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Comment by partiallypro | Hacker News Reader

I am 6' and weight 190-195, I was 175 before the pandemic. I am considered overweight now, though I don't think I quite meet the obesity requirements. I think the pandemic and its stress toll has given people something the equivalent of the "Freshman 10."

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I call it the “COVID 19”.

You don't find it causes alarm when you say "since March I've been suffering from COVID 19" while speaking moistly?

I've called it the "Covid15".

And when people wonder what I mean: I tell them "Its like the Freshmen 15, except its the weight gained from COVID19 lockdowns".

Although more seriously, when I gained ~5 lbs, I started to eat healthier, and shed that weight back down to my normal <180lbs. For 5'10, I'm still slightly overweight by BMI (and I'm not very lean or strong, so I doubt its muscle).

It had the opposite impact for me, honestly - no more eating out for lunch, no commute (which I repurposed for workouts), and less social meals/drinking. (I'm also young, was already in shape, and have no kids - so that helps lmao)

I would love to see stats on weight change over the population.

Yeah, I'm in your boat. I've gotten noticeably trimmer since this started, despite a bunch of non-COVID related stress piling up on me.

The only positive difference I can identify is that I eat out 0 times a week now instead of 2-3.

In a work or event situation, it's easy to end up eating a big lunch by default because the food is subsidized/free, it's the social thing to do, etc. I (normally) do a lot of events and one of the changes I made a while back was to generally take it easy at lunch and not eat food just because it's there or free for lunch of an afternoon break. (Especially given that, in convention centers, it tends to be pretty awful anyway.)

In muscle or fat? Being around 190 for 6' in muscle is fine, since the overweight calculation doesn't include lean muscle mass.

This. Before the whole corona hysteria I was well on track of getting into the best shape in my life having lost 18 kg in 4 months and reduced body fat by 10%. The whole lockdown reversed all that and then some. They took away my routine, my gym, even my food temporarily and put me under house arrest.

There's always the Great Outdoors. Go on a run, a bike ride, calisthenics.

Yup. I dropped my usual gym routine and went entirely to cardio because I recognized if I didn't I was going to have problems - finished my first (informal - just me and Strava) half marathon a couple of weeks back.

I was in a similar position. It's infuriating.

Exactly. Getting in good shape is incredibly hard for most and people who haven't done this don't realize just how important the routine and having the freedom to maintain it is. How important is unrestricted access to food and gym is. "Go jog outside" is a joke of a suggestion when you've been into fitness for a long time and understand what it takes.

Bike + trainer indoors, bike outdoors. Preferably away from busy roads. Make sure you have hills, otherwise 15 mi is a minimum. Bike club is good, there's a bit of peer pressure which creates a routine. Also rope jumping but be careful if you're too heavy, buy good shoes, otherwise you'll injure your feet.

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