Holiday Fitness Strategies

The CBS Early Show and their Fitness Contributor Minna Lessig provide some good tips for the holiday season. As you peruse the tips, you shouldn't feel overwhelmed but look for 1 or 2 strategies that are realistic for you to incorporate into your daily regiment.

Here are some more holiday fitness tips from Minna:

• Add exercise to your "to do" list and give it the same importance as your other errands.
  
  
• Maximize your time. Use your lunch break to walk to a nearby shopping center to do holiday errands. Try to do anything that gets you moving. All activities add up -- lugging a toddler around house, taking stairs instead of escalator when shopping, or going window shopping.
  
  
• Focus on fitness during the weekends. Get outside for an hour or more of skiing, snowshoeing, hiking or sledding with your kids. If you're in a warm-weather state, use the time for a long bike ride.
  
  
• Shoveling snow or chopping wood is a great workout. You'll burn several hundred calories doing either task. Just make sure to protect your back.
  
  
• Keep an exercise journal. This can help you stay motivated by making daily exercise goals for yourself and keeping track of what you have accomplished. This also might deter you from overeating.

The holiday season is the time for weight maintenance. Set realistic goals. Weight loss may be slower during the holidays.

There are many tempting foods and you should not deprive yourself. Make sure that you can enjoy the moment of splurging, and then return to your original preparation plan. Regaining control and getting back to your regular eating style and workout schedule is what is important. Feeling guilty will only weaken your motivation and prevent you from being active.

Keep track of how many calories you are burning and how many calories you are taking in.

Here are some popular Thanksgiving food and drinks:

• Eggnog, 1 cup serving, 342 calories 18 grams of fat
  
• Cranberry sauce, 1 slice, 1/2-inch thick, 86 calories 0 fat
  
• Stuffing, 1/2 cup, 178 calories 8.6 fat
  
• dark meat turkey, no skin, 3.5 oz., 187 calories 7.2 fat
  
• gravy, 1/4 cup, 30 calories 2 fat
  
• homemade pumpkin pie, 1/8 of a 9-inch pie, 316 calories 14 fat
  
• homemade pecan pie, 1/8 of 9-inch pie, 502 calories 27 fat
  
• Brussels sprouts, plain with salt, 1/2 cup serving, 31 calories 0 fat
  
• Carrots, plain with salt, 1/2 cup serving, 26 calories 0 fat

Here are some activities and the number of calories they burn (for a 150-pound person, on average):

• Stationary bike (at moderate level): 504 calories/hour
  
• Elliptical trainer (general): 648 calories/hour
  
• Stairmaster: 432 calories/hour
  
• Running (11.5 min/mile): 648 calories/hour
  
• Walking (17 min/mile): 288 calories/hour