Summer of 21 and the Dreaded Covid 7

A different Covid inspection

Reminder- My blog is not meant to diminish the severity of serious circumstances.  It IS meant to help me deal with that seriousness by offering a giggle and hopefully a smile to all of you.

No, the above is not a misprint.  I’m well aware that the horrible virus that has drastically changed all of our lives is actually, Covid 19. But this post is about something completely different.

I’m not talking about quarantine 15, the average amount of weight many people gained during the months we all hunkered down at home with a Netflix binge list and our favorite DoorDash dude on speed dial.  You know the one, the guy with the crappy green Civic who waves through the window before dropping your burrito bowl on your doorstep.

No, for me Covid 7 refers to the problem I discovered after the quarantine.  The problem that arose in the warmer months of 2021 when we all thought it was safe to go back into the proverbial public waters.

I did better than most when the pandemic hit.  Not a lot changed in my world compared to others.  I’d never been one to go out to eat a lot except during social occasions and with those not possible, I cooked at home. And by cook, I mean I mostly stuck my favorite Lean Cuisine in the microwave.  I don’t have a lot of extra funds and take out for one seemed silly.  Since grocery stores were one of the few places where it was politically correct to go, I double masked, went out and bought supplies to keep me at home.

Since my writing/eating group started meeting on Zoom, and since cheese and crackers and pastries aren’t the same if you get them yourself, I consumed less during our meetings. (That and have you heard how annoying chewing crackers sounds on Zoom?)

Zoom definitely helped writing group be about writing.

Sure, I worried about the pandemic.  And thus, I had my snacks.

(Nothing relieves anxiety better than a bag of chips and some M&M’s.)

But I balanced them out and my weight stayed relatively stable.  Then the first summer came and we ventured out a bit and I did better about exercise.  I employed exercise I’d perfected in my younger years.  Working in a tourist town, I was a master walker.

Here is a secret about the tourist industry no-one tells you- all those workers must get to work somehow, even with no parking to be had.  I wasn’t only a master walker; I was a master dodger too.  You had a 20-minute lunch break for your poor, hurried self- no time or money to wait in fast food lines.  You got your half a mile walk home for lunch down to 3 minutes, gobbled up a quick sandwich, made your evening party plans and booked it back to work in 4 minutes, all while dodging tourists, bikes, cars, baby strollers and horse and buggies on the main throughfare.

(Quick Yonne DeSousa.com tip-if you want to work in a resort town, forget about managerial and typing skills.  Fast walker, safe dodger, and multi-tasker- as in can eat and move and dodge at the same time- is what you want to list on your resume.)

In college I avoided the freshman fifteen but not from depriving myself.  7 different types of sugary cereal to choose from at breakfast in the cafeteria.  Carb overload at night. Pizza on the weekends and beer always, when we were officially 21 of course.

(Insert wink emoji here.  My mom reads this, and she hasn’t figured out emojis yet.)

Luckily, I was at a college that had buildings scattered about.  It liked to say that the city of Boston was its campus.  My parents sent me to school hoping I would fall in love with a future doctor or lawyer.  Instead, I developed a crush on the shuttle bus driver.  When he was fired for dropping students off at a party instead of their dorm- a party he is rumored to have joined for a bit, I staged my own protest by walking everywhere!  Freshman 15 be damned.

So, in that same spirit, I approached weight management during the pandemic.  I exercised as safely and as often as possible.  I even climbed a mountain!

True, there was a walking trail that helped.  And it took hours as I had to stop every 4 steps to catch my breath.  Never mind I sort of slid down the mountain on my butt after falling on the way back.  The lovely labrador retriever with me waited patiently while I was down but flashed me her “I can’t take you anywhere look” before eyeing nearby sticks.  No reason I couldn’t get in a few good fetches from the ground.

But the point being, I climbed the damn thing!

Then came the summer of 2021 and all has not remained the same.  Suddenly, fully vaccinated and naively convinced of safety, everyone wanted out!  And they kindly took me with them.

I had more social engagements than I’d ever had before which meant more, well socializing, which meant more dangerously bad but good food choices.

A lot of those visits included kids and how can I visit with kids without taking them to the candy store or the hot dog stand or the bakery that makes fried dough?

My local ice cream shop was in a contest where it was neck in neck for the top spot in the state with only the votes of good citizens like me to get it over the edge.  I am nothing if not a conscientious voter.  How could I honestly vote if I hadn’t explored its entire platform, viewpoints, and character?

I tried to be good.  When meeting some friends, I ordered something called White Claw watermelon seltzer thinking I was refreshingly contributing to both my water requirement and a dose of my fruit servings.  How was I supposed to know I was getting more than I bargained for?

(Another bit of advice- if you’re in a bar and the menu says “hard seltzer” it might be a tiny bit different from regular seltzer.)

I attended a Zoom baby shower; that should be safe right?  It’s Zoom.

But the hostess mailed cupcakes with pink buttercream frosting to celebrate the impending birth of a sweet little girl.  Pink buttercream frosting!!!  What’s one to do???

I figured I could circumvent these dangerous calories by getting in even more exercise.  But it was a miserable, humid summer!  Who feels like exercising in blah, gray, humidity?

Even if you do have an air conditioner.

Even if there are free workout videos on YouTube.

Even if you did spend over $200 of money you don’t have on a home dance program your friend told you would never use? (Thank you Mastercard. Damn you plastic.)

It’s ridiculously hard to adopt good working out/eating right/healthy socializing habits in a humid, post not at all post Covid 19 world.  And so, I’m stuck with the dreaded Covid 7.  The more or less 7 (more or less part referring to anything between 1 and 50) lbs that have attached itself to me like glue this summer of 2021.

I managed my healthy habits during the quarantine.  What’s got me is this period after.  This period of free for all and where all possibilities remain and I’m sick of being cautious and balancing.

Plus, it’s autumn which is pumpkin spice season which is the bestest.

But it is also the season of cooler temps and perhaps a bit less humidity.  And I’ve discovered that the opposite of balance is instability and think we’ve all had enough of THAT for a while.

Maybe balance isn’t so horrible after all.  Maybe it would be cool to climb that mountain again, breathing better on ascent and staying upright on the descent.

Maybe it’s time to keep our eyes open, make smart choices and remember that good health can be fun too.  I could lose the summer lbs one small step at a time.  I can sneak exercise in a bit more.  I need to go to the library in a bit.  The walk there has the teeniest, tiniest hill.  Maybe if I walk it today, I can walk it a bit faster tomorrow?

If I keep doing this, maybe I’ll be better prepared for the mountain, whichever, whatever that mountain will be.

If we can eventually say goodbye to that dreaded Covid 7, who knows what other things we can do???