According
to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, an average of one
to one and a half pounds are gained over the holiday season. Although this
holiday weight gain is less than the 5 to 10 pounds commonly believed, the
researchers found this additional weight is usually not lost during the year
and contributes to adult obesity. As most health and fitness professionals
would guess, increased hunger and decreased physical activity during the winter
months were suggested as contributing factors to this seasonal weight gain.
Additionally, the holidays can be a source of stress and even depression for
many people, which can lead to emotional eating.
Combat Seasonal
Weight Gain, Stress, and Depression
Based
on this information, maintaining physical activity and healthy eating habits
during the holidays could potentially combat seasonal weight gain, as well as
manage stress and reduce symptoms of depression. However, adherence to an
exercise program and healthy nutrition is one of our seasonal challenges. It
seems that family and social gatherings, travel and holiday preparations
consume our clients’ time and schedules. Delicious foods and delightful treats
tempt them to over indulge from Thanksgiving through News Years Day. Here are
some ideas for keeping our clients healthy and active during the holidays.
Ideas for Healthy and Active Holidays
- Plan – encourage your clients to
formulate a plan for maintaining physical activity when things get hectic
and employ smart eating strategies for tempting treats and emotional
eating.
- Events – coordinate physical activity
events that include family and friends. For example, fitness walks, fun
runs, or an aerobic-athon.
- Twitter
–
send weekly activity and smart eating tips.
- Groups – promote group support and
motivation, provide a cost effective way to include additional workouts or
manage a dwindling holiday schedule by offering small group training as an
adjunct or alternative to one-on-one sessions.
- Challenges
–
promote activity challenges, such as completing a series of fitness
classes, workouts or physical activity events over the holidays and offer
small gifts for meeting targets.
- On-line
Tools
– develop on-line travel programs and go anywhere 20-minute workouts to
keep clients active on the go. Use blogs and emails to organize support
groups and inform clients about physical activity events outside the gym.
These
are just a few ideas to keep your clients healthy and active throughout the
holiday season. The key is to make it simple and make it fun.
Karen
Moreno, MA Candidacy Kinesiology/Exercise Physiology
BA
Social Science/Education
Reference:
Yanovski,
J.A., Yanovski, S.Z., Sovik, K.N., Nguyen, T.T., O’Neil, P.M., and Serbring,
N.G. (2000) A
prospective study of holiday
weight gain. New England Journal of
Medicine, 342, 861-867.
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