HAVE you been skipping the gym lately? No biggie — as long as you stay active in other ways. “A lot of people skip workouts completely when the holidays get busy and promise they’ll exercise in January,” says Mike Donavanik, a personal trainer in Los Angeles. “But it’s that much harder to motivate when you’ve skipped the gym for two-plus weeks.” While you don’t have to maintain your usual exercise routine, keeping your body in motion will help you balance out the indulgences and start the year strong. Here are some tips.

    1. Start a day with exercise

    Before breakfast, get moving. Working out first thing in the morning can help you lose 20 percent more fat than exercising after breakfast, according to a 2013 study in the British Journal of Nutrition. For a quick sweat session, try the fat-burning HIIT workout that includes challenging moves like squat jumps and lunges. Done in the comfort of your living room, it takes just 10 minutes to complete.

    2. Move on up

    Take a 10-minute break from your busy day of online shopping to walk up and down the stairs in your apartment — you’ll say goodbye to about 100 calories. You’ll also feel less tense and cramped up. Want to maximize your calorie burning potential? Run up and down those stairs instead.

    3. Keep it short

    Usually work out for 30 minutes? Exercise for a third of that — but go hard! “An intense 10 minutes jump-starts your metabolic furnace and equals about 20 or 30 minutes at a moderate intensity,” says Jordan Metzl, author of “Dr. Jordan Metzl’s Workout Prescription.” According to a 2013 study from Colorado State University, exercising for just 2.5 minutes at a high intensity can help you burn 200 more calories over the rest of the day.

    4. Take a long winter’s nap

    Research from the University of Chicago found that dieters lost 55 percent less fat when they slept for 5.5 hours than when they slept for 8.5 hours. To settle into slumber more easily, avoid lit screens, food and booze for two hours before bed, and fill your plate with foods that help you fall asleep earlier in the night (think cherries, jasmine rice, and bananas).

    5. Take a walk

    Stroll around the block for 15 minutes and you’ll torch nearly three times as many calories as you would by sitting for the same amount of time, says a new study in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health. Plus, walking after a big holiday meal will help aid digestion.

    6. Pick up the pace

    Speed is key — move, walk, or run a little faster and you’ll burn more total calories. Changing up your walking pace quickly and frequently can help you melt up to 20 percent more calories, compared with maintaining a constant speed, according to a 2015 study from The Ohio State University. Try speeding up for 30 seconds, then walking at a comfortable pace for three minutes.

    7. Just dance

    Yes, you can dance your way slim! Grooving hard while celebrating with pals can blast even more calories than running, swimming, or cycling, according to research from the University of Brighton in England. Dancing for an hour can burn anywhere from 200 to 600 calories, while

    also

    helping to build strength, increase flexibility, and even slow the aging process.

    8. Try on Tabata

    For this lightning-fast Tabata workout, pick four total-body moves (plank jacks, jump squats, etc.). Do one for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds, then do it again. Continue to the next move and repeat. The routine is just four minutes long — and you’ll torch 13.5 calories a minute and double your calorie burn for half an hour afterward, per research from Auburn University in Alabama.

    9. Shake a leg

    Enjoying a holiday movie binge? During commercials, stand up, pace and fidget. Mayo Clinic research shows that doing this can crush an extra 350 calories over the course of a day. This can also help counteract the negative effects of sitting down for long periods of time.

    10. Laugh often

    This season is all about joy. Find yours and share some laughs with your family and friends. Doing so for 10 to 15 minutes can burn as many as 40 calories. Imagine an entire day filled with giggles — the good times and calorie blasting will surely add up.(SD-Agencies)