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The first thing you need to do is commit to the weight loss. Avoid tired old tricks like hanging your little red cocktail dress on the closet door; this can backfire by making you feel frustrated if you don't lose weight as quickly as you'd like. Instead, focus your energies on visualizing yourself healthy, happy, and energized at all of those holiday parties; if your end goal has more to do with how you feel than how you look, you are less likely to get frustrated and just as likely to slim down!

Also, make sure to mentally prepare yourself for the roadblocks that will inevitably come up, especially holiday parties and treats. In your mind, decide how you will deal with these situations before they come up; this way, you won't see yourself as fighting a difficult temptation, but as simply sticking to a plan.

The first step of the plan includes overhauling your diet. In order to slim down between now and the holiday season, you'll have to make some significant changes to the way you eat.

First, add the good stuff. Supercharge your diet with low-fat, high-protein foods, like egg whites, lean poultry and fish, and skim dairy. Make sure you're getting lots of high-fiber foods and filling vegetables like broccoli, beans, and whole grains. Remember, carbohydrates are necessary for energy, so you don't want to cut them out; just make sure you're getting the right kind. Stock up your workplace with portion-controlled, healthy snacks to help you fight the temptation of the vending machine and office party.

Second, subtract the bad stuff. Eliminate white flour, sugar, and processed foods from your diet; these foods have minimal nutritional value, and can leave you feeling unsatisfied, leading to higher calorie intake. Finally, cut back all of your liquid calories; you may not realize how many you take in over the course of a day. Eliminate lattes, sodas, and, yes, cocktails. Sticking to water will keep you glowing and energetic, while eliminating alcohol will also keep you from making some of the bad food decisions that often come along with drinking.

The holidays and weeks leading up to them can be chaotic, so you may feel that you need to cut down on exercise. However, the plain truth is that simply changing your diet for a month or so will not result in the same significant weight loss, firming, and toning that a diet and exercise plan will.

Make the most of your workouts by adding interval workouts to your cardio routine; getting your heart rate up super-high throughout a shorter workout can be more effective than going through the motions of a longer, slower cardio session. Integrate weight training into your routine as well, targeting several different muscle groups throughout the course of your workout; this allows you to move from exercise to exercise with less rest time, keeping your heart rate up and maximizing your efficiency. Weight training will not only tone you up, but it will also boost your metabolism, turning you into a calorie-burning machine.

Once the holidays do arrive, not only will you look fabulous, but you also will have developed some great habits that will carry you forward into the new year.

Learn more about this author, Heather Russell.
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