Health

Pandemic weight gain: 5 practical ways to reverse it!

pandemic weight gain: ways to revers it
pandemic weight gain: ways to reverse it!

2020 has been an incredibly hard year for all of us. Covid 19 pandemic has turned our lives upside down and created a negative impact on our all-important areas of life (like education, health, finance etc.).  

Along with boredom and tiredness due to lockdown restrictions, this pandemic has bring on  a major negative impact on our overall mental and physical health. And also put a major obstacle on “Weight loss journey” of large number of populations.  

Have a look on these recent news additions from some reputed news resources: 

 A recent news from marketwatch.com says that “Most people have struggled to maintain their weight during this pandemic time. According to a recent survey, about 61 % of American adults reported gaining of undesired weight since the Covid-19 outbreak. This undesired weight gain has increased their risk of developing coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes and also making them more susceptible to catch Covid-19 infection.” 

Nytimes.com says that “The covid-19 pandemic and resulting lockdown led to dramatic changes in health behaviors, prompting people around the world to cut back on physical activity and eat more junk foods. This pandemic drove anxiety level higher and causes disrupted sleep too. This statement also got confirmed by a global survey conducted earlier this year.” 

Causes of weight gain during pandemic 

Here are some common causes that led to weight gain in large number of populations.  

  • Lack of physical activity and sedentary lifestyle: many people experienced that lockdown restrictions have reduced their physical activity level and forced them to follow a sedentary lifestyle.  
  • Closure of gyms and other fitness center: it was another common problem during lockdown that drop the activity level of many people.  
  • Stress eating: many had started stress eating to overcome the boredom during lockdown period. 
  • Lack of sleep: increased level of stress and anxiety also disrupted normal and healthy sleep in many people, resulting in poor mental health and weight gain.   
  • Economic uncertainty: economic uncertainty also increased stress level, resulting in increased weight gain.  

Personally, I have a similar experience like most of the other people during this pandemic. In year 2020, we as a family had a hard time to maintain a healthy diet and exercise routine. The constant pressure of pandemic situation has created many obstacles to stay on track and follow our “healthy weight loss” journey smoothly.  

But now, in year 2021, when things are improving gradually, I am trying hard to stay back on track and losing those extra pounds that I had gained during last year. In fact, with regular and consistent efforts (by following a healthy diet and regular exercise routine at least 5 days in a week), I had lost 10 pounds in last three months.  

During last few months, I had made few important lifestyle changes for me and my family. Luckily, these changes working well and giving great results.  

 In this post, I am sharing 5 easy and practical ways that has helped me to shed those extra pounds that I gained during lockdown period.  

Hoping this will help you to be on track. Read the post to know more about it.  

Pandemic weight gain: 5 practical ways to reverse it! 

pandemic weight gain: ways to revers it!
Pandemic weight gain: ways to reverse it!

Dietary modifications  

fruits and veggies
fruits and veggies

As we all know, having more fruits, veggies and whole grain is always great for our overall health and also help a lot in losing weight. But during routine hectic life, we all go with the flow and cook-eat what is more convenient to us. But this year, I had made a conscious effort to pay an extra attention on everyday diet of my family.  

I had learnt many new healthy recipes during last few months and include them in our daily diet. (I will share all those yummy and healthy recipes in upcoming posts, so stay tuned!) 

Also, I am exploring more innovative ways to add more fruits, veggies and whole grain in our routine diet.  

All these dietary changes are working great and helping us a lot in staying fit and losing extra pounds in a healthy way.  

Regular exercise 

Biking

Second important step is following a regular exercise routine, at least 3-5 days in a week for 45 minutes.  For making exercise more fun, we are doing it as a “family activity”. Walking or biking are two best fitness activity that working great for us. This regular physical activity also helping in reducing weight and keeping us physically and mentally fit.  

Limit the screen time  

Screen time

With pandemic, we all bound to work from home and stay online for long hours to complete our professional work and even for completing, other responsibilities.  this increased screen time is another common reason for limited physical activity and reduced movement. Now, to make a change, I am monitoring my family (specially kids) ‘s screen time religiously. Taking in between break and move around helping a lot in reducing tiredness caused by overuse of gadgets.  

Keep it practical and try to adopt these changes as part of lifestyle 

When it comes to fitness, many of us make “Unrealistic goals” and feels over exhausted within few days due to taking over pressure. So, I am consciously keeping this fitness journey more real and practical. And trying to accepting these changes as a part of our normal lifestyle. I believe consistent efforts give best results, rather than being over-enthusiastic only for few days.  

Use of modern-day technology 

Last but not the least, I am trying to use more advance and technological driven ways to making our weight loss journey less stressful. Previously, I had heard a lot about various fitness apps and health calculators for extra help in weight loss process but never get a chance to explore it personally.  

Recently, I come across an excellent website named “calculators.org”, while exploring more about the health calculators. This website has an amazing collection of health calculators like: 

  •  Absolute neutrophil count calculator that measures the total number of white blood cells in the blood and determine the critical component of the complete blood count.  
  • Adult treatment panel (ATP) 3 analysis: analyze the risk factor for blood cholesterol.  
  • Advanced cardiovascular life support: generates table with accurate medication amounts of resuscitating an adult.  
  • And many others like anion gap, baby due calculator, and blood alcohol calculator.  

For those who are interested in weight loss, this website has some amazing health calculators, like  

  • Body mass index calculator 
  • Body surface area calculator (BSA)  
  • Ideal weight calculator 
  • Weight loss calculator 
  • Calorie burned calculator 
  • Body fat calculator 
  • Basal metabolic rate (BMR) calculator 
  • TDEE calculator (this calculator will tell you how many calories you likely to burn each day at your current weight and physical activity level) 
  • Macro nutrient calculator (will estimate your macronutrients consumption)  
  • FFMI (fat free mass index) calculator  
  • Calorie intake calculator 

Among all these, I had few of these calculators personally and had a satisfactory experience.  

Here, I am sharing detail of TDEE calculator to get an idea, how it works: 

TDEE calculator 

TDEE calculator
TDEE calculator

This TDEE calculator will tell you how many calories you likely burn each day at your current weight and activity level. If you would like to change your weight you can enter how much you would like to lose or gain & how long you anticipate it to reach your goal. The calculator will then return how much you would need to adjust your calorie intake to reach your goal. If you feel you will have trouble adjusting your caloric intake as much as suggested you can also adjust your daily activity level to see how that will impact the calories needed to reach your goal. 

For using this calculator, first you need to put some of your personal details like your age, height, weight, body fat (optional), activity level, your goal (weight loss or weight gain), and time duration (like 3 or 6 months) to achieve your desired goal. After putting details, the calculator will calculate your daily caloric requirements to meet your weight goal and maintain new weight. (check the screenshot to get an idea) 

TDEE calculator
TDEE calculator

I really liked this calculator and it is helping me a lot in managing my daily calorie requirements and physical activity level to achieve my desired weight loss goal. I will highly recommend this resource to all of you, and I am sure it can help a lot to all of those who want to make their “Weight loss journey” smoother and fun.  

So, these were some practical ideas that has helped to shed extra pounds gained during pandemic. What was your experience during pandemic time with your fitness journey? Please share with me.  

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