The Challenges and Strategies towards Healthy Eating during COVID-19 Home Confinement Period among Working Adults with BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 Enrolled in a Weight Loss Program: Qualitative Findings

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has been affecting our lifestyles, such as work, living, and health. In Malaysia, the Restriction of Movement Order (RMO) was first announced in March 2020 to curb the spread of the virus. Since then, many Malaysians have been confined to their own home. This new lifestyle can cause a change of eating habits where healthy eating may be a challenge. Hence, our qualitative study explored the challenges and strategies for healthy eating during the first wave of the COVID-19 home confinement period among working adults overweight and obese in Malaysia. Eleven participants were individually interviewed through phone calls. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and then coded with NVIVO 12 based on thematic analysis. We found that social pressure, changes in the social setting, more free time to access food, and extra stock of unhealthy foods at home were among the challenges to healthy eating. Some participants countered these perceived challenges by reducing unhealthy food stock, limiting kitchen visits, and utilizing self-monitoring apps to monitor their calorie intake. Social media was not consistently perceived to influence their eating behavior during this period. We conclude that COVID-19 home confinement has created challenges to healthy eating habits among overweight and obese adults with overweight and obesity. Our study provides evidence that vulnerable groups such as overweight and obese individuals require specific nutritional support during pandemic-related confinement to enhance eating self-efficacy.

Association between Pre-Pregnancy Overweightness/Obesity and Pregnancy Outcomes in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Second, though various criteria for diagnosis of PCOS have been proposed by different societies, including National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1990, Rotterdam criteria in 2003, and Androgen Excess and PCOS Society (AE-PCOS) in 2006 [ 62 , 63 , 64 ], most of the cohort studies enrolled into this meta-analysis adopted Rotterdam criteria, and only one study conducted in 1992 using ultrasound image as diagnostic method was included [ 40 ]. Third, the definitions of BMI were heterogenous in the literatures [ 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 ]. Generally, studies conducted in western countries used WHO classification for nutritional status, whereas studies in China partly used WHO classification, partly used lower cutoff for overweightness and obesity (i.e., BMI 24 kg/m 2 and 28 kg/m 2 ) compared to the WHO classification.…”

The correlations between food security, diet quality and weight change among working women of reproductive age during the endemic phase of COVID-19

“…Several recent studies reported that the COVID-19 outbreak exacerbated the obesity epidemic in Malaysia (Tan et al 2022c ; Basir et al 2022 ). Emerging findings are generally in-line with the literature, in which the prevalence of overweight/obesity increased by 4.1% after the pandemic (pre-pandemic = 55.9% versus endemic = 60.0%) (Table 2 ).…”