For many people the Covid-19 pandemic has caused unwanted weight gain. Now (NOT January 1st!) is the perfect time to start working towards losing those extra pounds. To get started sooner rather than later, here are some quarantine weight loss tips.
- Eat balanced meals. Use the Healthy Eating Plate as a guide and make half your plate fruits and vegetables, one quarter of your plate lean protein, and the last quarter of your plate carbohydrates. Make sure to choose complex carbs such as beans, starchy vegetables, and whole grains. Aim to make this plate at lunch and at dinner!
- Move more and sit less! Start by increasing your steps through the day by being less efficient when cleaning up or shopping, or taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Work up to doing 150 minutes of planned exercise each week spread out over at least 3 days.
- Make meals and snack ahead of time. If the quarantine has you working from home, pretend you still leave the house each day and pack your lunch and snacks. Making healthy meals and snacks ahead of time will help you limit your portions, corral grazing, and have a balanced mid-day meal.
- Eat on a schedule. Plan to eat at least three times each day. You don’t need to have three full meals per day, but snacks should be well balanced just like meals with carb, protein, vegetables, fruits, and healthy fats.
- Make healthy food easy to grab on the go. Put a bowl of cherry tomatoes or other colorful cut up veggies on your counter for fly-by snacking. Keep higher calorie, less healthy food out of sight and a little hard to reach.
- Relieve stress without food. Determine a few strategies to help manage stress such as exercise, take a bath, call a friend, or do a craft. Choose something that will get you away from the kitchen when you are feeling anxious or down.
- Get adequate sleep. Aim to go to sleep and wake up around the same time each day. Try to get at least 7-9 hours each night. It is difficult to set and achieve goals if you feel exhausted. For more information about the effects of sleep on weight management, click here.
- Aim to eat 5-9 servings of fruit and vegetables each day. And if you can manage more, then great! In general, a serving of fruit is about the size of a tennis ball. For vegetables, 1 serving is 1 cup of raw vegetables or leafy greens or ½ cup cooked vegetables. Fruit and non-starchy vegetables are low in calories and high in nutrition.
- Avoid food boredom. Lacking variety can sabotage your diet. Check out some websites for healthy recipes and aim to try one new recipe each week. Here’s one of my favorites to get started: Tuscan White Bean Stew.
- Be consistent with a balanced, healthy diet 80% of the time. No one expects perfection and you shouldn’t either. When life happens (holidays, vacations, TGIF happy hour, etc.), you should be able to eat guilt free because you know you can get right back on track the very next day or even at the very next meal.
posted 12/2020
Well Balanced Eating 