From the Washington Post (11/21/2006) Make Weigh for the Holidays: A Healthful Goal for the Season of Temptation: Don’t Gain a Pound

Welcome to the sixth annual Lean Plate Club Holiday Challenge. For those new to the Holiday Challenge, this isn’t a diet. (Studies suggest that dieting during the holidays is doomed to fail even more than at other times of the year.) The goal is simply to maintain your weight over the next six weeks. Do that and you’ll be a step ahead of the curve when you ring in 2007.

Here’s why: A few years ago a National Institutes of Health study examined holiday weight gain. It found that people at a healthy weight add just about a pound during the holidays and generally take it off in the spring. No big deal.

But it’s a different story for overweight and obese people, who now account for more than two-thirds of U.S. adults. The study found that they gain an average of five pounds and don’t shed that weight in the spring. Through the years, that weight gain adds up.

Called The Lean Plate Club, The Washington Post is reporting on ways we can maintain our weight through the holidays. The article discourages us from attempting to lose weight during this period, saying that the effort is doomed to failure and likely to backfire.

They’ve developed a whole mini-site with free tools such as weight charts, tips, a newsletter and stories from selected members. It’s quite a thing!

And they’ve got a weekly goal for those of us who want to participate (me, me, me!) This last week (the one that included Thanksgiving) the goals have been:

Food Goal: Eat two cups of fruit and 2 1/2 cups of vegetables daily

Exercise: Add five minutes today to whatever activity you already do. Build up to 10 minutes daily by the end of the week.

I’ll check-in at the site and let you know some of their tips. But you might want to visit it yourself — some of the success stories are pretty inspirational.
I know that some of us are still hoping to lose some weight by New Years eve. These hints work for that goal as well.