Shelby Cottrell

Staying Healthy At Home during the COVID-19 Outbreak

Being stuck at home all day doesn’t always have to equal being unhealthy. There are many things to do even if you are homebound. It is definitely a challenge, but not impossible. There are actually many creative ways to burn calories at home and while most aren’t as effective at burning calories by working out at gyms, they still get the job done.

Many things we do on a day to day basis actually burn more calories than you’d think. You are burning calories right now, reading this. We even burn calories in our sleep. According to Harvard, you can burn anywhere from 19-28 calories every 30 minutes you are asleep. The more active or extraneous the activity you are doing though, obviously the more calories it burns.

While we have been out of school and unable to really go anywhere else, it has definitely been harder to stay active. When school was still in session, I would do a lot of walking before and after school. Now that we aren’t, I no longer really have a reason or excuse to walk around everywhere. At first, I was mostly just staying inside doing absolutely nothing. For the past 2 weeks though I have been going on bike rides around my neighborhood and to a park near my house. It has definitely been nice to get outside and do something everyday. I have also been doing my schoolwork for a few hours everyday. This apparently also burns calories, though not many of course.

As for eating habits, mine definitely aren’t the best but they’re not the worst. I usually try to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday, even if it is just a little something. For breakfast I always start my day with a V8 +energy drink. I’m a little bit obsessed with them, but they are relatively low calorie, have a daily serving of fruit and vegetables in them, and enough caffeine in them to help me start my day. For lunch I usually just eat a sandwich with chips or fruit. For dinner, I’ve basically just been eating whatever my parents decide to provide. The day I decided to record my calorie intake my mom made a meal with sliced potatoes, turkey sausage, and green and red bell peppers with butter baked in the oven, which was delicious.

In conclusion, staying healthy at home can be tough. This is something none of us has ever experienced before, and it’s hard to know what we should be doing when our eating and exercise habits completely depend upon ourselves and our choices are very limited. It is important to do what we can though to stay active and make good choices about what we choose to eat and drink, despite these strange circumstances.

1466-1074= 392 calories

My bike at the park by my house :)