It’s official, most of us have to stay home for the time being. What does that mean? During this period of quarantine and social distancing, we are gonna move a lot less. Additionally, with all the extra stress, we may succumb to stress eating, disordered eating or other bad habits. Here are my tips for how to manage your weight while staying home. But before I start, keep in mind our body weight naturally fluctuates between 2-6 pounds every month. I don’t weigh myself regularly and leave my weigh-ins for doctor appointments. Instead, I gauge my weight fluctuations just through how my clothes fit and because a few times a week I am in front of a full length mirror doing fitness!
1. Awareness of situation & weaknesses
There’s a huge win in being aware of your triggers and that we are indeed in a “situation”. In order to manage your weight while staying home, we must recognize our lives have changed and develop a strategy for staying healthy at your optimal weight. For some of us, we may eat less when we’re stressed, putting us at risk of getting too thin or weak. Of course, many of us will want to eat more during our endless hours at home and feeling anxious. Know which one you are and take charge. In order for us to be at our healthiest, especially in fighting this viral infection, being at a healthy weight range is key.
2. Workout Habits & Schedules to Manage Your Weight
As with most things, keeping a schedule is key in success! The first few days of this stay at home movement, I was wildly disoriented. A schedule seemed really abstract and I was dealing with work, school and personal changes flying at me! As you probably are as well! 3 weeks later, these are the things I’ve identified to help me manage my weight while staying home, not to mention sanity.
Wake up & go to sleep at the same time
It’s really tempting with no school or places to go, to wake up whenever! Heck, the kids are feeling it too and sleeping in. As good as this feels for a couple of days, it’s not sustainable. Curb your late night movies and book marathons. Staying up late will mess with your circadian rhythms and lead to all sorts of issues. When we stay up super late, we’re also more likely to snack or rely on sugar and caffeine to stay up or wake up and this is not good for maintaining your weight. It will tax your adrenals.
Get dressed
This servies 2 purposes. First, you can check to see how your clothes fit. Do they fit?! Equally important, getting dressed helps you feel better mentally. Like you have something to do, somewhere to be. It feels good to spend a little time on how you look, and now is the time to try it!
Create a workout schedule
Many of us had workout schedules before this. While it’s unlikely that we can adhere to the same exact schedule, we can create a new one. Make it even better than before. Up the intensity or try a class you don’t usually take. Never had one? Now’s your chance! Check out our on demand workout offerings here FREE for 7 days! The recommendation to workout is not so much to burn calories as it is to regulate mood and channel anxiety, as those are triggers for disordered eating.
3. Eating to Manage Your Weight While Staying Home
I hope that one take-away from this is that you need to eat well to maintain your weight while staying home! This is not the time to crash-diet. In order to regulate our moods and anxiety, the very ones that cause us to overeat, you need to eat!
Scheduling Your Meals
Just like you’re scheduling your workouts and sleep, schedule your meals! If it’s not time to eat, don’t eat. Likewise, if you tend to undereat, if it’s time to eat, you gotta stop what you’re doing and eat. You have to maintain your energy and health for this situation.
Intermittent Fasting
I love this IF because it has served me well! And I feel strong and productive. I cover it more in length here if you’d like to give it a try! Please check in with your health provider to see if it’s for you. With less quality food around, I feel like this helps me keep the meals I do eat a higher quality!
Freezing Produce, Grow a Garden
We used to go to our little local grocer about every other day for organic produce and farm to table groceries. LOL, can you imagine? Now, we’re lucky if we go once a week! Don’t solely rely on processed, packaged foods. Try to get your hands on produce and freeze it. Better yet, start a garden! Some quick how-to’s here! My healthy grocery list here.
4. Get Outside for a Bit
Ok, so we’re supposed to be sheltered at home, please do so! That’s not to say you can’t get a bit of fresh air. Most of us are blessed with a backyard, balcony or porch. If you live in a high-rise or don’t have any of these, try to find out when and how you can take a quick walk outside based on your town’s regulations. Even if you have to bring your home-made mask, your body and mind will thank you. The sunshine and being outdoors is a must. So I would use one of these walks if you ever have the urge to binge or find yourself mindlessly eating. Take a break, even a 10 minute outing can bring you back to a balanced mental state, which is instrumental in managing your weight!
5. Hang on To Muscle Mass
We are moving so much less than we used to. Right away I noticed loss in strength because I play so hard with the kids. The other thing I noticed was while my boys were riding their bikes a week ago, they were not able to push as hard or fast as they usually do. They too, have lost muscle strength. I know we’ll bounce back, but for women, it’s especially important we retain our muscle mass! A month ago, one could workout twice a week and just lean on the daily grind, but that physical daily grind is gone! Aim to do at least 2 30 minute strength workouts a week. We have plenty of them here! I love using my own body weight for strength, try them for free for 7 days!
I hope that these tips were helpful in providing a framework on how to manage your weight while staying home! Don’t expect perfection and don’t be hard on yourself. Do it so that it helps you stay healthy and you never know who you’re inspring to do the same! For healthy grocer list, see here, help identifiying hunger cues see here, and a stretch challenge help flexibility here. Please let me know if you have any questions! XO, Z