More workers struggling with weight gain amid pandemic

Moving less, eating more and ordering more take-out food is resulting in weight gain as an increasing number of people are staying home during COVID-19 pandemic. Gettyimagesbank

By Do Je-hae

More Korean workers are struggling with weight gain due to the prolonged coronavirus outbreak. This is primarily due to reduced physical activity from working from home and more food delivery orders, according to a recent study.

Albacall, a part-time recruitment service run by the job portal Incruit, surveyed 981 adults under the theme of “weight change after COVID-19.”

According to the report, 32.7 percent said they gained weight due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. By status, 37.1 percent office workers said they had put on extra pounds, accounting for the highest proportion, followed by college students at 32.1 percent and housewives at 30.4 percent.

By age group, people in their 30s (43.2 percent) comprised a much higher proportion than those in their 20s (33.9 percent) and 40s (26.9 percent). By gender, a larger ratio of women (36.1 percent) than men (29.8 percent) said they had gained weight.

The survey checked weight gain from February 2020 to January 2021 and found that the average amount gained was 5.8 kilograms. During this period, office workers saw their weight increase an average of 6.3 kilograms, while college students gained 5.5 kilograms. Women respondents said they gained an average of 6.5 kilograms, men 5 kilograms, while people in their 30s gained 6 kilograms and those in their 20s put on 5.8 kilograms.

The third wave of the COVID-19 epidemic seen since November and heightened social distancing rules seem to have contributed to the weight gain, the study said.

For office workers, the study underscored prolonged working hours from home due to the pandemic and decrease in physical exercise as some of the main reasons for adults gaining weight. Due to tightened social distancing after the third wave of the pandemic in November, more office workers have been working from their homes.

In particular, the survey found that people were moving around less and eating more home-delivered food.

The average exercise time was reduced to 1.9 hours from an average of 4.9 hours per week before the pandemic, while the average number of meals per day increased slightly from 2.5 to 2.8 times. Snack consumption more than doubled from 1.2 to 2.7 times a day.

The number of orders for delivery food increased from 1.4 times a week to 3.5 times, before and after the COVID-19 outbreak, respectively.