How to Reverse the Holiday Bulk

Gaining weight during the holidays is easy but losing it is the hard part. The holiday season isn’t quite over but you may still have some weight you want to lose. Thankfully there are several ways that you can lose weight and get back to a healthy weight without a ton of extra effort. It does take the proper planning and consistency with your diet, exercise habits and lifestyle but it’s totally doable. Here are some tips on how to reverse all those bad habits you’ve had this month:

Don’t Skip Meals
After binge eating for the past month, you may feel like skipping meals entirely. But that will only make you hungrier which will make it harder to stick with a healthy eating program. The day after a calorie blowout, make sure to have protein in your breakfast—eggs, cottage cheese or yogurt—to satisfy your appetite through the day.
Don’t Beat Yourself Up
We all know that a big part of the holidays is catching up with family and friends and eating comfort food like Mom's stuffing. And that's OK. Enjoying the holidays and being too busy to work out comes with the territory, and it's nothing to shame yourself about. Accept that and move forward instead of living with regret.
Do Start Exercising
If you haven't been exercising at all, the new year is a perfect time to get started, and you'll gain the weight loss benefits as soon as you start. Exercising likely won't get rid of all of your excess weight very quickly, but it can go a long way in helping you transition to a healthier lifestyle and it can help you burn excess calories. Exercising regularly is definitely a good idea but it doesn't take the place of dieting, and doing both will help you burn a lot more calories. Exercise is always a good idea if you haven't been in the habit of doing it, and you don't have to exercise a lot but certain types of exercises like high intensity interval training can be good for weight loss.
Do Write Down your Goals
Give yourself a specific goal, and write it down, once you write it down, it becomes real and verifiable. Just saying you want to lose five or 10 pounds isn't specific enough; saying you want to lose five pounds by February 1 is. And as long as you're in the writing mode, make sure you write down all your workouts and what you eat. You'll be surprised by how much a commitment to logging your meals reduces mindless eating.
Don’t Forget your Vegetables
Vegetables are natural appetite suppressants. Bread, on the other hand, is an appetite stimulant, which is why you'll usually find it on the table in restaurants.
Do Drink More Water
We've said it many times before but drinking more water is one of the surest ways to lose weight, and you'll find that you will very likely eat less and be more in control of your appetite when you drink water throughout the day. Drinking more water can help you control your appetite and keep you from snacking or eating too much during your meals, and it can make a significant difference in the number of calories that you eat during the day. Try to always keep water with you and try to drink at least 6 to 8 glasses of water per day, or more if you are exercising.
Do Get Rid of Holiday Food
After the holidays, get rid of all the holiday food. If you're going to lose weight, you have to get rid of the temptation. Replace the cookies and fruitcake with fruit and healthy snacks.
Do Be Patient
Changing your diet also changes your body's weight-regulating mechanisms. This makes you hungrier, and it makes it more difficult to stick to your healthy diet.