Winter, Spring, Summer, FAT

Fall used to mean crisp days, brightly colored foliage and pumpkin carving.  These days it means Girl Scout cookies, Boy Scout chocolate and caramel covered popcorn, Joe’s Pizza and Cookie Dough orders and of course stocking up on Hershey’s miniatures so that we aren’t caught unaware four weeks from now when Halloween finally comes around. 

And, of course, it mean fewer workouts as the mornings are darker, our children have us running in every direction for school projects, social obligations and fall sports.  So, just when we are putting in more calories, we are burning fewer.

And suddenly fall has become the season of fat.  It has become the time of year when our clothes slowly shrink or our bellies and bums slowly grow.  For me it becomes the season of dread.

But it doesn’t have to be. 

Once we discover the issue, once we realize that fall is that time of year when our diet and fitness routines begin to fall apart, we can implement a solution.

That Halloween candy will be there the week before Halloween.  We can wait to buy it then, losing one temptation right off the bat. But if we can’t, if it is just easier to check the candy off your list now, buy the candy you don’t like.  Buy the Sour Heads or Black Licorice, any think that will not be a temptation.    

The Girl Scout cookies and Boy Scout popcorn may seem like an obligation and it may actually be.  If you can’t avoid buying it because you know you will be sending little Johnnie around with his own items to sale, either make a donation to the troop or buy it and when the goodies arrive and leave them for the school secretary, the tellers at the grocery store, your local librarian or the food bank. It will be a double donation.

For me, the sweets are my biggest issue.  I have built a routine over the years for working out and building that routine has been the key to both my fitness and my sanity during the busiest time of the year. 

It is never too late to start a routine.  Though many people don’t mind getting up at o’dark thirty, I am not one of those.  Instead, I wait for the kids to go to school.  If you don’t have that option and hate running in the dark alone, cajole a friend into doing it with you.  It gives you added safety and added motivation to get out there in the cold and dark morning.

If neither of these options is appealing, use your lunch hour or run/walk laps around the field at the evening’s soccer practice.  Whatever you choose to do, make it a habit, build a routine and stick to it.

Fall is a tough time of the year.  There is no denying that it is the one time of year that our fitness takes the backseat. It is the biggest reason why New Year’s Resolutions inevitably end up being fitness and diet related. 

But it doesn’t have to be.  Wouldn’t it be nice to not have to start over on January 1^st?  Wouldn’t it be nice to reap the mental and physical benefits of a fitness routine while the world around you seems to be spinning ten miles an hour faster each day?  What is your plan?  What routine can you implement?