How to Beat Winter Weight Gain

It is easy to gain weight when several holidays are packed into shorter days. But winter can bring a bevy of fitness opportunities while warming your home with succulent smells. Jazzercise Founder and CEO Judi Sheppard Missett says prepare a nourishing meal, then go dashing through the snow (or sloshing through the rain, depending on your climate)!
 
Healthy Winter Meals

-Using a slow cooker, also known as a Crock-Pot, allows you to make healthy meals when you’re not at home. Just throw everything together and when you get back, your home will smell delicious and dinner will be waiting.

-Roasting is the simplest way to get great flavor without adding many calories. Vegetables can be roasted ahead of time and reheated for dinner. Serve as a side dish or add to soups, stews or chili.  

-Soup can be a low-calorie, nutrient-dense meal. Make your own stock using onions, celery, carrots and bones from a rotisserie chicken. Strain and add vegetables, leftover brown rice or low-fat protein.

-Stews and chili are also warm and healthy options. They can be made in a Crock-Pot, in the oven or on the stove top. Just add a simple green salad for a complete meal.

-Nothing warms a cold home like baking. Bake whole apples for a healthy dessert, or puree and use to replace some oil in baked goods. A puree of water and prunes, or any dried fruit, such as apricots or peaches, also works well.

Cold Play

-While the Crock-Pot simmers, get out and play. A woman weighing 130 pounds will burn 495 calories while cross country skiing at a moderate pace for 60 minutes. Not to mention, cross country skiing is great for sculpting the legs!

-That same woman will burn 433 calories in 60 minutes of ice skating or an hour of snowshoeing.

-In the spirit of giving, shovel your neighbor's driveway or rake up the fall leaves.

-Cutting your own Christmas tree creates a memorable family experience while burning calories.

-Walk through a corn maze, sign up for a turkey trot marathon, sing Christmas carols with a group and ditch the New Year’s party for a midnight walk or run.