The clocks have gone back, Halloween has come and gone, shops are getting dressed for the holidays… and so goes our diet! Farewell big colourful salads, crudites and other sunny mixed fruit platters. Hello comfort food with your hearty soups, gratins, rich stews and roast potatoes… all you yummy warming dishes that will also pack a few pounds on our figures and will require each year ever more efforts to shed come spring time and flirty dresses!

How about finally putting an end to this fiendish vicious circle?

Losing weight before winter relies first and foremost on establishing a few healthy habits that will stay with you throughout the cold season. Habits you will celebrate as the sunny days return and you are ready to shed the layers.

Here are our TOP 5 tips to keep losing weight before winter:

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1. Do not stop exercising

Shorter days, earlier nightfall, frosty temperatures, bad weather… Excuses are easier to find at this time of the year. As a result, we ingest more calories than we burn and the first pounds soon settle in.

The solution? Keep up your usual activity levels and, if need be, create a schedule to help prevent procrastination and putting off exercising. Too many constraints? Plan. Opt for more indoor activities (swimming, aquabike, DVD, classes, yoga etc… ). Reconsider when in the day you exercise. You can return to your favorite outdoor sports when the weather allows.

2. Allow yourself one indulgence meal per week

This might be the season of dinner parties, Sunday roasts and office dos, but with overindulging in all those occasions comes a risk of packing on the pounds real fast in November already. The trap? Telling oneself that with the holidays coming up in a month time, you might as well relax and enjoy, January (just like every year) will be the time for good resolutions.

The solution? Plan one pleasure meal a week: a roast with all the trimmings, a lovely big pie, a hearty casserole,… Whatever the dish, always have some steamed vegetables or crudites to serve alongside in place of bread or potatoes. Counterbalance with some “light” days, with “all fruit” breakfasts and enough exercise to sweat off the excesses of the table.

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3. Les fruits et légumes l’hiver…

Flu, tonsillitis, coughs and sniffles and other bugs… This is the time of the year our immune system is under most strain! And for good cause: all those slow cooked comfort foods don’t provide enough vitamins and antioxidants to support it. As a result, we end up fighting one winter illness after another and are left with too little energy to get moving let alone lose weight.

The solution? Load up on seasonal fruit and vegetables! Gorge on delicious citrus fruit, have “all fruit” breakfasts and exotic fruit salads for pudding (technically not in season, I know, but as there are fewer choices in winter that’s when to go for fruit from further afield), serve colourful root vegetable salads and steamed or lightly stir fried cruciferous veggies… The choice might not seem as broad as in the summer but there is plenty out there you might not have explored. Don’t hesitate to try something new!

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4. Start with a soup

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Every winter the same thing happens: we arrive home famished and desperate for something hearty and warming to make up for the cold bite of frosty weather!

The solution? Begin every meal with a homemade seasonal vegetable soup. Brimming with  vitamins, minerals and fibre, they will fill you up before you tackle the rest of your meal. As soup is best prepared in large quantities and keeps well in the freezer, it is easy to have a stash ready for use within minutes.

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5. Spur on the motivation! 

Energy slump, lack of light and vitamin D… Our biorhythms slow down dragging our morale with it! How can we keep up the motivation when rain, dull skies and reduced hours of daylight shape our days?  Staying active and getting outdoors, even for a short while, preferably at the brightest time of the day is by far the easiest solution to break the pattern of sluggishness. Did you know that no indoor lighting can compete with the sun for our energy levels? Even dull winter sun filtered through a thick layer of cloud is significantly more powerful than artificial lighting!!

A bit of a catch 22 you would might say…

The solution? Make yourself accountable, find a buddy. Nothing beats mutual support to remain motivated! Whether it is among friends to continue go walking with or to go to a class with, on a social networking platform like on our Facebook group or by opting for personalized coaching like the LeBootCamp program, there is a solution for everyone to boost one’s motivation!

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