I’ve long wanted to lose a few pounds, but my Achilles’ heel has always been social evenings out. I did fine with restricting what I ate except when it came to going to someone’s house for dinner or out to a restaurant. Those occasions were inevitably diet-busters.
When the governor announced a shutdown to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, I realized that it presented an opportunity. For the first (and hopefully the last) time in my life, there would be no opportunities to eat out for weeks if not months. If I was ever going to go on a diet, I decided, this was the time. And so I did.
It wasn’t until a few weeks later that I realized there was a second reason to diet during the lockdown: if I didn’t lose weight, I was likely to gain it. I started hearing references to “the Covid 15,” a coronavirus counterpart to the infamous “freshman 15.” Staying home means your refrigerator is always right there, and there can be so little else to do besides eat.
Today I reached a milestone of sorts. I’ve lost 20 pounds since March. I’ve got just a few pounds to go to reach my goal. And with restaurant meals and indoor socializing still months away, there don’t appear to be any obstacles to reaching it.