People who start college always talk about weight gain and dub it the freshman fifteen. During this time at home, I noticed I and the people around me were gaining some weight. Was it stress, was it boredom? With the pandemic, I deemed it the quarantine fifteen.
I decided to do a little anonymous survey to identify if people were indeed gaining a bit of weight like me, and why they think they were. I got on social media, used a survey tool and asked people to take the survey. Twenty people responded to three questions . The questions were: Have you gained weight? If yes, how much? What do you think was the cause of your weight gain?
Out of these twenty, 60% stated they gained weight. The below graphs demonstrate the breakdown of the questions.
Table 1 Weight gain
| Under 5 lbs | 6-10 lbs | 11-15lbs | Over 15 lbs |
| 33.33% | 50% | 16.67% | 0 |
Table 2 Reasons for weight gain
| Anxiety | boredom | Noone to impress | Could not exercise | No money to buy healthy food | other |
| 8.33% | 41.67% | 0 | 16.67% | 8.33% | 25% |
When citing “other” for gaining weight, there were three responses. One cited medication side effects. Another was supporting local restaurants. The third was working from home with easy access to the kitchen.
By the survey, the majority of people gained from 6-10 lbs, and the biggest reason for weight gain was boredom. Some strategic things then to prevent this weight gain then need to be optimized. As we are staying home more to work, and for necessity, we need to change some things we are doing at our homes.
- Building a oasis: We decided to make our bathroom a mecca of our favorite beach scene. The paints were not that expensive, and we could use our artistic side, making a lighthouse, palm trees, and a awesome color palate.
- Take projects one at a time: Get those projects you have been putting off, one at a time to completion. Make a checklist and cross them off when completed. You will feel more accomplished and keep busy
- Learn a new thing: We started doing different cooking recipes, and culture nights where we introduced a new culture of food into our lives and read up on it as well.
- Reread the classics: Reading the classic novels, it helps us at our favorite game show, Jeopardy
- Connect with family through social media: Stay connected with family through calling apps like zoom, social media. We actually are connecting more than we did before the pandemic. We have had tea parties and talent shows!
- Take up a new hobby: take up something you have never tried, writing poetry, making abstract art, or sculpture. These things can be very fulfilling, and helps pass the time
- Exercise every day: whether it is just dancing to music or talking a walk around the house, moving around is going to help your joints and metabolism.
I hope these tips help everyone feel better and stay healthier. As we continue to feel the effects of the pandemic , in numerous ways, we must balance ourselves and help others balance for the good of our overall health.
