If you are someone who has lots of free time to get outside and get to the gym, weight loss can be a relatively easy process, but not so much if you, like millions of others around the world, have a job that requires you to spend lots of time in the office and lots of time at your desk! A desk job is about as sedentary a working environment as you can get, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t a few little things that you can do to encourage your body and fitness in the right direction. Here are fifteen ways to lose weight when you have a desk job.
Just because your desk is stationary it doesn’t mean you have to be. Do everything you can to be active outside of your job, like walking to work, walking on your lunch break, and taking little walking breaks around the office during the day.
Invest in a mini fridge to put in the office and this will stop you from popping out at lunch to buy something unhealthy.
Whenever you have the option to walk, take that option. Avoid lifts and escalators in your building.
Practice mindful eating during your lunch break, where you sit down and actually think about the food you are eating rather than shovelling it in, risking overeating.
Stop assuming that you need a gym membership in order to go on a fitness journey. You can get your cardio in on the way to and from work, and you can even do things like some light lifting in the office!
Don’t force yourself to eat foods for lunch that you don’t like. Instead, find healthy alternatives that taste just as good as your old favourites. Lunch break doesn’t have to be a chore!
Lots of offices have bowls of treats and soda machines all over the place, but you need to be strong and resist taking in all of this sugar.
Make the effort to get up early and do some weight training before you even go to work. This will help boost your metabolism for the entire day.
Always have a big bottle of water with you at your desk. Staying hydrated both boosts your metabolism and suppresses your snacking appetite.
Put yourself in the best position to be strong with your diet all day at work by getting a good night’s sleep! The more energy you have, the less junk food you will crave.
You don’t get results overnight, so it’s good to set long-term goals to keep you motivated at work when there are temptations all over the place.
Do a big meal prep on Sunday night for the work week ahead. It ensures that you can take a healthy lunch to the office every day without even having to think about it.
Keep an honest food journal of what you eat and drink every day at work. Look back at it will help you to identify problems areas and times.
Set regular alarms on your phone to remind you to get up and move about during the day.
Try out the practice of intermittent fasting. It works out that you don’t eat anything during your work day, which is an extreme way to limit your snacking and temptations!