Merry Christmas Eve! Are you ready for Christmas? How about New Years? I know I sure am! We are all eager to get together with our loved ones and celebrate. And what better way to celebrate than by joining together in a great feast? If your families are anything like mine, you will probably have at least three Christmases and one New Year's Eve party. When you think about it, that is a lot of food; and let's be honest, we all like to splurge a little on the holidays. Unfortunately, this is an enormous amount of calories added into our diet and, if not properly tracked, could lead to extra pounds. But it's so hard to limit ourselves and still try to stay healthy through this time of the year. Well, I'm here to tell you it is not impossible to prevent the weight gain. We can still enjoy our holiday meals without having to give up on our goals. Listed below are a few ways to stay healthy during these next few weeks.
1. Make realistic, short-term goals. Don't make it your goal to lose 5lbs before January. That is incredibly unrealistic and will make you feel bad about yourself in the long run. Instead of trying to lose weight, why not make it your goal simply to maintain your current weight? That way you could continue with your weight loss when the holidays are finished.
2. Weigh your options at meal times. Look at all of the food before you decide what you want. Choose the foods that are your favorites, rather than getting everything you like. That way you don't overload your plate. Also try to fit in at least a few fruits and vegetables as substitutes for high-calorie foods.
3. Stay Hydrated! Drink water! I cannot stress this enough. As some of you may already know, drinking water makes you feel full a lot faster. By drinking a glass of water before your meal, you won't be quite as hungry and will therefore eat less
4. Eat Slowly. Try to put your fork or spoon down between bites and chew your food as much as possible. Try to stay involved in table conversation during meal time. These small breaks between bites will allow you to know when you are actually full. If you eat too quickly, you might not feel full immediately, and therefore overeat. When you eat slowly, you will know exactly when you are full, and you will not eat as much food.
5. Think twice about getting seconds. Try to wait a while for that second serving. It might take you a few minutes to feel full. It might also be a good idea to finish up another glass of water to try to reach your stomach's maximum capacity before you over-stuff it.
6. Keep busy. Whether it's engaging in conversation, joining in a card game, or even watching a movie, it's a good idea to stay involved. Joining in on other activities will help keep your mind off of food, so you'll be less tempted to snack on those Christmas goodies.
I hope you find these few tips to be useful. I'd really appreciate the feedback! In addition to these tips, I've included a few links to some other helpful websites with articles about holiday eating. I used them as references in the past and found them to be helpful. Also, before I forget, I'd like to wish everyone a happy holiday, and a wonderful New Year! Good luck with the food, and remember to enjoy yourself.
Happy Holidays!
Danielle ♥
WebMD: Healthy Holiday Eating
Sutter Health: Tips for Healthy Holiday Eating
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Sunday, December 22, 2013
Motivation
Happy holiday's everyone!
Christmas is only a few days, do you know what that means? That's right, New Years is just around the corner. That also means it's time for everyone to make a new years resolution. Being a regular at the gym, I've always noticed that most people make the resolution to get into better shape and lose some weight. I also tend to notice that most people do not stick with their resolution. The gym is generally overcrowded in January, about half the crowd is gone by February, and by March only the regulars are left. So why is it so difficult to stick with our resolutions? It's no secret that we all struggle with self-motivation. We set our goals, we work at it for a few weeks, maybe even a few months; eventually we start making excuses to stop working towards our goals and we give up. Then we wonder why it is that we have to start over again. The whole process is tiring and eventually we stop trying to restart.
If there is one thing I have learned over the years, it is the fact that I am my biggest problem when it comes to motivation. I can't seem to keep myself motivated enough to stick with new goals at first. When I first started running in high school, I did it with the end goal of shortening my mile time for volleyball tryouts. I then had a friend that needed a running partner, so I ran with her. She might not know it, but she was my motivation. On days that she couldn't run, I wouldn't. When we did run, I would want to go one mile, and she would want to go three. I was easily embarrassed because I thought I was out of shape, so I struggled to keep up with her. Before I knew it, I was running 5 miles easily. Later in high school, during cross country, my PR was my motivation. I was the slowest runner on the team, so, seeing as I was easily embarrassed, I hated my speed. I worked to improve it. That was my motivation. As soon as I got out of high school I lost all motivation. I didn't have a running partner and I didn't have a PR to break at my next race. My only goal was to lose weight, but I attended the gym regularly so I wasn't dead set on running. I had no goal. That's when my friend recommended reading Runner's World Magazine for motivation. I wasn't thrilled at first, but I was hooked with the first issue I read. By reading the things that other people have gone through to get to where they are, how much of a struggle they went through to finish their first 5k, it really got me thinking. By the time I finished the second issue I was so motivated that I wanted to start training for a half marathon.
I'm not telling you that you must read this magazine, but reading about how successful other people are, you might find yourself more willing to stick with your goals. If your goal is to run, whether it be for health or to finish a race, I have attached a few websites with motivational hints, tips, and success stories. If you have time, I really urge you to read at least a few. It might really make a difference. Also, I will be posting weekly motivational quotes in the sidebars of this website. It doesn't seem like much, but they really might get you thinking.
Motivation:
Hints and Tips
Success Stories
Happy Holidays & A Happy New Year!
Danielle ♥
Christmas is only a few days, do you know what that means? That's right, New Years is just around the corner. That also means it's time for everyone to make a new years resolution. Being a regular at the gym, I've always noticed that most people make the resolution to get into better shape and lose some weight. I also tend to notice that most people do not stick with their resolution. The gym is generally overcrowded in January, about half the crowd is gone by February, and by March only the regulars are left. So why is it so difficult to stick with our resolutions? It's no secret that we all struggle with self-motivation. We set our goals, we work at it for a few weeks, maybe even a few months; eventually we start making excuses to stop working towards our goals and we give up. Then we wonder why it is that we have to start over again. The whole process is tiring and eventually we stop trying to restart.
If there is one thing I have learned over the years, it is the fact that I am my biggest problem when it comes to motivation. I can't seem to keep myself motivated enough to stick with new goals at first. When I first started running in high school, I did it with the end goal of shortening my mile time for volleyball tryouts. I then had a friend that needed a running partner, so I ran with her. She might not know it, but she was my motivation. On days that she couldn't run, I wouldn't. When we did run, I would want to go one mile, and she would want to go three. I was easily embarrassed because I thought I was out of shape, so I struggled to keep up with her. Before I knew it, I was running 5 miles easily. Later in high school, during cross country, my PR was my motivation. I was the slowest runner on the team, so, seeing as I was easily embarrassed, I hated my speed. I worked to improve it. That was my motivation. As soon as I got out of high school I lost all motivation. I didn't have a running partner and I didn't have a PR to break at my next race. My only goal was to lose weight, but I attended the gym regularly so I wasn't dead set on running. I had no goal. That's when my friend recommended reading Runner's World Magazine for motivation. I wasn't thrilled at first, but I was hooked with the first issue I read. By reading the things that other people have gone through to get to where they are, how much of a struggle they went through to finish their first 5k, it really got me thinking. By the time I finished the second issue I was so motivated that I wanted to start training for a half marathon.
I'm not telling you that you must read this magazine, but reading about how successful other people are, you might find yourself more willing to stick with your goals. If your goal is to run, whether it be for health or to finish a race, I have attached a few websites with motivational hints, tips, and success stories. If you have time, I really urge you to read at least a few. It might really make a difference. Also, I will be posting weekly motivational quotes in the sidebars of this website. It doesn't seem like much, but they really might get you thinking.
Motivation:
Hints and Tips
Success Stories
Happy Holidays & A Happy New Year!
Danielle ♥
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Apologies
Hello Readers!
As stated in the title, I really must apologize to all of you for my absence. As I am sure you all know, school can be a bit rough from time to time. This past semester was without a doubt the worst semester I have ever had in my life as a student. I took on 20 credit hours (5 courses) that consisted of the following: Organic Chemistry, Biostatistical Analysis, Biology 203: Intro to Ecology and Biodiveristy, Multivariable Calculus (aka Calculus III), and Wall Climbing. Of these classes, two had 3 hours of lab tacked onto them. On top of this I kept up with my work schedule (usually between 20 and 30 hours a week. I quickly realized that biology really wasn't my cup of tea, and after a crazy series of events and life-changing decisions I switched my major to mathematics.
You are all probably wondering why I keep going on and on about this. There really isn't much explanation other than I felt like telling you why I have not been keeping up with this blog. I also realize that this probably sounds like nothing but excuses, and trust me, they are, but I really wanted to let you all know that I will never have a semester like this again and I will be back and consistently posting to this blog again. I would also like to give you a heads up that the next few months of blogging will be mostly about running, nutrition, and general health seeing as I skipped the gym to keep up with all of my work and I need to get back into shape; though I really doubt that should bother most of you considering most of my posts are about that anyways.
To finish up, I'd just like to say I am truly sorry one more time and ask that you all give me another chance and continue reading all of my future posts. I really do love helping you all as much as possible and cannot wait to start blogging again! As usual, if there is anything specific you want me to write about, please leave me some comments below and I will be sure to get back to you. Thank you all!
Happy Holidays,
Danielle ♥
As stated in the title, I really must apologize to all of you for my absence. As I am sure you all know, school can be a bit rough from time to time. This past semester was without a doubt the worst semester I have ever had in my life as a student. I took on 20 credit hours (5 courses) that consisted of the following: Organic Chemistry, Biostatistical Analysis, Biology 203: Intro to Ecology and Biodiveristy, Multivariable Calculus (aka Calculus III), and Wall Climbing. Of these classes, two had 3 hours of lab tacked onto them. On top of this I kept up with my work schedule (usually between 20 and 30 hours a week. I quickly realized that biology really wasn't my cup of tea, and after a crazy series of events and life-changing decisions I switched my major to mathematics.
You are all probably wondering why I keep going on and on about this. There really isn't much explanation other than I felt like telling you why I have not been keeping up with this blog. I also realize that this probably sounds like nothing but excuses, and trust me, they are, but I really wanted to let you all know that I will never have a semester like this again and I will be back and consistently posting to this blog again. I would also like to give you a heads up that the next few months of blogging will be mostly about running, nutrition, and general health seeing as I skipped the gym to keep up with all of my work and I need to get back into shape; though I really doubt that should bother most of you considering most of my posts are about that anyways.
To finish up, I'd just like to say I am truly sorry one more time and ask that you all give me another chance and continue reading all of my future posts. I really do love helping you all as much as possible and cannot wait to start blogging again! As usual, if there is anything specific you want me to write about, please leave me some comments below and I will be sure to get back to you. Thank you all!
Happy Holidays,
Danielle ♥
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