How to Lose Weight After the Holidays

Some of us try really hard not to gain weight over the holidays but fail thanks to an indulgence here and there, while the rest of us give ourselves a break and veer from our normally scheduled eating on purpose. Either way, you might have some weight to lose.

Cut Out the Sugar

Who isn’t tempted by sugar throughout the holidays, with all the pies, cookies, and candy canes lying around. If you added any sugar to your diet over the holiday season it’s best to cut it out completely for somewhere between four and ten days to give your body a chance to recalibrate. Sugar leads to insulin spikes in the body that lead to more sugar cravings, so don’t think you’ll stop craving it just by cutting down on it. Wipe it out completely and you’ll see the cravings subside. (Which gives you plenty of space to eat healthier food items.)

Lower Your Portion Sizes

There’s nothing wrong with eating leftover turkey for days on end, but be mindful of your portion sizes. The stomach can actually get used to eating larger amounts and expand in size, so if you can cut back on your portion sizes you might be able to shrink it up a bit again. (Think about when you haven’t eaten for a day how much more quickly you get full when you do eat again.)

Eat More Protein

Increasing your protein intake can help with weight loss as well. Protein is going to fill you up which will prevent you from overeating other food items, and it also requires more energy to digest than other types of foods, meaning you will burn more calories to do so. Stick to lower fat proteins whenever possible to avoid packing in any fat that your body doesn’t need.

Cut Out the Booze

Not forever (unless you want to), but skipping the drinks for a couple weeks is a certain way to shed some pounds if you’re a regular or social drinker. Alcohol is empty calories for one thing, meaning that you can be drinking a days worth of calories in a bar trip that doesn’t provide you with enough health benefits to be worth it. The brain doesn’t register the calories in alcohol as food so it isn’t going to cut down your appetite even if it does push it off for a bit.

In addition to alcohol, cutting out any type of drink with empty calories will be helpful as well. Increase your water consumption will help to curb some hunger as well, since when we are thirsty we often mistake that for hunger and try to snack our way to hydration.

Hit the Gym

If you’ve already been working out, add in some extra cardio or something to increase your calorie burn. You should be working out most days of the week to get in enough cardio and strength training to see a difference in your body.