One of my family’s favorite things to do is play together as a family. My son loves to wrestle, and my wife and daughter love to dance. We’ve also found playing football, or tag, Nerf gun wars, or hide and go seek is a blast. Don’t underestimate how hard it is to outrun your 9 year old daughter!
During the holidays, think of some creative games to play and make activity fun. Getting your heart rate up, depleting your glycogen stores, and jump starting your metabolism will reap big rewards when it comes to burning calories. Don’t think you have to spend an hour in the gym to get a good reward from your activity. Think about doing 2-3 activities during the day and don’t worry about the time. We so often get caught up in how long we do something and not just the fact that we did do something active.
So, for the holidays, find activities you can do with family and friends that are fun and that actually get you moving. Here are some ideas to help:
- Play tag
- Wrestle with your kids, grandkids or, wife! (Word of advice: let her win.)
- Play Nerf gun wars outside.
- Throw a baseball or football. My son and I like to make up games like throwing balls that are hard to catch. It will get you moving more.
- I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but dance. Slow dancing won’t burn many calories. Try hip hop or something up beat!
- Go for a walk and check out Christmas lights.
- Have a plank contest with kids. It’s fun, trust me!
The mindset that you have to go to a gym for an hour to get any credit is not true. You’re body (and the scale) will thank you for any activity you allow it to have. Good luck!