You worked your butt off last spring by exercising and making healthy meal preparation a priority. You felt fantastic in that new swimming suit and slender white pants, having reaped the benefits. But now that Labor Day has passed, your jeans are feeling particularly tight, and “You go, girl!” has gotten up and departed.
Summer weight gain, while unpleasant, is typically quite typical, according to experts. Adults tend to gain roughly 1 pound over a one-to three-week vacation, according to research published in March 2016 in Physiology & Behavior.
The good news is that regaining your footing isn’t as difficult as you think. Here are eight common summer weight gain traps that you should avoid. We’ll show you how to prevent them for next year, as well as how to address extra pounds before the winter comes!
1. You Didn’t Bring a Waist-Friendly Platter to Your Friends’ Backyard Barbecues
Most individuals believe that summer is a simpler time to lose weight, but this isn’t actually the case. Summer tends to be seasonal parties and gatherings. Because many of those celebrations include food and drink consumption, you may take in more than you burn.
Solution: Bring share-friendly plates to your next party so you don’t damage your weight. Health and wellness bloggers have provided a plethora of recipes on the internet. Pin these registered dietitian-approved meals for next year’s summer parties: homemade salsa, a strawberry salad, and garlic-roasted green beans.
If you’re not sure what a certain food contains in terms of calories, try the MyFitnessPal calorie counter, which has almost five stars on the App Store and is free to download there and on Google Play. This software may save time because it imports nutrition information from a recipe, and the app will give you diet recommendations based on what you like.
2. You Didn’t Have a Party Strategy in Place
You’ve discovered your problem if your idea of a weekend barbecue was as simple as, “I’m going to a barbecue today. I’ll eat whatever’s available,” for example.
Solution The first step is to find a good-for-you alternative. The second step is meal preparation.
“Plan a mental dress rehearsal of what you’ll eat and drink if you know you’re going to a pool party,” advises Samantha Cassetty, RD, a nutrition and weight loss expert with a virtual counseling practice in New York City. “It may appear silly, but visualizing an imagined run-through might help you stay on track with your health goals. Even if you don’t stick to your plan 100 percent, chances are you’ll bring more intention and awareness to the situation.” Try this: Visualize a buffet table with salad, fruit kebabs, burgers, and pasta salad. Plan to fill half your plate with veggies and fruit.
If you’re still stuck, try downloading one of the many meal planning applications available for download on your smartphone. Eat This Much is a well-rated, free app that asks you to choose your favorite diet plan, daily calorie intake, and number of meals. It then provides customized meal and snack ideas with calorie data.
You may use an application like this to better visualize how portion sizes relate to calorie counts, so you know what you’re getting when browsing the snack table at your next party. You may also go through these suggestions and get ideas for healthy platters to make yourself.
3. You Let Your Exercise Routine Slide Away
If you live and die by your calendar, keeping any sort of workout regimen has probably been difficult for you this summer. Because of school breaks and vacations, schedules tend to vary throughout the summer. An erratic schedule may cause you to miss out on your workout more frequently than anticipated.
Solution Start on a small scale. If you’ve been neglecting your fitness routine, try to spend 10 minutes doing something physical. Setting an easy, achievable goal feels less daunting than attempting to reach for the stars. When you’re feeling like you’ve gotten back into a pattern, join the group fitness bandwagon to keep yourself honest.
Commit to paying for workout sessions that you can use at a time of your choosing, such as Orange Theory, SoulCycle, Pilates, or even one-on-one personal training. You may now do in-home workouts via companies like Aaptiv, Obé Fitness, BBG, and Peloton. If there’s a financial incentive on the line, you’ll be less likely to skip your workout.
Keeping your fitness top of mind may also be a challenge. Fortunately, various accountability apps on your smartphone or smartwatch can offer feedback.
Check out Lark, a free software created by Stanford and Harvard University researchers that utilizes artificial intelligence (AI). This top-rated program is available on the App Store and Google Play, and it replaces calorie accounting with personalized weight loss guidance based on your current diet and lifestyle habits.
4. You Had Too Many Summertime Drinks
Many a party may have passed you by without you having ordered margaritas and frosé. That does not imply, though, that you saved calories by doing so. Soda, sweet tea, milkshakes, and slushy beverages all sound delectable in the heat. But they contain a lot of calories from sugar which can make you have summer weight gain. Consuming more added sugars is linked to consuming more calories and an increased risk of developing obesity, prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.
Solution Cutting down on refined sugar won’t affect the taste. Try unsweetened iced tea, such as hibiscus, and make your own bottle of a low- or no-added-sugar drink. Consider strawberry lemon iced tea, a sangria imitation, or an iced prune beverage
You could also invest in a blender, mix up your own delicious naturally sweet drink, and enjoy it while relaxing on the couch. There are plenty of sugar-free options available if you’re looking for some additions to add flavor and texture (fruit, vegetables, seeds (flaxseed, chia seeds), avocado, cinnamon). Beans may even be an option.
5. You Eat Later
The summer solstice is the longest day of the year, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac. Longer days and longer nights can result in more late-night meals and beverages. You may find yourself getting up at the same time but going to bed later as a result of the extended daylight. It’s also conceivable that you’re eating more because you are awake longer.
Solution Make sleep a priority as you get back into your regular routine. Set a sleep reminder on your smartphone or smartwatch to begin with. For example, Fitbit allows you to create a reminder advising you when it’s time to rest.
You may want to seek the advice of a trained dietitian in order to achieve your weight goal. However, you might consider eating at least three times each day. According to an article published in the Journal of Nutrition, eating more than three times per day has no negative impact on how hungry you are and how much you can eat, but eating fewer times will make you hungrier.
Snacks between meals might be scarce, but there are plenty of options for healthy choices like fresh fruit, low- or nonfat dairy (yogurt and cheese are great picks), and whole-grain cereal, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
6. You’re Completely Embracing the Vacation Mind-Set
It’s great if you have discovered your Zen this summer. It’s very typical to spend the entire summer in a more laid-back mode, which might include relaxing your healthy routines until after Labor Day. When you’re on vacation and eating out more frequently, enjoying richer foods like ice cream or fries, and exercising less frequently, it’s common to gain a little weight.
Solution Consider how you think about snacks. It doesn’t have to be all about food culture all of the time. By establishing a category in your budget for “me” time, whether it’s a monthly massage, a mani-pedi, or another wellness ritual of your choosing, you can maintain these healthy routines into the future. Stick to your budget and maintain these healthier habits through the next summer.
7. You’ve Traveled More Miles than Usual on the Road (or in the Air)
During the summer, people travel more both domestically and abroad. Rest areas and airports offer candy and sugar-sweetened beverages as well as snacks. Read: You may be eating too many Skittles and M&Ms or sugary lattes.
Solution For any future family travel, keep nutritious snacks on hand in your luggage. Instead of salty chips, bring your own no-sugar-added fruit-and-nut bars (RXBars are a registered dietitian favorite) or portioned nuts instead. If you’re going somewhere local, portable fruit, such as a fresh apple or pear is a better alternative than candy.
Keep your healthful snacks fresh on the road with a soft cooler, which you can readily collapse on the journey home. Despite being costly, the Hopper M30 Yeti cooler ($425.99) has consistently made “best of” lists for soft coolers in recent years.
8. You’ve Put Too Much Stress on Yourself
If you’ve been anxious about gaining weight as a result of your busy summer routine or frequent visits to the beach, don’t deprive yourself or plunge headfirst into a restrictive fad diet. This may be more harmful than beneficial for your waistline.
A study published in September 2017 in the journal Public Health Nutrition found that skipping breakfast and an afternoon snack was linked to a higher risk of obesity. And most diets, according to health experts, only provide a temporary fix for weight loss.
Worse, research has shown that among adult women, the pressure to attain an unattainable physical form is uncommon. According to findings presented in a July 2015 study in Advances in Eating Disorders, women who feel societal pressure to look young and thin are more likely to suffer from eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia. Many women, according to the researchers, may even limit what they eat in order to prevent weight gain.
Solution Instead of making yourself feel guilty or depriving yourself, savor your meals and don’t regret the good times you’ve spent together. If you believe that you have overindulged and are feeling sluggish because of it, that’s OK. It’s fine if you think negatively when you’re not where you want to be. A more positive attitude can be developed with the best-selling book Find Your Happy Daily Mantras ($17.99, Amazon.com).
Finally, keep in mind that you may get back on track with a mental shift and a specific strategy.
Don’t put things off any longer: get back on track right now. If you go to a barbecue and overeat, don’t think, “I blew it”. Feel good about that meal. The next time you take a seat to eat, consider the meals that make you feel slim and energized.