Staying fit through the cold season – how to maintain your weight

While spring and summer entice us to engage in outdoor activities, tennis, volleyball and co. lose their appeal as soon as the temperatures drop. Instead, we snuggle up on the couch and give our bodies the break they deserve. It’s the perfect time to relax and get back to yourself. But for all those who can’t sit still in autumn and winter, we have a few tips in this article on how to stay fit and maintain your weight during the cold season.

How to stay fit and healthy in the cold season

Admittedly, it’s not easy to stay fit during the cold season. Exercising outside is not very tempting, but a series evening with tasty snacks is even more so.

However, we have collected a few tips for you on how to stay active and healthy:

Brave the cold

Even if the weather doesn’t necessarily invite you to spend hours outside, it’s worth braving the cold and getting some exercise outdoors. Even a short walk can have a positive effect on your health.

Science has already proven many times that outdoor activities in winter not only keep you physically fit, but also increase your mental well-being. For example, they can alleviate symptoms of depression or improve concentration and memory. It also helps your body to stock up on vitamin D, which in turn has a positive effect on your mood. So dress warmly and get out into nature.

Maintain your weight with indoor sports and home workouts

Is the cold not for you? No problem. Try out the sports studios in your city and find out what you like. From mindful yoga classes to sweaty HIIT workouts, there’s plenty to discover in the fitness world. If you don’t want to work out in a group, home workouts are a great alternative. Find out what apps and YouTube workouts are available and you’re ready to go.

Find a training buddy

Often, however, it’s not the ideas that are lacking, but rather the motivation and discipline to get started. That’s why it’s a good idea to find a training partner. Not only is exercise more fun, but you can also motivate and challenge each other.

After a sweaty fitness session, reward yourself with a protein-rich, healthy breakfast or snack. Exercise alone is not enough. Nutrition also plays an important role in maintaining your weight during the cold season. Find out how to do this in the next section.

How to maintain your weight in autumn and winter

When it’s cold and dark outside, high-calorie foods taste especially good. So-called comfort food comforts us through the cold season, but sooner or later it makes itself felt on our hips and belly. To fight winter flab, you should therefore make sure you eat a healthy and balanced diet. Our tips will help you:

Recognise calorie traps

To avoid starting spring with extra kilos, it helps to recognise calorie traps and eliminate them from your diet. These include alcohol, snacks and sweets in particular.

An example: If you enjoy a small beer and half a bag of crisps in front of the TV in the evening, you consume about 600 kcal. The daily requirement of an adult woman is about 1,900 kcal, which means that snacks account for almost one third of the daily calorie requirement. For men, the requirement is somewhat higher at about 2,300 kcal.

You can find out exactly how many calories you need per day with our calorie calculator.

Pay attention to your nutrient intake

In order to maintain your weight during the cold season, you should pay attention to your ideal nutrient intake. Give your body enough protein, healthy fatty acids and long-chain carbohydrates to keep you full for a long time and avoid cravings.

One breakfast dish that is bursting with healthy nutrients, besides muesli, is our porridge. The warm porridge consists largely of oat flakes, which are a healthy source of long-chain carbohydrates and therefore keep you full for a long time. In addition, the regional cereal provides a considerable amount of protein.

With the right toppings, such as nuts or seeds, you also add unsaturated fatty acids to your breakfast porridge. This makes porridge the perfect breakfast that also tastes delicious.

Keep the weight off with fruit and vegetables

In addition to nuts and seeds, fruits of all kinds also look really good as porridge toppings. And some vegetables also manage to give porridge that certain something. Have you ever tried carrots or courgettes in porridge?

Print Recipe

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Rezept: Carrot Cake Porridge

Prep Time10 mins

Total Time10 mins

Ingredients

• 50 g Haferflocken
• 200 ml Haferdrink oder eine andere Pflanzendrink-Variante bzw. Wasser (für eine noch kalorienärmere Variante)
• 1 Prise Salz
• 2 geriebene Karotten
• 1/2 TL Zimt
• 1 TL Mandelmus
• 1 EL Walnüsse (optional)

Instructions

• Reibe zuerst die Karotten klein und gib sie anschließend in einen Topf.
• Gib dann die Haferflocken und den Pflanzendrink hinzu. Wenn du zusätzlich Kalorien einsparen möchtest, kannst du die Hälfte des Pflanzendrinks auch mit Wasser ersetzen.
• Gib dann noch das Salz und etwas Zimt mit hinzu in den Topf.
• Koche den Porridge jetzt für in etwa 5-7 Minuten auf. Wenn der Porridge fast fertig ist und schon schön cremig ist, nimm den Topf vom Herd und rühre noch etwas Mandelmus unter deinen Haferbrei.
• Gib dann den Porridge in eine Schüssel. Jetzt kannst du den Haferbei noch mit Toppings deiner Wahl, wie beispielsweise leckeren Walnüssen, verfeinern.

Especially in winter, it is important to eat enough fruit and vegetables. In addition to the vitamins that keep us healthy in the cold season, they are also characterised by their high fibre content. This keeps you full for a long time without putting too much strain on your calorie account. Our tip: With an additional healthy source of fat (e.g. a handful of nuts), fat-soluble vitamins can be better absorbed by the body.

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