Covid's Effect on My Lifestyle

The pandemic led to many changes in my daily life. One of the things that was effected the most was my eating habits. Before Covid-19, my family ate rather healthy, but because of it, my eating habits became even better. One of the biggest faults in my eating habits had been that my meals were never at consistent times because I was always so busy. Being involved in many school activities led me to eat dinner really late or really early. I had more meals on the go and would snack to help me make it meal to meal. With the shutdown, my meals became more consistent because I would eat lunch and dinner at relatively the same time everyday with my family. Eating with my family also helps my eating habits because then I do not just sit there on my phone while I eat, which can lead to overeating. The shutdown meant that everything was closed, so we could not go out to dinner like we occasionally would. This meant we were cooking all of our meals at home, which we usually do anyways, but because there were no other places to break up our cooking, some of the meals got repetitive. This encouraged us to try new, healthier meals such as making salads or cooking with fresh herbs we grew. The pandemic did lead to different shortages of things that my family buy normally such as chicken breasts and packets of yeast.

My exercise habits were also impacted by Covid. I have always an active person. I enjoy working out, and in high school, I swam and played lacrosse. When the shutdown came, it became a quick shock to me as I no longer had sports or gyms to workout at. The first week or so was rough because my body felt awful from going from always being active to not doing anything. I quickly developed a routine of walking my dog with my mom each day, and began to start doing some home workouts. I have never been a runner, but my twin even got me to go on a few runs with her. My sisters and I began biking around our town to explore, and my health was probably at a high right before I came to college. The switch to college food and gyms was a big one, but I am slowly adjusting myself to help keep my healthy lifestyle.