7 Healthy Holiday Tips To Help You Reach Your Weight Loss Goals

With visions of sugar plums and holiday treats dancing in your head it is time for you to follow my healthy holiday tips for weight loss. According to the British Nutrition Foundation, between the holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s, people gain between three and seven extra pounds. Although that may not seem like a large weight gain, once this weight is gained most people do not lose it. As your certified trainer I can help you with my healthy holiday tips so that you can reach your weight loss goals!

1. Start Your Day with a Workout

With the sun rising later in the winter due to daylight savings, it is often hard to get motivated to get up out of bed and get going. Get up and push yourself to a wake up workout so you have the payoff of bettered health, more energy, and a better body. I rise early every day because this is usually the only time I can find to dedicate to focus on my personal fitness so do what works with your schedule. This is one of my effective holiday tips that really transforms you.

2. Stock Your Home with Healthy Treats

Ditch the apple pie from your countertop and replace this with some healthy baked apples with a sprinkle of cinnamon you will be sure to love. You will save some calories and your waistline by making the healthier choice. And make sure your home is stocked with plenty of fruit as your healthy treats.

3. Entertain The Healthy Way

Do you find yourself begging your guests to take the leftover pie home so you can eliminate temptation? Stop feeding your guests all the foods that you do not even want in your home and make skinny changes. If you make dark chocolate covered strawberries you are providing your guests with some antioxidants and you will be guilt free. A fruit salad is always the star of all the dessert platters so why not make this for your next holiday event.

 4. Keep a Food Diary

Start keeping a food diary so you can track your food intake. This comes in handy over the holidays when you are cooking. Often when we graze throughout the day we are unaware that all this extra noshing can add up to mega calories. You can track your calories online on myfitnesspal.com or any other online site you choose.

5. Share Your Knowledge with Friends And Family

If your friends and family are asking you how you look so good, share your fitness and health knowledge. If you pay it forward and motivate them, you will better their health and you will feel great. Remember to only share this information to willing individuals because if they are not interested you could get on their nerves which is definitely not a good thing. I never push but I always help those that have open arms and positive energy.

6. Enjoy Your Hot Beverage

Did you know? If you substitute your daily latte, apple cider or hot chocolate for a cup of coffee or tea, it can save between 150 and 500 calories a day. Over the three-month winter period of pre and post-holiday time, that’s a saving of up to 21,000 calories - equivalent to 6 pounds of body fat! Now that is well worth the swap!

7. Catch Plenty of Zzzzzs

According to a Case Western Reserve University study, women who sleep for five or fewer hours a night are 32 percent more likely to gain weight and 15 percent more likely to become obese than women who sleep for seven or more hours. It is believed that lack of sleep may slow metabolism or decrease the calories burned by spontaneous activities such as fidgeting. What better reason could there be to get some extra shut eye this winter? Eeek I better start getting more sleep! Do you get adequate sleep?

I hope my tips will help you avoid holiday weight gain and have a blessed and healthy holiday season. Wishing you good health and cheer for a happy new year! Are you ready to make healthy changes this holiday season?

To find out more by Tara Zimliki, please go to http://weightloss.allwomenstalk.com/healthy-holiday-tips-to-help-you-reach-your-weight-loss-goals.

30 minutes of exercise better for weight loss than longer workouts

Contrary to what you might have thought, just 30 minutes of exercise a day could help you lose more weight than daily hour-long sessions, according to Danish researchers.

They split a group of 60 moderately overweight Danish men into two groups and instructed them to exercise vigorously for either 30 minutes or an hour a day for 13 weeks.

By the end of the study, those who did half an hour a day lost 3.6kg compared with 2.7kg for those who exercised for an hour.

The researchers believe it's because those who scheduled less time for formal exercise included more incidental activity throughout their day, whereas those who blocked out an hour a day were more likely to put their feet up.

"The subjects in the test group that exercised the least talk about increased energy levels and a higher motivation for exercising and pursuing a healthy everyday life," said Associate Professor Astrid Jespersen from the Unviersity of Copenhagen.

"They take the stairs, take the dog for an extra walk or cycle to work. In contrast, the men who exercised for one hour a day, after training, felt exhausted, demotivated and less open to making a healthy change."

Australian exercise guidelines suggest people aim for 150 minutes of exercise a week, which is roughly 30 minute sessions on five days.

Professor David Dunstan, head of physical activity at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, told ninemsn this study proves that we all need to increase our movement throughout the day.

"I'm encouraging people to consider movement from the time they wake up until they go to bed," he said.

"It's great to get 30 minutes of exercise in the morning, but to sit on our backsides for the remainder of the day is not beneficial. Try to think about reducing sitting time throughout the day. We need to think of movement as an opportunity not an inconvenience."

Dr Nathan Johnson, from the Sydney University faculty of health sciences, told ninemsn that you don't need to exercise in solid chunks.

"Do at least 10 minute blocks and accumulate it throughout the week. For most people a brisk walk is enough. It doesn't have to be structured," he said.

Dr Johnson also said that it's a better idea for people to focus on reducing abdominal fat, than worrying about purely what's on the scales.

"If you can lose fat from the abdomen, your risk of disease improves, even if you don't change on the scales," he said.

"Weight loss is a good goal, but waistline reduction shows you're losing fat from the right areas."

The study was published in the Scandinavian Journal of Public Health.

For the video and article by Kimberly Gillian, look at http://health.ninemsn.com.au/fitness/8726562/30-minutes-of-exercise-better-for-weight-loss-than-longer-workouts or click on the video's picture.