The Muscle Couple with a nice little step by step guide to avoid holiday weight gain this Thanksgiving!

This program will work for anyone regardless of fitness level.

Obviously the more fit you are, the more intense your intervals can be and the more likely you’ll avoid gaining any un-needed bodyfat.

This program offers a very easy to follow 4 Day Schedule from Thursday through Sunday Night.

Thursday-Thanksgiving Day

• Wake Up-1 Thermogenic Pill-4 Capsules of L-Carnitine-Weigh Yourself-20 Minutes of Intervals (Sprint-Jump Rope-Stationary Bike-Elliptical-Treadmill)
• Breakfast-Oatmeal with 1 Scoop of Whey Protein
• 2 Hours After Breakfast-Protein Shake with 30-40gms Protein, 14-28gms of EFA’s(Udo’s or Flax Oil), 6-8 gms of Fiber from Capsules or Fiber Powder
• 12-7PM-Eat Absolutely Anything and Everything You Want(Thanksgiving type of food and Holiday Snacks) Take 3-4 Capsules of R-ALA(100mgs) or ALA(200mgs) over same time period.
• 7-8 PM-Do something that requires movement at low intensity.  Walk your neighborhood, go on a bike ride, ride a stationary bike, just be active.  Hang out with your Family whatever.
• Make sure to Drink only water before and after 12-7PM.  As much as you want.
• 30 Minutes to 1 Hour bed, eat 3-4 ounces of White Meat Turkey by itself to stimulate trytophan production and deep restful sleep.

Friday-The Day After

• Wake Up-1 Thermogenic Pill and 15 Minutes of Intervals (Sprint-Jump Rope-Stationary Bike-Elliptical-Treadmill)
• Breakfast-Protein Shake with EFA’s and 6-8 gms of Fiber
• Eat whatever you want every 3-4 hours the rest of the day. Try and eat protein every time but don’t worry if you don’t.
• 8PM-15 Minutes of Intervals (Same options as above-don’t skip this.  Make time for it.

Saturday

• Breakfast-Protein Shake with EFA’s and 6-8 gms of Fiber
• Try to shift back to “normal diet” but remain eating every 3-4 Hours.
• Resistance Training for 1 Hour doing 15 Reps or Higher on Every Set (your goal is to try and deplete muscle glycogen and rid yourself of any excess glucose from the gluttony and excess of the previous couple of Holiday meal splurges.   A Full Body Workout is perfect to truly deplete all muscle glycogen pools.
• Make sure to Drink  a lot of water throughout the day to flush your body of the excess sodium from eating anything and everything.

Sunday

• Weigh yourself upon awaking.  Notice if any weight/fat gain from last measurement on Thursday morning.  It’s unlikely you’ll have gained anything but maybe a couple of pounds of water weight.  If there is any more than this, do about an hour of light cardio on an empty stomach.
• Just relax all day.  Watch some football, Dexter etc.
• Eat whatever you want, preferably left overs from Thursday and Friday.  Try to avoid sugar consumption from pies, or other processed sweets.  If you’re going to eat sweets or refined carbs, try and remember to take an R-ALA or ALA Capsule after a feeding.
• Minimize Alcohol consumption.  Overdoing it on booze/alcohol on the last day will wreak any progress you made from the first 3 days.

There you have it.

The Muscle Couple has done this routine a couple of times in the last couple of years and it’s never failed us.  Give it a try.  If you do, let us know how it works for you.

Remember the goal of any program around the Holidays is to be lenient enough so you can enjoy the down time but also effective so you don’t completely derail your efforts at maintaining a physique you can be proud of year round.

We wish everyone a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving!  Thank you for your loyal patronage and readership all of this year.

MIHWCS