Did you know it’s easier to lose weight fast in winter than during any other time of the year? But most people talk of their experience gaining weight during winters rather than actually losing it.
How is it that both these weight loss realities coexist together? We got to the bottom of it and explain it all in this comprehensive guide to losing weight faster in winter and the challenges that keep you away from your weight loss goals.
–> SEE ALSO: If You’re Overweight, You Could Be At Risk For These 10 Health Problems
Can you Really Lose Weight Faster in Winter?
Image Credit: Pexels
A huge YES. It’s because of the simple biological process called thermoregulation that makes the body regulate its core temperature by using up energy.
Here’s the science behind how thermoregulation actually works:
- Our body has the natural tendency to maintain a state of equilibrium in our internal body temperature. This is called homeostasis.
- When it is hot outside and our internal temperature rises, our body tries to cool down. Our blood vessels get wider (vasodilation), blood flow increases and our body releases heat. We also start sweating which helps cool down the body.
- On the flip side, when it’s cold outside, our blood vessels become narrower (vasoconstriction), decreasing blood flow and retaining heat within the body. We also shiver, which is a mechanism for the body to use energy and produce heat. Our thyroid gland also releases certain hormones which helps the body produce more energy and heat.
- The end result is that your body adapts itself to temperature changes to prevent dangerous conditions like hypothermia and heat strokes.
During winters, the decrease in temperature naturally forces our body to keep producing more energy to maintain body heat. Isn’t that amazing? You’re gradually losing calories without doing much.
Now imagine supplementing this with more conscious weight loss regimes like healthy diet, exercise and herbal power. You’ll be tapping into easy weight loss goals like never before!
How to Supplement Weight Loss in Winter?
The simplest way to watch your weight loss journey is by minding three important areas: food, physical activity and lifestyle.
Here’s how you can manage all three effectively to lose weight faster in winter:
• Food
Image Credit: Pexels
Having seasonal food is the most important diet change you can make in winter. Not only does this strengthen your body, it also protects you from winter illnesses. Fruits like Cherimoya (Seethaphal), apples, strawberries, cranberries, oranges are available best during winter months. Leafy Vegetables like cabbage, collard (haak saag) and broccoli consumed during winter are richer in nutrients.
Include all the 6 major tastes in your meal to maintain balance: sour, salty, sweet, pungent, astringent and bitter.
Finally, you can include weight-loss herbs like ginger, triphala, ashwagandha, turmeric and guggul in your diet.
–> SEE ALSO: 10 Ways to Boost Your Immunity: Winter is Coming
• Physical Activity
Image Credit: Pexels
Nothing is cozier than spending the evenings and mornings under a blanket during winters, and we know it. But it is important to get your daily exercise in order to lose calories in a healthy manner. There are multiple cold weather benefits to this: you end up drinking more water and also feel warmer!
Exercising 30 minutes per day, 5 days of the week is a good place to start. You can also spread your exercise for a total of 150 minutes during the week. A dynamic warm-up is also recommended to warm your muscles up before any physical activity.
• Lifestyle
Image Credit: Pexels
It’s a huge misconception that yoga does not help in weight loss. Even without regular exercise, practicing meditation and yoga on a daily basis can help keep the body fit.
Get enough sleep during winter. It’s true that winter months makes us want to spend another 10 minutes more in bed and that’s not a bad thing as long as you don’t sleep more than 8 hours at a stretch.
Now this sounds very easy, but then how is it that most of us end up gaining a lot of weight in winters despite thermoregulation and dietary changes? That’s because there are certain winter-specific challenges to weight loss.
What are the Major Winter Challenges for Weight Loss?
1. Water, water everywhere but you don’t drink enough!
Image Credit: Pixabay
It’s easy to forget about drinking enough water when it’s cold. But don’t let your body fool yourself into thinking you’re not thirsty.
Don’t forget to hydrate yourself plenty (8-10 glasses everyday). Not drinking enough water can further cause hunger pangs and makes you binge eat on oily, high-calorie comfort food.
–> SEE ALSO: 6 Reasons You’re Not Sleeping Well and What To Do About It
2. A Good Day to Munch Hard
Image Credit: Pexels
What’s this random craving to snack on crunchy, oily food? That’s just your body’s response to using up more energy to maintain body heat during winters. This is one of the major reasons we gain weight in winter.
But this is okay as long as you snack on healthy food. You can eat home-made snacks, fruits, crunchy fresh vegetables and low-calorie snacks to curb that craving and not gain weight at the same time.
3. “I love sleeping so much sometimes I even dream about it.”
Image Credit: Pexels
Sometimes you just like sleeping in a bit longer during winter, but sometimes the weather makes you feel low.
It’s important to spend time outdoors and talk to people so that you don’t suffer from SAD or Seasonal Affective Disorder. It is a situation where we tend to feel depressed and tired due to weather changes and most people experience this during cold, dreary winters.
Oversleeping can make you fatigued and gain weight. Having SAD can also make you stress eat on comfort food, leading to more weight gain.
–> SEE ALSO: Winter’s 7 Harmful Effects on Your Body and How to Avoid Them
4. Small Meals VS Heavy Meals?
Image Credit: Pexels
Eating a bit more than your usual serving feels normal when it’s cold. This is your body’s response to store more energy to produce more body heat.
But when you want to lose weight, having multiple small meals can help you curb the constant hunger without gaining weight. This can help you stay full and avoid those random fried pakora and gajar ka halwa cravings!
Supplement Weight Loss in Winter with Lo-Wt
Image Credit: Pexels
Ayurveda has plenty of weight-loss remedies and treatments for weight loss which are safe to your body and have minimal side-effects.
What is a better time than winter to try out the benefits of this age-old herbal way of life?
Lo-Wt(TM) by Sava Herbals is an herbal weight reduction supplement enriched with Green Coffee Bean and a unique blend of Vrikshamla, Arjuna, Pippali, Sunthi, Musta and Guggul which aid weight reduction improves your lipid profile.
Order now as a first step to help you reach your weight loss goals and lead a healthier life.