Like many of you, I am now at my race weight. I was thinking the
other day about how easy it is for me to eat healthy foods and
control portions right now. I'm not depriving myself of baked
goods, but I control portion size and/or decrease another treat
somewhere else. I know how to eat healthy; I'm doing it. And the
best part is my current eating pattern doesn't take iron will or
starvation. Then I start to think, 'eating this way is easy for
me—I could keep it up forever.' The problem is, I've said the
last sentence to myself in previous fall and winter seasons. It
seems that the multitude of changes that occur in winter create
havoc for my nutritional resolve. Talking about the issue with
athletes on my Sunday group ride, others expressed the same
problem with winter weight gain. We began theorizing about what
changes in fall and winter would make us feel like we cannot
control the foods we eat or the portion sizes. Why is it that so
many of us gain weight in the winter? Here are some of our
thoughts: For