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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder why people blame lockdown when talking about weight gain

251 replies

Apple41 · 23/08/2023 22:20

Always been overweight however I lost weight during lockdown due to having time to excerise and cook well. I keep seeing people blame lockdown for their weight being higher and don't get it. Obviously gyms were closed but so were restuarants.

OP posts:
JenniferBooth · 23/08/2023 22:49

Once again for the hard of thinking

BECAUSE ITS HABIT FORMING.

Hanones · 23/08/2023 22:49

Wow, looks like not everyone is the same as you OP.

I never knew that before. Did you?

MissTrip82 · 23/08/2023 22:50

Really?

You can’t think of a single reason why people
might have eaten more or made poor choices at times? Seriously?

How extraordinary.

FerryPink · 23/08/2023 22:51

It really triggers me in a way I can't make sense off when people assume their lovely calm lockdown experiences and opportunities were somehow available to everyone.

Exactly...
Remember there were people working in COVID wards

There were people with desperately ill relatives

There were people juggling jobs that became insanely intense with homeschooling

There were people shielding and terrified

There were people trapped in DV relationships

I'm dumbfounded that some people assume it was all one big summer holiday for everyone

heatherheathe · 23/08/2023 22:51

seems to be a bit of a lack of understanding that other people's experiences were different to yours
You had time to exercise and cook well. Other people were busier/had more commitments than they did out of lock down so didn't have that time.

Gyms were closed but so were restaurants...right but if you were someone who went to the gym 5x a week and hardly ever ate out one of those would affect you much more than another. For example outside of lockdown my exercises consisted of a mixture of things like climbing, paddleboarding, swimming, and ice-skating, none of which I could do for months (ice-skating for 18 where I live!) - going for a walk around the local housing estate once a day wasn't exactly going to be an equivalent.

I don't know why it would be surprising that when the majority of activities were banned and going to buy food was one of the only things allowed that people would do less and eat more! seems a pretty standard consequence to me. Not to mention proven links between boredom/stress and comfort eating - again lockdown was a time when a lot of people were either very bored or very stressed (or both!).

JenniferBooth · 23/08/2023 22:52

The powers that be made their choice They cant whine now the reckoning has to be paid.

michalwave · 23/08/2023 22:53

JenniferBooth · 23/08/2023 22:49

Once again for the hard of thinking

BECAUSE ITS HABIT FORMING.

That works the other way too. I was finally able to get on to a healthy way of eating because I got into the habit of cooking meals at home and didn’t have to sorry about what I would eat at restaurants or at other people’s houses.

Iwantmyoldnameback · 23/08/2023 22:53

I sat in the garden and drank wine, I baked cakes and I couldn't do my 3 gym sessions a week. At one point we had no fresh fruit or vegetables. Lots of pasta though.

TeenLifeMum · 23/08/2023 22:53

I worked more hours than ever (NHS), home schooled, became anemic and couldn’t get a gp appointment so it was picked up late but meant I was exhausted and eating crap.

shams05 · 23/08/2023 22:54

I was on mat leave during lockdown. Previous mat leaves were very productive for my weight loss as the younger one was always in nursery so baby in pram and off I'd go. This time baby in pram and walking at the pace of a three year old who wanted to examine every insect, crack and blade of grass meant I didn't lose any weight.. we spent a lot of time walking, actually crawling at a snails pace in lockdown because nursery and schools were closed.

Ambi · 23/08/2023 22:54

Working FT through a big merger during a difficult lockdown whilst studying for a professional qualification and homeschooling 2 kids single handedly as DH had to continue working out of the home as he was a "key worker". Funnily enough I put on 2 stone.

Sorry OP your post is smug as fuck.

Allotmenthelp · 23/08/2023 22:55

JenniferBooth · 23/08/2023 22:47

Looking and feeling like a scruffbag Being treated like a disease vector instead of a human being. Struggling in the heat in a mask, Feeling totally dehumanized

If this is the secret to inducing weight loss perhaps we should bottle it and sel it eh?

Pffft

This was a big reason for me. Everyone in my family looked scruffy! The hairdressers were closed for months and we slobbed about in our comfy clothes. I didn’t really notice the weight gain.

Also, the ‘eat out to help out,’ even McDonald’s were included! Not that I went there very often but I certainly drank more wine and ate cake as it was one of the only treats we were allowed.

Weight can go on quickly and with less exercise, motivation and food as a source of comfort it’s not hard to see why people gained weight.

BinauralBeats · 23/08/2023 22:57

Because I could graze all day, baked a lot, sat down a lot and could drink quite a lot too if the notion took me, for I had nowhere to be the next morning!

DinnaeFashYersel · 23/08/2023 22:57

For every one who lost weight there were others baking and comfort eating and drinking - putting weight in.

Lockdown affected us all in different ways.

I lost 4 stone during lockdown. Dieting and exercising.

I've put it all back on. No longer have the same time to meal plan and exercise and bad habits returned.

JenniferBooth · 23/08/2023 22:58

Allotment YES EXACTLY. Im trying to lose it now but im having to force it off

nadine90 · 23/08/2023 22:58

That’s nice for you.
I was a single parent wfh (more than) full time in a stressful crisis service (demand quadrupled) whilst homeschooling 2 kids, living in a tiny flat with no garden in a very rough area that you didn’t want to walk around for too long and with no transport. Everyone was going on about spending time with family and taking up hobbies. I had never been more stressed and overwhelmed in my life.

Animalnitrates · 23/08/2023 22:58

I agree this is the smuggest post I’ve read in a while, sorry I tried to save your dying relatives for 13 hours a day and mainlined hobnobs in my break because I didn’t have the energy or time to meal prep before going home to try and homeschool my kids through GCSE’s and A level while my husband also worked a frontline job and deal with bereavement. It’s not even the dig at weight gain that makes me angry it’s the absolute disregard for people who had harrowing experiences working during covid. This post has made me really angry

echt · 23/08/2023 22:58

Online teaching did it for me. Every lesson every day (until my school set some rules on it) taught live. All work marked online instead of hard copy. Huge increase in sitting on my arse and less free time. When in school, I moved at the end of every lesson - no assigned classrooms in my Aussie school - so pretty active.

I also got a back condition which, while intermittent is unlikely ever to go away.

Definitely ate more.

XenoBitch · 23/08/2023 22:59

I gained. I ate more and drank more. All the things I did to take my mind off of binge eating and alcohol... I could no longer do.

NashvilleQueen · 23/08/2023 22:59

I think you need to work on your imagination OP.

WingedHermes · 23/08/2023 23:02

I had to provide meals for my kids three times a day. First time in my life. (Usually between school and nursery, dads house and grandmas and pack up tea at extra curriculars, I usually only cooked twice a week).

that meant I ate three times a day from boredom. Plus we all moved A LOT LESS. No dance classes for the first time in our life. And walking at the pace of my youngest does not burn fat.

CreeperBoom · 23/08/2023 23:02

No one I knew had extra free time during lockdown. Most were all trying to work full hours from home, to tight deadlines, needing to timesheet ever minute. While also homeschooling young children and looking after toddlers.

Jerabilis · 23/08/2023 23:03

I gained 5kg over covid which I’m still struggling to lose. I didn’t have my usual gym and karate training and was working 10+ hours days, no time to cook properly or exercise.

WhatAboutMyIcecream · 23/08/2023 23:06

Quite a goady thread. Not everyone had the luxury of using lockdown to exercise. I spent a lot of lockdown unable to walk as I couldn’t get an operation on my spine that I desperately needed. So yeah I put on a lot of weight. As did several friends who were stressed out and or depressed.

AnxiousAcademic · 23/08/2023 23:07

I blame the weather 😉 I lost weight during the first lockdown….,it was summer, daily walk or bike rides with the kids, playing in the garden. But the second lockdown over winter - the ice meant little outdoor time and activities with the kids focused on baking or movies and snacks! The weight I’d lost in the first lock down quickly went back on! 2 years on and I’m still trying to lose it now!