Pandemic Check In

[BriarRose 432]

For those struggling with job loss, or trying to juggle raising children at home, having to homeschool those children, provide 3 meals and Snacks a day for the family.... caring for elderly parents or relatives, and now becoming a full time teacher AND working full time -whether from home or having to go to work...... my heart goes out to you !!!

I am high risk - life long chronic asthma and I am 64 years old (young) - I raise hens for fresh eggs, organic garden, work full time in Social Welfare and have a 20 something who has some issues that keep her from working right now too....

But I eat better now than ever - partly due to the garden getting daily care from me as I work 3 days from home and 2 in the office or field. Wearing PPE is hard. But a mask and face shield remind me not to snack at work !!!

I consider myself very lucky - I have a garden to work in, and access to the outdoors where no one else is. I am not one who has ever been able to really exercise, but I keep active gardening and doing household chores. I made a commitment to lose weight since July 2019. Working on pound #42 right now.

Take care out there everyone. Right now, "success" is staying healthy.

[sideeye 1,440]

I'm New York, and within the past few months - bleh. The lockdown didn't bother me so much as a concept, weight wasn't a problem for the first two months. I was VERY involved in a virus-related contact tracing effort that has basically consumed all of my time, and obviously the status of healthcare in America means that I've spent since mid-Feb bashing my head against a wall to try and make things happen and hitting political and insurance roadblocks and let's just go ahead and agree that being 20 feet away from the kitchen during 13-hour days when you can't leave home without wearing a mask is... not ideal for maintaining weight loss?

Long story short, I am a whopping 30lbs up on my lowest weight right now.

It's reversible, and in fact with some of the virus-related work finally getting traction (Americans finally stop living in denial, hopefully?) and being parceled off to other teams I'm actually seeing work hours go back down to a normal schedule, but I'm rebooting starting this week through Orgain Protein Shakes twice a day and one carefully planned meal, plus coffee, Water and a cheese stick. I've deliberately and proactively sectioned off my calendar to make sure I don't keep working until 8pm every damn night anymore. I have done terrifying things in Salesforce so now all of my spinning plates are in view at all times.

How did I get here? Well...

• Stocked up in late-Feb when I realized that this was going to be a pandemic. Then tried to order once or twice a week from restaurants when it was clear they'd otherwise shut down, which meant a single dinner lasted three nights. Two months in, I started going to the store occasionally for simple human contact, usually ended up buying stuff I didn't need as an excuse to make the trip. By the end of the spring, the stocked-up stuff started to reach the end of its expiry date, which meant I had to eat it... You see how this spirals.
• I hate summer. Hate it. Seasonal depression (yes, it does exist for summer). Oh, and then this year it turned out I developed a sun allergy. So even if I did go out to exercise, I risked days of an itchy, poison ivy-like rash. Pool closed, obviously.
• Work stress. Firstly, trying to make sure I kept my team employed and occupied and engaged as they ended up stranded in apartments and parents' spare rooms in rural towns and assure them that layoffs aren't coming to get them. Secondly, all the virus work.
• Work happy hours at the start of the lockdown. I had maybe 3-4 drinks every MONTH before lockdown. But then everyone started having happy hours to stay connected, and about three weeks in I think the cocktail started representing the time you officially stopped work so we were all starting making it more of a daily ritual. And once you're having a drink every afternoon when you shut your laptop, you start having two on the days things are particularly rough, and now it's August and I have consumed a remarkable amount of calories via gin, tonic and cider and definitely need to change that pattern.
• Pandemic stress and constant, haunting thoughts about why I didn't get New Zealand citizenship when I lived there and could do it, dammit.
• Stopped wearing proper clothing. I vowed to keep wearing my jeans and nice work tops, and stuck to it for about two months. Then I realized that wrap dresses worked great on calls and were cooler. Then started wearing yoga pants (but not doing actual yoga!) and a nice top on calls. Over the last three or four weeks, I've worn zip-up hoodies on internal calls. So it was easy to ignore the weight gain.
• My wireless scale broke and it took me three months to buy a new one.

Anyhow. The pandemic sucks, so many things about living in the US reality distortion field suck right now, but one thing I very much can control is my food intake so it's back to basics on that count. The grocery supply chain is just fine, I've bought a projector TV so I can lock my dog out of the room and do yoga with an image projected on a wall instead of trying to contort myself to do yoga via computer while battling weak wifi, and IT'S GOING TO BE AUTUMN!!! Also I'm taking a week off. Also one of my NZ friends is now living in Sweden, so we spend a lot of time WTF-ing at each other about our situation compared to our friends' situations.

How are all of you doing? Working parents, I am not one of your number but know that as one of your colleagues, I do not mind seeing your kids onscreen, totally understand you can't make that deadline, and basically just want to make sure you can make it through the week with 50% or more of your sanity intact. This pandemic has not fallen equally across all shoulders by a long shot, and anyone who's trying to make you stick to a Before Times schedule or gets ratty about "unprofessional" childcare complications can go stuff themselves.

**definitely not looking for any advice or encouragement here, and am in fact allergic to both unless expressly requested - just figured since this is a check-in I’d update on current state of play for anyone interested in comparison.

Edited August 9, 2020 by sideeye

[New&Improved 1,780]

3 minutes ago, sideeye said:

I'm New York, and within the past few months - bleh. The lockdown didn't bother me so much as a concept, weight wasn't a problem for the first two months. I was VERY involved in a virus-related contact tracing effort that has basically consumed all of my time, and obviously the status of healthcare in America means that I've spent since mid-Feb bashing my head against a wall to try and make things happen and hitting political and insurance roadblocks and let's just go ahead and agree that being 20 feet away from the kitchen during 13-hour days when you can't leave home without wearing a mask is... not ideal for maintaining weight loss?

Long story short, I am a whopping 30lbs up on my lowest weight right now.

It's reversible, and in fact with some of the virus-related work finally getting traction (Americans finally stop living in denial, hopefully?) and being parceled off to other teams I'm actually seeing work hours go back down to a normal schedule, but I'm rebooting starting this week through Orgain Protein Shakes twice a day and one carefully planned meal, plus coffee, Water and a cheese stick. I've deliberately and proactively sectioned off my calendar to make sure I don't keep working until 8pm every damn night anymore. I have done terrifying things in Salesforce so now all of my spinning plates are in view at all times.

How did I get here? Well...

• Stocked up in late-Feb when I realized that this was going to be a pandemic. Then tried to order once or twice a week from restaurants when it was clear they'd otherwise shut down, which meant a single dinner lasted three nights. Two months in, I started going to the store occasionally for simple human contact, usually ended up buying stuff I didn't need as an excuse to make the trip. By the end of the spring, the stocked-up stuff started to reach the end of its expiry date, which meant I had to eat it... You see how this spirals.
• I hate summer. Hate it. Seasonal depression (yes, it does exist for summer). Oh, and then this year it turned out I developed a sun allergy. So even if I did go out to exercise, I risked days of an itchy, poison ivy-like rash. Pool closed, obviously.
• Work stress. Firstly, trying to make sure I kept my team employed and occupied and engaged as they ended up stranded in apartments and parents' spare rooms in rural towns and assure them that layoffs aren't coming to get them. Secondly, all the virus work.
• Work happy hours at the start of the lockdown. I had maybe 3-4 drinks every MONTH before lockdown. But then everyone started having happy hours to stay connected, and about three weeks in I think the cocktail started representing the time you officially stopped work so we were all starting making it more of a daily ritual. And once you're having a drink every afternoon when you shut your laptop, you start having two on the days things are particularly rough, and now it's August and I have consumed a remarkable amount of calories via gin, tonic and cider and definitely need to change that pattern.
• Pandemic stress and constant, haunting thoughts about why I didn't get New Zealand citizenship when I lived there and could do it, dammit.
• Stopped wearing proper clothing. I vowed to keep wearing my jeans and nice work tops, and stuck to it for about two months. Then I realized that wrap dresses worked great on calls and were cooler. Then started wearing yoga pants (but not doing actual yoga!) and a nice top on calls. Over the last three or four weeks, I've worn zip-up hoodies on internal calls. So it was easy to ignore the weight gain.
• My wireless scale broke and it took me three months to buy a new one.

Anyhow. The pandemic sucks, so many things about living in the US reality distortion field suck right now, but one thing I very much can control is my food intake so it's back to basics on that count. The grocery supply chain is just fine, I've bought a projector TV so I can lock my dog out of the room and do yoga with an image projected on a wall instead of trying to contort myself to do yoga via computer while battling weak wifi, and IT'S GOING TO BE AUTUMN!!! Also I'm taking a week off. Also one of my NZ friends is now living in Sweden, so we spend a lot of time WTF-ing at each other about our situation compared to our friends' situations.

How are all of you doing? Working parents, I am not one of your number but know that as one of your colleagues, I do not mind seeing your kids onscreen, totally understand you can't make that deadline, and basically just want to make sure you can make it through the week with 50% or more of your sanity intact. This pandemic has not fallen equally across all shoulders by a long shot, and anyone who's trying to make you stick to a Before Times schedule or gets ratty about "unprofessional" childcare complications can go stuff themselves.

Good to see you recognize your problems and there are solutions..

Now it's time to get back on track you can do it

[sideeye 1,440]

2 hours ago, New&Improved said:

Good to see you recognize your problems and there are solutions..

 Now it's time to get back on track you can do it

N&I, it looks like you had surgery in Oct 2019 - the Vets board has an 18 month post-op requirement.

[New&Improved 1,780]

Didn't even realise

[sideeye 1,440]

No worries - easy to get lost, and it’s tucked up in the main thread header but none of the subthreads. See you in April 2021, and good work on the progress so far!

Edited August 10, 2020 by sideeye

[GreenTealael 25,351]

I've abandoned the cleaner diet I tried to maintain at the beginning of the pandemic because honestly quarantine fatigue. It was easier when it was novel but months of being a solo chef became boring. So I basically stopped cooking and went on a little strike 😂

I'm off and on with exercise ( mostly off honestly) because motivation is low as exercise was never my outlet. Because of so much uncertainty, I have stopped actively planning for new things, I'm just going with the flow. Even my indoor gardening has even taken a hit but I am still growing green onions for the peace it brings me to tend to plants, although I'm not cooking with them.

Edited August 10, 2020 by GreenTealael

[Stella S 612]

That is the best description of a slippery slope ever Sideeeye! All is ok here - downs few lbs but all muscle Same size but jiggly Ugh
- was just planning on lotsa sex during the lock down but then it got real. Lost a few patients... stopped all self care for a bit. Now facing the changes to my programs and still seeing a few people in the clinic. I want an air conditioned gym!!!! Plus back to my original goal 😆

[waterwoman 179]

Sideeye - I too get depressed in the summer. So glad to finally meet another Summer SAD. Are you able to go someplace cooler, or do you just tough it out?

[Circlesis 59]

Sideeye do you have any thoughts about whether the sun allergy is surgery related? I developed the same at age 40 less than a year after sleeve and am mostly convinced it was a reaction to the sleeve surgery. I posted on here a few years ago about it but didn’t find anyone else with a similar experience 🤷‍♀️

[sideeye 1,440]

@Circlesis I had surgery over two years ago and didn’t experience this the first summer, so I don’t know - I’d be inclined to attribute it to 40 more than the sleeve.

@waterwoman I’ve spent a hilarious couple of weeks with my summer-attuned parents, and every time they sighed about it being cloudy or cold I would follow up “...YESSSSS!” I do have some sympathy for those who get depressed in winter, but then I remember that they have NO sympathy for me in May, so....

Another interesting pandemic feature? Pre-surgery I was completely disassociated with my body - not only could I not predict whether I’d gained or lost weight by general sense, I also couldn’t tell by looking in the mirror. It was on the level of body dysmorphia, honestly. That TOTALLY went away after surgery and I was sensitive to as little as a two pound shift, but I think that faded over the pandemic months. Being with my family this month, I suddenly started feeling a lot heavier both in “sense” and in mirror-view, but there was no scale for validation. I’ve just gotten home and it turns out I’m exactly the same as when I left, which tells me that my sense of my weight somehow reverted during isolation and then weirdly caught up as I was around my family.

weird, right?!??

[JessLess 1,163]

I thought this fit best here. With the wealth of free time I have working from home, I was cleaning out a very remote kitchen closet yesterday and found a bunch of 2 oz. cups from right after my surgery... over 2 years ago. Time flew! All things considered, I'm doing well. Nipped the regain in the bud and still doing a lot of Zoom Pilates. Hope this crappy Boston weather turns so I can get back outside more.

[parisshel 1,892]

Thanks for starting this thread. We went into lockdown in March, opened up a bit in the summer, and locked down again in early November. I knew with the initial lockdown I'd have to pay attention to two things: exercise (we were allowed one hour outside each day, limited to walks within a 1 km radius) and my food. In the initial lockdown I gained 2.5 kgs, which apparently was a national average! I know this was due to reduced activity + having food a mere 5 steps away from my WFH set up.

Right before the November lockdown my BF up and announced he didn't love me anymore, leaving a two-year relationship with no discussion. I turned a sow's ear into a silk purse and spent that lockdown working out and eating cleanly, knocking off the weight I had gained in the spring and getting back towards my best weight. I'm a bandster, and stress tightens my band so all of these events have made it easier to eat healthfully since I'm rarely hungry.

We are now semi-locked down, with a curfew, but I take advantage of the mornings to walk 5-10 km every single day. I'm not sure this helps weight-wise, but it is vital for my mental health! Foodwise my fridge is stocked with the kinds of foods that keep hunger at bay but that I enjoy: Proteins, veg, fruit...you know, the classics!!

Keep well, everyone!

[sideeye 1,440]

Quick update: September to December was not good to me at ALL. Not sure if this happened to anyone else working on covid-related projects, but in August I was quite optimistic that months of research and development and discussion would result in common-sense public health policy. So when it turned out that NONE of those measures were adopted (and this is after 16 hour days for months developing low-tech mitigation strategies specifically to head off an autumn surge), I and a lot of people I know absolutely hit a wall. Cassandra-like, watching predicted disaster unfold and all of these people we’d been talking to for months then publicly claiming they’d had no idea it could get so bad. It was like watching a series of tsunamis. Went into a massively depressive funk until mid-December and focused on nothing but keeping immediate family safe. Was weighing myself the whole time on my wireless scale and it’s really obvious that the gain is related to the (totally foreseeable and effing avoidable!) reopening and holiday spikes.

Of course, gained a lot of weight. About 25 lbs in three months. Caught myself and plateau’d around New Year.

So I’m rebooting now. Not wildly concerned about the reboot, but looking forward to just spending the next few months focusing on getting ready to reenter society. In jeans. Preferably the jeans I was wearing this time last year.

Edited February 24, 2021 by sideeye