How to Avoid (or Take off) the COVID Fifteen

By KCY

You’ve been doing a good job of following your governor’s orders and sheltering in place. You’ve been working from home, homeschooling your children, only going out to get the essentials.

Working and staying at home has been a luxury. Now, you can go straight from your bed to your computer to work, keeping your pajamas on or pulling on that old pair of sweatpants. No more going out for lunch, you are eating all three meals at home, except those weekend nights when you get take out

It’s been great…except…you step on the scale one morning and bam! You’ve gained five pounds in two weeks! I should go to the gym, you think to yourself. Only, the gym is closed. I should run outside. Only, they told us to stay at home and only venture out for the essentials.

Here are some tips on how to avoid that dreaded COVID fifteen.

1.     Plan your meals for the week and bring a list to the supermarket. Plan healthy meals. You have time to cook now, so try some new recipes which are healthy. Buy a new cookbook and dive in. Write down the ingredients you need and then send one person to the store with the list to procure them as quickly as possible.

2.     Frozen veggies. Two words. Yes, fresh veggies always taste better, but if you want to avoid going to the supermarket so much while this shelter in place is in order, then buy frozen and reheat! Veggies will keep your waistline slim.

3.     Don’t buy snacks! This is a very easy one. It’s easy to fall into the trap of tossing that bag of chips or that box of crackers into your cart during your mad dash through the supermarket. Don’t do it. When you are home, it’s so easy to go to the kitchen and gobble down that box of cookies.

4.     Don’t eat big portions. There’s more time to eat when you are home. Stick to reasonable portion sizes even if your house is filled with the smells of that delicious stew you just made. Freeze the leftovers. There’s no need to be a hibernating bear.

5.     Utilize your home surroundings to be your gym. Do you have stairs? Then run up and down those stairs in interval sprints. No stairs, no problem. Run in place or jump rope. Need to lift some weights? Pick up your thirty-five-pound toddler and bench press them for three sets of fifteen reps.

6.     Get some home exercise equipment. That indoor bike you’ve been eying? Maybe, it’s the time to buy it. What about that treadmill? Or that pull up bar? Or even that fancy machine that becomes forty different weight exercises. If you have room, consider one of these fancy contraptions.

7.     Join some online workout communities. No room and don’t have the money to spend? Take advantage of the free online workout communities. There are so many videos out there. Do you like yoga? There’s many instructional yoga practices online to choose from. Not a yoga type? Maybe high intensity workouts are for you. There’s a community for that. No matter what you choose to do, just make sure you get moving and exercise at least thirty minutes five times a week.

8.     Arrange time with friends. There are so many video platforms to choose from. Throw a virtual happy hour. Virtually exercise with a buddy. Just because you are socially distancing, doesn’t mean you have to socially isolate. Filling your time with activities will have you going to the kitchen less.

9.     Realize you are not the only one whose sweatpants is starting to feel a little tighter. Maybe you shouldn’t take comfort that your best friend is starting to gain weight, too, but, hey, doesn’t that make you feel a tiny bit better?

We are all in this together. Even with trying to avoid (or if it’s too late, then take off) the COVID fifteen. So, hop out of those pajamas or sweatpants and get moving!