As if being stuck in your house isn’t a big enough deal already, there is another scourge sneaking up on us. It’s called “The Quarantine Fifteen”. It’s kind of like “The Freshman Fifteen” except harder to get rid of. Basically, it means that a lot of us who are staying home are gaining weight.
I spoke with a therapist friend to ask why this is happening and her theory is that because we are facing all this fear and uncertainty we have reverted to childlike behavior again.
Think about it:
- People in authority have grounded us.
- They’ve told us about a scary monster who will get us if we don’t obey.
- We have to eat what’s on our plates because there’s nothing else to choose from.
- We have a feeling that the big people aren’t telling us the whole story and we don’t understand why our lives are changing in such drastic ways.
Remember when things seemed overwhelming as a child and then someone gave us a cookie and suddenly the world was bright again? Well, we want our darn cookies!
I, for one, am back to being a bratty toddler and like a spoiled child:
- I want to go where I want, when I want. But, people are telling me I can’t. No libraries, no movies, no eating out, no birthday parties, no going anywhere! Fine, then I want a treat for living through all those “noes”.
- I’m also afraid. And, every kid knows that fear is tamed by chocolate, so give me some!
- Likewise, tantrums are thwarted by goodies and I feel like throwing a tantrum pretty much every day.
- Dessert after dinner means that I was a good girl during the day. Hey, I social-distanced, give me some pie!
- Also, I always go potty on the toilet, so a food prize is warranted for that too.
As we traverse through these ever-lengthening weeks of social-distancing, my desire for junk food is finally lessening, because frankly I’m stuffed. I’ve treated myself more in the last few weeks than I have in the last year.
Yes, it’s possible to buy only health food (if you can find it) and sure, you can do a workout video in your home. But, one thing at a time. For now I will cut out second breakfast, brunch, tea time, bedtime snack and ice cream day.
Someday, we will be allowed back out into the world and it would be nice to be able to fit into some jeans after weeks of pajama pants and snacks. So, I’m trying to grow up again and make the choices that a responsible adult would make. We’ll see how that plays out. In the meantime, I’m going to search for healthy recipes using chocolate chips.
Read more of Ann’s contributions to AllMomDoes here.
