Drop the corona kilos: How to lose weight while in isolation

Pants getting tighter in iso? Weight loss — or perhaps more accurately, avoiding weight gain — at home is suddenly a big deal. Dietitian Melissa Meier shares her top tips.

• How to party in isolation and get paid $12,000
• Chic spot Sydney’s elite flocked to for lockdown

You’ve been cooped up in your home with nowhere to go — no social outings, no restaurant visits and no cocktail catch-ups with friends on the weekend filling up your calendar.

Life is pretty boring at the moment, so surely losing weight should be a cinch. The reality, though, is that your day-to-day life has probably become a lot less active and you may even find yourself dealing with new challenges that aren’t doing you any favours when it comes to weight loss.

I’m talking non-stop snacking, daily drinking and emotional eating.

You can lose weight while in isolation.

Before we dive in, let’s get one thing straight — there’s no right or wrong way to spend #isolife.

These are testing times and it’s OK to simply make it through without the added pressure of losing weight (or learning another language or deep cleaning your home, for that matter).

But, if you’d prefer to have something to focus on, I’m here to share a couple of tips and tricks that may help you succeed on the weight-loss front.

These are my top-five pointers and a guide to the best snacks to help you lose weight while social distancing …

RAMP UP YOUR ACTIVITY

Gyms, boot camps and pilates studios may be closed — but that doesn’t mean your daily sweat sesh should fall by the wayside.

Now more than ever it’s important to incorporate daily movement because not only will it help to boost your physical health, but your mental health, too.

With weight loss specifically in mind, you want to increase your caloric burn, so be sure to schedule in time each day to head outside for a walk or run, or do a workout in your lounge room or backyard.

Head outside to do some exercise to keep you moving while in isolation.

PLAN YOUR SHOPPING

Healthy eating doesn’t just happen. If weight loss is your goal, you need to be prepared with a kitchen chock-full of healthy foods to eat.

MORE FROM BODY+SOUL:

‘How I dropped six dress sizes’

Weight loss: 7-day macro meal plan

It’ll pay to set aside time each week (or fortnight or even month if you’re avoiding supermarkets altogether) to create a healthy meal plan and shop accordingly so you’ve got everything you need to stay on track.

Focus on vegetables, fruit, legumes and wholegrains, and make sure to include small amounts of lean protein and dairy (or calcium-fortified alternatives).

TRY MINDFUL EATING

At times like these, it can be easy to graze all day long. If you find yourself heading to the fridge or pantry every 15 minutes, adopting mindful eating could be your secret weapon for weight loss.

Essentially, this is a process whereby you carefully assess your hunger before you shovel food into your mouth. The idea is that you ask yourself if you’re truly hungry before you eat (can you feel hunger pangs or emptiness in your stomach?) and if not, you find other strategies or activities to occupy your time.

Choose healthy foods to eat and pay attention to how much you’re eating.

When you do eat, it’s important to be fully immersed in the eating experience and pay attention to all of your senses, rather than mindlessly scrolling through your Instagram feed or staring at the TV screen.

It’s a great strategy to overcome emotional eating or snacking out of boredom.

DRINK RESPONSIBLY

A daily glass of vino (or entire bottle on the weekend) may seem like a good way to relax when there’s nothing else to do — but alcohol can have a serious impact on your waistline, not to mention a raft of adverse health effects as well.

Drink in moderation while in isolation.

Beer, wine and spirits are seriously energy-dense, so it’s best to keep your intake to a minimum.

In case you’re wondering, two standard drinks a day is the recommended maximum, and you should incorporate at least two alcohol-free days each week. The less, the better.

FOCUS ON HOW YOU FEEL

With a goal to shed kilos, it can be easy to focus solely on the numbers — but I’d encourage you to look beyond your scale.

Aside from weight loss, there are so many other benefits to eating well and exercising, like feeling more energetic, being in a better mood, sleeping better and stressing less.

Shifting your mindset away from the scales and focusing on other positive outcomes will make the whole experience a lot more pleasant for you — you’ll end up feeling more motivated, and your healthiest weight should follow soon after.

Have you been emotional eating?

Finding a non-food coping mechanism to replace snacks will help you to develop a healthy relationship with food, rather than using it as a crutch to get you through tough times.

You could walk to your local park, call your mum or a friend, find some ‘me time’ to read your favourite book or have a relaxing bath.

Originally published as Drop the corona kilos: How to lose weight while in isolation