Those facing trying to maintain a weight loss diet during the winter may be dreading the effort. Not only is the weather a discouragement from exercising but the holidays are centered around fattening, family foods that will pack on the pounds.
Losing weight during the winter isn’t impossible but you must implement new strategies to make it successful. Here are three to put into your weight loss game plan.
Keep meals fresh
People are prone to eat more pre-packaged and frozen meals during the winter. Everyone tends to get a little lazy about mealtimes because they are in hibernation mode. Yet, these meals have tons of sodium and sugar. They are not the healthiest choice for meals and cause weight gain.
Instead, prepare your meals with fresh ingredients. Stock up on greens, which are plentiful during the winter. Use seasonal vegetables to prepare soups and meals fresh at home.
Eat a low-calorie soup before a meal
A Penn State University study showed that eating a low-calorie soup before a meal can prevent overeating. Those who participated consumed 20% less calories than those who didn’t eat the soup. Be sure to go with broth-based soup instead of the cream-based variety. Cream soups add to your weight.
Hydrate
One of the problems with trying to lose weight in the winter is we don’t stay hydrated like we do in the summer. Colder temperatures fool us in a way to think we aren’t thirsty. Yet, dehydration can wreck a diet because
dehydration messes up metabolism. Many times, the hunger pains signal the body needs water and not food.
One solution is to fill up on warm herbal teas. It hydrates you and makes you feel full so you don’t eat as much when it comes to snacks and dinner. Some of the best teas for diets are black tea, green tea, oolong tea and chamomile.
Conclusion
There are ways to manage your diet during the winter. You just need to plan ahead and implement some new habits into your daily life. It may be tough to get started but soon it will become second nature.
