Post-Covid Weight Gain - A hot topic in our therapy rooms.

I was recently asked to write about post-covid weight gain for the LadyDocs website (a group of more than 120 women doctors in the DC, MD, VA area). They are getting asked 'what can I do about my weight?' by their patients every day. So, I wrote this quick essay on taking a Brain, Body and Behavior approach to post-Covid weight gain. See in our work as health psychologists, we have always devoted a lot of time to talking with our clients about weight. But Covid threw us all a curveball and many of our clients are reeling in the aftermath (or the middle?) of this strange, seemingly endless situation. If you are like so many Americans who have struggled with weight gain during the past 18+ months, you are not alone. Or perhaps you didn't gain much weight, but you just feel physically awful. Your body aches, your stiff, and you are cycling through sleeping too much or too little. We get it. Stress has an impact on our bodies that is meant to prepare our bodies to 'fight or flee' - literally fight off a predator or run away. Unfortunately, during Covid, many of us were super stressed but couldn't do much but sit in our homes and stare at screens. So, our bodies have paid a large price for all that stress hormone racing through our brains and bodies with no outlet for release. We never really completed the stress cycle (as was smartly put in the excellent book "Burnout" by the Nagoski sisters) for nearly 2 years! What to do? Help your brain and body (and behavior) by checking out some of the tips in my new LadyDocs article you will be on your way to feeling better. Its a long road, but we can walk it together.