By Lori Skurbe, MPH, CDE, Prime Surgicare Dietitian
This month can be challenging to stay on the weight loss track and maintain your exercise schedule. Even in 2020, time is short and there is much to accomplish in just a few weeks.
If your holiday celebrations will be smaller, spent with immediate family at home, you may still be faced with a plethora of tempting foods and beverages in your home.
You’ve worked so hard in 2020–this is no time to backslide!
How can you enjoy the holidays and still stay on track?
Here are a few tried and true tips to get you to 2021, without facing holiday weight gain:
1. Indulge once during the actual holiday
Enjoy yourself on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve, or one special night of Chanukah. Overeating one day will not cause weight regain, but overeating for several days in a row can.
I explain to our Prime bariatric patients during one-on-one appointments that it is not the actual holiday eating that causes weight gain, it’s the continuous overeating for several days before and after the holiday.
2. Post-holiday, get rid of those treats and rich foods
Send care packages (as long as you’re not sick) to friends, family and neighbors, or freeze leftover holiday treats for a later date.
When we create a healthy food environment – it will guide our food choices and help stay on track.
3. Modify recipes
Make high-calorie foods lower in calories by swapping out higher-calorie ingredients with lower-calorie substitutions, without sacrificing flavor. Use less oil, butter, margarine in recipes. Use leaner forms of protein and less sugar. A quick internet search will offer specific ingredient substitution options.
4. Prioritize exercise
With holiday shopping and other preparations, we often have less time. Exercise seems to be crossed off the daily to-do list when time gets in short supply. Schedule your physical activity like a dentist appointment or work meeting.
Break your exercise session into smaller, more manageable time periods, if necessary.
Example: Take two 15-minute walks instead of one 30-minute walk.
Increase your activity in the things you do each day (take stairs instead of elevators, park further away when running errands). These small efforts add up at the end of the day to a bigger calorie burn!
5. Watch wasted calories on alcohol
Holidays feature more high-calorie foods and occasions that include drinking. Most types of alcohol are high in calories, which can sabotage weight loss and cause regain.
Calories are much quicker to consume when you drink them.
If you do choose to have a drink, keep it in moderation. If you’ve had weight loss surgery, be forewarned that you can become intoxicated very quickly.
6. Stick to bariatric basics 101
Make sure you get in your healthy protein and plenty of non-starchy vegetables at meals.
It is possible to get through the holiday season and maintain a healthy weight by trying the above tips.
For more suggestions or if you have specific questions, please do not hesitate to call us!
Happy holidays!