Fitness Tips for December
Hidden Sugar…Hidden Calories
Recent research has shown that more than 300 calories of our daily food intake comes from added sugar. This means you eat almost 20 teaspoons of added sugar every day.
Sugar is snuck into foods that you wouldn’t normally expect to find sugar. Some of these foods include bread, lunch meats, and salad dressings.
A good rule of thumb is to stay away from foods that have sugar listed within the first four ingredients on a nutrition label.
Cutting out these foods will cut the empty calories and keep you from craving sugar!
Holiday Cheat Days
Are you serious about keeping the weight off this holiday season? If so, then you MUST have cheat days and you MUST be smart about it. Telling someone to avoid high calorie, high fat, and high sugar foods during the holidays is simply foolish. Who wants to do that? I don’t! But it is important to plan ahead for the days that you will be eating poorly.
Most of us are eating a cheat meal once a week. If you are not you should be. It keeps you from feeling deprived from your favorite foods while maintaining a healthy eating plan.
Over the holidays you there are parties, family get–togethers, Christmas Day, and New Years Day meals. The key to keeping the weight off is to make these days your cheat days. Most people save their cheat day for the weekend but over the holidays it is best practice to skip the weekend cheat days in favor of the days/events listed above.
Plan ahead and keep the weight off!
Holiday Fitness Gift Ideas
With the holidays rapidly approaching, many of us are searching for gift ideas for the people we love. Some of our friends and family members have no interest in health and fitness (what a shame), but for those who enjoy being fit and have a desire to look and feel better, here is a list of fitness gifts that they might enjoy!
Gifts under $15:
- Resistance bands
- Dumbbells
- Jump rope
- The Ultimate Calorie Counter by Sheila Buff
- DietMinder (a food and fitness journal)
Gifts for $15–$35
- Fitness ball
- Heart-rate monitor
- Pedometer
- Gym bag
- Fitness watch
- Chin-up bar
- Fitness gloves
- Fresh-fruit basket
- Eating For Life healthy cook book
- Medicine Ball
Gifts for $35–$100
- Full dumbbell set
- Yoga kit (mat, yoga block, DVD)
- Gift Certificate for a massage (or you can keep this one for yourself : )
- Exercise clothing
- Boot Camp gift certificate (preferably BodyBack! Boot Camp : )
- Kettle Bell
- Running shoes
Gifts for Over $100
- BodyBugg calorie management system
- Bike
- Elliptical
- Treadmill
- Full weight set including dumbbells, barbells, and a bench
- Universal workout machine
- Boot Camp gift certificate for a full month
- Running shoes
This year give the ones you love the best gift of all…the gift of health!! Happy Holidays!!
