Quarantine 15 — Selfie Does

**Q 15: A Weekly Series**

<<- the woman pictured is pretty pissed about having to start her (forgive me) “health journey” yet again.

Ah. The Q 15. Surely it has nothing to do with the coping queso and tequila. And the lying on the couch*. But that was March. This is July. Everyone I’ve spoken to recently has grown frustrated with the whole “my insides are just baked goods and wine”** and I feel the same way. In fairness, I didn’t gain a full 15 but I DID gain back the weight I had lost at the beginning of the year cuz February ain’t got ish on a full-blown pandemic. So now, to contend with the stress weight.

Let’s just talk about the “F” word. ***

A friend noted just yesterday, that most of us have been in vacation-mode health wise. Our whole lives have been interrupted, so of course our habits have been, too. I say this to point out that if you’re being at all hard on yourself about this like “How did I get here?!” whilst jiggling your belly, please stop.^

If you recall, in March we had a dump truck drive into the middle of our lives. This included grocery shopping and importantly, the TYPES of food we were able to get. No, I’m not talking about TP, I’m talking about meat, frozen vegetables, canned food and most importantly (for me, at least), eggs. And if you’ve never suffered from food insecurity before, it’s STRESSFUL. Do you know what I bought after walking through the ghost town dairy and egg aisle? Mickey Ice Cream bars. I’ve never purchased a box of Mickey Ice Cream bars in my entire life. Trying to find some semblance of joy in a messed up situation, I ended up with Mickey^^^. Hello, vacation eating!

However unlike a vacation, there’s no set end date so at what point does coping become a lifestyle? And is that really the lifestyle we want? However, I also recognize that changes I make today aren’t due to a sudden surge in motivation. This isn’t a new year or getting ready for a fun vacation. So my real question is: How do we approach health and wellness in a way that feels sustainable but not punishing? I don’t know about you but I don't need to add anything to my to-do list or stressors. So, “failing” at finishing a workout or nutrition program? Nope. Off the table. And that’s what we’ll be talking here every Tuesday on the Q15: the things that are helping push me/us in a better direction.

Fitness

Idk about you, but I was ready to get a grip on this in mid-April but it’s been an ongoing attempt to find the right balance. One key take-away? It’s important to give different things a dedicated attempt but also, it’s important to let things go when they just aren’t working. So I’ve opted to try things four weeks at a time. Importantly, the best workout I can choose, IS ONE THAT I WILL ACTUALLY DO. This seems hyper simple but I kept pushing myself to do tougher programs because I thought it would get the best results. As it turns out, if your workouts are so hard that you avoid them, you may be stunned to find you’re not achieving your goals.

AM: 20 Min Strength x 6/wk

I noticed that I would run out of time in the morning to finish a full workout. At first, I tried splitting up the workouts so I did 15 in the morning and 15 at night. But I hate working out at night - I never have energy or motivation to do it. So, I scrapped the harder, longer strength workouts for this four week plan.

10k steps, every day

I don’t know about your part of the world but is hot as Hades here. Normally in the summer I rely on my gym membership to get that cardio. This year, I’m having to think outside the box. I know I’m unlikely to actually go running so I scrapped that to and replaced it with walking. On the weekend I can wake up early enough to get the 10k in first thing (and holy crap - it takes so much longer than I thought). And then, I bought a small treadmill for my office which has replaced my outdoor lunch time walks.

Some things about the treadmill: I am the only weirdo at work who has one, I had to consult with maintenance in order to plug it in, it’s extremely simple and came with a crack and finally, it literally costs the same as my annual gym membership. This seemed like a fair trade off for me because I’m letting my membership lapse but I do have to note, they are not inexpensive.

PM: 10 min yoga/stretch x 6/ wk

As to the yoga and stretching, the combined mental and physical benefits led me to prioritize it. I, like a ton of other people, sit most of the day and in order to workout without injury, I gotta stretch. I know a ton of people who WFH are likely without their nicer ergonomic chairs and desk set ups and it’s important to mitigate those impacts too.

Nutrition

Lets be real, nutrition has been and continues to be the tough part here. Lots of us have been taking our government mandated walk breaks but what we eat is the direct cause of the Q15. And I have gone through ALL the phases including but not limited to baking and copious of local take-out.^^^

The plan for nutrition is very simple (remember because stress and failure?) I’ve been working on two things: Following the Noom App plan (which will be reviewed in this space next week) and eating a variety of vegetables.

And that’s it! What’s everyone been doing? Are you trying out a health plan rn? What’s been working or not working for you?

*And the light crying in the shower.

**edit with your own coping mechanism. There’s no judgment here.

*** no not that one ya salty sailor

^No? No one else? Just me and Homer? Umm. Me either!
^^and they are nowhere near as good as the in-park real thing.

^^^now with Margaritas. Thank you, Texas!