In the last part, we looked at how to regulate excess food intake during the holidays, at least by eye. There is no need to make a science out of it and be able to indulge, but on the other hand, we need to know what we can afford and where there is a certain imaginary boundary. If you don’t want to watch your diet too much, and you don’t want to gain extra pounds, you should increase your energy consumption – move more and more often than just from the couch to the fridge and back. Even though they say “you never train your mouth”, let’s see how more exercise can help us stay relatively fit during Christmas.
We can divide our energy consumption into two main parts:
- EAT (Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) – it is the energy spent on physical activity of a sporting nature, respectively. calories burned by intentional sports activity we do (e.g. running, jumping rope, strength training, sports games, etc.)
- NEAT (Non-exercise Activity Thermogenesis) – energy spent on normal daily activities of a non-sporting nature (cooking, cleaning and housework, walking, etc.)
Let’s break down both parts in a nutshell.
EAT – energy spent on sports activities will help us increase our consumption the most. If we don’t want to go jogging for an hour on frozen trails, we can also diversify our expenditure with strength and endurance training in the form of HIIT. HIIT (High Intensive Interval Training) is a very effective activity in which we burn a large amount of energy – calories – in a short time. Personally, I like to lean towards this alternative as a long outdoor run, because this workout is more time-saving and you will engage many more muscle groups. At the same time, it is also more “fun”, but this is a matter of personal preference. With such a HIIT workout lasting 20-30 minutes, we can burn approximately 250-350 kcal, of course, it all depends on the intensity and length of the workout, so the numbers may vary. An excellent activity (which can be classified as HIIT) is also jumping rope, which is one of the activities with the highest calorie consumption per minute (this also includes, for example, jumping jacks or burpees) at about 9-15 kcal/min, depending on the gender and intensity of jumping.
NEAT is an activity that seems inconspicuous, but it can help us a lot in increasing energy consumption. If you are not going to train much during the holidays, try to improve your numbers at least in these daily activities. The main and at the same time the most basic activity to increase your consumption is walking. This includes a simple 30-60 minute walk at least once a day to help you improve your digestion and get your metabolism up and running after a day at home. If you are going to be visiting during the holidays, I definitely recommend walking and leaving the car at home. You can also include walking up the stairs if you live on higher floors, this inconspicuous activity will also help you burn a few extra calories. Another activity is cleaning. It may sound ridiculous, but if you spend half a day in the kitchen cooking and preparing meals for family and visitors (without “tasting” every 5 minutes), plus you clean up something, NEAT can make you a really nice energy save.
Of course, we’re not talking about dizzying calorie counts here, but everything counts. A certain consistency is important when it comes to movement, whether in sports or as part of daily activities. I think that every active person can find time for themselves at least 2-3 times a week, do a simple workout, wake up the body and go for a walk in the air at least once a day. This will help you maintain a certain routine and have active days, not just sleep until lunch and do absolutely nothing. The fact that we gain 2-3 kg extra during the holidays is somewhat always taken into account and there is no need to panic right away and put on meaningless unsustainable diets with a yo-yo effect after the New Year. It’s much easier to slowly return to your “pre-holiday” regime and you’ll be back in a few weeks. If we at least partially maintain a sports regime during the holidays, it will also help us mentally and those cookies will taste a little better.