Has your job played a part in your weight gain?
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I work a desk job, and am behind a desk for 12 hours a day. But, I don't blame my job, at all, for contributing to my weight gain. It was all me. I was the one who after going home came up with the excuses of why not to exercise. I was the one who did pay attention to what I ate, and I am the one who just flat out was lazy. Don't blame your job for contributing to your weight problems. You can create a standing work station, or get up early and exercise (or after work for that matter). Saying "my job contributed to my weight gain" is just another excuse and something to blame other than ourselves.0
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I worked in a call center and was fat before... and even fatter after. Yes LOTS of slim folks gained weight there too. Part of the problem was sitting all day and not moving at all except for during your assigned break times....and the other part was all the snacks EVERYWHERE. We had a kitchen and there were always donuts or birthday cake, or left over sandwiches from a business meeting.. OH, and we were in an office park and we had a "lunch truck" that would come and park outside for half an hour and we could run out and get yummy high calorie meals from there.0
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I blamed my job for a long time – 9-hour days at a desk job, eating lunch at the computer because I was under deadline. But I have lost the weight and I didn't change jobs. Blaming the job is like blaming the food. The job didn't force me to make poor food choices, it didn't hold a gun to my head and force me to go home afterwards and flop down on the couch and watch TV. It was easy for me to use the job as a scapegoat but, in hindsight, I just didn't want to make the changes I needed to and I would have found any seemingly plausible excuse.0
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Oh no doubt. I work in an office at a car dealership and we bake fresh Otis Spunkmeyer cookies. Have you ever smelled Otis cookies baking??? Omg! Within the first 2 years, boom, 45 pounds on. Then you have Christmas when all the vendors bring in goodies and you have random stops by other vendors bringing in doughnuts or bagels and a boss who's overweight and sends you on bagel runs or coffee runs or doughnut runs every now and then. It's constant junk food in here.0
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I work in an office, which is inside a huge kitchen. (I am a healthcare food service manager) Soooooo yes, indeed.0
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While I'd like to blame my desk job as an IT tech for my gain, I'd have to say it's more to do with eating too much and not exercising for 25 years.0
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I work in Gregg's the baker's....... it hasn't helped thats for sure! :laugh:0
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Nurse+Nights 7a-7p+ bored eating/eating to stay awake=I think so0
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My old job waiting tables did, so much high calorie food around for free or discounted! Now I'm at a greenhouse doing a lot of hard labor & it has been helping me lose
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OMG!! the answer is Hell YES! I sit down ALL day researching, and analyzing medical records for hearings!! I have to make myself get up... I love my job but I hate that it's not as active as I normally am... Usually I love the outdoors and just moving around doing stuff, but it feels like I'm stuck sometimes, yes doing a job I love but that has ultimately taken it's toll on my health and weight : (0
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Whoo...Yes...Absolutely. Before this job (which I've had for twelve years), I was a web developer/server administrator that ran around off and on fixing computers and visiting client businesses to take pictures for their websites. Now I fly a desk and only get to move when I want to. Further, this office is around the corner from the cafeteria. When I started working here I think I weighed between 130 and 135, and at my highest, last January, I weighed in at a whopping 192.
So now I MAKE myself get up and move around as much as I can (in addition to implementing MFP and strength training) and getting to the point where if I sit still too long, I get fidgety and have to mover around, be it taking the stairs to the top floor or walking around the building.
ETA: And I don't blame the job - ultimately it's my own fault for allowing it to get to this point - though it has been a bit of a factor - I also kind of point the finger at the fact that while I used to be able to eat whatever I wanted and not gain an ounce, I can't do that anymore.
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My job has absolutely played a role in gaining weight. I can't blame it all on my job, because I was fat before I started, but since I started my job I gained 16 pounds. I've nearly lost them all and have a lot longer to go. I started working downtown and would eat out for lunch all the time. And then I realized I was fat and poor. So, I started packing my lunches and snacks. It's been working so far.0
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I would have to say YES and NO. I too have a "sit down" job (auditing) but I can only "partially" blame the numerous vending machines available to me in the work plc. ACCOUNTABILITY--tht's wat i'm learning--so now I try, as much as poss, to bring my own "snacks" (those tht are good for me) and eat HEALTHY lunches (instead of always grabbing a "burger")0
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In my previous role staff from all over the building would thank the team I was was working with with tons of goodies... from bags full of biscuits, dozens of krispy kreme doughnuts, cookies, sweets and all other high sugar bad carb food! I balooned from 13.5 stone to 15stone in around 5/6 months lol.
Luckily, I am now part of a different team (20 of us) and around 16 of us are on similar diets (no sweets, no dougnuts... no JUNK!) so we keep eachother motivated and away from the bad stuff =] Hope to see the weight continue to drop off now0 -
You just can't let it be a reason for your weight gain. I was obese well before I started working a desk job. Hell, I was obese working retail! I was on my feet all day and very active but as they say, you can't out exercise a bad diet - I'd eat candies all day, snack cakes on break and continue eating crap at dinner. As soon as I cleaned up my food choices a bit, planned & packed meals and got consistently active, I was able to lose my weight, even working a desk job. Full disclosure: it helps that we have a gym here at the office but even if we didn't, I'd be working out at home or finding another way.
OP, you may not feel like you have the energy to do anyting when you get home but you just have to keep reminding yourself that you'll feel better once you do it and it will help in the long run. And if you can, take short walks and/or walk up and down stairways on your breaks. I know being in a call center means you're chained to your desk (been there, done that) but you should still get breaks. The more you take advantage of time, the better off you'll be. No need to become a workout addict, just do what you can when you can. Going for a 10 minute walk is better than doing nothing at all.
Take care!0 -
I'm a stay at home mom...so while it's not a "job", it's my job. I definitely noticed that I live a much more sedentary lifestyle when I'm not physically getting up for work each day. So yeah, my job has affected my weight. For sure.0
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Yes. I sit at a desk 10-12 hours a day. And I really have to be sitting there to get work done. I have a long commute on top of that and by the time I get home, I barely have enough time for dinner, basic chores, and bed (usually way too late).
On the other hand, I have also learned to use my office to my diet advantage:
Set eating times--minimal snacking between (it helps that I hate eating at my desk).
Use the loo on another floor and take the long way to get there.
Print to the far printer--and get up every time to pick up my print jobs. While I'm there, drop off others that haven't been picked up.
Walk around the building--up the stairs, around, down the stairs, around...--at lunch.
Get up and talk to people in the same building rather than using the phone or IM.
Those changes have been my biggest exercise-wise and have made a HUGE difference. Part of it is that I am just plain moving more; part of it, I think, is that I am moving often enough to keep my metabolism sped up a bit more than just sitting. I don't know, but it really has helped!0 -
Well, in one way it hasn't helped my fitness/weight - being sat for 10 hours a day with nowhere to walk at lunchtime and a little office so not much distance to walk but on the other hand...
my job has helped because I can sneak onto MFP ALL THE TIME!! I get so much inspiration and motivation from this site and luckily my job is kind of quiet at the moment so I have plenty of time to browse the site.
I bring all my own food into work and have it all planned out as to what I'm going to eat and when. My office isn't social at all so no worries about 'cake day' or anything like that. Either I exercise before work or force myself to go after. As long as I have a routine then I'm mostly ok with combatting sitting all day long.0 -
medical field based marketing..all day driving and long expensive lunches and dinners with clients = morbid obesity before you know it.0
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Yes, big time!!! I work in law enforcement, so sitting in a car every day does not help at all. Plus fast food joints are the only option sometimes..0
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I definately gained my weight back during a job I had a few years back. Not that it was the jobs fault however with me living 3 hours away (each way commute) and having weird and early shifts I never made the time to make proper meals or exercise. It was all grabbing food on the run. That paired with a very stressful and not usual job made it worse. As much as I loved that job I am glad I no longer have it.0
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I'm not overweight by any means, but I definitely have to be a lot more conscious of my intake and be more strict about my exercise schedule now that I work a desk job. The only excuse I really have to get up is to go to the bathroom, get a drink of water, or grab my lunch... at least the bathroom and drinking fountain are really far from my desk though, so I get some movement To make sure I stay on track, I pack all my food for the day, and once it's gone, it's gone. I don't carry cash on me in order to avoid any impulse vending machine purchases.
When I was younger I worked retail as an assistant manager and I was on my feet sometimes as long as 10-12 hours/day... I literally only sat down for 15 minutes the entire time I was there. I force fed myself giant cookies in order to even attempt to maintain my weight because I was so active. I gotta say though, I feel a lot healthier now - it's not as stressful and I have more time to sit and actually enjoy food instead of grabbing something (usually unhealthy) really quick.0 -
HECK YEAH! I work in a chocolate factory (I DON'T eat it) and you'd think we get our fill of sugar right?! Apparently NOT. Every week there are birthday cakes, cookies, snacky things like chips and stuff, and THEN there are the "just because I want to " cakes and brownies, etc. :noway: Seriously! I just can't do it to myself so I quit participating in their "morning snack fests".
On top of all of the junk around me, I go in to work for 330am so I used to skip breakfast (not anymore), the job is mostly sit down and CONSTANT stress - especially from September (for Halloween preparing) through Easter. Essentially most of the time.
So while it wasn't the ONLY thing that got me there, it certainly was a contributing factor.0 -
Absolutely. It's not that my job is sedentary, it's more the travel involved.
My job requires me to regularly travel to extremely remote locations in third world countries. Places where there's often no electricity, no hotels, no restaurants. You're sleeping on people's floor. And food is often scarce for these people, so you eat what's put in front of you - otherwise you starve. And what's put in front of you is often food fried in animal fat. It was a nightmare for me because I'm both gluten and lactose intolerant. But I had to eat these things regardless, because I literally had no other option other than to "not eat".
A lot of people had a go at me when I first started on my weight loss journey when I brought this up because they said "just choose something more healthy". I don't often have that option when I'm travelling for work. And going for a run or something outside to work it off is generally unsafe for a variety of reasons.
Admittedly it's helped in the last year that I've cut back on my work travel. I was overseas about 6-8 months of the year before that. Now I'm away maybe 2-3 months, and thankfully in locations that are more amenable to maintaining some kind of healthy diet.0 -
30 years at a desk job here. Yes, it definitely plays a role. I was thin for most of that time, but sitting all day definitely made it harder. Some days it feels like all I do is work, commute and workout.0
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i work night shift - and one of my biggest weight loss problems is controlling "tired eating" -- it takes a lot of effort to not graze all night (specially when others bring in yummy snacks) and then sleeping during the day i have found myself eating without really realizing what i am doing.
- yesterday i was exhausted, slept for a couple hours and the phone rang, got up to answer it (couldn't even wake up enough to find the phone) and walked back to bed, and it wasn't until i got back into bed that i really processed that i was half way throug eating a Little Debbie brownie
O...MG.... ^^THIS!!^^
Many a times I've gotten up in the middle of the day and ate without even realizing it. I worked the overnight shift for 14 years (I'm a 911 dispatch supervisor). Finally got off that shift 2 years ago and never looked back!0 -
Yes! I work 12.5 hour rotating shifts. We frequently have "feeds" or people bring in snacks to share. It's not unusually to see 3 bags of chips and dip and a couple of cartons of cookies out (there are only 6-7 of us), I also counted up the calories in one of our feeds one day and it was over 37,000 calories - for 10 people! I had gained over 20 lbs over 4 years of employment before deciding it was time to make a change; I'm now down to my pre-employment weight and looking to lose the last 20 lbs. I think my gain was due to the nature of having a very high stress job, boredom and the night shift munches.0
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Most definitely. I sit behind a computer all day. I also think stress and lack of sleep play a big part in weight gain.0
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Definitely- I went from working a job where I was on my feet 12 hours at a time to sitting for 8 hours. I do walk around during the day but the majority is spent sitting. Add that to my 1+ hour commute each way and the exhaustion once I get home and I've gained weight.
I'm not trying to hit the gym on my way home from work so there's no excuses and also being mindful of snacking.0 -
Oh no doubt. I work in an office at a car dealership and we bake fresh Otis Spunkmeyer cookies. Have you ever smelled Otis cookies baking??? Omg! Within the first 2 years, boom, 45 pounds on. Then you have Christmas when all the vendors bring in goodies and you have random stops by other vendors bringing in doughnuts or bagels and a boss who's overweight and sends you on bagel runs or coffee runs or doughnut runs every now and then. It's constant junk food in here.
Otis Spunkmeyer cookies are the devil's cookies, put here to tempt us! I used to work in a nursing home kitchen and on my first day I was marveling at the food in the walk in fridge and my lead showed me the cookies- she popped one raw in her mouth and gave one to me- it was like cookie crack! Later in college I ran into them again, a lady had a lunch cart she'd push around with all sorts of them. They are here at my current job in the canteen. I have mentioned before I am not addicted to sweets, but I can't seem to get away from Otis Spunkmeyer cookies and do indulge a couple times a year.0
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