Ten ways to manage your holiday weight

Yeah, 'tis the season to be jolly. With cookies, cakes, candy, cheese spreads, chocolate covered... everything.

So, what's a girl to do? My hubby always goes into December saying, "Let's just get through this month and in January, we can eat just lettuce. 'K?"

Um, no. And why wait until January? Why not plan and start to manage our eating now? Several years ago I started Weight Watchers in December right before our birthdays. I lost fifteen pounds that month.

Here are a few tips.

1. Keep those skinny jeans handy. Try them on once a week, and if you can't get them on, wrap the waist band around your neck. The ends should stay the same distance apart. If you can't wrap the waist band around your neck, you're in trouble. Let's just say it.

2. Throw away the jeans you wore when you were a senior in high school. I want you to hold onto your skinny jeans, not your "are you insane?" jeans.

3. Bit it, write it. A great motto from Weight Watchers. Keep a log of what you eat. I'm not too great at this, but I try to mentally calculate my calories during the day so I don't overeat.

4. Eat light the days you have evening events.

5. A taste is almost as good as a big-honking-piece. In the past, I've had just a fork full of cheese cake instead of a slice. Or, I'll get a small bag of chips to go with my sandwich instead of buying a big bag. Look for ways to manage smaller portions of your fun food.

6. Move more. My job is so sedentary. I understand why writers struggle with their weight. I mean, I walk across the house to my office, and plant it, and there I stay for hours. So find ways to move more. Park out farther in the parking lot when you go shopping. Don't hover for a front space. Let someone else have it. Also, take breaks in the day and instead of reaching for a snack, walk around the neighborhood. Whatever, but move more.

7. Do wacky jacks! Have you seen these? Tony Horton on P90X introduced me to them. Get in a jumping jack stance, but instead of doing straight-up jacks, draw you knees to your elbows, bending your torso side to side to meet your knees. Wacky jacks. It will jack up your heart rate. And they are fun!

8. Consider push ups as a reward. Finish your word count? Complete a project? Drop and give yourself 20. Okay, 2, but you know what I mean.

9. Pray. Ask the Lord to help you manage your appetite and cravings. Just say No to food when you're full and satisfied.

10. Tell January you're going to meet it 1 - 5 pounds lighter. Take that you holly-jolly holiday food.

What about you? Have any tips for us?

"Don't Get Ahead of Me!"

Have any of you done the P90X program? Or watched portions of it? Tony Horton, the developer and instructor of the P90X work out regime, has an off the cuff, unusual but very fun style of instructing.

On some routines, he lets us work out at our own pace. On other routines, like the ab ripper X routine, he insists we follow his count as we work through an exercise.

Take Scissor Abs. The legs are poised in an L shape. One up, one down. Tony's count, we switch legs. The down leg goes up, the up leg goes down. And you hold each switch for a second or two.

Tony says, "Don't get a head of me. Switch on my count."

Why? Because he's leading us in a designed routine intent on strengthening our abdominal muscles. There's no point in doing it if we fly through it and don't generate any resistance or tension.

Many, many times, God directs us in a like manner. "Don't get a head of me." It's not that we are stagnant, or sidelined, but we are moving forward by His direction.

Far to often, we think the go ahead from God means we take off on our own, and work at our own speed and pace. And we miss out on so many essential criteria.

Take prayer and the Word. We get up, breeze through a devotional or our daily Bible reading, offer up a bit of prayer and we're off. We're doing our discipline, our routine, but... are we accomplishing anything.

It hurts my abs when Tony holds us in a position for a few seconds. I'm so glad to hear him call, "Switch." But keeping with him has physically changed my body. For the better. I'm not ready for swimwear modeling, but you get my meaning here.

What if we approached God like our exercise routines? What if you heard God saying, "Don't get ahead of me. Okay, switch." What if we purposed to run with Him rather than ahead, or behind, or not at all.

God does want us to run with Him. Did you know that? We're not to be spectators, or sideliners. But He also wants to accomplish something in our hearts and minds as we run, and labor with Christ.

Are you ahead of Him? Are you running with instead of ahead. Where are you in the process? Can you take a few extra minutes and linger with Him in the Word and prayer?

Beloved, it's time to develop spiritual muscle. It's time to reshape and sculpt our inner man with the love and Word of God.

What's your P90X commitment for the Lord in 2011?