WINTER WEIGHT GAIN – and how to avoid it !

13 Nov WINTER WEIGHT GAIN – and how to avoid it !

Winter weight gain : Winter is coming and like every year – many people will find themselves weight gain by the end of it .
there are few simple explanation to this ‘ Phenomenon ‘ that i want to address in this post .

Hope you will put it into practice so you will not find yourself by the end of it with extra weight around your waist .
Let’s dive in ….

Lets face it : its getting cold

In most of the countries – temperatures tend to drop pretty drastically in the winter .
Many times the weather is fluctuating pretty crazy ( like here in Hong Kong ) and that requires everyone to get prepared
with the coats and winter jackets .

It is natural that when the weather is cold we want to keep ourselves warm and cozy .
However – this is exactly what leads to weight gain and us thinking in the end of the winter ‘ How da hell my butt got so big ? ‘

Here are few reasons for why does it happen AND few strategies how to deal with that .

1. We tend to eat more !

Like we have discussed in many other posts before ( check the other blogs articles HERE ) , the body is a sophisticated machine.
It will always strive to homeostasis and equilibrium .
Hence – when it is cold : it will look for ways to heat itself so the inner temperature will stay optimal .
This is exactly what leads to over eating – it is called : TEF – Thermal Effect of Food .

Simply put – your body generate heat when the digestive system is working on breaking the food down .
So from physiological and psychological perspective eating just make sense : we eat more so we will generate more heat .

This is the reason why in the cold weather we want to always eat something (
And obviously when you always keep on eating and munching – your caloric intake increase and guess what ?
weight gain happens !

2. We tend to move less !

Obviously when the weather is cold we prefer to stay indoor – preferably with hot chocolate, coffee or tea with a bunch of cookies
cuddling under a warm and cozy freeze blanket watching a nice and pointless movie on Netflix .

This is cool and all – but this coziness makes you
1. lazy
2. Not wanting to be active
So chances are you are way less physically active , burning less calories thought the day .

This combined with eating more is the best recipe for weight gain .

3. We tend to get moody

Lack of sunshine and the gloomy weather can make us pretty moody .
This can lead to lethargic feeling , depression and general lack of energy .
Obviously when we don’t have energy or feeling down – we don’t want to do much or even think of how to take care of ourselves.

This is basically a triangle of health in the winter :
More calories in
Less calories out
Lack of energy

HOW CAN YOU OVERCOME THE CHALLENGES ?

Lets address each of the points we discussed earlier and see how we can do better :

1. Overcoming Overeating

So we know that we will have the tendency to eat more during winter as we want to stay warm.
This bring us to a very simple solution – which is often overlooked :
EAT SOUPS !
I know – it might sound stupid – but it works like magic and here is why .

First of all – soups are warm : which means just by eating them we increase the bodies temperature ( that is btw the reason why we eat soups when we are sick ) .
In turn – If we keep the body warm : we don’t want to eat as much.

Second – as soup mostly based on water : it will have less calories then solid foods : which means caloric intake drops naturally

This 2 points might help you keep your food intake in check .

2. Overcoming moving less

I know that cozy blanket is hard to beat.
But remember : we do this because we want to keep our body warm.
Exercise can do the same thing !
When you exercise – your body temperature elevates and you feel hot .
Which means that this is again a win win .
You burn more calories AND keep your body warm
When it comes to exercise you can do it outdoors ( if you dressed up ) OR you can do classes indoors – which might be way more pleasant
( Have you checked our indoor classes schedule ? ) .

So drop the blanket and start moving !

3. Overcoming Moodiness

Frankly – to overcome the gloom of winter is achieved by 2 actions :
1. Detach your feelings from the weather – means that you are the one generating the feelings and not depending on external circumstances
2. Be more active : Physical activity releases endorphins – which are the happy hormones : it is simply elevates your mood !
This is it .
Take the control over it !

This all might sound super simple and the truth is – it is simple .
you just need to be minded to what you do and save yourself from gaining weight in few month with pretty simple steps .

Good Luck !