GREENSBORO, N.C. — By now, a lot of us have made the joke about gaining the COVID-19. If it seems like you've been eating more than normal or slacking on your workouts, Andrea Marcellus says don't be so hard on yourself. Know that fitness is an ebb and flow kinda thing.
Marcellus is a fitness expert to stars like Shannon from the Real Housewives of the OC. She also wrote the book "The Way In." She talked with consumer reporter Ben Briscoe.
Ben: I fell off that wagon hard like everyone else. Like fell off that wagon on the Oregon Trail, got dysentery, and died. So how do you get back on now?
Andrea: The secret to staying motivated and get yourself back into gear is to set yourself up for small successes that will then have a snowball effect. Get yourself out of gym mentality and the idea that a workout has to be a big sweaty thing every time.
That means a few minutes working out at your desk once or twice a day can make a big difference. It will also help you cut down on snacking.
Andrea: Around 4:00 every day rather than go get that cup of coffee or the chocolate, get your heart rate up even for two minutes or four minutes. The only thing you'll want for a bit is water. That really helps you lean out without really spending a lot of time working out or dieting which I never want you to do.
Ben: If we follow this starting small, when should we be back to normal?
Andrea: I say never go back to the normal you thought was normal. Fitness is much easier than what's advertised. Really it's the food plan that gets you in shape. It's about the portions. Eating a few bites less every meal and you'll see a huge difference. When we start to include real-world little tweaks to the life we actually live, that's when we get real lasting results. Not when we do crazy workouts or crash diet programs.
Ben: What would you tell that person out there who's thinking: I've messed up so much over the past few weeks, I'm never going to get back to being fit.
Andrea: You haven't. You haven't messed up at all. You have to allow for ebb and flow in your fitness. This has been a really tough time and what's happened is you didn't have a stress strategy in place to help you stay on track.
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