Gaining weight during the pandemic?

I see so many people and memes commenting on social media about how they are not exercising and eating poorly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

I understand. It's tough.

The gyms are either closed or we think they're too dangerous to visit.

If we are working from home, the little exercise we used to get going to the office, heading to meetings, walking to the coffee machine -- that is gone.

It's hard to scrape together the motivation to go for a walk through the neighborhood alone. Oh, sure, once, maybe twice a week, but...

I wrote a couple months ago about how I am still losing weight during the quarantine. But how is that possible? Hmm...

My weight finally bottomed out at around 158 (from 195 when I started Noom) -- which was too thin and had me worried a bit -- but I am finding that 160-165 zone to be comfortable, and I've maintained that for at least two months now.

What have I been doing to stay within that comfort zone?

• Walking as much as possible, usually throwing discs, either in a field or on a disc golf course.
• Eating only when I'm hungry, not because of stress or habit.
• Eating only until I'm satisfied, not stuffing myself.
• Eating a lot of ice cream. I mean a lot. Quarts at a time. I can't buy it without eating it, so I try to buy it less frequently than I want to. (I have a problem.)

It's a plan. Is it a perfect plan? As evidenced by the last bullet point, no. But it's working for me.

Jeez, though, ice cream is so weird for me.

Noom taught me that there are no villainous foods. Only foods that you might want to consider eating more of (like veggies) and less of (like ice cream). But my weight was getting too low! And I know ice cream is very fattening.

Anyway, I definitely enjoy my ice cream when I'm eating it, but I also definitely don't buy it more than once a week. And I will eat more, if I think I'm getting too thin.

(Okay, enough about my ice cream issues. You probably have issues of your own to deal with.)

Here's my methodology for maintaining my personal 160-165 pound sweet spot.

I weigh myself at the same time every day, which is early morning. If I am inching closer to 165, I pull back on what I'm eating, eat more Noom Green foods (like carrots and cucumbers) and fewer Noom Red foods (like hamburgers and fries).

Am I depriving myself?

I suppose you could say that. After all, there is a level of deprivation that comes from controlling my diet.

Do I feel bad about that?

Not one little bit. If I want ice cream, a hamburger, some fries, I can have that. I just can't have it every day.

Is that deprivation or is it just a sensible approach to eating?

So, if you're gaining weight during the pandemic, maybe this is the perfect time to take control, and apply Noom's sensible approach. It worked for me!