Lose Weight While you Work

Posted: Jul 10 in Weight Management Strategies by Dr. Lazarus

You want to lose weight, but despite your best intentions there are new obstacles to overcome every day. Donuts in the break room, lunch meetings with co-workers, long evenings that make cooking a healthy meal next to impossible—these are factors that a lot of people face, but you don’t need to let them interfere with your weight loss plans.

The decision to lose weight isn’t always accompanied by an open schedule. For most people, this means finding space for healthy changes in a jam-packed to-do list. This might mean bringing your medical weight loss program to work with you.

Here are five ways to improve your weight loss efforts at the workplace:

1. Use your planner

Whatever type of planning device you use to keep track of your work obligations, use it to set your weight loss program up for success. This might mean adding after-work exercise sessions to your planner, or scheduling in lunch breaks so you know you have time to eat a healthy meal.
2. Bring lunch with you

Eating lunch out every day can add up financially and nutritionally. Pack a healthy lunch and bring it to work with you. Instead of wasting time in traffic grabbing a bite to eat, use that time to take a brisk walk around your workplace to burn a few extra calories.
3. Stash healthy snacks

Hunger makes it difficult to concentrate, which is why snacking is so prevalent at work. If you know you’ll be hungry, it might be more practical to bring a healthy snack to stow in your desk than to try to resist the hunger altogether.
4. Find an ally

Spread the word in your office that you want to lose weight. You might find that there is another person or group of people who also want to improve their health. Workplace weight loss buddies can be a great source of accountability.
5. Set a movement timer

Set a timer on your desk to remind you to move once an hour. You can either get up and take a trip to the bathroom, stretch at your desk or take a five minute walking break up or down the stairs.

Chances are your work is a big aspect of your life. The 40 hours a week spent there is too large a chunk of your time to overlook your diet and nutrition habits. It is true that healthy habits start at home, but bringing them into work with you is only going to help you in reaching your goals.