Being overweight is emerging as a major complication among the population for several decades. But, many people reported gaining weight during quarantine because of overeating and bad lifestyle habits. Cooking was the best task to pass free time at home during the lockdown.
Everyone became master chefs and tried cooking various dishes during the quarantine period. We remember how supermarkets struggled a lot in maintaining their stock of flour because of huge demand.
Life totally undergoes on the wrong track in the quarantine period, especially when it relates to eating habits. This article will study some of the causes of weight gain and the tips to aid in managing it.
Before moving further to the tips, let us start with the causes for the same:
Gyms and playgrounds remained closed during lockdown because of the increased risk of the virus spreading in these places due to the presence of huge crowds. This closure of gyms & playgrounds became one of the main reasons for gaining weight because people had the only task of eating and relaxing all day.
Due to social distancing norms, we had to stay at home and not step out even for walking or jogging during the lockdown.
Many people lost their jobs, put down shutters to their shops/show-rooms, and used their savings to sustain life during the lockdown. This gave rise to financial failures and problems with money. They were suffering from financial problems that led to stress.
The second reason for stress in people was fear of getting infected with the virus and testing positive for the dreadful viral disease. The third factor of stress was the over-usage of social media during quarantine as nobody was physically available nearby to communicate, which increased the scrolling on screens all day.
These all activities performed by us during lockdown increased the stress in our minds. And, we all know that stress is one of the biggest reasons to gain weight.
[Read: Coping With Stress During COVID-19]
Being isolated from society, loneliness, being glued to mobiles, tablets, and computers are all the causes which made us mentally weak and caused mental and emotional instability. These all are what we got during quarantine, and that became a supportive cause for weight gain.
We all know about our lifestyle during the quarantine period. There was no proper schedule of work, sleep, eat. Many people even left bathing or changing clothes while being quarantined at home. They used to do work from home without being bathed because there was no physical ongoing during 9 to 5 office timings.
Being nearer to the kitchen became the reason for overeating, irregular eating patterns, more fried foods, etc. Physical work was less to do. These habits together made our lifestyle very unhygienic and led to obesity.
We have become obese as a result of our habits during the quarantine period. Some of them were beyond our control, and some could be controlled. But due to some factors, we became negligible and ended up having these consequences.
Now, it is mandatory to get rid of these to avoid complications and live a healthy life ahead. We need to follow some tips to manage our body weight:
Being physically active may help us a lot in removing excess fat from our body. Try to do an intensive workout that damps you with sweat. Do push-ups, aerobics, and weight lifting exercises, which give you strength and help in burning calories as well as removing excess fat from the body.
[Read: A User’s Guide to COVID-Proof Gym Workouts]
Adopt healthy eating habits in your daily routine. Eat timely, eat healthily, and the amount of food should be as required by the body depending on the body’s need. If you are less physically active, your body needs fewer calories, but if you are high in doing a physical workout, you will need more calories.
So, consume food depending on your work routine. You should also take food containing less amount of carbohydrates and more proteins. It is advised to eat less at dinner because we usually sleep after eating dinner, which makes carbs and fats stored in the body resulting in obesity. Also, leave the habit of grazing all day.
[Read: Eating Dinner Earlier Burns Fat]
Avoid packed food from the market as much as possible and eat healthy food cooked at home only. Foods available in the market are full of unhealthy oil, spices, and free radicals (unhealthy molecules present in our body) that may harm our body and make us obese.
Add some spicy food in your meal like chili peppers which contain capsaicin that boost the body’s metabolism and burn excess fat. So, the better option is to eat simple and healthy food made in the home’s kitchen only.
Plan a daily schedule and stick to it for eating, sleeping, workout, and other daily routines. Engaging yourself in a proper schedule helps you in preventing overeating and adopting a hygienic lifestyle.
Drinking plenty of water supports you in staying hydrated. Staying hydrated with water can boost your metabolism by 25-30%, which further helps in burning a few more calories and losing weight more effectively.
Keep in mind to maintain a gap of at least 40 minutes between meals and drinking water. Otherwise, it will demolish your digestive fire ‘Agni’ and may lead to agnimandya, including various digestive problems.
Green tea is a powerful source of natural caffeine and antioxidant compounds, one of which is catechin. Antioxidants work in combination with caffeine and give a synergic effect to burn fat. Green tea is proven to be a much effective remedy for losing weight.
If you are suffering from obesity, then sugar is not your good friend. Foods containing high sugar like barbecue sauce, ketchup, energy drinks, packaged fruit juices, granola, chocolate milk, and flavored coffees show a bad impact on health. These foods are very high in sugars, which increases the number of calories and make you obese.
Quarantine acted out as major trouble to the people who felt themselves stuck at their home. But, it was a great opportunity for those who got excess time to follow their passion and to take care of themselves and their health.
But, most of the population is suffering from the problem of weight gain due to their bad habits, which increased during the quarantine. But, don’t worry, try the above-explained remedies, and manage your weight naturally.
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