This couple lost 80 pounds combined during quarantine

wragg/iStockBy ANGELINE JANE BERNABE and KATIE KINDELAN, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — Living through a pandemic and quarantining can be a drag, but many are using this time to re-start their lives and prioritize their health.

With pre-existing conditions a contributing factor to contracting the novel coronavirus, 30-year-old Romelle Morris from New York City, said he was committed to making a life-saving change, especially since he had asthma and was overweight.

“It was a wake-up call,” Morris told GMA. “Watching the news and seeing asthma was high risk, and seeing that obesity was high risk — for me, it wasn’t guaranteed that I was going to make it through this pandemic and it felt like COVID was going to put me at risk.”

But Morris didn’t face his health issues alone, and was able to get to work on his health journey with his partner, Darrin Rahn, who also had his own health goals at the beginning of the pandemic.

“I have always been heavy and struggled with my weight,” Rahn told GMA. “When COVID happened in March and Romelle was like, let’s focus on this, we have the time and energy.”

So the couple got to work and followed what they call a holistic approach, which is focusing on diet, exercise and mental health.

They started with food like swapping out unhealthy snacks with fruits and veggies and incorporating more walks into their routine, making it a point to put their computers down at 6 p.m. each day to take a walk through the city.

“It was small little goals, small changes in eating and then layering on exercise and it was one change after another day by day,” said Rahn.

And those small changes paid off for the couple, who has lost over 80 pounds combined in just five months.

Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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