I last shaved my beard some time in the BC era… Before Corona. There are people who would be shocked to run into me like what happened to your beard… well because of lockdown was mostly at home and as I didn’t need to go out into the world, the urge to have a well-manicured facial foliage kinda just got up and left…
I could pretend that lockdown restrictions meant I could not go and see my barber, but well I have not seen the inside of a barbershop in the past couple of years, so that would not be entirely true…. (besides I own a pair of hair clippers even though I currently have no idea where they are)
Back to the point, I was illustrating how lockdown and staying home in the past year due to the pandemic affected not just vanity and appearances, this new normal has affected our whole well-being, wellness, mentally and physically even financially (looks at the cobwebs in my wallet)
We have a family WhatsApp Group where family members just check-in and post updates on any news and sometimes simply just to say Hello, since we are all at different places in the country. This one day my young brother came up with a fun idea to do a Selfie Photo midweek fiesta, just asking the fam to share pics of themselves not archive images but pics taken that day. A few comments were going around on how people had put on weight, with those who started it being asked if they had looked at themselves in the mirror.
That staying at home lifestyle really adds up, if you aren’t watching or taking care of yourself properly. Just using a snap survey from my family I can definitely confirm that lockdown weight gain is real…
An article from the BBC on Lockdown weight gain cites results from a new King’s College London and Ipsos MORI survey which showed that 48% of the participants indicated weight gain during lockdown while 29% drank more alcohol…
How did the pandemic lead to weight gain?
If you put on a some weight during the past trying times you are not alone, the situation kind of brought everything together into a mixed bag of well here are……
“The rise in unstructured time, the closure of gyms and recreational centers, movement restrictions, boredom and the enormous stress of the pandemic affected people’s sleeping patterns, eating habits, and levels of physical exercise, which would all contribute to weight gain.” – Medical News Today
How to get back your healthy lifestyle
If you never fell of the bandwagon of your fitness lifestyle, good for you…
It hit me one day as I struggled to button up my favourite skinny jeans, as I sucked in my gut, it dawned on me that I hadn’t even needed to use a belt on any of my jeans in a long time… I missed having rock hard abs like from the time an exotic dancer was doing headstands and inverted splits while balancing on my abdomen during carnival celebrations but moving on swiftly; I started watching my diet and making sure I was working out.
Gyms might have been closed but The Concrete Club we started in the backyard was still open, who needs a gym when you can workout in your backyard?
To find if your weight is ok you can use your Body Mass Index (BMI) Body Mass Index is a simple calculation using a person’s height and weight. The formula is BMI = kg/m2 where kg is a person’s weight in kilograms and m2 is their height in metres squared
(note its more of a guide than an absolute standard; the ideal person does not exist and it does quite take into account body mass composition) for those who do not like calculating you can use online calculators like the BMI calculator.
And online you can also calculate what your ideal weight should be and now work towards it. World Health Organization (WHO) recommends both men and women to keep their BMI between 18.5 to 25.
Its also important to know your body type, I am a hard gainer and my fitness routine is less about losing weight and more about muscle and strength building… Can you tell?
How goes your health and fitness lifestyle?
~B
Becoming The Muse 
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