Tips for relaxing without stress – Articles – LifeTime WeightLoss
As the excitement for the holiday season continues to grow, it is important to create a game plan so that you can make holidays this year as stress free as possible. With all the decorations, gift, dinner parties, travel and family gatherings, it’s easy to get into chaos and exhaustion. This is a difficult time of year, and it is often tempting to throw a towel on healthy habits before the New Year.
When it comes to holidays, research shows that almost 40% of people experience elevated levels of stress when participants refer to lack of time, lack of money, an impetus to commercialism and an increase in responsibility as the main stressors. To help cope with these statistics and prepare you for the next eight-week holidays, we have identified several routine ways that you can help make this year more manageable and a little less stressful.
Plan ahead:
As obvious as it seems, it is important to give yourself enough time to prepare for all the additional events, culinary, shopping and hosting duties that seem endless. When it comes to organizing a kitchen, preparing meals and resisting temptations at parties, planning a game plan in advance, it will help you stay on the go:
- Go through and organize storage in your kitchen to remove expired and unhealthy products that may take up unnecessary space and interfere with your health goals. It will also make grocery shopping a little less fussy when you find yourself making a list and should not check it out insanely twice. If you have not used it in the past few months, this is probably the time for filing.
- If you are a guest at a party, plan on bringing your own healthy food. Some ideas include: vegetable plates, crunch trays, fruit and cheese trays, mini meatballs, a cold dish, shrimp cocktail, various nuts, etc. Feel free to be creative. The favorite crowd is simple, full-fat Greek yogurt mixed with a bucket of Life Time collagen vanilla biscuits, like a dip next to some fruit. If you bring your own food, this is not an option, plan to eat in advance, including protein, healthy fat and fiber, so that you are full and satisfied.
- If you have guests for lunch, try to make 75% of meals and snacks a day or two in advance. Some of the simplest things to do beforehand and warm up (if necessary) are sweet potato dishes, mashed cauliflower (for those with a lower approach to the carburetor) and desserts.
Strength through training:
Take a breather and remember: your to-do list can wait when it means that you put your health first. Overtime, skipping workouts, can really compensate for and negatively affect the exercise regime with which you worked so hard. Although it is tempting to tell yourself that you will be back on the road after the holidays, think about it:
- Stamina / cardiovascular training helps reduce stress, so if you avoid it during a more stressful time of the year, you can accumulate more stress without exercising.
- The biggest battle will be entering the club, but as soon as you arrive, the chances for your motivation will increase, because you will be surrounded by like-minded people who also pursue their health goals. An effective trick is to strive to complete just 10 minutes of movement. If you finish 10 minutes, you have reached your goal. However, you will find that once you go, it is much easier to complete a full workout.
- If you exercise before you go to a holiday event, you are likely to make better decisions about what you eat, not wanting to deny the benefits of the workout that you just did.
Choose your stove wisely:
Just because you always made your holiday dishes in the same way, it does not mean that you need to continue to do it. Take the heart, you can find ways to cook similar dishes that are still great and do not have any garbage in them.
If you are going to a party or event and you know that you are going to run into some products that are hard to resist, do not get hungry and make sure that you have a strategy for traction. For most, using protein powder before this event, you can help maintain cravings for fear and maintain a stable blood sugar level so that your energy does not fall (causing cravings).
Pour more water:
Constantly sipping water, you will be moistened and reduce the amount of food you want to eat. It is generally accepted to make mistakes in hunger for thirst, so the priority of hydration can go a long way with the temptations of the holiday.
While holiday drinks can be difficult to avoid during this time of year, keep a bottle of water nearby, so you are less tempted to get a glass of punch, alcohol or some other sweet, sweet drink with a higher calorie content. In addition, dressing your water using sparkling water with lemon or lime is an easy way to minimize the number of festive cocktails – while (for the most part), leaving other people's comments in awe. Hydration is usually easier in the summer months, and can be easily overlooked due to lower temperatures, so before you reach the peppermint mocha to warm you, consider first drinking a glass or two of water.
Put electronics:
While it may be difficult to shorten the time on the screen, consider limiting the amount of time you spend on the Internet when you are at home or when the clock is turned off. If you recklessly scroll your phone, being in the company of others, late at night or every minute, it may be time to impose some new boundaries. Screen time not only develops quickly, but can also negatively affect the quality of your sleep. Instead of checking email or social networks again, put down the phone and think about going for a walk to your local park, playing a board game or meeting friends to come voluntarily for a good reason.
Pamper yourself:
It is easy to prioritize the needs of others before our own, but in order to fully infuse others, we must first make sure that we are replenished. If you have a few hours or even a few minutes, do what you need to get back into the game. Regardless of whether you are engaged in restorative yoga class, stroll through the neighborhood, plan a massage at the Spa, or quickly sleep a cat, make sure you have time for self-catering.
What is your action plan to relieve stress and stay up to date with this holiday season?
If you find these tips useful, but do not know where to start, our next 60day Holiday will begin on November 10th and will be an excellent starting point for those who want to delve into the development of a game plan that takes action. You can register here.
Even in the holiday season around the corner, 60day is a structured program that contains healthy recipes, daily workouts, digital coaching and lectures in the studio by our experts who will help you get back on the road before the end of the year and you feel healthier, stronger and more alive. If you're still looking for inspiration, check out last year's success stories during the past year!
– Weight Loss Staff
This article is not intended to treat or prevent diseases, nor is it a substitute for medical treatment and an alternative to medical advice. The use of recommendations in this and other articles depends on the choice and risk to the reader.