about Winter
 

It gets cold here.
Really cold.
Colder than most of you can imagine (except those of you in the northern parts of Michigan! You know.)

And it's long. Our furnace came on yesterday. We could have snow by Halloween. It doesn't leave until April.

I'm scared.

I don't drink as much water in winter--it's too cold.
I think eating salad is ridiculous--that's summer food. (And besides the price of summer salad veggies skyrockets. It's impractical! Tomatoes are wooden.)

My favourite exercise right now is walking. But I really don't want to go outside in the dark and walk on icy sidewalks and in freezing temperatures. (We're North. Sunlight is limited. Those of you in the artic and Alaska will know what I'm talking about.)

I'm a baby when it comes to the cold and dark season.

What am I going to do?
Any suggestions? Encouragement?

TIA

Buy a treadmill?

Join a gym?

Learn to eat salad even if it's winter?

Drink hot water? No, seriously, a cup of hot tea does count as part of your liquid intake. Or sometimes I just drink plain hot water with a little lemon, or for a different flavor, with a little lite creamer.

Any strategy you use has got to work no matter what season or climate you're in. I'm in Florida, and here, it's summer that is the difficult season. But it can be done! :cheer2:

Jay

Um, embrace soup? It can be very healthy, low calorie and filling!

soups, chili (I use black bean and make it vegetarian, lower cals, much better for you), plenty of healthy food that isn't salad. This would be a great time to buy a new cookbook and experiment on fall/winter foods.

You can do this. Dreading your winter is probably as bad a living through it. However, I have no idea living in Oregon the weather is fairly mild where I am. How about freezing some vegi soups for winter. Definitely a treadmill or eliptical machine for the exercise or a good dvd. Good luck!

Oh, Alana! I quite literally feel your pain!!!!!

I myself am a walker/ attempting to run-ner. I can't afford a gym membership and live on the third floor of an apartment so a treadmill is not practical. And the ICE is NO option! I've started using work out videos - and I don't adore them, but they're growing on me and they get the job done.

I also find that if I carry a water bottle with me in the winter, I'll drink from it just because it's there. I also found out that for me, personally - if the bottle is fun to drink out of, I'm more likely to want it. I love bottles with fun straws and tops. Once you get over that hurdle of drinking water in the winter - it's really hard to not want it. Being hydrated helps fight the cold!!

Alana... I'm in Prince George (pm me with you are if you don't feel comfy on the boards) so I KNOW what you are talking about!!!!! We last had snow on May 29th... !!!

In the winter I eat a lot of veggie soups, stews and chili's to get in my veggies. Lots of "winter salads" with chunky veggies etc. I go walking at the university track and around our multiplex. I do go snowshoeing and cross country skiing too. And just WALKING in the snow is a work out!

So you'll do it. Because there is no other option. And because I know you can ;)

How about bean sprouts as a good fresh veggie. Bean sprouts can be sprouted in a jar from small beans like mung beans you get at an Asian market. They are cheap and full of nutrition.

Why not take up cross country skiing? It burns a lot of calories. Do you have indoor swimming pools? What about raquet ball or squash? There are indoor volley ball leagues.

People use more calories through the winter because your body wants to keep you warm. All that shivering and so on uses a lot of calories. Winter is a really good time to lose weight.

I'm with you on the salad. I can't do much in the way of salad during the winter. I agree with some other people one way to get the veggies in is to make veggie loaded soups and chilis (zucchini in chili is awesome). You can also try some roasted or steamed veggies. I drink warmed V8 too. When I lived in England I had issues with water during winter too (not as cold there as Canada, but a very bitter kind of cold and since I am from Florida it was a horrible change for me). I used to drink quite a bit of hot herbal teas (though watch out for the cafeine), I also drank chicken and vegetable broths (low sodium versions of course) and I would sometimes warm my crystal light. Some gyms have indoor walking tracks and they all of course have treadmills, so if you can afford it and there is one you can get to then a gym might be the answer to the exercise problem. Or maybe buy a treadmill or elliptical machine. You could use DVDs (I suggest renting before buying to find out what types you might like). You can also search YouTube for exercise videos - you'll be amazed what you find. When all else fails I shove all the furniture to the center of the living room and then walk circles around it.

Good Luck

Green tea and soups. I know cold too! I'm up in the Yukon. I love my elliptical in the winter and if i can get my butt in gear, I'll head back to the gym. It's already very yellow and starting to look bare up here. Plus the chilly wind has picked up. I feel your pain.

I totally understand! I'm from Michigan originally...so I know about the cold...but let me tell you that the Southern California heat can be just as debilitating. "Ugh, it's hot...I don't want to walk or workout." "ugh...it's hot...I don't want to make dinner...let's go out"

You can do it...we're all here for you! Invest in a treadmill, or at home aerobic videos. Stock up on tea and load up veggies in yummy soups and stews. Buy frozen fruit...it tastes almost as good and it's a lot less expensive.

Where theres a will there's a way. Look at how far you have come! you can do it...think about how great you will feel in April when the snow melts and you can wear some sexy new summer clothes! =)

Thank you so much--your combination of sympathy, practical suggestions and humour is just what I needed!

You're right--soup will be the new salad!

I'm glad to hear being hydrated helps with fighting the cold. Warm crystal light, though? ugh. (Though I hear you about the bitter cold. Humidity and minus 10 is worse than minus 40, sometimes.)


I won'r be joining a gym: we don't really have the money--and I hate driving in the dark and on the ice.

But thank you all so much. I don't feel quite so discouraged.

Hi Alana - I live in Wisconsin, and our winters are pretty intense too, though probably not as bad as yours. As for water, I still drink it in the winter...got to stay hydrated when the furnace kicks in. As for exercise, I am a member of a gym...but there are days the roads are too bad to do any unnecessary driving, so I have DVDs and weights at home. I also work in a huge office building, so I can walk up and down the stairs and all over the office at lunch time (A LOT of people do that at my work during inclement weather). Mall walking is very popular in the winter here too. I enjoy salads at lunch time, and I love soups. In fact, yesterday I made a fabulous veggie soup with vegetable broth, canned tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, onions and cabbage. You can also make yummy soups using frozen veggies (which are cheaper than fresh in the winter) and vegetable broth or a tomato based broth. Those are my plans for how I'm going to deal with winter...but here's hoping it doesn't hit until well after Thanksgiving! :)

So funny you're talking about this -- I just bought BAGS of frozen organic veggies from the store because I know the cold is coming and prices are going up!

I also got a recumbent bike this summer, just to let me do some cardio inside if I wanted to or if the weather was awful. I'm also a big outside exerciser. I'm also a fan of Jillian Michaels -- she'll get your heart rate up no problem and you never have to go into the cold.

Love the soup idea. So filling and super easy way to get in veggies.

I'm in Canada too but in Vancouver. We don't have to deal with the snow very often but we do deal with the rain. ALL WINTER LONG. It rains and rains and rains and I swear my feet start to web like a ducks! I guess it's why they call it the *wet* coast...lol
My solution last year was Leslie Sansone's walk away the pounds dvds. I love them! And you can get them at wal mart dirt cheap (Under $10).
As for water intake....I am all about the green tea. In the summer I make a large pot in the morning and drink it cold throughout the day. In the winter, I drink it warm or hot.
Hang in there, Don't get discouraged or I will start to quack like a duck!! ;)

Hey in winter its darkr eally early here and I am ..scared off the dark...and live in a pretty dodgy area so walking at night isn't possible, I invested in a mini trampoline. So far so good with in, and it slips away easily. And there is loads off rebounding fitness dvds.

:cheer3: Yay BC girls!

Alana, you must be way up near Tammy, hey?
I SO feel your pain about dreading winter!
Last winter was SO horrible...I hope we get off easy this year. I'll take the rain happily, over that GIANT cold snap and tons of snow we had last year :(

Lots of good suggestions here :)

PS- I put my heat on about an hour ago, for a few minutes just to warm it up a bit too (for the first time) :( It better not be an every day thing yet!!!

I am a huge fan of soup, I actually make it all summer long. Nothing like it being 95 degree and having chili for lunch. They are versital, filling, and convienent if you make huge batches like I do, then freeze them.

As for the exercise, I would check your local library for exercise videos. You could try out some different ones without making the commitment or spending the money buying them. I live in a metro area so the library system has an enormous selection, but even if you live in a smaller area, the library should have something. It also give a better variety to keep you from getting bored, especially with your winter being so long. The only other bit of advice is to get out as often as possible. Even if you can only get in a 10-15 minute outside walk (of course as long as it's safe), the outside light often will make it much easy to deal with the long winter. Even if it's just on the weekends, or a day or two during the week (although I know even in central Ohio, in the middle of winter, the sun has set when I get home from work at 5:15). Maybe there are some winter sports you could take up also...snowshoeing is suppose to be a great exercise, or just trekking through snow, shoveling snow, etc...snow provides great resistance.

You've gotten wonderful suggestions. I just wanted to add that you might like diet hot chocolate. The brand I get has 25 calories, it might help you get some hot water in.

I love the Leslie Sansone videos. If you have cable t.v. you might have some free fitness videos available to you.

Good luck and stay warm!

Holiday in Vancouver!!! They think -10 is cold!!! Bwahahahaha!

Pardon the wee stab, famograham :) I remember when I was studing at University, and some students from Vancouver had their winter jackets out in October. Ohboy, where they in for a surprise.

On the windiest most freezing of days it can reach -40 with windchill here. I don't think it was bad at all last winter - we were lucky. My brother was "chillin'" in Banff last year - colder than the North Pole there. They say, actually, we're in for an el nino winter, which probbaly means freezing rain for Montreal and serious snow way west.

I'm enjoying the cooler weather now but I really don't look forward to paying for a gym membership :(

LOL! :lol: No problem..I can take it ;) That's why I live here! I KNOW I couldn't handle your winters!

Last winter was a really strange one for Canada, warmer than average for you guys, and much colder and snowier than average for us. We actually had a little while with -21...which is positively FRIGID for us! AND We actually had to shovel our driveway for over a month....NASTY! (Pardon the wee stab back :lol: )

I though El Nino was going to give us a milder winter...no? :cry:


All in good fun! There are many reasons I choose to live in the Mediterranean of Canada, and winter is most certainly one of them! :lol:

:hug:
Linda

Yup - I call them West Coast Wusses.

Seriously, there are some things I keep JUST for winter treats.
- soaks in the tub with candles and a book
- single malt Scotch
- sf hot chocolate
- my furry robe and slippers
- pumpkin pie spice room spray
- my woodstove to heat the TV room
- come over for stew kind of suppers with friends
- a trip to Florida for a week or so
- seed catalogues

Just keep saying I AM CANADIAN!

I love that motto "Soup is the new Salad" hehehe I'm in Ontario and I know exactly what you mean, walking outside most days in the winter is taking your life (and ankles!) in your hands - I tend to do those videos "Walk away the pounds" and it works out just fine! and make a ton of veggie rich soups to freeze, veggie heavy stews in the crock pot - carrots and onions are always in season! frozen stuff is really nutrient rich it tuns out so you'll be a-ok !!!

I feel your despair also!! I'm about 30 minutes from the Canadian border of Quebec, I know that's not as North as some here but it's bad enough for me, it's the lack of sunlight/short days and the COLD and SNOW that lasts so long that gets me (and putting away my motorcycle until April!)

I totally rely on workout videos/dvd's for my sole exercise. I feel I"m too old to take up downhill skiing and I'm not motivated to try cross-country either...and some mornings, the only way I can seem to warm up is to just START a workout video; it is guaranteed that anything by Cathe Friedrich will have me drippy sweaty within 15 minutes! and the 30 Day Shred is great and concise.

I also bought a Light therapy lamp last year, to try to help with the light deprivation.

Everyone above gave great suggestions that I will also consider, I HATE winter!!

Do you have a crock pot? There are tons of great recipe's online. Try spark people.com and here at 3fc. I use mine year round, but I really love it in the winter. I don't like salads in the winter either, and rarely eat them when it's cold outside.

I'm from the land of cold and snow too, Vermont. (Hi, VermontMom!)

We switch over to making more chili and homemade soups during the fall and winter too.

As far as exercise, I love to walk--outdoors--so I have to get creative. I'll go out and walk in the snow, as long as it's not icy. Last year we snowblew/shoveled a big circle on our front lawn and I walked on that as often as I could. I just put on my pedometer and go out to walk the loop. Works for me.

Ok, so I realise that we don't even have winter here compared to what you're experiencing, but we also don't have central heating, so winter can be pretty depressing to live through. One thing I hadn't realised though was what a difference exercise makes to my mood in winter. During and after exercise I felt warm! I would go to the gym after work, and that would keep me warm for most of the evening, or at least until the heater had started to make a difference to the lounge room.

And roasting veges is a brilliant excuse to have the oven on for hours!

Have to chime in - I spent 4 years up at Mich Tech, including 1985 with the 300+ inches of snow winter. :) I empathize with the skyrocketing produce bills in the winter, believe me - but with Christmas around the corner, there's a little device out there called an Aerogarden. It's a tabletop hydroponic garden. I've had mine for two years, and the first winter, I did the lettuce pack and the second, the cherry tomatoes. Huge improvement over the cardboard store produce being trucked in from the southern tip of god knows where. Yummy stuff!

I lived in Michigan for 23 years and 18 years in the 'snow belt' of Ohio. Sometimes that snow and cold can be overwhelming. The good thing is that when you live in a snowy place - the cities usually know how to deal with snow and allows you to carry on with your daily life. I live in an area that only get sporadic snow storms. But, when they do - everything shuts down. It kind of cracks me up.

Nothing quite as fun as taking a wagon ride in the snow - out to the woods - to cut down a Christmas tree.

I love the winter recipes - soups, chili, one pot meals, crockpot.

As far as exercise - it's the same all year. Stretches, strengthening, recumbant bike.

I hear you on the cold, and windy as we get here in MN. Brrr! I love my crockpot in the winter. I just requested a couple of crockpot cookbooks from the library to review so that I can try some new recipes. I also do more knitting and sewing in the winter. Maybe you can swap out some of your lightbulbs for full-spectrum bulbs in areas that you spend alot of time at in your home. They seem super bright (DH joked that he needed sunglasses and sunscreen) at first, but it's worth a shot! I also really like water aerobics in the winter (crazy I know). Maybe because I take a really hot shower at the gym afterwards. I am not looking forward to the cold! When I was heavier I was always warm or too hot, now I'm freezing all the time. I love 90+ with humidity! I'm always chilled in air conditioning and have layered up all summer at work. I'm looking for excuses to start wearing sweaters with long sleeve tees.

I'm in northern Ontario, so yeah, I know what it's like when it's -28C (or worse!) for a week at a time.

I have a treadmill. I LOVE my treadmill. I've discovered Zumba. With my work schedule I can go 1-2x a week. When the snow comes, we'll be buying a membership at the local cross-country ski club and we'll do that (my DH and kids downhill ski, but I'm a wuss). Hey, it's even a tax credit!! How about snowshoeing? Honestly, having something fun to do outdoors makes the winter go by SO much faster. You just have to change your mindset WRT winter and you do get to enjoy it. Eventually. ;)

Oh, and also take vitamin D in the winter to help with what you're not getting from Mr. Sun (though we didn't see much of him this summer, either).

I've heard the nasty rumour that it'll be an El Nino winter, too. That sucks. There's not a whole lot that can be done in rain and freezing rain and I find that FAR more depressing than cold, white snow.

I'm in western Nebraska and we have cold, windy winters, short days, and so on. We don't get as much snow, but I still hate the cold.

I do lots of soups and stews too. One of my tricks to thicken some soups is instant potatoes. Sprinkle them in slowly and stir well. Add them slowly so you don't end up with it to thick.

As far as exercise, it's dark when I leave to go to work and dark when I head home. We have gym, but I'm to tight to pay $5 to go walking, so I usually do a few laps in Wal Mart with 40 pounds of dog food in my cart and then finish my shopping. If I don't need the dog food, I go put it back.:D

There is such a wealth of great ideas coming out in this thread!

I'm also dreading the coming of winter. I live in the foothills of a mountain range and we get a lot of snow here. I hate the months of driving on ice, and hate the fact that it's dark when I leave for work and dark before I get off work! Added to that, there are usually a couple of months where the valley is socked in and we don't see the sun for weeks at a time. Gahhh, I'm depressed thinking about it! I have an elliptical and I'll undoubtedly start using that again when winter comes, but part of me wishes I had a place to put a treadmill since I'm just now getting into running.

I need to enjoy fall and quit looking forward to the long, dark winter. Like another poster said, dreading winter is just as bad as experiencing it, so I can cut the pain in half if I just quit dreading it!

I feel you... I live in Minnesota... gotta love the loooooooooong winters. ;)

I find myself hiding indoors in the winter also, unless I have to leave for work, scrape the layers of ice of my car, or shovel my way out of the house. So for exercise I stick with workout videos amd general aerobics. I like Taebo and Windsor Pilates. I've also started getting into the Wii so that will be nice this winter.

As for food, I do more hearty veggies... aparagus, squash, etc. I also enjoy soups and am big on tea. Sometimes it's nice to treat yourself to some cider or cocoa too.