Pandemic Madness – By Denise Bennett

Weight gain during  COVID-19. Have you gained weight during Pandemic? Really? Were you worried about weight gain during the global pandemic?  I know I was.  But I gained it anyway.  I managed to gain 15 lbs. Yes.  You heard me right.  And believe me, I didn’t enjoy it one little bit.  While eating all sorts of things, I was worrying at the same time about the weight I would gain. I knew it sounded a bit ridiculous to be obsessed with gaining weight while other people were fighting for their lives, but I couldn’t seem stop.

I don’t know about you, but I returned from a brief girl’s weekend trip on March 15, 2020 to the news that my offices had been shut down and I was officially working from home (WFH) as we now call it, until further notice.  What?  At first, I was thrilled.  I thought about the extra hour of sleep I could get in the mornings by not having to commute.  I thought about the extra time I would have in the afternoons to prepare healthy dinners without feeling rushed.  I contemplated being able to swim during my lunch hour.  Oh, yes, I did think about all those things.  And, NO, not much of the time spent WFH really went down that way.  Instead, I felt like a fish out of water.  I didn’t know what to do with myself.  So, I reverted to instinctual gathering behaviors. I saw aisle after aisle of empty shelves at the grocery store, and I basically lost my mind.  I started to feel panic.  I thought about bread. I hadn’t eaten bread in years, and suddenly, I was hunting for flour and yeast and planning on “survival bread baking.”

I was out of control. Before you know it, I was perusing recipe books, baking cookies, making cakes, creating pies… full blown, out of control carbohydrate-laden comfort food was back on the menu.  The old Denise came back.  Did this happen to you? Have you had weight gain during COVID-19?

Weight Gain During COVID-19 for those Suffering With Lipedema

I started thinking about how much the fear of lipedema’s return impacts my life.  I contemplate that reality daily.  I look at my ankles each morning, during the day, and at night before I go to bed to see if there are signs of lipedema returning there.  I have concluded that, even though my leg liposuction was in November 2017, I will be “looking around the corner” for it to return for the rest of my life.  I wish I could tell you otherwise, but from what I read from others, it seems this is common.  The fear is real.

The lesson learned during this global pandemic for me was this.  Life is going to go forward, and there will be unpredictable turns along the way.  Who saw this one coming?  It is a normal part of life to become sidetracked in certain situations.  I know that some of you used your time during this health crisis to really buckle down and focus on health, but I also know that I am not alone in sort of losing myself and my direction in those early weeks.  Since then, when the novelty of working from home wore off, when I became accustomed to a new routine at home, I was able to regain control and go back to my pre-pandemic lifestyle.  It felt good to find myself again, and to learn from this experience that I need to practice reigning myself in alongside giving myself the gift of understanding that these were unimaginable times where each of us just did the best we could do in the moment…  and then we did better.  Namaste.