Cold Weather and Loss Of Motivation

I'm sure I'm not the only one that feels like hibernating when the cold weather sets in. Don't get me wrong I love seeing the leaves changing colour, it can be quite nice going out for a long walk in the brisk air but generally I see this time of year as a chance to get cosy infront of a fire. This however also means I get a huge loss of motivation when it comes to exercise and staying fit and unfortunately this also leads to me getting lazy with my diet too.

My normal routine for exercise is to get up early in the morning before the kids wake up and work out before I have little people requesting an array of things from me. But lets be honest at 6.30 am it is bloody freezing and quite frankly still looks like night time outside. So I do what any normal person would do, lean over, press snooze and quickly snuggle back under the covers.

But I want to change my ways. Every year I reach this point and put on ridiculous amounts of weight which makes me feel even worse about myself than I do anyway and  the silly thing is that I can't blame anyone else but myself. I'm kind of hoping by writing this down that I will persuade myself to get into a better mindset.

I'd like to reach the end of the year looking better and feeling healthier than I did at the start of the year. I want to make all the effort I've put in so far this year worth it. We are due to go on holiday in June 2016 and my husband would love me to be confident enough in myself to put a bikini on without being worried what others may think.

So what I'm thinking is that instead of exercising in the mornings, I might switch it up and start working out once the kids have gone to bed instead. I have an alterior motive for this as well because I am secretly hoping that exercising later in the day will tire me out and somehow help me in my quest to fall asleep at night because I've had enough of staring into the dark at 2am!!

Food wise I've seriously got to learn the word no, I keep saying yes to alcohol, yes to takeaways and this is not helping when it comes to getting up and moving because the junk intake is adding to me feeling sluggish and non energetic.

The good thing about this time of year is that soup is back on the menu and plenty of slow cooker meals like stews etc. Easy dinners to make and batch cook. I think combining this and getting back to meal planning will hopefully make a big difference.

I'm also challenging myself each week to cut out something from my diet which isn't so good for me, this week I've decided to give up bread. As much as I love it, it seriously bloats me which is something my body could do without!!

My aim these next two months isn't really to lose a lot of weight but to continue being focused with being healthier as I'd like to end the year how I started it, feeling happier about my body.

Do any of you struggle keeping motivated in the colder months? Do you have any tips on how to stick with it?

xxxx