Feeling anxious about weight gain this holiday season? Here’s how to stop Thanks-guilting and start enjoying Thanksgiving.

This year, don’t allow worries about overeating ruin your Thanksgiving celebration with loved ones. It’s a once-a-year occasion that should be enjoyed without reservation. Instead, recognize that this holiday has several healthy opportunities to take advantage of that can benefit your overall health and well-being. By reminding yourself of these benefits, you can avoid feeling guilty about food and thoroughly enjoy the festivities of this holiday.

Here’s what you need to know to overcome negative emotions associated with holiday food:

1. Be physically active

Here’s a news bulletin you need to hear: Participating in a rough and tumble family football game is optional to earn the holiday meal! However, it’s important to note that engaging in other physical activities related to the holiday also counts towards achieving this goal. Acknowledging and appreciating the various physical activities of the holiday season is crucial.

Here’s a look at “physical activities” you likely will participate in but may not have considered:

• Cooking. Preparing a Thanksgiving meal is a time-consuming task requiring much effort. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, standing and lifting weights under 50 pounds are considered moderate-intensity tasks, which can burn around 3.5 to 7 calories per minute. Therefore, spending about 2 to 4 hours preparing food before the main meal could potentially burn 400 to 1,200 calories even before indulging in the feast.
• Enjoying your family. It is crucial to remember that your body is continually using energy, even when you are not working out intentionally. Daily activities, such as chatting with your friends and family or taking care of kids, can be categorized into different intensity levels. For instance, playing with your kids can be classified as a moderate-intensity activity, while standing is considered a low-intensity activity, which means it burns fewer than 3.5 calories per minute.
• Cleaning. Hosting a party is always fun, but cleaning up before and after can be a hassle. However, this presents a great opportunity to engage in moderate-intensity activity by finishing those cleaning tasks! If you didn’t host the gathering, why not help the host clean up? Not only will it be good for your physical well-being, but it’s also a great way to cultivate social relationships.

2. Savor healthy Thanksgiving foods

Although Thanksgiving foods may seem indulgent, many contain essential nutrients that benefit your body’s health.

Taking time to plan, prioritize, and problem-solve can help you reach your behavior change goals

Achieving behavior change goals, such as healthy eating and exercise, requires planning, prioritizing, and problem-solving. Putting these three “P’s” to work will help you stay on track and overcome any obstacles that may hinder your success.

Beginning a new behavior can be challenging and sometimes even overwhelming. But when utilizing the skills of planning, prioritizing, and problem-solving, suddenly, everything tends to fall into place.

Let’s explore how you can put these skills and ideas into action in order to attain a healthy and active lifestyle.

Meal and Physical Activity Planning

A famous quote from former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt says, “It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.” Mrs. Roosevelt understood that wishing upon a star rarely results in our wishes coming true. A better approach is to make small, realistic goals and plan for how you will achieve them. By doing so, you can use your energy more effectively and increase the likelihood of achieving your desired outcomes.

When planning, always review your routine, be adaptable to change, and overcome barriers by being flexible and creative.

Meal Planning

Regarding meal planning, it’s helpful to have a designated day of the week to assess the foods you need to buy based on your planned meals. Making a shopping list and preparing food ahead of time can also save you time and hassle. Additionally, keeping simple meals in regular rotation can help speed the meal-making process and reduce the temptation to eat out.

Physical Activity Planning

Due to time constraints, exercise can sometimes seem impossible to incorporate. However, we can overcome this obstacle by adding simple physical activities to our schedule. For instance, we can practice yoga or stretching for 10 minutes every morning or before bedtime. We can also walk during our lunch break or after dinner, depending on what suits us best. Even small movements can have a positive impact on our health. We can make the most of any opportunity to move, such as parking farther from our destination, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, or walking for 10 minutes inside our house. Being creative and consistent with movement throughout the day leads to results.

Adding more protein to your diet is one of the most effective ways to lose weight. And the best time to begin starts in the morning by eating breakfast.

Starting your day with a protein-rich breakfast can be an effective strategy if you’re looking to lose weight. Research has demonstrated that a high-protein breakfast can assist in achieving weight loss objectives and preventing weight gain in both teenagers and adults.

Often touted as “the most important meal of the day,” breakfast is already well-known for improving concentration, memory, and energy levels. A high-protein breakfast’s effectiveness for weight loss is becoming increasingly apparent. A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggested that a high-protein breakfast can be valuable for weight loss, particularly in teenagers. So, what defines how much protein should be in a high-protein breakfast? The magic numbers appear to be 25-35 grams. Unfortunately, the average American consumes far short of that, with approximately only 10 to 15 grams at breakfast, and the protein source often coming from high-sugar breakfast cereals.

Skipping breakfast is directly linked to weight gain, higher BMI, and obesity. It is imperative to acknowledge the significance of a balanced breakfast and not overlook its impact on overall health and wellness. Therefore, it is highly recommended to make sure that breakfast is an essential part of our daily routine.