Women Are Sharing What It’s Been Like To Experience Quarantine Weight Gain And It’s Pretty Encouraging

No lie, if you haven’t had your weight fluctuate in quarantine, you’re a lone wolf.

Days spent alone, and at home with a fridge will undoubtedly lead to some strange eating habits. After all comfort food recipes and bread-making trends are on the rise. God knows the liquor stores are doing better than most storefronts in our current economy. The “Quarantine 15” is real.

Fortunately, women on Reddit are being open and honest about how they’re dealing with their bodies in quarantine.

From weight gain to weight loss it’s all here.

Check out some of the most relatable experiences below.

“Personal trainer here. I can tell you that we on the other side are feeling the exact same thing. All of my friends that are trainers have put on weight during the pandemic. We are all stressed and afraid of losing our jobs. (Nyc based). Not too mention we were supposed to be the ones saying let’s keep training and being fit. We all hit a wall in April and essentially ate our feelings. No shame. I told many clients that your only job right now is to survive the pandemic. If that includes cookies then by all means. If you deal with anyone in the industry that said otherwise, they are straight up lying to you. Compassion is the name of the game. I myself put in 16lbs and am slowing trying to take it off because I’m not a fan of being squishy. I actually got off of Instagram for a while because of all the shame of not working out and eating well during a pandemic. Don’t let them fool you! We are all having a hard time and weight gain is perfectly normal for such high stress times!

Edit- omg I didn’t think this would be so popular! I’m saddened by the amount of people who have had to deal with so much shame during a pandemic! I hope that everyone sees we are indeed all in the same boat! Please go easy on yourselves. Lots of virtual hugs guys!” –mfsbiwti

“Same. I am a Personal Trainer myself and after years of exercising consistently, this is the first time I stopped for a few months. It has shattered my mental health, I put on weight, just not feeling like myself. I lost clients and my job due to covid, unfortunately. I am just now getting back into working out and boy, is it tough. Before I was on a 6 day split each week, never missed a day, now I’m lucky if I go 3 days a week. Losing my job and clients also pushed me to go get out of the game for a bit and go back to school… I feel this though. It is okay to not prioritize a consistent routine when we are essentially in survival mode with everything going on. Although, this doesnt mean to not be mindful of your health – its just that there are some other obvious priorities in the world right now.”- psyched622

“Thank you for mentioning surviving the pandemic. Although we want to stay healthy for survival, our nature is to try to keep/gain weight to survive. We are under a lot of stress and our bodies are responding the way they know how to respond. This is all a very natural response, therefore there is no shame in it. And to try to override our nature during a very stressful time is just going to make the stress soooo much worse. If you need a piece of chocolate to help relax, do it, because you can lose the weight later in the long run you’ll be better for it keeping your sanity now.”-Becbanama

“I have gained a little bit of weight (few pounds) but I have also been finding a lot of joy in cooking nice meals and this has actually reduced a lot of stress for me. I think we all need to give ourselves a bit of a break – this is probably the most stressful experience many of us will go through collectively in our lives!”- Ambry

“Not well to be honest. I put on the pants I planned to wear to my tiny Thanksgiving event and they were a bit tight. It for sure sent me into a tailspin. So I am cleaning up my diet by adding more protein, more veggies, and less (not eliminating) refined carbs and sugar like candy. I’m also trying to get in 30 min of exercise, usually walking or a YouTube class, in a few days a week. I’m trying to be gentle with myself. I cleared my Instagram feed of “fitspo,” shopping accounts that have teeny tiny models, and filled it with art and design accounts.” –noshitnancydrew

“I can’t even count my calories rn, and for me it’s a huge deal (for sure I got issues lol). But rn I’m just like fuck everything, there’s a pandemic going on and I don’t fucking care. So yep I’m just eating desserts, fried food and other unhealthy stuff. But seriously, good for those who are getting their exercise, in times like these, let’s just all survive, even if we gain couple of kg. And rn I think I’ve got corona, and I’m just stressed about the test.”-mrinalini3

“I gained most of my weight (20 lb) before COVID when I was sick, I started dropping it during COVID and gained some back and dropped and gained some back and dropped. Right now I’m down maybe 8 lbs.

1. I have to believe that regardless I look good. Even when the clothes don’t fit. Even when I’m bigger than others. I try to find the positive in my appearance than the negative. I have to retrain my eye and my thinking. I look at what I like over what I dislike.
2. The scale lies. I stick with measurements if I go with anything. But I try to always go back to No. 1. Even when I don’t like the numbers, find what I do like.
3. If your weight weighs on you too much, it doesn’t matter what you weigh, it will never be enough.
4. Crash diets will fail you. Anything extreme will fail you. If you want to make changes, focus on No. 1 and on habits you can do consistently; things you like and appreciate because of how you feel.
5. Confidence is more attractive than anything else.
6. Social media lies.
7. Everyone is in the same boat. Everyone struggles with weight and their appearance. Be kind to each other.”- catricya

“I 100% agree with all of this, but especially #1 and #3. I know I’ve gained weight during this pandemic (with a weigh in during a doctors visit to prove it) and one thing I had to ask myself was am I unhappy with how I look or with the actual number? My clothes may be a little noticeably tighter but I don’t look much different than I did before the pandemic. In reality, the changes have been marginal despite the immense amount of stress I’ve found myself under during this time and the fact that a little weight gain might be the only lasting affect of this pandemic on my body has made me really thankful.” –DisasterWarning96

“I’ve had to convince myself exercise is non-negotiable just like taking out the trash.

That being said, I’m quite lazy and quarantine is rough so I set my exercise goals fairly low. I have an Apple Watch so it calculates my average exercise minutes over the past 90 days. I try to do at least the average number of minutes every day, but preferably 1 minute more than that. I’ll do more if I’m feeling extra motivated. At the beginning of quarantine, my average was like 8 minutes. Now I’m up to 23, but because I’ve been increasing the time little by little it barely seems like I’ve increased it.

The average also helps me not feel like I need to beat myself up for missing a day. At the same time, for the first time in my life I feel like I can understand the people who say they feel weird when they don’t work out, so I try not to miss more than one day.” –HarmlessHeffalump

“I’ve gained a few and lost a few during lockdown. I started couchto5k in May and after running 5km in 45 mins I gave up on running because…well I just don’t wanna! Since then I have gradually built this up to trying to walk 5-10km a day. Sometimes during these walks I’ll jog for 30 secs and then walk again if I’ve had too much coffee lol. I’ve maybe lost a couple pounds but I’m doing it more to get out of the house and for my mental health. I feel much better mentally when I get out and move everyday. 1-2 days not leaving the house makes me feel depressed.”- MissEssquire

“As an anorexic, I’ve been on a rollercoaster. I’ve gained weight (on purpose mainly). I can’t be bothered to go into how it’s effected me as you can probably guess. Anyway this is what’s helped me

1. get rid of clothes that don’t fit. It will just make you sad. If you can afford it thrift or buy some clothes that actually fit.
2. don’t weigh yourself. So what if you’ve gained 4kg if you can’t see it? If you know you’ve gained weight you’ll look for the extra fat is that makes sense
3. think positive thoughts about your body. Beauty is so much more than being a certain weight
4. don’t body check, think about your body, or analyse it in the mirror. All you need is a quick glance in the morning. The more you stare the more fault you’ll find

This is what’s helped me, I think I probably suffer from body dysmorphia but hope this helps some of you.” – nebbyyyx

“I’ve gained 35 lbs in quarantine despite a 6x a week exercise routine, and last week finally woke up to falling back into old compulsive habits with using food for comfort/entertainment. I previously lost 220 lbs because I let this get really, really out of control. I realized I’m on that trajectory and it’s time to snap out of it before I lose all that hard work.

I have been working with my therapist on intuitive eating principles, and I’m doing great at eating whatever I want within my dietary restrictions (health reasons.) So, that’s halfway there…

But I have been eating a lot of snacks between meals when I’m not hungry and ordering calorie dense delivery food – to avoid feelings, to cheer me up, etc. It’s really easy to overlook how much that impacts my weight when it feels so comforting. So my focus has been become letting myself eat whatever my body wants, but only when I am truly physically hungry. And to use other coping skills.

I’ve lost 5 lbs already. Gonna try to stay focused on following my body’s hunger signals.”-awholedamngarden

“I’m a therapist. We are in uncharted territory here…all of us. Just be kind to yourself. If that means burying yourself in a tub of cookie dough, go for it. If it means working out, awesome. If it means slamming IV drugs…please don’t do that…get some help. Most of us are in survival mode and have been for months and there is no end in sight. Comparing yourself to others is a slippery slope. Drink more water, try to get good sleep, reach out for help when you need it, and be kind to yourself. I’m rooting for all of you!!

Edit: obligatory thank you for the awards, they are very kind and I am glad my words may have helped or made some of you feel less alone.”- katat25

“Not well. I wore my jeans one day when it was cold and they were tight. I haven’t worn jeans again in weeks. Mostly because it’s been warm enough to wear shorts but when it’s cool I wear sweatpants. I also don’t go anywhere so I have no desire or need to wear jeans around the house or to get drive thru.

I had a pretty bad spiral one night that really scared me. I haven’t had any suicidal ideation in like six or seven years so to suddenly think that it’d be better for me to just die than live with having gained weight was startling. It’s still haunting me a little bit. I’ve always used food to cope with depression and anxiety and being locked up in my apartment dealing with mounting school stress is not leading to me eating healthy. Salads don’t have the same comforting feeling as bean burritos.

I want to find a therapist but I just moved to a new city on top of COVID so I’m struggling with where to go from here.”- uraniumstingray

“In the past seven months I have:

• gained half a stone
• then lost it again
• then gained it again
• then lost it again
• now I’ve gained it again

I’m just being kind to myself. I think the biggest reason I keep gaining it, is that when I bake, I’m then home all day with no one to share with (boyfriend follows a keto diet. Normally I would have taken some baking into the office to share) and there’s a tray of brownies in the kitchen and if I don’t eat them within three days, they’ll go bad. So of course, I eat them all.

I’ve just made a rule for myself that when I’ve put on the half a stone, I have to stop baking. If the cycle of losing it and gaining it again continues for however long lock down does, well, it could be worse.

I’m a recovered anorexic, so for about the last decade, I’ve had this half a stone buffer that I allow myself. It generally stops me from weighing myself obsessively. I aim to be at the lower end of the half a stone, but I ‘allow myself’ to go up to the higher end of the half a stone which means I don’t have to obbsess over what I eat or what I weigh because I have a buffer in place. When I hit the buffer, then I’ll do something about it. When there isn’t a pandemic, I usually hit the top end once a year and then go back down to the lower end. So, bouncing up and down four times in one year is…somewhat drastic. But again, it could be worse.” –TheRecklessOne

“Not very well tbh. On one hand I am baking and cooking every day, singing and trying new stuff, and I feel like Snowwhite. I have a lemon cake on the table waiting for me right now, and life is good.

On the other hand, guilty is burning a hole of anxiety in my chest. I looked at myself while passing next to a mirror and I felt so very bad. It would take a hell of workouts to be back as last year, and I dread the moment.”- Arywar