Author: Katie Carone

The holidays are often about traditions and spending time with family and friends. Many traditions involve parties and rich foods. But quality time can also be spent with friends and family doing a variety of physical activities.

For those that live in colder climates, there’s a host of fun winter activities, such as skiing, snowboarding, sledding, or ice skating. For warmer climates, strolling through areas filled with Christmas lights, jogging, rollerblading, or rock climbing. For indoor enthusiasts, try the Wii interactive sports or dance games as a group activity.

Memory-making traditions can be entertaining and healthy!

The holidays are here, and so are all the parties and yummy foods. While we all want our holidays to be plentiful, the one thing most of us don’t want more of is pounds! Below are some tips for maintaining weight during the holidays.

• Watch what you drink. Sodas, hot chocolate, eggnog, and alcohol are full of sugar and calories. Drink them sparingly and mainly stick with water as a beverage.
• You don’t have to eliminate treats, but mind your portions. Take small amounts of the foods you’d like to try and don’t go back for seconds.
• Avoid temptation. Don’t leave snacks and treats out in the open. Put them away where you can’t see them, so you’ll be less tempted to snack every time you walk by the food.
• Don’t linger by the food. At a party, don’t hang out by the food table. Take your plate and move to another end of the room. After a dinner, put the food away or move away from the table so you won’t be tempted to keep eating.

If someone was to grade your posture, what grade would you receive? Having good posture during everyday situations is important. Poor posture can be the cause of a headaches, a stiff neck, sore back and shoulders, and tight legs, knees, and ankles. It can put strain on your joints and ligaments, and even lead to injury.
Think about your standing posture. For example, while you are waiting in line do you slump your shoulders? Lean on one leg? Arch your back? All these are common characteristics of poor posture.
To have proper posture while standing:

• Stand up straight and tall
• Lift your head from the crown, not the chin
• Place feet shoulder width apart
• Roll your shoulders down and back
• Distribute weight evenly across the balls and heels of your feet
• Tighten your abdominals and tuck in your gluteals

When working on your physical fitness, it is important to take into account ALL the components of fitness. Below are ways to improve in each area of fitness:

• Cardio: Perform activities in which you are constantly moving and you maintain an increased heart rate. Examples include walking, jogging, cycling, and swimming.
• Muscular Strength & Endurance: Work your muscles against resistance, such as weights, resistance bands, or gravity. Examples include bicep curls, push-ups, and squats.
• Flexibility: Stretch at the end of every workout!
• Body Composition: Eat a diet low in fats and sugars and exercise to increase muscle mass.

The recommended dietary intake has evolved over the years from the Four Basic Food Groups, to the Food Guide Pyramid, to the latest My Pyramid guidelines.

My Pyramid follows the same basic concepts as the Food Guide Pyramid. However, it is customized to each individual based on gender, age, height, weight, and physical activity level. Get your own personalized food plan by visiting mypyramid.gov.

Are you getting enough exercise? The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) provides a minimum weekly exercise recommendation. While more is ideal, strive to get at least the recommended time.

• Children & Teens: 1 hour of moderate to vigorous activity daily
• Adults: 2 ½ hours of moderate to vigorous activity per week

For more specific guidelines, go to http://www.health.gov/paguidelines/factsheetprof.aspx

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) can set in 2-48 hours after exercise. DOMS often occurs after very vigorous exercise or when trying something new. As your body adapts to specific exercises that are done consistently, you will notice that the after-exercise soreness will lessen.

How to reduce DOMS?

• Stretch well immediately after exercising, while your muscles are still warm
• Stretch your muscles 2-3 times a day after exercising
• Massage
• Ibuprofen or other pain reliever/anti-inflammatories

Extreme cases of DOMS may require additional rest. However, generally, moderate exercise, even when sore, is okay and can actually increase the blood flow to your muscles to decrease stiffness and promote healing.

It is important to have fitness goals to give you something to work towards. Here are some tips for effective goal setting:

• Make sure your goals are realistic. If you’ve never run a mile, it is probably unrealistic to set a goal to run a marathon next month. However, a 5K may be perfect. Take into account your current fitness level, where you would like to be, and what it will take to get there.
• Make a plan & be specific. Rather than just stating that “I am going to get in better shape,” create a plan for how you are going to do it. Setting, dates, times and activities on your calendar can help make your plans more solid.
• Involve your family & friends. Asking your family and friends to encourage you can be great motivation when you “just don’t feel like it.” And, if you can involve your family or friends in your exercise plans—even better!
• Celebrate your accomplishments! When creating your fitness plan, don’t forget to set milestones and rewards. Keep in mind that rewards do not necessarily need to involve food or money. For example, a reward could simply be taking time for yourself to do something you enjoy—reading a book, watching a movie, going out with a friend, or whatever!

Whether you gain, lose, or maintain your weight most often comes down to your caloric balance, or how many calories are consumed compared to the calories burned each day.

• If you eat more calories than you burn, you will gainweight.
• If you burn more calories than you consume, you shouldlose weight.

Keep in mind that in addition to calories burned through exercise, your body requires a certain amount of calories every day just to function. This is known as your basal metabolism.

For more information about finding the right balance for you, go to https://www.choosemyplate.gov/myplate

There are Five Components of Fitness:

• Cardio: ability of your heart to sustain physical activity over time
• Muscular Strength: how much you can lift or move at one time
• Muscular Endurance: how long your muscles can sustain a contraction or activity
• Flexibility: how flexible your joints and muscles are
• Body Composition: % of body fat to lean body mass (bones, muscle, tissue)

To be wholly fit it is important to take into account all five areas of fitness when setting goals or choosing workouts. For example, if Jack regularly runs long distances but does not stretch, strength train, or eat well, he may have a higher level of cardiovascular fitness, but his overall fitness level may be poor.

Try to include all components of fitness for a well-rounded exercise and nutrition plan.