Although Christmas is traditionally a time for indulgence and feasting, studies have shown that with a few simple tips it is possible to limit weight gain and even lose excess weight. Of course, the holidays bring with it weight gain, but what about the rest of the year?

Previous research has shown that the holiday season is the time when people gain extra pounds, and because people do not tend to lose weight after the holidays, it can contribute to the obesity epidemic. Since weight tends not to be lost after Christmas and will add up over the decades, the research team wanted to explore tactics to prevent weight gain in the first place.

According to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the average weight gain on vacation is five pounds, or about 1.5 pounds a week. The study, which followed men and women of different height, found that less than 10 percent of the subjects actually gained five pounds.

While you may enjoy richer foods and more sweets than usual, experts say you shouldn’t worry too much about the pounds.

When you stop losing weight so quickly, it’s time to take a break and recalculate your need to keep working towards a healthy weight when you’re ready to get up again. One of the reasons many people can’t get up after losing 10 to 15 pounds is that they don’t realize that their daily calorie goals need to be adjusted.

Count Your Calories

Remember, once you start losing weight, you need to adjust your energy requirements and move to a lower-calorie level to lose weight and keep losing. Just because the numbers on the scales have not changed doesn’t mean you’re not losing weight. Reduce your calorie intake by tracking what you eat every day, reducing portion sizes, and eliminating calorie-rich options from your diet. If you lose 10 to 15 pounds, you lose 10 to 15 percent of your daily calories in the first week or two. While it may sound tedious, counting your calories is the absolute best thing you can do to stay on track, and it’s also one of the most effective.

A medical study has shown that monitoring your daily intake can help to double the amount of weight you lose and that it is even more effective than diets.

This unwanted extra weight is relatively easy to manage, as we tend to drink much less when it’s not the holidays. The problem is that even at reasonable levels, it is enough to put on a whopping 3-4 lbs in a week. You can get 1500 to 2000 calories in a day, which, if you line it up, doesn’t really look that much. You need to produce a deficit of about 500 calories per day for the next 3-4 weeks before your shift. That would be a kind of energy flash, and you would drop those extra pounds in a few days instead of weeks. The study suggests that self-control can prevent weight gain and even promote weight loss. For more than a year, members of the National Weight Control Registry maintained their daily weight – aiming to lose 1.5 pounds a week. Among those who participated in the Diabetes Prevention Program, those who followed their daily intake of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and fruits and vegetables lost 2.2 pounds per week, while other participants gained weight. Healthy eating always proves to be an important factor in losing holiday weight.

Exercise For The Extra Weight

Exercise is the safest way for a healthy weight loss by burning those extra calories. Exercises speed the fat burning process when teamed up with a balanced diet. However, it is the time of the new year and new resolutions so people tend to go hard on that gym membership. It is advised to take it slow. Rather, you can opt for morning jogs with your family or even other fun physical activity like Hoola-hooping, cycling, etc. You can always ask the other person to keep you motivated if you feel like you can’t do it alone.

Beware Of The Fake

After months of shoveling holiday goodies into your face, it’s time to try out the quick weight loss programs you can find online to fulfill your New Year’s resolutions. Unfortunately, many of the many weight loss methods that appear at this time of year are fake – and they’re not for you. Many people who try to lose weight over the holidays risk losing too much weight too quickly due to their lack of self-control. This can lead to a variety of health problems, including weakened immune systems, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and high cholesterol, to name a few.

There have been a few supplements in the markets nowadays that promise to help you lose that extra weight. This ranges from edible nutritional supplements to body shapewear for both male and female physiological body. This apparel can be worn under everyday clothes. They claim to increase sweating during exercise, helping in belly fat burning. However, one is advised to do proper research before being a consumer of such products, as most of the times these are a hoax.

Holidays are supposed to be fun with family and friends. You won’t be discouraged from having that fun by being advised to eat less of that pie or the turkey (If you can do it, it’s perfect!). But once the holidays are over, you must realize the importance of a healthy lifestyle and find ways to bring that back into your regular life without going too hard on yourself.

How did you get back to your healthy weight in past? Let us know in the comments.