Rooting for your favorite football team to win the superbowl? The good news is standing up, cheering, even booing burns calories. The bad news? You’re probably ingesting a full day’s (maybe more) worth of calories and fat with most football snacks and beer.  

Here are a couple of tips to help you enjoy football season without gaining an extra spare tire (or two) summed up in two words: moderation & movement.

Movement

Let’s be real, we know you aren’t going to get up at halftime and start doing jumping jacks or squats in front of your buddies. 

Love football? Start playing it yourself. Why not start a team with your football fan friends and play a game every weekend before watching the big game? You’ll improve your cardiovascular endurance, agility and coordination and burn around 600 calories per hour long game.

Commercials playing? Get up and ask if anybody needs a refill. Walk around, pretend to be scoping out the snacks or go grab your buddy another beer. The more you move, the more you’ll keep your metabolism stoked during the game.

During the rest of the week, commit to a workout schedule. Doing squats only on Sundays isn’t enough to keep you in shape. Train like the football pro’s do – hit the gym. Hit the weights 2-3 days a week and aim to do 60 minutes of your favorite cardio activity (yes, playing football counts – even on the Wii!) at least 5 days a week. Regular weekly workouts will help you wear your team’s jersey with pride every weekend.

Moderation

Sure, no one wants to be thinking about how many fat grams or calories are in those football snacks…you just want to enjoy yourself, right? Consider this: a day of “football” eating is equivalent to running about 20 miles. It takes a whole lot longer to burn off all those calories than it does to eat them during the game. No one is suggesting you start eating celery sticks, but you can exhibit some self-control.

Stick with single handfuls of snack foods, eat half a sandwich, have one slice of pizza, etc. You can still enjoy food, just not as much of it. And the beer? Alcohol can pack on the pounds, and fast.

Switching to lite beer can save you up to 100 calories a bottle, but if you can’t handle the taste, then at least alternate every beer with a glass of water. You are more likely to fill up faster, and probably will be unable to drink as much (translation: save a lot of calories).

And sure, whipping up “lighter” versions of your favorite snacks can be helpful, but not always necessary if you stick with the moderation motto. Plus, it can sometimes lead to overeating – we tend to eat more of foods that we see as “healthy.” Studies show that people tend to eat less full fat potato chips than reduced fat ones (though most contain almost the same amount of calories, which is what leads to weight gain).

Stay slim during Superbowl season with these simple tips, and may your favorite team win!