Have you fallen “off the ban wagon” this winter? Have the goals you set at the start of the year gone out the window? With good intentions at the start of the year, healthy habits seem to drop off over winter. Life gets in the way, it gets cold, we hibernate a bit, we get tired, we get busy. But whats important and what I always say is that consistency is key.

I talk about consistency A LOT! Because it is so important. Being up and down with habits does not lead to achievement of our goals. It’s easy for life to get in the way and actions you set at the start of the year to drop off. Consistency however is the key to making lasting change. Things take time. If you can set goals that are small, rather than trying to do too much, you can maintain your changes when life gets in the way.

Here are my top tips to staying consistent over winter:

Set Small achievable goals at the start of the year that are easy to maintain all year round. For example: instead of trying to exercise 7 days per week, aim for 3 per week as a smaller more maintainable option (less is more).
Plan Plan Plan - Get in the habit of planning your food shopping on a weekly basis. Set it in stone like an appointment, all year round, week in week out.
Find exercise you enjoy - There is no point starting out the year at the gym if you hate it. It certainly will drop off over winter if thats the case. Again, ask yourself, what do you truly enjoy? This will make it easier to maintain when the colder weather sets in.
Don’t be afraid of “Warm” winter food. Whether its hot or cold foods, what matters are the portions! You can still eat stews, pastas and warm dinners. Remember it’s about looking at your portions of protein, carbohydrate and veggies on the plate. Aim for 1/4 protein, 1/4 carbs and 1/2 plate of veggies.
Avoid FAD diets that you might start then blow out of it over winter. Let go of dieting and start with something more maintainable that can be continued long term. Eating regularly, meeting all the food groups without restriction and honouring your hunger and fullness.
Mindset /Mentality- do you have the mindset of “its winter now, I’ve stuffed up my eating now, will wait for summer to work on it again? You don’t need to stop or wait, nothing needs to change over winter.
Think about whats really stopping you over winter? Is it time? Work? Stress? Weather? There really are no excuses; time, weather, its all an illusion. There are ways around all of these things, it may just take a bit of adjustment. Do you need to buy a warmer winter coat to go walking in? Do you need to say no to house cleaning to do some exercise instead? Do you need to work on decreasing stress? Reducing your overall life load and look at your work/life balance? Do you need to set some boundaries for shopping/planning? All of these external factors matter.
See your goals as long term. Do you start and when you haven’t achieved exactly what you’re after in a short time you give up or stop? In my opinion, goals take years to achieve. For example, whatever your goals are: Weight loss, Improving energy, being better at your sport, being fitter, this all takes a long time + consistency to achieve. Keep going!!