4 Ways to Burn Thanksgiving Calories Fast
What’s the fastest way to burn off all that turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, and pie? Get-Fit Guy has 4 awesome tips to burn those Thanksgiving calories fast (no expensive gear required).
Although I certainly don’t endorse extreme gluttony and complete debauchery on the American holiday feast of Thanksgiving, I highly doubt that you plan on completely refraining from that extra helping of mashed potatoes or an overflowing ladleful of gravy – especially if you’re anything like me and you like to just let go and live every now and again.
Last year I tweeted that “The Average American eats about 3,000 to 3,500 calories during Thanksgiving. That’s 14,500 jumping jacks!” Thankfully, there are faster and more fun ways to burn calories from the turkey extravaganza. Today, you’re going to get 4 quick and dirty tips to enhance the speed of your post-Thanksgiving calorie burn:
Tip #1: The 6-Minute Trick
While an after dinner stroll certainly doesn’t burn many calories (although it’s better than doing absolutely nothing at all), a recent study proved that a brief 6-minute exercise “snack” before a big meal is a time efficient and effective way to improve blood sugar control.
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The study showed that an intense 6-minute walk (such as walking up a very steep hill, or on an incline treadmill) done 30 minutes before a big meal significantly improved glycemic response to the meal.
Since surges in blood sugar can lead to big deposits in belly fat, this is great news! Not going anywhere near a hill or a treadmill this Thanksgiving? No problem, you can also try this 6-minute trick with stairs, burpees, squats, and yes – even jumping jacks. So now there’s no excuse.
Tip #2: Shiver, Baby, Shiver
I’ve written about the benefits of cold for weight control numerous times. Check out my articles How to Burn More Fat With Cold and How to Use Cold Weather to Lose Weight for tons of great tips.
I personally start and end every day with a cold shower. This practice can burn up to 500 extra calories per day! It can also stabilize your blood sugar levels and increase your hormone levels, notably adinopectin, which helps your body tap into its own fatty acids as fuel.
For even more benefits, you can keep your house a little cooler this winter (which has the added advantage of saving you money on your heating bill!), you can use cooling gear such as a vest or compression gear you can put ice into, and you can do morning “shiver” walks, during which you walk on an empty stomach in the morning for 20-45 minutes in cold weather with a hat, gloves, t-shirt, and shorts.
Tip #3: The Best Workout for Fat Loss
A 2008 study at the University of California, which was published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, investigated the best workout for fat loss. They split the study participants into 3 groups. One group did just cardio, another group did just weight training, and a final group did cardio plus resistance (in which they ran for 30-60 seconds after completing each weight lifting set).
Even though each group did the same amount of work, the cardio plus resistance group experienced an enormously significant fat loss compared to the other two groups!
The cardio plus resistance group not only burned fat and built muscle at the same time, but the amount of fat they burned was a ten-fold increase over the amount burned by the groups that did cardio or resistance training only.
So when it comes to which workout burns the most fat, combining cardio and resistance training is the ultimate solution.
Here’s a sample workout you can do anywhere, anytime:
- 10 push-ups or knee push-ups
- 15-20 jumping jacks
- 10 squats or lunges
- 15-20 more jumping jacks
- 10 crunches
- 15-20 jumping jacks
- 10 dumbbell overhead presses
- 15-20 jumping jacks
If you get tired of jumping jacks for the cardio component, try squat-thrust jumps, vertical jumps, lunge jumps, or horizontal jumps.
Tip #4: Grease the Groove
Greasing the groove is one of my favorite strategies from my episode Unconventional Ways to Burn Fat. It’s the practice of doing brief bouts of exercise multiple times throughout the day. This is a perfect strategy to implement on and even during Thanksgiving dinner.
Here’s how this would work: During commercial breaks of the Thanksgiving Day football game, during every meal course, and whenever you have a chance to break away from conversation, politely excuse yourself, duck into the bathroom or any other empty room, and do a quick series of heart-pumping push-ups, squats, jump squats, burpees, jumping jacks, or any other body weight move you can discreetly pull off.
All that’s necessary is brief 1-2 minute burst of exercise before you return to the holiday cheer, perhaps slightly red-faced, huffing and puffing, but having helped stabilize your blood sugar and bumped up your metabolism just enough to make a big difference.
Use the 6-minute trick, cold exposure, the best workout for fat loss, and greasing the groove this holiday season, and you’ll be well on your way to burning Thanksgiving calories fast.
For even more tips, check out my episode on How to Avoid Holiday Weight Gain. If you have more questions about the fastest ways to burn Thanksgiving calories, then join the conversation over at Facebook.com/GetFitGuy!
Turkey on a treadmill and winter running images courtesy of Shutterstock.
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About the Author
Ben Greenfield received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from University of Idaho in sports science and exercise physiology; personal training and strength and conditioning certifications from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA); a sports nutrition certification from the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN), an advanced bicycle fitting certification from Serotta. He has over 11 years’ experience in coaching professional, collegiate, and recreational athletes from all sports, and as helped hundreds of clients achieve weight loss and fitness success.
