Cooking at Home and Healthy Living During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Note: This is a collaborative post written by Lynn Smythe, the Founder of The Creative Cottage blog. The opinions and text are all mine.

I recently found myself with more time on hand during the week and on the weekend due to the current health crisis. Cooking is one of my favorite hobbies, and in fact, Food & Drink is one of the most popular categories on The Creative Cottage.

If you’ve been following along my blog lately, you’ll see I’ve recently started a new cooking section called Oma’s Preppers Pantry. It’s all about limiting your trips to the grocery store and cooking with ingredients you have on hand. 

The problem with being home almost 24/7 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, I find myself nervously snacking throughout the day and eating way more calories than normal. With summer just around the corner, that has me thinking about what I can do to possibly drop a pound or two. 

Why Diet Alone Doesn’t Always Work

When it comes to losing weight, many people will discover that diet alone doesn’t always work. Despite a focus on getting regular exercise and following healthy eating habits, anyone with a high body mass index (BMI) such as myself often needs extra help.

Jennifer Weaver-Breitenbecher, LMHC, CRC, is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor at Polaris Counseling & Consulting. She mentions that dieting alone doesn’t always work because sustainable and maintainable weight loss requires a major lifestyle change. 

Online tools, such as Body Fat Calculators and Weight Loss Calculators from CulinarySchools.org may be just what you need to help you get motivated and get started on your own personal health and fitness journey. 

Best Tool for Calculating Calories Burned

If  you refer to the screenshot above, you’ll see my results of how many calories I burned during a recent walk workout. Yes, I know I’m a bit overweight and my BMI is sky high, so I need to start walking, working out, exercising on a regular basis.

I used to be a runner but my older age, asthma and a bum knee have me resorting to walking these days. I may be able to get back to some run/walking if I drop a few pounds but for now, walking will have to do. I was actually surprised that according to the Workout Calculator, walking is a pretty good workout!

The workout calculator determines how many calories you burn after putting in the following information:

  • Height
  • Weight
  • Age
  • Sex
  • Exercise activity
  • Workout duration

Focus on a Healthy Lifestyle

No one should get hung up on a specific number on the scale. How you feel, how your clothes fit and taking time for yourself to participate in your favorite sports and athletic activities is key to enjoying life.

Rather than focusing on your weight, take time to develop sustainable lifestyle habits such as eating a variety of nutritious foods, listening to your hunger and fullness cues, getting enough sleep and engaging in regular movement and exercise that you find fun and enjoyable to help you manage stress. 

Online fitness calculators, calorie counters and activity logs are a few tools you can use on your path to a healthy mind, body and soul.

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Let’s Keep in Touch

Do you have any tips or tricks you’d like to share? Leave a comment on this post or shoot me an email: info@thecreativecottage.net and I just might feature your story in a future blog post.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe

Founder and Chief Blogger
The Creative Cottage

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