Tuesday, January 17, 2012

How to Get Back on Track!

The holidays are always tough... January and adjusting to a normal schedule again is even tougher. But here are some useful tricks that I used to turn my holiday laziness around and actually lose some weight for a change instead of slowly putting it back on.

Step 1 - Get rid of the holiday stuff. I had candy and cookies and christmas tree decorations all around my apartment. It looked like and felt like the holidays. Which meant I wanted to be lazy and eat cookies! Getting it all out of the apartment really helped to reset my attitude to "time to get in gear!" No more mini Christmas tree or Christmas cards. No more cookies sitting out in plain sight. No more laziness!

Step 2 - Make friends with the gym again. I know, it sucks when all the New Years Resolutioners are packing into the gym the first few weeks of January. I cannot stand waiting for a machine. But it has to be done. It's not a good enough excuse. So I just started leaving work a bit early. It's win/win. I'm not stuck at my desk past 5pm and I get to the gym before the 6pm rush.

Step 3 - Hit the grocery store... hard. I tend to eat out a lot around the holidays. So when I got back from break, I did quite a bit of healthy food shopping. Got some things to make a healthy lunch (and save me money, my other New Year goal). Got some healthy dinner choices, and snacks. No treats. No junk food. No guilt!

Step 4 - Don't let other lazy people influence you! If you think you're still stuck in a holiday rut, most likely the people around you are. So don't give into their bad habits. Just because your coworkers think you're nuts for cutting a 410 calorie Chick Fil A breakfast biscuit in half and putting the other (untouched) half back... doesn't mean you have to feel bad. (True story, by the way... hahah, I told them to stuff it). I still went out to eat with my boyfriend this weekend... and I scoured the menu for a not-so-horrible option. Much better!

Step 5 - Put your Christmas gifts and giftcards to good use. Buy some new workout clothes. Join the gym (January IS the best time for signup deals). Get a set of weights or a new workout DVD. Something to add a bit of spice to your usual workout routine. Personally, I started running again and I signed up for a 5K on March 25th to keep me motivated with a deadline.


Since getting my lazy butt in gear, I've gone from 157.8 (UGH) to as low as 155 on Saturday morning. I'm hoping to be 150 soon enough again, maybe even lower by time I get to my 5K! But sticking to bad holiday habits will get me nowhere. So try any or all of these tips and look hot for Valentines Day... hehe.

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