Cold Weather Clothes and a Cold Weather Plan for the Winter: Part II

My last blog entry was getting pretty long, so I split it in half. The final two cold weather winter issues are here:

4) Lazy Days and Hibernation  This is kind of the same problem as waking up in the morning. When it is   dreary out and the house is warm and my husband is cooking some wonderful smelling food in the kitchen, all I want to do is curl up on the couch with a hot cocoa and a blanket and read...all day. aaaahhhh.....

• My Cold Weather Plan: I can curl up on the couch with a book, but I need to make sure that I get my exercise in first. To accomplish this, I have been waking up every morning to do some exercise (at least 1/2 an hour) over the past week. Some Examples: Weather permitting, my husband and I will go for a walk, if the weather does not cooperate, we will do an exercise video first thing in the morning or go to the gym. I still work out after work as well, but on the weekends, getting my workout done first thing in the morning frees up the rest of the day to curl up on the couch with a book if I want or go to whichever Holiday festivities we have planned. During the week, working out in the morning ensures that I have done something - even if the dreary weather and / or my holiday plans make exercise after work difficult.
  
• Also, that delicious-smelling food my husband is cooking is generally nice, low-calorie Minestrone soup or turkey chili - great food for the cooler weather.
  

5)  Holiday Travel: It is always a struggle to eat a healthy, low-calorie diet and exercise when I travel, particularly to fun family events. I am lucky to belong to a wonderful YMCA in San Diego that has the latest equipment, keeps it maintained well, and offers a number of varied fitness classes all throughout the day. When I travel on the Holidays, the first challenge I face is finding the time to exercise. I don't want to miss anything, and I have a lot of family and friends to see. Secondly, it is difficult to find a gym with which I'm comfortable or find a walk / hike that is close and quick. Third, the food. My family can cook! My in-laws make tamales...YUM! And my parents used to run a bakery, need I say more? So, I like to treat myself a bit - within reason, I still watch the calories. However, that means I need to get more activity in to balance my indulgences. And we are back to the time issue.

• My Cold Weather Plan: My husband and I are still working on how to fit in exercise when we travel to see my family. What we are going to try this time is to take along some exercise DVDs  - we have Tae Boe, Zumba, and Dance. We are going to take those along and do an hour workout first thing in the morning, every morning. Happily, my Dad has a huge house and wakes up very early, so we won't be bothering anyone with all of our music and jumping around. :-) I will have to update the blog to report how this particular plan works. I have high hopes, so we will see.
  
• As far as the food is concerned, I will refer back to yesterday's post about Holiday food (#3)

So there you have my Cold Weather Plan to protect my weight loss over the Holidays.

Important Note: This is what works for me, it may not be the best advice for everyone. Find what works for you  and know that the Holidays are tricky - it may take some experimenting - but find what works and go with it.