Hey everyone, here’s the deal: People have been talking and joking about the “Quarantine 15” since about 3 weeks into the coronavirus quarantine. Well, the weight gain struggle is real. Before I dive into my 12 Best Ways to Stay Fit During the Quarantine, let me just say this: Please give yourself some grace. We’re all going through a tough time right now, some of us more than others, and a little weight gain is to be expected.
Besides. Everything on social media and on the television is so doom-and-gloom. Do we really need to hate on our bodies in the midst of such a bummer year?
Nah, I don’ t think so either.
It took me a long time to learn how to treat my body right while still loving it. I’ll state the obvious: I’m still learning how to do that! But it’s getting easier as I learn to appreciate and accept my body, day by day. Plus, there are more and more body positive messages being spread on the web. But for every body positive comment, there’s a handful of other messages that make you feel like maybe you shouldn’t like your body that much, after all.
Don’t get me wrong—I’m all for taking care of your body and doing what you can to look and feel your best. We deserve to feel beautiful in our skin, right?
That being said, it’s important to do that in a healthy, self-loving manner.
With all that in mind, I’m going to share with you all 12 ways to stay fit during the quarantine that are healthy, practical and hopefully inspire you to treat your body with some lovin’.
I’m going to share with you what I’ve found to be the best ways to keep off the weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Besides, with so many things in this world completely out of our control, let’s take advantage of what we can control: how we treat our bodies.
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12 Best Practices to Stay Fit During Quarantine
1. Get up off your comfy seat!
To stay fit during the shelter-in-place order, we have to get up and get moving. Sitting on our booties all day isn’t gonna do us (or our booties!) any favors.
I’ve got a lot on my plate, like we all do, so I don’t like to spend more than 4 days out of the week working out because I have other goals I want to accomplish (like working on my blog and world domination. You know, just girly things). Shorter, and high-intensity workouts are my preference simply because they’re effective for weight loss and don’t take up a ton of my time.
My boyfriend is an athlete and a huge motivation for my fitness journey. He even transformed his grandparents’ backyard barn into his very own, personal gym. Using the equipment he has there, I get my lift in despite the gyms being closed.
To make sure we got some heavy lifting in, we purchased these Powerblock dumbbells. They’re super convenient because they’re adjustable and take up very little space, while holding the capacity of nine different sets of dumbbells. The adjustability means you don’t have nine sets of weights lying around your house, just begging to stub your pinkie toe.
We also use resistance bands. These are great for just about everything, and I still credit the growth of my booty to doing donkey kicks with a resistance band. I personally prefer non-slip resistance bands because I get frustrated when I’m working out my glutes or hamstrings and the bands don’t stay in place. Amazon offers sets of different resistance levels that are made of fabric, so they stay in place much easier.
Even a brisk 30-minute walk is better than nothing; whatever you do, just get your heart rate pumping.
Right now, some form of exercise is especially important. Living in quarantine and constant fear or anxiety of the future is adding much more stress to our lives, and we all need some kind of outlet to manage.
To quote my favorite blonde lawyer, Elle:
Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don’t shoot their husbands, they just don’t.”
Legally Blonde
Maybe that last sentence wasn’t necessary for this post, but with everyone stuck in the same house with the same person all the time, who knows?
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2. Stay away from mindless snacking
Snacking is dangerously easy when you’re home all day with not a whole lot to do. Zero judgement, by the way, I can honestly eat half a jar of Trader Joe’s cookie butter before I even notice what I’m doing.
Yeah, just cookie butter by itself. I thought we weren’t judging here.
But, snacking mindlessly when you’re not even hungry can definitely make staying fit more of a challenge. Try putting your snacks into a separate bowl if it comes out of a package (like potato chips or ice cream), or swap out your favorite guilty pleasures for a more health-conscious alternative. For example, plantain chips are my personal favorite alternative to potato chips, and they taste great with hummus!
If you don’t know what hummus is, think “bean dip” but made with chickpeas and a lot healthier for you : )
Plantains are a good source of complex carbs, vitamins and minerals. Plus, they keep you full and contain fiber, so they’re easy to digest.
3. Drink your dang water!
Seriously, just drink it. Your body will be ridiculously happy with you. And that’s the only body you’re gonna get, so make sure you’re hydrating it!
Water is crucial for losing weight, as well as just general wellness. Did you know you can actually get bloated by not drinking water? Well, I didn’t. I just found this out a few weeks ago and I wasn’t too happy about it.
Without water, your body can’t properly metabolize stored fat or carbohydrates, which is why it is so important to get enough water—in general and especially when trying to lose weight.
If you know me at all, I kind of absolutely hate drinking water. I’m one of those people. I’ll drink coffee all day long, drink little to no water, and then wonder why I have a headache in the evening.
Try these tips if you hate drinking water
So, if you’re like me and you just can’t seem to get enough water throughout your day, here are a few suggestions to enjoy your water more:
- Get a water bottle with an infuser. You can use it to add strawberries, watermelon, mint, cucumber, or anything at all to make it a more enjoyable drink. This water bottle is a good option because it can be used for a fruit infusion OR to brew some tea, or even cold brew. Or, for a cheaper option, just throw some lemon or berries straight in your water bottle if you don’t have an infuser.
- Try flavored sparkling water. If you prefer carbonated beverages over static, these will be perfect for you.
- Try an electrolyte powder like this one from Key Nutrients. I like that this one is sugar-free, calorie-free, carb-free, soy-free, dairy-free, and gluten-free. It uses stevia as a sweetener (which won’t increase your blood sugar) and is vegan.
I also tend to be unaware of how much water I’m drinking (or not drinking). So, I bought a pink, clear water bottle for a few bucks at Ross. That way, I can see how much more water I need to drink. It’s a great way to hold yourself accountable. You can also use a permanent marker to add hourly markers on the side of the bottle, so you can make sure you’re meeting your checkpoints.
If you’d rather buy a water bottle that keeps track for you, check out this hourly water bottle option from Amazon.
4. Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting is one of my favorite ways to lose weight, and keep it off. Here’s why: I can still enjoy my favorite foods.
The idea behind intermittent fasting is to reduce the hours during the day you spend eating, which in turn reduces your calorie intake. It’s more about restricting the time you spend eating, rather than the foods you’re eating. That being said, don’t binge eat “junk food” and still expect to lose weight. I’m just saying you can still have dessert after dinner or enjoy a few slices of great pizza if you feel like it.
According to my research, intermittent fasting has also been shown to reduce insulin levels, as well as to help you retain muscle mass more effectively than calorie restriction.
Intermittent fasting ratio
The most popular intermittent fasting ratio is 16:8. So, you can eat for 8 hours, and then fast for 16 hours. 16 hours without eating might sound like a long time, but if you split it up (get 8 hours of sleep, wait 4 hours to eat after you wake up, and don’t eat 4 hours before bed), then it’s not so bad.
I took about a week and a half of intermittent fasting before I finally got used to it and stopped checking the clock to see when I could eat.
But, I typically do 14:10. The reason behind that is because I work a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. job, and tend to work out right after I’m off work, so it works better with my schedule to eat 12 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Do what works best for your schedule. The 16:8 ratio might work better for some people, this just worked for me.
Prior to 12 p.m., I allow myself to drink black coffee. Past 10 p.m. I allow myself a cup of sleepy time tea (no sweetener). Plus, I don’t practice intermittent fasting on the weekends. Why? Because brunch is everything to me, and I refuse to give it up for good ; )
5. Timing is key
I am a girl who loooooves bread. It’s probably my biggest guilty pleasure, besides Gossip Girl.
But I was tired of bread being a “guilty pleasure.” Why should I have to feel guilty every time I eat bread? Luckily, my babe was kind enough to teach me the secret to eating bread so that it doesn’t get stored in my little tummy pooch.
I also fact-checked him, just to make sure.
If you want to eat bread—say, a bagel, some toast or even banana bread—just make sure you eat it within 30-45 minutes immediately following your workout. Why does the timing matter? Because after a workout, your muscle glycogen will be depleted, so the carbs you intake will be broken down by your body and the glucose will be stored in the muscle.
Ta-da! Guilt-free bread.
Happy Girl Pro Tip: You know how else to make bread guilt-free? Eat it, and embrace its deliciousness. Then move on, because it’s just frickin’ bread.
Remember, if you’re miserable because you’re cutting out all your favorite foods, your weight loss journey won’t last anyway. It’s better to enjoy yourself in moderation, so you can better stick to a plan.
6. Count your calories
I was never one to count my calories. I was lazy. Besides, counting calories was boring and made me feel bad about myself. I just didn’t want to do it. But then, I realized losing weight without counting calories was going to be pretty difficult. Can it be done with mindfulness? Sure. But I wasn’t being very mindful.
Even when I would eat healthy or “clean,” I was taking in more calories than I was burning off. To lose weight, you’ve got to be burning more calories than you’re putting in.
Don’t let counting calories be considered a bad thing, and don’t think of it as a diet. Instead, use the words “self discipline” and “mindfulness” when counting calories. It’s just a method to make sure you’re not over-feeding your body, like a form of self care.
My favorite app for calorie counting
My favorite calorie counter app is called Calorie Counter by FatSecret. You can get it for free from the Google Play store for Android or the App Store for iPhones. Once in the app, you can upgrade to a premium subscription, which allows you to create custom meals, track your water intake, and follow nutritional plans created by FatSecret’s dietician for specific diet preferences and weight goals.
I’ve never signed up for premium myself, mostly cause I’m a cheap-o, *ahem* thrifty, and I won’t usually pay for app subscriptions. But the option is there.
Personally, I use the free version of the app. The free version still allows you to input what you eat every day, track your daily macros, and find delicious healthy recipes posted by others in the FatSecret community.
I use it to calculate my daily calorie intake, along with my sleep and exercise for the day. Once you’re in the habit, every time you eat something you’ll be much more aware of your calorie intake. That helps you to be mindful of not overeating, and making sure you’re not putting in more calories than you’re working off.
Just like MyFitnessPal, the app has a barcode scanner for you to scan your favorite foods or beverages and see the nutritional value of each specific item.
7. Don’t drink your calories
Delicious drinks can really add up to in your daily calorie intake. The sodas, sweet teas and lattes will really getcha in the end. (I learned this the hard way with my sweet lattes and iced caramel macchiatos. RIP to the abs that never were.)
If losing weight and keeping it off is your goal, this is an important key to remember. Yummy drinks are everywhere! We’re offered a soda with basically any meal we order out of the house, and accepting might not seem like a big deal. And it’s not! In moderation, that is.
Lattes, even unsweetened lattes, have a lot of calories as well, simply due to the milk. But you don’t have to give up your lattes–God knows I didn’t. Try swapping out the whole milk in your latte for almond milk, or my personal favorite, coconut milk.
If you want a refreshing drink during the summer that’s not going to slow down your fitness journey, then unsweetened green tea is your friend.
Green tea has been shown to be linked to more successful weight loss, particularly from tummy fat. I don’t know about you, but losing my tummy fat has always been my biggest challenge. If you like your tea sweetened, like me, keep reading or skip to #11 to find some good alternatives to refined sugar that you can use in your favorite coffees and teas.
8. Limit the alcohol, sistah
Alcohol has become a pretty popular way to help pass time during quarantine. Which can be a big issue when trying to lose weight. All this casual drinking might have been fun during the first week of quarantine, but we’re about two months into this thing. So, it’s time to pull ourselves together. Every day is not the weekend, though it may feel like it when we’re temporarily out of work.
Your body deserves a break from the alcohol. Get the beer out of the fridge, or at least push it wayyy into the back. Get yourself a wine bottle stopper so you know the bottle can last the week without you drinking it in two days.
Post Malone talks about “Shawty mixin’ up the vodka with the La Croix,” and sure, maybe that’s a lower calorie alcohol drink. But even low-cal alcohol slows down the weight loss journey. Not to mention, it makes you feel sluggish the next day, so it’s harder to hit your workout the way you should be.
I’m not saying you have to stop drinking altogether, but it’s time to take care of our bodies (liver included). If you’re gonna have a drink, that’s okay! But try limiting yourself. Consider limiting your alcohol to 3 nights a week, and only one glass on those days.
Why that specific amount? Honestly, it’s just a suggestion. Whatever you do, just be responsible and hold yourself accountable.
9. Get your beauty sleep
Getting enough sleep has been proven to enhance weight loss, and getting a poor amount of sleep has been proven to hinder weight loss.
One simple way that getting a healthy amount of sleep helps you stay fit is that it limits your calorie intake. When you’re not awake snacking at midnight, you’ll be more likely to resist your food cravings. Plus, poor sleep can cause insulin resistance, which is linked to weight gain.
So basically, you just really need to sleep.
Whatever your reasons are for not getting enough sleep, it’s time to make a change. I’ve personally always noticed that I am way more likely to get into a depressed or overwhelmed mood when I don’t get enough sleep. While sleep is great for both weight loss and muscle gain, if that’s not enough motivation for you to flop into bed at a decent hour, do it for your mental health.
Make sure you’re getting at least 7 hours of sleep every night, and going to bed/waking up at a reasonable hour (in other words, not 3 a.m. to noon). Besides weight loss, you’ll feel better, be more productive, and less likely to fall into depressive tendencies.
Have trouble falling asleep? Me too, girl. Check out my blog post on 5 best teas to help you fall asleep, and sleep restfully : )
10. Eat clean
When they talk about supporting your local restaurants during the quarantine, they’re not talking about your local McDonald’s, friends.
To stay fit, a good practice is to simply cut out processed food. Plus, it’s just a good habit in general to stay away from fast food and packaged food. Food like that is usually full of chemicals, which are linked to cancer and obesity.
Stick to the basics: lean meat, vegetables, whole grains, fruit, and healthy fats. Your body can process those better, and you’ll stay in better shape as well. Eating fast food once in a while obviously won’t kill you, but if you’re eating fast food twice a week and wondering why you’re having trouble losing weight, that’s a big factor.
11. Refined sugar is not your friend
If you like things sweet, like me, I suggest you go the natural sweetener route.
I’ve included some of my favorite all-natural sweeteners that I like to use in place of cane sugar:
- Monk fruit extract contains 0 calories and doesn’t impact blood sugar levels.
- Stevia contains 0 calories and has been shown to lower blood sugar levels.
- Xylitol is a sugar alcohol that contains 40% less calories than sugar.
- Erythritol contains only 6% of the calories that sugar does, and tastes almost exactly the same.
I’ll be honest with you: I had other all-natural sweeteners on this list, but I removed them after I did my research.
Originally, I also had pure maple syrup, agave, coconut sugar, and organic honey. However, according to Healthline and other credible sources, those alternative sweeteners either contain high amounts of fructose (which leads to weight gain), or have other properties that do not promote weight loss. While those sweeteners are easier for the body to process when in their all-natural, un-processed form, they’re still not the best for weight loss.
That being said, I personally still love to use them if my only other option is refined sugar. If you have to choose, always go natural.
12. Meal prep
Meal prepping is huge in the fitness world. You’ll see fitness icons on Instagram posting their weekly meals, and tons of blogs will share meal prepping ideas for you to try out.
For me, meal prepping helps me stay fit because 1) I already have the food prepared, so I don’t get tempted to eat something less healthy than what I made, and 2) it’s ready to go when I’m hungry, so the temptation and excuse that “I was too hungry to wait to cook something” is not valid.
When meal prepping, my boyfriend and I usually design our meals using four components:
- Protein (chicken, salmon, lean beef)
- Vegetable (green beans, broccoli, spinach)
- Carb (Quinoa, toast, fruit)
- Fats (avocado, cheese)
Whatever you use in your meal prep, make sure it’s not only healthy, but something you’re going to enjoy eating.
Meal Prep Services
It can sound like a lot of work to make 5 meals at once, but it takes way less energy to make healthy meals than to feel bad after eating fast food for the fourth day in a row.
But, if you’re still not convinced you’ve got the time or energy to cook up a week’s worth of meals, there are dozens of great meal prep services you can subscribe to that will send you all the ingredients you need to make a great meal, plus a clear and simple recipe for each meal. Select how many meals you want each week, so you can have meals delivered daily and save yourself the time and effort of coming up with a meal idea and grocery shopping.
Need suggestions? Some of the top meal prep services for 2020 are Martha & Marley Spoon, Hello Fresh, and Sunbasket.
Martha & Marley Spoon
This one is great for couples and families because you can purchase meals for 2 or 4 people. This service promotes high-quality and seasonal ingredients. You can choose from 22 recipes, each with only six simple steps. They offer 5 different categories that will work with almost any dietary situation. Health & Diet, Vegetarian & Vegan, Meat & Fish, Under 30 Minutes, and Family-Friendly. Every meal looks absolutely delicious, which is expected considering the ‘Martha’ in Martha & Marley Spoon is THE Martha Stewart ; )
The price range depends on how many meals per week you want delivered (choose between two to six times), and price per portion ranging from about $6 to $10, depending on family size and the number of meals you select.
Sign up here to get cookin’!
Hello Fresh
This is one of the hottest meal delivery services on the market right now. They offer flexible plans and you can cancel whenever you want, so no stress if you’re just wanting to try it out.
Plus, they’re uber-dedicated to making sure the meals are perfect. They actually test each recipe 45 TIMES to ensure it’s delicious and simple (exactly what we’re all looking for in a meal). Meals start at $7.49 and you can choose from meat & veggies, veggie, family friendly or low-calorie plans. After payment, you can select the meals/recipes you want Hello Fresh to send you.
Like Martha & Marley Spoon, you can select meals for either 2 or 4 people, with recipes per week ranging from 2-5. Click here to check it out!
Sunbasket
If you’re looking for options, Sunbasket is the food service for you. Sunbasket offers meals for the following diets:
Paleo, Lean & Clean, Gluten-Free, Vegetarian, Mediterranean, Low-Calorie, Low-Carb and Pescatarian. All ingredients are organic, and you can sort through the meals based on the time it takes to cook them (less than 20 minutes), as well as how many calories per meal (less than 600).
Additionally, this brand is HUGE on sustainability and being planet-conscious. They only use fish either wild caught or sustainably raised-in-the-wild. Their packaging is recyclable or compostable, and they give back to the community through organizations like Feeding America, local food banks and employee programs.
Visit Sun Basket and get started on choosing your weekly meals!
Concluding thoughts
These tips are here to serve you! They’re meant to encourage you to make whatever changes you know are necessary. If only one of these ideas stood out to you as something you could actually implement in your daily routine, that’s great! Don’t feel overwhelmed like you have to make all these changes at once.
If I had to choose the most important of these tips, I would choose the ones that affect your mental health as well: limit the alcohol, get enough sleep, and get some form of exercise. Being fit for the sake of looking like an Instagram model is perfectly alright. You know what you want, so go get it!
But that doesn’t mean it’s the most important reason to get fit. A healthy lifestyle is so helpful for your mental health, and taking care of yourself should always be a priority.
Have your own rules you like to follow to stay fit? Comment below and let me know! I’m always open to new suggestions!
‘Til next time, lovelies,
<3 Sav
