health & nutrition
By Brandi Givens , RDN
Oops , I Gained the Quarantine 15 : Five Tips for Pandemic Weight Loss
“
You
’ re a nutritionist !” one of my more direct pickleball friends reprimanded during our socially distanced water break . I had pointed out that absence of play during the pandemic somehow caused my leggings to shrink . With public courts shut down for months in the Pacific Northwest , it was my first time back .
Judge if you will ; I am not alone . We players lost our favorite form of exercise as we knew it during the pandemic , finding ourselves dinking around the house with more access to the pantry . Drop in some situational blues from lack of social interaction , and you have a recipe for unintentional weight gain . Dietitian or not , I ’ m going to cut myself some slack this time .
Luckily for me , I knew what to do . Here are a few of my favorite tips for weight loss that have worked for myself and others .
# 1 Rid yourself of the sabotage . Is your problem sugary drinks ? Do you have a pantry full of nutrientempty snacks “ for the kids ”? Do you keep a candy stash ? Has your alcohol intake increased during the pandemic ? I find it best to rid the home of temptations if at all possible . Don ’ t get me wrong — I believe that occasional indulgences are an important part of life if you enjoy them . Planning is key to prevent overdoing indulgence . If you avoid having your favorites handy , you can ’ t mindlessly grab for them in a weak moment .
# 2 Eat only during the day . It doesn ’ t get simpler than this . As one form of intermittent fasting called time-restricted eating , this has become trendy for good reason . It ’ s what humans are meant to do ! The 2017 Nobel Prize for Science was earned by researchers who discovered the enzyme that controls circadian rhythm . Since then , nutrition researchers have used the information to find that many diseases and weight gain can be prevented just by restricting eating to daytime hours .
For general health and weight maintenance , I recommend no more than a 12-hour eating window , fasting during the other 12 , five days each week . For example , I choose to fast from 7 p . m . to 7 a . m . For weight loss , I recommend an 8- to 9-hour eating window , for example fasting from 6 p . m . to 9 a . m . And by the way , true fasting means everything besides water . It ’ s about allowing the liver and other organs to rest and repair , which they cannot do while processing caffeine , artificial sweeteners , etc .