February 1, 2019

Tips & Tricks to Staying Active Through the Winter

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Staying active in the winter is something that isn’t necessarily easy for me… It is something that I have to really work hard on and to force myself to do it. I shared about my postpartum depression journey here and how exercising was something that really made a difference in my mental health. I was doing amazing in the fall, waking up early every day, having a killer morning routine that also had exercising in it, and so much more. Then winter came. The dark mornings. Cold weather. No sunshine. I lost all of my morning routine. I stopped exercising for a few weeks. I went into “hibernation”. I knew I needed something to pull me out of that, to bring the happiness and mental clarity back to my life so I set some goals and made some changes to my day to make sure that exercising was one of them. I am by no means an expert or anything but these are some things that have really made a difference for me.

Easy Tips to Staying Active Through The Winter

1 – HOLD YOURSELF ACCOUNTABLE

Find a friend that you can talk to about your workouts and if you don’t have someone (I didn’t until just the last year) I would love to be that person for you. Someone that doesn’t make you feel terrible when your workout doesn’t happen but also cheers you on and says how proud of you they are when you do exercise. Holding myself accountable and marking it off on a to-do list on my phone and on my planner really helps me to stay accountable to myself too.

2 – MOVE YOUR BODY EVERY DAY NO MATTER WHAT

When I don’t move my body I notice, I notice in the way that I feel, in the fact that I loose my momentum of exercising, and so much more. Moving my body every single day is something that I force myself to do. It is something that even if it is 10:00 pm I go downstairs and walk on the treadmill for a minute. Moving my body makes my mind so much clearer and boosts my mood so much. When I lost my momentum and routine of exercising was when I missed one day…one day turned into 2, 2 turned into 2 weeks, and so on. Even if I just walk for 5 minutes it reminds me of the commitment I made to myself and how important moving my body is to me.

3 – SET REALISTIC GOALS

Don’t set unreasonable expectations for yourself. If you set a lofty goal then you are just setting yourself up for failure. Set a goal that you know you can hit, get use to it, and then push yourself to a harder goal. I started with exercising 3 days a week, after I was set in a habit with that I added in 2 more days and do cardio on those days. Set yourself up to succeed, not to fail.

I hope that these tips help you to get your body moving during the winter. I feel like it is even more important during the winter because of how cold it is and my body needs the endorphins more than ever. In the warmer months I am outside with my kids, running around, enjoying the sunshine and in the winter time I am inside, snuggling, and being cozy. My body needs to move and this is how I force myself to do it!

 

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