Fitness Tip: Eat First then Shop

With the holiday season knocking at the door, it is always a challenge to keep fit and healthy.  To maintain one's weight during the year is not so easy for most of us, let alone maintaining one's weight during the holiday season! All that turkey and holiday parties are extremely deterimental to one's waistline. So today I want to share with you a little secret on how to stay active and burn away a little of that holiday eating.  I realized this was something I had only begun doing recently since I began my weightloss journey over a year ago.  Now it has become a part of my routine.  What do I do?  It's easy.  I eat first then I shop.

Didn't I say it was easy?  Now the important part is implementing it.  Before in my much much chubbier days, which I am happy to say is now behind me,  I didn't give a slight thought as to what I'll eat and when I'll eat it.  I'll eat when I'm hungry and then I'd shop or go hang out with friends when the time suited.  Oftentimes, if I am out shopping I'd lose track of time, find myself shopping until late in the evening, discover I'm starving and then fill my stomach with whatever I was craving. Being dehydrated and starving, the choice would often be unhealthy alternatives.  I'd come home exhausted, sit on the couch and then sleep.

That was the old me.  I ate before I slept.  I ate then sat down.  I ate then watched TV.  I ate then ate again.

Nowadays, I avoid doing it as much as possible.  When I go shopping or go hang out with friends, I try to schedule it so that I always eat first and the go shopping or go do my errands.  This way, I am sure to have eaten my lunch/dinner on time and then burn it off with the walking.   I don't crave unhealthy foods and I don't slow down my metabolism by putting it into starvation mode.

You might wonder if just simply eating then walking helps?  Believe me it does.  Every little action counts if you want to stay healthy and keep the weight off.   Walking actually burns quite a bit of calories. According to caloriecount.com  (http://caloriecount.about.com/activities-walking-ac17)  if you are leisurely walking like when you are shopping, you burn roughly 220 calories an hour!  Now that's equivalent to burning off a cup of starbucks latte coffee, almost two cans of of coca cola or perhaps that piece of chocolate cake you had previously. 

If you take the stairs or you are carrying shopping bags, you will be burning even more calories.  Every little calorie counts especially if you want to continue eating all the Christmas and New Year goodies!  I certainly enjoy eating and don't want to forgo eating the delicious goodies.   I also don't want the weight gain.

So my tip to you is to plan out your day in advance.  Plan to eat healthy foods first and then do an activity that burns it off.  If you need to go shopping for presents and gifts, make sure you have had something to eat.  You'd spend a couple hours shopping so why not make use of it to burn off all that food?  You won't find yourself starving and be tempted to eat unhealthy food.  Drink water when you feel tired, most likely you are dehydrated. 

Stay active and stay healthy!  Every little action counts :) Remember:  Eat First then Shop :)  Happy Shopping!!