Holiday Help!
A recent study by the National Institute of Health revealed that the average American only gains about 1.05 pounds over the winter. Although most of this weight gain does occur during the 6-week period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, it is considerably less than the 3 pounds that the average American thinks they gain during this time.
That’s good news! Well, kind of. It means that you probably didn’t gain as much weight as you think you did during those heavy meals and double desserts. But it does mean that, over time, you will eventually put on enough weight to get seriously stuck in pretty much any chimney by the time you are 50. So what to do?
First of all, realize that one pound of fat is not an insignificant amount to lose. That single extra pound padding your belt-line contains about 3,500 calories, which means that to get rid of it you need to burn that many more calories than you consume. Weight loss — and gain — is ultimately a calorie in – calorie out equation. So now you need to figure out how to lose one pound.
Another recent study revealed that although diet and exercise are both important, changes in diet are actually more beneficial for weight loss than are changes in workout habits. The thing you want to take away from this, though, is that BOTH diet and exercise play an important role in weight loss.
So here is the payoff: between exercise and diet change, you need to cut about 200 calories a day for three solid weeks. This will burn 4,200 calories, more than enough to do away with those 1.05 pounds. How much is 200 calories? Two Oreos. Toast with butter. A small dish of ice cream. How much exercise is 200 calories? A brisk 45-minute walk. 10 good minutes on a Stairmaster.
You Can Do This! And chances are, you’ll feel so good that you will KEEP doing it. Goodbye holiday fat — hello beach-body lean!
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