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Weigh Less During the Holidays

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November 12, 2008
	Dr. Gary Huber : Head Medical Ego

I hate premature holiday eruptions and will usually scoff at Christmas songs played before Thanksgiving, so I understand if the very mention of the “Holiday Season” sparks the ire of some of you.  But get over it and listen up, this is important.  How would like to go through this holiday season eating all the goodies and going to all the Christmas parties and special dinners enjoying your pies and candies and cookies and fruitcakes (Did he just say fruitcake?) and still end up weighing less on January 1^st then you did on November 26^th?  Oh, so NOW I have your attention.  Well I have a strategy that has been successfully employed for years that I will share with you here.  Essentially what I am suggesting is that “with great effort comes great reward.”                                  

I challenge you to challenge yourself.  Try something different, learn something new, and make this the most interesting and rewarding Christmas you’ve had in years.  Learn some new habits that will serve you the rest of your life.  So lets get to it.  The basic plan is this: work really hard Monday through Friday to stay 100% on track with clean eating habits and strong physical exercise so that Saturday and Sunday you can attack the holiday treats as a reward for your hard efforts.  Essentially you are teaching yourself new habits that will keep the sugar calories at bay and begin to ramp up your metabolism.  When January arrives these new habits will continue and with the parties and holidays behind you, your health in 2009 will take off like never before. 

The diet.  Breakfast is king, so for those of you not eating it, get cracking.  A high protein breakfast of eggs or a protein shake is my personal recommendation.  Make a protein shake out of soy milk, water, frozen fruit, protein powder, flax seed meal and organic and 1 tsp of sencha green tea leaves or 1/4 tsp of sencha green tea powder and sweeten it with stevia or agava nectar as needed.  Lunch is a huge salad with tons of veggies and some nuts or seeds and some chicken, fish or other meat.  Dinner is more veggies and meat.  Snacks include nuts, seeds, apples, raw veggies, and beans like hummus or black bean dip.  Notice that there are no processed foods, no soda pop, no pop tarts, no bread, no potato, no pasta, and very little if any rice.  That’s right, just clean living with lots of water, as it should be.

Now lets hit the gym. I love to exercise in the winter. Go outside even when it’s 30 degrees.  Cold weather is good incentive to move your  #%$@*. Go for a brisk walk that turns into a jog.  Push the intensity; we are working towards Buskin Bakery sugar cookies here folks this is no time to skimp on the effort.  Use the kids swing set to do chin ups and push ups and sit ups.  Jump rope, go rollerblading, learn to do yoga, take a Pilates class or an indoor spinning class at the gym.  Learn to do squats and dead lifts and lunges. Find out what a kettlebell is and use it.  Partner with a friend and make it fun. Bottom line is to exercise EVERY SINGLE DAY, Monday through Friday so that weekends are free for the pursuit of pie, candies and forbidden pleasure. 

Exercise is key, and what you are teaching yourself is that it is a part of your life every single day. Use the motivation of the holiday goodies to get you moving but ultimately it is just a means to develop a new habit that you will carry with you into the new year.  Be creative and stay committed.  Do a boxing workout where you hit a heavy bag and jump rope. Expand your possibilities outside the mundane treadmill and find something new to get excited about.  Buy a cute outfit to exercise in if that is what lights you up, just stay committed to sweating each and every day.

Some rules to help guide you.

Exercise:

1. Exercise 5 days a week for 30 minutes at a time. A 5 minute warm up followed by a 20 minutes heavy aerobics session and then a 5 minute cool down. This is a good starting point and can be expanded as tolerated.  The INTENSITY is the key component.
2. Weight training or resistance training is a MUST. Want to stay young and adorable forever? Pick up something heavy and start moving it.  Get some help from a qualified instructor is this is new to you. Weight training burns more fat than aerobic training and both are necessary.
3. Have fun. What ever your exercise of choice, you have to find something you enjoy if you hope to keep it up forever. And have more than ONE option. Variety is the spice of life. You wouldn’t eat just one type of cookie would you? Have a sugar cookie and a chocolate chip and a caramel macadamia nut delight. Learn to do yoga and Pilates and bike and lift kettlebells.

Nutrition:

1. Breakfast every day.  High protein and avoid heavy carbs in the morning.  Toast, bagels, muffins, cereal or other grains are OUT. Try something new.  Have 3 hardboiled eggs and an apple as you fly out the door.  Have scrambled eggs and nitrite free sausage. Have a protein shake and make it taste delicious. My kids love protein shakes because we have tinkered with them and found a great combination that suits their taste.  Oh and by the way, if you think eggs are bad for your cholesterol then think again.  See my article on eggs and join the 21^st century.  That tired “eggs are bad” argument is as stale as my gym shoes.
2. No bread, pasta, rice or potato on Monday through Friday. You are saving your carb calories for the party and the weekend. By bread I mean, bread of ANY type, sprouted bread is still bread, crackers, muffins, bagels, tortillas, dumplings or any other food whose primary base is flour.
3. Lots and lots of vegetables both raw and cooked.  That why I recommend a salad, huge salad, every day. It’s easy and portable and very filling. Add some meat to that salad. The exercise is building muscle and we need to feed that muscle protein. Salad dressing is fine, just don’t go overboard.  No croutons. Yes croutons are bread and I saw you coming with that one.  Add beans for the fiber and belly filling effect.
4. Eat as much as you want and don’t go hungry. Feed that body. Just make sure it’s whole food and not processed crap. Nuts and seeds and veggies and no more than 2 pieces of fruit a day.
5. Water, water, water.  You need a minimum of 80 ounces of water per day.  If you are very petite then maybe 65 ounces.  No soda pop, no bottled green teas or energy drinks. Coffee is fine at one to two cups a day and NO I don’t mean 2 Starbuck Venti’s. Get real people, the sugar cookies arrive in just 2 weeks, we need to make ourselves ready to receive them and give them a good home.

Why would you want to do this? Well let’s put it all together. You arrive at the Christmas party feeling energized and alive because the new workouts have given you a new found spark. You feel strong and confident as your body has begun to feel leaner and you know you have earned the treats that await you. As you stroll over to the buffet you take inventory of all the fabulous offerings with a twinkle in your eye and a thought from your inner demon that says “I own you”.  As you pick up a chocolate éclair and take your first bite you feel a tap on the shoulder and turn to hear your neighbor say, “Joan, you look fabulous, have you lost weight?”  As you wipe the cream filling from your cheek and struggle to swallow the mouthful of chocolate you manage to respond “ A pound or two”.  As you walk away you can’t help but notice a bit of envy in her eye as she is trying to figure out how you can afford to eat so lavishly and still look so good. VICTORY!   You earned it.  

Now get started.

For anyone who truly wishes to pursue this challenge, I can assure you from personal experience that it works and is life changing. Get passionate, get real and get busy.

I want to hear your success story, so please e-mail me with your personal accounts of glory and domination.