Pants Gone Tight
When I started blogging I never envisioned that I would be a go-to authority on any health subject. While I love reading, researching, and studying nutrition and fitness, especially as it relates to human behavior, I knew that the world already had its share of health experts that were better educated, more experienced, and smarter than I.
All I wanted to do was keep it real and occasionally be found funny trying, hoping to someday faintly resemble a cross between author and humorist David Sedaris and his comedic sister Amy Sedaris in the area of fitness and nutrition. That’s all I really wanted.
Now that you know that about me, please pardon my bluntness: I think my pants might be getting tighter.
It can partly be attributed to the fact that for the past seven weeks I have rarely left my house except to stand in a long line SIX FEET APART wearing a suffocating mask at Trader Joes. While I have been so fortunate to be able to walk downstairs to my basement gym regularly to lift weights or cycle, my non-exercise activity has significantly decreased. According to the National Institutes of Health, “Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (N.E.A.T.) is the energy expended for everything we do that is not sleeping, eating or sports-like exercise. It ranges from the energy expended walking to work, typing, performing yard work, undertaking agricultural tasks and fidgeting.” Basically, it’s all the moving we do when we aren’t purposefully exercising. The daily surplus of movement and expended calories add up over time, and while it varies with how active you are, it plays a vital role in how much energy you use throughout the day. N.E.A.T. is an important, yet often overlooked factor in weight loss and gain.
This decrease in N.E.A.T. was of course not by choice, but instead was taken from me like the time my mother grabbed the precious seashell from my hands that I had used to intricately carve my name into her new cedar chest, and then proceeded to smash it to smithereens with a hammer. I am left feeling like I did on that unfortunate day, stunned that it all went south so quickly.
“Three things that never lie: young children, drunks, and workout pants.”
Before COVID-19, I would move around training clients at the gym, take daily walks from my car to various places, and frequently wander the aisles of the grocery store looking to see what samples were available; most days would be peppered with activity. But now, for me (and most of the population), this normal level of activity has come to an immediate halt. Admittedly, I could do better at moving around the house (other than my personal workout times), but I simply don’t have the energy nor desire to sprint up the stairs every hour just to keep up the same level of movement as before. My basement exercise plus outdoor walks are things that I have been pleased with thus far, but my non-exercise related activity is nowhere near where it used to be. Furthermore, the things that I really enjoy doing during this period to keep me happy such as writing, drawing, and playing piano all involve sitting.
So if you, dear reader, are noticing a similar tightness in your trousers, know that you are not alone. No matter how good any of us are at handling this quarantine stress, things are just different than before.
Along with a decrease in non-exercise activity, I am highly suspicious that my inadvertent snacking has increased. At least that is what the bag of chips that says “Five servings per package” consumed in two sittings indicates. An extra bite here, a larger portion there, and of course, the extra squirt of whipped cream–it all adds up, especially when you take into account that for the the first month of quarantine I drank half a bottle of wine or sake a night.
By no means would I consider myself a habitual overeater (except for when it comes to having granola in the house as illustrated above), but when one unintentionally moves less and nibbles more, the effects might not be drastic, but they are eventually noticeable. The longer I work with people, the more I see a pattern emerge with most of us (including myself) in the area of nutrition struggles. Whether it be eating larger portions, snacking more, or drinking too much alcohol, we seem to progress through a number of steps in our efforts to gain control.
STEP #1: We identify that a“particular habit” is getting out of hand. (Example: eating 3 servings of chips instead of one during one sitting, nightly wine drinking, etc.)
STEP #2: We decide to reign in the “particular habit” and get it under control by setting a realistic goal (Example: eat 1.5 servings of chips at lunch instead of 3 servings, abstain from alcohol on weeknights, etc.)
STEP #3: We consistently make efforts over time to change that “particular habit” by sticking to our goal.
STEP #4: After gaining control of the “particular habit” for a period of time, we slowly tiptoe back towards the line or even another line.
STEP #5: We start the process all over again finding ourselves back at Step #1.
This “dance” of approaching the line, crossing over, and returning back to the beginning occurs time and time again throughout our lives, and it is completely normal. Those who are considered successful are not the ones who never dance, but they are the ones whose movement towards the line and back again is fluid, without pausing long to take a seat on the other side.
For me, once COVID-19 started, I marched (more accurately, I leaped) towards the line of drinking more alcohol than what was healthy for me. I started drinking two and a half glasses of alcohol a night (as opposed to only on the weekends), and I did that for four weeks while simultaneously tiptoeing towards the line of excess snacking. Instead of eating a moderate amount of chips daily, I would open the bag and begin munching while I was making my lunch and continue eating right through it. For four weeks I took a seat on the other side of the line of these unhealthy behaviors. After a month, I decided that it was time to stand up and reluctantly make my way back over to the other side.
I reinstated boundaries (albeit not as strict as pre-COVID 19) for drinking, I asked someone if I could report daily back to them about my alcohol consumption thus keeping me accountable, and I closed the chip bag until I had made my lunch salad, portioning out chips instead of just eating from the bag. These healthy boundaries were not easy to adhere to, but they were realistic and have given me a sense of control in a time when many things in my world are not.
Some of you may decide that your area of struggle is with movement. Or perhaps you identify with me as you tiptoe or leap towards less healthy behaviors in your nutrition. Nevertheless, the dance should not be dreaded as it is something that makes us human and connects us to one another in our struggles. It can give us an opportunity to not only learn more about ourselves, but to practice self-compassion and kindness as we dance back over to the other side.