep slim (or keep getting slimmer) even while surrounded with these goodies. Since you can't force people to not buy you these foods as a gift, you can choose to take them into the workplace and share them with your fellow office workers. You can also donate unopened items to your local food bank.