One of the many negative impacts that Covid had (has) on us is the reduction of in-person/face-to-face socialization. In early 2020 when the pandemic started raging, the overwhelming majority of people found themselves hunkered down at home. Suddenly, workplace interactions morphed from gathering in a conference room to being at your home office on a Zoom conference. Weekend gatherings with friends over dinner turned into dinner at home followed by watching a movie on Netflix. Even “seeing” your doctor changed from having the doctor look at you eye-to-eye to trying to be evaluated via a telemedicine appointment.
Built into our DNA is the quest for socialization. Human beings (for the most part) are “social animals”. We want to be around other people, we enjoy gathering at celebratory events and we look forward to leaving the house and changing the environment to see other people. The Covid pandemic made us feel isolated and alone, as our main methods of socialization were stripped from us.
There is no coincidence that the obesity epidemic raged much more so during the lockdown. Many people turned “socialization” into baking cookies/cakes, raiding the pantry for high-sugar snack foods and drinking LOTS of alcohol. Participating in meetings via Zoom allowed all of us to dress from the waist up and “hide” any excessive weight gain effectively.
Although we are slowly recovering from “Covid isolation” for the most part, i.e. many people are returning to the office, restaurants and concert venues are now open, cruise ships are cruising, etc, there still is a lingering impact on socialization. There are many people that still choose to remain in fairly deep isolation and avoid being around others.
Focusing on weight control: “Socialization” can have positive and negative impacts on our quest to shed weight. When we gather, face to face, with people, this is usually NOT done via working out at a gym. Socialization usually turns into lots of eating and drinking things that derail weight control efforts. However, other forms of socialization, can be quite helpful to our weight control efforts: Joining a walking group, feeling an extra motivation to “look your best” at the workplace and coming into our office for a FREE body scan are examples of “positive” socialization as this relates to weight control.
Take a step back and evaluate how YOUR “socialization” activities (or lack thereof) interplay with your weight control. Take the necessary steps to engage in more “positive impact” socialization and less of the “negative impact” people interactions.