Blog

Top 5 Tips for Keeping Your Weight Steady This Winter

With rich holiday meals and cold weather that discourages exercise, it can be challenging to maintain your desired weight during the winter months. By paying a little more attention to your habits in the winter months, you can avoid gaining that holiday weight.

Here are five tips to help you stay healthy and balance your weight during winter.

1.      Get Regular Exercise

Regular exercise is one of the best things you can do to improve your overall health, maintain your current weight, or gradually lose weight. Exercise has many health benefits, including keeping your body strong and healthy through the winter so that you have all the energy you need for activities in the warmer months. You can explore different activities and find what works best for you so that exercising is fun and helpful.

  • Exercise indoors: Even when stuck inside, you can do a wide variety of exercises to help keep your weight where it is. You can lift weights, use a stationary bike or treadmill, or do yoga.
  • Have fun: Exercise can--and should--be fun. Figure out what you like best and do more of that.
  • Consistency is key: Try to establish a routine that you can maintain. Even just 30 minutes of exercise a day helps keep weight in check.

2.      Eat More Vegetables

Incorporating more veggies into your diet is a great way to keep your weight where it is. Even if you don't reach for a leafy green salad, you can mix vegetables into dishes like smoothies or casseroles. Pasta and soups are also good options to add more veggies to your diet while still satisfying the winter urge for comfort food.

You can also replace some processed or starchy carbs with veggies, such as substituting spaghetti squash for pasta or using cauliflower rice instead of regular rice. These simple swaps allow you to eat the dishes you already love, just reimagined in healthier ways that will keep your weight steady.

Finding healthy alternatives is a simple way to stay healthy while still enjoying your favorite foods.

3.      Stay Hydrated

Drinking enough water is crucial to maintaining a healthy weight. Water is the perfect choice to cool down after exercising, and it's critical to replace what your body loses from sweating. Experts recommend drinking 64 ounces of water a day (that's about eight glasses).

Switch to water instead of high-sugar drinks like soda or heavily caffeinated beverages like coffee can keep your energy levels consistent and have you feeling your best all winter.

4.      Mix in Low-fat Protein Options

Holiday meals don't have to include ham, steak, or other heavy protein when other options are better for your weight. When picking proteins, focus on low-fat options, such as:

  • Seafood
  • Poultry
  • Beans
  • Eggs
  • Nuts
  • Seeds

These will provide all the nutrients you need without the extra fat that often comes with red meat.

5.      Find Support for Your Goals

Once you've committed to keeping an eye on your weight, remember that you don't have to do it alone. Find others who can help keep you on track. A nutritionist or registered dietitian can help you plan healthy meals, while a personal trainer or fitness coach can work with you to put together a personalized exercise regimen.

Even just having a friend commit to a healthier lifestyle this winter with you can help you stay motivated and on track.

Keeping your weight steady in winter may seem challenging, but these tips will help you do that with ease. Minor changes to your diet or exercise regimen can make significant differences. Take these and other steps, and come spring, you'll have kept your weight where you want it to be and be ready to be out and about feeling healthy.

About the Author

Pablo Espinal is a father, online marketer and web designer based out of the Brooklyn NY area. You can see more of what he does here: https://saaiconsulting.com/homepage/