12 Tips To Keep Moving This New Year!
By Dawn Couch, a WW Weight Watchers Reimagined Coach for The Wirral area. Dawn has been a coach for two years and loves meeting new people at her workshops and helping them achieve their goals. When she isn’t smiling at her day job coaching others she can be found running (sometimes marathons!) as well as open water swimming and walking her beloved dog Fudge on the beach with her husband and two sons.
Dawn Couch
It can be difficult to find the motivation to keep moving during the winter, and especially during a busy festive period.
Now the Christmas shenanigans are past and we look to the New Year celebrations it can feel that we are living to excess. However that little window between Christmas and New Year doesn’t have to mean that exercise has to go out of the window completely. In fact, keeping active can help keep your stress levels under control at this busy time of year.
If you’re pushed for time, here are WW‘s 10 easy ways to stay active this Festive Period.
1 Wrap up and go for a walk with the family
Pic: Shutterstock
Not only does exercising in green spaces help improve your mood, the colder temperatures mean you’ll burn extra calories keeping warm.
2 Take advantage of the season
Lots of fun winter activities pop up over the festive season, so why not take the family ice skating or improve your step count up by walking around the Christmas markets?
3 Wear your pedometer shopping
You’ll be surprised how many steps you rack up in a few hours of post Christmas sales. If you’re a member, remember to sync your fitness device to the WW app to track your FitPoints®.
4 Have a boogie while ironing
Pic: Shutterstock
Got a pile of ironing that you’ve been ignoring? Turn a chore into a fun workout by cranking up the volume on your favourite tunes and having a wiggle while you iron.
5 Try these quick home workouts
They’re easy to sneak into your everyday routine, even if you have a million things to do!
6 Take housework to the next level
Pic: Shutterstock
Dusting, cleaning and vacuuming work your muscles and can help you towards your fitness goals.
7 Choose HIIT training
Got 15 minutes to spare? High Intensity Interval Training, or HIIT, is a short burst of intense exercise. It’s an efficient calorie burner and easy to squeeze into your routine.
8 Park further away
Pic: Shutterstock
Whether you’re driving to work or into town for a spot of shopping, try parking further away than usual to boost your step count for the day.
9 Take to the stairs
Busy shopping centres may mean you have to park on the top level of the car park. Take advantage of the opportunity to fit in some easy exercise!
10 Get ad break active
Enjoy guilt-free TV marathons by using the ad breaks to squat, do star jumps or march on the spot – anything that gets you moving.
So Happy New Year from WW and come along to a workshop near you to find out more ways to be fitter, happier and healthier. And now with the launch of myWW™ it’s made even easier with the most customised and flexible programme ever. The myWW™ programme uses details about food preferences and lifestyle to match each member to one of the three ways to follow the programme. You are in the driver’s seat!
Moira Chisholm
I'm the Health Editor on My Weekly and am always interested to hear what's new in this fascinating field. I also deal with the gardening, shopping pages, general features, our website content and the Ask Helen problem page. I have a special interest in Christmas content because I'm on the team for Your Best Ever Christmas Magazine, too!
