Avoid The Quarantine Fifteen (In Four Easy Steps)

We all remember college, freshman year, you arrive at school, and it’s welcome week. It is a party; there is no more rigid 8-4 high school schedule, no more meals made by Mom, and no more rules.

You can stay up all night and eat all the non-perishables you bought because you don’t have a kitchen or a car, or you can order take out because it is too late to go anywhere healthy.

By the end of the first semester, most freshmen find themselves a bit above their fighting weights, and for a lot of people, this self-quarantine will have the same effect.

During the self-quarantine, you are encouraged to patronize your favorite local restaurants. I don’t know about you, but my favorite local businesses are primarily Mexican food; tacos and burritos are pretty caloric.

You are encouraged to stay indoors, and as much as every fitness professional and gym is trying to sell you on in-home workouts, a single in-home workout probably won’t even match the calories you usually burn from walking around during daily life. To actually stay in shape during this crisis, you will realistically have to do two a days or a workout and a long walk.

It seems that you are also encouraged to load up on weeks of food in advance, and the only way to do that is to purchase non-perishable items. Sadly, anything that comes in a box and has a shelf life of over two weeks is generally unhealthy.

With all this encouragement, we might forget that body composition is a math equation. If calories in > calories out, you will gain weight. Unfortunately, our calories out likely just got a 20% - 30% slash due to inactivity, and our calories in were likely increased due to free time. People eat when they are bored.

All this is going to add up to a few extra inches on your waistline or what I am calling the quarantine fifteen.

What can we do to stop it?

The good news is this whole quarantine thing should blow over in three weeks, for the time being here are four steps to help you stay healthy in these trying times:

1. Keep busy

Bored people eat, that is what they do. Think about the last time you were working on something that required all your focus and energy. You probably weren’t thinking about food. Often busy people forget to eat, and I’m not suggesting you take it to that extreme. I’m just suggesting doing something other than binge-watching Netflix.

Grab an instrument, a book, start a new art project, learn to cook, organize your closet, teach your dog stupid tricks, or whatever else you’d like to do with your time. The point is you have an unprecedented amount of free time right now, try not to blow it.

2. Plan your meals

Most unhealthy decisions are made impulsively. Rarely do people plan to eat a whole bag of mini Reese’s cups, but either way, man plans, and G-d laughs. Planning your meals gives you something to look forward to in the time of excess time.

Cooking is an activity that can keep you busy, and cooking healthy foods can help you twofold on your road to avoiding the quarantine fifteen. If you are really bored, you can plan every meal for the next two weeks, put it on a calendar and stick it to the fridge. Diet is the most important factor for your weight management, don’t neglect it.

3. Relax

I know, I know, you cannot tell anyone to relax without an immediate reflex of anything but relaxation. However, our nation is essentially on pause, and anything we accomplish during the pause is a bonus. Unless you are one of the few people whose work has not been impacted by Coronavirus, no one will blame you for taking a beat.

Do some yoga, meditate, take a bath, take a nap, or sit on your balcony. Don’t read the news or social media, if you are chilling, you are already complying with the best practices, nothing you read is going to change what you are doing this minute. Your job is to relax, stay put; this isn’t a warzone, you will be fine. This too shall pass.

4. Stay active

This is the hardest one on the list, staying home can put a damper on your daily activity level. Maintain your morning routine, still start your day like you have something to do. The couch is calling, and you’ll need some achievable daily activity goals to ignore that call.

My daily activity goals are simple: walk my dog, do fifty push-ups, and spend some time hang boarding (rock climbing training). Notice that my goals aren’t that time consuming or particularly challenging, that way, I’ll accomplish them, and everything I do in addition is gravy.