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

dp1228

it's funny because my story is the complete opposite of yours. I gained MOST of my weight in college. 80 pounds after gaining about 20 in highschool. getting a full time job after college is what helped me lose weight believe it or not. the office job gave my life some structure.

You said you lived in Long Island? I'm from NY so I know how the commute is. Instead of working out near home why don't you just work out near your job? I get most of my workouts done right after work on my way home. And on the weekends you can always do a workout at home. Also, instead of eating the cafeteria lunches and snacks you should be making your own food and bringing it with you. Try to plan out your meals for the day so that when you do get home after working out you have an idea of what you are going to eat.

I know it's hard to adjust but it really is easy to lose weight with an office job. You just have to want it enough.

cici1028

You are going to really need to adjust your nutrition because your activity level has dropped so drastically. I lost 50 pounds working in an office. It is completely manageable. You will need to invest time in planning and preparing your meals, mental fortitude for saying no to the office snackery and a FitBit or other monitor to help motivate you to get those steps in any way you can... whether it is taking the stairs, parking further out, or giving up your lunch break to exercise. Bring your lunch. Breakfast too if you can.

That said, nutrition is key here. You can lose weight without exercising. You can do it.

csuhar

1) I bring my food in from home, that way I'm in control of what I eat.
2) I take walking breaks. It's not necessarily anything timed, but it's ususally something like using the bathroom a floor below / above and using the stairs.
3) I have the "You are Your Own Gym" book and app. No gym necessary. Even now that I have a gym in walking distance, it forms the foundation of my exercise program because I don't need to worry about open hours or crowds in my back yard.

k8briseno

I do little things through out the day. I think it's really important to break the sitting cycle to keep your metabolism up. I use a bathroom on a different floor and take the stairs. Sometimes on my way back to my desk I go down, back up, and down again just for the extra steps. I drink a lot of water and it make for lots of trips up and down the stairs. I do 100 squats during the day in my cubicle. If you don't have as much privacy that might be hard and may get you some stares. I'm working on getting up to at least 300 squats a day and 100 lunges. I also added an add on reminder to my Firefox browser to get up and move around every hour to half hour. Stretch do some squats. Walk the halls. Sitting around all day not only ruins your metabolism it can shorten your life. Plan your meals, it makes a huge difference. If you can't make it to the gym, workout at home. I work out at the gym and at home. I think it is also important to make gradual changes too. If you take on too much all at once you will have a much harder time sticking with it. Maybe just add one or two changes a week.

Nerdycurls

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.

I think you're being unnecessarily harsh here. It's obvious this person has a professional office job for the first time, and getting used to that scene takes some time. If the OP is asking because she doesn't know, why is that making excuses?

One of the things you need to do when working in an office is to get your body to the point where it burns a high amount of calories even when you are sitting. Strength training will do wonders for you, because your metabolism will still be relatively high even when you are inactive. The last time I worked in an office, it was hard because our workload was measured in terms of how much we accomplished at our desks-- making it nearly impossible to get up and move around as much. In fact, we were yelled at for having low productivity and then would get asked why always left our desks-- even if it was 3-4 times a day! I'll never take a job like that again.

The job before that was much easier to move around in. I would get up and walk to the printer to get my documents. I would stand and work as much as I could. I would go for walks during my breaks. Our supervisor was also health-savvy and he bought a couple of exercise balls for us to all sit on, and we'd even fight over them! LOL. Find a few good strategies that work for you in your office and implement them one by one.

The meal planning is also necessary. A pitfall of an office is people will bring in "bad food" all the time, there are potlucks a lot, and snacks sitting around. Controlling your eating habits and portions is going to be a given no matter the work environment.

Polarpaly05

Don't worry too much about where you'll get your exercise(the above suggestions were great though). It's a relatively small factor in your quest to drop what amounts to the professional version of the "freshman 15". Your diet is far and away the most crucial thing to rein in.

My suggestion, cut out using the cafeteria. Plan out your work week breakfast, lunch and snacks on Saturday. Go to the store and buy things on Sunday, then cook it all up that day and separate it out into portions from the week. I bought a crock pot and just look for simple and healthy recipes online. Just throw everything in, come back a couple hours later (a downside to the crock pot is you end up eating the same thing for lunch for the week. But if you make something super tastey, shouldn't be a problem).

Also pick up some of those water flavoring drops (Mio, Dasani, etc.). I know I wasn't a huge fan of plain water, but with a bit of flavor it gets MUCH easier to drink up.

What you'll need:

1) 30 minutes on Saturday to plan
2) 2-3 hours on Sunday to shop and cook
3) A lunch bag/box to keep things cold/warm
4) Tupperware or other storage
5) A good water bottle you can easily carry
6) Scale to weigh out food/portions
7) Will power to change

You can also try only bringing $2 cash with you to work. Thus limiting your spending and snacking potential. So if you get the craving to snack/buy something... you can only buy $2 worth of snacks.

rockmama72

Does your office building have stairs? Use them all the time. Get in a few flights when you arrive, some at lunch, and some before you go home.

Get yourself a lunchbox and pack it each day with food you like--stuff that's good enough to keep you out of the cafeteria.

Get a 32 ounce bottle and fill it with water when you get there and again after lunch. Drink both of them.

qtgonewild

I work in an office too. First of all, stop making excuses. If you want to lose weight, you'll find a way.

Julesdublin

I work in an office as well.
Bringing your own lunch really helps. I leave everything ready the night before so I don’t have to wake up early to prepare my food. I just put it in my bag and off I go.
Keep healthy snacks at your desk so you can munch on fruits and nuts instead of the more caloric office canteen stuff.

qtgonewild

I work in an office as well.
Bringing your own lunch really helps. I leave everything ready the night before so I don’t have to wake up early to prepare my food. I just put it in my bag and off I go.
Keep healthy snacks at your desk so you can munch on fruits and nuts instead of the more caloric office canteen stuff.

i do exactly this as well.

bachampion04

First off i must say this is a very good forum topic that you started and im 100% certain that this is a majority issue with alot of MFP people today.

I am in the same situation and im just like you, always active, needing to move and that helps control my weight. Sitting around is not my strongest skillset ( even when i play video games i do pushups and situps to stay active)

To counter the many hours of mandatory sitting of a 9-5 desk job, i have dramatically changed my eating habits.

I would say of all things this is VERY key and the first thing you should adjust time NOW!

You can use my food journal logs as a reference if needed but like stated before change your snacking throughtout your ENTIRE workday.

This is actually the prime time for you also to get your water intake up for one of many reasons. First is that it gets your daily water intake number EASY and also it will force you to get up constantly to go to the restroom which is walking calories, running sometimes depending on how far the restroom is and how hard the runs hit you hahahaha

Make sure you use a 16.9 oz water bottle for this, reason for this is because it also forces you to constantly get up to refill your water bottle as well.

Now for the filler details as i like to call them. Snacking: make sure to bring a small yet active workday snack. For me its either sunflower seeds or pecans (you could even try light butter or no butter popcorn). This can also be fruit but you want to be careful because of the sugar that is in fruit. I would limit this if possible.

Sparatic workouts during the day: I dont know how your work place is set up but try sneaking in 10-15 pushups or crunches just to keep the body alive while you are sitting around all day. It will seem weird but trust you will look past it heck some people might get motivated by seeing you do that and join! (personal experience lol)

Lunchtime: Keep your lunchtime meal intake as light as possible especially since you can't get to a gym during or after work because of the distance. For example, turkey sandwhich with 100 calorie soup or homemade grilled chicken tenders with 1 minute brown rice.

I really hope this information helps out for you and if you need any other help or tips, just pop me a friend request and msg me away. I will be happy to help assist!!!!

DavyGaga

Is FitBit like, an Iphone app??? I think this may help. A little walking goes a long way.

hopefaithlove24

Eat less, if the gym is too far do workouts at home, like DVD workouts or anything like that!

jbee27

I feel ya. Adjusting to office life is tough transition from college life, I did it a year and a half ago and it wasn't easy.

My weight loss has been 90% about eating and 10% about exercise. I would guess that not going to the gym is not the reason for your weight gain; I know it wasn’t for me.

My problem was eating because I was bored, or because I was physically restless. Once I started logging, and was looking at what I was doing, it made me more aware and accountable for what I was doing.

I would suggest packing your lunch and some snacks. Use a food scale at home, and record the nutrition of each item. Use the cafeteria sparingly. Know that there will always be temptations in an office environment (doughnuts, birthday cake, etc.), and either budget for them, or decline. Keep a cup for water on your desk, drink a glass of water before you make a decision about whether you want a snack.

eldamiano

Quit your job?....

WBB55

Is FitBit like, an Iphone app??? I think this may help. A little walking goes a long way.

It's a pedometer/tracking device. Nike makes similar things. Some of them clip on to your bra or pocket. Some of them are wristbands. They track your steps and calories burned. But what's nice is they sync with MFP, so you can see if you're eating too much for how much you burn every day.

seltzermint555

Don't worry too much about where you'll get your exercise(the above suggestions were great though). It's a relatively small factor in your quest to drop what amounts to the professional version of the "freshman 15". Your diet is far and away the most crucial thing to rein in.

My suggestion, cut out using the cafeteria. Plan out your work week breakfast, lunch and snacks on Saturday. Go to the store and buy things on Sunday, then cook it all up that day and separate it out into portions from the week. I bought a crock pot and just look for simple and healthy recipes online. Just throw everything in, come back a couple hours later (a downside to the crock pot is you end up eating the same thing for lunch for the week. But if you make something super tastey, shouldn't be a problem).

Also pick up some of those water flavoring drops (Mio, Dasani, etc.). I know I wasn't a huge fan of plain water, but with a bit of flavor it gets MUCH easier to drink up.

What you'll need:

1) 30 minutes on Saturday to plan
2) 2-3 hours on Sunday to shop and cook
3) A lunch bag/box to keep things cold/warm
4) Tupperware or other storage
5) A good water bottle you can easily carry
6) Scale to weigh out food/portions
7) Will power to change

You can also try only bringing $2 cash with you to work. Thus limiting your spending and snacking potential. So if you get the craving to snack/buy something... you can only buy $2 worth of snacks.

Excellent post and advice.

I personally didn't have the patience to write something like this for an OP who sounds committed to making excuses but I am glad someone did. Very nicely done.

5238754

Sorry OP. I work in an office too, I walk ten steps to my car, twenty steps to my desk at work and sit for 8.5 hours. Stop making excuses, cut your calories, stop eating rubbish and stop making excuses.

madalynbartl

The gym is too expensive and too far for me, too, so I YouTube Zumba videos and do them at home. My 3 year old daughter loves dancing around while I do them, so it's fun for us both. I will also start walking in our local park once the weather is nice enough to do that.

MireyGal76

I work in an office 9-5, and have a 45 min drive each way.
I am separated and have two kids, age 6 and 8, with shared custody, so I have Wed and Thurs nights free.

I don't have a lot of free time so here is what I do...

On nights when I have the kids, after they're in bed and lunches are made, I will:
- often go downstairs to go for a jog on the treadmill
- I have recently added weights into my routine, so I am trying to lift a few times a week
- Do some zumba using my Wii

This means I am often finishing my workout at 11pm, and then I clean up with my renewed energy and get to bed around 12:30.

On Thursday nights, when I don't have my kids, I do a crazy intense boxing workout at a local gym. It's an hour long and is absolutely killer.

I track my calories, and eat back the exercise ones. (I count on them because I have a huge appetite).

I park 10 mins from work and walk to and from the office.
I often take a 20 min walking break during the day
I have taken to doing the stairs here... the building I work in is 19 floors high, so I will try to walk them twice in a day (especially if I know I won't have time or energy to do a workout that night).


Little things here and there, can add up to big results.

ETA.. oh, and I live in Manitoba, where we have a crapload of snow... so in the winter I shovel. A LOT. And being separated with a fairly big house, I also have a lot of grass to cut, and leaves to rake - so yard work keeps me very busy too.