Lockdown weight gain

Life during coronavirus continues to be a challenge for a lot of reasons. Stay-at-home orders mean hunkering down at home with limited options for entertainment, socialising, or exercising. On the other hand, we have plenty of time to bake, cook, snack and eat. If you’ve turned to food for comfort during the Covid-19 pandemic, you aren’t alone, many people have stacked on some extra kilos, especially during lockdown and working from home.
“When we go to our office or place of work, we tend to follow a set eating schedule: Maybe we eat breakfast before we leave for work, have a snack mid-morning and mid-afternoon, have lunch at noon, and then fix dinner once we get home,” explains Roger Adams, a personal trainer, doctor of nutrition, and owner of eatrightfitness.com.
“With set schedules blurred, we may find ourselves grazing or eating mindlessly all day long which can easily cause us to over-consume calories or simply eat more than we need,” he says. (These are the best stress-reducing foods.)
The good news: Even if you’ve put on a few (or a lot) more kilos than you would have liked, there are several healthy solutions for shedding the weight. Here are some expert strategies to lose weight with sensible eating and exercise.
Understand your “why”

If a client wants to lose weight, the first step is for them to ask themselves why this goal is important, says Katrina Pilkington, a certified personal trainer and certified nutrition coach.
“Is weight loss an initial step to combating chronic health issues or results from a medical assessment, or is there an element of self-confidence that someone is looking to gain by meeting some sort of physical aesthetic to conform to societal norms?” she asks. “The ultimate goals are those that relate to the betterment of a person’s life holistically,” she says.
Start off with a reasonable goal

If you make the commitment to lose weight, it’s important that you start off with a reasonable goal. Adams recommends beginning with no more than two to four kilos per month, and only weighing yourself twice per week at the same time of the day each time. A slow, steady approach is the best way to make changes that fit your lifestyle and achieve goals that you can truly maintain.
“I usually recommend Wednesdays and Saturdays as this gives you an idea of patterns and habits during the week and weekend,” he says. “If you don’t have much weight to lose, then two to four kilos per month is not reasonable and you should check with an expert and find out what a healthy weight for you should be,” Adams says.
Follow these 13 goal-setting tips from mental health experts.