Thanksgiving Exercise Tips

Thanksgiving marks the official start of the holiday season. From then until the beginning of January, you're likely to attend lots of parties or get-togethers, many of which are focused on food. With the busy season, you may find that there's no time for exercising. You can fight that trend by changing your routine on Thanksgiving and then keeping it up throughout the holiday season. Finding time for exercise, even on a busy day such as Thanksgiving, should not be that difficult.

Before Dinner

Start the day with a walk. Unless you're the one doing the cooking, you can use the morning to take a walk, either alone or with the family. If you only have a short period of time available, increase the intensity of the workout. Power walk or jog instead of going for just a leisurely walk. Or grab some weights to take along for the walk to increase the resistance.

After Dinner

If exercising before Thanksgiving dinner seems too difficult, then head for a walk right after. It will help with digestion and burn some of the calories you just ate. If you're in the city, go out to explore and to see Christmas lights. While many businesses don't start decorating until after Thanksgiving day, many will set up some lights or decorate their windows in advance, to prepare for the major sale on Black Friday.

Plan a Family Activity

Rather than planning the whole day around dinner, plan it around a family activity. Meet mid-morning for a game of football or plan a bike ride for later in the afternoon, after dinner. This could be an excellent opportunity to connect with members of the family or friends you haven't seen for a while who are there for Thanksgiving dinner. If there are kids in the house, this is also a good time to head to the backyard or a local park to play some ball.