Holiday Exercise Tips

You work hard all summer long and into the fall to shed those few extra pounds you picked up last winter. You have an exercise program that works for you. You look good and you feel great. With energy to spare, you bound into the holiday season. The hustle and bustle of each day finds you telling yourself, "I'll exercise tomorrow. I just can't today." After a few weeks of this, you find yourself regaining that weight you worked so hard to lose. You also notice a decline in energy (energy that is desperately needed during this time of year!) and you are not feeling as well as before. Now you figure that there is no point to try to exercise or keep off the extra weight; you'll just wait until January 1st to make the resolution to lose those extra pounds...same as last year.

Does this sound familiar? If it does, you are NOT alone. One of the most important things you can do to maintain your weight is to maintain your physical exercise throughout the holiday season.

If you already have a daily exercise program, great! Make a commitment to yourself to continue it each day.

Here are ways to ensure success in continuing exercise despite the cold:

1. Join a gym so you can work out indoors.
2. Make use of the indoor gym facilities provided at BYU for all faculty.
3. Utilize the indoor swimming pool at BYU.
4. Layer up when exercising in the cold. Do not wear one heavy coat. The layers of clothing will absorb perspiration better. Also, you can remove layers when you begin to warm up during exercise.
5. Dust off that gym or treadmill that you have at home and make use of it.

If you do not already have a workout program established, this time of year is probably too hectic to begin a new regularly scheduled program. Most people who begin a workout program over the holidays typically find themselves feeling discouraged and unsuccessful. However, it is important that you get at least 30 minutes of moderate to intense activity every day. These 30 minutes do not have to be consecutive, but make it consistent each day and have fun doing it.

Some ideas:

• Go skiing or sledding with your family.
• Ice-skating is most enjoyable and gives you quite a workout.
• Do some heavy duty playing this season by vigorously building a snowman fort, snow fort, or having a snowball fight.
• Have a race to see who can make the most snow angels in a given time.
• Put on some jazzy Christmas music and dance around the house as you put up Christmas decorations.
• Power shop by walking as quickly around the stores as you can. Run your cart back to the store instead of leaving it in the parking lot.

Have a happy and healthy holiday season!