It doesn’t matter if you love your job. It could be the most interesting, rewarding and enjoyable experience you have in your life. You might spring out of bed and can’t wait to get into the office. Maybe more realistically you’re content with your career and petty satisfied that you’re in a good place, the alarming truth for many of us however, is that the office lifestyle might be taking years off our lives. Due to the sedentary nature of most office jobs, there’s little to no exercise and barely any movement at all involved from the time you arrive at the workplace to the time you leave. This can be 9 or more hours of basically sitting around. Not only does this mean you aren’t burning any calories (obesity threat anyone?) But being seated for so long can also have seriously adverse effects on your spine, back, wrists, and especially your neck. Fatigue and poor posture can produce chronic problems that can cause lifelong problems.
Just because you’re in the office all day, though, doesn’t mean you can’t work toward your fitness goals and actually lose weight while getting your job done too. Here are a few simple changes you can make to your daily office routine to help you increase your overall health, sharpen your alertness, burn fat and actually improve your energy levels;
Utilize Desk Workouts
Your boss isn’t likely to give you time out of your workday to hit the gym or go out to the back or on to the roof to burst out some squats, pushups, and jumping jacks. This doesn’t mean you can’t burn a few calories even while you’re sitting at your desk though, you just need to get a little more unorthodox with your fitness regime.
For example, while you’re on your computer a great exercise you can do (and no one will even know) are under-desk leg raises. Sit as straight up in your chair as you can. Tighten your abs and core muscles and slowly lift one of your legs out in front of you. Hold for 15 seconds and then relax your abs and slowly lower your leg back down. Do 15 repetitions of this exercise for each leg and you’ll be able to work out and tone both your legs as well as your abdominal core all while sitting down and continuing your typing!
Eat Proper Snacks
It’s easy to find yourself hungry while sitting at your desk but not wanting to spend too much of your precious time heading out to buy your lunch or snack. The alternative solution involves grabbing a quick snack from the nearest vending machine and quickly getting back to the task at hand. Unfortunately those super sweet snacks are packed full of calories that not only leave you feeling tired later, but pack on the pounds too. There are a few straightforward ways to combat this problem – and they all involve forward planning.
Firstly, consider an online fruit delivery service like www.fruitfuloffice.co.uk. These kind of fruit delivery companies will deliver baskets of your custom ordered fruit right into your office on a daily basis. The natural sugar in the fruit will curb your desire for something sweet but will keep you feeling full and energized for longer throughout the workday compared to the sugary alternative
Reduce Stress
Stress plays a huge role in weight gain and poor health in general. Not only does it often result in eating extra calories (who doesn’t think a candy bar makes you feel better while being down?), it also leads to a lack of motivation to exercise throughout the day or after work. If you’re stressed out because of your work load, consider prioritizing your tasks to get the larger, more difficult jobs out of the way first. A lot of the time stress comes from worrying about a specific project and human nature often results in us ignoring our most difficult obligations until the last minute (which really only adds more stress because of the approaching deadline). Getting these stress inducing jobs out of the way first will give you peace of mind the rest of the day leaving you feeling better and in a more positive and balanced state of mind, in which you’ll be more inclined to exercise and watch what you eat.
Great tips! Thanks 🙂