Keeping Fit and the Quarantine Belly

The Quarantine Belly

How’s that belly of yours doing? Is it still flat and sexy? Still rocking that six-pack abs? Or maybe the quarantine finally got you and is now sporting a belly not inferior to a barrel.

If so, maybe it’s time to put down that pizza and bear and actually start working out?

Being stuck at home with very little to do could certainly bring the laziness out of even the most hard-working person. I’m no different.

During the first months of the quarantine, with the exception of attending online classes and writing online articles, I pretty much did nothing productive and simply laze around all day. Well, that is if you don’t include binge watching Netflix and playing video games…

And as one would expect, my flat belly started bulging, not because I’m pregnant or anything like that (I’m a guy after all) but because I haven’t been exercising, or watching my diet for that matter. At first I wasn’t really that concerned about it, after all, no one with the exception of my family members can see my slowly bulging belly.

Before long though, I noticed that my clothes are slowly getting tighter and that my breathing became slightly laborious after walking for only ten minutes or so…

Did I do something about it?

No, not really. At least not for a month or so…

That’s right, only after my belly grew much fatter did I started worrying, and boy did I regret not doing anything sooner.

Why?

Because gaining weight and getting my belly to grow fat was easy but losing weight and slimming said belly was a nightmare. I exercised and went on a diet but the result was minimal, at least at the beginning.

Now you might be wondering why I’m so concerned about getting in shape. The answer to that was rather simple: We’re in a pandemic and the last thing you wanted to do during such a time was to lower your immunity and resistance.

You’re probably already aware of this but becoming overweight or obese could land you in a lot of trouble. Diabetes, heart complications, high-blood pressure are just some of danger of being obese and overweight.

Now, you might have seen online articles, and magazines talking about body positivity and how being overweight was the norm. All I could say is that; ignore whatever bullshit those liars are spewing. There’s no way that obesity is healthy. Science itself disproved those claims.

So anyway…

Slimming down the Quarantine Belly

Losing weight and slimming down my belly to a more manageable state had not been easy. Or rather it was so difficult to the point that I wanted to give up many times. Fortunately, I persevered and till the end. Okay, maybe not till the end as I’m still trying to slim down my belly to the state before the quarantine.

Anyway, aside from dieting, I tried several exercise routine and even dance aerobics that I found on YouTube, and after testing several of them settled to the less complicated ones. Here’ what I did.

Jogging

One of the most difficult things to do during the quarantine was getting up early and going for a jog. Some of you might scoff at me and tell me that it’s not difficult at all but people who’ve been doing this routine for long time would know that it’s not as easy as it sounds. Waking up at 5:00 am or 6:00 am 7 days a week, 30 days a month and 365 days a year requires devotion and self-control.

After getting used to lazing around and waking up late during the first months of the quarantine, waking up at 5:00 or 6:00 was no different from torture. At first I could only try and force myself to wake up early, do some warm up and jog around the neighborhood for 30 minutes each day.

Aside from waking up really early, jogging itself was a chore. If you remember, I mentioned that simply walking for ten minutes or so was enough to make my breathing laborious after gaining a lot of weight. So just imagine what I had to go through every time. At the start I could only jog for ten minutes or so before having to rest. I would then jog again for another 10 minutes before needing to rest again. Rinse and repeat till I get to that 30 minute goal.

So as you can see it took a lot longer than 30 minutes at the beginning but once I got use to the routine and started rebuilding my stamina the time I needed to rest was greatly reduced. Nowadays I could jog for half an hour without resting.

Sit-ups and Push-ups

I’ll just put these exercises in the same category not because they’re the same but because I don’t have much to say about them except that I do 50 sit-ups and 30 – 50 push-ups every single day. I’m no Saitama (One Punch Man) and could not do 100 sets of each yet. So anyway, like when I started jogging, I could barely complete 50 sets of sit-ups and push-ups. Rather, I could only do 20 sets when I first started. Only after losing quite a bit of weight did I fulfilled my goal of 50 set of sit-ups and push-ups a day. And yes, even now my body still hurts after each exercise but not as bad as when I first started.

Meditation/Yoga

No, meditation and yoga were two different things. I simply put them together because I always meditate before every yoga session.  The reason I meditate before doing every yoga session was to clear up my mind and as a way to motivate myself.

Now, as for yoga... I only do yoga twice a week and only during the weekends. The reason why I could only do yoga twice a week was because I have online classes during the weekdays and could not spare the time to do it every day.

So, was yoga effective in losing weight?

To be honest, I don’t know. Maybe it does, and maybe it doesn’t. What I do know though was that yoga seemed to be good for better blood circulation. Maybe it’s just a placebo effect but I sure feel good after a yoga session.

My Quarantine Diet

Dieting, in my opinion, is an integral factor in losing those extra pounds. If you don’t watch your diet, it’s very easy to gain back all of the weights that you’ve lost, putting all of your hard work till that point to waste.

Before I started working out, I usually eat whatever was available in the kitchen even if it’s not too healthy. But after I started working out I became conscious of what I ate.

My usual diet these days consists mostly of a cup of rice (I can’t live without rice), fish or chicken (no pork or beef), fruits, and leafy vegetables. I also eat bread and dairy products but not too much.

Since I lived in the province, all of the food products I’ve mentioned are plentiful and easy to get. So there’s no fear of running out of them anytime soon. They’re relatively cheap too so I should be able to maintain my current diet without much issue.

So there you have it. Those are the things I did in order to lose weights and slim down my quarantine belly. I haven’t fully regained my figure before the quarantine but it should only be a matter of time. As long as I keep following my exercise routine and stick to my diet, I should be able to remain fit even during the quarantine.

Good bless and thank you for reading.

Image Source:

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