Winter Wellness Tips for Maintaining Weight Loss Momentum

Rainy winter days, cooler weather, and poor air quality all make it hard to keep the momentum when you’re trying to lose weight. Fresno’s winter tule fog traps smoke from fireplaces and woodstoves with car exhaust, manufacturing emissions, and other particulates. Even if the rain has stopped, your asthma or allergies may make it hard to exercise outside.

You’re stuck inside, and your weight loss goals are getting harder to meet. Recycled air at work means germs are spreading fast. You’re sick with a cold, COVID-19, or the flu and can’t get out of bed for several days, which sets you back. The weather has you feeling down, and you’re struggling to stay on track. How do you maintain the momentum when it’s difficult for so many reasons?

Be Active No Matter the Weather

An active lifestyle is an important part of any weight-loss program. If it’s rainy outside, don’t push your workout aside. Find things to do indoors instead. Put on a beginner dance video and learn a new routine. It doesn’t matter if you don’t think you’re coordinated. Moving your body is what matters most.

Hop on a treadmill. While you walk or jog, read a book or watch a travel video that makes it look like you’re walking with the guide. There are plenty of bike-riding, walking, and jogging videos out there with a first-person perspective.

Sign up for fitness classes at a community center, gym, or similar venue. Not only do you gain the benefits of exercise, but you also enjoy a chance to socialize, which is great for your mental health.

Premium Sports & Orthopedics offers EMS training. Ask us about it. It’s a great way to get an intense workout indoors without having to exercise harder than normal. The small electrical pulses maximize your muscle contractions with each movement.

Eat Before Social Gatherings

If you have a social gathering coming up, eat something filling at home. Your hosts may not consider your dietary needs when planning the menu, so you can eat first and not be hungry when you arrive. Some of the best ways to fill up are by choosing vegetables, high-protein, high-fiber foods.

Make protein snack balls with whole oats, unsweetened peanut butter, walnuts, cocoa powder, and whole dates. Soak the dates in water, then process them into a paste. Add the remaining ingredients, mix until combined, and shape into small balls. Have a couple of those to fill your stomach. At the gathering, stick to fresh vegetables if you’re feeling puckish.

Fuel Your Body

Make sure you fuel your body with essential nutrients. Eat three balanced meals and use snacks to avoid hunger pangs that throw you off track with your weight-loss goals. Focus on:

• Fresh or frozen vegetables with each meal
• Fruits
• Healthy fats
• Lean protein at every meal
• Whole grains, seeds, and nuts

Avoid sugary beverages, high-fat or high-sugar snacks like granola bars, and fruit-flavored yogurts that have added sugar. If you love yogurt, make a parfait with plain Greek yogurt, chopped fruit, nuts, and a drizzle of honey.

Seasonal viruses like the flu, COVID-19, and colds can leave you drained. It’s often hard to eat enough when you’re sick. Consider IV supplements to improve hydration and provide antioxidants and other essential nutrients that support weight loss.

Get Enough Sleep

Adults need seven to eight hours of sleep each night. One in five people gets fewer than 5 hours of sleep per night. Only 25% of today’s adults get at least eight hours. It’s important to aim for at least seven hours of sleep each night.

When you’re working from 8 to 5, driving an hour to get home, cooking dinner, helping kids with homework, attending sports practices or games, and trying to fit in exercise, downtime, and personal care, it’s a lot. 

You can’t add hours to the day, but you can find ways to fall asleep faster. Instead of turning on a TV or watching videos on your tablet in bed, read a book for an hour. If you use an e-reader, switch to dark mode and get a remote so you can snuggle in and read with your hands tucked under the cover. After an hour, put on some white noise, shut your eyes, and go to sleep.

Some people find that infusers with soothing scents, such as lavender or chamomile, ease stress and help them sleep. White noise, such as a fan or air purifier, drowns out outside traffic and other apartment noises.

Practice Self-Kindness

Nothing ruins your momentum more than your unkind thoughts. You’ve lost momentum and have been snacking on less healthy foods, so you’re verbally beating yourself up. The more negativity you throw at yourself, the worse you feel, and the easier it is to give up and fall back into old habits.

Stop being mean to yourself. You’re human, and mistakes happen. Moments of weakness happen. It’s okay, and nothing to get angry about. Instead, practice self-kindness using these steps.

• Ask yourself what you would tell your best friend, spouse/partner, or child in the same situation.
• Change your perspective and look at the situation as an outsider who gets the impact of stress, illness, or anxiety triggers and their impact.
• Identify your judgmental inner voice and push it aside in favor of a kinder one.
• Journal your struggles using kind words and positivity.
• Realize that difficult moments happen, and address them as hiccups, not failures.
• Use compassionate phrases with yourself.

Use SMART Goals

SMART goals are:

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Relevant

Time-bound

Instead of saying you’re going to lose 50 pounds, break it down into smaller components. Each time you complete something, your success makes you want to keep going. It keeps the momentum up. Some smaller challenges that work in this situation are:

• I will clean all processed, high-sugar, or high-fat foods from my cabinets, refrigerator, and pantry.
• I will drink only water or seltzer this week after my morning coffee or tea.
• I will go to bed an hour earlier to get an extra hour of sleep.
• I will put on a 60-minute playlist of my favorite songs and walk on my treadmill from start to finish.
• I will skip the elevator and use the stairs at work.
• I will switch work’s pastry options for fresh fruit each day this month.
• I will try one new fruit each day for the next month.
• I will weigh myself every Monday morning at the start of the day for consistency.

Partner With a Weight Loss Doctor for Success

Your weight loss goals may feel like a solo project, but they don’t have to be. Work with a doctor to get support, medical insights, and the latest prescription weight-loss drugs if it’s determined that’s the right choice to achieve your goals.

Premium Sports & Orthopedics specializes in doctor-supervised weight loss programs. Instead of doing it alone, you have a team to support you throughout your weight loss journey. Schedule your first appointment online to learn more about the program and how support helps you maintain momentum.