The holidays are in full swing, which means festive food, and busy schedules. Many families are enjoying old traditions, or making new ones. Unfortunately also during these Christmas experiences, many people find themselves experiencing weight gain. Countless family gatherings and baking Christmas goodies all month are grounds for overeating, without any time to spare for exercise. By making few simple changes over the day, the holidays do not have to mean weight gain! Here are some simple tips to try out between traveling, parties, cooking, and company.
1.An Early Resolution? – Rather than waiting for New Years to start a resolution, make it easier on yourself and gradually work up to your resolution by New Years. This will also help you to stay focused and maintain weight over the holidays, so you can see faster results after. If your goal is to lose weight, maybe you will try to walk two days a week now, and by New Year’s you will be built up to walking 5 days a week!
2.Stress less about Exercise- Rather than stressing about shopping and cleaning this year, think of this as a time to multitask. Housework is one of the best ways to get in a workout over the holidays. Whether it’s moving around the kitchen while you bake, or vacuuming before company…it all burn calories! Shopping through the mall crowds, standing in line, and bringing bags out to your car all are positive experiences now that you can count it as a workout, right?
3.Quality Time- Rather than taking away from family time to work out, invite your family to do something as a group. Wake up on Christmas morning and enjoy some yoga together before presents, or take the kids out ice-skating or sledding after the famous Christmas dinner. Just remember, building a snowman or looking at Christmas lights will also provide memories that last longer than the memories watching a movie would.
4.Think Before You Eat – Eat until you are satisfied, not stuffed. If you find yourself overeating at one meal, go light on the next. Try to fill your plate with the lower calorie items such as vegetable dishes, and lean proteins, then take smaller portions of the rich foods. Eat slowly, socialize, and enjoy every bite! Overall, it’s the holidays and you need to enjoy yourself! Don’t restrict yourself from family time and enjoying some of your favorite holiday foods, but be mindful and plan ahead! Stay healthy this season, then after the holidays, your mind and body will thank you! -Kelsey
Every year, the holidays come around, and it can be both good and bad. Good in that you get to spend time with family and friends, but bad because everybody gets caught in the hustle and bustle of the season. We forget what the holidays are really supposed to be about, and it creates more stress for all of us. It is also a tough time for people if they have lost people close to them, as it is a reminder of the holidays coming, and those loved ones won’t be around. Remember what the holidays are about! What is the reason for having them? Having faith makes it easy to remember the true meaning behind the holidays, especially Christmas. But those times are even more important when you get to spend it around those that are most important to you!
I have gotten to spend the last 29 years of them with Sarah. Do I really need any other reason? For others, it is more stressful than ever, and you need to learn how to manage that stress.
The last one, be true to yourself! Keep everything in perspective. Go with the flow! Enjoy life, and this ride we are on. Truly say no if it is too much. You do not have to do everything. Many times those things we think that we absolutely have to get done, really do not need to be done at all. Take a deep breath. This is also a perfect time to go do some exercise, and blow off some steam, and get our minds cleared and ready to tackle what is really important.
With days like we are having this weekend, it is nice enough to go out and enjoy the weather yet. The cold is really going to hit next week again, which adds even more stress to the holidays. Take the weather as it comes. You can’t do anything about it anyway! Make alternative plans. Work out inside. Do inside activities in general. For those of us who have lived in SD our whole lives, it is no different than any other year! Tis the season! We are from SD. We are tough! The snow also adds more holiday spirit to everything as well. So be happy! These next several pictures are all members of our run club. We are just happy to get out to go run, and spend time with friends. The weather is just something we deal with everyday. As long as you are wearing the right clothing, you can tolerate anything!
Take each day as it comes. Enjoy the holidays, and for what they truly mean. The bottom line–be happy!
Spend time with those that matter the most to you! Celebrate well, but together. Don’t create stress where it really does not need to be. As long as you have family, and friends, what more do you need!
Family time! Nothing more really needs to be said! Keep moving everybody!
We have kept the Reiffenberger tradition going once again to run in the Annual Turkey Day 5k here in Watertown on Thanksgiving. It is always a great way to start the day! “If you want to eat, first you have to move your feet!”
Each year brings different reasons to reflect on for what I am thankful for. This year is no exception. I actually am physically able to run now, which I am definitely thankful for. My daughter Megan is back home from Virginia for good, which no words can describe this! My mom’s birthday was also on Thursday, which makes Thanksgiving even more special. Then, another reason to be out for this event is because it is a great way to support the community, and Watertown DASH!
Nick also made it home for Thanksgiving, and Molly and Tanner made it up later that afternoon. They ran a Turkey Day 5k in Marshall, MN! Everybody got home!
Many of our Watertown Area Run Club members also made it, and we were all out to support a good cause, and to be hanging out with friends. It was a good time to be catching up with some of them as well.
Now, one of the best things I like about this holiday is the food! I love to eat, so I have to keep moving my feet so I earn it. It starts off with the pie at the finish line!
But you have to walk/run the race first. We had another good turnout! Here we are crossing the start line!
Now, I may be running, but the pie was on my mind. And, we were having Sarah’s parents, and sister, over for Thanksgiving, so I knew the turkey and all of the “fixings” were something to work up an appetite for!
My favorite meal! We had already ran, so it was time to indulge a little. We had earned it! If you keep moving, then you can splurge once in a while. That is what life it all about. Enjoy the things as they come, but work on it in between as well. Nothing comes easy! This food tastes even better when you have worked up an appetite!
Here is the rest of the WARC members who came that day! We all earned our meal that day. Now sit back and think about things. What are you thankful for? What has been provided to you in your life now? Good, bad, work, relax…and enjoy! Appreciate what you have, and who you have in your life. And most of all, if you have your health, be extra grateful! You can never take anything for granted, or assume something, or someone, is always going to be there going forward. Live life to the fullest! Strive to Survive. Be thankful…and keep moving everybody!
Thanksgiving is always a fun holiday enjoyed by all as we stuff ourselves and then resort to the couch to watch football or the start of the holiday tv shows. Here are some tips for you to get through the holiday without putting on all those undesired extra pounds.
Survey the entire table before you take any food. Decide what foods are worth eating and what can be ignored, and then stick to that decision. Why waste calories on foods that don’t bring you pleasure?
Eat a snack before you leave home. If you arrive at a party starving, you’ll be more likely to overindulge.
Eat your calories instead of drinking them. Stick to lower calorie or calorie-free drinks (diet sodas, water, light beer, or wine spritzer) instead of punches, eggnogs, and mixed drinks that can have up to 500 calories per cup.
Sip a large glass of water between every alcoholic drink or non-alcoholic punch or eggnog. This will help keep you hydrated and you’ll drink fewer calories by the end of the night.
When you are the host or hostess, include nutritious and lower-calorie foods like fruits, vegetables, and lean meats on the menu. When you are a guest, bring along a lower-calorie dish to share.
Try not to hang out near the food. Find a comfortable spot across the room and focus on people instead of eating.
Watch your portion sizes. Don’t cover your plate completely with food. In most cases, especially when it comes to holiday sweets and alcoholic beverages, less is better. Use a smaller plate or bowl and have just a sliver of pie like the picture shows.
Drop out of the “clean plate club”. Leave a few bites behind every time you eat, especially if you are eating something you don’t really care for.
Enjoy your favorite holiday treats but take a small portion, eat slowly, and savor the taste and texture of the wonderful foods of the season.
Skip the pie crust and go for the filling.
Choose light meat over dark meat.
Use home-made cranberry sauce over canned cranberries that are jam packed with added sugars.
In soups, sauces, puddings, and desserts: Replace whole milk or cream with low-fat milk, evaporated fat-free milk, or nonfat dry milk.
Lighten up your recipes:
To make dips and toppings: Use low-fat or nonfat cottage cheese or sour cream, or non-fat Greek yogurt.
To make salad dressings: Use nonfat Greek yogurt or low-fat buttermilk.
In place of 1 whole egg in recipes: Use 2 egg whites or 1/4 cup egg substitute.
In place of regular cheese: Use fat-free or reduced-fat cheese.
In place of full sugar: replace half with Splenda or reduce half completely.
In place of fats: use unsweetened applesauce or oil (1-1 replacement), or prune puree (1 cup of fat=1/2 cup puree).
More importantly is ENJOY your family and friends and all that have to the THANKful for! Happy Thanksgiving!!
Well, with this time of year, it pretty much is safe to say that it will be dark when we start running in the morning, and will be dark if we run or walk after work. We need to be safe and be able to see where we are going. That is when it becomes important to have the right equipment available to you. The beginning of the “charge of the light brigade”.
Now some of you may be familiar with the poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson, “The Charge of the Light Brigade”, a poem commemorating the hopeless charge of 600 British light cavalry against the Russian troops on Balaclava Heights, October 25, 1864. The charge was led by “incompetent leaders”, but the poem wrote about the men involved who served under them, and their bravery, dedication, and passion. Now, as runners, we have a lot of those same characteristics. We will go run under any circumstances, or situation, and brave the elements and the environment. Sometimes with the weather conditions it may seem like we are getting ready to go to battle. We need to learn to be safe, and have it where not only can we see where we are going, but other people, and cars, need to be able to see us coming as well.
Our group on Wednesday night is getting ready to go for a run. We try to stay on the bike trails as much as possible, and that works yet when there is no snow. That will change soon! Safety has to come first for all involved.
Now you can see lights from the front, but the one Sarah is wearing, on the far right, has a headlight beam in front to be able to see where we are going. This is really important. The bike trail, and the road, has dips, holes, uneven ground, sticks, etc, and we need to see where we are going.
The lights in the back help others see us, especially cars. I have said many times, when I go out for a run, I want to be able to come back home again afterwards. Safety! Safety! Safety! My daughter Megan has one of these too, and she was out walking her dog early one morning last week, in the dark, but on the bike trail. It was adjacent to the road though. A car came up beside and stopped, and told her they loved the lights she was wearing because they could see her as they were coming! We want to see, but we need to be seen!
These are the ones we now have. Jenn McElroy had this one, and I thought it was perfect. The lights are important to be seen, but I wanted one with the light beam in front to see where we were going. These work great for going out for a walk as well.
Here we are this AM getting ready to take off, and light beams leading the way! “The Charge of the Light Brigade”, or at least our modern day version of this! We are leading the rest so we can see where we are going.
Bottom line, we are a close group, and we want to keep it that way. Always have safety in mind. We want to see where we are going, but others need to see us coming. We are quite the force when we are all in a group. It is very easy to see us coming from a distance. Because, once again, we want to have these runs together, but we want to be able to go back home again afterwards. Be safe! Be smart! Be seen! Keep moving everybody!
I’m back to the clinic after maternity leave!! I have no idea where the last 12 weeks went–time truly does fly with little ones…but I am excited to be back and work with you all again!! Since it’s been awhile since I’ve posted on here, I wanted to ask you if you have any topic requests? Anything you want to learn more about? Anything you’d like me to post about? I will be covering some holiday eating tips along with other relevant topics to the season, but if you have certain nutrition topics you want to learn more about from me, please let me know!! You can also set up an appointment to meet with me in person if you’d like to have more of an individualized education session and plan set up for you. Email or comment to the blog to connect with me!
I included a few pictures of my little sweeties! Corbin loves his little brother Carson and I am blessed to be their mom!! -Kelsey
