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We interrupt this series of avoiding weight gain to bring you 2 confessions. 

Confession #1–I sometimes find myself watching E! or ET while waiting for House to come on. I try to turn away from Donnie and Marie–are they sleeping together?–Britney, Christie, Kelly, and the other celebs and their same old stories, skimpy outfits, and scandals. I fail, with a vengeance. I practice observing without judging. Judging is easy and fun and it may even burn calories so this is not so off topic afterall.

Last night’s 10 minutes brings me to the second confession and it has to do with Oprah. I teared up watching Oprah talk about her weight gain. Once again she has piled on 40 pounds. I wasn’t fighting back a full on sob because of that. Having her stand up and say “I can’t or don’t want to hide this anymore. I have not been taking care of myself” said O. That’s where my heart got pulled in.

She did not say, “I let my job get in the way, I had no time, I have so much stress.” All of those things must be true for her every single day of her  life on view. She said, “I have not been taking care of me.” Not working out, eating foods that do not support health, energy, aging strong and long; these are signs of not caring for oneself.

This is where the sadness came up. I ache for those of us who can’t figure out how to love and care for ourselves especially when the physical manifestation is extra weight. It’s not about the number on the scale though we focus on that. It’s about the number you see yourself as. Say what you want about how it–the weight–doesn’t really matter. I think it really does. I’ve been there. It sucked.

A survey reported in USA Today a number of months ago reported that out of a few thousand average Americans who participated, 80% said the one thing they will regret not doing before they die is losing the weight they want to. 

People, even a loss of a few percent of your total weight improves your life expectancy and healthy aging potential. Not to mention one less thing to regret.

It does not have to be that difficult. Oprah is starting an online program to take off the weight with her. I offer one as well, Spark People has lots of ways to get online and community support. Doesn’t matter who you choose but I encourage you to choose some form of help and then love yourself enough to stay with it.

Maximize your workouts. When I have to take off a couple of pounds, or want to have a negative calorie escrow–yea it’s a made up concept but I think you get it–I pump up the intensity but not the time alloted for a workout.

None of us has extra time at this time of year so working smarter not harder or harder which is smart in the case of our exercise, is the way to go. Yesterday I posted about how important music is for health and for working out. Play up tempo music and you’ll gain endurance which means you can go either harder or longer. When time is short I’m going to go for harder.

On the treadmill I really up the incline once I’m warmed up. Or I do a jog and walk combo–the jog portion is fast enough that it’s not so much fun but not so hard that I might injure myself. I also use the Nordic Trac. It’s a good overall workout and especially when I add some resistance to the glides and arm pullies.

The place I slow down? Weights. I keep the same weight but I go super slow on the release. This will add a little more time to a weight routine but trust me it pays off.

If you are not a gym rat and walking is your thing, power it up by timing yourself with a goal of chopping off a few minutes each time you go out. And if you are using a DVD at home your timing is fixed but if you focus intently on each move you can increase the pay off. Think about your form for each rep or different exercise.

Interval training–short bursts of intensity–mixed with the normal pace or weight has proven benefits both in moving you out of a weight plateau or upping your results.

While this tactic is great for the holidays with more eating and less time to workout it’s also a great habit to create for long lasting results oriented exercise.

What’s your favorite way to blast calories?

My mother was a genius, no really, in terms of IQ, her’s was high enough to qualify. Mom used to say, “if they could put medical school to music, you could be a brain surgeon.” This may have been more prescient than genius as it turns out that music helps the brain create connections between the vibration and the information. This means we recall more and more easily. A new book out called Sound Advice by Rick Notter is based on the science behind music’s magic.

 More than likely you know that putting on upbeat music can change your mood. Millions of dollars are spent on movie scores to evoke the “right” emotional response from viewers and shopping malls and coffee bars know that playing music with certain tempos will cause people to buy more but not linger too long.

How do you use music? Are you, like me and smart woman and bff Chris Cavanagh, unable to workout without your favorite beat? Or have you just never gotten around to loading music into an MP3 player or haven’t bought one yet?

 If you are in the latter category girl, hye thee to an electronics store and get thee an iPod!(My personal fave)  Not only does music keep us going longer, with a fast, thumping beat we exercise harder. Is harder better? That’s debatable but for this 50-something, working out til I’m a slippery, soaking dishrag feels good on many levels. Rick’s book can explain why.

On days when I want something a bit more gentle but still productive I pick a playlist I’ve put together that will carry me over the roads and the beach at a clip but not push me. Yoga moves are somehow magically easier to move through when the instructor plays suitable music.

Even when we are not exercising, music that we like–and that’s different for everyone–is good for our heart. And who doesn’t want a happy heart?

What’s on your music player?

I’ve got so many varieties of music and some you might just find appalling. AC/DC and a-Ha share playlists with Chris Boti and Chumbawumba. I’ve got trance, dance, classical, country, soft jazz, rock and disco. 

It would be fun to hear what you’ve got playing in the background.

You’ve no doubt heard that not enough sleep leads to a host of potential problems. The one I want to talk about here is weight gain. What’s that got to do with the holidays? Plenty because the next three weeks are a land mine of late nights and extra stress. As midlifers we are prone to losing sleep when the stress-ometer goes up.

Now stress alone is a known belly fat creator. Add less-than-needed sleep to the equation and you are asking for weight gain. Can it happen in as short a time as 3 or 4 weeks? Yes and especially when you add more food temptations than normal.

What to do? Go to bed! Turn off the bloody television, it’s not the great relaxer you think it is if you are using it to “wind down.” It actually stimulates certain parts of the brain, making it harder for you to fall asleep. 

Have your last cocktail or peppermint chocolate bar at least an hour-two is better–before you want to fall asleep. While booze may knock you out the effect is temporary and you will probably find yourself awake at 3 or 4 am. If you do sleep through the night I bet you’ll wake up tired.

Digestion take work and if the body is working while you are trying to sleep it can be disruptive.

Late nights, treats and toasts are almost unavoidable at this time of year but staying aware of the importance of sleep and doing what you can to ensure a sound 7 -8 hours can help prevent the holiday 7 or 8.

How do you ensure proper rest during this busy season?