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Diet Fireside Chat, Seasonal Weight Loss Tips & Advice

Come, sit by the fire with us  as we talk about the good things in store for your winter diet plan.  We'll help take the chill out of your diet and pipe in some warmth that will keep you cozy, snuggly, and skiing downhill where weight loss is concerned. Have you got your diet cocoa in hand? Good! Let's chat....

In the dead of winter, the best meals are heart warming meals - such as chicken and dumplings, pot pies, Irish stew, rich soups, chowders, chili,  warm breakfast cereals, hot fruity pies and steamed puddings.

During the chill of winter, your body requires foods that sustains for a longer period of time than during the hotter months.

The mere fact that it's colder influences your diet in so many ways. For one, the body burns more calories when its cold - although don't practice shivering because any calories that would be burned, would be minimal - and getting chilled, of course, produces great risk to good health.

Keep in mind that food intake impacts the numbers on your weight scales more than any other factor related to dieting.  Activity plays its most important role in keeping the body fit and works to fortify endurance - a very important area of concern for winter dieters. Activity level greatly impacts lifespan, as well as quality of life.

Although winter offers an array of fun activities such as sledding, skating, skiing and cooler hiking, for the average Joe, it means being locked inside until the birth of Spring.  Frankly, some regions make it difficult - if not impossible, to hit the icy terrain with vim and vigor.

You may need to discover new haunts - such as an indoor skating rink.  Do some holiday shopping, or catch the 'after holiday' sales. Walking the malls is a method for enjoying a healthy dose of activity.  

Or build a snowman if you have snow. Shovel some snow to clear the driveway and sidewalks - but take heed to always get your doctor's thumb's up before tackling strenuous activity. Being overweight puts the body at a higher risk for health issues, including injury - and you don't want to kill yourself trying to get healthy! Each winter - how many times do we tune in the news to hear that someone with a heart condition experienced a heart attack (or worse) while shoveling snow?

So how many calories will you burn with a particular activity?

The calorie burns indicated are based on a man weighing 175 pounds and a woman weighing 130 pounds. If the individual weighs less, then less calories will be burned. And if they weigh more - then more calories will be burned. But weight and gender is only one determining factor of the Caloric Burn. Others include: Height, muscle mass, metabolic rate, body frame size and weather conditions.

The data below will provide an average idea of the caloric burn per activity. In addition, we have separated the level of activities from light to super strenuous.

Light Activities which burn about 45 calories per 10 minutes: Cleaning the house, working a desk job, golfing with use of motorized cart.

Moderate Activities that will burn about 70 calories per 10 minutes: Bicycle riding at a slow pace, walking at a brisk pace, gardening, taking the stairs, shoveling snow, playing basketball.

Strenuous Activities help to burn about 110 calories per 10 minutes: Intense jog, playing football, swimming.

Exceptionally Strenuous Activities that burn about 135 calories per 10 minutes: Fast running, Cross-Country Skiing and playing racquetball. Out of these, the most strenuous activity - as well as the one which will burn more calories is Cross-Country-Skiing.

Relaxation Time is as essential as Activity Time when dieting.

The following relaxing activities are fantastic ideas to help get you started:

Read a thrilling book while sipping warm tea, create a masterpiece by working on a Paint-by-Number OR visit your local craft store and buy a canvas and paints to climb to a broader spectrum.  

Knitting, sewing, crocheting, quilting, playing chess or electronic games, watching a bit of television, going to the movies - and yes, even cooking are all fabulous ways to unwind and add richness to your life while dieting.

Enjoy winter, enjoy your diet - and be sure to brush up on your holiday diet plans by sifting through the articles at Diet Bites. We hope that you will drop by for our Spring diet chat!  Good luck, good journey, and good dieting our dear friend....