Winter time is officially one of the most challenging times to lose pregnancy weight, with cold temperatures, driving rain, and morning fog putting a dampener on fitness regimes.
Add comfort food cravings and coughs and sniffles to the mix and you’ve got the perfect storm to derail your healthy eating plan.
Despite these challenges, there are ways to stay motivated and continue losing weight during winter, and with a little thought, planning and discipline, it is possible to continue your successful weight loss journey all through the colder months.
Here are some easy, helpful tips for staying motivated to lose weight during winter:
1. Create a visual reminder
While you may be hiding under thermal layers and jackets right now, in only a few months it will be time to wear shorts, skirts and sleeveless tops! It’s easy to forget that spring and summer are just around the corner when it’s freezing cold and foggy outside. Pin a summery image to your fridge or near your desk at the office to remind you that summer is only around the corner. Whether you pin a photo of a beach destination you’ll be holidaying at soon or a bikini or summery dress you’ll soon be wearing, either way, you’ll be reminded of your goal every time you look at it, and therefore be less likely to deviate from your healthy eating plan and fitness regime.
2. Participate in active, indoor activities
From ten pin bowling with your family to attending local yoga or pilates classes, head indoors to exercise wherever possible. Exercising indoors means that you’re not at the mercy of the weather gods, and won’t have to cancel in the case of thunderstorms, rain or wind. You don’t need to invest in a gym membership either! Many types of indoor exercise allow casual class attendance with dance, yoga, pilates and tai chi all good options. Group winter sports like indoor soccer, indoor hockey or netball are also great options for women who may have played in high school and want to join a local, adult team.
3. Stay home and put on a DVD
Watching a DVD is a favourite winter, rainy day activity, and we suggest replacing an afternoon watching a drama or rom com, with watching and participating in an exercise DVD. Exercise DVDs are a great investment because they can be done anytime, in the comfort of your own home. It could be snowing outside and you’ll still have no excuse not to fit in some exercise because you have all that you need to exercise on one disc! The best-selling Healthy Mummy Post Pregnancy Exercise DVD is a safe, low impact way to lose weight after being pregnant.
4. Significantly increase your incidental exercise
We all know that incorporating incidental exercise into your day is a good way to increase the amount of calories burned each day. During winter, it’s a good idea to increase the amount of incidental exercise included in your day. It’s an easy, simple way to burn more calories without having to spend lots of time exercising. Incidental exercise includes walking up flights of stairs to your office instead of taking the lift, avoiding the escalator at the mall and taking the stairs instead, or walking to the train station instead of driving your car. Other ways to get more incidental exercise into your day include walking to the printer or coffee machine at work instead of getting someone else to do it and finding a car park furthest away from the shops and walking the rest of the distance.
5. Invest in good quality, winter workout gear
You may prefer to exercise outdoors in nature, but without adequate winter workout clothing, there’s no way that you’ll keep active outdoors during the winter months. Thermal layers, beanies, gloves, waterproof jackets and thick socks will ensure that you can run, walk or cycle in your local parks and tracks during cold and wet weather. You don’t need to spend a fortune on workout gear either, as many department and chain stores now stock good quality, workout gear at a fraction of the price of the major labels.
6. Join our 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge
The 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge is designed for busy mums. You get access to over 800 delicious, healthy, family friendly recipes with customisable meal plans. PLUS 28 days of at home exercises to maximise your weight loss.
Below is an example of one of the daily HIIT rounds mums complete from our 28 day weight loss challenge (and don’t worry each exercise and routine comes with full explanation, instruction, images and video too.)
So jump on the HIIT exercise bandwagon for maximum results and you can join the Challenge here
NEW in the 28 Day Challenge
And we now combine the HIIT exercises with a pilates routine which we are very excited about!
Feedback from mums who do the HIIT exercises on the 28 Day Challenge
The workouts are fabulous! Everything you can do on the lounge floor while you have a few spare minutes between loads of washing while bub is napping- no excuses!
Cat Christ
I love that the challenge exercises are so versatile. I can do them at home with very minimal equipment and at any time of the day, before the kids wake up, or even after they go to bed.
Candice Plant
The exercises got me out of my normal routine trying new combinations, got my heart rate up and fit in with my busy life as a mum.
Laura Flannagan
Tania lost 24kgs* on our 28 day weight loss challenge
Tania says: “87kgs to 63kg in these pics. The before pic was after I had my daughter in March 2013, I got down from 96kg to 80kg after having her, and then tried for baby #2. in July 2014 I had my twin boys, and settled at 86kg after their birth. Now sitting at 63kg and aiming for 58kg and a whole lot more muscle.”
You won’t regret it!
Join the challenge here
