Stay-at-Home Weight Change Factors #2&3
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•We were suddenly around food 24/7
•We lost our regular schedules, regular eating times and patterns (no structure)
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One day, we had a regular schedule.
Daily routines.
There were clearly defined work times and eat times.
And, for most of us, when we were at work we weren’t around food.
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Then, literally overnight for many of us, we were at home 24/7.
Work times weren’t clearly defined anymore, or we didn’t have a job at all anymore.
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No defined schedule, loss of our familiar and stable daily structure and 24/7 access to food of all kinds is a formula for eating more than is needed—and maybe not even realizing it.
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It became too easy to just swoop through the kitchen and randomly grab something between zoom calls, or between pandemic homeschooling sessions...or just visit the fridge or pantry any time we felt the urge to ‘do something’ with ourselves.
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It’s not what we do every once in a while that counts, but what we do consistently.
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So if we snack, nibble and munch on reflex all day either addition to actual meals, we’re unconsciously taking in way more food than we’re physically using (in a calorie surplus).
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Or we might be just grazing all day long and skipping out on actual meals altogether, which means we’re never really full/satisfied and probably still taking in more calories than we actually need and not getting enough actual nutrients, not realizing it at all.
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**The solution: get conscious about your patterns and set up a schedule for meals and meal times.**
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Tracking what we eat is an effective eye-opener. It doesn’t have to be with an app, pen and paper works fine.
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Creating a new structure for eating actual meals will help a ton, too.
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Meals where you get in:
- a serving of protein,
- 2 servings of veggies,
- go light on the starchy carbs, and
- round it out with a reasonable portion of healthy fats
Using this approach will help you feel fuller and more satisfied for hours at a time.
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If you used to eat Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, then reestablish that pattern as part of your new normal. Plan your snacks IF you need them.
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Stop leaving it up to whims, feelings and fate, and make your eating patterns work FOR you!
Need help getting started?
Shoot me a message and I'll send you a copy of my favorite tracking method--it's easy to use and super effective: [email protected]
We're in it together...all the way.