Warding off winter weight woes
January 10, 2018 7:36 AM   Subscribe

Winter has come, and I want to eat all. The. Time. Is there anyway to curb my out of control appetite?

Every winter I gain about 5 to 10 pounds, then effortlessly lose the weight between June-September. My eating drive drastically increases again like clockwork as soon as October rolls around, though. I think it might be related to shortening daylight rather than cold, since this past year we had a mild fall but the annual struggle to not eat began as usual.

It almost feels like a hormonal thing similar to the week before my period, where I have a deep, gnawing hunger that will not go away even after eating reasonable meals.

I have a healthy diet with no refined sugar and few refined carbs (and no desire for either, so it's not like I'm depriving myself). I exercise outside during daylight hours several times a week and take a vitamin D supplement.

I'm grateful that I lose the weight every summer without even trying, but it still does not seem healthy to have this annual yo-yoing of my weight. I'm also really uncomfortable with how my clothes currently fit and look.

I have a physical coming up at the end of the month--is there anything I should ask about then? Anything else I might try to cope?
posted by whistle pig to Health & Fitness (12 answers total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
Every winter I gain about 5 to 10 pounds, then effortlessly lose the weight between June-September.

If it's not creeping inexorably upward year on year, then I respectfully put it to you that your metabolism is working exactly as it should and that your weight is not an issue you need to be worrying about.

it still does not seem healthy to have this annual yo-yoing of my weight

Unhealthy yo-yoing is what happens to people who deliberately eat less than our bodies are telling us to in a desperate attempt to get weight off, then suffer the inevitable collapse of willpower and put it all back on again plus more. If your bodyweight pattern is stable year on year, then I think such yo-yoing as you're doing is healthy and trying to curb the winter warmth-building phase of your cycle will do you more harm than good.
posted by flabdablet at 8:04 AM on January 10, 2018 [8 favorites]


If this is purely a hormonal thing for you, I'm not sure if this will work, but have you tried some high-protein snacks? A hardboiled egg or a Greek yogurt will add ballpark 70-100 cals to your daily intake, but I often find a small amount of protein to be much more satiating than carb- or fat-heavy snacks. Cold cuts or jerky can work too if you're not worried about salt.
posted by Diablevert at 8:07 AM on January 10, 2018


I exercise outside during daylight hours several times a week

Are you increasing your activity levels past your general summer-months baseline? Increased exercise often leads me to experience the same sort of hunger you're describing. I try to counter this by switching to meals that are bulkier and more filling/dense, so the exercise doesn't paradoxically lead to weight gain, but it's a pretty marked effect, for me.
posted by halation at 8:16 AM on January 10, 2018 [1 favorite]


Eponysterical! Seriously, have you ever compared the whistle pigs you see in the summer vs. winter? They get huuuge!
Anyway, In my inexpert opinion, annual 5 pound swings are no big deal, and might be just right for you.

If you don't think you can tide your appetite with high protein snacks as suggested above, you can also consider following your totem animal, and stuffing your face with plain greens as often as you want ;)
posted by SaltySalticid at 8:20 AM on January 10, 2018 [1 favorite]


I know exactly your feeling, but for me I think it seems to stem from being really cold (and dark but you seem to have light therapy covered) a lot rather than hormones, though it does feel like womb-must-eat-all times. I try to combat this by having lots of hearty stews and casseroles and other type things that warm the soul. Am veggie (mainly) so these are lentil or bean based with lots of veggies which I think are pretty in-line with your current diet, which is also similar to mine.
posted by london explorer girl at 8:37 AM on January 10, 2018


If every year you end up at the same weight, and aren't slowly gaining weight year over year, I think that's fine and you should just buy your winter clothes in a larger size than your summer ones.
posted by The corpse in the library at 9:05 AM on January 10, 2018 [2 favorites]


I feel your pain, and I think it's completely reasonable that you don't want to spend every winter battling constant hunger and tight pants!

I struggle with the same thing, and I find that I get fewer winter hunger pangs when I use a SAD light box first thing in the morning.
posted by timeo danaos at 10:02 AM on January 10, 2018 [2 favorites]


For me, a lot of 'uncontrollable' hunger urges come when I'm short of fat in my diet. When I don't get enough fat I just feel like a could eat the entire contents of the fridge and still want more. Your diet is healthy, but are you changing what you eat during the winter? Are your macros getting a little out of whack? I track what I eat using an app and I can consistently look back over my weekly averages and see that the weeks I failed to hit my 'fat grams' macro goals are the weeks highest in overall caloric intake, because I feel hunger even when I am technically eating enough.
posted by DSime at 10:46 AM on January 10, 2018 [2 favorites]


Fats are satiating. Depending on what I'm doing with my diet, at times I will take about three or four grams of oil capsules in the morning and this can hold me over for quite a while. I've found that is a good amount that doesn't mess with my stomach, but I that's a personal serving that works for me. It varies on what I use, but I don't have problems with MCTs or CLAs and I've used fish oil also. This of course won't work with Intermittent Fasting or Time Restricted eating.
posted by P.o.B. at 12:16 PM on January 10, 2018


After answering yesterday I have been pondering this further and came back to say....lightbox - only to find out timeo danaos got there before me! I've only had mine since Christmas and it's already revolutionised how I feel!
posted by london explorer girl at 4:40 AM on January 11, 2018 [1 favorite]


I had a really strong wave of the "winter-is-coming-and-I'm-STARVING" feeling when the weather started changing this year, and it SUCKED. It's frustrating to feel like "hey body, I'm already eating enough, why is my stomach still sending out sad 'feeeeeed meeeee' messages?" I'm also really terrible at meal planning and I don't always pack snacks, so I just have to like...sit there and be hangry. The worst.

It's passed for me now, thank goodness, but what helped me at my most ravenous was to have a combination of both physically bulky, but low-calorie snacks (apples, pears, melon, carrots, etc.) as well as tasty, fun, fatty snacks like chocolate covered almonds and granola bars and stuff that would actually make the belly gnawing stop. That way I could snack to my heart's content and fill that craving chasm in my belly without accidentally consuming 1000 extra calories a day or something. I also drank a LOT of water and tea.

I also agree that I don't think you should worry too much about the winter weight gain since it's a relatively small gain and goes away quickly when the seasons change again; but as a short lady (meaning 5-10lbs of weight gain is REAL obvious), I SO feel your pain re: suddenly none of your clothes fit the way you want them to.

I grew up in warm places and always wondered why people would bother having different wardrobes for each season that they packed up and kept separate (outside of the obvious weather-specific clothes), but since moving to Pittsburgh and feeling the winter hungries for myself, I can see why that might be. It may be worth investing in some more forgiving or slightly larger cold weather pieces that fit a little better and don't make you feel so uncomfortable, and then just pack them away when the thaw hits.

Good luck at your physical! I'm sure it will be just fine. :)
posted by helloimjennsco at 6:52 AM on January 11, 2018 [1 favorite]


I tend to fill the hunger hole with things won't make me gain weight. If I have to snack it is going to be fruit. I find banana to be the ultimate hunger killer not only because they are filling but also because they do that weird thing where they change my taste. It's also nice that they are stupid cheap. Popcorn without butter is my other go to - i microwave popcorn using a plastic bowl with a lid - a little oil in the bottom (so the salt will stick) and some flavacol popcorn salt - stir to coat and nuke for about 3 mins. Also a super cheap option.
posted by srboisvert at 10:48 AM on January 11, 2018 [1 favorite]


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