Fighting Flab During Quarantine

The need to change our day-to-day lifestyles because of the COVID-19 pandemic may seem like second nature to us by this point. But we may still need to tweak our eating and exercise habits to get back to where we were before the pandemic disrupted all our healthy habits. 

Weight gain can be sneaky. Unless you’re getting on the scale at least once a month, you can slowly gain weight without really noticing it. It’s only when you put on some clothing you haven’t worn in a while that your weight gain becomes apparent.

Practice Portion Control

Some people (and we’re not pointing any fingers) have gotten in the habit of blaming the pandemic for their weight gain and getting out of shape. Sure, your gym may be closed, but not everybody who’s in shape belongs to a gym. 

The truth is, you’re battling a sedentary lifestyle that’s helped by the pandemic. But you’re also fighting your own eating habits. The eating habits that kept you fit and trim before the quarantines and lockdowns are partially to blame for your creeping weight gain. 

You’re simply not moving around as much as you were. You may be exercising the same as you did before the pandemic, but you’re not moving around as much outside of your exercise periods. You may be working from home and avoiding socializing as much with your friends. This cuts down on your need to travel, and travel involves walking and moving about. 

The food that kept you fit without getting fat is overkill with your limited amount of movement. You need to practice portion control with your food intake to match your limited movement. 

Try cutting down your intake by a third to start. This may be enough to stop your weight gain and reach a state of equilibrium. Cutting your intake by a third may also not trigger the sense of hunger that ruins dieting for so many people. 

With the Omicron variant looming on the horizon, staying as healthy as possible is important if we have to enter another round of lockdowns.