by Fiona Smith

Created on: January 03, 2009

There are basically two ways to shed holiday pounds (or pounds ANY time of the year) and they are: cardio or smoking. With everything we know about smoking, no-one is suggesting that you go out and buy a carton of cancer-sticks to rev up your metabolism, cut down on your oral fixation or keep your hands & mouth busy BUT implementing a cardio regime is, unfortunately, the only way to kick that flub to the curb. Statically speaking, diets on their own tend to fail the weight loss game. This is why cardio is so bomb proof. Adding exercise to your life can, and will, help you say bye-bye to the bulge and hello to a healthy you. The equation is pretty simple: our output (exercise/cardio) needs to exceed our input (eating).

How this equation plays out in our day to day life means adjusting what we put into our bodies, assisting our bodies to process that input efficiently and pushing our bodies to use up our fat storage. Essentially, that doughnut we ate on route to Grandma's house will now cost us at least one and a half hours of cardio to burn it off. Most successful 'dieters' or 'shedders' cite their success as lying somewhere between DOING more (usually a combination of cardio and resistance training) and EDUCATING themselves about what they were/are putting into their bodies. If we had a list of how much exercise/cardio it would take to burn off what we are about to shove into our mouths, we might think twice before inhaling it. In fact, a bit of thought, self-reflection and realization goes a long way in a successful pound purging program.

For example, it often helps to take a few minutes to reflect on how we arrived at the place that are now. We need to consider HOW we acquired those extra few pounds (pounds of potatoes, extra turkey gravy, fruitcake, pecan pie, rum balls, candied yams, snacks at every family visit you HAD to attend...the list goes on...) & why we stored them as glycogen that then turned to fat (sitting around after the big meal; playing too many games of cards or Trivial Pursuit; saying no thank you to that cross-country ski with your cousins...this list goes on too....) We need to be real about what we need to do to shed that fat storage hanging onto our gut, thighs, bottom, chin or arms. Once again, the equation is pretty simple: our output needs to exceed our input. For sedentary folks, as we often become, this presents a bit of a challenge. However, anything more than what we DIDN'T do yesterday (or over the holidays) is a marked improvement. So, if cardio means taking a 20 minute walk after dinner, or getting up an extra half an hour in the morning to do some stretching/yoga and a few goes on the treadmill, around the block, with the dog, or popping in your favourite workout video/dvd, then so be it. Whatever we ARE doing will be a vast improvement over what we WEREN'T doing over the holidays (or possible all of last year, or the year before...) Keep this up, not only will you start to feel better, need less sleep and will find yourself eating less, but those pants that were getting a bit snug at New Years, will start feeling looser. Keep it up much longer and you'll need new pants by March, possibly even Valentine's Day.

Learn more about this author, Fiona Smith.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.