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Sunday, January 30, 2011

Battle of the Bulge

...or  maybe the War of the Winter Wasteline.  We have all been struggling with trying to be active and eat healthy during these winter doldrums.  Many times when you hear us Upper Midwesterners complain about winter we are weary of the length of the season more than the cold.

Sure it gets cold, like 30 below zero, but how long winter lasts is what gets to me.  The snow that covered the yard in November is still all there and it will be through March.  The driveway and walks keep getting narrower, but not me. 

It's hard to exercise in the winter.  I am too cheap to pay for gym membership or to drive into town to the gym.  Our normal activities include mainly outdoor activities.  There are outdoor winter activities but they aren't things you do on the spur of the moment.  Some of the most popular winter activities aren't even close to exercise.  Things like the snowmobile and ice fishing.  Even activities like snowshoeing are more difficult because it's cold out and dark so early.

Another issue we have is how nice it is to snuggle in the house with some comfort foods.  Most of these foods, for us, are carbs.   Hot cocoa, cookies, cinnamon rolls, crackers, chips, etc.  Tonight we had another discussion with Spark about why you can't scarf down carbs all day.  Topics like the lack of nutrition, unhealthy co-ingredients like fat and salt, and mainly how they don't actually fill you up, rather they make you crave more snacky carbs. 

Tomorrow we are going to all make food diaries to make it easier to see how often and what we eat.  The diary also helps to put in perspective "Do I want to walk on the treadmill for 45 minutes just to eat that?"  Hopefully a little extra attention will mean less seasonal padding.

This just in, 4 to 8 inches of (more) snow by dinner time Monday. 

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