Losing work while working

helenrosemay

SORRY i MEANT LOSING WEIGHT WHILE WORKNG
I always thought when I got a job it would be easier to lose weight as I'd be more active. I got a job finally after 5 yrs of unemployment but my weight loss has slowed down. I don't have the time to go for my usual walks and I eat more calorific, processed foods rather than the freshly prepared foods I had before. Does anyone else find it harder to lose weight while working and how can I overcome this.

helenrosemay

bump

egrusy

A couple of questions: 1) Why don't you have time to go for walks? I don't know your work schedule but I always walk two miles on my lunch hour. Two miles is only about a half an hour at a brisk pace. Can you find no time in your day to fit in a little exercise? 2) Why are you eating more calorific foods? Can you not bring in your own food to eat? If for some reason you can't, do you exercise good portion control and log what you ate so you know how many calories you have left over?

I do understand everyone's life is very different; but wondering

ETA: Or is the calorific, processed foods because you're too tired in the evenings to make a healthy supper?

p4ulmiller

SORRY i MEANT LOSING WEIGHT WHILE WORKNG
I always thought when I got a job it would be easier to lose weight as I'd be more active. I got a job finally after 5 yrs of unemployment but my weight loss has slowed down. I don't have the time to go for my usual walks and I eat more calorific, processed foods rather than the freshly prepared foods I had before. Does anyone else find it harder to lose weight while working and how can I overcome this.

If you are more sedentary, you need to eat less of the calorific processed food.

The equation is the same: calories in < calories out.

drshona

It's just about planning and organising. Make a big batch of soup at the weekend and freeze it in individual portion-sized tubs, so you can just take one with you for lunch (with some bread or oatcakes and some fruit). Make up your lunch the night before so all you have to do in the morning is grab it out of the fridge. Batch-cook evening meals so you have something in the freezer for tired evenings. Or at least make double on Monday and Wednesday so you have something for Tuesday and Thursday etc. Obviously this all assumes a mon-fri 9-5 job, but it's no different if you work shifts. Cook at least double whenever you have the time and fridge or freeze it.

Plan the meals for the week ahead when you do your shop so you know what you're having each day. Think (in advance) of quick healthy things you will want to eat eg omelette, baked potato and beans (you can even bake the potato the day before and just microwave it when you get home).

Can you fit a swim in before work or a run afterwards? or park further away/ get off the bus 2 stops early so you get a walk morning and evening? Can you bike to work? Do you have any work colleagues who are keen to get fit who you could exercise with?

Oh, and congratulations on the job! Fantastic achievement after 5 years.

cwolfman13

plan better and make your own lunches and snacks and brown bag it.

CyberEd312

a calorie deficit is all you need to lose weight regardless to what kind of foods you are eating... Now eating more whole foods (lean meats, veggies, fruits, whole grains) to hit your macros is a totally other topic... How diligent are you with weighing and measuring everything and logging all your food???

86myHeadache

At work during a 8-10 min daily break, I have started doing 3 sets of pushups and squats/lunges. I don't get as sweaty as a powerwalk. This has really helped my base fitness and allowed me to be more active in life and exercise easier at the gym.

AnnaZimm70

I get up at 5:25 so I can get 30 minutes of running or an exercise video in before getting ready for work. Also, bring your own lunches so you aren't as tempted to overindulge at lunch.

janicebinva

I for one can very much identify with the OP. I think it's harder to lose weight while working full-time. I'm with you on that. There are challenges, and we have to figure out how to deal with them.

Congratulations on getting your job, by the way. That's huge after a period of not working. Applause.

I have worked for myself from home, and now work an 8-5 job in an office. It's definitely easier when you have more time and freedom to exercise during the day, as opposed to spending time in the evening, or getting up early. I have a colleague who walks on her lunch hour like one of the people who replied to this thread. However, I can say that's not for me. I don't want to change clothes, get all sweaty, have to take a shower at work (and have to bring all the stuff in that it takes to do that), and I'd like to do something crazy at lunch like, say, eat lunch. I also have errands to do many days during lunch, and co-workers to keep up relationships with by eating lunch together a couple of days a week.

It does take more planning to eat a good lean diet when you're working than when you're not, just because of time constraints. If I'm not working, and working from home, and lunch comes along, I can go to Panera and grab a salad, or do something else that works. But if you're at work, many times you just have to eat at your desk, so your choices are limited to unhealthy things unless you plan ahead. One thing that helps me is that I found a couple brands of good frozen meals, so when I don't have something homemade (heavens! No, I don't cook every day!), at least I'm not going through the drive-through at Wendy's. I also have a few standby foods that I buy often, that work for me as lunch foods to take to work, and aren't too fattening. I suggest you take a look at your food tastes and aspirations, and see if the supermarket has some convenient things to offer. Of course it would be better if I cooked, and sometimes I do. But honestly, not that often. I end up ordering one of the more diet-friendly entrees from a local Chinese place, and bringing that to work. The food is pretty healthy, as long as I don't get one of the ones with gloppy sauce on everything. The price is good. The food is tasty. The price is good. And one meal order usually means two or three lunches, since the portions are huge.

In addition, workplaces tend to have a lot of food and bad things around, especially at the holidays. If it's not the vending machine staring me in the face when I come to the break room to get my 35-calorie cheese wedge, it's the FREE HOT CHOCOLATE practically jumping into my teacup. And this week we had a Thanksgiving luncheon, soon there's the Christmas luncheon, and the leftovers from that, plus peoples' Halloween candy, and other general evil-ness lurking at work.

Yes, there are challenges. But, we have to earn a living. There's only so much we can do about the situation. But we have to do what we can, support each other, and remember, we're doing this for us. We want to lose the weight. We have to figure out how to pass by the temptations, and get ourselves fed good food while living with the constraints of an office job.

Dewymorning

This is what I do

1) Go for a walk around the block during my lunch break
2) Either take a long break and go to the gym, or go straight after work finishes
3) Bring my own lunch. I either bring leftovers or else I make a salad the night before (greens, egg, avocado, cold meat, pine nuts and pesto)
4) Bring fruit to eat as a snack
5) Drink the filtered water provided at work.
6) Keep chewing gum in my desk in case I get the munchies.
7) Found a place I can buy a reasonable healthy lunch for the days I forget to bring my lunch XP
8) If I go to a cafe with colleagues, I order tea (I don't drink coffee, I used to order hot chocolates)


I also walk to and from work everyday, but I know this is not possible for everyone.

helenrosemay

Yeh I get to work for 9:00 which means I have to get the 7:30 bus no time for exercise, then I have 30mins for lunch a sandwich and rest then get home for 6:30 meal then relax. I have to find foods high in cals to get up to 1200 day

BigGuy47

I get to work at 9:00. This means I'm up at 5:30 to get exercise in before work.

helenrosemay

Yeh well I want a life

oremus1

for those of you that get up at 5:30 to work out, what time do you go to bed? or do you not need much sleep?

for many of us, we work 9-7pm, with a one hour commute so the work days is pretty much 8am-8pm fitting sports in is hard.

@ OP i also have no time to fit in many hours of sport, pre-preparing meals etc. so i find choosing diet options and fruit/veg which can be microwaved is fastest and best. breakfast - a banana or granola bar. lunch - tin of soup, diet yoghut, fruit. dinner - any veg cut up an microwaved, a meat or fish. snacks - handful of nuts in desk drawer.

CherokeeBabe

I have to find foods high in cals to get up to 1200 day

Why only 1200?

BigGuy47

Yeh well I want a life

I've had arthritis since my early 30's, I'm 50 now. If I don't exercise on a regular basis then I can barely move. If I don't keep moving I'll be a mess by the time I hit 60. My concern with life is the quality of life. We both want a life, our definitions of "having a life" are simply different.

for many of us, we work 9-7pm, with a one hour commute so the work days is pretty much 8am-8pm fitting sports in is hard.

That describes my schedule. I try to get to bed by 10pm, by more often than not I'm in bed by 11pm. There are plenty of days when I don't feel like exercising, but I do it anyway. I always feel better after exercising.

I tried to exercise in the evenings, but I couldn't stay on track. I was always worn out after work and it was far too easy to say I'll exercise tomorrow. Others prefer to exercise at the end of the day. You have to find a schedule that works for you.

It's been said on MFP a million times, you don't find the time to exercise you make the time.