Have any of you ever heard of fitness hibernation? You may even be going through it right now and not even know it.

I started to see it as soon as the cold weather hit. I’m located in Ontario, Canada, so we’ve had about 6 solid days that dropped below 5 degrees Celsius weather. And as soon as the thermometer dips, fitness hibernation is bound to set in. But I say - we must resist!

The weeks following Thanksgiving (again, Canadian) I noticed that the numbers in attendance at the gym in my office were really low – well actually aside from the odd dust bunny rolling around on the treadmill, virtually no one was using the equipment. It seems as soon as the cold weather hits humans want to do two things – eat and sleep!

Does it remind you of anyone in the animal world? Why the big bear of course.

And what does the big bear do to prepare for winter? Why he eats, sleeps and fattens himself up.

We are not bears folks, and if you don’t want to end up looking like a bear come spring thaw then I suggest trying to resist the urge to act like one. Now I'm not pointing the finger here - it really isn't our fault. It’s human nature after all to be the hunter-gatherer – much like the bear. However we dream of having svelte, toned bodies – more like the deer and you don’t see a deer taking the winter off to sit in front of the TV watching hockey and chugging bear and chicken wings now do you? If you need additional motivation, please read my article Go Forward and Graze Like the Elk – elk or deer – same taunt legs and behind…wow that really sounds wrong! I truly love animals my friends, but trust me not in that way.

So get out to the gym, stay active and continue eating right. Yes you can find many yummy but nutritious hearty meals that will satisfy your winter pallet. Just try a hearty bowl of turkey chili, chalked full of protein rich turkey breast, black beans, chick peas and a thick and spicy tomato sauce. It’ll really warm things up!

Trust me, sticking with your healthy regime over the cold months won't make you grunt grrrrrrrrrr when you look in the mirror come spring!