Plan for a Healthy Winter

Fall itself is a wonderful season, but there is a sense of dread for many of us.  Big, bad winter is on the way.  Winter, the time of weight gain and laziness, is when too many of us put on weight that we vow to take off in spring.  However, most Americans do not take off all of the winter weight come spring.  That contributes to the yearly creep of the scales that plagues so many of us.  Now is the time to plan for winter and create a system to help stave off those winter pounds.  If you can answer yes to the following questions, you are probably in good shape.  If not, it may be time for a little planning.

Do you have a gym membership or method of exercise that you can comfortably do indoors?  

It is so easy to exercise when the weather is nice.  All you have to do is put on tennis shoes and step outside.  Some people still do that in the winter, but most of us like to stay inside when there is snow on the ground.  There are many good ways to exercise in cold weather, even without a gym membership.  Exercise videos or downloadable workouts from Netflix provide a very inexpensive way to stay fit.  It doesn't matter what you choose, as long as you pick something!

Are you able to use restraint when it comes to "comfort foods" and holiday treats? 

Cold weather foods are typically more fattening than warm weather ones.  However, there are some great cold weather foods that are good for you too.  Vegetable soup, or most soups, are a good healthy meal for the winter.  Chili is good, too, especially if you use low fat beef or even all or half turkey meat.  Make sure to drain or even use a hot water rinse on the beef to take most of the fat out.  Chili is so flavorful that you will never miss the fat.  Try to limit your sweet intake.  Choose one desert that you really want to eat rather than sampling them all.  Stay away from the desert area.  If you keep looking at it, you will eventually grab something.  

Have you maintained your current weight for the past 3 years or lost and kept it off?

If your weight stays steady and you are over 30, chances are you know how to handle yourself.  If your weight is going up steadily, even a pound or two, each year, you need to start examining the "little things."  Diets can help you get weight off, but only lifestyle changes and management will keep weight off.  Sadly, as the years go by, this gets more difficult.  Most of us remember the "good old days" when we could eat a whole pizza and never gain an ounce, but eventually our metabolisms stop allowing that kind of behavior.  We can deny it and whine about it, but the scale doesn't lie.  

Do you have winter pastimes that involve physical activity?

Summer is the time of picnics and cornhole and sports leagues.  Winter is the time of watching TV.  There are still great ways to have fun in the winter that involve physical activity.  Go play at an arcade.  Go ice skating.  Join a bowling league or indoor sport.  Take up mall walking.  It doesn't matter what the activity, just choose some things that require movement other than fingers on the remote and beer to the lips!  

Don't hibernate!  Don't make "spring promises" to yourself!  They are as useless as most New Year resolutions.  Make a plan.  A realistic plan.  Winter may not be your favorite season (it sure isn't mine), but it doesn't have to be a time of weight gain and lethargy.  Make a plan and have a great winter!