Dealing with the added pounds from winter break

Breathe.

You know the turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, wine, champagne, pumpkin pie, apple strudel, chips, guacamole, sour cream and bread were worth it.

Brandon Hui | Daily Trojan

Those extra five or six pounds you might have packed on this holiday season can easily be undone with dedication and a few tips.

You are What You Eat

To start, put down the butter.

Remember these two key phrases for getting back into shape: reasonable amounts of food, reasonable amounts of activity. Bottom line: listen to your body, jump on the treadmill, eat what you need to eat and fuel yourself.

Stop with the “no carbs” bogus and try not to get unnecessarily overwhelmed and spend five hours a day at the gym.

This is not only a big waste of time, it’s unhealthy.

There are many conflicting ideas about what is most important when you want to lose weight, be it nutrition or exercise. Both are equally important.

You may want to start out by making a meal plan. Breakfast at 10 a.m. At 12 p.m. or later, have a nice snack like an apple and a handful of nuts. Have lunch at  2 p.m. — maybe a salad with some protein like meat (or tofu for all you vegetarians out there). If you didn’t have a snack earlier in the day, go ahead and have one around 3 or 4 p.m. Make  your dinner a big one that includes protein, veggies and a small starch like brown rice or whole wheat pasta.

It’s college; bedtime is 3 a.m. Have your last snack, peanut butter and apple or crackers, at around 12 a.m. and then call it a night. Start over the next day.

The hard part may be neglecting your sweet tooth that creeps up on you at the worst of times. Try to limit indulgences to three times a week, as long as you are trying to fit back into that little black dress.

Working It

Now that you have a meal plan, build your work-out schedule. If you’re really eager, five days a week is fine. Try not to make it more than that, because your muscles need to rest and adjust to the increased activity.

Face your treadmill fear. Running works out your back, butt, arms, abs and obviously legs. Alternatives are the stair-master or elliptical.

There are also many interactive exercise options out there for those bored with the familiar resistance machines. The Lyon Center offers spinning and zumba classes, and there are many nearby boxing studios around campus if you have transportation. For the more ambitious crowd, consider another method of weight loss that has been used by celebrities all over Hollywood called The Bar Method.

The Bar Method is an extremely intensive workout that combines yoga, Pilates and core training that will make your legs shake harder than ever before, leaving you unable to walk for days.

This intensive workout focuses on cutting the fat and developing lean, sexy muscles by using sharp, repetitive pulsing with light weights. While running is the best form of exercise, some people complain that it builds bulky muscles, and The Bar Method can prevent that.

As you sit in a chair, pose with a bouncy ball between your legs for one minute and thirty seconds and remember that the end justifies the means.

Finally, other than cardio, spend your off days doing resistance training with weights.

Men, you don’t need to bench press 15,000 pound weights and ladies, you can do more than three pounders. The most important thing to remember about resistance training is to use the weights to increase your own resistance.

Depending on how much mass you want to lose or gain, give yourself a few weeks and most important of all, have faith.

With time, your bod will be back in action.