Matthew Gates 3m 766 #weightgain
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Weight Gain: It’s not the Freshman 15, it’s the Office 15!
After high school it seems that no matter what you do, you are bound to put on weight. With the obsession of weight gain and weight loss, everyone is on a diet, following the next fad, going to the gym, eating less, eating right, eating more protein, eating less carbs, eating less fat, or something else. There are so many factors to blame including the food corporations and the FDA allowing who knows what garbage into our food, our increased appetites and bigger plates, our primarily sedentary lifestyles, life, family, stress, and of course, our jobs — the office which can cause us to gain weight over time.
From sitting in an office for nearly 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 40 hours a week, almost 52 weeks out of the year, to the few office parties, and the co-workers who bring in extra food, cakes, or tempting Cinnabons, you are bound to gain some weight. If the office has a fridge where co-workers keep more than just their lunches, but also stock it up with free-for-all snacks and drinks, than you could be the tempted culprit to easily take what you want and not take any of the calories into account. The company you work for is definitely not there to babysit and tell you what to eat and what not to eat, even if they do offer plenty of sweet goodies or healthy alternatives as part of the employment package.
Food is calories and calories are energy. Any food you eat will give you calories. Any movement you make will burn those calories. Your body is an energy-fat burning machine, so you burn calories throughout the day. To be alive is to burn calories. How you lose weight is by burning extra calories. You cannot lose weight by starving yourself since your body will go into starvation mode and your metabolism will slow down. Eating food is essential! What you eat is even more important!
If the people in the office tend to go out for lunch everyday, fast food places and many restaurants are a great way to gain weight over the years. Preparing lunch yourself and bringing it into the office will help with weight loss. If you find yourself drinking lots of soda (including diet soda — yes, you have been fooled) or energy drinks during work, you are most likely adding to the cause of your weight gain. While you are okay to drink coffee, switch to something other than sugar. If you are just looking for something to drink, go with water, or a flavored 5 calories drink, such as Crystal Light or True Lemon packets which will turn your water into lemon water or other great tasting flavors.
Learn to say no to food. It is extremely tempting to trick your mind into thinking: Well, how many times do my co-workers bring this kind of food in? How many times do I eat this? Truth is, it may not seem like a lot, but its different kinds of foods that are brought in that are technically not healthy for you. Snacking on sweets once in a while is okay, but if you find yourself doing it every time, you may want to just not do it at all.
If there is an office party or meeting where food is served, you may be the odd man or woman out, but opt to bring in a fruit bowl or a fruit salad. If there are no alternatives to the sweets, than everyone will go for the sweets, and add on the weight.
Do your best to stay active throughout the day. Most of us who work at office jobs tend to get comfortable sitting for over 2 hours at a time up to 4 or more hours. The problem with sitting for long periods of time is that your metabolism slows down and you can gain weight that way. Get up. Stand up. Stretch. Walk around the building. Climb up and down the stairs a few times. Do this about every 2 hours for about 5 to 10 minutes. It will also help you to not sleep on the job.
Gaining weight at the office is almost inevitable, but if you can control what you eat, learn to say no to co-workers’ offers of food, avoid tempting food, bring in your own prepared lunch meals, and try to stay active throughout the day, you will be able to maintain or lose weight.
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