"Life Fits Into Home" is the popular motto of the Health Ministry, urging people to stay indoors amid the coronavirus outbreak. But for millions who spent months at home, fitting into their old clothes has become a new challenge, a survey on weight gain shows. According to the results of the survey by Ipsos, people gained an average of 6.6 kilograms (14.5 pounds) between the period before the start of the pandemic in the country in March last year and late February.

The survey, conducted with 800 people above the age of 18 and representing different segments of society, shows 60% of people gained weight, while only 12% managed to lose weight and another 28% remained at their pre-pandemic weight. The rise is concerning in a country where obesity is on the rise, particularly in children.

The Ipsos survey shows women gained more weight compared to men and it reasons that this might have something to do with women already spending more time at home even before the pandemic. Lack of regular exercise is a worrying trend among housewives in a country where women’s employment lags behind men.

The pandemic, which made curfews a staple of daily life and introduced ubiquitous protective masks to millions of people, played a role in changing the exercise and dietary habits of people. Though the number of people, including professional athletes, doing exercise at home rose, the number of people hitting the gym decreased. Gyms have long been closed and opened only with limited capacity and strict measures recently. Twenty-four percent of the people interviewed for the survey said they had exercised outdoors in the last week.

The survey also blames gain weight on eating at home more, sometimes more than three regular meals daily and indulgence on snacks, borne out of boredom of being confined at home. A sedentary lifestyle, especially for those working from home, also set in during the pandemic, accelerating weight gain. Still, the majority of people interviewed for the survey say they followed a healthy diet compared to pre-pandemic times, and they are more inclined to use supplements in an effort to maintain their health to avoid a serious coronavirus infection.