Gracefully side-stepping social pressure to overeat during the holidays

December 18th. Smack in the middle of holiday season, you may feel like you're trapped in the trenches of culinary warfare. Your friends, family, and co-workers have all surrounded you, relentlessly firing round after round of peppermint brownies, peanut brittle, and chocolate pound cake. You do your best to hold back the line, but you're one person against an army- how long can you really last? Reluctantly, you waive the white flag and surrender, turning yourself over to the enemy and all the excess calories they will force you to consume. Defeated yet again, you promise to fight harder next year.

This little story was easy to write because I hear it every year, without fail, from practically every one of my personal training clients. Sadly, I see people canceling their appointments because they are "too busy" and don't have time to prioritize anything except shopping and attending multiple holiday parties. Well, it's time to fight back! This year try to use a few of the following strategies to combat the battle of the bulge.

1. Don't write your own story of holiday weight gain.

If you tell yourself that you're going to gain weight over the holidays, you will. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. Instead, tell yourself that you're going to make healthy choices and feel good about yourself so that you don't have to wake up on January 1st with yet another resolution to "get fit and lose weight."

2. Never go to a holiday party hungry.

We've all done it. You know what I'm talking about- you intentionally skip lunch and your afternoon snack because you're trying to "bank" calories for the holiday party that night. News flash: this strategy never works. If it's worked for you in the past, then congrats because you're the exception. 9 times out of 10, if you show up at the office party starving, you will be much more tempted to make poor food choices because your stomach is crying out for calories.

3. Stay hydrated

Drinking lots of water helps in two ways. First, it helps fill up your tummy so that you don't confuse thirst for hunger. Second, it decreases the chances that you will try to hydrate with alcoholic beverages, which are full of calories and sugar.

4. If you're at a family gathering, suggest that everyone take a walk together after dinner.

This is an old trick that works every time. Studies have shown that if you're committed to some type of physical activity after a meal, you are much less likely to overeat. Also, by suggesting that everyone take a walk together, you are encouraging the whole family to spend time together in a healthy, active way. You're a hero!

5. Don't multi-task while you're eating.

Eating mindlessly is the quickest road to over-eating. If you're talking to someone at a party, watching TV, or cooking, you aren't really paying attention to what's going into your mouth. When you are eating, try to sit down, take a breath, look at your food, and then think about how it tastes with each bite.

With these battle tactics, you're well-prepared for holiday warfare. Good luck soldiers- may you fight well!

Illness and working out: the shoulds and shouldn'ts of exercising while sick

This may seem like an unseasonal topic to discuss in June, but I've recently witnessed a round of late-season colds, flus, and general ickiness amongst my clientele, so I decided to go ahead and do an entry on the subject.

The question of whether or not to workout while sick is a hotly debated one, and experts in the field of health and fitness often disagree on what's appropriate. I was interviewed for a newspaper article on this topic back in November, 2010, and when I gave my response to the question of "Is it ok to do light cardio when you have a low-grade fever" (my answer was "No, of course not!") the reporter seemed surprised and said "huh, that's exactly the opposite of what the other person I interviewed said." So....I guess I fall into the conservative camp on this particular issue.

My thoughts on working out while sick are very similar to my thoughts on working out while injured. I can sum up both with this statement:

It's much better to take two days off for recovery than to workout one day too soon and consequently have to take the next month off.

If you're under the weather and just dying for some "cleansing" movement, then I suggest a gentle yoga session, but not at the gym. Do yoga at home so that you don't expose the rest of us to your illness. This is actually a huge pet peeve of mine; it is never appropriate (or appreciated!) when you should up at the gym and cough your way through the locker room, weight room, pool, etc. Your 30 minute workout session just put about 200 other people at risk of missing valuable days at work and being able to care for their families. Don't be selfish- stay home!

That being said, I always assume that gym rats are selfish (sorry, it's the realist in me) so I clean off the gym machines before I workout on them, as well as after.

Bottom line is this: if you don't feel well, take a day or two off and concentrate on eating healing, whole foods as your "workout." Salud!