So, fall is here and the holidays are fast approaching. Every year someone will say, “Oh, I’ll put at least five pounds on during the holidays!” They’ll smile and everyone will give that familiar guffaw in agreement. After the New Year, I imagine that same person gets on the scale thinking of their “this-is-the-year I’ll get in shape” affirmation, and then stare at the scale in disbelief. Not 5, but 8 pounds have leapt onto their body.

Alcohol, holiday desserts, large meals and no time for exercise is the right formula for putting on Holiday Fat. The worst news is many do this every year, and fail to take it off in the following ten months. If a person is at a healthy weight, and enters this cycle, and repeats it just four times, obesity (generally 25 to 45 pounds overweight) is most likely the outcome. Repeat it over eight times and, well… you get the picture.

The funny thing is it’s not like the holidays sneak up on us. They don’t! We know what to expect and we could make a plan. My personal philosophy is that there are five sacred eating days per year: Thanksgiving, the winter holiday (Christmas, Kwanza, etc.), New Year’s (a 24 hour eating and drinking celebration), my birthday, and a day of my choice. On these five days, I can eat whatever I want, because there is no way five days of anything can ruin 360 days of healthy living. If someone has been making poor lifestyle choices during the course of the year, then dives head first into holiday decadence, I have to use the cliché “what were they thinking!?”

Maybe they’re thinking, “why start now?” and they make their New Year’s resolution to start later. “I’ll start after New Year’s,” they promise themselves. That’s fine, in fact, that’s great! But if the starting line for a race is at Pritchard Park, a participant  wouldn’t go the Civic Center parking lot and run the stairs a few times first. Why make it harder to reach your goals year after year after year? Why move further and further away from a healthy weight, and the strong body underneath the fat that wants to be taken care of?

Eat! Eat a great big wonderful meal; eat five, on those five sacred days you pick for yourself. If the body has a high metabolism and is used to healthy meals, studies show it will actually respond positively to high calorie celebratory meals made with love and good cheer. If the body scoots up to a holiday meal that greatly resembles the decadence experienced every weekend or every day, it’s just one more meal that may move it towards obesity and the related challenges of heart disease, type II diabetes, and high blood pressure. If someone eats fast food all the time, Mickey D’s, greasy chicken and the like, the holidays may be an improvement.

I don’t know who you are or what you’re up to, but if you want a better strategy for staying healthy during the holidays, here’s a plan:

Start walking now. Five minutes, ten minutes, maybe thirty! Start walking everyday, what you can safely do. If you’re not sure what’s safe for you, get advice from your physician or another professional health care provider. Walking alone will assist most in raising the metabolism.

Eat better now. Keep a food journal for seven days. Take a look at what you know isn’t helping you get or stay healthy. Fitness sources agree limiting processed grains and sugar, and increasing whole foods such as fruits and vegetables is a big step towards wellness. Mypyramid.gov has great resources on designing your own meal guide.

Drink lots of clean water. It will flush the system, boost energy, and the immunity. These are a few steps that will assist in limiting the negative impact of holiday parties, gatherings, and the New Year’s binge.

No matter what you choose to do. Be happy, don’t do guilt. I’m a firm believer in the power of self-love. If you make your lifestyle choices from a sincere appreciation of your self, then it’s much easier to pass on the one-drink-too-many, or the third piece of dessert, or the deep fried turkey skin. We all know what the best choices are, stick to the plan and celebrate guilt-free!

Do you have questions or comments? Send them to for Kamala Parker, B.A., C.P.T. at kamthetrainer@yahoo.com.