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How does Covid-19 affect Obesity epidemic?

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Replies

  • Fuzzipeg
    Fuzzipeg Posts: 2,297 Member
    From the state of many UK supermarket shelves, many people seem to be intending to eat their way out of the present situation. so my opinion is there will be no downward change in the number of abese persons. I mean no offence to those who have medical causes of the plight, I'm one who has fortunately found my right answers after pushing at so many doors.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,879 Member
    I'm mostly working from home as instructed by work and also because my boys don't have school. I'm more active right now than when I'm stuck in the office. We set up a daily plan for the boys to provide structure to their day that consists of academic time, creative time, quite time, and exercise/fresh air time. We start our mornings with an hour long walk at 9am which I rarely did when I was at the office. Then they have fresh air time for an hour in the afternoon and I will either join them on the trampoline or go for a bike ride for an hour.

  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    psychod787 wrote: »
    NovusDies wrote: »
    psychod787 wrote: »
    I think active, diet conscious folks will find ways to eat decent and move. People who don't care, won't. That's just the way it is. Where there is a will, there is a way.

    I don't think it is that simple. Habits are reinforced in repetition and if a person is just starting they may be substantially more vulnerable to a sudden upset in routine. I am fortunate to have 2 years under my belt. I have self-studied quite a bit and been able to put most of my old incorrect thinking aside. My dietary routine is almost rock solid. I face an occasional crack in the dam but it never lasts long.

    Yes. Habits are important. That is why I tell people who ask me for advice, a clean food environment is one of the best things one can do. A quote I love about personal choice.

    A King may move a man, a father may claim a son, but remember that even when those who move you be Kings, or men of power, your soul is in your keeping alone. When you stand before God, you cannot say, "But I was told by others to do thus." Or that, "Virtue was not convenient at the time." This will not suffice. Remember that.

    We can't control what the weather, government, and others do. We can only decide what we do and how we choose to deal with obstacles..


    I agree in principle but my point was that you can't necessarily expect someone to deal with an obstacle for which they are not prepared.

    An example might be a person who has no real skill in the kitchen. Being stuck at home more might make that person fall back on prepared foods that may not be as filling for their calorie count. I do believe a person can learn to do basic things in the kitchen but if that person is starting at square one it will take some time.

    It is worth remembering that a lot of people were struggling to survive the first stages of weight loss before the virus came to town.

    I hope anyone who is too overwhelmed to start or continue will be wise enough to try and maintain. No good can come from gaining more weight that will add to what will need to be lost at a later time.

  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    I think this situation is a perfect way to learn two of the best skills we need when trying to lose or maintain weight - resiliency and creativity. For those of us who’ve been on this journey for awhile (I’ve lost 122 lbs in the last 2 years and conquered the autoimmune disease that had me bedridden for 13 years) we can adapt and know how to search out the tools and information to keep going.

    I’m hoping that people can see the opportunities in this pandemic not only to work on themselves - as I believe many will - but to reach out to their communities and build closer more resilient and creative connections. Will some people gain weight? Probably. Will it statistically increase the obesity epidemic? Who knows. My feeling is that it will be a blip at best. Taking the long view - the pandemic may make people realize how vulnerable their weight/health/smoking/etc is and take action to make improvements.

    Unfortunately our culture is always taking the short view. I wish that vulnerability would kick in but the main person in my life that needs to learn how to moderate/quit drinking and smoking is out there still doing it in public enjoying the lack of crowds. Considering how bad a shape his lungs are already in if he gets corona it will almost certainly kill him. I am not trying to be dramatic either. He is a regular hospital patient with lung issues and you can count on the fact he will be back every 8 months or less.

  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,285 Member
    For a number of reasons, I haven't belonged to a gym in years. (I'm currently sporadically employed and don't want a regular monthly debit; for religious reasons, I need a women's-only gym and the closest one is far enough away that I know I wouldn't go much in cold weather; I'm uncoordinated and as much as I try not to compare myself to everyone else in a class, I can't always help it...)

    Anyway, I've got a glider, a treadmill, and dumbbells ranging from 3 to 35lbs in the basement. I've got music and a good pair of running shoes. (Seriously; just spent more than I've ever spent on running shoes last week for some Brooks Arial 20s.)

    This is pretty much business as usual.
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member

    Unless in very specific communities, they aren't expecting you to quarantine yourself in your house and sit on your butt. Most are encouraging people to still get outdoors and do stuff (just not in groups or only in small groups with distance between them). At least around here, it seems most people normally entertain themselves by sitting (watching/listening to something/someone) while eating/drinking. With live music/bars/restaurants shut down, we might actually come out ahead healthier in terms of obesity. No gym, but I can still ride/run/hike (with no post-activity group pub stop afterward). Lazy people will still be lazy (but without the crazy-high-calorie restaurant/bar food) and active people (barring an actual quarantine) will still be active (minus the beer and pub snacks afterward). Depression-activated snacking might be the big hurdle, if anything.
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
    edited March 2020
    Worth noting I'm cycling even more now in order to keep my sanity, now that dancing is gone. .. so significantly more calories burned and less consumed (usually some drinking and snacking when out dancing)(ETA: and group rides often end with beer).
  • speyerj
    speyerj Posts: 1,369 Member
    I have had a desire to stress eat, which so far I've been channeling into stress cooking rather than eating. My gym is closed so strength training is now just floor exercises. I never did cardio in the gym - I prefer to run outdoors, no matter the weather, so its just the free weights I miss.

    But as far as what the population as a whole will do, I don't have insight into that. But, I see lots more people talking walks around my neighborhood lately, even though it's still quite chilly. So, I'm hopeful that this forced pause in our lives encourages more people to get outside and enjoy the great outdoors. But I also want my gym to reopen. :(
  • Katmary71
    Katmary71 Posts: 6,448 Member
    I think it's easy to lose motivation but in my case one thing I can control is how much I eat as long as I'm able to get to the store soon (one neighbor is hosting a farm this weekend so if I do bad tomorrow at the store I'll get produce there. I've been finding recipes to use all the dry beans/legumes I have though I have to modify a bit. Getting started working out is challenging but between my Fitbit and wanting to hit a certain amount of steps and online videos I've kept pretty active. Once I get started I start having fun and am probably overdoing it but am trying to have fun with it. I racked up so many steps yesterday I went for breaking my record for the next "badge", unless I go hiking from dusk to dawn I don't think I'll ever get the next one. I know a lot of people are binge watching Netflix and not finding healthy food at the stores so it'll be a challenge for many.
  • corinasue1143
    corinasue1143 Posts: 7,467 Member
    COGypsy wrote: »
    I'm one of those in an extremely small space. My condo is a one bedroom, just under 700 sq feet. If I push all the furniture in the living room as far back as it will go, I can fit a yoga mat in longways, but can't spread my arms fully out to the sides. I don't really know much about what's on YouTube, but I know that's not enough room for things I used to do in aerobics type classes back in the day. I thought this would be a good time to start C25K or something, but they're predicting 4-6" of snow tomorrow and Friday, so that option seems to have disappeared as well for the time being. Luckily, stress goes right to my stomach, so too many calories has not yet been a concern for me.

    Leslie Sansome doesn’t take up much room.
  • spinnerdell
    spinnerdell Posts: 230 Member
    My nervous overeating has been balanced by my nervous activity so far. For me, careful monitoring and logging remain the key to my maintenance. As others have said much more eloquently, I'm controlling what I can control.
  • COGypsy
    COGypsy Posts: 1,135 Member
    COGypsy wrote: »
    I'm one of those in an extremely small space. My condo is a one bedroom, just under 700 sq feet. If I push all the furniture in the living room as far back as it will go, I can fit a yoga mat in longways, but can't spread my arms fully out to the sides. I don't really know much about what's on YouTube, but I know that's not enough room for things I used to do in aerobics type classes back in the day. I thought this would be a good time to start C25K or something, but they're predicting 4-6" of snow tomorrow and Friday, so that option seems to have disappeared as well for the time being. Luckily, stress goes right to my stomach, so too many calories has not yet been a concern for me.

    Leslie Sansome doesn’t take up much room.

    That is a good suggestion, thank you! Looks like it would be doable. Especially since I'm now getting weather warnings for blizzard conditions tomorrow. I guess missing out on a snowy slick commute is one thing to be grateful for in this situation!