Ready to break from the daily grind and begin the festive season? Freedom and pleasure are not incompatible with weight loss. Wholesome time with friends and family or wild party nights are opportunities to breathe fresh air into your weight loss plan and maintain it. These hack tips and tricks are sure to inject more energy into your pursuit of a healthy, happy body and mind.
1. Swap your holiday pint for a vodka and soda to save 250 calories per drink
A holiday isn’t a holiday without some indulgence and alcohol is the global social lubricant, which is the enemy of smart weight loss plans. It’s your holiday! Make easy substitutions and enjoy the benefits from swapping a pint of lager (208 calories) for a vodka, soda, and lime (106 calories).
- A Mojito (242 calories) for a Martini (70 calories)
- An Alco-pop (253 calories) for a Rum & Diet Coke (115 calories)
- A sweet white wine (160 calories) for a glass of Champagne (89 calories)
You get the drift; simple substitutions will make it easier to keep track of your calorie consumption while you’re not exactly thinking straight.
2. 30mins of dancing in a club burns 400 calories
Get shaking and any dance style will get the muscles warm and the heart rate pumping. Gym trainers recommend Salsa or any Latin groove to learn and practice. The upbeat dance style targets the hips and glutes, or if you want to dare yourself to some hip-hop, you could burn 200 calories from busting a few moves.
So if you’re trying to keep the weight off for a night out on the town, spend less time at the bar and more under the strobing lights.
3. A 30-minute session in the sauna burns 300 calories
Relax and sweat it out. Besides from the well-documented therapeutic benefits of saunas, studies show an average person will burn about 300 calories in a 30-minute session, depending on your individual BMR and the steam room temperature. The intense heat increases the heart rate and speeds up the metabolism as it tries to regulate body temperature and cool down. Naturally you sweat and use a considerable amount of energy, more than you would normally burn while sitting down. With the additional benefits of flushing out toxins and cleansing your skin, it could be your urgently needed detox from a late night’s extravagances!
4. 20 mins in the pool burns 400 calories
Stay active. Whatever your holiday plans and destination, find some swim time, as your body and tan will appreciate it. Researchers say from a few laps and deep breathing involved in the aerobic exercise of swimming you can easily burn 400 calories. This of course means you can’t float for 20 minutes, rather push yourself and mix a few fast bursts of freestyle swimming with some relaxed breaststroke laps. The pool will tone and stretch your muscles, strengthening them and increasing your body’s capacity to burn fat.
5. Burn 400 calories with 3 additional hours of sleep
Sleep more and forget the alarm clock. Our modern life work balance causes us to lose sleep and this is a major detriment to our body’s ability to burn fat and resist tempting junk food.
Sleeping less triggers your body to burn calories at a slower rate to preserve energy. Scientific research shows from only 3 hours of extra sleep people burned on average 400 more calories... Totalling to an additional 2,800 calories per week burned from simple rest!
When you get a good night's sleep, your hunger hormones, like ghrelin and leptin, are in check and you don’t feel the urge to nibble and graze on everything you see. Listening to your body and clocking some extra dreamtime is a key motivator for you to maintain your weight loss throughout your holiday.
6. Change simple carbohydrates to complex and cut 50% of calorie intake at every meal
It’s unlikely your weight loss plan was filled with salty processed foods and while away from regular life, temptations to eat more will be everywhere. Being diligent with food consumption is key to avoiding diet stress and keeping you motivated. Maintaining regular mealtimes eliminates weight loss worry and places you at a more advantageous position on your return from the holiday, and not beginning the diet and nutrition plan again.
Since food doesn’t change on holidays, protein remains an ally for weight loss and should appear on every plate, be it at a party, buffet or casual cafe experience. While dining out most experts agree to limit simple carbohydrates and exchange them for complex carbohydrates, vegetables and whole grains, as the same quantity is usually 50% less than if you were to splurge on simple processed carbohydrates. Simply put, a slice of Italian bread has 80 to 100 calories; a plain dinner roll will average 87 calories while one serving of sautéed mushrooms and spinach is 35-50 calories. Completely avoiding these processed carbohydrates will leave you feeling nourished and ensures you won’t blow your calorie quota in one meal.
P.S Spicy food A few small studies from Japan have shown that eating a fiery red pepper-spiced meal may boost metabolism up to 30%.
7. Aerobic exercise: 30 minutes of sex can burn 144 calories
Why try and make exercise interesting? Why not seek the adventure and make the holiday a bit more tantalizing? Funnily enough, studies have shown most sex can burn more than 144 calories! Like yoga, sex engages the entire body and increases the heart rate, burning the fat as fast as other sports. If your holiday is of a different kind, being active will offer peace of mind in case you blow out with your food plan, even brisk walking can burn 415 calories per hour.
Use the holiday time to inspire yourself and maintain your weight loss goals breathe new while enjoying friends, family and breeze through social events. Weight loss is not a burden, be creative and treat yourself with the care and love you deserve.