Tag: holiday season

One Simple Diet Tip For The Holidays

Happy Thanksgiving from Personal Trainer & Lifestyle Coach Jennifer Ledford!

One Simple Diet Tip For The Holidays

Traditionally, the Thanksgiving holiday is a day to celebrate how grateful we are for the blessings in our lives.  One of the ways we celebrate our thanks is to enjoy a meal with family and/or friends.

For the diet industry, this season has become a time to capitalize on selling “guilt free” holiday eating tips to the public.  Talk about a total buzz kill.

First off, guilt should never be associated with food ever.  While the diet industry might mean well, research continues to prove that diets cause more harm than good, and more stress than pleasure.  So why on earth, should any of us want to go into diet mode during the holiday season?

I can give you a list of reasons why I recommend you avoid dieting during the holidays and every day of your life.  However, in an effort to keep this blog post short, (some of you may be busy and/or traveling this week), I’m offering one simple tip when it comes to the holidays and food.  Enjoy yourself. 

I’m not suggesting you completely disregard self control.  That might actually make you feel kind of yucky.  What I am suggesting is that you enjoy yourself and enter into this holiday season with a sense of peace around food.  Whether you are celebrating in a large group or spending the holidays quietly at home, allow yourself to have fun, give thanks, and taste all that the season has to offer.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

With Love,

Jennifer

Tis The Season To Be Good To Yourself

ledford0416-7746 - Be Good To Yourself This Holiday Season

One of the things I love so much about the holiday season is that it focuses on giving.  This season, I recommend giving yourself a gift and that’s the gift of grace.

All too often, we criticize ourselves for being less than perfect.  Thoughts like “I should have mailed the Christmas cards earlier,” “I should have been more patient with my spouse and/or children,” or “I should be exercising instead of watching dog videos on Facebook” not only rear their ugly heads during the holiday season they can follow us into the new year.

Guilty thoughts that attempt to beat us up usually come from a desire to be perfect.  And, even though most of us know that perfection is impossible, much of the”professional” advertising we see focuses on displaying perfection as a form of happiness or acceptance.  Thank goodness for social media!  Live raw video helps to remind us that nobody is perfect and to give ourselves a break.

Be Good To Yourself this holiday season

No matter how good you get at fending off the guilty voices that like to haunt all of us, they will show up from time to time.  When a guilty thought enters your mind I recommend taking a moment to ask yourself where it’s coming from.  If it’s a habit you know that you need to change, forgive yourself and tell yourself you’ll do better next time.  If you’re feeling guilty about something that is based on society’s opinion of you, it may be something you need to shake off and tell yourself you don’t give a flip what others think.  For example, you just ate a chocolate chip cookie full of gluten and loved it!  There should never be guilt attached to food.  Period.  🙂

I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my life and Lord knows, I’ll make more.  One of the most valuable things I’ve learned from people older and wiser than me is that no matter how many times you beat yourself up, you can’t change the past.  Most of the time the issue causing the guilt is no big deal.  If it’s something that involves others and you need to apologize then I recommend doing so.  If your mistake or failure was a doozy (and I’ve had a few of those) then learn from the mistake and do better next time.

What’s important to remember at all times is that no one is perfect and that if you are doing your very best to be a good person and move forward in your life each day, that is good enough.

Here’s to a wonderful and guilt-free holiday season and new year!

Shared with love,
Jennifer

How To Enjoy Your Holiday Season Without Gaining Weight

Christmas fitness woman wearing santa hat

The holiday season is officially here!  I personally love this time of year and my desire for you is that you would enjoy everything the season has to offer without the notorious weight gain that the media and diet industry warns you about constantly.

You may have even heard or read recent media reports that the average weight gain between Thanksgiving and New Year’s is seven to ten pounds.  Holy cow!  That number seemed high to me so I did a little digging and fortunately, it’s turning out to be a myth. The truth is the average person gains about one to two pounds during the holiday season.

With that being said, I’m guessing you’d rather not gain ANY weight this holiday season so I’ve put together a list of simple ways you can enjoy yourself without adding on the extra pounds that can come along with it.

  1. Set realistic goals.  If you are currently losing weight, congratulations!  During the holidays I recommend you give yourself a break and set a very vital yet realistic goal. Maintain your weight. If you maintain your weight, you’ll already be ahead once January rolls around.
  2. Exercise.  Now is not the time to stop exercising. As tempting as it is to skip exercise to take care of something else on your to do list, you want to burn calories so you can enjoy the special treats without the unwanted pounds.
  3. Plan ahead. Schedule all your commitments for the season on your calendar. This will help you plan your exercise time.  You may decide to exercise at home rather than drive to the gym. Try a mini-trampoline or an exercise video.  Or, take your workout outside and go for a hike or a walk.  Being outdoors is a major stress-reliever.  On days that are tightly scheduled, commit to a minimum of 20 minutes of exercise to keep your momentum and your metabolism boosted. Something is always better than nothing.
  4. Do some offline shopping. You can get in your exercise while supporting your local businesses and salespeople. Win-win.
  5. Pay attention to portion sizes. Take larger portions of the fruits and veggies and smaller than normal portions of the richer fare like scalloped potatoes, prime rib, desserts, etc. Watch the dressings on the salad — put it on yourself and be conservative. Go for the dressings that will drip to the bottom of the bowl. Consider trade-offs such as if you have a glass of champagne, you may want to have just a bite of dessert.
  6. Wear form-fitting clothes. This is a great way to keep weight from piling on. You will know if your weight is out of whack if those jeans feel a bit snug. This will help you take action before things get out of control.
  7. Lighten up traditional recipes. Got to have your pumpkin pie? That’s okay! Choose lighter recipes than the more traditional fare. Cooking Light is one of my favorite magazines; however, there are many recipes on the web that have been modified to reduce calories and taste delicious.
  8. Avoid showing up to a party hungry.  This is huge!  Keep fruit, nuts, energy bars, shakes, whatever is your go to snack, with you.  Or, if you’re at home, eat a small meal before you head out to the party. When you are overly hungry, you can mindlessly overeat.  The tiny quiches look way more appealing than the fruit and veggie platters when you haven’t eaten for hours. Start with a glass of water and then check out the food platters.  If you are dehydrated the body will use hunger to signal thirst.  When you are properly hydrated you will feel more satisfied and full after eating.
  9. There are only a few days that are actual holidays–eat normally the rest of the days. When you treat every day like it’s Thanksgiving Day with the excuse “it’s the holidays,” you are at risk of packing on the pounds.
  10. Use a Fitness Tracker.  Most smartphones come with health apps that allow you to track your steps.  Things like household chores and walking at the mall all count as exercise.  The more physical you get, the more calories you burn.  Keeping track of your activity levels can help motivate you to squeeze in extra steps throughout your day.

Most importantly, have fun!  Stress can contribute to weight gain so be gentle on yourself.

Here’s to a happy, healthy, and super blessed holiday season!

With Love,
Jennifer

Have a comment or question?  Please leave it below.  I love to hear from you!

 
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