Finish the Year Strong 3/6

Do Cardio So You Can Eat

Most of us are going to eat this holiday season. No, we’re not going to stay true to our diet, as much as we are trying to tell ourselves and others. Trying to portion down won’t work for us either. The Christmas cookies and candy canes are going to call out our name and we’re going to respond.

You know who you are.

I am with you.

My thing is, if you’re going to eat, at least try to offset some of the calories that you’re going to take in. A good cardio workout is a really effective way to do this.

On the day planned for Christmas dinner, doing cardio in the morning is a great way to get your metabolism going and get your body into carlorie burning mode. This also works on your days off, when you know that you’ll be snacking all day. Any time when you can anticipate extra calories consumed, you can compensate by doing (or doing extra) cardio.

I weigh about 200 lbs., give or take 4 lbs. either way, depending on the day. At my weight, I burn about 1,000 calories an hour when I do cardio work and keep my heart rate up for that hour. This means that I’m breathing hard, sweating, and pushing myself (but not to my limits – although some off-days it feels that way).

So, when I know that I’m going to eat a lot in a day, I try to compensate by doing cardio a little longer. Then, I feel free to eat. Doing cardio the day after you eat too much can also help to make sure that some of the calories don’t get absorbed in places where you don’t want them.

You could guess about how many calories you burn pretty easily – if you weigh more than I do, you probably burn more than I do doing cardio for an hour. If you weigh less, you burn less – I know, you can call me Mr. Wizard.

So, as you plan your holiday eating season, plan some cardio work to help offset what you eat.

Sure, you could do portion control, which I’m a big fan of regularly, but as far as I’m concerned during the holidays, I’m going to eat!