How I Lost 22 Pounds in Lockdown Without Exercising
I was worried.
Before lockdown landed, I had been steadily losing weight with diet and exercise.
I knew there was no way I could keep that up with the lockdown restrictions in place.
I’m just not one of those people that can exercise at home.
And let’s not mention the hours I was planning to binge watch Netflix.
I was in trouble.
I thought all my hard work was about to be derailed, and 2020 was going to be a write-off in more ways than one.
Thankfully, I was wrong.
MY SLOTH LIFE DURING LOCKDOWN
My natural home-state can only be described as sloth-like.
Leaving the house was the only exercise I used to get, and when lockdown hit I went from a steady 10,000 steps a day to sub-500. Even my personal trainer asked me if ‘I was okay’ when he heard this.
When the pandemic hit in March, it didn’t feel safe to go out in London. In any case, we were only allowed to go out once a day for exercise and grocery shopping.
I quickly learned that moving between my bed, sofa, kitchen and dining table (a.k.a. home office) didn’t require more than 500 steps a day, and this did concern me.
I TRIED AND FAILED
It’s not as though I didn’t try to exercise at home. I did try. But most times I would just think about exercise and not do it. Then I would kick myself for being lazy.
But soon I noticed something interesting happen. You know all those fitness pros on the internet? They reported the same problem. They were also struggling to find the motivation to workout in lockdown, and that’s their job!
Suddenly I didn’t feel so bad. I decided to accept my shortcomings, let go of the guilt, and take control of the variable that I could adjust.
My diet.
BECOMING MY OWN FOOD POLICE
Taking control of your diet is a game of breaking habits.
When you are in the habit of exercising more, you are used to eating more because your body needs the extra energy.
Eating more is a habit, and when you take the exercise away, eating less is not automatic.
To re-train the habit, you have to tune into your energetic needs. You also need to do the math and calculate what to consume within your new sloth-like lifestyle, and then get adjusting.
So that’s what I did.
The easiest win I had was adjusting my meal structures.
Since I was no longer rushing out the door in the morning, I didn’t have to eat breakfast at 8am.
I could start my day with a relaxed cup of coffee and eat breakfast later.
Then I found that I wasn’t hungry at ‘lunchtime’, so lunch became later, and so did dinner. Before I knew it, I had a diminishing window of time for late night snacks.
Outside of work hours, I also had the luxury of sleeping as much as I wanted. When I got tired, I slept. I didn’t have to eat to stay awake anymore.
Of course, I did spend many hours in front of the TV in the evenings.
So I hijacked my snacks for lower calorie options. Halo Top Ice Cream was a regular top choice, as well as zero-fat greek-style yoghurt and zero-sugar jello.
SHINY OBJECTS AND OTHER DISTRACTIONS
I had to kill time to stay out of the kitchen, so I started spending a lot more time grooming.
The newly-found hours I spent painting my nails or styling my hair kept my hands too busy to eat.
Ironing was another novelty. A habit which I previously avoided like the plague suddenly became relaxing and blissfully time consuming.
And let’s not ignore the dopamine hit you get from a fresh manicure, new hairstyle or crisply ironed shirt. Bliss.
After a time, the restrictions eased up and I started going for daily walks. Not much. 30 minutes here, an hour there. It all added up.
THE RESULTS WERE DRAMATIC
Even though my rate of weight loss slowed down in lockdown, it didn’t halt.
I was losing a pound a week on average, and before I knew it, I was 22 pounds lighter and 2–3 dress sizes smaller.
The difference was noticeable and my pre-lockdown wardrobe became too big for me.
I had to invest in a new wardrobe and address the Spanish Inquisition I started to get from my friends.
People assumed that I had been doing lots of exercise at home, but that couldn’t have been farther from the truth.
All I did was get more rest and engineer my day around my lower energetic needs.
DIET AND EXERCISE ISN’T ALWAYS THE ANSWER
When Lockdown hit, I was afraid of losing control again.
I also felt guilty for not exercising when I knew I had no real excuse not to.
But I learned that whilst exercise is optimal for health, it is not essential for weight loss.
I am living proof that you can hack other aspects of your lifestyle and see results.
Why not try these techniques the next time you find yourself housebound? They work.
