One of the greatest obstacles many people have to achieving the weight loss they want and keeping those pounds away is their job. All jobs have some dangers, but office jobs often offer the greatest number of temptations to those fighting the weight loss battle. Since you can’t expect decades of office policies to change for you it is you who must prepare for battle.
First keep healthy snacks in your desk. Protein bars, nuts, baby carrots, yogurt, and fresh fruit are your first line in defense when the office attacks you waist line. If you are going into a meeting and you know there will be tempting foods there pack your pockets with your healthy snacks and eat them instead. You will still be eating with your coworkers; you will just be eating the right things.
“Good job Bob, lunch is on me”. Maybe you have the type of boss who likes to reward good work with a bad for you meal. Well it wouldn’t be wise to turn him down so stick with grilled chicken and salads when you are getting your congratulatory meal. Follow this same advice when it is time to join the coworkers for lunch as well.
“Happy birthday to person whose name I don’t remember, let’s have cake!”This is a horrible tradition, mainly because in my experience office cakes are like the least tasty cakes on the planet. So when it’s time to get you a slice of the sheet take it, eat a couple bites and toss the rest. There is no reason to be antisocial but there is also no reason to eat too many calories of a cake that doesn’t taste all that good in the first place.
Let’s hit happy hour. Luckily this one doesn’t happen to frequently, but when happy hour calls join your coworkers and have a light beer, nurse it and finish the night with water. You are still getting out, you are still being social but you are also keeping the total calories under 100 for your happy hour adventure.
A common challenge for office workers is eating throughout the day. I often hear “hey I can’t just stop every two to three hours to eat.” Well let’s look at the reality of that statement. First you have breakfast then you’re at work for a couple hours and it’s time to eat so have a protein bars, no prep time and your done in a couple minutes. A couple hours later its lunch time and you prepared your chicken salad or turkey sandwich so you’re good to go. Three hours later you need to eat again so you have some baby carrots and some peanuts. Two hours later you are on the way home so you eat a protein bar. Finally after your home for a couple hours you have dinner. See it actually is a lot easier than you thought.
