I work in an Office, and losing weight is so hard!

DavyGaga

Hello,
I've been a fan of MyFitnessPal for a few years now and I think it's great. When I was in college (just graduated a few months ago) the app was very helpful. When I was in school I was constantly active; running from class to class, walking to work everyday, even hitting the school gym once and a while, and even though there were tons of calories from drinking involved (haha) there were parties and lots of dancing! So over all my weight wasn’t always such a big issue. Now, a good ten months out of school, I’ve gained almost 20lbs, and not in muscle! As soon as school ended I went straight into a 9-5 office job. I stopped going to the gym because I moved back home with the family and the closest gym in a good distance (I never learned how to drive. Going to school in the City you never needed to know how to drive haha, now I live on Long Island and I’m in the process of learning how to drive still, but alas I don’t know how). It’s way out of the way for walking. Anyway, before I turn this into a long essay; I really need help controlling my weight in this now non active life style. At my old job I was always on my feet, running around, sweating and seldom had time to stop and eat. Now since I sit at a desk all day long, and our office has a built in cafeteria and staff, I feel that all I do is munch and snack. I admit that I often eat to pass time, so I often catch myself getting a muffin or grabbing a tuna salad just to kill time. I guess my question is; to my fellow office workers, how do you deal with eating healthy and staying active at work?

WBB55

I have a FitBit to track my steps.
I bring healthy snacks, so I don't waste money in the lunch room.
I exercise after work, so I look forward to that.
I drink a lot of water, so I'm always walking to the bathroom.
I stand as much as possible.
For me, I typically don't eat "lunch." I walk for my lunch. I have 2-3 snacks per day at my desk.

deadyankee

I don't eat to excess and I ensure that I get exercise by taking long walks after work or on weekends. I've lost 14 pounds since Xmas by making very limited changes to my lifestyle - mainly in respect of cutting out grazing on high calorie sweets and drinks and replacing them with water. It's really not that much of a chore, it just takes a small degree of willpower and focus. Logging intake on MFP makes it very straightforward. If you 'cheat' then you are only cheating yourself and denying yourself the future and lifestyle that you are targeting.

Tabithas_Transformation

It's hard to fit exercise in during working hours but it's not impossible to find time when you've got the right motivation! If the gym is too far away (or in my case, too expensive!) find a way to get your exercise in other ways.

For instance, I walk to work. It's 20 minutes each way but that's 40 minutes of walking that I'd rather have than lose. Have you thought about maybe going for a run/walking more around home? Or even go back to your dancing - just do it sober in your living room. You could even think about some fitness DVDs, whatever keeps you moving and motivated

seltzermint555

there's this feature called "logging calories" on MFP and I use it.

cebreisch

I have a fitbit too, and LOVE IT. My favorite thing is a chart it has showing calories burned vs. calorie intake.

I get up once an hour to walk around the office. Each "set" I do of about 2 laps has about 300-ish steps, so if I get up 7 times, I've done 2100 steps by the time I leave work, not including whatever steps I take at lunch and after work.

I have a dorm fridge in my office. I keep healthy snacks in it - yogurt, light string cheese, bottles of water, diet soda, etc.

2 things I keep in my drawer:
Special K protein water mix - pink lemonade. 30 cals, about 5 g protein, and about 5 g fiber.
Chocolite protein bars (www.healthsmartfoods.com) - about 100 cal's, 10g protein, 10g fiber, gluten free, sugar free

Take as many trips to the copier as you can, trips to the bathroom, trips to the shredding bin or shredder. Find excuses to get up and move around as often as possible.

MVY_

I work in an office and I am doing great. You have to find time for it now because you are not walking around like how you use to back then.

shaynepoole

do you work in the city, or out in Long Island - one of the things I did when I lived in the city was get of the subway a stop or two earlier and walk part of the way - I lived out in Washington Heights, but worked on the upper east side on 2nd Ave - so if time/weather permitted, just stayed on the west side trains and walked crosstown.

Living in Long Island, I suppose you can bike - or at work, do office exercises/chair exercises, you can exercise/walk in your neighborhood at home

you are on your own with the cafeteria, never had experience with an office that had one of those - but you can try bringing your own healthy snacks to munch on instead

PinkyFett

It's hard to fit exercise in during working hours but it's not impossible to find time when you've got the right motivation! If the gym is too far away (or in my case, too expensive!) find a way to get your exercise in other ways.

I agree with this.

I'm a stay at home mom and full time student. I'm with 3 kids under 5 years old ALL day, EVERY day. Gym is out of the question. I bought a treadmill and I use it every day. I also have Hashimoto's and it's near impossible to lose weight, but I've lost 3 lbs just this week.

BlueBombers

I have a FitBit to track my steps.
I bring healthy snacks, so I don't waste money in the lunch room.
I exercise after work, so I look forward to that.
I drink a lot of water, so I'm always walking to the bathroom.
I stand as much as possible.
For me, I typically don't eat "lunch." I walk for my lunch. I have 2-3 snacks per day at my desk.

^ This (although I do eat lunch). I don't go for walks at lunch at the moment as it's stupid cold where I am, but I do go out for walks during breaks once the weather improves.

fercar3000

I work in IT so my butt is on the chair at front of the computer for 9 hours everyday ... I control what i eat and I work out at home before going to work in the morning ... so ... it can be done.

fitfan11

Take breaks and find some obscure corner of the building and get a quick workout in.
Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
Watch your intake. Don't take in what you can't burn off.
Drink lots of water.
Get off the train. Get off one stop before yours and walk the rest of the way.

LoraF83

I work in an office. I've managed to lose weight. So have many other people.

Track your calories. Eat at a moderate deficit. Exercise at home. There are plenty of exercise videos online - youtube, amazon, etc are your friend. Buy some dvds if you want. Get outside and go for a walk or run.

You can either make excuses for your situation or you can find the best solution and work at it.

DavyGaga

(Wow you guys respond so quickly, so awesome!) I know once the weather finally clears up with all the snow I found a town with like, small restaurants and things of the sort, so I want to start walking there during my lunch breaks, I'm sure that will help a lot (But until this polar vortex thing ends, It's kinda dangerous to walk on sidewalks covered in ice and snow) . I often go into the city on the weekends, so I do a lot of walking then. If I'm very occupied I don't eat much (kinda like the opposite of being bored and I eat, if I'm occupied I literally forget about eating) so when I'm out shopping or running around to different places I'll probably eat something small here or there, so I feel during the weekend my calorie count is really small and my activity is high. It's just the five days in between that makes it difficult. I'm sure once the weather gets better and more walking becomes an option this won't be much of an issue.

McKenzieLeigh

I am pretty new, but I have lost almost 12 pounds just by logging my calories. I work in an office all day and I am not following any sort of exercise routine at this point at all. Simply tracking my calories, bringing my own snacks to work and drinking lots of water are working for me.
I do plan to incorporate more and more exercise as I go, but sitting at a desk does not make this impossible!

Awesomers

I work in an office, too. The most important thing is to plan what you're going to eat. I take my lunch every day. If I don't, then I will absolutely fail. I am also a grad student and a mom so my schedule is very structured. I carve out an hour of exercise time before I go to work. You just have to test the waters and try to find a good time frame for you to work out. It took me a couple of months to really get into it - sometimes I work out before work and after work. Sometimes I do squats and lunges at my desk!

I don't have a gym membership, either. I bought some used dumbbells at Play It Again Sports. The world is my gym! Good luck!

CassandraEldridge

I work in an office too. I log my calories bring food and chew lots and lots of gum. I find using a low calorie flavoring for my water helps a lot too.

Also I don't go to the gym, I do my exercising at home. I have weights. Push up bars. A Total gym. The whole shabang! I just pop in my strenght training video's or my Cardio video's depending on my schedule for that day and Go for it.

You have to search and find something that works for you. It will take trial and error until you find the right routine but you have to try if you want results.

UmmSqueaky

My 10 year anniversary of joining the working office world is this August, and I've gained 50 pounds since then! My goal is to lose those 50 lbs by August

Here's what I do:

*Carefully carefully watching what I eat and staying within my calorie limits. There are dozens of fast food options within short walking distance to my office, which I have overindulged at for my entire working career. I allow myself one fast food meal a week, and then everything else is homemade. I have a breakfast heavy on protein, pack my own lunch and have a healthy snack for the afternoon.

*Walking over my lunch hour. I'm lucky that I live in the frigid north and our downtown area is all connected by skyway, so there's lots of indoor walking. If there isn't anything like that near you, perhaps a mall to walk in?

*Go to a gym that is on my train ride home. Once I get in the door, all I want to do is sit on the couch and veg, so I need to make sure I get my exercise done before I get anywhere near home.

JenMc14

You don't need a gym or nice weather to workout. I workout in my house in the am before work. I have a bench, rack, dumbbells and bar with plates, access to YouTube and videos. Checkout. FitnessBlender.com for great, quick workouts. Also, log everything you eat. Stay in your calorie range. Try to not eat when you're not hungry. I know it's hard, I a bored snacker, too. If you can break the habit yet, pack your own snacks like celery sticks and other raw, crunchy veggies. Eat filling meals with a good balance of fat, carbs and protein.

broox80

I work in an office too I just try to get extra steps in. I will walk to the water cooler( 33 steps from my desk) about 10 times during the day. I do squats in the hallway for the 2 minutes my lunch is heating up. People just roll their eyes and walk on by, I dont give a flying you know what!! I also bought a bunch of workout DVD's at goodwill and pawn shops to do on my lunch break if I have more time. It can be done!!! Good Luck!!!

vamred

First stopped looking at as a problem and decided to make it a challenge. So a challenge can be overcome with small steps. These are the following changes I did.
(a) Workout early morning around 5:30 - 6:30 AM, so the only thing at that time I am fighting is sleep
(b) Have a heavy breakfast about 400-600 calories around 7-8 AM
(c) Take Lunch from home atleast 4 days a week
(d) Take oranges, greek yougurt, almonds in 3 small contains (these you can them at any Walmart/Target Store)
--- 10 AM -- have organes
-- - 2 PM -- have yogurt
--- 4 PM -- have almonds
(d) Have dinner at 6-7 PM

Following this, I have been able to lose 23 lb in 2.5 months. As far as muffin's go, If a colleague is about have one, i ask for a small piece to keep my taste buds happy