Friday, October 9, 2020

Tweet of the Day (‘Madazzahatter,’ on a Weighty Matter)

“My wife caught me standing on the bathroom scale, sucking in my stomach...

“ ‘Ha­­! That’s not going to help,’ she said.

“ ‘Sure, it does,’ I said. ‘It’s the only way I can see the numbers.’”—@Madazzahatter, May 3, 2017 reddit.com post  

Four months ago, a former work colleague suggested a Zoom conference for our group of the recently unemployed. Another colleague declined by pointing to the “COVID-15” syndrome—i.e., the amount of pounds several people may have added during the pandemic-induced lockdown.

Though I have not seen her in a while, I can understand the concerns of this second former co-worker. Even during warmer weather, COVID-19 closed the gyms that many health-conscious people once frequented. At the height of the summer heat and humidity, the salubrious benefits of walking outside faded.

Furthermore, one of the worst aspects of the COVID isolation is the virtual confinement to home, which has left millions of Americans with all-too-tempting proximity to the refrigerator. With the coming of colder weather, even the possibility of exercise outside is likely to disappear.

The wonder, then, is not so many people have put on weight since the onset of COVID-19, but that they haven’t put on even more pounds.

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