How to Avoid Winter Weight Gain This Season
Cold temperatures, unpredictable weather, food-centric holidays, and shorter daylight hours all come together to make it difficult for many to maintain their usual healthy routines during this season. It’s hard to fight the urge to hibernate when so many things beckon us back into the warmth of the couch or our bed.
Winter doesn’t have to be a lost cause, however. Today, we’re discussing how to avoid winter weight gain and stay the course as we make our way back to the welcoming warm days of spring and summer. Read on, and learn how you can keep yourself on track this season with a few simple adjustments.
Ways to Avoid Winter Weight Gain
As you learn how to avoid winter weight gain, it’s important to acknowledge that sometimes you may deviate from the plan. That’s okay! With so many added elements to the winter season like inclement weather and food-centric holidays, getting a little off track may happen. The important thing to avoid winter weight gain is to recognize when you’ve sidetracked and simply adjust to move forward.
A few simple adjustments can make it easier to avoid winter weight gain and stick to your usual healthy routine. They include tips such as:
- Finding ways to stay active, even indoors
- Planning meals ahead
- Managing your stress levels
- Creating a support system for accountability
- Learning how to increase happiness
- Getting enough sleep
Staying Active to Avoid Winter Weight Gain
One of the most obvious methods for how to avoid winter weight gain this season is to stay active and exercise regularly. There are exciting winter sports to help keep you active, if you’re an athlete, but what about those of us who are inclined to stay in and away from the cold weather?
Instead of letting your daily routine go by the wayside, there are plenty of full body workout exercises you can do from the comfort of home that will still keep up your progress. These don’t require you to have a ton of home gym equipment, either. In fact, there are even activities like chair yoga exercises you can combine with your zero gravity chair to get your exercise in followed by the perfect post workout recovery routine; all from your living room!
Take a few minutes each day to get in your daily exercise and you’ll be surprised how far that goes to avoid winter weight gain this year.
Planning Meals Ahead
When winter hits, it’s easy to turn to comfort foods or quick meals from the closest fast food place. While there’s nothing wrong with indulgence here and there, planning meals ahead is an effective method for how to avoid winter weight gain. Instead of making last minute unhealthy meal choices, planning ahead lets you focus on making great meals without sacrificing a healthy lifestyle.
There are loads of ways to make comfort foods healthy, too! Elevate your comfort meals by trading out processed ingredients for higher-quality ones. For example, instead of white flour, use whole-wheat flour, gluten-free flour, or almond flour, instead. You can also switch out your cooking oils to less refined choices like coconut oil, olive oil, or avocado oil. This cuts out trans fats and hydrogenated oils that are less healthy for you.
Managing Stress Levels
The winter season brings a unique set of circumstances that can elevate our stress levels. Whether it’s the holidays, end-of-year work schedules, or mental adjustments that accompany seasonal changes like shortened daylight hours, managing stress levels is crucial for how to avoid winter weight gain.
Taking a few minutes each day practicing gratitude, journaling your thoughts, listening to calming music, or learning how to meditate at home can have a profound positive impact. These stress management techniques can help you avoid winter weight gain often associated with stress eating or a lack of drive to stay active.
Another popular method for managing stress levels is to create a relaxing night time routine. Take a warm bath, turn off your electronics, read a book, or sit back and relax in your zero gravity chair to unwind from your day and let the stress melt away. A luxury zero gravity chair may also have bonus features like massage and heat therapy functions that boost your routine, enhancing their benefits for your mental and physical well-being simultaneously.
Creating a Support System for Accountability
When you’re thinking about how to avoid winter weight gain this season, consider finding an accountability buddy or joining a group to build a support system along the way. Having an accountability partner or support system makes it much easier to keep up the motivation and stay the course for healthy activities.
These supporters could be one-on-one coaches, a workout partner, a friend you check in with, or an online support group. The options are limitless, but finding which works best for you is a great way to avoid winter weight gain and keep on track this season.
Learning How to Increase Happiness
Next up on our list for how to avoid winter weight gain this season comes learning how to increase happiness. This goes deeper than managing stress levels, and instead refers to finding different ways to elevate your mood. In order to avoid winter weight gain, the ideal scenario here is to find non-food methods for increasing your happiness such as visiting a friend, surprising someone with a gift, volunteering for a local cause, playing with your pets, or other activities that bring you joy.
These activities boost serotonin levels, elevating your mood and helping us fight against the winter blues, which could result in turning to food for comfort and gaining unwanted weight.
Getting Enough Sleep
Rounding out our list for how to avoid winter weight gain this season is getting enough sleep. Experts agree there are several ways sleep affects weight loss. Sleep deprivation not only adds to stress levels and may slow your metabolism, but it also throws off leptin production in your body. Leptin is a satiation hormone. As these levels decrease due to lack of sleep, it becomes more likely you may overeat the next day.
The shorter winter days, blue light exposure from electronics, and other factors may throw off your natural sleep/wake cycle during the colder months. To combat that, consider ways to reset your routine. Turn off electronics one or two hours before you intend to go to bed, stick to a sleep schedule, and try out tools like a zero gravity chair for better sleep quality.
We hope this guide has given you several new methods to consider for how to avoid winter weight gain this season. Remember that setbacks may happen, but the important thing to do is acknowledge them and make a plan to move forward. Starting your healthy habits now will also make it easier to stick to them during the warmer months when a new set of temptations emerge (ice cream, anyone?). Give these tips a try and have a happy, healthy winter!
Interested in adding a zero gravity chair to your routine this winter? Learn about the Svago Swivel Zero Gravity Recliner and see all the ways it will contribute to your healthy lifestyle!
