So, did you over indulge at Thanksgiving…?!
Over indulging…or not!
So, fitness and food and Thanksgiving – how do they work all together?
Well, here is my fitness and food diary for the holiday day – and yes, it was one day that is all about indulgence….and giving thanks, of course!
Green smoothie breakfast, followed by Turbokick – 500 calories of high intensity cardio (what a workout and so nice not to teach and just take the class instead!), followed by Thanksgiving Dinner – turkey, potatoes, sprouts, carrots, gravy, bacon and fudge brownies, three glasses of wine…. that’s not too bad, given that I could also have had this popular dish…
Apple Mallow Yam Yum Ingredients: Soyams, butter, apples, butter, brown sugar, butter, pecans, butter and mini-marshmallows…. yes, really! And it looks like this 🙂
Oh my!
On Black Friday the post-indulgent throngs were out to burn the calories away. With two back-to-back classes, fitness came first for me. The holiday season is a tough one to get your head round, when there is so much food on offer.
My tips for any holiday season (and bear this in mind with Christmas just round the corner) are these:
-Find something active to do with your family and friends tomorrow (a walk or active game before eating). If they’re not into that, do your own workout tomorrow morning. Doing both is even better.
-Drink a lot of water. This will help to offset hunger.
-Bring/make a healthy option. Cut up veggies are easy to snack on.
-Use small plates and put a smaller amount of food on the plate.
-Eat really slowly. You get filled up quicker than you think.
-Realize that you don’t have to eat everything on your plate. Stop eating when you are 80% full or less.
-Give away leftovers so that you don’t have too much extra tempting food in your house.
-Enjoy the people and experience of the holiday. “Fill up” on the feeling of being around loved ones, instead of filling up on food.
Ah, you have to love the holiday season!
Claire Bolden McGill is a British expat who lived in Maryland for three years and moved back to the UK in August 2015. Claire wrote about her life as a British expat on the East Coast and now works in travel and hospitality PR in the UK. She still finds time to blog about her repatriation and the reverse culture shock that ensued – and she still hasn’t finished that novel, but she’s working on it. You can contact Claire via twitter on @clairebmcgill or via her blog From America to England.