Fighting The Post COVID Pudge
Quarantine 15 became a popular term back in April when it became apparent that most people stuck at home were eating a bit more than usual. Have you been affected by this phenomena?
Since our closure mid March, our team at EA has stayed quite connected through weekly Zoom happy hours, online workouts, walks in the park etc.
I personally challenged myself to attain a goal of 15,000 steps per day in addition to daily online workouts with some of the gals. I also had a leisurely walk with my fat dog, Max, so most days I exercised for about 2 hours. HOW IS IT THAT I DID NOT LOSE WEIGHT????
How cute is my fat dog? By the way, he has been on diet food for 2 years and his weight does not budge either!
It is not rocket science to figure out that if everytime you walk through the kitchen you stop for a snack, you may undo your efforts on the treadmill! Daily Happy Hour certainly does not help either. I’m going to blame my hormones...cause that’s more fun!
"Seriously though, out of whack hormones will wreak havoc on the ability to burn fat."
Prior to Covid, I was already experiencing very high cortisol levels. I didn’t feel stressed because I typically operate at a very high energy level on a daily basis.
“High cortisol also lowers estrogen levels, which can result in the deposition of fat, also sometimes called that “menopausal middle.” When estrogen is lowered from unrelenting stress and cortisol production, all the female hormone imbalance symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats, sleep problems, and mood swings can get worse. High cortisol levels from stress also reduce serotonin levels, so a woman may be even more moody, depressed, and have trouble sleeping. So stress, which is endemic in our society, if not managed, can cause many other important hormones to become out of balance.” https://fullscript.com/blog/stress-effects-hormone-health-in-women
I know many of my friends and colleagues who experienced elevated cortisol over the past few months. As our routines start to look more like pre-Covid days, we hopefully can get a grip on our health. If you did embrace the opportunity to exercise more, get outside for daily walks, play with your kids, make healthy meals, I challenge you to schedule this into your post Covid life.
For some, with kids at home, adding the challenge of homeschooling while trying to work virtually may have turned your life upside down. Life will return and I am hopeful that one day, you can look back and appreciate the time you got to spend with your kids. I think school aged children will remember the spring of 2020 when they got to spend so much time with their families. When my kids were younger I worked 60+ hours per week so that’s all my kids know of me.
"When we first got the Stay at Home order...a bit of me panicked at the thought of being with my husband for months!"
Anyone who might know Larry will understand. Even my kids were worried! Larry and I have “ passionate” personalities. If we disagree on an issue, neither one of us holds back! It can make for some very heated discussions around the Wilkins household. But the craziest thing happened. For the first time in our 32 years together, we had calm discussions. Neither one of us was in our normal hurried routine. So we actually had the time to really hear and appreciate each other.
We have built our business together over the past 25 years, and since business got put on hold, it really gave us the opportunity to discuss the next 25 years. Grandkids and gardens ( not yet, but coming soon!).
We were all given the Great Pause in life. Time to reflect. Show gratitude for the people in our lives. Appreciate where we live and what we have. The challenge is to go forward and not forget. How do we return to life as it was without sacrificing the lessons we have been taught by the past few months?
Becky Top 5 Tips
Daily gratitude. Write it, say, it, think it. Count your blessings and you will always have an abundant life.
Daily exercise. Maybe it can’t be 2 hours, but we all can do 30 minutes. YouTube has thousands and thousands of free exercise videos for every possible type of exercise. Zero excuses if you own a TV !!=
Use an app to record daily caloric intake ( like My Fitness Pal ). Choose higher nutrition and lower calorie food.
Increase plant food in your diet. Whether you enjoy a juicy tenderloin or not, we ALL can benefit from adding more plant based food into our meals and snacks. Just being aware of the calories going in usually helps to drop a few pounds.
Appreciate our earth. Walk or bike if you can. Shop local.
Bring Sexy Back. We’ve spent months in stretchy clothes with no makeup. Time to get dolled up again. Do your hair, put on some makeup. Feel sexy again.
Seek help if you need a booster to get your body and health back. Tammy, our Nurse Practitioner, will be seeing new patients for Hormone Assessments. Virtual appointments will be available for in-depth consultations to find out if you could benefit from having your hormones optimized with BioIdentical Hormone Replacement Therapy ( BHRT). There are also prescriptive injections available to decrease appetite and help get your weight back under control.
Consultations for CoolSculpting are also available to find out how this procedure works magic on pockets of fat.
Our Top 5 Q & A's for CoolSculpting
For virtual consultation requests, please send an email to info@externalaffairs.ca
