How to Lose Weight if You Have a Desk Job

Woman at desk

So, how can you lose weight at work if you have a desk job?

A recent study conducted by the Mayo Clinic in Rochester has shown that if you get up from your office and walk five minutes every hour, you can fight the harmful effects of prolonged chair sitting. During the study, a few men seated on a chair for three hours, while others seated for three hours but took a break every hour to walk on a band for five minutes. The researchers found that participants who took short breaks did not face the same risk of arterial disease as those who seated on a chair without a break.

Many overweight people in the USA have “sitting disease” and would lose weight if they did more walking, standing and moving around during the day, says endocrinologist James Levine of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

Many overweight people in the USA have 'sitting disease' and would lose weight if they did more walking, standing and moving around during the day, says endocrinologist James Levine of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Click To Tweet

This is not the only action you should do to have a healthy and beautiful body. If you have headaches because of extra pounds and you don’t know how to lose weight, maybe it’s time to think also about what are you eating during your working hours.

Do you work at least 8 hours per day and during this time you cannot find a few minutes to get up from the chair? When you get hungry, you quickly get bagels, pastries, burgers or something like this, unhealthy products that you find in the stores around? Well, you probably know already this “diet” will not help you too much to lose kilos. What can you eat at work to keep your hunger away without requiring a prior preparation, to be quick, dietary and tasty?

If you don’t get to eat in the morning before leaving to your job, take your time for a light breakfast when you arrive and that doesn’t mean coffee! Even if you are in a hurry, you’ll see that you have more energy when you have consumed at least one stick of whole grains and a diet yogurt.

For Lunch, You Have Several Options, With Two Scenarios

A Decent Lunch Break

If you have a longer lunch break, enough to get out of the office, you can dine at a restaurant nearby – so, this way you take a walk. Don’t go for a great steak, tacos, fries or other fat foods with higher calorie index! A salad combining rich proteins with vitamins and minerals or a chicken breast with vegetable garnish would be the optimal solution. If you give up to bread and drink enough water, it will definitely be an optimal choice for your silhouette.

A Quick Lunch

Fresh saladIf time and/or money are an issue for dining out, there is a cheaper and faster alternative of a lunch prepared by yourself beforehand with minimum time and effort. You can prepare a sandwich with bread, light cheese, tuna or chicken and vegetables: lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers (raw or baked).

A healthy salad is also an excellent alternative and is truly delicious with a dressing made from yogurt, 1 teaspoon mustard, 1 tablespoon olive oil, juice of half a lemon, salt and pepper to taste. You’ll add it in the dressing over the other ingredients in the salad just before lunch – not before because it will ruin the taste and freshness.

Between meals, eat fresh or dried fruit and make sure you’re hydrated enough with at least 2 liters of water. You should also exclude carbonated drinks and also coffee consumption should be reduced because it will turn your body’s metabolism upside down with sugar and caffeine intake. But who can give up coffee, right?

Wrapping Up:

How to get a beautiful and healthy body even if you work 8 hour a day? Don’t forget to take a break and to get up from your desk and walk five minutes every hour and if you can, do more light stretchings.

Also, please pay attention to your food intake, because you are what you eat, remember that! Even in a hurry, or in a hungry state, please, don’t get pizza, burgers or any other kind of fast food, no pies, sticks, chips and others like this! You’ll thank me later!

Vivianne Sterling

Editorial Manager at Beautips. I love street style and I'm always in search of bits of inspiration around me. I also believe in home-made solutions for fitness, beauty tricks and healthy cooking.

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