Dreading the Winter Weight Gain? Try These Tips

Maintaining and losing weight is never easy, but can be even harder during the winter when motivation is low, the days seem shorter, temperatures are cold and schedules are busy. Implement these strategies today to help fight the winter weight gain. 

Track your calories.
Over-indulging is easy with all the holidays, parties and other celebrations (and leftovers!). Record your food intake manually or download a free app (like My Fitness Pal) to ensure your calorie consumption stays within a healthy range. Of course, you may eat more on some days, but tracking your intake prevents you from overeating regularly. The average woman needs to eat about 2,000 calories per day to maintain her weight, while the average man needs 2,500. To lose one pound per week, lower those totals by 500.

Track your steps.
The surgeon general recommends the 10,000 steps a day program to maintain a healthy weight and to build bone and muscle mass, which contributes to overall leg health. Use an activity tracker app or device such as Fitbit, Jawbone or Garmin (to name a few) to track your daily steps. If you don’t own an activity tracker, most smart phones have apps that can track your activity. Walking 10,000 steps is about five miles or more for the average person, which might seem like a lot at first, but can be easily achieved by taking short walks around the office every hour, parking farther away from a destination and spending time on the treadmill or elliptical every day. 

Make smart substitutions.
Many foods we eat aren’t as healthy as we think. Substitute foods with higher nutritional value and less calorie intake, including:

• Wheat bread/rice for white bread/rice
• Greek yogurt for sour cream or cream cheese
• Olive oil and vinegar for high-fat salad dressings
• Ground turkey for ground beef
• Spaghetti squash for pasta
• Corn tortillas for flour tortillas

Find more healthy food substitutions here.

Drink water.
Drinking water promotes weight loss because it fills you up — making you get full faster, which in turn reduces hunger and raises your metabolism. Water has zero calories and many other health benefits, such as helping with your complexion, increasing energy, boosting your immune system and more. 

Meal prep.
With less day time and what feels like shorter nights, cooking full meals often times seems like a daunting task after an already-long day. Prep weekly meals on Sunday to limit eating out (which often leads to excessive calorie intake) and to save time. Meal prepping can promote weight loss and saves you time — a win/win!