How do you keep motivated in winter

Winter used to be my "unintentional bulk cycle." I'd put on 10 lbs and not really care about it, knowing full well that it would come back off with no effort in spring. It's worked for about 20 years now, but the more I understand about fitness and nutrition, the more I understand what is happening and why, though the inclination to change anything is still fairly limited. (If it ain't broke, don't fix it, etc.)

I generally get more time on my elliptical in the winter. Now and then when it's dry and cool/cold I'll get out on the bike, but around here the dark and wet just aren't much fun.

With the time change, I just hate getting back from work in the dark all the time. I'd much rather go to work at 3am if it gave me some daylight to do what I want when I get home!

I do basically the same stuff year round. Instead of yard work like mowing and gardening, I’m shoveling and clearing snow. I can still bring the dogs to the dog park and goof around with them. If it’s too wet out, we can do it inside.

I have my kettle bells, exercise bands, elliptical, etc. I guess if walking is your main form of exercise, you could still do it, depending on snow, but it definitely wouldn’t be as pleasant.

I've made fitness a priority so exercise/moving is apart of my daily routine now.

I mostly do the same things all year round such as working out in my home gym with bands, weights, kettlebells, my Pilates Reformer etc. and doing youtube workouts/ DVD's. I set myself up to be able to workout in my home so that there are no excuses not to workout.

I can't walk as much as I do compared to the other times of year which I do miss, but I do other activities such as snowshowing and ice skating. Also shoveling snow is a great cardio.

Early on before the fitness bug truly hit me I just got it done and out the way first thing in the morning. It was much, much better then being overweight and the little progress that was being made inspired me to keep going.

This is one of those areas where everyone's different. It's also an area where, for me personally, calorie counting has been a huge help.

I'm a mostly-unreformed hedonist, and neither motivation nor discipline is my strong suit. Therefore, I need to game other aspects of my behavior and personality, in order to maintain a reasonable level of health for the benefit of my future self.

I've been pretty active for around 17 years, focused on a seasonal activity (rowing) that is limited in Winter where I live (my river freezes). For about the first 12-13 years of that, I was obese (BMI 30-31). For the last 4 or so, I've been at a healthy weight.

My exercise volume goes down in Winter, no question. My rowing machine is way, way less fun than my rowing shell on a river, so I do that much less often. Pretty much all year now, for a decade or so, I've been going to spin class twice a week, just to do something intense that mixes up my activities but doesn't over-much provoke my bad knees. (I'm finding that nowadays, rowing 6 days a week is nota really good plan, from a load management standpoint, for my personal body.)

In Winter, I usually do some rowing machine challenges, because - while I'm not normally goal-oriented - I've found that I will be bull-headed about finishing if I commit to a relatively short term goal (month or less). Beyond that, I try to push myself into some activities that are good for me but (to me) not fun, but I mix it up so that it's not too annoying. Swimming, core work, and (especially) strength training are things I try to get myself doing more of in Winter; some years it works better than others.

After all these years, I'm pretty confident that once Winter is over, I'll go back to regular on-water rowing, because it's just too fun for me to give up. (I'd do it even if it weren't good for me.)

The key thing for maintenance, for me, is the calorie counting. With less exercise volume in Winter, I need to eat less. Period. I'm willing to accept a little bit of weight creep, knowing it will drop off in Spring, but not much.

Fundamentally, I don't want to be gaining more than seasonal variations in non-exercise activity (NEAT) will manage for me. Well over 4 years of logging data helps clarify what that is. Beyond that, I try to keep my NEAT up, despite Winter, mostly by doing some home projects and my usual misbegotten crafts projects.

Spring will come eventually.

I do all the same gym stuff and walking, but I'm very aware of when sunrise and sunset are. So I'll shift my outdoor stuff around to make sure I'm getting sunlight on my walks.

I don't know what sort of work you do, OP, but can you walk outside during lunch breaks?

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I go to the gym the same amount in winter as summer. Its just habit - I don't let myself even think about it - just grab my bag at 11.45am and go. I probably walk a little less, but still have my walk to work, and walk to shops/library etc.