5 Strategies for Holiday Health & Fitness

I must say that I enjoyed my Thanksgiving holiday weekend! We actually hosted our family dinner (20 adults and 6 kids) on Wednesday this year - which meant that I also enjoyed a second dinner at my sister-in-law's house on Thursday. Then came Black Friday shopping, leftovers, lazy time and rainy weather. While I was all very nice, it's time to be realistic and assess the damage. The things I always find challenging are:

• Rich Food
• Less Water
• Sporadic Sleep
• No deliberate exercise
• High stress

Did you encounter any of these this week? I did! It's really all about strategy. Some things can be avoided, and other things just need to be approached a little smarter. Think about it as a game! Let's go back through each one and talk about strategy. These strategies can apply to pretty much any holiday that involves a special meal or party.

1. Food strategy
Here's the key: eat squeaky clean the entire week, and the day of your holiday event. Then when the time comes for the meal or party, use it as a cheat/treat/splurge (whatever you call it) for that week. I generally think that trying to make traditional holiday foods low fat, low sugar, low sodium just ends up making them tasteless. The food detour might just be a positive jolt for your mind and body. Enjoy the best things to eat. Concentrate on those that are unique to the holiday, that you don't get other times of the year. Don't waste your calories on common foods you can get any time. If you're celebrating during the day, about 3 hours after your meal/party, eat a small super healthy snack to reset your mind and body.

2. Water Strategy
Go into the holiday fully hydrated. You most likely will be drinking other stuff, but if you go into it well hydrated you won't be as thirsty for some of the other things. Also, don't drink things just because they are there. Decide what you really love. If you're going to drink some calories, don't waste it on anything that's not your favorite. Again, be choosy, and focus on the unique drinks for the holiday. Drink a big glass of water before your meal or party.

3. Sleep Strategy
Go into the holiday rested. Do whatever it takes to get a full 8 hours of sleep every night leading up to the event. Take a nap the day of if you know you're going to be up late. Be organized enough that you don't have to sacrifice sleep. It's not worth it, and it make take some pre-planning or starting your holiday prep much earlier than you are used to. When you feel tired, rest. Use the time for active recovery (doing fun stuff) and getting in extra down time such as naps and meditation. Your body will thank you. It's supposed to be a holiday, remember?

4. Exercise strategy
You just have to schedule it. Make sure you stay on track with your exercise right up until the event. If you can, get your workout in the day of before you go to your dinner or party. Wrestling a 22 pound turkey into the oven, miles walked during a shopping spree and hours on your feet may not cut it. The next day, or the next few days, you'll have extra calories on board. Take advantage of it! You'll be surprised how strong you might feel at the gym, because usually those calories are extra carbs. Hit it hard and with intensity. Get in a walk after dinner and every chance you get. Run and play with the kids, do some stair sprints, burpees in the living room, anything you can to keep moving.

5. High stress
Be with people you love. Get some time away from those who drive you nuts. Have some time each day set aside to be quiet and still. Protect your mind from negative thoughts. Ask youself, "what is this in light of eternity?" and keep things in perspective. Avoid that family debate that makes you raging mad, or the toxic people. If you can't get it all done, let it go!!

We have about 5 weeks before the new year. Don't just throw in the towel now! Those are 5 weeks that you can be productive in your health and fitness goals. Why not start the new year with a leg up? You can do it!

Water is boring, what else can I drink?

I often get asked if it is okay to drink flavored waters or bottled juices or store-bought smoothies or other pre-packaged "health" drinks. What do you think I say?

A
"No! Never! You must drink only the purest filtered water carefully shipped in from the fountain of youth instead of drinking that sugary, chemical-laden, bazillion calorie crap in a pretty BPA-infested plastic jug that's going to expand your abdominal girth and eventually kill you!"

B
It depends. Let's talk about your thoughts on the drinks you're asking about, how much water you're drinking and what other types of things you drink during the day or week. (Begin an actual information exchange).

My response is usually something like B.
You hypocrite! You talk about water all the time! You drink out of BPA free containers! You read Jillian Michael's book Master Your Metabolism! How can you not respond with A?

Whoa, Nellie.
Except for the fountain of youth part I think option A is pretty much right on, but a lot of the people
I talk to are new at making changes. They're determined, learning, asking the right questions and taking action. If I throw an answer like that at them they're going to run the other direction. Sometimes it's a good thing to find out where a person is now, and where they can handle going next, before we give an answer.

Plus, I've been there. I spent most of my teenage years to adult life drinking everything but water. Juice, soft drinks, diet drinks, milk, coffee, tea, Yoo-Hoo (ok, stop laughing), lemonade, fruit punch, blah, blah, blah. Once I did that, water was just plain boring and didn't taste good. I had to acquire a taste for water as an adult. Now that I'm reminiscing about my drinking habits I am suddenly reminded of two kidney stones and renal colic due to dehydration. But that's a story for another day. Now water is my primary drink, although I can't give up my coffee entirely. I also drink hot green or black tea. I'm working on giving up diet soft drinks entirely, but for some reason if I eat a treat meal like Mexican I still want a diet Coke with fresh lime.

Sometimes it's difficult for people to be drinking lattes, soft drinks, frozen drinks, alcohol, etc, or hardly anything at all and then all of a sudden go to just straight, plain water and maintain it. I know people who nurse a diet soft drink all day long, and when they start changing their eating and thinking about their drinking they want to know if there is anything else they can drink besides just water. When that happens, it's easy to be deceived by something that seems like it should be healthy. And sometimes it's better to temporarily transition to something less than optimal than to not make a change in the right direction at all!

So I spent a little time in one of our health food stores reading labels of all the bottled options of "healthy" drinks to see if I could find any viable options. You know, things with words like naked, fresh, vital, natural, energy, electrolytes, 100%, enriched, vitamins, boost, etc. Some of them do have natural ingredients, and some are quite impressive. Some of them also have 400+ calories and over 70 carbs in an 8 oz container. You also have to be careful with smoothie bars too in terms of portions, calories, and any syrups or other things they may be adding. I didn't find anything that I thought I would recommend, but I did buy and try this one:

Fuze Slenderize in Strawberry Melon. It has 2 servings in the 19 oz bottle, for a total of 20 calories, 4 carbs, 5 mg sodium, no protein. It has sucralose and 5% juice. The flavor is good, but intense! Honestly, a person could take this one bottle and add it to multiple gallons of fresh water for a hint of taste. Better yet, see below. This one is not righteous, it's just the one I tried. It is not going to make you slender!

The real answer is, if you need flavored water or a smoothie, make your own at home! Use ingredients like water, ice, fresh fruit, whey protein, veggies, agave nectar or a dash of honey, cinnamon, non-fat milk, non-fat plain yogurt. Shakeology is one I'm getting into since starting Beachbody programs and coaching, you can add any of these things to it, or nothing at all. Other than that, start adding water while you cut back on or eliminate other drinks. Use lime or lemon to add some flavor if necessary, It helps with thirst you may not realize you have, and the other drinks aren't so enticing any more.

What do you do when you get bored of water, or when you want something different to drink? What is out there that I am missing? Leave a comment!

The link above for Shakeology will take you directly to my Shakeology website as an Independent Team Berachbody Coach, http://www.shakeitwithkelley.com/

How to Sabotage Your Workout

Here is a good guide on how to get the most ineffective workout possible. See if you recognize yourself. If not, incorporate some or all of these to be sure you don't get the results you want.

Get too little or too much sleep the night before.

Cool. Getting too little sleep shouldn't be a problem. I'll just eat a big carb-loaded meal late, top it off with some stimulating TV, play around on the computer, let the kids stay up too late and pick a fight with my spouse. Then I'll have a late night drink to calm down but read something that fires me up right before I go to sleep. I'll be sure the room is too warm and hopefully that late night drink will have me get up in the night to go to the bathroom. Awesome! If I have to go to work the next day I'll set the alarm to get up early and hit the snooze at least 3 times. If it's a Saturday I'll sleep in really late so that I can't get going all day. Got that one down!

Drink everything but water during the day.

This one shouldn't be a problem. I'll start the day with half a pot of coffee (I like a little coffee with my cream and sugar). I'll stop and get a 42 oz diet soft drink on the way to work (helps me get through my morning meetings). At lunch I'll drink another diet soft drink or maybe one of those big cups of sweet tea from the deli. I'll try to squeeze in my workout on my way home from work because we'll meet some friends for drinks before dinner (more sweet tea). Before we leave for dinner I'll probably finish off the rest of a juice box one of the kids wasted. Then maybe a glass of wine before bed. Oh, but should I sip water from the water fountain at the gym?

Hit the gym without a plan.

Super, one less thing I have to think about. That will give me more time to plan for lunch with clients, that big meeting this week, updating my status on my social media sites, my child's birthday party and which outfit makes me look the least fat for Saturday night out with friends. Wonder should I go try to find something new since I only have one pair of pants that aren't way too tight? Anyway, I won't have to work so hard in the gym because I can take my time figuring out which move comes next. That will be easy because I'll just choose the ones I like best. Hey, maybe Bob will be there so we can talk! I've heard resistance training is good, so maybe I'll do a few bicep curls, cheat on some bench presses and throw in some crunches, but I really like riding the elliptical so I can watch my favorite show or read a book. I'm thinking too much! But whatever, it still counts because I went to the gym and did something, right?

Eat high calorie, low nutritional value foods inconsistently throughout the day.

Are you kidding? I've got this one covered. I'll skip breakfast because I put so much fat and sugar in my coffee it fills me up, plus I have lots of energy! Hmmm...that mid morning slump will mean I can't make it until lunch, so is it okay if I grab something out of the break room machine or a pastry someone brought in? Oh yeah, we have a meeting that starts right after lunch so I'll just grab something from the fast food place across the street, if I even get to do that. I'll do pretty well on this tip though because I never plan for lunch and pack anything from home. Susie always has some candy or chips or something at her desk if I get hungry in the afternoon. That'll get me through the day until I can make it to our big dinner tonight! My favorite Italian restaurant! Can you say pasta-rama?! Then maybe I can rummage around in the fridge after everyone is in bed and the house is finally quiet.

There you go! You won't be eating much but you can still have all your favorite foods. You can say you go to the gym, but you won't have to work hard. You'll be able to continue your sleep deprivation without having to change, and who likes water anyway? These tips should at least get you started in the wrong direction and if you're lucky it might even snowball from there!

What is your favorite tip for sabotaging a workout?

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Drink More Water

Meal Plans or Guidelines?

Choose Mustard Not Mayonnaise

Workout Plans and Intensity

Drink More Water

Do you get enough water each day? Before you say yes, record your beverage intake for the next few days, or even over the weekend. You may be surprised. It's not uncommon to have coffee in the mornings, soft drinks or tea mid-day, and more soft drinks or wine at night. There are so many drink choices out there, the next thing you know, you can actually go days without having much water or maybe not any at all. Okay, I know what you're thinking. Food contains water, and all beverages contain some water, so your body is being replenished, but what I'm talking about is pure, plain, filtered, clean, unadulterated water. Not anything special in a bottle, not the questionable stuff we get from the tap, not even the flavored type with stuff added to spizz it up. What if we're just assuming that because our bodies keep functioning we're getting enough water, and besides, with all the beverages to choose from, who wants plain water? Are we consistently asking our bodies to compensate and function with less water than they actually need?

It's really not possible to set a standard for every person in terms of daily water intake. You have to assess your water intake and do some experimenting. You will see lots of recommendations out there, but the truth is, it varies from person to person and even from day to day. Your environment, sweating, activity level, food intake and body size are just a few of the factors that can impact how much water your body needs. Even sedentary people may need an average of 1.5 to 2.5 quarts of water a day to replace general losses. In addition, you can't always base it on thirst. Sometimes by the time you feel thirsty or your mouth is dry you are already dehydrated, at least to a degree.

There are multiple reasons for making sure your body has adequate water every day.

Four or five years ago when my husband stopped drinking regular soft drinks, he lost 8 pounds almost immediately. He didn't drink them excessively, but he drank them daily and rarely drank water. Now he drinks about a gallon of water a day on a consistent basis and has a periodic diet soft drink, usually when we're eating Mexican food, a favorite treat for us!

Water can also help with excessive dry, rough, skin. For sure there are some specific dry skin conditions, but have you ever noticed how you can put on lotion over and over and your skin seems to absorb it but remain dry? Water will help your skin from the inside out.

A very powerful benefit of having enough water in your system is your ability to perform during exercise. Your performance can be impaired by many factors, such as inadequate rest, overtraining, lack of focus, and inadequate hydration. I can tell by the time I finish my warm-up whether or not I am hydrated adequately. Your body requires water for all of it's essential functions, so pushing it in the gym while dehydrated is not going to support the performance you want for fat loss or muscle building. (The replenishment of electrolytes, etc. during and after strenuous or lengthy exercise marked by copious sweat loss must be considered but that's a topic for another day).

Have you ever been rummaging around in the pantry or refridgerator looking for something to eat? You're not exactly hungry, and you don't really know what you want. Maybe you're just thirsty. Drink a tall glass of water and see what happens.

What if instead of drinking all sorts of fluids and trying to remember to drink water, we turned the process around and chose water for our primary beverage? Then we could supplement with something like green tea for flavor. On top of that, we could have our favorite diet soda, a specialty coffee, a relaxing glass of wine as a treat. Imagine how good those things would taste then?

When I decided to make water my primary drink, I had to develop a taste for it. I found that I liked the taste of filtered water. I'm still not crazy about water in restaurants, so I will usually add lemon or lime there. Sometimes I would add artificial sweetener too, but weaned myself of that and now I drink it totally plain. I also discovered that I prefer room temperature water over ice water. Eventually I bought a water bottle and started carrying it around with me, sipping throughout the day. It didn't take long to become a habit I really enjoy.

My new SIGG water bottle from Target. My other water bottle is BPA-free plastic.

How much water do you drink? What were your tricks for getting more water in your daily intake if you don't particularly care for water? I'd love to hear about it.

I a SIGG water bottle in my Amazon store. Please see my disclosure.