When I got Covid, I lost a lot of weight very quickly. Like 10 or 12kg in a 7 days. And that was because I was literally too weak to eat anything. I was surviving on Lucozade alone (well, and Myprodol, but that probably had limited effects in the weight department).
Once I was through the acute phase, that weight went back on fairly quickly (probably because it came off pretty quickly as well), which is good, because that initial weight was quite a good weight for me to be. However, over the next 6 months, being fully able to eat and drink (more than just Lucozade), but not being able to do any exercise (see 6000 miles… passim.), I gained a lot more weight.
And that was bad, because that was a bad weight for me to be.
So now I have started with some gentle exercise again, I’m happy to report that I’ve finally been losing a bit of mass. And I don’t need to go into details here, but last week, I managed to pass a significant milestone weight on my weight loss journey. And that means that I have lost 7.2kg since the beginning of the year. Again, this weight is coming off fairly easily because it went on easily and it isn’t meant to be there. A bit of gentle temptation and sensible behaviour, and it goes to wherever spare weight is mean to go.
Given the way I have lost weight thus far, I’d imagine that I’ll pop back above the milestone weight – giving the digital display on the scales and extra 50% work to do again – before I stay under it. But that’s fine by me, as long as the general trend remains downwards.
Now come the hard yards, though. I’m not quite back down to my pre-Covid weight (yes, I have put on that much), and I’d like to shed a couple more kilos on top of (underneath?) that as well, so the next bit might go a little more slowly. But I’m confident that it will go.
Would I recommend Covid as a weight loss plan? Well, yes and no. It’s clearly extremely effective, but it does come with some utterly horrific side effects. So overall, probably not.
Would I recommend eating less and exercising more [thanks, TA] as a better method? Certainly.
But all within reason: unless there is some urgent medical issue that requires immediate and drastic weight loss, be gentle on your body and if it needs a beer or to every now and again, give it a beer or two every now and again.
There’s definitely more to life than a target weight.
