We know how hard it can be to feel motivated in Winter! Tucking up under the blankets, watching movies, ordering takeaway and eating a block of chocolate might be calling your name.. But don’t stress, we’ve got you!
Our June 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge is here to show you that you can eat delicious warming recipes and lose weight even when the weather is against you!
Plus with the temperature starting to drop it’s a good time to think about supercharging your body, building up immunity and staying fit and healthy to help ward off flu and colds during the colder months.
Make this Winter different!
As the temperature drops, it’s very common for your motivation to plummet. This is where we come in!
Our 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge has literally hundreds of exercises you can do from the comfort of your own home, track pants or pyjamas are totally acceptable, don’t worry about getting dressed for the gym or leaving the house.
Our brand new Bodyweight program has been a huge hit with our 28 Day Challenge mums! With no equipment needed to complete these workouts they will help to tone and target your entire body over 28 days. Plus utilising bodyweight in your workouts minimises set up and clean up time for exercise, leaving no excuses to not move your body. Simply clear some space for you to move, open your app and you’re off!
Did we mention the best part? At The Healthy Mummy you never go hungry or miss out!
These affordable and incredibly delicious recipes are just a taste of what you get to eat as part of our 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge! We understand busy mums and the need for affordable family friendly recipes that will make your life easier not harder. We want to keep your family happy and healthy during the colder months, plus these recipes will help keep you full and help boost your immunity as well.
Healthy French Toast with Walnuts and Maple Syrup
Find the recipe for French Toast with walnuts and maple syrup here.
COST: $1.10 per serve
Raspberry Muffins
COST: $1 per serve
Sticky Chicken and Fried Rice Tray Bake
COST: $0.75 per serve
Slow Cooker Porcupine Meatballs
COST: $1.80 per serve
Baked Pear Custard Tart
Get the Baked Pear Custard Tart recipe here.
COST: $1 per serve
All of these recipes plus thousands more can be found on The Healthy Mummy app.
Try these Quick and Easy Warming Winter Soups
It’s true people tend to gain weight in winter!
A recent study found that adults had a higher waist circumference in the winter rather than summer. This may be because your body stores fat during the shorter, darker days.
What’s more, according to our recent study, 53 per cent of mums revealed they gained between 4-10kgs last winter!
8 reasons why people gain weight in winter:
1. It’s cold!
People tend to lose their summer exercise routine, whether it’s walking or working out at outside gymnasiums in the park.
There are no excuses, these easy indoor exercises will keep you going even if it’s cold and raining outside.
Work out from the comfort of your home with The Healthy Mummy.
2. Comfort food is warming
For some reason, we all tend to reach for the stodgy, hearty food in the cooler season. Probably because it’s warm and comforting.
3. It’s evolutionary
Many animals hibernate in the winter, and according to researchers at the University of Exeter, it’s in our biological makeup to eat more in the colder months, because historically food was scarce in the winter. But fear not, if you’re aware of it, you can be more conscious of it.
Keep track of what you’re eating with the calorie counter on our 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge.
4. We sleep more
In the winter we tend to want to sleep more, we go to bed earlier and wake up later. This may be because our body clocks usually associate the dark mornings and evenings with night time.
5. Winter affects our hormones
The lack of sunlight can affect our hormones. And we tend to feel more groggy when the sun isn’t out.
6. We feel depressed
7. We hide under layers
It’s easy to hide our bodies under baggy, warm clothing in the winter months.
8. Metabolism changes in the winter
The colder weather can affect our metabolism. And this may cause us to change our eating patterns – we may tend to eat more and crave heartier food.
Staying healthy in winter
When the weather starts to get cooler do you get a little nervous about losing less weight or even putting on weight?
1. Try a different exercise
Don’t use the cooler weather as an excuse to not exercise. Give your routine a boost and reinvigorate it with some different exercises. Try some hot powered yoga. Try running on your lunch break.
Try dancing for 10 minutes at 6am. Try something different and keep your heart beating and moving.
2, Take up a night time hobby
One of the worst tricks of winter is the late night curse of TV and warm desserts. Although this is deliciously relaxing, take up a new hobby so you do not sit there mindlessly eating warm comfort foods.
Start stretching, reading, writing a book, taking photos, craft, warm baths, learning a new language. There is so much time in the evenings that we often waste.
3. Eat hearty foods
Winter food can be hearty without the fat and kilojoules. Try thickening up soups with barley, legumes or soup mix. Add in tinned tomatoes and a little cornflour.
Puree cooked vegetable to thicken up a stew, casserole or soup. Cut off the fat of your meat cuts and add in additional herbs and spices instead. If you desperately want to use cream, try reduced fat or even low fat plain yoghurt as a substitute.
4. Drink hot drinks
Avoid the hot coffee and the full fat creamy hot chocolates. Of course have one every now and then, but warm yourself up regularly with a delicious array of teas. There are so many herbal teas around these days which are flavoursome, refreshing and warming during winter without the calories.
5. Rug up
A little cold outside, rug yourself and the kids up and get outside to run around. The reduced humidity with clear crisp blue skies is the most beautiful time to get out and be active.
Get on a bike and ride the tracks and play tip in the garden. Get out and be active, even if it is a little cold.
6. Get online
There are some great exercise videos and recipes online for some inside healthy eating and exercising inspiration. Check out all of our recipes here and some exercise tips as well for you to get active at home.
7 ideas for exercising in winter
1. Work out in the lounge room
Grab your Healthy Mummy App and pick one of the 500 workouts available. You could do a 10 or 15 minute session as often as you can squeeze in. Why not try doing a session before the kids get up, while they nap, or while they’re occupied eating lunch?
2. Use equipment at home
If you’ve got anything like a treadmill, skipping rope, or some hand weights – pull those out and use them in the warmth of the house.
3. Head to a heated pool
If you live near an indoor heated pool, pack the kids up and head there in the cold weather. Jumping about in the warm water can burn calories while you play with the kids at the same time. You could even meet a friend there with their kids and take turns for a ten minute solo swim.
4. Run up and down the stairs
If you have stairs at home, spend ten minutes a few times a day just running up and down them. It’s a great way to boost your heart rate, and the interval style training is great for toning too. Find out more about the benefits of stair running here.
5. Go to the mall
A shopping mall is a great place to go when it’s cold outside. They’re air conditioned, have parking out the front, and are free of wind/rain/snow so there’s no chance of blaming the elements for cancelling your workout.
Pop the kids in a pram or trolley and go for a half hour walk around the mall (it can be a good idea to give the kids a snack and a drink to keep them busy).
6. Add more incidental exercise to your day
Take your time doing tasks at home to boost your steps and general movement. For instance you could fold the washing and take each item of clothing to pack away one at a time.
You could do squats while you wait for the microwave to beep. Do some lunges while you spoon-feed a baby. Everything you do burns calories – from gardening to housework.
10 activities to help boost your “incidental exercise”
7. Make a play date
If your kids play well with someone else’s children, try inviting them over to play while you and the other mum do some exercise.
This way they are entertained enough to allow you to do a quick circuit (such as the HIIT exercises in our 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge).
Are you ready to become a Healthy Mummy?