I have been a Victim too, and I’m going to share my notes with you, to let you know What worked for me.
I have mentioned some extremely important yet basic 10 tips to control weight gain at an office job. Let me tell you why my words carry weight. However if you want to scroll down to the tips directly, Click Here.
Does having a desk job make you gain weight?
Well logically, sitting on a chair regularly for several hours, is going to increase the chances of weight gain. But still it depends on how you spend those office hours, and what you eat during that period.
Few years back, all of my friends started noticing the increase in my weight. It was because of my new job, where I was required to constantly work for 7-8 hours, while sitting in an office cabin. It was rather frustrating to realize that you are gaining weight even while working. I could not imagine asking manager for breaks during my working hours. This led to a number of failed attempt and experiments, which eventually helped me out in preventing weight gain at a desk job.
Rapid weight gain at a desk job is quite common now a days. No matter what we say but it’s a practical reality that majority of office workers are too tired to workout after going home. Lack of physical activity and unhealthy diet can wreck havoc in our life. It is pretty easy to gain weight when you have to sit still on a chair for quite a number of hours.
To summarize how I managed to control my weight, I have listed down 10 tips for how to avoid weight gain at a desk job?. Before we move to the tips, let me alert you that you might not be able to follow all tips together. However starting with some easy tips and being consistent will eventually make it easier for you to follow all at once. Those who have desk jobs have high stress level and are found angry more often. But there is nothing to worry about. You can easily control this excessive weight gain in office by following these simple steps and precautions:
10 tips to prevent weight gain at a desk job
1. Pack Your Lunch
I know its tough to add another chore to your pre-office morning routine. But it’s a great method to fight weight gain at a desk job. Pack a healthy lunch and bring it along with you at work. Most of us have developed a habit of eating from cafeteria or at restaurants. The food at such places has more calories as compared to home made meal. Pack your own lunch with you to skip those excessive calories. We all keeping thinking what to eat at work to lose weight. Selection of lunch items will take some time and experiments, but you will eventually finalize what suits your taste and health.
2. Use Stairs not Elevator!
For those who can’t take breaks during working hours, well you can’t blame your boss for your preference of elevator over stairs. Try to use stairs whenever possible. Climbing stairs is a very effective cardio exercise. It boosts your metabolic systems and keep you energetic. So climb as much stairs as you can if you want to save yourself from that extra fat. Stairs are pretty effective in losing weight.
3. Drink as Much Water as You Can
Even when its not about losing weight, its important to keep yourself hydrated because water refreshes your whole body and keeps you in action. I used to confuse dehydration with hunger and eat more. Once I realized this, I started keeping a bottle of water with me all the time and kept taking small sips all day. It will be easier for you to keep track of your water intake if you will carry a bottle with you.
4. Make a Support Group
Weight gain at office is a common problem among most of the desk job workers. So you can easily gather other victims and become their leader. Make a support group focused on how to keep from gaining weight at desk job and encourage each other for team effort against this problem. Order salad or healthy diet and now you don’t have to be the only one with weird orders or elevator phobia. You can also plan different activities together and develop some scoreboard for a healthy competition.
5. Replace coffee with green tea
I used to think how can i lose belly fat while sitting at my desk? Turned out, Green tea was the answer. Most of the office workers are coffee addicts. So if you want to avoid obesity, replace that mug of coffee or tea with a cup of green tea. It is calorie free, healthy and rather nutritious. As a bonus, Green tea is known for having a role against cancer. Green tea is an effective defense against weight gain at a desk job. It reduces belly fat quite fast. And believe me, you will develop a liking for it. Give it a try!
6. Change your Snacks
While working we feel a constant desire to eat something. Controlling that hunger is the real thing. Don’t starve yourself because in this way you will feel irritated and unable to focus on your work. So try to have healthy snacks throughout the day. Avoid bakery items and eat more fruits or juices. What helped me, was water. Having that water bottle I mentioned earlier, really helped me out in delaying & slowing down that constant urge of snacks.
7. Get Up and Move
If you sit like an elephant all day then what do you expect from your belly? Yeah! It will definitely balloon up. You need to increase your metabolism with desk job. So get up from your chair and walk around for a bit. Chit chat with some colleagues, go to washroom and wash your face. I mean do whatever physical activity is possible. If you cant spare time while working then take advantage of your lunch break. Go for a walk in the park nearby or exercise on a treadmill. If you get some privacy, do some office exercises to lose weight with desk job. This way your belly will not get a chance to expand.
8. Diet Drinks are a Joke!
This diet label on soda drinks is just to make you feel less guilty. Research has proved that these diet drinks are more likely to make you obese. So avoid consuming any kind of soda drinks. Forget about these drinks from now on and drink water to remove your thirst. You can go with green tea if you want. But say NO to Sodas. If its tough, start with reducing the consumption. Just don’t give up after initial failures. Remember, if you are failing, it means you are trying. So eventually you will succeed! I promise!
9. Vending Machines? NO!!!
Now a days, you can encounter a lot of tempting eatables at office. Learn to say no to these temptations. You might walk into the office and someone’s birthday is being celebrated. Well! You have to control yourself and say no to that delicious cheese cake, or may be go for a thinner slice. Because I can understand! But don’t ever go for those evil vending machines with all that processed food. Do I need to explain this to you? I hope you have understood. Vending machine is sort of a big source of all the things which can cause weight gain at an office job.
10. Compensate with Exercise
How do you stay in shape at a desk job? Try to compensate your physical inactivity with workout before or after office hours. Go for a walk daily in the morning or join a gym. Buy some equipment for exercise and use them too! If you want to loose your belly fat quickly then exercise is part of the deal. Even if you don’t have weight gain problems, still exercising is always the best thing for everyone. How can any weight losing list skip this exercise thing? Therefore its in my list too.
awesome tips!
black coffee is fine too i guess
Drinking water helped me in controlling weight gain …. As it made me go to toilet every hour :p