In winter most often we like to dispel sadness by eating some candy, crackers, cookies, and in the evenings with a glass of wine. However, there are sugar and calories. Fighting like that with the depressive mood until the spring can quite easily gain unnecessary five kilograms, and then you will not be able to slip into your favorite jeans. If you use the mentioned 21 advice for “how not to gain weight over the winter”, then overweight cannot threaten you anymore.
1. Eat Soup
A soup for lunch will help you to stay slim. Researchers of Pennsylvania State University have found out that women who eat soup for lunch during the meal intake about 100 calories less and do not compensate them later by eating more. It is believed that water, which is a component of the food, unlike the water we just drink, contributes much slower gastric emptying, thus. The sense of fullness will remain for longer, but the calories will be less. Give preference to be low- calorie soups – vegetable, tomato or carrot soups, in order to maximize the positive effects.
2. Imagine yourself slim
Every time you want to treat yourself with something unhealthy dream for five minutes about how you want to look and feel after the winter. Sit more comfortably, close your eyes and imagine that you watch a video where you look great in a warm spring day, when during the winter you ate properly. Just look at how slim you are, and perfect in a T-shirt and shorts, how confident and full of energy you are. Capture this image and return to it every time when the desire to eat something unhealthy will visit you.
3. Write down
During cold months, we eat more frequently than in summer, or we eat because we feel tired, or we think that we deserve something tasty if we have to deal with unpleasant weather conditions. Therefore, start to write a diary, right there what and how much you have eaten. Once you begin to identify those cases when you ate in order to provide a feeling of comfort, you will be able to find some kind of food replacements. Perhaps you prefer hugs from the loved friend, favorite songs, pleasant bath or a telephone conversation with a friend.
4. Go for a walk at lunchtime
We feel sadness not only because of the cold weather – the lack of light also may spoil the mood. Daylight contributes to the formation of serotonin in the brain, which promotes the happiness and the sense of peace. Unfortunately, the lack of light during the winter reduces the serotonin level, causing tiredness and increasing appetite, so we tend to have huge hunger. 15 minute long walk will help to get a daily light dose in order to increase the serotonin level, in addition, at the same time you train leg calf- muscles and burn 70 calories.
5. Select your favorite food during the winter
Make a list of products that you want to eat the most in winter. Then try to include them into your daily diet instead of eating them in addition to the main meals. Do not be surprised if you and your beloved one will have different favorite foods. The researchers of Illinois State University found that men prefer mashed potatoes, pasta and soups, but women – candy and chocolate.
6. Choose “good” carbohydrates
It is not a surprise that people who are on Atkins’s diet fall into depression. Carbohydrates help to develop a sense of happiness (it is because of developing serotonin), which, in turn, helps to eliminate insulin. However, it helps the amino acid tryptophan to enter the brain where the serotonin is being developed. The main thing is that “sugar” carbohydrates, such as, for example, biscuits and white bread, should be replaced by wholemeal bread and cereals.
7. Throw away the pizza delivery advertising leaflets
Have you never wondered why specifically during the winter you will find more leaflets about food deliveries than usual? Because the local pizzeria well knows that you would prefer to order a meal at home, if it is wet, cold, dark outside the window, and you do not want to go to the supermarket. Throw away these advertisements already in the moment they have appeared in your mailbox, so in the result you will have fewer opportunities to use them.
8. Drink less coffee
Try to stay away from the temptation to get a cup of hot coffee with milk, cappuccino or hot chocolate. The big caffelatte cup with whole milk contains 265 calories. Cappuccino contains a little less – 153 calories. However, the chocolate with whipped cream gets the first place with 448 calories. Not only calories are blamed on the fact that you gain overweight. The studies have proven that an excessive amount of caffeine forces the body to build fat savings. Therefore, better get warm with herbal, fruit or green tea – because there are neither calories, nor caffeine.
9. Find something for your hands
Find a new hobby for long winter evenings at the TV. Knitting, embroidery, crosswords – it all helps to engage hands and not allows them to reach for biscuits.
10. Learn to dance
If you do not want to go out from home at the dark evening have physical activities in rooms. Thanks to dancing lessons, you will be able to maintain excellent form, to get pleasure and burn calories – one salsa lesson can burn 380 calories, but modern dance class in one time – 350 calories.
11. Supplement the protein reserves
Tryptophan or protein-containing building materials in food will help to overcome the hunger, which stems from psychological problems. The more our diet has tryptophan containing products. The more serotonin will be developed and the better we will feel. Rich sources of tryptophan are considered to be lean red meat, chicken, turkey, fish, eggs, cheese, nuts and cereals.
12. Dress in bright colors
It seems likely that you would rather spend the winter evenings and weekends sitting in a chair and wearing wide trousers and large sweaters, but in this way you will not notice the appearing overweight. Continue to wear tight clothes, and you will notice the excess centimeters, if they will appear.
13. Make your favorite foods healthier
Learn to cook your favorite meals differently in order to reduce fat and calories. Use products with low fat and wholemeal bread.
14. Eat more products in orange color
As color therapists declare, the orange color improves mood and increases our energy. If on your plate will be something orange, then it is likely that you will feel the power of energy appearing, and the desire to eat just to feel better will be gone. Fortunately, most products that are orange have a low level of calories. Eat an oranges, mandarins, carrots, baked beans, Bulgarian pepper, mango, apricots. Please note: chocolate oranges do not count!
15. Start planning next summer
Instead of indulging to the winter blues, start to plan the next summer. Pick up brochures, explore the Internet, and attach to the refrigerator’s door photos from previous holidays. Once your choice is made, start to do something that will help you to get more pleasure from the selected rest. For example, if you decide to go to France, start to learn French, if you plan to go to the Caribbean Islands – begin to attend local diving lessons, if you go to Spain – learn to dance flamenco.
16. Get warm with the help of physical exercises
Do not switch the central heating – try to get warm in another way. Take from the library or from friend’s DVD discs with physical exercise records and start doing exercises at home. Play a movement game with children – this will allow you not only to get warm, but also to spend a wonderful time with you loved ones and burn calories, rather than to feel sorry for the cold weather.
17. More pepper!
Eating spicy foods, for example, from Mexican or Indian cuisine, you will get warm and burn fat. They performed studies show that the chili pepper for 50% increase heart rate and metabolism for three hours after eating. Another positive moment – you will not eat a lot of such food, as well as your taste receptors will be satisfied more quickly.
18. Have sex
Do not put off sex for the holidays. Passionate hugs to release endorphins – the hormones of happiness, and the happier we are, the less we will have reasons to seek for comfort in food. In addition, if you both are trying hard, then during 20 minutes long sex act you can burn 140 calories.
19. Get more Sleep
Use the extra hours of darkness to spend them in the dream world. Scientists say that the chronic lack of sleep causes the formation of overweight, but increasing the sleep time you can get rid of those extra kilos. According to scientists, the lack of sleep increases the level of hormones that affect appetite, so that is why we can put on weight. In addition, the more we sleep, the less time we spend in biscuit company.
20. Drink enough fluids
In winter, when it is cold outside the window, it is easy to forget that you have to drink water. However, the heated offices, apartments and shops make us sweat, and we lose fluid. Thirst is often perceived as hunger, so we eat, but we really just want to drink. In order to avoid it drink six to eight glasses of water a day.
21. Begin to cook at home
Use the winter evenings for culinary experimentations and use much healthier ingredients. Product cutting and grinding, as well as running around in the kitchen, which we all associate with the cooking process, helps to burn about 120 calories in half an hour.
Another, but not the least important factor. There is an assumption that only women follow their looks. However, men also tend to look in the mirror. Typically, after becoming 30 years old, men do not look like Apollon anymore. For this reason, we recommend men to take into account the advices of the experts. Therefore, you could not only blame the mirror.
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