Here comes the holiday weight

It is holiday season and American Thanksgiving starts us on a path of parties and probably overeating. According to the National Institute of Health we probably only gain one pound over the holidays, but unfortunately we don't lose that pound. We gain another pound the next year and so on. Now I don't want to argue with the people at the NIH, but if I only gained one pound over the holidays I would be pretty happy. And I exercise, I mean I exercise a lot.

The National Institute of Health also recommends preventing overeating and gaining weight over the holidays. Good and good luck. They studied people who do and do not exercise over the holidays and those that exercised had less weight gain, but still gained weight. So what does that mean for you? Well, it is hard to get motivated to exercise when it is cold and dark outside and it is warm and cozy inside, especially if there are gingerbread cookies inside, but try this for a little motivation. The NIH also states that most weight gain is around the holidays and if you can limit your holiday indulgences you will be thinner all year. That sounds good.

I am going to try it. I eat too much over the holidays. I spend the week between Christmas and New Years cross country skiing, but I also spend that week eating. There is no way I could ski enough to not gain any weight. So can I limit my holiday weight gain? I'll find out. I have 5 weeks to the New Year to maintain my weight, which is what I coach all my clients to do around the holidays. This is not the time to lose weight, but apparently it is the time to not gain weight.