During the colder months of the year, many people in the more polar latitudes can lose motivation for their weight loss efforts. The harsh weather and reduced daylight hours can disrupt daily exercise and healthy eating routines. Luckily, there are a few things you can do to make the most out of the short days of winter and I’ll share some with you in these weight loss tips:

1)  One great thing to do is build snowmen and play with your children in the snow. Moving through snow demands greater effort than normal and the extra exertion will burn a lot of calories; it is truly great exercise. Don’t have kids? Play with a friend’s kids, or your nieces and nephews!

2)  Another thing you can do to “enforce” winter workouts is contact your older or elderly neighbors before it even snows and offer your shoveling services. When the snow falls, you will have some work to do, and you will be doing it for a great reason.

3)  Another great idea is to try a winter sport. Maybe you used to ski or snowboard but have stopped as you have gotten older. It would be a lot of fun to start up again and will bring cheer to the gloomy winter days. If you don’t have friends to do this with, try and recruit them to try it out with you for the first time. If you are a beginner, sign up for some group lessons. It is not too expensive and a great way to get out there and meet people and have fun!

4)  Lastly, winter is the perfect time to try some of the best fat burning foods. Eating spicy foods of all kinds has been linked with a higher metabolism and burns more calories when you are digesting. So stock up on some cayenne pepper, ginger and curry and make a warming winter meal.

Just because it is cold, snowy, slushy, windy and dark outside is no excuse to slack on your diet and fitness plan. If you try to embrace the winter instead of dread it you will lose the weight faster than you can imagine!