It's the holidays, take a hike!
To be honest, this was actually my wife’s idea to write this blog. But it’s a pretty awesome
On a separate note, if you know me, even a little, you know that I pretty much hate all the “get slim quick” schemes that pop up around the holidays. I despise all the disingenuous bloggers, fitness geeks, authors and infomercials that bank on the fact that you are going to gain some weight over the holidays and they’re going to get you skinny again.
Now here’s a concept that is going to blow your mind. What if, hypothetically, you didn’t gain ANY weight over the holidays? What then? You could just pick up right where you left off (minus a little bit of fitness).
The truth of the matter is that during the holidays we sabotage ourselves in two ways. We eat more of the wrong things, and we actually reduce the amount that we move (which is already too little).
Don’t get me wrong, I am a HUGE fan of all the sweets, cakes, cookies, doughnuts, chocolates etc that pop up during the holidays. But I try to steer clear of them and definitely curb my portions of them. This is a general concept that most people understand so I’m not going to go any further with it. You’re a smart person, and you know that you shouldn’t STILL be eating those cookies. So just do it.
So, now on to increasing your whole family’s activity.
You’ve traveled half way across the US to visit your mother-in-law and now you’re stuck inside helping to bake all the stuff you shouldn’t be eating. What can you do to boost your activity while still spending time with your family.
Find time every day during the holidays to:
- Take a walk
- Go snowshoeing
- Go to sledding!
- Take everyone ice skaing
- Do a running scavenger hunt around your city/neighborhood with prizes for finishing faster. This will be fun and it gets people moving. (It’s more fun with multiple families)
- Go skiing
- Snow ball fights
- Build a snow fort
- Take a hike
If you don’t have any snow.... too bad for you!
The ideas are endless. But the point is, while you’re all together, make it a point to do something active every day. It’ll do wonders for the waistline and help you prevent any unnecessary weight gain over the holidays.
Have more ideas??? Post them in the comments section!