There’s never been a better or more important time to look after our health and stay fit — or a least start getting into shape. Just because many of us are confined to our homes because of COVID-19, it doesn’t mean we can’t adopt or maintain a healthy lifestyle based on eating well and working out. Who needs to go to a gym, anyway?
Here are some things you can do to lose weight, shape-up, and get healthy.
Simple Home Workouts
There are so many simple and effective workouts you can do at home, and you can find lots of them on the internet, including videos you can work out along with, to keep you motivated. It’s important that if you haven’t worked out in a long time and are not exactly fit that you seek medical advice before embarking on a fitness program. Take things very easy and slowly at the beginning — no rushing in and overdoing it and potentially ending up with injuries.
You can do bodyweight squats, push-ups, walking lunges, jumping jacks, planks and so much more — no equipment required. If you’re fairly advanced with your workouts and you want to make them more challenging but don’t have any weights, you can just use heavy objects like large containers of water or milk to make exercises like squats harder, so you get more out of them. You might also have resistance or exercise bands around the house that you can use for other routines. If you can’t get out to do some cardio, you can run on the spot or up and down the stairs, if you have them. There’s no end to the things you can do to work out at home and get in shape.
Proper Nutrition
During this time of health crisis when many people are becoming infected with the coronavirus and developing COVID-19, it’s vital to keep your immune system as robust as possible. Along with exercise, this also means eating right. Too many of us have diets based around heavily processed foods — everything from frozen pizzas to microwaveable dinners. They don’t do us much good at all, leading instead to other health crises, like obesity and diabetes.
If you haven’t made it a habit before, now is the time to carefully inspect the ingredients list of everything you pick up in the supermarket. If something has a huge list of ingredients — some of which you’ve no idea what they are, as they’re probably chemicals added to aid longevity on the shelf as well as flavor — put it straight back. To give your body the best nutrition possible, opt for foods in as whole and unprocessed a state as possible — only a few ingredients, if it’s in a packet, for instance. Pile up your plate with colorful fruit and veggies. You can also use healthy protein powder for weight loss to make shakes and fuel up your workouts as they can help you lose weight by keeping you fuller for longer.
Stop Smoking
Not a fun fact, but smokers are 14 times more likely to develop severe forms of COVID-19, according to the World Health Organization. Smoking kills anyway. It’s not surprising, because this is a respiratory disease and smoking compromises the health of the lungs. So along with getting fit and healthy, there’s never been a more vital time to quit smoking. How to do it? Transition to vaping, for starters, as it’s “95% less harmful” to health than cigarettes, according to Public Health England. You can get vape kits at an online vape store and have them delivered to your door — no going out to the shops required.
It’s tempting during the long hours of lockdown to just retire to the couch and watch endless TV while snacking nonstop and piling on the pounds. But now you have better things to do — and they’ll have you looking and feeling great.
