Having an office job can be a weight loss nightmare. With weekly after work drinks and “client meetings” that are usually had over a few courses of food and drink accompanied with a largely sedentary lifestyle, it is no wonder you don’t like the way you look and feel. There are a few easy habits that you can include into your daily lifestyle to make sure you can still enjoy the perks of being a business professional, and still look and feel amazing + lose that little bit of unwanted weight you desire.
Let me show you 7 methods to help you improve your health and lose a little bit of weight as a business professional.
Start Your Morning Well
Having a busy work schedule, I know to well that it can sometimes catch up with your health and make you feel pretty run down. Each morning, I have a glass of water with lemon in it. Why? Because It helps with a little immune system boost as lemons contain Vitamin c and potassium. Has this work for me? Yes, I haven’t been sick all year. I’m not putting that down to drinking lemon water, but hey, it all helps.
Prepare Your Breakfast The Night Before
Most business professionals will opt to have a quick bite of a bacon and egg roll or pastry at the local coffee shop and skip the healthier breakfast that they could cook at home. It mainly comes down to lack of time, preparing your breakfast the night before is a game changer. Here is a great Overnight Proats (Oats) and Berry and Coconut Chia Pudding recipe that takes 2 minutes to make the night before.
Keep Healthy Snacks At Your Desk
When it’s time for the afternoon pick me up, what would be healthier? Having a handful of almonds or a chocolate bar? Which one do you think will help you in losing weight? Having direct access to healthier snacks such as nuts, veggies, cottage cheese (if you have a fridge of course) and hummus will enable you to make better choices when it comes to your afternoon energy pickup. It reduces the chances of your choosing the wrong snack dramatically if it is at your desk already.
Move More
There are lots of ways to just move more, but they don’t seem to be thought of very much. Taking the stairs instead of the lift, using half of your lunch break to exercise, taking the earlier bus stop and walking instead of getting off at the stop that is directly opposite your work are all great methods to moving more. The daily recommended step count is at 10,000 steps per day, but the majority of business professionals only achieve around 2000 steps per day. The more steps you take, the more calories you’ll burn, helping you lose weight just that little bit faster.
Slow Down Your Eating
If you are a business professional that only has a 30-minute break, then you’ll not doubt be consuming your food pretty quickly. But this can play havoc on your satiety hormones. When you eat at a fast past, your leptin hormone levels (Hormone that tells you’re full) can’t keep up leaving you with a unhappy growing stomach. Studies have shown that the faster people eat, the more likely they are going to be a heavier person. So instead of scoffing your lunch down like a starving tiger, chew more and eat less to help aid in making weight loss easier for an office worker.
Make Healthier Food Court Choices
If you want to lose weight as a business professional, you’ll have to keep an eye on what you’ll put into your mouths. The most committed business professionals towards their goal of weight loss will prepare their own meals, but sometimes that just can’t happen. So grabbing a bite to eat from the local food court sounds like a natural option. Entering the food court you’ll have a vast amount of choices to choose from. Mexican, KFC, Chinese, Salad Bar and a few other quick options. Most of these foods are high in sugar/carbs, salt, and sodium which will give you those dreaded afternoon cravings I mentioned earlier. Times this by 5 days per week and you will have a problem on your hands, especially when wanting to lose weight.
The best thing is, you can actually make healthy food court choices that help you become that fit and healthy business professional. You need to focus your eating choices are whole foods that will keep you full all day long, and foods that won’t cause a mid-afternoon crash.
Drink More H20
Drinking water can actually help you lose weight. The body has to work to digest it, like anything else you put into your digestive system. Dehydration is a common cause of hunger, but people just don’t realise it. They just think they are hungry and that’s it. Be sure to drink at least 2-4 litres of water per day, and always keep on topping up your water bottle up every hour!