Did anyone else put on your holiday weight BEFORE the holidays even started? I’m trying to call it my 10 
pounds of love (and “blame” my fiancé….just kidding, love), but YUCK! And how is it even going to be possible to do anything about it now, when there is so much pumpkin pie to be enjoyed ;-)
Did you know it takes a deficit of 500 calories every day for a week to lose 1 pound? That means you either have to eat 500 calories less, or burn 500 calories more, or some combination of the 2.
Please be careful with the first one. I have seen it backfire too many times. People have great intentions of losing weight, so they eat very little. This may work in the short term, but if you don’t give your body enough calories to work with, 2 things will happen.
First, your body will burn muscle instead of fat. It is much easier to break down muscle, so when you deprive you body of calories, believe me, it will take the easier route to keep you going. This is a problem when you start eating normally again, because it is your muscle mass that burns calories for you. Depleting it is counterproductive.
Secondly, if you don’t have enough calories to fuel your internal engine, your metabolism actually slows down to match the fuel coming in. Now, again, when you start eating normally again, your metabolism may be so slow that it can’t even burn off the normal number of calories.
So, I’ll try to take my own advice, head to yoga on cold days, and to the trails on the others. Anyone like to join me?
