5 Ways To Rebound From Your Holiday Overindulgence

Pexels

The bulk of the holiday festivities have come and gone, and while they filled us with joy and gratitude at the time, our bodies now feel all out of whack. From our decadent diets to our lack of exercise to our bizarre sleeping patterns away from our own beds, we have no idea which way is up. So let’s fix that, shall we? Here are five easy steps to pressing that total reset button on your body so you can feel like the best version of you in 2019.

1. Swap a source of sugar for a green vegetable.

Unsplash/Kimberly Nanney

It’s tempting to proclaim, “I’m cutting out all sugar!” to bring your body back to neutral, but that cold-turkey strategy will likely send you into withdrawal and leave you feeling absolutely awful. So instead, take things one step at a time. Remove one of your current daily sugar fixes, be it that eggnog coffee creamer in the morning or the gingerbread cookie at night, and replace it with a green vegetable (like some spinach in an omelet or your breakfast smoothie). That way, you ween your body off of the sweet stuff gradually and feed it important nutrients at the same time.

2. Drink an extra glass of water every day.

Unsplash/rawpixel

Everything about the holidays is dehydrating — the sugary, salty and fatty foods, the extra glasses of wine, even sitting by the toasty fireplace. So in the days following all of the festivities, grab that water bottle and drink up. Even just an extra eight ounces per day can make a world of difference in how you feel. And if you’re not already drinking a minimum of 64 ounces of water every day, it’s time to start working your way back up to that magic number.

3. Ease back into your exercise routine.

Unsplash/Bruno Nascimento

Plenty of us are forced to ditch our favorite workout classes and cardio routines when we head home for the holidays, and that’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with taking a few days off. But as you get back into the swing of things, be mindful of the fact that your body might not be as willing to cooperate as you’d like it to be. Instead of going full throttle into a boot camp session, take it a little slow so your tighter muscles can stretch, your cardio endurance can return and you don’t create any unwanted injuries by accident. It won’t hurt your fitness to take an additional week to work back up to where you were before the holidays ensued.

4. Turn off the television 30 minutes earlier than usual.

Unsplash/Fabiola Penalba

We have a feeling that all of those days spent catching up with family members and old friends disrupted your typical sleep schedule, so make it a priority to resync with your circadian rhythm. One of the easiest places to start is with your bedtime routine, avoiding blue light-emitting devices like your phone and TV before turning out the lights. So make the switch to a book a half an hour before you typically do and allow that sleepy feeling to start arriving earlier again.

5. Dedicate five minutes to a deep-breathing or meditation routine.

Unsplash/Brooke Cagle

The holidays are full of joy, but they’re also full of stress. If your nerves are still feeling rattled after all of that family togetherness, now is the perfect time to adopt a deep-breathing or meditation routine. Starting with just five minutes per session can make a huge difference in your general disposition, and there are plenty of free apps out there like Headspace that can help you get started.

Sign up for Daily Fit by Swirled, our newsletter featuring a wellness tip of the day and must-read health news from around the web! You’ll be one step closer to living a healthy, balanced life.

RELATED

You Can Train Your Taste Buds To Stop Asking For Sugar

The Bodyweight Circuit Workout You Can Do All Winter Long

These 5 Foods Will Help You Sleep Better