OK, so you gained some weight over the holidays? Just Do THIS!

The holidays have come and gone! If you are like the average person, you may have put on five, ten pounds or more during the infamous period between Thanksgiving and New Years. Now you are faced with the thought of getting into a bathing suit soon (that’s right… summer is less than 150 days away) and you don’t know how you are going to shed those pounds.

Don’t worry too much that you got yourself into this mess because I am going to help you get out of it! My best advice is to start NOW! Don’t wait until May and then wonder how you are going to lose that weight in a month. If you start doing the things that I am going to teach you below, we can work together to get you looking fantastic in time for the pool to open!

I have a few tips for you to get into your best shape ever and I will give them to you in list form (yes, I love lists!).

1.  Stop drinking soda! Yes, I am going to say it. There is NO type of soda out there that contributes to your health in any way at all. In fact is is very bad for you. It will cause you to gain weight, it will make your bones weaker, it flood your system with sugar (or even worse artificial sweeteners), and it will not add one single nutrient to your body. I beg of you, if you are going to make one change right here and right now, stop drinking soda in any form!

What should you drink? Fresh water is the best but I also like tea (unsweetened of course). Stay away from too much fruit juice as it contains a lot of sugar. And unless you are training for or participating in an extreme athletic event, no Gatorade or sports drinks. These are for electrolyte replacement only.

2. Try to cut out as many processed carbs as possible. I am not going to ask you to totally eliminate them (as I asked you to with soda above), but I’m telling you, if you can absolutely minimize the cookies, candy bars, cakes, doughnuts, sweetened cereals, white breads, chips, blah blah blah… you will lose weight and be healthier. Need I say more about this?

3. Eat less. I know I have said this before but it holds true now more than ever. We are eating about twice as much as we should be and that’s why Americans are getting so fat. Here are a couple tricks! When you go into a restaurant, either split a main course with someone or immediately ask for a “to-go” container. If you ask for the container, as soon as your meal comes, divide it and pack up half of it in the to-go box. Then enjoy it the next day at home. I ALWAYS split my course in a restaurant because these days they feed us double.

If you are eating at home, start using a smaller dessert sized plate for your main course. You will find that after a short period of time, you will actually be totally turned off when you see a dinner (or any meal for that matter) that fills up a full sized plate. You will wonder how you ever ate that much food in the past.

4. Be careful about between meal snacks. Even if you eat well at mealtime, it could be the snacks that are killing you. I am not saying not to snack. As I state in my book, frequent snacking is actually a good thing but we must do it carefully. Fresh fruits, nuts and fresh veggies are some of the healthiest snack foods. Again, please leave the refined carbs at the door!

5. Walk, walk, walk! I am not going to give up on getting your body moving. We as humans need to move to keep healthy. The gym is not absolutely necessary to stay in shape. Sure it’s good but there are other ways. Think of all of the ways possible for you to skip the elevator, escalator, car, bus, train, subway, etc. It really irks me when I see a young healthy person in front of me standing still on an escalator, especially when they are blocking me from walking. Sometimes I have the urge to give them a good push to get their butt moving a little. Again, the more you can keep that body of yours in action, the better off you will be health wise!

Please try your best to follow the tips here and if you do, I will guarantee you will be proud to put that bathing suit on in less than 150 days!

Talk to you soon!