The summer holidays are over. The kids are going back to school, normal routines are starting again, the mornings are getting darker and you may have already noticed the evenings drawing in. This is also the point in the year when you might find your motivation to exercise starting to disappear.
Perhaps you spent the spring and early summer training regularly because you had a holiday booked. You wanted to lose some weight, look better, feel more confident or simply feel healthier when you went away. You had something tangible to work towards and a reason to keep going when you didn't particularly feel like exercising.
Then you went on holiday, relaxed and enjoyed yourself. You ate differently, perhaps drank more than usual, exercised less and stepped away from your normal routine. There is nothing necessarily wrong with doing that for a week or two. The problem starts when that summer break quietly turns into your autumn and winter routine.
Why Is It Harder to Stay Motivated to Exercise After Summer?
You may find September surprisingly difficult, especially if you have children. The summer holidays can leave you feeling like you need a holiday yourself, and then suddenly you're back into school runs, work, childcare, after-school activities and everything else that comes with normal family life.
At the same time, the environment around you is changing. It's getting colder, it's darker when you wake up and the evenings are drawing in. Going back outside after you've got home from work can become far less appealing than it was a few months ago.
You might get home, sit down and think, "I really can't be bothered going to the gym tonight." Staying on the sofa feels easier, ordering something convenient feels easier than cooking and watching television gives you an easy way to switch off after a difficult day.
You tell yourself you'll exercise tomorrow instead, but tomorrow can easily become next week. Before long, you've created a completely different routine without ever really deciding to.
You Probably Haven't Decided to Give Up Until January
Most people don't finish their summer holiday and consciously decide they're going to stop looking after themselves for the next four months. It happens gradually, which is why you might not immediately recognise that you're doing it.
You miss a couple of workouts, your food choices become less structured and you start going to bed later. Your energy drops, which makes exercising feel harder, so you exercise even less. Those individual choices start becoming habits, and eventually those habits become your normal routine.
You might then notice your clothes becoming tighter again. You may feel less fit, your energy might not be where it was earlier in the year and you might not be sleeping as well. Eventually, something happens that makes you think, "I've had enough. I need to sort myself out."
For a lot of people, that moment arrives in January. The problem is that by then you've potentially spent three or four months moving in the opposite direction.
The Problem With Waiting Until January to Get Fit
I'm not a big believer in New Year's resolutions. If something is important to your health, why does it suddenly become important because the calendar changes from 31 December to 1 January?
Yet every year, people can find themselves falling into the same cycle. You spend January getting back into exercise and start eating better again. Perhaps you then book your summer holiday and suddenly have another deadline to work towards.
You now have five or six months to lose the weight you've regained and rebuild some of the fitness you've lost. You train hard through the spring, get yourself ready for summer, enjoy your holiday and then gradually stop again.
You can end up spending a large part of every year trying to undo what happened during another part of it. Instead of repeatedly starting and stopping, wouldn't it make more sense to find a way of looking after yourself that changes with your life throughout the year?
Your Autumn and Winter Exercise Routine Can Look Different
Looking after yourself throughout the year doesn't mean doing exactly the same thing throughout the year. Your circumstances change, so your exercise routine can change with them.
There are periods when I can get to the gym more frequently. At other times, my work and family schedule means three sessions a week might be more realistic. If I know three sessions are what I can consistently manage, I'll make those three sessions count rather than worrying about the sessions I can't do.
I might shorten my resistance training sessions slightly while maintaining the intensity. During the winter, I also tend to do more cardio because, with less sunlight and darker days, I know exercise helps me feel better. Training gives me a mental break and provides an escape from everything else happening during the day.
There's also a very practical reason I don't mind doing more cardio when it's cold. I'd rather generate some body heat through exercise than immediately turn the heating up. Your reasons might be completely different, but the principle is the same. Your summer routine might no longer fit your life, so find a version that does.
How Can You Stay Active During Autumn and Winter?
Instead of asking yourself whether you can maintain exactly what you were doing before summer, ask yourself what you can realistically do now. Perhaps you were going to the gym four times a week before your holiday, but three sessions now fit your schedule better. Three good sessions are still three good sessions.
You might also find that your gym gets much busier when students return in September. Rather than using that as a reason not to go, could you train earlier in the morning when it's quieter? Getting up a little earlier might not sound particularly appealing when it's dark outside, but you could have your training finished before you've properly started your working day.
That also means you don't have to rely on finding the motivation to go back out again after work when it's cold, dark and raining. You've already moved, you've done something positive for yourself and you can get on with the rest of your day.
You don't necessarily need four gym sessions either. You could do two or three and find other ways to stay physically active during the week. The important thing is that you don't allow "I can't do what I was doing before" to turn into "I'll do nothing instead."
Make Healthy Eating Easier When Your Energy Is Lower
Exercise is only one part of this because you may also notice your eating habits changing when the weather gets colder and your routine becomes busier. When you're tired and hungry, the easiest option often wins, which is why a little preparation can make such a difference.
I personally eat very little carbohydrate during the day. If I do have carbohydrates, I generally choose wholemeal options, and I tend to have more of them in the evening because that approach works well for me and my sleep. I'm not suggesting you need to eat exactly the same way because you need to find an approach that works for you.
Think instead about how you could make eating well easier. Could you prepare some meals in advance so you've got good food ready when you get home? Could you have some simple, filling meals available rather than relying on whatever is most convenient when you're tired? You could also look at simple things such as whether you're drinking enough water during the day.
You're trying to remove some of the effort involved in making better choices. If every healthy decision requires motivation and willpower, you're making it unnecessarily difficult to maintain those choices when work and family life become busy.
Don't Underestimate Your Sleep
Sleep can easily become part of the same downward cycle. You feel tired, so you don't exercise. You sit in front of the television for longer, perhaps eat later, go to bed later and then wake up tired again. The following day, exercising feels even less appealing and the cycle continues.
This is why I look at exercise, nutrition, sleep and energy as connected rather than treating them as completely separate things. One can influence the others, both positively and negatively.
As the nights draw in, think about how you can use that change to your advantage. Could you start winding down earlier, create a more consistent bedtime or organise your evening so tomorrow morning is easier? These aren't huge changes, but when they become regular habits they can make a considerable difference to how you feel.
Imagine How Different January Could Feel
Now I want you to think a few months ahead and imagine arriving in January having stayed reasonably active throughout autumn and winter. You haven't been perfect, you've enjoyed yourself, you've had meals out, you've had Christmas and there have probably been weeks when you've trained less than you wanted.
But you've kept going. You've maintained much of your fitness, kept some structure around your food, looked after your sleep and continued moving. If you decide in January that you want to push your training or nutrition a little harder, you're already halfway there because you're building on what you've been doing rather than starting again.
Compare that with reaching January after three or four months of doing very little, gradually gaining weight, losing fitness, sleeping badly and waiting until you're so unhappy with how you feel that you're desperate to change. Which version of January would you rather have?
Don't Wait for Another Summer Holiday to Look After Yourself
You don't need a beach holiday booked to justify exercising, and you don't need January to give you permission to start eating better. You also don't need to train perfectly throughout autumn and winter. What matters is that you find something you can continue doing.
If your routine has changed now that summer is over, reassess it. Find the days you can realistically exercise, look at whether a different training time would work better, make your sessions count and prepare food that makes eating well easier. Think about your water intake, your sleep and the other small habits that affect how you feel each day.
If you've already stopped exercising since your summer holiday, don't convince yourself that you've missed your opportunity and might as well wait until January. You can start again now and spend the next few months building habits that make January easier.
Because the best position to be in when January arrives isn't thinking, "I really need to sort myself out." It's being able to look back at the previous four months and realise that you've already been looking after yourself.
If you're struggling to find an exercise, nutrition and lifestyle routine that works around your work, family and everything else you have going on, I can help. My coaching is built around creating an approach that works for you and your life, rather than another short-term fix that you'll struggle to maintain. If you're ready to make a change now rather than waiting until January, visit www.jbryantcoaching.com to find out how I can help.
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