Yes me, the guy that wrote "How Not to Get Fat on Thanksgiving"
Even though I believed I had strong will power, I still found myself eating brownies, chocolate covered marshmallows, cheesecake, chocolate moose cake, and crumb cake.
So I ate like a total pig ... now what?
Since I know I am not the only one in this situation, I decided to list 5 simple steps to help get you back on track.
Be sure to follow them carefully, as it could make the difference between being fat and being jacked.
5 Simple Ways To Get Back On Track After Christmas Binging
1. Don't Be Depressed
The "damage" is already done.
The only thing getting depressed will do is further slow down your metabolism and make you even fatter.
Rather than sit there and be miserable, be happy that you were in a position to "cheat" for a day and enjoy some great tasting food with your family and friends.
In fact, you should be really happy to know that many nutritionists believe "cheat days" are actually required in order to accelerate fat loss.
If you think I am crazy, do some research on the word leptin
2. Don't Starve Yourself
How many times have you heard something like this ...
"I ate so bad today, I am not going to eat anything else for the rest of the week."
Bad idea.
Not eating makes your brain think you are going to die of starvation.
As a result, it slows down your metabolism in an effort to keep you "alive" as long as possible, until you can find more food.
This is the last thing you want right now.
So rather than starve yourself, I would recommend going back to your balanced diet that I hope you were following prior to Christmas.
Not only will your body not be in starvation mode, it will also be reaping the benefits of your "cheat" day (see point #1).
"I ate so bad today, I am not going to eat anything else for the rest of the week."
Bad idea.
Not eating makes your brain think you are going to die of starvation.
As a result, it slows down your metabolism in an effort to keep you "alive" as long as possible, until you can find more food.
This is the last thing you want right now.
So rather than starve yourself, I would recommend going back to your balanced diet that I hope you were following prior to Christmas.
Not only will your body not be in starvation mode, it will also be reaping the benefits of your "cheat" day (see point #1).
3. Drink Lots of Water
It is very hard to burn fat if you are dehydrated.
This is not the right article to go into a deep physiological explanation of how being hydrated helps burn fat, so I will keep it simple.
- If your organs aren't hydrated, they can't help turn stored fat into energy
- If you are dehydrated, you can't train at the optimal level - meaning you will not be able to burn as many calories.
4. Perform High Intensity Exercises
If you want to burn off the fat, you need to train in a way that will burn calories well after your training session is completed.
Sorry to break your heart, but steady state movements like running on a treadmill are not going to do this for you.
The optimal way to burn fat is with high intensity training sessions that include one of the following:
- variable intensity interval training (with things like wind sprints)
- metabolic resistance training (as can be seen in the clip below)
5. Don't Overtrain
Training is a great way to burn off fat.
Overtraining is a great way to burn out, completely destroy your body, and make it impossible for you to continue training so you can burn off more fat.
What is overtaining?
To keep it simple, lets assume you normally train 45 minutes a day 4x a week. This training includes jumping rope, lifting weights, and wind sprints.
After eating 2x as many calories on Christmas as you should have, you decide that you now need to work out 2x as much as you normally do.
Your plan is to spend 90 minutes in the gym everyday this week.
You perform your normal routine, and then follow it up with 45 minutes on the treadmill.
You wake up the next morning and can hardly walk.
You fight through it and perform the same routine at the gym the next day.
The next morning you can't get out of bed at all.
In fact, your body is so shot, that you don't make it to the gym at all for the rest of the week.
Instead of getting in your normal 45 minute sessions and burning more fat, you sit home bragging to your buddies about how sore you are - all the while getting fatter and weaker.
That is overtraining.
Overtraining is a great way to burn out, completely destroy your body, and make it impossible for you to continue training so you can burn off more fat.
What is overtaining?
To keep it simple, lets assume you normally train 45 minutes a day 4x a week. This training includes jumping rope, lifting weights, and wind sprints.
After eating 2x as many calories on Christmas as you should have, you decide that you now need to work out 2x as much as you normally do.
Your plan is to spend 90 minutes in the gym everyday this week.
You perform your normal routine, and then follow it up with 45 minutes on the treadmill.
You wake up the next morning and can hardly walk.
You fight through it and perform the same routine at the gym the next day.
The next morning you can't get out of bed at all.
In fact, your body is so shot, that you don't make it to the gym at all for the rest of the week.
Instead of getting in your normal 45 minute sessions and burning more fat, you sit home bragging to your buddies about how sore you are - all the while getting fatter and weaker.
That is overtraining.
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