The UK summer, not that there was much of one, is officially over today. So, unless you’re jetting off across the globe, you lucky people, get ready to get the rain coats out, turn the heating up and fish out that umbrella. This also, typically, means that all the hard work people put in to get their beach body will be reversed and a lot of weight will be put back on.
In the UK there is a tendency for people to put on weight after summer leading up to Christmas and then try to lose it all again after New Year. There are a lot of reasons why this happen but most have something to do in the change in the weather. The cold and the wet means that we don’t wear clothes that are as revealing, we try to cover up and we become less concerned with our body image. The darker, colder and wetter (basically miserable) mornings and evenings put off a lot of people from continuing the running, cycling, power walking or whatever outdoor exercise they had been doing in the summer. The bad weather even means that we are more likely to go in the car on all the short journeys that we had been walking in the summer.
Is all this just an excuse though? Should we waste all our hard work now only to be in the same place we were last New Year, faced with the daunting task of shedding all the winter weight we put on? After a summer of hard graft, now is the perfect time to carry on with your healthier lifestyle. Yes, we can still indulge from time to time and enjoy ourselves the same as always. But by continuing to eat healthily and exercise regularly we can face next New Year and instead of “I will lose weight/get fit etc” being or New Year’s resolution we can have something like, “I will not bore my boss by with the same excuse for taking leaves. I will think of some more excuses.” Or , “I will grow a moustache” (men only with that one please).
If you do have a little fear of the dark or are a wimp when it comes to rain then this is also the perfect time to find a new sport, or even lots of sports. Try out some new sports that you either used to do back in your more youthful days or a sport that you enjoy watching but have never tried. Try everything. Gym classes, no strings badminton (you just turn up and play, not playing with a racket with no strings, just in case you thought otherwise), indoor rock climbing, there is so much out there. Another good one for those rainy days is a family game night. The Wi and xbox kinect are not the ultimate and in no means perfect means of exercise but they are great fun with groups of people and you can really work up a sweat. Find a sport you enjoy and continue to see the benefit of regular exercise all year round.
It is a lot easier to continue to keep weight off a lead a healthier lifestyle than to stop and start. So, let’s all make an Autumn and Winter resolution to keep exercising and eating well, a resolution to try out new sports, a resolution to have a different New Year’s resolution.
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