The pandemic effect on Weight management

 A couple of blogs ago I mentioned in the blog "Closing the door and moving on" that different levels of stress would result in different kinds of behavior, different levels of success, motivation, and so on, in my own efforts at maintaining a healthy lifestyle.  

This raised questions in my "be honest with yourself" mind... if it is true that higher levels of stress led to higher resolve and holding on to the program for dear life, why was that not true of the entire pandemic?  I mean, what could be more stressful than a disease we knew so little about (it was new) starting to sweep the world, and invading my own corner of it?

The following analysis shows the phases of the pandemic, and how it impacted in my life.  I will present both graphs and narrative of life circumstances and mood.  Feel free to skip this blog as it's very self-centered:  how this affected me and my own efforts.  Your own experience may easily have varied.  Feel free to skip down to the pep talk!

The analysis

First, the overview of the time from the first case of Covid-19 being reported in my state to the day that Spark announced its impending closure.  Notice that there are times when it looks as though I am "working on" becoming healthier and lighter, and times when I am rapidly going in the wrong direction, i.e. discouragement, rebellion.  And times when I seem to pretty much just "hold my own".  

Breaking it up into phases when "doing well", we have Phase 1, from March 4th, 2020, when the first case was reported in my state, to May 5th (around Mother's Day).  I was resolved to do my best to be active, eat healthy, stay away from crowds, including grocery store (I at first had food delivered, then started picking it up at the curbside), and being very, very diligent about hand washing, sanitizing, etc.

Then we have a period of burn-out, why try, don't care... that ran from about Mother's Day through the middle or end of August.  The initial rise in weight was followed by a rocky maintaining at a higher weight.  

The political / news environment surrounding this time period included things beyond my control but that I very much wished could be different.  I was watching too much news.  The Iran missile attack on US forces in Iraq (and of course the US drone strike to which this was a response), leaving us on the edges of our seats, worried about what might come next.

The death of George Floyd, the BLM protests, some bad episodes of police-violence...  I was watching too much social media of friends, whose views varied wide- and wild-ly.  The election was starting to ramp up, and I was starting to shed online friends who stirred me up too much, that tempted me too much to respond, because as a "centrist" I sort of disagreed with both extremes and had a hard time locating "just the facts".  By August, I could tell I needed to "do something" about my mental health, because it was affecting my physical health, too.

What did I decide to do about it?  Why, sign up for a virtual 5K, and start to train up for it.  This shows from the end of the burn out graph to the virtual 5K in mid-October.  

I walk/jogged that 5K in a mask, solo, on a marked route near one of our local YMCA's.

Shortly after that outing, the case counts, hospitalizations, and deaths began rising locally.  We entered the Red Zone in November.  Shasta's visits were canceled.  Sister walks ended.  Family gathers became Zoom meetings.  We were all hanging on for dear life, hoping for the vaccines to be tested and approved.

The election and the controversy surrounding it did not help.  The divisions being cast into attitudes about risk mitigation factors like mask wearing and crowd size limitations did not help.  When it all culminated in a violent mob swarming the US Capitol building, it did not help, either.

But despite all of this turmoil, the vaccine started to ship.  Some of my friends and family who work in health care started to get their first shots.  By the end of March, I had the opportunity to get vaccinated myself.  

Here's the weight graph that covers from that surge ramp up to my second shot.  You can see that all the progress that had been made with training for that 5K was rolled back, and then there comes this rolling rise... all the way up to vaccination.

And two weeks after that second shot, sister hugs!  Son hugs!  And getting back to meeting with a personal trainer.  We thought we had survived and watched the numbers drop.  In late May, the mask orders were allowed to expire.

The "finish line" effect of becoming fully vaccinated resulted in some choppy readings on the scale.  See that rise, attempt to control, roll?  It didn't seem to matter that I was working with a trainer (I was working out masked, until those orders were lifted at the end of May).  Clearly, I wasn't getting the kitchen under control.  I wasn't tracking my food intake consistently.

The last 72 days, you've seen before, the "Transition off of Spark", the rolling up the sleeves to survive!  I started tracking food again.  I continued working out with the trainer, twice a week.  And I started working on the transition, on finding the tools to support myself (and hopefully others) continue the work that we started with the "tiny flame" Chris Downie talked about as his Spark.  

In those seventy some days, is the world news better?  Nope!  More recently, is my life starting to be constrained a bit again by the next surge in cases of the virus?  Yep!  But, having that big project to work on, and the "taking care of myself so I can take care of the project" kicked in.

The pep talk:

Here we are with school back in session, in the second half of August.  Along with most of you, I am hoping to continue this start.  In the ten weeks of transition, I averaged stripping back off a pound a week, I figure.  I am back to jogging intervals in a few walks each week.  I have a new active hobby with the kayaking.  And I am facing the virus dangers with reason and acceptance of levels of risk and mitigation.  We know more now.  There are sensible things we can do.

I am praying for my friends, family, community and world.  Take care out there.  Everyone's local situation is different.  Every country, state, and city has its own "rules".  Be wise for yourself.  Balance your own risks and benefits.  You're important to me (selfish me).  I want to see you thrive.  Because we are a tribe, we Spark refugees, even spread across the various tools to continue our efforts.

We can do this.  Life is good.  Spark on!✨💖💗🎆