The Eating Season: Tips to Survive!

So, Halloween has come and gone and sitting somewhere in your house may be a huge stash of your kids' candy. And you've been feeling guilty and maybe even a little like you're losing your focus or maybe have even fallen completely off the weight loss wagon. Fear not! And don't give up! With the holidays coming up everyone stresses and worries about overeating and trying all kinds of tricks to try to stay within their calorie or nutritional goals. All the stress isn't helping. So maybe it's time to just relax and accept that yes, you are going to over eat at least a few days out of each of the next few months, but you've worked hard to this point to lose the weight you've lost and get in the shape that you are in now. Don't throw it all away over a few days of feasting. There's plenty of days between Trick-or-Treat and Thanksgiving that you can get back on track, and days between Thanksgiving and your winter holiday (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Yule, Solstice...etc) to get back on track and even a few days between the winter holiday and New Years Eve to workout and eat right. After that, unless you celebrate Three Kings Day or Russian Orthodox Christmas (or some other January holiday that I'm not aware of) you can pretty much get your healthy lifestyle back in full swing. Also keep in mind, sometimes varying your diet can sometimes help boost your metabolism for a while. This following is a repost of a blog post I wrote when I had the A Better Reflection: Nutrition Blog as a separate blog.

Boost Your Metabolism: Splurge for a Day!

As you may know, health and fitness isn't a new concept for me. I used to be in fantastic shape (as evidenced by the Picture/Logo I use for A Better Reflection blogs and FB page.) I do keep in mind that research is constantly being done on key health and fitness issues and people are constantly learning knew things about how the body works. When I was in college, I used to restrict myself to eating healthy and watching my diet diligently during the school/work week, then on the weekends I'd allow myself to eat however my social life dictated. Keep in mind this didn't mean I went out and made it a point of eating more calories or unhealthy food, I would just relax and not focus on it so much, and yes, I'd have a big slice of chocolate cake and 2 scoops of Ice cream at a friend's birthday party. I had read that varying your diet in a similar way actually shocks your system and boosts your metabolism as long as it doesn't happen more than once a week.

The theory behind this is that your body is expecting to burn a certain number of calories a day in the form of specific types of food. So, when you have a random day in which you take in a considerable amount of more calories and foods that you don't normally eat, it shocks the system and kicks it into high gear for a little while.

I have been using this theory since I started my journey to get back in better shape and so far I am finding success with my nutrition and weight loss plan, but never wanting to be one that passes on misinformation, I decided to do a bit of research to see if there is still anything out there to support the Splurge to boost your metabolism theory, and I was able to quickly find one!

Check out this article on Model Diet Plan to find out more about this theory and more tips to boost your metabolism such as these 10 Tips:

1) Don't Starve Yourself - this actually decreases your metabolism
2) Cut Back on Alcohol
3) Put a little spice in your life... or a least in your food!
4) Take your vitamins and Omega 3s
5) Build some muscle!
6) Take time for Green Tea
7) Get more Iodine in your diet
8) Keep it cooler in your house - your body will burn more calories to regulate your body temp
9) Eat more Blueberries and Watermelon!
10) and of course, Vary your diet once in a while

For more on these tips visit:
http://www.modeldietplan.com/metabolism.htm