Losing weight during Quarantine

Since you cannot reduce your calories below 1200, then you are going to either have to work on reducing your portions or increasing your cardio.

However I will say that your calories are very low, how tall are you? What's your weight that you are maintaining? How much did you gain?

You are probably right about a lot of it being water..

Regardless on if you increase cardio, you still have to make sure you eat 1200 calories.. reducing them is not going to benefit you in any way, health wise or weight wise, making yourself hungrier is just asking for a binge.

What is your rate of loss set to? Half a pound per week? Or higher?

I march in place in front of my TV to still get steps in. It was a bit of an adjustment, because back when I was working (not from home) I would easily get 7K steps at work. Now I've gotten used to it and can only sit and watch TV for a little bit before I feel the need to get up and move. Now that the weather is nicer I've also been taking some walks outside. Even pre-quarantine I wasn't doing exercise other than walking, but there are tons and tons of free workout videos on youtube if that's your thing. I have negative adjustments enabled for my fitbit and I am motivated to move enough to not lose calories at the very least. No way am I going to be stuck at home all day and eat less!

There are plenty of healthy option recipes out there just Google low calorie options for your favorite recipes. On good option is cauliflower, you can use it in place of mash potatoes and trust me if done correctly it is excellent. Spaghetti squash in place of pastas. And of course the main part of any weight loss plane or maintenance plan is portion control. PC is where I stumble a lot as well as snacking.
I'm actually down since starting shelter in place, I've been making a point to take a walk and get some form of exercising in.
Stay strong, you got this.

I totally get the baking and trying new recipes since we have more time. I have 2 girls 12 and 14 and they always want to try new items to bake especially during quarantine since they are home from school. After the 1st 2-3 weeks I actually had them help me de-clutter the pantry and got rid of all the junky type processed foods. I do not allow them to bake more than once in 2 weeks. Plus we signed up for Les Mills on Demand and have loved doing the workouts since Golds Gym has been closed. I am 5 ft 2 inches and my girls are around the same height. All 3 of us have to be careful since we are shorties/petite:).

You type two different things.

One is quarantine and the other is shelter in place. Quarantine, you're locked in a room and have to be served. Either because you're sick or you were in contact with someone who was sick. Either way, you need to preserve your strength and eat healthy.

With shelter in place, you can go our for a walk and for groceries. You can cook and exercise at home.

Which is it?

adchak wrote: »

I am finding it very hard to maintain my weight let alone lose it with being homebound and shelter in place. Fault is mine with tons of cooking yummy dishes, baking a ton (which I normally avoid given butter, flour n sugar combo is the worst) and trying out new recipes. Tryg hard to get back to my smoothies, salads and healthy eating. Are you all cutting down on total calories because movement is restricted. I normally eat 1200-1300 cals and worked out- Barre classes which is a good mix of some cardio and tons of stretching, movements with weights. All that has stopped for the last 2 months. I try and do the elliptical 3 times a week 45-50 mins; 3.5 miles. Pl share whats been working for you! Have you increased your exercise or reduced the calories in?

Actually - I'm more active (my lesser-active activities are all cancelled, leaving just cycling and running as my leisure activities) & eating less (no more restaurants, bars, potlucks, post-group-ride-beer/snacks in parking lots,... so food/ingredients I didn't make the choice to buy and bring home no longer have the ability to magically appear in front of me).

janejellyroll wrote: »

TazzWaz wrote: »

I totally get the baking and trying new recipes since we have more time. I have 2 girls 12 and 14 and they always want to try new items to bake especially during quarantine since they are home from school. After the 1st 2-3 weeks I actually had them help me de-clutter the pantry and got rid of all the junky type processed foods. I do not allow them to bake more than once in 2 weeks. Plus we signed up for Les Mills on Demand and have loved doing the workouts since Golds Gym has been closed. I am 5 ft 2 inches and my girls are around the same height. All 3 of us have to be careful since we are shorties/petite:).

I have no idea what kind of relationship you have with food or what the situation with your daughters is, but I find it initially somewhat concerning that you're limiting their baking to once every two weeks and describe two young pre-teens/teens as having to be "careful" because they're short. Twelve and fourteen are really young to be getting those messages about their bodies.

6th grade and 8th grade are perfectly acceptable ages to teach about moderation. Source: I’ve taught PE and health in the schools for years. The amount of middle schoolers with no concept of “everything in moderation” because their parents want to just let them be is astounding, and a cause of childhood obesity.

LukesGreenMilk wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

TazzWaz wrote: »

I totally get the baking and trying new recipes since we have more time. I have 2 girls 12 and 14 and they always want to try new items to bake especially during quarantine since they are home from school. After the 1st 2-3 weeks I actually had them help me de-clutter the pantry and got rid of all the junky type processed foods. I do not allow them to bake more than once in 2 weeks. Plus we signed up for Les Mills on Demand and have loved doing the workouts since Golds Gym has been closed. I am 5 ft 2 inches and my girls are around the same height. All 3 of us have to be careful since we are shorties/petite:).

I have no idea what kind of relationship you have with food or what the situation with your daughters is, but I find it initially somewhat concerning that you're limiting their baking to once every two weeks and describe two young pre-teens/teens as having to be "careful" because they're short. Twelve and fourteen are really young to be getting those messages about their bodies.

6th grade and 8th grade are perfectly acceptable ages to teach about moderation. Source: I’ve taught PE and health in the schools for years. The amount of middle schoolers with no concept of “everything in moderation” because their parents want to just let them be is astounding, and a cause of childhood obesity.

I don't think I said anything about not teaching children moderation. Does moderation require limiting baking -- a perfectly reasonable cooking method -- to once every two weeks? Or can it include supporting a child's passion for learning to bake with a variety of foods, including some that can be eaten more regularly in the context of a balanced diet?

Does moderation require modeling the expectation that young girls have to be "careful" about their bodies because they're short? Does it require throwing away perfectly good food instead of enjoying it alongside foods that are more nutritionally dense/lower calorie?

None of these things are *required* for learning moderation. In fact, I think the messages that baking is dangerous, our bodies are stacked against us, and that a pantry must be purged of certain foods can potentially be detrimental to learning moderation.

@kbushe3221 - thanks.

I think the mistake I was making was not eating my exercise calories.