Have You Put On Weight During Lockdown?
We have really missed talking to people in our gyms up and down the country since March when we had to close because of the COVID-19 lockdown… And we were missing you, so much so that we decided to speak to the UK about how they felt lockdown was going for them. We ran a survey across the UK that asked one simple question.
Do you feel that you have put on weight during lockdown?
If you feel like you have added a few pounds to your body, you are certainly not alone.
In the UK only 1 in 7 people are members of a gym, and yet over 70% of people in the UK felt like they had put weight on within the first 4 weeks of lockdown. It is no surprise really that the majority of the UK population feels that they have put weigh on over the last 4 weeks; a combination of baking challenges, home cooking, boredom eating, bank holiday weekend drinking, and of course the 4,000 daily steps that you take moving to, from and around at work - are all bound to leave you feeling like you have been lazy.
Even more significantly than the 70% general consensus of weight gain though is the fact that over 85% of 18-34 year olds feel like they weigh more now compared by before lockdown.
Between 18-24 body confidence is the most temperamental, and yet 89% of people surveyed within the 18-24 age range felt that they were heavier. Exercise is a great healer as it gives you endorphins and hormones that make you feel good, supporting positive mental health. So, if you are between 18-24 and are looking for guidance on how to stay on top of your weight while the gyms are closed, we would love for you to get in touch with our Online Personal Trainer Clinic - you really can ask us anything (as long as its health & fitness related).
When we dug a little deeper into the results from the survey we found certain areas of the country felt more impacted by the COVID-19 lockdown than others.
Over 92% of people in Wales felt they were piling on the pounds, compared to less than half of the people in the South West (45%) feeling the same way. The three hardest hit cities for body confidence were Belfast (87%), Cardiff (84%) and London (77%) while at the other end of the spectrum, the residents of Norwich (47%) felt they have largely been unimpacted.
Sadly it looks as though we will not be able to reopen our gyms until 4th July at the earliest, and rightly so, as we are keen to make sure our doors only open when it is safe and responsible to do so; but our Personal Trainers have been working incredibly hard to make sure that you have the support online that you need during this time to stay in shape.
Don’t let your Personal Trainers hard work go to waste; check out some of the best online home-workout tips online now, and show some sweaty love to your PT’s.
