5 ways to get a head start on your new year’s fitness resolution
MANY people start the new year with fitness goals high on their resolutions list — that’s after indulging in all the luscious goodies over the Christmas season. Because, indeed, who can resist the ham and the roast beef, the stuffed chicken breast and the fruitcake, and not to mention the sorrel, loaded with rum?
But if you’re serious about your health, losing weight and keeping fit, fitness won’t be an afterthought when you sit down at the dinner table this Friday. What you can do, instead, is plan ahead for January without missing out on any of the Christmas fare. How?
Well, you should have already started weeks ago to be working to lose a few pounds to make up for what you’ll most certainly gain over the holidays. But it you haven’t, get up and go for a run!
Also, here are some other tips, provided by fitness experts, for getting a head start on your fitness goals for the new year.
1. On the day after Christmas, put away excess foods in the freezer for another time, or throw them out. Don’t eat all the extras just because you can. In fact, if you’re eating at your family’s home and they’re offering you a dish to go home with, turn it down.
2. Keeping a food log of everything you eat over the holidays and looking through it day by day will help you. There are apps that can also help you with this. Track what you’ve been having on a daily basis. Write down your food intake, both good and bad. This way you’ll have an understanding of your day-to-day eating habits, so you know what you’re working with.
3. Increase your exercise.
After the festive season, continue your exercise programme whether it is a gym programme or your regular home training exercises. Walking or running can be a substitute as it doesn’t impact your budget. Depending on how fast you walk, you could burn between 60 to 460 calories per day in 30 to 35 minutes.
4. Have a support group or support buddy. Having a community support group can help you keep focus if you don’t have that discipline to do it on your own. That support buddy can be a family member, who can nudge you at the dinner table when you’re going for that second helping of macaroni pie. You may think you’re missing out then, but you’ll be happy you resisted when you step on the scale.
5. Drink plenty water. With all the unhealthy foods you will gobble down over the holidays, one thing is for sure and that is, that your body will be filled with free radicals and toxins. One way of getting rid of these is by drinking plenty of water, which will help to flush them out.