3 Tips to Slim Down Your Super Bowl Party
The Super Bowl is the 2nd largest eating day in the United States after Thanksgiving. Beer, chicken wings, chips, pizza, and, you know, more beer, can really pack on a lot of extra calories, some estimates saying as much as 2,400 calories. Yikes!
3 Ways to Slim Down Your Super Bowl Party
#1: Cook your own food.
When wings, pizza and chili are ordered from a local restaurant, you really have no control over how much sugar, salt and fat they cook it with. If you’re coming to the party, why not cook your own dish and bring it? For wings try a hot wings buffalo sauce that’s sugar free. When I’m training for a bodybuilding competition, my go-to is Frank’s Original Red Hot Sauce, which has 0 calories and 0 carbs. That’s my kind of seasoning!
Chili can be made healthier if you trade the beef for ground turkey or skip the meat altogether and make it vegetarian. There are lots of healthier pizza recipes online, but if you’re going to have a slice of pizza from the pizzeria, make it plain. All those toppings of extra cheese, sausage, and whatever else you can think of can double the calorie count. General reminder here: portions are key. If you typically eat 4 ounces of meat for dinner (about the size of the palm of your hand), stick to that portion and don’t mindlessly eat double that because it’s in front of you.
#2: Find a healthier crunch.
I’m a potato chip and dip gal personally because I like crunchy salty snack foods. Some healthier options include Skinny Pop 100 calorie bag and Quest chips. If you really want to be healthy, try baby carrots and garlic hummus or celery sticks with almond butter. The veggies provide the crunch and the healthy fats will keep you full longer.
#3: Drinking Games.
For those of you who feel like football is just not the same without beer, here’s a game for you to play. Take one beer and drink it throughout the night and see if anyone even notices. The perks to this game are that no one will pressure you by saying, “Hey, why aren’t you drinking?” allowing you to feel social without causing damage to your waistline, and you can totally feel confident being the designated driver.
From a diet standpoint the best alcohol to drink is no alcohol at all, especially salt or sugar-rimmed cocktails mixed with soda at 140 calories per serving. Clear alcohol, like vodka, has fewer calories than something like an ale, which is why I recommend it to my clients who like doing shots.
BONUS! Here’s a fun Super Bowl workout:
| Your team scores a touchdown | Victory dance of your choice for 30 seconds |
| Your opponent’s team scores a touchdown | 5 push ups |
| Penalty flag (either team) | 10 burpees |
| Field kicker makes the goal | High knee runs for 20 seconds |
| Field kicker misses the goal | Butt kick runs for 20 seconds |
| Half-time show | Dance your heart out |
| An insurance commercial comes on | Squat until the commercial is over |
Having fun doesn’t have to be a high calorie endeavor. Score a touchdown with these few simple switches and you can avoid sacking your clean eating efforts.
Lisa 🙂
Lisa Traugott is a personal trainer, Mom’s Choice Award winning writer, original cast member of FOX/John Cena’s “American Grit” and has a monthly fitness column on Bowflex.com.
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