A new study says the COVID-19 Pandemic has caused weight gain in Americans

Have shown about half of all americans have gained quite a bit of weight throughout the pandemickq2's mitchell riberal spoke with professionals on what they have seen and how people are fighting it off.

<<<<<<<mitchell riberal reporting(nat sound, basketball bouncing in background with footage of people lifting weights)a new study shows more people have way through the pandemic sot: ryan humphrey: club manager "so what we found is exactly that.

So a lot of people have gained a lot of weight over the pandemic.

So a lot of people are kind of staying at home not staying as active, there's not as much to do."the study found americans have gained an average of 29 pounds in the past year causing many unhealthy habits with many people turning to high calorie foods roberson: fit republic "you're just it was just the routine of everyone's daily lifestyle that stop and without activity, then we just kind of stay at home and away to snack a lot, a lot more than we were used tosot:humphrey "anytime your your lifestyles changed dramatically from where it was before, you're forced to spend more time home and you have to kind of find new habits to do.

Just as the pandemic has changed eating habits also had an impact on excecise habits seen an increase of those trying to get back into shape as covid-19 vaccines continue to rollout "we've kind of seen a lot of people since we reopened in may have been more excited to get back out, you know, since that time as well, but we have seen a lot of people to their members that are coming back that haven't came back, you know, since we reopened because they they did get the vaccinations,professionals do agree that it is hard to become motivated to get back into shapebut changing your eating habits can help it become easiersot: roberson: "the first step is nutrition.

You can't outwork a bad hey, it's time to make some changes, i think that's the first important part is just that mental, that mental state of saying, hey, i want to make a life decision to do something new or ready for a change.

Reporting in st joseph, mitchell riberal, kq2 news places like fit republic say the best way to start a healthy lifestyle is to change eating habits and to even talk with professionals on good meal alternatives.