Don’t Let COVID-19 Weigh You Down

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We will face many challenges over the coming months. Don’t let weight gain be one of them.

During this particular moment in time, we should give ourselves a break. While we are scrambling to figure out how to work from home, feed the family, homeschool children and care for loved ones from afar, there will be days when we won’t get everything done and the kids may spend a little longer than planned in front of a screen, and that’s absolutely OK.

There is also a tendency in this moment to “give ourselves a break” in the area of our health and in particular, our weight. It’s certainly a challenge being stuck at home all day, only meters from the fridge and feeling bored. Countless posts are circulating in which people are sharing their struggles in trying to stick in a healthy routine right now……

Day 1: “I’m going to do bodyweight training and meditate”.

Day 4: pour the ice-cream over the pasta….

However, I would like to suggest that now is a time when we should be more focussed on our health and wellness than ever before. The reality is that if we spend the next few weeks sitting at home eating rubbish and gaining weight, we will feel much, much worse. Unhealthy eating and weight gain can lead to increased stress levels, poor quality of sleep, and increases the risk of developing lifestyles diseases such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes. We need to do everything we can to care for our bodies and minds during this challenging time in order to come out the other side feeling strong and prepared for whatever lies ahead.

Stay in routine

During this time when so much is out of our control, we need to grab even tighter onto the things that we can control. The times we go to bed, wake up and eat are able to be scheduled into our days in order to create routine. And this routine is essential for the whole family. During the “school day” the kids should only eat in their scheduled breaks i.e. recess and lunch. When it’s time for lunch, make sure everyone comes away from their desks to eat and follow this by a run around outside (yes, you too!). Make sure there is no eating at the desk or while looking at a screen.

Put your pants on

Without the need to go, well, anywhere, there is the temptation to sit around in your tracksuit pants all day. As these are quite stretchy, the good old tracksuit pants are not a great indicator of what’s happening around the waistline. It may therefore come as quite a shock to us in a few week’s time when we pull our jeans on and they seem to have shrunk! Just check in every now and then to make sure the weight isn’t slowly sneaking on.

“Losing weight is hard, so don’t find it in the first place.”

— anon

Eat mindfully

Mindful eating may sound a little “fluffy”, however, there’s very convincing science behind it. It simply means we need to focus on what we are eating rather than eating in a distracted manner. Studies have demonstrated that when we eat without distractions, our brains register that they are full quicker and we eat less. When we sit down to eat a meal rather than eating on the run, we feel more satisfied and tend to leave more time between the next meal. Thinking about what we are eating and enjoying each mouthful is simply a much more enjoyable way to eat.

Final tips:

Brush your teeth after a meal so you are less likely to want to keep eating.
Use smaller plates to keep the serving size down.
Put leftovers away in the fridge before you eat so you are less tempted to go for seconds.
Fill the cupboards with healthy food and keep the rubbish food out of the house.