There’s no doubt that COVID-19 has thrown us all a curve ball.
What we used to take for granted — going shopping, eating out, and even going to work and school — is now considered a threat to our health.
While being at home in isolation does have its challenges, you can either use this time as an excuse as to why you can’t do things, or you can use this time to prepare yourself to bounce back and thrive once we all come out of quarantine.
You may not have a choice in being at home right now, but you do get to choose how to spend your time. So if you’re the kind of person who chooses to thrive, even in adversity, here’s how you can do just that.
Improve your health and your weight
It’s going to be some time before we have a vaccine for coronavirus, so now is the time to focus on your health and increase your immunity. By focusing on making your body as healthy as you can (and continuing to practice good hygiene and social distancing), you will significantly reduce the risk of contracting the virus. Even if you do contract it, or another kind of virus that may be doing the rounds, a healthier immune system means that you’ll be better equipped to fight it.
An important aspect of improving your health includes eating lots of healthy, nutritious food. Right now, we can’t go out to eat, so many people are using this time to cook new things, and to make home-cooking a regular part of their week. By learning how to food prep, you’ll always have healthy options ready for when you’re hungry, which will help improve your immune system, and help you lose weight.
It may be tempting to sit around the house bingeing on junk food, watching TV and drinking alcohol, but that’s not going to help you once you come out of lock down. Drinking too much seriously impacts your immune system and will lead to weight gain. And we know the last thing you want is to emerge heavier and unhappier than you are now. However, if you use this time to work on your habits of prepping and eating healthy meals — allowing yourself the odd treat here and there, and you’ll emerge healthier than you were when you went into isolation.
Movement and exercise
You may not be able to get to the gym, or workout with your PT right now, but don’t let that stop you from exercising. At the very least, you should be walking regularly right now — preferably outside. The fresh air will provide a welcome reprieve from being inside all day, and will help reduce your stress levels, help you think clearer and will promote good sleep — another important factor in building your immune system.
If you’re currently training at home, be sure to keep up with your regular stretching and mobility exercises. Being more flexible and mobile will help greatly when you return to more ‘normal’ training. Despite what many will tell you, you can continue to progress your workouts even if you don’t have access to the usual equipment. It may be different to your usual routine, but focusing on accessory exercises or making improvements to your form, will make a big difference to how you return to the gym once they open again.
If you are training at home be sure to read our blogs All you need to know about your home workout, and How to progress your home workout, for information on how to safely and effectively workout from home and still make progress.
Improve your sleep
As tempting as it may be to stay up late and watch Netflix each night and then sleep the day away, use this time to build your sleep habits. Sleep has a big impact on your immune system, and your weight. Research shows that those who are sleep deprived are more likely to be overweight, have a larger appetite and be more likely to eat junk food. It can also lower your metabolism. But by building great sleep habits now, you’ll ensure that when life returns to normal, your habits around sleep will mean you’re less stressed, and more focused during your day. Sleep will also help you change your body shape more than you know.
Get smart about building your business
Right now, many businesses are struggling — especially those that rely on face-to-face networking or selling. Social distancing measures have meant that many businesses have closed for the time being, which has created a lot of stress for those involved. However, those who have been the most successful in riding out the storm are those who have embraced online ways of doing business, and leveraging the power of social media.
By using social media to its advantage, you’ll not only reach more people in less time, but you’ll be reaching your target audience, instead of trying to market to everyone. Once you develop skills around using online technology to improve your business, you’ll find you have more time for the other important things in your life, such as time with your family, getting regular exercise, cooking and eating healthier and getting more sleep.
Unfortunately, many business owners shy away from doing business online because they’re afraid of being seen. They’re afraid of being judged, making a mistake, being laughed at or looking like a fool. But right now, taking your business online is the only way to ensure its survival. Those who are doing well despite COVID-19 are the ones who have embraced online business. Those who are struggling are the ones who have been thrown in the deep end and who have no choice but to learn how to do it, and learn quickly, amidst their fears and insecurities.
Even when things return to ‘normal’, the new normal won’t be the same as the old normal. This pandemic has shown all of us, including large corporations, how to do business online and do it successfully. So if you don’t learn to embrace it now, you’re going to have to learn to embrace it eventually.
Evaluate your relationships
One thing COVID-19 has helped us all do is to evaluate our relationships. With social distancing measures in place, the only way we can connect with people is on the phone, or through online chat apps. Making connections requires a little more effort. So use this time to evaluate which relationships are adding to your life, and which ones aren’t. Are there people in your life who really support and encourage you? Who are helping you stay accountable to your goals and aspirations? The ones who acknowledge that yes, these are difficult times, but there are still things to be grateful for, and opportunities to make the most of?
What about people who have a negative impact? The ones who are always complaining, blaming and pointing the finger? The people whinging about the government’s decisions, sharing racist, political posts on their social media feed, or constantly posting images of the alcohol their drinking?
The truth is, the people you associate with — even via social media, phone calls, texts and online chatting apps — will be influencing and impacting you more than you realise. If you’re serious about losing weight and keeping it off, you need to create the correct environment for success, and this starts with the kinds of people you surround yourself with.
If there are people who you think hold you back from reaching your true potential, start putting boundaries in place and limit your time and energy you spend with them. Spend your time with the ones who have your back, who can tell you difficult truths you need to hear, and who won’t enable you with excuses.
Work on your habits
In our last blog, we talked about your environment being the invisible hand that shapes your behaviour, and that repeated behaviours turn into habits.
Habits are extremely powerful subconscious patterns of behaviour that will ultimately lead to self-sabotage, regardless of how much you want your results. Unless you develop habits that support your weight loss journey, you’ll never succeed in the long run. Instead, you’ll go around in circles, jumping from one diet to another, but never making progress.
Habits that sabotage your weight loss are not just limited to those around drinking, or emotional eating. They can also be thoughts, beliefs and mindsets including:
- Having a diet mindset — this will keep you on the diet rollercoaster, always looking for a quick-fix to your weight problem
- Being a perfectionist — making sure you get everything ‘right’ and being hard on yourself when you ‘slip up’
- Feeling guilty about putting yourself first — always putting other people’s needs before your own
- People-pleasing – keeping others happy so you feel loved and accepted
- Lack of confidence — doubting yourself and your ability to lose weight
- Living in fear — letting fear control you
- Not celebrating your small wins — and only looking for big results
- Comparing yourself to others, instead of focusing on what you need to do
- Trying to control everything — not being able to live with uncertainty.
Further information on these habits and how they affect you can be found by clicking the links above and reading the related blogs.
While it’s true that you can’t break bad habits, you can replace them with new ones. This can take some time, but it is possible. By working on changing your habits now, you will make significant progress towards losing weight and achieving the body you crave. And you’ll be a long way ahead of those who are taking the easy route, and settling by living in their comfort zone.
Be sure to read our blog How to break bad habits, to find out more about how to change your habits into ones that will help you lose weight.
Work on your mindset
Whether you believe isolation is a good thing or a bad thing will depend largely upon your mindset.
If you have a positive mindset, you’ll be able to see all the positives that COVID-19 has brought us. If you have a negative mindset, all you’ll be able to see are the problems, hurdles and obstacles in front of you.
Life doesn’t happen to us. It happens FOR us. Everything that happens is an opportunity for us to learn, grow and maybe do things better than before. Yes, COVID-19 has and will continue to wreak havoc on people — the most terrible havoc resulting in hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths throughout the world. But what happens throughout the world is something we can’t control. All we can control is how we deal with the situation that is placed before us.
For example, the businessman with a positive mindset will be able to pick himself up and start again, even if his business has failed as a result of COVID-19. The business man with a negative mindset will have trouble carrying on even if his business weathers the storm, because all he will be doing is focusing on what he doesn’t have anymore.
The truth is, coronavirus has affected everyone. But whether that effect is positive or negative, is largely dependent upon how you look at it.
Future-proof your life
Right now, you might be feeling a little overwhelmed about life after lock down. You might be wondering how you’ll navigate life without a vaccine, whether social distancing measures will still be in place, or how long home-schooling will last. You might also be wondering how you can start implementing an action plan to thrive, when you’re barely getting through each day.
That’s where we can help. We can help you devise a plan to thrive without it becoming overwhelming. Many people make the mistake of trying to change too many things at once, which is just too hard. We focus on one thing at a time, helping you implement change in a way that is sustainable and easy to master. Once you have implemented one thing, we help you implement the next.
By working with you and understanding your life and the pressures you currently have, we can develop a personalised action plan to help you build new habits that will help you thrive post COVID-19.
Through our online coaching program, you’ll be given all the support, help and time you need to develop habit and mindsets that will help you thrive and lose weight at the same time.
