ENCORE: Healthy Holiday Tips Walking Workout | 27-Minute Walk

Transcript

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I just can't believe that the holidays are here already. What do I do? What do I eat? Oh, I just know I'm going to blow it. Hey, walkers and talkers. If you're walking outside with me today, just pick up a moderate pace. Not too fast. If you're doing this inside just start a warmup. You can tap in place. You can march in place. You can tap side to side, you can do whatever you want. Just to start giving yourself a warmup. Take a deep breath in through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Roll out those shoulders. If you listen to this podcast a lot, you will remember that I always talk about breathing and rolling your shoulders. But I'm just reminding you to make sure you keep that oxygen flowing. Okay. Holidays are here. Holidays are here again. That is not how the song goes, but I made it up as always because I like to sing really bad songs . Hold onto your speed there. I'm going to tell you what happened yesterday. I think you can probably kind of relate to this. I made tea. I love loose leaf tea. I have a little strainer and I put the loose leaf tea in there and .Somehow the loose leaf teas got into the mug. And so I decided to take my big strainer and then pour that tea, through the strainer into another cup so that I could, , give it a strain to get all the loose leaf out. And I did that except I forgot to put the cup underneath. So I , poured my tea through the straighter into the sink because we all know that sink tea is amazing, right? Yeah. No, I don't think so. Pick up a little bit more speed now, deep breath in through your nose, shake out those hands. And if you're not walking or working out at home on the elliptical, on the treadmill, if you're just listening while you're driving or doing something else, you don't have to do any of the, obviously if you're driving, you're not going to do all that stuff, but breathe with us and relax with us and roll out those tense spots. So are they holidays or are they hella days? Well, that really depends on you and what you're doing and who you're doing it with, right? Everybody wants to get together. Everybody wants to do stuff, and everybody seems to make a lot of delicious food that we all want to eat , but then we don't really. Well, first thing I'm going to tell you is, do not beat yourself up over anything that happens over the holidays. You're human and we all are . Take the day as it is. Do not smack talk yourself and just remember things will not go exactly as you plan. That's all. Okay. Go just a little bit faster. The holidays, no matter what you celebrate is very stressful for your mind. And for the way you think about yourself and your body image, there is no way around that. We associate the all you can eat holidays with something bad, but it's not bad. It's a moment for us to enjoy. It's a moment for us to hang out with people. We probably haven't seen in a long time. We just have to reframe the way that we think about it. We're not going to make it into something negative. We're going to make it to something positive. And I'm going to show you how to do that right now. Kay, go a little bit faster. I want you to take a couple of minutes to pick up that pace and a little bit of push, but not a big sprint. And guess what? I recorded my first walking meditation. So you'll see that in the podcast soon. And sometimes if you just want to do meditation and motivate yourself to exercise, you can pop on that episode. I almost said that issue, you can pop on that issue or the episode and clear your mind, and you might actually need this after the holidays. Deep breath in through your nose, exhale through your mouth. Hold onto your pace. And if you're doing this insight, you can bring your hands above your head. If you're not on a ton of treadmill or also could shoot off the back of the treadmill, . You can bring your knees up. Work a little bit harder, just a couple of minutes first. Last year at the time of this recording, that was 2020 . Things might've been a little bit easier because most of us didn't have any big family gatherings. We didn't have all those temptations. We didn't have all those triggers. We didn't have the negativity that we associate a lot with food and the holidays. This year, some of us are still keeping it a little bit more reserved, but some people are having bigger gatherings and you're back to facing everything that you got to avoid last year. Hold on to that pace now. The most important thing that you can do is practice self-compassion. You wouldn't talk to other people in your family or your friends that way, like, oh, where are you going to eat that? Why did you eat so much, . Don't do it be nice to yourself. It's the holiday. None of us are perfect. We do the best. We can. Don't continue to compound whatever you were eating after the holidays. Don't worry about what you're eating, really.. It's not that bad. You're not going to gain a ton of weight over one day. You just want to relax, chill a little bit and have a good. Slow it down just a little bit now, deep breath in through the nose, exhale through your mouth for five seconds. One more time. Deep breath in through the nose. Fill up your lungs, relax your stomach and exhale. Bring your tummy in tighter. Exhale all that stale air.And the release go a little bit faster again for about three minutes or so. During the holidays, you can't avoid food. You can't avoid the gatherings and you can't avoid your triggers. You don't want to resist eating the foods that you like because then afterwards, you're going to just start binge eating because you didn't eat anything that you liked. You were stressed out at the gathering. And you were stressed out about the food. The first thing we're going to do is have you breathe and relax before the holiday party or gathering starts. You're going to feel your body and you're going to tell yourself it's all. Okay. It's all. Okay. Everything is going to be okay. Food is not the enemy. I'm going to enjoy myself. I'm going to have a great time. I'm going to eat something good. Focus on normal eating. It's easy to overeat when you're hanging out with a big gathering of people. Don't apply a lot of negative connotations to the food. The pie is not bad. If you got candy in your stocking, pull out the ones you like and give away the ones you don't like. Only eat what you really like. And it is okay to overeat somewhat on the holidays. You don't want to be very uncomfortable, but it's okay to relax a little bit. Relax your standards, relax those rules. Food is amazing. Food is delicious, and you want to pick the things that you really like. Don't eat the filler foods that you don't care about. When you build your holiday plate, maybe grab a smaller plate and really pile some stuff on there. Pick a little bit of everything. Different tastes, different kinds of foods. Give your taste buds a flavor explosion that will really help you feel satisfied. Make sure you enjoy your food. Enjoy every bite I like the smaller plates because I don't like to be overly stuffed. And that's where those work out really well, because you can look like you have a lot of food, and you might have a lot of food, but you're not going to be very uncomfortable. If you get very uncomfortable, that has a negative connotation for most people. Especially if you're struggling with food issues. When you fill up that plate, pick the foods you really, really love. If you don't like stuffing don't eat stuffing. If you don't like yams, don't eat yams. If you want to save room for the pie and you want to really enjoy the pie, eat less of the foods you don't really care about. You want to be happy. You want to be healthy and you want to enjoy the day and you don't want to feel negative about it. You don't want to feel guilt. You want to be in the moment, enjoy the moment. We never know how many moments with friends and family we have left. Between the end of 2019 and the first part of 2020, I lost seven people and it was very difficult to lose that many people in a short period of time. My mother, a family friend,an in-law relative that I adored my cousin who was like a brother to me, my stepmother. Another friend. And then my uncle. All those people in a very short amount of time. If you are with friends and family this holiday enjoy the time with them. We want to spend quality time. We want to build memories. We don't want it to be filled with negativity. Slow your pace. Just a little bit in a moment, we're going to pick up some little intervals. Each slowly when you're eating. I always wolf my food down. I don't know if it's because well, not when I cook, probably not when I cook, but , when I have really good food, I Wolf my food down to eight too fast. And so what I try to do now is I take a bite or two, and then I put my fork down. I drink some water. I try to enjoy each bite. I talk to people because each bite tastes equally as good. No bite is any more good or less. Good. So take your time and enjoy every one of those good bites. If you can avoid it, don't go back for a second. If you want to save room for dessert. Now I am a dessert feed. I love dessert. I could never eat food again. She don't tell anybody. I told you if I never had to eat real food again, except for pizza nachos, I would be so happy, but unfortunately I cannot live like that, or I can not live a healthy, longer life if I live like that. So I love dessert. I will pick dessert over other foods. If you go back for seconds, you may not have room for dessert and what a shame that would be. Right. I know. Give me about a 45 second interval. Now I want you to walk fast, be uncomfortable, feel that push deep breathing, focus on your body and how it feels. Focus on the sensation of walking kale, how strong those legs are, rhythmically place your feet onto the ground. Like where else would you put your feet? Right. Hold onto it. Push it now. Five seconds hard. Good. And then release it. Deep breath in. We're going to push just a couple of little intervals just to really get your heart rate up a little bit. And if you find stairs , or a hill, when you're doing this, that will be really good and it will really get your heart rate up. You're like, yay. Celebrate, celebrate. Good to, I do not like that song. Get ready one more time and go 45 seconds. Push it, push it strong. And when I said a couple, I probably. Push it strong, stay with it. Remind yourself how much you like to walk, how much you like to move your body, Phil, the strength in your legs. Feel the strength that each step K 10 seconds and push it past. Faster and the release it deep breath in through the nose, exhale through your mouth. Oh, one more time. I'm going to be mean, you're going to put Cola my stocky 45 seconds and go hold on to it. Okay, stay strong. Tell yourself I can do this. I can work hard. I got this. Fill that push squeeze. Your bootay just a little bit deep breath. Exhale, 10 more seconds. Push it, push it. You've got the stay with it and release, like you've do a little bit of extra calorie burn gives you a little bit extra card. Another holiday secret I have is to add protein to your meals. Protein takes longer to digest. If you're vegetarian or vegan are things that you can have for protein. If you're vegetarian, you can add some yogurt or beans, quinoa. Hopefully there is something there that has a little more protein, even nuts. Same thing with vegan Kenowa you can always ask somebody to make certain foods for your, bring your own. You can have broccoli, brussel sprouts, believe it or not. Those two have protein in them too. It'll help you feel. And then you will not overeat to the point of being uncomfortable. Take a deep breath in through the nose, exhale through your mouth. Shoulders are down a relaxed. Now we're going to go a little bit faster, a little bit of a challenge, but not a sprint. We're going to hold this for a longer period of. Feel how your body's moving, really squeeze those legs and engage them, bring your shoulders down and back. Moving is kind of hard during the holidays getting you're not moving your house. That's really hard, but moving your body can get a little bit hard cause we're shopping or you're moving your body. When you're shopping. Don't take the escalator, take the stairs. If there is one sometimes it's harder for us to fit in longer periods of exercise, but you can move throughout the day. And that is actually better for you. You burn more fat and you get your heart rate up a little bit and you get fresh oxygen into your. So, if you're going into the kitchen for something, may be carry one thing at a time, make multiple trips to the kitchen, instead of piling everything up in your hands and trying to make it. And just one trip. I did that the other day, I was trying to go from the car to the house and I decided to stack three cartons of sparkling water. And my arms, my arms are short. So the three cartons ended up two cartons because the third cartons fell down and, you know, I was afraid to open the soda waters and the third carton because they would explode. So don't do what I did. Make multiple trips when you're shopping, and this is useful in more than one way. Park far away from the stores. Park at the very end where very few people park. 1) you'll be able to get a little bit more exercise going to and from the store. 2) someone's less apt to hit your car with their car door or shopping cart. And 3) you can make a quick escape from the store. If it's crazy, you don't have to sit in lines with people going really slow. Getting out of those parking lanes. When you're done with shopping, carrying your boxes and bags one at a time, especially if your parking spot is not in the garage, by her house. If it's a little bit further back, just bring one thing in an a time. Just like our little kitchen adventures. It's probably too late this season, but if you hang your own lights, you got to climb up the ladder, got to climb down the ladder. I got to climb up the ladder, got to climb down the line. Speaking of climbing up and down the ladder, hold onto your pace. Little bit faster. Now, if you can be strong, be intentional, feel those legs engage. Feel the booty, engage, carrying the tree yourself. If you have a real tree, that is a workout. I remember the first Christmas after my divorce, we were living in an apartment over a garage, and we had one set of stairs really, really steep to get up. And my son, who was little at the time, and I had to haul the Christmas tree off the car up those stairs and put it into the living room. And we were so tired. So it was a great workout. Stand as much as you can. When you're writing cards, talking on the phone. When you're wrapping gifts, you can do it on the counter and just stand. When you're watching TV, you can stand, keep moving. Just keep your body going because it's good for your health and it's good for your mental health. If you have stairs in your house, you could just step up and down on one step. Or if you have long legs, you can go on two steps up and down. Like you did step aerobics back in the eighties and nineties. I love my little weighted medicine ball. You can just bring that up over your head up and down. That will get your heart rate up. You can even do jump squats. If you can jump , you just squat a little bit down, up, up, down squat up. And I just lost the way I was speaking squat up, down, up, down, You can do pushups on stairs, on counters, but make them hard and quicker so you can get your heart rate up . You can do burpees. I know burpee suck, but you can do them on the stairs or with your hands on the sofa. And there are a lot less sucky. Do little bursts throughout the day to keep your heart rate up. It also makes you happier. You can commit to other people to stay fit together over the holidays. Even if you can't get together with people in person, you can form your own accountability group by text or by Facebook. You can do via messenger. You can keep each other accountable. You can set your goals together and you can crush them together. The family that crushes together stays together. And slow it down. And also you have to set realistic expectations for yourself. If you tell yourself, , I'm not going to eat any carbs the month of December, that is probably not going to happen. I love carbs carbs. Make me happy, carbs and winter equals love. Make sure it's something you can stick with. Have a little carbs, live a little, don't be too strict with yourself.. One more time. 45 seconds and go push it. Good. Hold it strong. And the P word. Planning for obstacles that are going to come up to try to anticipate what's going to happen. You want to do one thing and something else happens. You want to go for a walk, something stands in your way. They'll make a plan of how you can fit in walking and doing some minor exercise through the season. And if you can't do one thing, if you want to go to the gym, you can't go to the gym. What else can you do? What can you do? You can walk for 10 minutes. You can take your dog out. If you have a. Hold on to it tomorrow seconds. Now you can go out with your kids. The main reason I suggest that you keep moving as more for your emotional health. It's not just for your physical health, but emotionally, we feel so much better when we do some kind of exercise and it makes you less cranky over the holiday season. One more time, one more 45 seconds and go push it. Now. I want you to go really fast now., one other tip that I really, really love is to brush your teeth. Now, this is not really for the holiday. You know, you want to brush your teeth for the holidays, if you're tempted with other snacks that you really don't want to eat, then brush your teeth. Use mouthwash. I say that a lot. And the reason I said a lot is because of. PI does not taste good when it's flavor with mouthwash, 10 more seconds. Push it now. Really hard. We're almost done. Hold on to it. And then you're going to release it. Roll those shoulders backwards. Roll those shoulders forwards. Turn your neck a little bit side to side guests. Turn your head a little bit side to side too. You can look right. You can look left. If you're walking outside, just keep your eye on the road. We often don't get enough sleep. And especially through the holiday season, so try to fit in more sleep. If you can, if you're off work, if your kids are out of school. See if you can sleep in a little bit, take a few mornings just to be a little bit lazier, lay in bed, relax, have some coffee in bed. I listened to a positive meditation, try to start the mornings of an otherwise stressful season with something positive and something a little more relaxing. So you don't feel like you're on that constant treadmill of stress. Slow your pace. Take care of yourself, love yourself. Take care of your body. Take care of your emotional health. If you have a few conflicts with people in your family, just smile and walk away, their opinion doesn't matter. Your opinion matters of yourself. Their opinion does not matter. You want to have a good time during the season. You want to see the people that you want to see. You want to eat the foods that you really love and not the foods that you don't as much. You want to relax. You want a smile and he want to take things., January 1st is a big day for new year's resolutions and resolutions tend to not work. If you start a little bit earlier during the holiday season with baby steps, you're far more apt to carry those healthy changes into the new. If you start small, there's plenty of room for you to go. If you start boom, working out two hours a day, not eating carbs, eating a thousand calories a day. There is nowhere else for you to go. You're at the top of the workout and the bottom of the food that is not sustainable. And you cannot keep that up. Start small start now, baby steps. A little bit slower. Now, if weight loss is your. And for some of us, it is, if you'd lose just one pound a week, that's at one pound, which is actually pretty easy. You will lose 52 pounds in one year. You can do that. Right? And most of us do not have 52 pounds to lose, but if you do one pound a week, that's a little bit more exercise, eating a little bit more healthier, still having chocolate or pizza or whatever it is that floats your boat. It's very doable. And it's a big amount of weight. Slow it down a little bit more, again, check in with your body, see how you're feeling, see how your mood is, see how your energy is. I know it's hard for us to take time, to exercise as hard for us to get motivated, but after a walk or after workout, don't you feel amazing? Don't you feel so good afterwards? When you don't want to walk, you don't want to work out. Remember this feeling, check in now with yourself, feel how your body feels, feel, where the good feelings are. And next time you don't want to walk or don't want to work out, go back to this place and feel that feeling again. And I'll see you next time.