Adieu, Covid Weight

Posted byLisa at Micro of the MacroPosted inHealth & Well-BeingTags:, , , , , , , , , , ,
Meet Izzy. She likes to hide from me!

Over the past 2 1/2 years, our lives have changed dramatically.  We’ve been subject to higher levels of stress & fear, experienced unprecedented loss, and spent more time at home.  In this post, I shared that internet searches for weight loss info increased significantly just months after covid became prevalent, at the same time sales of comfort foods escalated.  I think many of us have gained a few pounds since first learning of covid-19, and I am no exception. 

She enjoys hunting from the windows.

As we get older, biological changes can make it more difficult for us to lose weight, as you may well know.  That is a motivating factor for me to quickly eliminate my covid weight.  And I want to share with you the steps I am taking, in case you’d like to make the journey with me.  (These are in addition to caring for my gut’s microbiome, as detailed in my post Little-Known Weight Loss Strategies.)

Izzy maintains her trim figure by being very active. (And she loves her box collection!)

  1. I’m utilizing Ayurveda to a greater extent.  (To learn some basics of Ayurveda, the world’s oldest healing tradition, check out this post.)  Due to having a lot of Pitta (fire) in my constitution, I’ve started taking an Ayurvedic herb called amla & eating more bitter foods, both of which act to cool body heat and help with detoxification, a necessary component of weight loss due to toxins being stored in fat.  
  2. I am eating less at a slower pace.  Chewing longer has become a focus.  And when I first get the slightest indication I’m full, I stop eating.  Hara hachi bu, a Confucian teaching meaning eat til you’re 80% full, is the principle I’m utilizing here.  It’s a big change for me to be fully present while eating, because I’ve always eaten while doing other things.
  3. I am eating all meals within a 7 – 8 hour window.  Eating in this manner, i.e., between the hours of 10 am & 6 pm, gives ample time for proper digestion before I go to bed.  This allows my energies to be directed to relaxation, brain drain, and other biological activities that are meant to occur during sleep.  This window also works to allow for autophagy, a process whereby old, damaged, & diseased cells are destroyed, which serves not only weight loss but also overall health.
  4. I am more active.  In addition to my workout routine, I am cleaning closets, organizing cabinets, pulling weeds, trying new recipes, having more fun with my kitty, and being more social.  Staying busy with these activities burns extra calories & helps me sit less.  (As much as I love reading, watching documentaries, and spending time on my laptop, too much sedentary time can easily lead to weight gain and other unhappy consequences.) And according to data from Blue Zones, the longest-lived populations in the world, regular activity throughout our lives is a key to maintaining a leaner build.
  5. I am getting more rest.  Research shows that insufficient sleep triggers brain chemicals that induce hunger.  In his book The Healer Within: Using Traditional Chinese Techniques to Release Your Body’s Own Medicine, Dr. Roger Jahnke shares a method that knocks me right out when I’m having a hard time falling asleep.  A few short minutes spent massaging my ears, hands, & feet transports me to dreamland!
She does lots of cool yoga poses.

I am counting on these practices to boost my weight loss efforts.  I hope they will work for you, too.  May our collective future hold much less stress, fear, and restriction.  And may we experience it without carrying those pesky covid pounds!

Blessings for Losing the Excess,

Lisa

On Thursday, September 15th, Marsha from Always Write and I are co-hosting a blogger meet-up at a restaurant in Mayer, Arizona, near Prescott Valley.  If you can meet us for lunch (& lots of fun!) please RSVP to one of us.  Hope to see you there!

She’s always worn out at the end of the day.

The content of this article is for educational and informational purposes only, and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult with a qualified health care professional before acting on any information presented herein. Any statements about the possible health benefits of any subject discussed have not been evaluated by medical professionals or the Food & Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or illness.

58 thoughts on “Adieu, Covid Weight”

  9. Super sound advice here, Lisa! I think eating less at a slower pace is something I need to do, being fully present whilst eating will be difficult though! A great post as usual and thank you for introducing us to Izzy, she’s lovely! Have a great weekend 🌹🙋‍♂️

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  12. I also try and eat within a 7 or 8 hour window. When I first read about that it seemed so easy to do, then I realized how often I was drawn to the kitchen after that window of time!

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  21. Hi Lisa from Aussie. Your cat Izzy is very cute and playful. How nice if I stayed close by to join you all for lunch but I am very far away in Brisbane. I see you also are aware of Ayurveda. You can have a look in my website as my Great Grandfather was an Ayurvedic Doctor. My Grandfather also have done Higher studies in Ayurveda in Calcutta India.

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  22. I do many of those things but my weight is consistently 25 pounds heavier than I would like. I try to eat between 11:30 and 7:30, although sometimes I fail and have a piece of fruit at 10:30. For lunch I eat salad with homemade sauerkraut and an apple cedar vinegar and olive oil dressing. For a snack I have either a hard boiled egg, whole milk plain yogurt with blueberries or some nuts. When I get home from work I have what my wife wants, which is sometimes healthy and sometimes not. I also move around a lot at work but I rarely do any kind of aerobic exercise, which might be my problem.

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  23. I can relate to this post – with the Covid crap and going through my mother’s ordeal it has been a stressful couple of years and it has taken its toll on the body. Now that everything is behind me beyond the stress of an large Halloween related event coming up at the end of the month I have been able to focus on getting the extra 3 or 4 pounds off before the big ultra race in the first week of October. I think the main thing is not to get too worried about the small fluctuations. I now have the luxury of running a lot of miles which helps, but it seemed like the body had become accustomed to the additional weight and didn’t want to let it go – once it figured out I was serious, it has been cooperating (knowing how much to replenish after a multi-hour run has been the tricky part in order to be ready for the next day’s miles). I think you are right on the money with the sleep recommendation. Cute kitty.

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  27. Izzy’s got the cutest little face! Yes, I’m struggling on this side of the world too with weight gain … I think it might also be due to me going through menopause. A few months ago, we started to enjoy our meals at our kitchen table … to sit down without any destraction (we don’t have a TV), made me concentrate more on my plate of food and to realise when I’m full and need to stop eating. Slowly but surely, I’m losing the extra weight I’ve gained (but there’s still a long way to go) and I will now also implement some of your suggestions! Thanks Lisa 🌹.

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