Valentine's day is one of my favorite holidays.  I love the time with my husband focusing on the romantic part of our relationship.  It is a holiday filled with happiness, love and tons of fun, but it can also be filled with fattening foods, chocolates and alcohol.  Not that you can't enjoy some of those things, but you need a strategy for making the most of this holiday without thwarting your fitness goals.  Following are some tips you might find useful.

1.  Send flowers.  Let your loved one know that you would really like flowers, pretty panties, stuffed animals, massage oil or a gift certificate to your favorite spa for Valentines day instead of the traditional chocolates.

2.  Help plan the activities.  Try to have some input on what activities you and your loved one do.  Instead of a heavy dinner, opt for some fun at  an arcade, laser tag center, roller skating rink, etc.  Who knows, the extra endorphins from the physical activity could lead into something better later.

3.  Take a lunch date.  If it is just to much of a tradition for you to break to not go out to eat, try a lunch date instead.  At least then all that food won't be sitting in your stomach turning into fat overnight.

4.  Plan an extra workout.  So, maybe you are just not going to give up your heart box of chocolates and champagne or your cheesecake after a steak dinner.  All is not lost.  Make sure to get a good workout in that day and the day after.  If at all possible add a second one on Valentines day.  The extra revving of your metabolic engine will do a lot to help your body take care of the extra calories and fat.

5.  Limit it to one day.  Enjoy your chocolate, but don't be afraid to dispose of any leftovers before you go to bed.  It would be best if you didn't dispose of them by eating them.  Too often, the treats last the rest of the week.  If you don't have kids or some other poor unfortunate soul on whom to unload the treats, it is not a bad idea to toss them in the trash or down the disposal.  Think of it this way. . . Burn it off or toss it out.  The average valentine candy is about 80 calories a piece.  In a box of just 12 candies, that is 960 calories.  For the average person, that is about 1.5 hours running on a treadmill at a pretty brisk pace!  Yikes!