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I've used this pandemic to only eat home cooked meals since March last year. WFH has resulted in me skipping breakfast and lunch, doing intermittent fasting for at least 18+ hours each day. And since this summer (2021) I've switched to one meal a day, as well as doing a few fasting periods lasting 2-3 days. I also try to do regular power walks. I'm currently practicing Wim Hof Breathing Method. All in all, since the lockdown in 2020 I've lost some weight (bmi now down to 22.8), reduced stress, feel overall better and sleep quality has improved.
I bought a door gym and accidentally got fitter than I ever had been, including when I played university basketball 15 years ago.

Every time I got annoyed with what I was coding I'd go over and do one pull up. Typing that made me realize I basically followed meme advice. But it works.

The pandemic has been great for my personal health! I had complete control of my food environment, more time to exercise and more restful sleeps.

I've lost 22.5% of my bodyweight and reduced my waistline from 36 down to 32.

That's great but you're unusual. From https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2021/one-year... :

> A majority of adults (61%) reported experiencing undesired weight changes since the start of the pandemic, with more than 2 in 5 (42%) saying they gained more weight than they intended. Of this group, adults reported gaining an average of 29 pounds (with a typical gain of 15 pounds, which is the median).

how does that compare to the same survey given during a normal year?
> The pandemic has been great for my personal health

Have had exactly the same experience: walked and cycled more (and progressively faster); eaten better home-cooked food (presumably adding less fat, salt and sugar than city-center lunch food); enjoyed the fresh air of open windows and a balcony instead of the stultifying atmosphere of an air-conditioned office; and generally rested, focused and felt better than ever.

Went back to the office last week buckling under the drive from senior colleagues to get back to “normal”. Now have a cold and a mild chest-infection.

I'm a third one. I lost 15 pounds from March-August of last year, but a lot more in fat. Then I went back to work (teacher) and it got harder to keep it up. Cue summer break this year and I was down another 20. I'm literally in the best shape of my life, and it's honestly all due to the pandemic as odd as that sounds to say.
Yes, the laptop class accrued many benefits during the past 18 months. It's no wonder that by and large this group doesn't want to go back.

That being said, a mild cold is nothing compared to the stress and pressure and exposure that everyone else lower on the totem pole has been subject to while supporting your comfortable WFH arrangement.

We're all in this together, right?

Salt and fat arent necessarily bad things. Its sugar that is the crack cocain of food.
Most likely depends on the kind of person you are, since obesity definitely was not curbed during the pandemic.

But yes, as someone who has been working remote even before the pandemic, I have had a similar experience. It's great being able to exercise between tasks, fast for most of the day, and overall have more control over my schedule. If I ever have to work in an office again, I know I will gain a minimum of 10 lbs. Group lunches, the desire of management to have you be there even if there's no meetings, no real ability to exercise during the day without being a weirdo, and commute time would take its toll. For me, that environment is evil.

"without being a weirdo" -- Seems like shyness or shame is preventing exercise? Someone at my last job actually went jogging every lunch where the weather allowed. She wasn't perceived of as weird, just dedicated and others thought "Wow! Good on her!"
I stopped "having" to commte by bike, so my fitness level went WAAY down, even while doing some very light mountainbiking as a hobby.
I had a very similar experience. Pre-covid I would (according to my phone) walk 50-60 km a week mostly be just going about my day to day business. During covid I struggle to break 20km a week despite actively trying to go for walks.
I got a new job right as the pandemic started and also unfortunately stopped commuting by bike.

That combined with the uncertainty of even being near people outdoors for a few months killed the rhythm I had for mountain biking, hiking, and climbing. It took me about 9 months to adjust my food intake for this, and as a result I gained 15 pounds.

Luckily in the last three months I've gotten back on to a good active hobby schedule and adjusted my diet a bit and I'm just a few pounds above where I was!

Almost the opposite for me, although it could be something to do with having twins!

Congrats on the weight loss!

Congrats on the twins! It's hard to keep fit with young kids, but I think it gets more practical when they're a few years older.
Fantastic results. What kind of exercise? Mostly Cardio or weightlifting?
I'm not the OP, but I seem to be getting good results (strength gain and fat loss) from a combination of dieting, beginner calisthenics and a bit of weight lifting on the side (dumbbells / kettlebells at home).

If you stay in a calorie deficit and eat enough protein, you can lose fat and gain muscle at the same time which is nice :)

Cardio seems to be good for overall health so I do a bit of that too sometimes, but I don't think it's strictly needed for fat loss.

Some form of exercise and a sustainable diet is all that's needed really. If you do both of those things in any way, you'll be way healthier than the average person.

It’s so weird to have seen the last restrictions lifted this past weekend while the rest of the world is still stuck in a pandemic.

Come on people, get vaccinated and wear a damn mask! If we could do it, so can you!

We still have anti-mask groups demonstrating by the way. Though that mandate was lifted a few months back. Really interesting how Facebook has brought together the stupid people in their common cause… but maybe, just maybe there really is a problem with misinformation on the platform when the crazies are still forming up to protest something that isn’t there. :o

I am fully vaccinated and will get a booster as soon as offered but even I am so sick of people preaching about this.

You do your part individually and that is the best you can do. All you are doing when you post something like this is causing a visceral reaction in the people that need to get vaccinated of "fuck you internet guy, I am not listening to you, I am not getting vaccinate!"

The people I know that are not vaccinated are this exactly. They are so pig headed that if you preach at them they will dig in their heals and do the opposite almost automatically. We need people to just shut up about this already and dial everything back so it is not some admission of defeat for pig headed people who haven't got the vaccine to actually do so.

Pragmatism is dead.

Are you trying to change people’s mind or show that you are enlightened.

The preaching about damn masks does not change minds. That’s the point. Maybe a compassionate understanding of why people refuse is better. What’s that old saying “before they care you got to show that you care about them”

This IS about society. Only 60? 70% agree that masks / vaccines are imperative. This leaves a large minority that society needs to work with.

This is not an education problem. This is a hearts and minds problem and so to the original OP. Feel before you speak such things to make it counter productive to yours and dare I say society’s goals.

If you want to be part of society you have to wear pants and you have to get vaccinated. If you can’t do those things then you can go somewhere else.

Or at least pay for your own covid test that clears you for a visit into society for 24 hours.

We can’t be burdened by the village idiot forever.

>All you are doing when you post something like this is causing a visceral reaction in the people that need to get vaccinated of "fuck you internet guy, I am not listening to you, I am not getting vaccinate!"

This hypothetical person was never going to get vaccinated anyway. The only way "preaching" would cause the outcome you describe would be if that adult had the maturity and oppositional defiance of a toddler.

You seem to be coming from a very 'us vs them' place, and misunderstanding why people do or do not want a vaccine.

From my circles, the vaccine/mask defiance is mostly about what is perceived (wrongly in my opinion, but still) as an overreach from the state, and as a risky bet that they might not want to take.

While I agree with you that this thinking is most probably coming from disinformation/propaganda, by countering it with condescension ('If we could do it, so can you!', 'brought together the stupid people') is the most definite way to have those people become defensive and stick to their opinion.

Maybe you don't care about changing people mind and just want to score internet points from people already convinced, but be aware that it is what you're doing.

This idea that idiots are extremely sensitive and will deepen their belief in nonsense _out of spite_ if confronted seems to have become very widespread, but is there any reason to think it's true? If anything, their nonsense is being taken too seriously; a lot of media both-sides it to some extent in a way that it wouldn't with, say, flat-earthers.

And, while there are a lot of confounding factors, of course, there seem to be fewer people buying all the horse drugs in countries where the media was dismissive of them, vs in countries where parts of the media both-side-ed it.

Fair enough. What do you suggest "we" (anti-anti-maskers and anti-anti-vaxers) say to these people in order to try and sway them to more factual information and keep them along with the rest of our communities safe?

Most if not all of what I have said to such people is often met with responses like "No", "fake news", "watch this video by Dr. So-and-so". Or them flat out talking down to me thinking I'm a dumb person on the fence about it when in reality I'm far from on the fence about it.

> From my circles, the vaccine/mask defiance is mostly about what is perceived (wrongly in my opinion, but still) as an overreach from the state, and as a risky bet that they might not want to take.

Then why is it typically those same people that want to remove women's ability to have an abortion?

I would be more open to this point of view, if the "don't be condescending or insulting" expectation applied to both sides equally.

I have yet to see it deployed toward those who try to emasculate guys who were masks, insist on framing choice to do as cowardly fear and so on. Btw, "nanny state" expression is exactly that. Or against those who exaggerate restrictions that exist in order to paint opposite side as super unreasonable. Sometimes in the future, if that applied to people who brag about triggering liberal snowflakes and such.

As of now, to the extend there are sides, the "be nice dont offend" expectation is put on exactly one side, usually in order to make them shut up.

I’ve heard this line of reasoning a lot but I’ve never seen anyone back it up with much of evidence beyond the usual platitudes of liberal parenting. (Note that I also find modern American child rearing techniques to be a set of failures where children act as little dictators and their gentle, caring parents desperately try to convince their kids to behave). I can’t help but see the same patterns at work here. Personally I’ll stick with a firm insistence that Covid presents serious risks, vaccines are safe and effective, and the inability to comprehend a scientific paper or even copy off the homework of the smart kids is a shameful embarrassment. If that doesn’t vibe with someone’s AYSO participation trophy mindset, though luck, we have a global pandemic to deal with so man up and take one for the team. If you think babying people with gentle appeals is working, take a cold look at the results of polite messaging campaigns.
Thinking Denmark's success is mostly about vaccinations and masks ignores some other characteristics of Denmark and other "successful countries." These countries are largely healthier, more homogeneous societies with significantly lower rates of obesity, avoidable cancer, coronary artery disease, type 2 diabetes, etc - all which are significant risk factors for covid death and hospitalization. I do think lessoning exposure risk through masks and other measures are wise and useful - which some societies are better at doing.

I also think its premature to think Denmark is out of the woods, considering that covid is following seasonal patterns and high vaccination rates don't seem to be avoid high infection rates. I hope you are right, but I am skeptical. There is a strong possibility you will return to these restrictions by the end of the year when the winter starts. We will see.

Get vaccinated, stay home if sick and most importantly lose weight. Losing weight will not only improve Covid outcomes drastically, but most of our other main health issues and hospital burden.

> Covid-19 death rates 10 times higher in countries where most adults are overweight

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/04/health/obesity-covid-deat...

How do you explain countries with very high vaccination rates which are having "record outbreaks"?
> Come on people, get vaccinated and wear a damn mask! If we could do it, so can you!

Maybe condescending to people will work this time.

>Come on people, get vaccinated and wear a damn mask! If we could do it, so can you!

I'm not sure if the sarcasm is just flying over my head, but the reason why the rest of the world is in lockdown is because we are discovering that even with 100% vaccination rates health systems can collapse and death rates can still be in the ballpark of 5 per million per day.

The US governments have decided that those are acceptable losses and there is nothing to be done about them.

> Come on people, get vaccinated and wear a damn mask! If we could do it, so can you!

The vaccination or natural immunity, whilst not sterilising, has been proven incredibly effective.

Mask wearing on the other hand is a toxic pseudoscience infiltrated by political sectarianism in the US in particular.

Your comment makes absolutely no sense without mentioning where you are.
I think in most countries it isn't vaccine recitence that's the problem, but lack of vaccine supply.
Getting obesity levels lower is extremely important during this pandemic. It's not only their health but they take previous hospital beds.

Get vaccinated, lower the weight and wear a mask is the real message. Unfortunately just like anti vaxxers obesity is something to be praise now and even "healthy".

If you’re in a northern country with a pronounced summer and a winter flu season, I’d wait a bit before celebrating. Europe and Canada celebrated victory in summer 2020 compared to the US. Then it all soured.

Every stats in those countries now celebrating is worse than it was early sept 2020. Deaths, hospitalizations, ICU….all worse. It’s not just cases.

Respiratory viruses get worse in winter. The hope is this one won’t, or that herd immunity is finally reached, despite a higher case load than last year.

Who would have known that obese drunks are prone to diseases.

Also, I am sure Marcus Aurelius said something about lifestyles about 1,5k years before this poem. And 1k years before Aurelius surely the Greek philosophers criticized unhealthy lifestyles too. Maybe it is just human common sense. I don't know.

Some things bear repeating.

Some things bear translating into modern language.

Although it may not be a popular opinion, CICO (calories in, calories out) obviously works. It's simple science and I'm down 25 pounds in a year.

It requires strict adherence like anything else. It's often not enjoyable.

But if you follow it, you will lose weight. And "zero calorie" alcohol isn't really zero calorie, obviously.

This isn't about metabolic rate or anything else. I had my thyroid gland completely removed 30 years ago and have been dependent on levothyroxine ever since. I could theoretically "cheat" by artificially increasing my metabolism (take more levo, like some bodybuilders do), but I didn't. I just cut calories.

Calories is an extremely reductive measure and isn't really good for much more than a general rule of thumb for evaluating food. The problem with calories comes from how the caloric value of food is determined: quite literally incinerating the food and measuring the released heat.

This is obviously not how your body digests food and disregards completely the macro structure of what you're taking in. Take pasta and rice for example, both have around the same calorific value however, the carbon chains in rice are much longer than those in pasta. The implication of which is that it will take your body more time and energy to digest rice than pasta meaning that the energy release to your body will be quite different. Looking just at calorific value though, one would erroneously conclude that these two foods are more or less identical.

In my opinion, CICO works when you start from a high point but tapers off afterwards.

Like when I weighed 235 (which is high for my 5 foot 2 inch frame) I had breakfast, lunch and I could, literally, eat two burgers and some fries and a soda for dinner and still lose weight cause I ate no snacks in between but after I got down to 200 lbs CICO had little bearing on anything I did.

Now I really had to watch the quality of the food I ate in addition to the amount of calories. (i.e. simply eating less wasn't good enough).

Also, it bears mentioning that alcohol was not a thing for me. I barely drink (i.e I have like the equivalent of a beer for every 2 months). So it wasn't an option to give it up because it really wasn't a part of my diet anyways.

But it's not hard to see why those who give alcohol up have a positive response.

I usually notice severe metabolism slowdown when sitting for prolonged periods of time. I can eat 800-1200 kcal and not lose any weight (and I’m 200lbs).

After I start hiking for 4 hours a day I’m losing weight even on 2300 kcal.

So it seems my programmer lifestyle is messing me up.

Lots of people lose weight. Very few people can keep it off. Call us back in five years.
To understand why you drink and eat too much, investigate gabaergic system -- especially GABA-B. Tinkering with it helped me a lot during 2nd half of the pandemic.
how did you tinker with it? food choices? drugs?