5 Tips for Avoiding Weight Gain in a Snack-Laden Cubicle Environment 

  One of the best-kept secrets of the corporate world is the flabby 15. Prior to college, friends probably warned you about the freshman 15, those extra pounds that grow on you the minute you start eating dorm food in college, but few people ever warn you about the extra weight that can find you when you work in an office. Beware the Flabby 15!

You may have looked in the mirror and wondered why you are suddenly fluffier in spots. The Flabby 15 will find you when you put in long hours at the office, tethered to your desk chair, and covering your exhaustion with multiple trips to the Keurig. And it’s always someone’s birthday in an office! The break room table—laden with cookies, muffins, and candy—can make break time feel like torture to those brave enough to attempt to stay trim or lose weight.

If your resolve has wavered, even during this month of resolutions aimed at better health, weight loss, and frequent gym visits, fear not! These five tips will help you ban office butt for good.

Get in Step
Inactivity is the enemy! Like it or not, you probably complete the bulk of your business sitting at a desk, sitting in a conference room, or sitting at a table talking business over meals. The natural antidote to that forced inactivity is movement. The more you move, the better you will feel. Rather than making vague promises to “walk more,” set a goal number of steps per day. Whether you choose a gadget such as a Fitbit, a traditional pedometer, or any of the numerous step-tracking phone Apps, set a feasible goal, perhaps 10,000 steps per day to start, then, track your movement.

You can quickly increase the steps you take in a day by walking across the office to discuss something with a coworker instead of employing the intercom, or by parking farther away from the door in the morning.

If the weather is decent, walk to lunch or walk instead of lunch. You can even up your cardio by walking the stairs in your building to burn a few more calories. If walking more during your day isn’t achieving your movement goals, try adding a class such as yoga or hitting the gym on your way home, before you make it to your door and your fuzzy slippers.

Choose Water
There’s a huge temptation to sip away at beverages all day when sitting at a desk. Talking on the phone while breathing dry, recirculated, office air can make a person feel parched. Although coffee and soda feel like a great choice right around mid-morning or mid-afternoon, they can add calories or chemicals your body doesn’t need. Instead, choose water. Add your own sliced fruit, cucumber, or essential oils for flavoring and skip the expensive water from the corner store to save calories and money. As a bonus, the better hydrated your body is, the less likely it will be to crave unhealthy snacks or multiple visits to the Keurig for cappuccino.

Avoid the Breakroom
Most office breakrooms are the gathering place for gossip and goodies. They are the repository for birthday cakes, holiday cookies, and the dreaded vending machine. The average vending machine snack packs at least 300 calories.

Snacks are inevitable during a long workday, but by bringing healthy ones to the office with you each day, you can save calories and coins. Prepare snack size bags of chopped veggies or fruit that you can munch when cravings hit, try rice cakes with hummus, or grab a Greek yogurt with low carbs and the protein your body needs to hold you until dinner.

Limit Lunches Out
If your job requires you to eat lunches out, entertaining clients or conducting business, then limiting your restaurant lunches might prove challenging. Regardless, you can make smart choices from any menu. Most restaurants offer lower calorie options to keep you from burning through 2/3 of your recommended daily calorie allowance in one sitting. If you don’t see calorie counts, you can still make healthier choices by selecting steamed, broiled, or grilled entrees or requesting an entrée without sauce or dressings.

If you have the option of dining at your desk, bringing your lunch at least a couple days per week can save many calories in a month. For the days when you lack time to pack a meal in the morning, keeping low calorie frozen entrees or cans of healthy soups at the office will save you time as well as calories.

Join, or Create, a Club
Chances are that other people in the office have noticed their own office butt developing. Start a fitness club at work. It’s always easier and more fun to get into or stay in shape when you have friends to encourage you when the going gets tough. The more friends at the office pledge to battle office butt with you, the fewer people there will be to bring those enticing donuts, cakes, and bagels.

President John F. Kennedy once said, “Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.” In other words, you cannot be at the top of your game at work, if you are at the bottom of the barrel healthwise. Grab a bottle of water, take a walk, and allow your intellectual genius to shine.