We’re in quarantine lockdown. Our gyms are shut, kids are at home, grocery stores have limited food options and you’re worried that it will prevent you from reaching your fitness goals. Feeling bored, stressed and unable to progress in your fitness journey? Here are five tips to get fit during quarantine.
1. Recalculate your macros
Weight loss doesn’t have to be complicated. You don’t need fancy shakes or a vegan diet, ultra high tech workout classes or expensive gym clothes to lose weight. Here’s the biggest secret of all: to lose weight you have to expend more energy than you consume, which means being in a caloric deficit and moving more.
If you’ve been losing weight successfully on certain macros, it’s time to recalculate them to prevent your weight loss stalling. This is because your macro targets are based on a number of factors including your basal metabolic rate (BMR), non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), exercise activity thermogenesis (EAT) and the thermic effect of food (TEF). All these factors contribute to your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), which dictate your macro targets.
During quarantine, you’re moving less throughout the day and working out less, and at a lighter intensity. This means that your NEAT and EAT are lower, so you’re burning significantly less calories than usual. So if you were losing weight on 2,000 calories a day, this figure may now be around 1,700. Recalculate your TDEE using an online calculator like this.
2. Create a schedule
Keep active and on your game. You may not have to physically go to work or the gym anymore, but you still need to have the same mental discipline. Here are three tips to follow:
- Wake up at the same time every day
- Schedule your workouts at the same time every day
- Plan your meals in advance
Quarantine isn’t an excuse to be lazy or undirected.
3. Move daily
The gym is closed, but that’s not an excuse, even if you don’t have any gym equipment. Remember: to lose weight all you need to do is create an energy deficit. This is created by decreasing your calories and increasing your energy expenditure. Set a time to call your friends and family and during that time, walk around your house, garden or street. Walking is a great way to increase your NEAT as mentioned earlier.
4. Stay connected to stay motivated
An online fitness group or team will keep you motivated and accountable, providing a platform for you to talk and meet other members with the same goals and obstacles as you. Staying connected to like-minded peers boosts your motivation.
That’s not our opinion, it’s science. A study published in 2015 by the Preventive Medicine Reports found that social networks can be a powerful motivator to encourage physical activity; increasing exercise enrollment and participation in a randomized controlled trial, and led to a longer commitment to the program (an additional 1.6 days per week compared to the control).
5. Use it to learn
The most healthy and successful people are those who know a lot about health and fitness. If you’re unhappy with the way you look, feel or perform, now is the chance to learn about how you can adjust your daily habits, diet and behaviors to ensure long term weight loss and wellbeing.
Use quarantine as YOUR time. Cut the excuses, accelerate your progress, achieve results.