Let me start by saying that “quarantine 15” is a real thing! Ha! If you are anything like me you have probably gained a few extra pounds during this quarantine. About 2 months ago, I started noticing my clothes weren’t fitting me anymore and I didn’t like the way I was looking in pictures. I knew I needed to stop those new bad habits I created in the beginning of quarantine. Aside from the obvious diet and exercise, I did some research (aka Jillian Michaels YouTube Channel, highly recommend) to get some additional pointers and tips. The biggest things I learned from her was the facts on calculating calories and pounds. A pound of fat equals 3,500 calories, so if you want to lose a pound a week you need to be deficient in this many calories, either from food or exercise. I am very much an analytical person, so having these concrete numbers/goals in my head to strive for was very motivating for me! Here are the three tools I used to help me lose weight in quarantine:
Tools For Losing Weight In Quarantine
1 – Apple Watch
This might sound silly, but buying an Apple watch was life changing for me (I wrote an entire review on it here). It made it so much easier for me track my workouts and calories burned with very little effort. Even things like steps while walking to the mailbox, etc all counted. All of these extra burned calories were automatically synced with the app I was using to track everything.
2 – Lose It App
This app is great! I used the free version of it and you can track everything you eat in a day. There is a huge database of food stored in the app already so if you are eating out you can just select from the menu that already includes the nutrition info. You can also scan food barcodes or enter in items individually. The app automatically calculates everything for you, factors in the calories burned from your workouts, and tell you how close to your daily and weekly goals you are. I love the convenience factor of this app, but I also like how it made me so much more aware of what I was eating… a handful of goldfish here, a cookie there. It all adds up. About a week into this I slowed down on the extra snacking and I even gave up almost all the sugar in my diet (my low-sugar coffee recipe here).
3 – Home Gym
Alright, I know this is may not be realistic for everyone, but this has made all the difference for me. Being able to workout in my pajamas, without finding childcare, made it so much easier for me to actually do it. My goal was 30 minutes a day, 5 days per week. I like to do 10-15 minutes of cardio on a stationary bike and then the rest was light weight training. If you don’t have a home gym, you could run/walk outside or use cans as your weights (view my home gym favorites here). My goal was about 200 calories each time I workout.
Using these tools, I have already lost 7 pounds over the last two months. Do you have any additional tips for losing weight in quarantine? Leave them below!