Simple Strategy for Losing Holiday Pounds

It’s that time of year once again. Everyone is thinking about the holiday pounds, including me. As the holidays slide by, the thoughts turn to losing the extra “Lbs.” So what is the best way to drop those extra “cookies” and more importantly, how can you stay motivated to continue a healthy exercise and nutrition regimen?

The first thing to do is be realistic. What are your true goals and what is the best way to keep with it? Well, that is actually easy. Keep your goals short term. In other words, if your goal is to lose 20 pounds, you’ll need to come up with a reasonable time frame and a good strategy.

What is a “good strategy?” One to two pounds a week is the recommended pace. OK, so what do you need to do to lose these one to two pounds? You need to stick with it. Pick a time of the day when exercise is convenient for you. Perhaps that time is early in the morning, or perhaps at lunch time.

The next step is to figure out just what type of exercise and how much of it to do. Let me give you some numbers: 3,500 calories equals one pound. That’s right, look at that cheeseburger and think, “3,500 calories for just one pound.” Now, how much exercise will you need to do to burn those 3,500 calories? You would need to burn 250 calories a day through exercise which would be equivalent to a 2.5-mile brisk walk. OK, that’s a start.

So what else? You’ll need to skip the doughnut and the latte. If you can put together a 500 calorie a day deficit and keep this up for seven days then guess what? You’ll have lost one pound.

It won’t happen overnight. Have faith and stick with it. You’ll be amazed – and you can skip the fad diets. Lastly, don’t forget about all of the money you’ll save if you skip the latte and the doughnut once a day.

--Jane Reynolds
Health and Fitness Leader, certified personal trainer
Martin Memorial Hospital South Health and Fitness Center