How to Avoid "Winter Weight"

Winter Weight

If you have the tendency to put on a few extra pounds in the winter months, you are not alone. Many people find that their weight fluctuates with the seasons. The cold weather offers lots of excuses to skip workouts, which can result in a sluggish metabolism. The lack of fresh fruit and vegetables may leave you snacking on leftover holiday cookies instead. And less daylight may be affecting your mood, furthering your inclination to hibernate. The key to keeping the pounds off in the in the winter is realizing what causes you to put them on so you can change your behavior, and avoid the winter weight.

Why Do We Gain More Weight in the Winter?

We can blame it on our ancestors from the Stone Age, they welcomed extra body fat in the winter to keep warm, and now those same genes cause our bodies to work against us in the winter months when we are trying to lose weight. "It's your survival instinct kicking in", says Lawrence Cheskin, MD, founder of the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center in Baltimore. But there are other factors working against us as well. Take fashion for instance, big heavy sweaters and long pants of winter often make us a lot less conscience of our bodies than the little bikinis of summer do. Many people make a big effort to lose weight for the summer but resign themselves to regaining it during the winter. The weather is also a big factor, not only do cold, icy mornings cause us to miss gym appointments, but we are more apt to drive somewhere than walk there in the cold, and more apt to sit on the couch and watch television than do something outside. The common foods of winter do not help either; most of us eat big hearty meals rather than the lights foods of summer, and when fresh fruits and vegetables aren't available we reach for the leftover snacks of the holidays.

What We Can Do To Avoid It

There are three key elements to avoiding winter weight. The involve giving your mental state a boost, staying physically active during the winter, and picking out the right food to control your appetite and avoid calorie loading.

(1) Get your Mind Energized