If you are in the U.S., I hope you and yours had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration. Can you believe we are in the holiday season again already?

I was thinking the other day how I set a very modest goal to prevent weight gain last year during the holidays. I ended up losing a little bit of weight, and inches, which was a nice surprise.

Here is a nutshell version of what I did:

1. I did not go on a weight loss diet. I did not feel guilty when I ate sweets or fatty foods. I did “watch” my honey intake, but I mostly just avoided foods that give me health problems. (When I try to eat to improve my health, I end up losing fat more easily than when my only goal is to "slim down.") And I tried to listen to my body, eating when hungry, stopping when satisfied.

2. I made a *very* easy plan for exercise. I had been very busy renovating our house last fall, and needed to get back to regular workouts. So I just decided to do at least three 15 minute workouts per week. I mostly did the T-Tapp Basic Workout Plus. When that got a little too routine, I added in some Lauren Brooks kettlebell workouts, very short ones.

3. I committed to taking my measurements once a week. Every Saturday morning, I got on the scale, and also measured myself with a tape measure. Even when I did nothing more than the three 15 minute workouts, I was encouraged to find I was losing inches. A little loss here, a little loss there, adds up to a good deal of encouragement to me!

4. I joined a friend’s Facebook group, where we all shared our goals and checked in with one another. That helped, too.

And that was pretty much it! Simple, and almost easy, with such short workout times. I did end up doing workouts more some weeks, or longer workouts. But I didn’t *have* to at that point, I just wanted to.

Warm regards,

Eileen

PS If you are interested in trying the T-Tapp workouts, check out the T-Tapp Black Friday Sale (affiliate link) (ends tonight at midnight Eastern Time), and the T-Tapp Cyber Monday Specials (affiliate link). They have great products that make wonderful gifts, too!

(The links, above, are for products I personally use and love. The cost is the same for you, and I earn a small commission from any sales. This helps allow me to keep Wellness and Workouts online. Thanks!)