Fall/winter weight management thread

[shootingstar]

Each woman finds the best or better journey that works for them. I say "woman" because most definitely as part of the aging process, menopause/perimenopause can affect our metabolism each decade forward.

I've accepted (abit resignedly) that this is what one must deal with every year ..for the rest of our lives. I do gain up to approx.5- 6 lbs. by the end of the winter --and each winter it has varied..for the lst 14 years of cycling, I stopped cycling in the winter Nov.-early Apr. and simply walked/took transit daily when I lived in Toronto. This covers lst few years of returning to cycling as an adult.

Now it seems increasingly harder past few years ... when I'm actually exercising abit more in the winter where I live in Calgary (Alberta) because...I DO cycle several times per wk. even if only 50% less distance because of the pavement conditions and very cold winter temperatures. This is a drastic change from when I lived in Toronto. Where I live, is the coldest winter region I've ever lived in my life so far in Canada with winters that are longer. We still got snow in this early May. A lot of the long-time locals were complaining too.

When I lived in Vancouver it was the same winter weight gain, but only slightly moderated because I was cycling several times / wk. and longer distances but in warmer winters with more rain. One thing I learned was that I must eat supper no later than 7:00 pm or even earlier because I gain weight. It happened when I lived and commuted to construction job site for 3 years during part of my Vancouver years. I didn't eat anything for lunch beyond a fruit, and couldn't eat dinner until 8:00 pm. after a 1.5 hr. long walk-transit-bike (parked in a locker at a station) commute. And I gained weight! It was a bizarre weight experience.

So for the past few years I eat around 6:00 pm or earlier because my job ends at 4:00 pm and I live a few km. from work.

My diet changes over the years: ....I'm eating more sweets than I did 20 years ago. So that's habit I have to watch. I haven't been eating white rice much (except 5-6 times annually) for the past 7 years because its high GI causes a sugar crash (which I don't feel when I have a cookie...maybe I'm not paying attention). I've cut down my white bread consumption overall in the last 25 years..down to maybe equivalent of 1-2 items per wk.

This year, my annual cycling mileage is probably a lot less by several hundred km. because I haven't done a cycling loaded tour than ran more than 3 days long ..and just less longer trips locally but still cycling daily because I don't have a car. I am not certain why my weight kept @ right level. Not clear. I often cycle daily....because I must...to work, to shop and do errands. Cycling just for fitness tends to happen by adding on extra km. after work or on weekends by extending a bike ride while I'm heading towards a shopping mall at the edge of the city from downtown where I live. Often I am cycling with pannier weight. This alone is probably the happiest "deception" for myself, in terms of combining chores + exercise/cycling out of utilitarian necessity. It keeps my body gently stoked for cycling during the winter.

So I keep wearing certain pairs of dress pants, jeans and shorts..um...sorry..for past decade or so, to remind myself subtly instead of just relying on weigh scale. Honest, it keeps me on weight management path in the right direction ..if I still want to wear my black jeans (which I do 50% of time on the job), walking shorts, etc.

I have never counted calories in my life and could not live via weight watchers points (which I hear about from someone at work). For me, it would add another "counting" obsession which would suck the joy of eating just good, tastefully prepared food. I stress that's just me. If it works for you, great! I just gravitate towards food that is generally (though not always perfectly) healthy. I probably prepare home dishes to eat...that are based on about 25 different recipes which I vary a lot in terms of certain ingredients/techniques on a whim/creative urge. I don't even call half of what I prepare "recipes", because much of it was taught by my mother. Over 50% of what I prepare..is what I was fed...as a child/teen which was Asian healthy. Thank you mother!!! I'm just too lazy to try 50 more different recipes because half of this stuff works for me already. But hey, always open to a new healthy dish to memorize and add to my repertoire.

Right now, it's snowing big fluffy flakes. First snowfall of..mid-autumn here.