Hello World! Welcome Friends! Did you also feel that you were navigating through a tempting terrain of decadent delights during the holiday season? Around this time of the year, the abundance of scrumptious desserts and tempting delicacies makes it difficult to adhere to a strict low-calorie diet. It’s quite alright to indulge your taste buds and enjoy the holidays. But, when the new year rolls around, get ready for a resolution revolution!
Fitness goals and resolutions without a plan and effective strategies are just dreams. You need a good plan and smart strategies to help you abide by your resolutions and achieve your fitness goals. As you bid farewell to the holiday season, transform into a willpower warrior and shed those festive pounds with these strategies:
Take Active Breaks
When you’re back to work after the holiday season, you will probably have a lot of tasks calling for your attention. There may be a work backlog. Your work will place considerable demands on your time and concentration. It may be challenging to balance your personal and professional goals.
There’s a way to increase your productivity, manage your time, and achieve your personal fitness goals – the Pomodoro technique of time management. It requires you to focus on the task at hand for 25 minutes and then take a 5-minute break. Use these 5 minutes to perform a short, quick, and powerful workout. This way you’ll be increasing your performance efficiency and achieving your fitness goals through active breaks.
Set Up a Home Gym
A home gym is an investment in your health. You will have to spend a little time and money to create a place in which you’ll love to work out. This will increase your motivation and commitment to exercise. Commercial gyms have fixed timings, which may or may not work for you. A home gym will offer you the convenience of working out at your preferred time. The comfort and privacy of a home gym will also contribute toward fostering a more consistent fitness routine. If you have limited space, consider getting a smart home gym. With a smart home gym, the latest technology will be an aid to your weight loss journey.
Practice Mindful Eating
Mindful eating entails paying attention to hunger cues, eating slowly with full attention, engaging the senses while having meals, and learning to differentiate between real hunger and non-hunger eating triggers. Cultivating the habit of mindful eating will require conscious efforts but it will promote weight loss and help you appreciate food more. You will also benefit from consciously structuring your meals to meet your nutritional needs. Learning how to count and track macros will empower you to make intentional changes to your diet that will aid your weight loss journey.
Take Short Walks
Every adult needs at least 150 minutes of moderately intense aerobic activity every week. If you wish to shed some pounds, you’ll need that much and more. If you try to walk for hours at a time, you could get bored or give up more easily. Leverage short walks for more benefits. Walk briskly for 15-20 minutes before your breakfast, then again in the evening and before bed. Adjust the time and duration of your walks according to your preference.
Get a Workout Buddy
Humans are social creatures. Working out with someone is likely to keep you more engaged. Involve your family or your friends. This way, you can spend some time with them and get them to improve their health as well. You will also have someone to watch your form and technique as you exercise. You can share fitness knowledge and even create some memories as you make progress towards your fitness goals.
Record in a Food Journal
Food journaling is a way to add an extra layer of accountability. Due to busy schedules, people tend to grab the easiest meal or snacks when hungry without thinking about how it’s going to affect the weight loss process. Recording in a food journal helps avoid impulse eating. A food journal will help you make healthier choices. Moreover, the food records will make it easier for you to understand how different foods are affecting your body.
Keeping Healthy Snacks Handy
When hunger strikes during the busy hours of the day, people tend to reach out for the easiest option. Often, this option is laden with calories. On the other end are people who do not eat when occupied with work. Remaining hungry for a long time also increases the tendency to overeat. For sustained progress towards your weight loss goals, you need to avoid both scenarios: not eating for a long time and consuming the most easily accessible unhealthy option. Keep healthy snacks such as nuts, seeds, whole-grain crackers, popcorn, fresh fruits and vegetables handy. This way, when you do reach out for the nearest option to satiate your hunger, you’ll end up with a health-promoting food item.
Select an Accountability Partner
This is different from a workout buddy. An accountability partner for your weight loss journey will be a person who helps you stay on track with your fitness goals, but not necessarily joins your journey. This person doesn’t have to have personal weight loss goals. It just has to be someone you trust, who can hold you accountable and encourage you to make healthy choices.
Preparing Your Own Meals
When you eat out or buy ready meals, it can become difficult to figure out the ingredients and calculate the calories you are consuming. Homemade food, on the other hand, provides multiple advantages. You can incorporate the ingredients that will best serve your purpose, and it will be easier to count and manage calories. Additionally, this option is also cost-effective and more hygienic. Furthermore, cooking meals at home requires physical activity in the form of grocery shopping and for preparation of ingredients and the food itself. You will be moving around to prepare the food and this will aid weight management.
Focus on Getting Sufficient Sleep
Sleep affects eating habits in more ways than one. Lack of sleep affects your metabolism and the ability of your body to process fats from the bloodstream also suffers. Basically, the body ends up storing more fat, which affects the weight loss journey. Sleep deprivation also affects your mind’s ability to make good choices. Late-night snacks and morning coffees will add to the calorie count. So, to shed the extra pounds, try to get sufficient sleep every night.
Wrapping Up
The ultimate goal of these strategies is to ensure sustainable weight loss. With these strategies, you will make consistent progress toward your fitness goals and foster a lifestyle that promotes your well-being. Devote the new year to building a healthier and happier version of you. Here’s to a year filled with vitality and strength!
Click the links below for any posts you have missed:
The Safe Haven: Expert Tips to Keep Pests Away from Your Household
Sprucing Up Your Nest: How to Ensure that Your Home Is Ready for Christmas Decorations
Are Home Security Burglar Alarms the Same As Intruder Alarms?
Cultivating Harmony: Integrating Beekeeping with Indoor Gardening
4 Home Emergencies That Require Attention ASAP – And What to Do About Them
Transform Your Home: The Benefits of Hardwood Floor Installation Services
I’d love for you to join my email list! You’ll receive a notification straight to your inbox which will include links to my latest home project posts! Simply enter your address below.
Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day/night depending on where you are in the world! Go with God and remember to be kind to one another!
Toodles,
[…] 10 Effective Strategies to Shed Holiday Weight and Kickstart Your New Year’s Health Goals […]