It’s the holiday season, which means that it’s that time of year when our waistlines tend to expand. But there are things that everyone can do that will reduce the chances of horrible weight gain.

Keep up (as best you can) your workouts. You may slack on your diet (if you are on one), but it’s imperative that you try and keep up a regular workout schedule – keep those sneakers where you will be able to find them – and feel guilty if you don’t use them! You’re throwing so many more calories at your body during the holiday season, not keeping a regular exercise will very well make it worse.

Watch your alcohol intake. Beer and wine equal empty calories – keep count not just for your alcohol consumption, but remember that those are calories, too.

Eat slowly and don’t stand by the food. This seems like something straightforward and easy, but it’s amazing how much a difference it makes when the holiday season comes – a switch turns on, and for some reason people decide that they need to take a man and a van and pile all that food onto a plate and then put it in their body in two seconds flat. Don’t do that. Eat slowly, maybe slower than your normal rate, and allow your body the chance to recognize it is full. Those 20 minutes can make a huge difference. This way you won’t feel like a towing company has to come in and roll you out of the party.

I’ve done it before, too – we all have – and it is definitely not a fun experience.

Sleep! This is another thing that people forget to take into account – but with the holiday season comes long days (and nights) of travel. Make sure that you keep as similar a sleep schedule as you can – as with your workouts and your caloric intake, our bodies do not always adjust well to the change from new stresses – so one of the best things to do is to keep your body as regulated as you can.

Move! Don’t stay on one place: go walking, playing or traveling!

Overall, the best thing that you can do for your body is try and keep all your other routines as best you can – and eating a healthy meal before a party isn’t a bad idea, either – that way you’ll be less tempted to eat all the deliciously bad food before you.

Ashley Dean looks forward to the holiday season every year, and actually enjoys swapping out her Carolina boots and her man’s Dunham work boots for snow boots. She’s been writing for as long as she can remember, but only recently started doing so professionally.

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by *clairity*

Sitting for hours and hours at a time in your car or on a bus isn’t the healthiest thing, especially if you’re spending all that time sitting just to go to another place where you’ll sit for another couple hours.

It’s hard to find time to exercise when you spend two or more hours a day commuting, and by the time you get home you’re too exhausted from the drive to work up a sweat.

People who commute long distances also tend to eat worse than other people because they don’t have the time, especially in the morning, to prepare and eat a healthy breakfast. If you are a commuter who is afraid that you are suffering from lack of exercise and good diet, here are some healthy habits you can adopt that will help you combat your commute.

1. Prepare your food ahead of time - When you’re in a rush in the morning, there’s no time to make a healthy breakfast or lunch, and you end up throwing together something quick and unhealthy or buying lunch at a fast food place. But if you plan ahead of time, you can put together ready to go meals and save even more time in the mornings. This may mean simply assembling lunch the night before, or cooking up a storm two weeks in advance and freezing portions that you can just pop in the microwave and defrost.

2. Walk whenever possible – With exercise, every little bit helps and if that means taking the stairs instead of the elevator, do it. Get your blood flowing in the morning by walking to a bus stop that’s further away than your usual one, or park your car as further away from your destination and take a quick jog. These little walks will add a bit more time to your commute, so factor in a few extra minutes for this exercise.

3. Drive and exercise – It’s possible to exercise while driving or using public transportation without causing a commotion. If you’re driving, you can do things like steering wheel isometric exercises, glute moves or ab tightening exercises. If you’re stuck standing on a bus or subway, if you’re really dedicated you can bring along a small weight and lift it, or at the very least you can use your briefcase or backpack.

4. Go hungry, at least for a little bit – If you really have no time to eat breakfast before you leave in the morning, it may be a better idea to forgo breakfast until you get to work and can eat something decent. For example, instead of shoving down a pastry or two in the car for breakfast, rather wait until you get to work and can have a bowl of low fat milk and high fiber cereal at your desk.

This article was provided Car Rental Express. For more information about car rental insurance and other travel resources head over to their website today.

It may be hard to stick to a daily plan. Some days you just love your jogging, next day you feel you hate it. That’s when you feel you already hate it. And you start forcing yourself into doing that – this is beginning of an end. The moment you start forcing yourself into doing your exercise, you stop getting benefit from it.

Your daily exercise is not only the step to keeping fit and looking good. It should be the way to feel better, to maintain emotional balance, to fight the depression. If your exercise does quite the opposite, if you do not enjoy it and on the contrary feel obliged to do that – it is not going to work.

So how to enjoy your daily exercise? Just stay motivated and creative!

• Always choose your favorite workout music; change it regularly to avoid it getting boring.
• Combine your exercise with some amazing activity. Example: take a photo camera with you when jogging – morning scenes are awesome and you are most likely to collect beautiful photography.
• Set regular tiny goals: “this week that’s 2 exercises, next week it’s 3, etc”

Another option could be just go travel! Try cruises for example: plenty of fresh sea air and new awesome experience will work wonders for your health and body!

Post image by mikebaird