LIFESTYLE
Shed
Those
Holiday
Pounds
WITH MICHAEL ALTMAN
help – I did it
DeWyear would beagain. that
spite telling myself
this
different.
Despite telling myself that I
was only going to have one
slice of pie at thanksgiving
dinner or just a single serving of mashed potatoes and
gravy…and stuffing…and green
bean casserole to go with that
Christmas ham. It seems like
it’s the same thing year after
year and honestly I think I’m ok
with it. In reality adding a few
pounds around the holidays
isn’t really that big of a deal
because it’s kind of a tradition to overeat some amazing
food and then feel guilty about
it. What I really love is how
the guilt of Thanksgiving has
worn off by the time Christmas comes around and then
the guilt cycle starts all over
again but this time with added
sweets and egg nog to add to
the mix. If I had to estimate,
which is what I’ll do, I would
say that my average holiday
meal is in the area of 20003000 calories. Multiply that by
at least 2 meals (lets be honest, leftovers are the best part
of Thanksgiving dinner) and
8 www.vopraisemag.com
at least 2 days and suddenly
you’re looking at upwards of
12,000 calories just over a
couple of days. For reference,
a pound of weight is equal
to around 3500 calories so
you’re easily looking at almost
4 pounds of weight gain just
from a couple of meals. Now
add on the extra drinks, water
retention from the sodium, and
continual “snacking” and it’s
pretty easy to see how you’ve
gotten to where you said you
wouldn’t this year.
Never fear however; there are
some quick and simple ways to
start getting your beach body
ready.
Water – You need to drink it,
and plenty of it. The excessive sodium in most processed
foods along with the extra
flavor added to the wonderful
holiday foods means that your
body has most likely gained
significant weight in the form
of water retention. It’s possible to gain more than 10
pounds of weight just in water.
If you’ve ever heard the term
“water weight” this is what
it’s referencing. Athletes and
fighters use this to their advantage in order to get to a low
weight on the scales without
sacrificing the extra muscle
that helps them perform.
Luckily for you, one of the best
ways to shed this weight is to
drink more water. It sounds
counterintuitive but the science behind it is pretty basic. You
flush out excess sodium that’s
holding onto the extra water
and since your body recognizes that it’s getting fresh water
it doesn’t feel the need to hold
on to the extra. Additionally,
water has zero calories but
helps keep your body from
getting as hungry. In essence
it takes up space in your belly
to help you feel full and keep
from binge eating. You can also
tell everyone that you’re using
an organic, gluten free, and calorie free “snack” to help you
lose weight.