Let's Fight Holiday Fat with Exercise, Recipe & Tips To Help Keep You On Track

Tis the Season for crazy routines, jolly parties filled with tasty and oh so tempting drinks and treats as well as a house full of goodies to share with friends and family. How have you faired this holiday season?

I personally went into this holiday season with high hopes of continuing my daily exercise, avoiding all sweets that popped into my vision field and kept up with my regular work and sleep routines. I found that these were not easy task to do on my own with the hustle and bustle this season. How about you? Did you keep your regular workout routines? Did you over indulge too many times? There is still time to get help.

On my own, as I said, I did have my struggles this holiday season. I did reach out for help and found the  Let's Fight Holiday Fat website. The site was personalized toward my size and gave me a set calorie goal as well as exercises to complete. The calorie goal allowed me to be aware of what I was eating and to eat smaller portions of the tempting favorites at holiday parties. The exercise routines were easy enough to work out at home since I didn't have time to hit the gym daily. 

I also made it a point to try and to feature skinny mini recipes on my blog this holiday season. For the most part, these recipes were mini forms of tasty recipes which allowed a little bit of indulgence instead of an all out fat smorgasbord disaster. One of my favorite skinny mini recipes was the Almond Apricot Snowballs. This was a sure hit with my blog readers and racked up a lot of visits this month. I also offered water and healthy veggie trays at my holiday open house along with some of the not so healthy items. I was thrilled to see people taking, eating and drinking the lighter, no fat options. I loved having the veggies handy so I could nibble guilt free right along with my guest. 

Almond-Apricot Snowballs

Ingredients:

• 2¼ cups all-purpose flour 560 mL
• 1 cup granulated sugar 250 mL
• 3 Tbsp cornstarch 45 mL
• ¼ tsp salt 1 mL
• ¾ cup canola oil 175 mL
• 2 Tbsp water 30 mL
• 1 tsp almond extract 5 mL
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 5 mL
• ½ cup sliced almonds, chopped 125 mL
• ½ cup finely chopped dried apricots 125 mL
• 1¾ cups confectioners’ sugar, for rolling 425 mL

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 °F (180 °C).
2. In medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, cornstarch and salt until completely combined. Add canola oil and beat until well combined Add water, almond and vanilla extract. Mix. Stir in almonds and dried apricots. 
3. Scoop batter with small ice cream scooper, melon baller or spoon, making all same size. Place them on ungreased baking sheet about 1 inch (2.5 cm) apart. 
4. Bake cookies about 12 to 15 minutes or until just set. Cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes and then transfer to wire rack until just warm. 
5. Pour confectioners’ sugar into bowl. While cookies are still warm, but not hot, roll in confectioners’ sugar. It will adhere slightly to cookies, making them look like snowballs. Return cookies to wire rack and when totally cooled, roll in confectioners’ sugar again. Store in air-tight container for up to five days.Yield: 36 snowballs.

The Let's Fight Holiday Fat website was the most helpful to me with the exercise options. I loved being able to watch how to actually do some of the exercises. Not only did they tell me to do a burpee but they showed me how to do it. I know when I started I didn't do them as pretty as the girl demonstrating but I tried to stay at true form and got better the more that I did. 

Busy Mom and Let's Fight Holiday Fat spokesperson, Samantha Harris shared tips on 'Surviving the Season' which I totally loved. Here are the tips:

1-Make healthy low-fat food choices. Swap out the high fat ingredients in your favorite holiday recipe for healthier options.

2-Snack Often. Have healthy snacks at hand to help keep you from reaching for holiday goodies. Apples, low-fat string cheese and baby carrots are low-fat and easy to pack! Have a sweet tooth? Try a small peppermint candy (fat-free!) to satisfy your temptation. 

3-Exercise. Exercise. Exercise. Finding small ways to fit in physical activity can help maintain your weight and energy throughout the season. Going holiday shopping? Park the car in the farthest spot from the store entrance. Cooking? Work your legs with squats while waiting for the water to boil.

4-Plan Ahead. Going to a holiday party? Eat a low-fat snack at home to help you stay on track and avoid over-indulging in unhealthy choices. 

5-Keep Stress Levels Low. Eating healthy and being physically active can play a big part in keeping holiday stress at bay. Keeping stress levels low also may help prevent weight gain. Try to find a time in a busy day to take a few minutes for exercise, deep breathing, or eat a healthy, low-fat snack.

So for this season, I found it necessary to reach out and get help! The Let's Fight Holiday Fat website gave me a focus and guided me throughout this holiday season. The cool thing about finding this site is that I now have a go to place for the new year, too! Since I'm already registered, I'm all set to keep using this free website. If you check out my healthier lifestyle post you will learn that I've been on a healthier lifestyle journey since April and have lost over 60 pounds! I've used various resources to be where I am today. I am excited to keep using The Let's Fight Holiday Fat website to keep me on my journey to an even healthier 2013.  I also downloaded their app for my iPhone so that I could take the website with me no matter when I traveled this season!

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