I had actually already started eating healthier since March, and more frequently having home-cooked meals. Previously, I would order food from Thuisbezorgd twice per week. I felt that wasn’t very financially responsible, so I decided to cut that out of my routine and started cooking more traditional Indian meals, as well as other cuisines on occasion. I also started incorporating more vegetables into my cooking, in hopes of boosting my immune system. But somehow I'm still gaining weight, and at this point I’ve realized that while food is an important aspect of weight loss and a healthy lifestyle, it is not the only thing.

As a result of the university being online since March, I wouldn’t leave my house as frequently, i.e. hardly doing any form of physical activity. Because there isn’t much physical activity involved in walking from the bed to the fridge every few hours. The “Health” app on my phone monitors the steps I take on a daily basis, so I decided to look at the trends in the data provided by the app. At the start of 2020, I was averaging 6km of walking per day, I am now averaging approximately 2.5km per day. I go to the university every Friday for lab work, and looking at every week individually this quartile, I would only accumulate a lot of steps on Fridays. This lack of physical activity resulted in an increase in weight and resting heart rate for me, and I hope to get back to my previous levels of fitness.

I am certain I’m not the only one who has noticed a large drop in physical activity when classes became remote, but I hope to create a better schedule and become more active in the coming months. I don’t mind gaining a little bit of weight, because I know I can lose it again. However, I would like to maintain a healthy lifestyle, especially now, with the pandemic.