How to Avoid Holiday / Thanksgiving Weight Gain

This Part 1 of your 3 Day Guide to enjoying the Thanksgiving without gaining lots of excess weight, ruining your diet and regretting it later. Here is your guide for THE DAY BEFORE. As my dad always tells me, fail to prepare and prepare to fail. What an annoying expression that is??! Ready

Rule 1 - Eat normally. Don't get any ideas into your head about skipping meals so you can leave plenty of room to stuff yourself tomorrow. Today is a normal day and if you're traveling home, plan where and when and most importantly, what you are going to eat on your journey. If you leave it till the last minute, you may have no choice other than junk food to see you through so plan ahead.

Rule 2 - Drink plenty of water today. Chances are that during the Thanksgiving meal, water will get forgotten and be replaced with sodas, juices and alcohol so hydrate yourself now.

Rule 3 - If you can exercise today, do. This will really set you up for an energetic weekend and help you get one step ahead of the game. Some suggestions that you can do at home / in the garden - in the gym that will make the most out of a 30 minute workout:

Do This
Jump rope for 10 mins - try to have as few breaks as you can
Run for 10 mins - either on treadmill or outside and try to do a couple of 1 minute sprints to get your fat burn going.
2 x 15 squats
2 x 15 lunges
2 x 15 press ups
The Plank - do this for 60 seconds
2 x 15 scissor kicks
2 x reverse crunches
Jump rope for 5 mins
Cool down

More exercises you can do indoors here.

Photograph by ~Sage~

How to Stay Fit on Holiday

At the moment I’m on vacation visiting family so I don’t have access to my gym for my regular workouts and I’m away from all the running routes that I’m familiar with. 

Rather than be worried that I'll get out of shape while I’m here, I decided when I left home that I’d see what new things I could try and see if they’ll be options for adding to my routine when I get back home.  Here’s how I’m getting on so far.

1.Tennis
Having watched a really exciting Wimbledon this year, I wanted to take up tennis again.  I didn’t get around to it when I was in London but here I've been to the stores and bought racquets for all the family and so far we’ve had a championship in the street and found a local court where we can all pretend to be professionals.  I’ve really enjoyed it and everyone else has had fun too so this is something I’ll definitely continue when I get home.

2.Swimming
It’s easier to swim here where the weather is 80+ degrees and the pool is outdoors in the sunshine but, regardless of the weather, just getting back into swimming has reminded me of how much I enjoyed it a few years back and also what great exercise it is.  I’ve also been to the beach and swum in the ocean and had great fun on a boogie board, though this isn’t something I’ll be able to do back home.  I know people who do it but for me, it’s just too cold!  I will be visiting the local pool though.

3.Circuit training
I like circuit training at home but it’s usually in the gym.  Here there is a park with a full exercise area so it’s been easy to put together a few programmes that don’t take long but have really been fun to do.  Having enjoyed these workouts here I’ll be making more of an effort to get fit outside as well as in the gym when I get home.

 
So I’ve managed three new activities so far and enjoyed each one of them.  I’ve also felt aches in places I don’t think I’ve worked for a while, felt the sun on my skin and slept really well.  Oh to be on vacay all the time.....

It would be great to hear what new exercise or activities anyone else has tried on vacation…the start of a vacation does not have to mean abandoning your fitness.