Today, we’re taking a hard look at winter weight gain.  It’s a common problem—people tend to pack on a few pounds during the winter months.

But we want to fight back, and we hope you will join us.  Let’s get after this now, while winter is still in full force.  We’ll have less to deal with when the warm breezes start blowing!

The good, the bad…and the solution 
 Although winter weight gain varies from person to person, research shows the average gain to be five to seven pounds!  Some people gain this extra weight because they have Seasonal Affective Disorder—a type of winter depression.  But most of us can’t blame winter depression for our tendency to pick up extra weight during the winter months.

So, why does winter weight gain happen?  According to Lawrence J. Cheskin, MD, founder and director of the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center, it happens because we eat more and move less during the winter months1.

This is bad news and good news.  It is bad news because it would be kind of nice if we could blame our cold-weather corpulence on something exotic like the jet stream cycle and waddle off for another espresso.

But it is good news because we can do something about it.  We don’t have to greet spring with softer middles and tighter clothes.  So let’s celebrate by tackling winter weight gain with our weapon of choice here at VETFIT:  Discipline.

Hour of decision According to Merriam-Webster, discipline is a “rule or system of rules governing conduct or activity2.”  This is perfect.  Just like in the military, in order to fight winter weight gain, we have to discipline ourselves to follow some rules. 

Here we go…

1.  Banned language: For the next several weeks, do not allow yourself to say, “Just this once.”  If you pay close attention, a ‘just this once’ situation comes up practically every day.  You go to a retirement party.  You take spouse out for a birthday dinner.  Someone brings a meal by your house because you’ve been sick.  Your co-worker brings in the leftover pizza from last night’s party.  Your child has leftover Valentine’s Day candy.  You have to say no every single time.  Otherwise, you will never get ahead.

Just grit your teeth, resist what others are having and make good food choices.  I’m not saying it is easy.  I am saying it is necessary.

2.  Plan your occasional splurge, and do not deviate from the plan. Unending deprivation is never a good idea, but you have to be intentional about the time, place and food that you let yourself splurge on. 

Love the hot wings at your favorite restaurant?  Then let’s make a deal!  Eat clean for ten days.  No cheating.  And then at the end of those ten days, go have the wings.  Guilt free.  Just enjoy them.  Then set the next goal.  But you are not allowed to deviate from your plan in the meantime.

If you do, you lose the wings. 

Don’t waste your fun calories on something that doesn’t compare to those wings!

3.  Keep moving.  Exercise is not an optional activity.  Now more than ever you have to get your body in motion.  Exercise is very effective at preventing weight gain—and that is what VETFIT is after right now.  Don’t even worry so much about losing pounds; just work to keep the winter scale-creep from happening to you. Try to get some cardio in at least 4-6 days a week.

Remember:  spring is coming.  Let’s be ready for it, and leave winter weight gain behind.

Sources

1http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/5-tips-to-avoid-winter-weight-gain

2http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discipline

From weekend warriors to Ironman finishers, performance is directly tied to diet.  If you want to train at the peak of your ability and recover quickly, you must be intentional about what you eat, taking care to feed your body what it needs.  Trying to work out with a body that is starving for essential nutrients will end only in frustration; and frustration eats your momentum and resolve with a voracious appetite.

Make the most of every minute you work out by fueling your body sensibly.  Eat whole foods and leave all that processed junk alone. Now let’s look at the basics.

Nutrition 101:  the foundation
The big three nutrients that you need to be concerned with are carbohydrates, protein and fat.  An eating strategy that balances these three macro-nutrients will skyrocket your fitness results.

• ·       Carbohydrates:  (4 calories per gram) Some have argued that carbohydrates are the most important nutrient that an athlete consumes, because carbs fuel muscle.  Every time you move one of your muscles, you are using carbohydrates.  Your body breaks down carbs into sugars and then stores them in your muscles and livers.  If you eat more than can be stored in either of these two places, the excess is stored as fat in your body. 

Good sources of carbohydrates include vegetables (Highest Nutrient Value), fruits (Next Highest), beans, and some whole grains.

• ·       Protein: (4 calories per gram) In order to build muscle, you must have protein.  Muscle is the foundation of every athlete:  without a solid muscle base, you will be ineffective any fitness pursuit.  Muscle also plays an important role in protecting you from diabetes.  The more muscle you have, the more efficiently your body can uptake glucose from your bloodstream.   

It is important to eat protein daily, because your body cannot store protein very easily.  Protein from animal sources is the easiest way to get complete protein, but plant-based proteins can be combined to provide complete protein as well. Keep in mind that if you are getting the majority of protein from plants you will likely never be nutrient deficient.

• ·       Fat:  (9 calories per gram) It is unfortunate that fat came under such fire during the last decade or so.  Fat is essential and you need a lot of it.  The key is to know what kind of fat to eat.  Avoid anything that is hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated.  These fats are also called trans-fats and are very unhealthy.  Instead try to get the majority of your fat from olive oil, coconut oil, nuts, seeds, avocado, wild-caught fish and free-range animal products such as butter, cheese, yogurt, beef and poultry.
  

Note: Be careful when eating fat if your goal is weight loss. It is 9 calories per gram and it can be easy to eat too much.

Finding the balance
If you are like many people, you are often confused about how to balance out the different kinds of foods you eat.  It seems as though there is a new diet promotion every day, promising all sorts of miracles.

The key, however, to fueling your body for peak performance is balance and moderation.  In The New Rules of Lifting for Women, Cassandra Forsythe insists that eating a ratio of 40/30/30 (carbohydrate/protein/fat) will bring the best results.  Start here and then adjust the ratios to see what best suits your body.

Remember:  you must give your body what it needs to perform.  If you don’t, you will end up tired, weak, and prone to frustration because you won’t have the energy or strength to work out.  The better you fuel your body, the better it will serve you in your pursuit of fitness and health.