The holiday season is quickly approaching! Everyone celebrates differently, but one thing we can all agree on it is that it centers around food and family. We anticipate the time of the year we can sit around the table with those closest to us and eat all the food we could ever want.
With that said, it can often be a challenging time of the year to stay the course following bariatric surgery. It is helpful to create traditions during the holidays that do not revolve around food because it can create stress and an environment that is not helpful during your weight loss journey. Here are five holiday friendly activities that may help you stay the course.
- Eat, then get moving: Grab your favorite hot tea or high protein hot chocolate and go for a walk, a hike, or engage in some family friendly competition with a game of flag football. Doing this before or after a meal will help you to get in the right mindset, and prevent you from grazing once the meal is over. Remember, head hunger is simply instant gratification, it is not worth it.
- Go around the neighborhood and look at Christmas lights: No matter how old you are; it is hard to deny that Christmas lights are a pretty sight to see. It is always fun to see how much work people put into decorating the outside of their house. Who knows, you may get inspired to hang some up yourself and create a little neighborhood friendly competition.
- Give back to the community: Some people are not as fortunate to have a place to go during the holidays, so you could gather as a family and feed the homeless or work together to create meals for families who need it. That way, you still get to enjoy cooking but not the temptation that may come with eating it.
- Fun in the snow: If you’ve been dreaming of a white Christmas, it is time to take full advantage. Get some sleds, find a big hill, and take a joy ride. This will be a fun, yet active way to bring all your childhood memories alive.
- Family fun run: If you want to get out of the neighborhood, look for organized community runs and sign the family up. You all can even were matching outfits and stand out from the crowd.
While food is a big part of any holiday, it is important to take the time to create memories with the ones that you love. Those are the things that will last forever.
Have you thought about how you are going to tackle the holidays in a healthy way?
