How to Balance Diet and Exercise in Winter: Custom Weight Loss

Wintertime brings many challenges to those involved in a custom weight loss plan. How can you manage your weight this time of year? The harsh cold season typical to Rochester NY makes exercising difficult if you don’t own a gym membership or the proper equipment. And fresh produce from local gardens is still several months in the coming. How can you get fit and eat well this winter?

Check out some simple tips to help you stay committed to your custom weight loss journey this winter and into the rest of 2017!   

Don’t Give Up on Exercise

During the winter, you don’t want to lose muscle or become unconditioned, so we recommend resistance training or any type of exercise that causes the muscles to contract. These exercises include dumbbells, your own body weight, or rubber tubing. When people exercise consistently, they can actually live longer and lead a more satisfying life.

More → Exercise Tips from an Exercise Physiologist

Exercise does have some control over weight loss, but it is predominantly a weight loss tool for custom weight loss. For example, a simple hour-long workout might burn approximately 400 calories. A single serving of cake can be about 700 calories. You can completely destroy any progress you made from a workout by consuming too many calories! The patients who actually lose weight are those who exercise a lot and eat less than they normally do on a daily basis.

When patients exercise a lot, they can burn so many calories that they feel hungrier than when they don’t exercise. They may in turn eat more than their allotted caloric intake allows. Patients can’t lose weight on exercise alone; they essentially need food restrictions for weight loss and exercise for weight loss management. So remember to balance diet and exercise.

“If you truly want to lose weight, putting the right food into your mouth accounts for 85% of your success, and 15% comes from exercise. Exercise will help you avoid gaining the weight back.”  ~ Dr. Rana Masood

More → 4 Easy Fitness Habits for Every Workout Routine

Diet

To establish healthy eating habits, focus on foods high in protein and low in carbohydrates. Protein helps you feel satisfied for fewer calories than sugar and fats. Digesting protein also burns more calories than digesting other food types. Follow these healthy guidelines and you’ll know you’re on the right track toward custom weight loss:

• Protein – stock up on ground sirloin, eggs whites, lean pork chops, lean chicken, turkey or chicken breast deli meat, salmon, and sushi (without the soy sauce). Avoid processed meat like hot dogs and bacon.
• Color – a colorful plate for dinner means you’re likely getting a healthy variety of nutrients that your body needs. Try to get at least 3 different vibrantly colored foods into your diet everyday, foods like purple beets, orange carrots, and green beans.
• Cut the sugar cravings from foods that contain high fructose corn syrup. If you desperately need to satisfy that sweet tooth, go for fruits and vegetables that have a hint of sweet to them like sugar snap peas, cherry tomatoes, or fruits with low amounts of sugar like strawberries, apples, and bananas.
• Cook at home as much as possible, if you can. You need to be in control of the ingredients that you put in your mouth. To help our patients incorporate portion control, we include OPTIFAST meal replacements. You don’t have to struggle to make healthy meal choices – everything is prepackaged to make meal-planning easier.
• Grow healthy plants indoors during winter. Tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, and peppers can all be grown indoors. If you like, you can replant them outdoors come spring.

Don’t give up on your journey this winter! In times of doubt, remember why you started. If you need encouragement or advice, contact us and we’d be happy to help!