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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:
DrinkFeckArseBrick · 23/08/2023 23:08

Because we were spending all our time looking after young children whilst trying to work. Stress related eating, more drinking, no time to cook healthy meals, and no time to exercise

Randomuser9876 · 23/08/2023 23:09

God all these posts resonate so much!

I put on 2 stone. Still can't loose it.

Pre lockdown I had a nice office job I walked to and from, easily 10000 steps a day. I went to the gym 3x a week and had a structure in my meals and alcohol consumption. Was a size 10 and looked fab.

Then I had a stressful job (massively affected by pandemic) with a 10 step commute. 2 kids to home school who cried all day cos they missed their friends. Gym closed. Could barely leave house. I ate what came to hand and drank heaps to differentiate night from day. Treats weren't going shopping or out with friends but takeaways and drive through at Starbucks.

It was such a horrible time and I aged 10 years in 2. Still can't claw it back!!

Rupiduti · 23/08/2023 23:09

I went from having a physical 5 day a week job where I was out and about walking a lot to suddenly on furlough at home, depressed with not much to do other than watch repeated news conferences, baking (to then eat!) Plus numerous zoom quizzes which often involved a gin or 2. Unfortunately I did put on weight and have not managed to lose that weight even now.

MrsSkylerWhite · 23/08/2023 23:09

I put on lots of weight because I went from walking just under 10 miles each day to doing no exercise at all because I was too scared to go out. My husband is CEV and I was being told every day at 5pm that basically if I stepped outside, I was going to kill him!
Didn’t help that lots of well meaning family friends sent us food and drink gifts, throughout 😁

NotTheSlugandLettuce · 23/08/2023 23:11

brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr · 23/08/2023 22:25

Got depressed and comfort ate.

This
I was so depressed
I ordered sharing packs of chocolate and just ate them all.

DeedlessIndeed · 23/08/2023 23:11

Not everyone was at home and had a lot of spare time to get fit and health though.

Key workers often had to work additional hours, in increasingly stressful environments, with limited outlets to destress. I don't think it's that unusual that people sought comfort and treats in one of the few available sources.

TragicMuse · 23/08/2023 23:14

I lost my daily cycle commute. The park was always rammed so I didn't go there. A short step around the block wasn't any equivalent to the cycling I'd been doing.

ChristmasKraken · 23/08/2023 23:18

I don't only eat in restaurants.

I much refer to exercise in groups, I struggle to get motivated when exercising alone. Doing a workout video doesn't appeal and I find it much easier to make excuses to not do it.

I could spend virtually the whole day not moving from my kitchen because I worked in there as well as obviously cooked and ate.

We could get food delivered, which was a small piece of joy during a miserable time, and so we made the most of it.

I eat when I'm anxious or stressed.

The worry over not being able to get hold of certain foods/not wanting to constantly go to the shops meant I bought some treat things in bulk online (the horror that our local supermarket didn't sell my favourite sweets!!). Then I ate them.

OilOfRoses · 23/08/2023 23:18

I don't think I lost or gained anything but my fitness sure took a dive. I tried to keep it up but I just can't get the kind of workout I'm used to under lock down conditions. When I was able to get back to it, I realised that my fitness had been negatively impacted. That was frustrating as I was in a really good place with fitness before lock downs. I still haven't got the same good routine going again as I've just lost the rhythm I had.

Lizzypet · 23/08/2023 23:19

I'm not glad that other people had a horrible time during lockdown, but so glad that people are putting it out there. I'm so sick of people saying what a wonderful time it was, absolutely oblivious to those who were struggling in so many ways. I lost weight during that time, but that was due to the stress of the threat of losing everything including our house, with a 2 and a 5 year old. Not a scenario that made exercising and eating well particularly easy..

Stopleavingtheremotebythetelly · 23/08/2023 23:21

Grief- I lost my lovely dad to Covid and couldn't be with him in the months before or at the end or be with my my mum for almost all that time. My cousin died and her mum had to travel and sit on her own at the funeral. Both funerals in line with lockdown rules so straight home alone afterwards. It was a period like no other time as humans need to be with loved ones when they are ill and die and afterwards. I still feel like it was all a horrible dream sometimes. I gained weight due to comfort eating and if you see experiences of people similarly affected as 'Blaming Lockdown' for weight gain and comment on something so superficially (restaurants being closed) you have clearly been more fortunate than many others

NeverDropYourMooncup · 23/08/2023 23:23

Because some of us were stuck either trying to breathe and/or trapped in the living room trying to work fulltime with no opportunity for short breaks for a coffee, a walk to and from the bus stop, walks around site, lunchtime walks...my activity went down from over 12,000 steps a day to 63 because I made the special effort to struggle upstairs to the toilet instead of the downstairs one (and then took thirty minutes for my breathing and heart rate to go back to normal).

JenniferBarkley · 23/08/2023 23:25

Yup what everyone else says. More sedentary, less time and comfort eating.

I don't know many people who had more time for exercise or cooking, none of our friends were furloughed, we were all working with no childcare and stressed to bejesus.

mondaytosunday · 23/08/2023 23:26

Because I was at home and not getting out and about. I have dogs and walked them daily but no one to keep me in check so to speak, so the weight piled on! Of course I've always fantasised about hiding away until I get to my ideal weight - had the opportunity but alas did not take advantage.

pizzaHeart · 23/08/2023 23:27

WeWereInParis · 23/08/2023 22:37

I lost weight during lockdown due to having time to excerise

What an odd thread. I neither lost weight nor gained it, but it's weird that you can't see how people's experience of lockdown will have varied massively. You had more time - loads of people had less, they were home schooling or managing small children and then working all evening to catch up for example. People were stressed, gyms were closed, people were erroneously made to believe that by law they could only leave the house once a day.

Thank you for such a sensible post.

HauntedPencil · 23/08/2023 23:28

JenniferBarkley · 23/08/2023 23:25

Yup what everyone else says. More sedentary, less time and comfort eating.

I don't know many people who had more time for exercise or cooking, none of our friends were furloughed, we were all working with no childcare and stressed to bejesus.

Same.

EmilyBrontesGhost · 23/08/2023 23:29

unicornhair · 23/08/2023 22:24

I put on loads of weight. I lost my job and we could only leave the house once a day. I drank way more than I had previously as there was nowhere to be.
DH didn’t put on weight but his fitness fell as he was doing 14 hours a day working online.

We could leave the house whenever we wanted to.

I don't understand this "once a day" thing.

I walked my little dog several times a day and also went to the supermarket every day.

I genuinely feel sorry for those who locked themselves away and thought they were doing the right thing. The damage they did to themselves is terrible.

Namechange77427 · 23/08/2023 23:29

I lost loads of weight too! Spent so much time enjoying the outdoors 4 walks a day with the dog and a time to do a morning workout. It was bliss

crosstheriver · 23/08/2023 23:30

I lived on my own. I suffered from several bereavements.

There was nothing to but comfort eat, really.

MissMillyFluff · 23/08/2023 23:30

It didn't affect me as I still worked the whole of lockdown. Which was a bit awful as my 50th birthday consisted of my two DD and their partners wishing me happy birthday from afar, bloody horrible time.

RomeoandJomeo · 23/08/2023 23:31

I lost loads of weight during lockdown. Not deliberately, but several factors came together to mean that I ate less and exercised more. I live very rurally, so was pretty much able to go out on long walks and bike rides whenever I fancied a break from work. I was very lucky, and can't imagine what it must have been like for people living in city centres with no outside space and being moved on from park benches etc. We all have different circumstances, leading to vastly different experiences and opportunities during lockdown. I would have thought that was pretty obvious.

Mariposista · 23/08/2023 23:31

Started each day with a 10K run, 5 days a week. Did strength training too. Also had a very young labrador who needed walking. Ate healthily, only drank at weekends. Didn’t gain a pound and emerged very fit!

Malarandras · 23/08/2023 23:32

Because not everyone experiences life in the same way as you I would imagine. Example: I was widowed a few weeks into the first lockdown. I was suddenly 36 yr old lone parent with a 7 and 9 yr old. I didn’t even know what planet so was on let alone what I was eating. So unless you had the same experience during lockdown it can hardly be surprising our experiences are wildly different.

IHopeYouStepOnALegPiece · 23/08/2023 23:35

On paper I was in an ideal situation to lose weight.
Single, no kids, furloughed so plenty of time.

In real life I was furloughed from my part time job at 80% which wasn’t enough to pay bills, got absolutely fuck all from my other jobs meaning I was drowning in debt, couldn’t keep my mental health in check and was utterly depressed at being completely fucking alone and not having any human interaction for weeks and weeks.

So I ate. And ate. And ate because it was the only bit of fucking joy in my day.

Fuck off with your judgmental shit

Bellyblueboy · 23/08/2023 23:35

I no longer walked into work. No longer walked between meetings.

I got long Covid so stopped running.

my working day started at 7am and I worked non stop often to midnight. Often sox hours of back to back zoom meetings

I didn’t have time to cook. I just worked, slept and ate convenience foods.

I snacked to manage the stress.

surely you understand people had different experiences and lives to you?