Two weeks ago I added another mile to my outside walk. That gets me up to 4.5 miles and takes me about an hour and 20 minutes to complete. I can't do it every time I go out for a walk (we all have time constraints), but my work load has been light and I thought it would help with holiday season weight gain.
Despite my best efforts I always put on a few pounds between Thanksgiving and New Years. I've already been cheating like mad. I limited myself to just one piece of pumpkin pie (and two chocolate covered pretzels) on Thanksgiving, but even that tends to be too much these days, particularly when you consider the heavy meal I ate before the pumpkin pie.
Christmas time has its own vices. Every year I make a gingerbread house with my kids over Thanksgiving weekend, and every year a few too many pieces of candy wind up in my mouth and not glued with icing on the house.
I also bake to give as gifts, etc, and you just have to taste what you bake to make sure that those cookies, Stollen, etc., are worthy of giving.
Then, there are the parties and the entertaining.
I try to balance off the extra eating with being really good on other days, but I always put on weight.
But then, I'm a post-menopausal woman who's giving birth to two children. If I even look at a piece of pumpkin pie, I'll put on weight.
So, when I can, I'm committing myself to doing more cardio this holiday season.
I'll probably still gain weight. I'm just hoping that the effort will allow me to gain less weight than usual. That way I'll have less to lose once January comes around.
I'm convinced big-time cardio is what helped me most in my weight-loss efforts. As for those baked goods, can you replace them with similar items that don't require so much tasting? You're right... it is easy to gain during the holidays, but a little extra planning might keep the gains to an absolute minimum.
ReplyDeleteGood luck.
I walk past the fridge and I gain weight...being a middle aged female has very real drawbacks. I might take a leaf out of your book though and add some extra time to my workout/hike/walk. I normally walk 4.5km over 55 mins (its over pretty hilly terrain) but I could go further before turning back.
ReplyDeleteBarb
Ha! I hope that was really good candy, I mean roofing tiles you used for that gingerbread house. Cardio reminds us to cheat only with the very best we can afford, otherwise all that gasping going uphill is not worth it! It's also easier to leave the cheap crap on the plate if you have tasted the good stuff. Thanks for sharing.
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