It seems that most postings of comments about people after the quarantine is that almost everybody is going to get fat. There was one statement that said after the quarantine you will either be a hunk or a chunk. It meant that you could improve your fitness, or become lazy and add pounds to your frame.
For fitness-minded people, the extra time that required the person to be at home meant that there is now more time to work out, or go for a longer run. For individuals that went to the gym to lift weights no longer have to worry about opening or closing times to fit your workout in. They now have all day to work out and can start or end whenever it suits them. For runners, it doesn’t matter when they leave the house, or when they return. If you wanted to increase your mileage for the week this would be the time to do it.
I wondered what the reasoning was behind all the comments about gaining weight. If you are not a hard core fitness person the lack of routine times can work against you. When people have a set routine to follow a work out is scheduled for a certain time period in that routine. The routine of waking up at a set time, going to work for a set number of hours, eating meals at scheduled times, and working out before heading back to bed keeps you on a regular schedule. I know how not having a routine works against you. You can go for a run or lift weights at any time, but the temptation to put it off until later is always present. More times than a person can imagine, putting things off for a later time results in not getting the run or workout in at all.
There are more temptations to miss, or interrupt, a work out at home than at work or in a gym. At home there is a refrigerator to tempt you between sets of lifting. The telephone will ring for you from friends that are bored from staying locked in at home and want to visit. And a quick glance at what is showing on television is often followed by watching the show to the end. The problem with interruptions in a workout is that it is hard to start up again. The muscles cool down, any progression in increasing a weight now has to start over. If you have a spouse, or children, there is a very good chance they will need something that will interrupt your workout. Even if you have a ‘do not disturb’ time that you have requested their need to interrupt the work out is more important.
There is also food temptations within reach. That ice cream in the refrigerator, that snack of potato chips is on the table, and too many liquid choices other than water is right at home. More often than not that other choice of a liquid has an abundance of calories more than water. The fact that you now eat at home more means the choices of food at meals may not be the best. If anybody in the household is a good cook that is a real plus. But, for many single individuals trying to fend for themselves, the quick and easy meal preparation is more the normal. Those peanut butter and jelly sandwiches you had as a child now make a comeback. Calories add up, the activity goes down, and the end result is added pounds.
As the days go by it seems that the amount of sitting down watching television increases. Shows that were at one time never watched now become “can’t miss the next episode” kind of viewing. There are some reruns of favorite series on a few stations that show hour after hour of episodes that may last up to 10 hours. It makes no difference that you have probably seen the episode when it was televised during the regular scheduled time period. Now is a chance to see it again, and again, etc. I had one friend that would never think of watching the “soap operas” during the afternoon. Then he was confined to home following an injury for a time and became addicted to watching the “soaps.” It seems that even if you do not like the program it is at least something to pass the time.
A person has a choice as to which routine they will follow. Increase the miles on a run, add minutes to exercise, or add hours of television watching, adding mid-meal snacks, drinking high calorie liquids, and putting on the pounds. You can become that “hunk of fitness” or that “chunk of waist busting, social distancing of your pants” person.
