Don't let your job make you fat.
Office jobs combine a number of factors that can contribute to weight gain.
Not only are they sedentary by nature (65% of your time is spent sitting down) they include the following factors; the office is full of indulgent snacks from bowls full of sweets, cookies and vending machines. There is peer pressure to encourage you to eat those snacks and the homemade cupcakes and birthday cakes that your co-workers bake and bring in to share (sometimes because they do not want to have them at home).
Work stress is the greatest cause of stress and the typical response is to seek surgery fattening comfort foods. The heavy workload leads to you working through lunch and eating at your desk.
So with all these factors, what are the best strategies to prevent weight gain in the office?
Firstly, apply your business mindset and skill to weight loss. In completing your job tasks set objectives and support them with action plans, benchmark dates, priorities, deadlines, and measurable results. Since you have this skill set why not apply it to one of the most important assignment you will ever have, your health. Some other strategies would also include.
Stay active on the job, park the car at the other end of the carpark and walk, get off the bus one stop earlier and walk, take the stairs instead of the lift, walk over and see a college instead of emailing them, move around while on the telephone, have a stand up or walking meeting (studies have shown to be more productive). Ask yourself could I be standing or walking while doing this job?
Navigate away from the indulgent office snacks by bringing in healthier snack options that you can reach for when you are tempted by the office snack, nuts, fruits and yogurt are great options.
Be assertive when peer pressure encourages you to consume the office snacks. Politely decline, you will only need to decline once and your work mates will appreciate that you are not going to join in them in their fattening food fest.
Manage the stress that is making you seek comfort foods in the office, key strategies that do not include binging on comfort foods include exercise, deep breathing, meditating and practicing mindfulness.
Don't eat at your desk, a typical desk contains more bacteria than a bathroom. When you eat at your desk your body does not recognise when it is full, as your mind is distracted by the work and will not tell when you are full. A healthier approach is to step away from your desk to eat, let your mind get away from the intense work focus, so that you can return to your desk feeling refreshed, replenished, re-energized and ready to take on the next task.
By recognising the key sources of weight gain that can consume you on the job and then taking proactive steps to counter them, you can prevent your job from making you fat.
Give these steps a go!
Good Luck
*Disclaimer: Individual results vary based on agreed goals. Click here for details.
