Winter Weight: Keeping The Pounds Off This Festive Period

What are your goals for the festive period? To celebrate with your family? To potentially see people you haven’t seen in years in a beautiful reunion? To celebrate your religious celebration with your family? To simply enjoy your time in the winter and get through the winter months without being too cold? All of these are wonderful pursuits, and we wish you the best of luck if you’re trying to achieve them.

However, while winter serves as a period of comfort (at least when inside in your free time!), it can also be a time of great indulgence. The moment the weather starts dropping in temperature, people become tempted to satisfy everyone one of their cravings as a method of feeling cozy and comfortable, and that can lead to some hefty winter weight being put on. Another contributive factor to this is that large layers are often worn at most times of the day, meaning that you have no social reason to worry about your physique because most of the time it’s not really on show. What good are abs when you can’t flaunt them?

However, aesthetic looks shouldn’t be the only motivator you have to lose weight or to prevent putting it on. If you’re simply hoping to feel your best during winter and make it to the next spring with your physicality intact, you might look towards treating yourself elsewhere. Here are some tips to help you keep off the pounds this festive period.

Opt For Other Sensual Experiences

No one can deny that after a long day of work, coming home and resting on the sofa with a large cup of hot chocolate, a donut (or a box thereof,) and a great Netflix show can feel like heaven on earth. However, if you’re looking to live more healthily, and try not to get in the habit of comfort binge eating (which is so easy to do,) you might consider alternative ways of stimulating your sensual experience. Instead of purchasing that package of donuts, why not opt for an equally expensive scented candle?

When you’re relaxing in your living room, you are often focusing on the show you’re watching more than the food you’re eating, and that can mean that the thousands of calories you can consume in a single sitting aren’t really contributing anything worthwhile other than scratching an itch. A candle can help raise the ambiance of your room and help it seem comfortable, perfect for unwinding after a long day. It also won’t come with the lengthy amount of guilt indulging in high sugar foods usually will.

Instead of sipping down a few beers after work, why not consider going to a community event, or beginning a new hobby? If you need to unwind, a long relaxing bath with your favorite music can be immensely more stress-busting than introducing a depressant into your system on a regular basis. There are always more healthy alternatives, even in winter. Opting for them can help you simply feel better during the entire season. If you’re looking to have a comfortable and relaxing winter period, feeling good during it shouldn’t evade your ability.

Fall In Love With Cooking Correctly

Not all diets are horrible. Some can actually help you reclaim your relationship with food to a degree which enables positive eating and cooking habits you can keep with you for the rest of your life. It’s almost impossible to avoid seeing how beneficial this can be when you try the correct diets for yourself. For example, checking out intermittent fasting or researching the benefits of The Wild Diet can give you a solid methodology of feeding your system with foodstuffs which are amazingly tasty, but help fulfill the function of food, which is to fill you up and to help you feel good.

This respectful approach to the food you enjoy will transition over to all of your self-care habits, but this is where it’s obviously the most pronounced. Winter recipes are some of the most gorgeous you could hope to enjoy. For example, winter stews with proper root vegetables can seriously fill that indulgent craving, without loading your system with sugars and processed ingredients that your body would much rather do without.

Hydrate

Many people confuse being dehydrated for being hungry. As a healthy adult, you should strive to drink between 2 – 3.5L of water a day. If you’re drinking coffee, which can act as a diuretic, replenishing your intake of water (wisely) can give you the boost in mood and energy levels you need to avoid indulging in an unnecessary meal. Try to avoid sugary drinks, or an over-consumption of coffee during your day. Instead of drinking multiple cups of coffee a day, why not switch to chai or green tea? These can help you feel wonderful during the course of your day, and limit the effects of caffeine jitters and the milk or sugar you may usually place in the mug on top.

Activity Trackers

In winter, it’s so much easier to exercise less in an effort to get out of the cold of the morning and evening. For this reason, laying on the couch, sitting in your car, and resting on your work office chair might be the default state your spend your life in over the course of months. It’s important to overcome these issues as soon as you can, because the longer you spend in these states, the harder they are to get out of them. Consider purchasing an activity tracker, either in your phone or through a smartwatch/Fitbit. These provide you with up to the minute heart rate monitors, step trackers as well as a platform to log your workouts in. When these statistics are staring you right in the face, they are much less likely to ignore in an effort to stay as comfortable as possible. When you have your heart rate as an objective figure in front of your face, you are much more likely to live more healthily.

With these tips, you’re sure to experience as much happier and healthier winter season.

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