Keep it simple

Is anyone else annoyed already with the plethora of great “tips” in every fitness, health, or women’s magazine about how not to go overboard during the holidays and gain weight? It seems even though deep down we know a magic bullet doesn’t exist, we’re still looking for it. If you want to not gain weight during the holidays you need to do what you should do all of the time, eat sensibly and exercise. I could give you 500 different dumb ways to do that like – clean the house for 2 1/2 hours but holy cow, that’s a big dose of NO FUN! So why not stay active by finding fun ways to do it?

Like a turkey trot, a race on Thanksgiving that lots of cities have. Most are family events like ours here in Austin. I’ve never done the one here but my brother and I did a turkey trot outside Omaha a few times and it was a great way to start our Thanksgiving. My friend Sandy said she was going to do the one here so I checked it out and was delighted to see that they have a kids 1K and allow jogging strollers and even have awards for the top jogging stroller finishers.* So on Thursday my husband, daughter, and I will all be participating in a turkey trot before we trot home to our marathon of food. I am hoping it’s a new family tradition for us. Why not spend your Thanksgiving morning starting a new family tradition with a turkey trot? Even if you are not a runner, many of them welcome walkers too. Hey, you could burn enough calories to have a guilt free piece of apple pie, and as my idol The Barefoot Contessa would say “how bad can that be?”

*I was thinking of seeing if I can unleash some real live wild turkeys to get my husband going fast enough to bring home that jogging stroller prize.

Here’s something for your running mix because the title is as cool as the song, it’s called Gorgeous Behavior. It’s for all of you, because you’re all gorgeous!