While the world continues to combat the ripple effects of the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis, many people have their personal battle of their own.
From emotional and mental stress to financial issues and other daily challenges that may arise, we just have to thrive and learn to cope to all the disruptions that we are facing right now.
In a feature article of the New York Times, findings of a global study confirms that many people were stress-eating and gaining weight during the pandemic. It did not help that while we eat more junk food, we allot less or no time at all for physical exercise plus the fact that most of us don’t get enough sleep for whatever reasons.
A decline in healthy habits
Researchers at US-based Pennington Biomedical Research Center was able to survey around 7,750 individuals from 50 different countries including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia. It was established that there was a decline in healthy habits in the midst of the pandemic among the nations that were surveyed.
According to this study that was conducted from April to May 2020 and participated by majority of women with respondents having an average 51 years of age, one third of them were overweight, another third was obese, while the remaining group was under the normal weight category.
Findings suggest that most people became more sedentary because of more time spent indoors specially during the lockdown periods with less or no time spent commuting. Many respondents also attested of giving in to their food cravings that includes beverages and sweet snack foods.
How to lose the weight
Although it is easier said than done, wellness website Healthline suggests some ways in losing weight and getting back the pre-pandemic you. Here are the three tips they provided.
1. Cut back on refined carbs – Eating food with less sugar and starches or carbohydrates is one quick way of losing weight. Shift to whole grain meals because with low carb food, you will be utilizing burning stored fat for energy instead of carbs, your hunger levels will go down, and you will be eating fewer calories.
2. Eat protein, fat, and vegetables – Protein is important to help preserve your health and muscle mass while losing weight. Use healthy fats like olive oil and avocado oil because your body needs them. Vegetables are definitely packed with nutrients that are essential in a healthy diet.
3. Move your body – Exercise can help you lose weight fast. You can try easy to do workout at home or try lifting weights. By doing these physical activities, a lot of calories will be burned thus preventing slowing down your metabolism which might be experienced after the process of losing weight.
Again, losing weight requires extra effort on your part and the success of your actions will depend on how serious you are in achieving your goal. There are free helpful online tools like this calorie calculator that will help you know your ideal weight, calorie burn rate, body fat and other helpful information about your body, the food you eat and daily exercise.
When is the right time to start losing weight you gained during the pandemic? The answer is now! Start your journey and achieve a healthy life and holistic wellness that you deserve.
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