It’s Springtime – Aren’t We Supposed To Shedding Winter Pounds?
It’s springtime – aren’t we supposed to be losing weight? Shedding our winter pounds? Well, here are a few reasons we may be GAINING weight instead. This comes from registered dietician Dawn Jackson Blatner.
- The first reason we’re gaining weight? Cadbury Eggs are at every check out aisle. More candy is consumed on and around Easter than any other time of the year, except Halloween, and the candy seems to linger around the house for weeks. Think about it: 90 million chocolate bunnies are sold and 16-BILLION jelly beans.
- The second reason we’re gaining weight this Spring: We’re exercising more. I know, it sounds counterintuitive, but when the weather gets nice and we start exercising more, we start eating more to compensate. But a 600 calorie smoothie has twice as many calories as you can burn in a half-hour jog. And exercise actually suppresses your appetite for about 2 hours, so if you feel hungry, you’re probably dehydrated. Drink some water instead.
- Another reason we gain weight this time of year? Longer days. When it stays light later, we go to bed later. And a lack of sleep triggers hunger hormones. Also, dinner may get pushed back until it’s dark out, so you have more snacking hours in between lunch and dinner.
- And lastly, the reason we gain weight in spring: We start drinking iced coffee drinks. But a small Dunkin Donuts Coffee Coolatta has 400 calories. And liquid calories don’t register as real food in your brain -- you end up eating just as much solid food as you normally would. So what may sound harmless, iced coffee, could be the reason you can’t fit into your khakis yet. Stick with plain iced coffee, a little skim milk with a shot of sugar-free syrup at Dunkin Donuts and save yourself 300 calories.
