Dear Reason, I am an assistant at a company where the assistants rarely take lunch or leave the office at any time during the day. This means I sit at my desk for about 10hours a day. I am gaining weight and feel frustrated that even if I ate less, I’d still gain the weight because I do not really exert my body in ANY way besides walking to the car or picking up my hand to answer the phone. HELP!!
How can I get some sort of release from all of this inertia??? Is losing weight with a job like this even possible?? Pissed Off and Fatter than When I Started Dear P.O’d, First and foremost, weight gain or not, you need to take a break at lunch. It is asinine and insane to sit at a desk for 10 hours a day and to only get up when you have to pee. You need fresh air, you need to stretch your legs, you need to get out of the office and take a break in order to be remotely efficient at your job for the remainder of the day. If the office is crazed or if your boss is nuts and really needs you, then don’t take lunch on those days. But that should be the exception to the rule. And the rule is that you need to eat. And there’s no reason that you shouldn’t be able to get up and walk out of the office to go get what it is that you want to eat. If you feel uncomfortable because none of the other assistants take lunch, then maybe just take half an hour instead of an hour. (This is a perfect time to remind you that the people who make decisions on their own and don’t always go with the flow are the ones who stand out more in this industry.) My point is, PLEASE take some time for yourself. It will make you happier which will ultimately make your boss happier because you’ll do a better job. Now, office jobs are NOTORIOUS for promoting weight gain. You sit at a desk all day, people bring in cookies they baked over the weekend, you get a craving and reach for the jar of m&m’s your co-worker has on his desk. All of these things make it easy to gain weight and hard to lose it. There are a few things that you can do to help yourself. - Get thy ass to the gym. This is hands down the best solution. Working a 9, 10, or 11 hour day like many of us do makes going to the gym feel impossible. But, I’m here to tell you that it’s not. If you really want to lose weight, get to the gym. I know you hate me right now. But you’ll feel better in a few weeks. It just takes a little extra planning. Once you get into the routine, you won’t be able to remember life before you went to the gym. Find a gym close to your home. (You can find one close to work, but what happens if you’re working in Burbank now and get a new job in Santa Monica in 6 months?) Aim to get there 2-3 days a week to start. Make your goals attainable. Pack your clothes the night before, wake up 45 minutes earlier, and go work out for 30 minutes. (30 minutes might not seem like a long time but it’s a hell of a lot better than nothing at all and it WILL make a difference.) Then shower and get dressed at the gym and head straight to the office from there. You will be tired for the first few weeks, but gradually you will notice that you have more energy and that you are indeed losing a little weight. And by the way, you don’t have to join a gym. You can get up early and go for a brisk walk or jog around your neighborhood. Or do a pilates or yoga tape in your living room. Or subscribe to Self and do their at-home workouts. There are TONS of options – just get active.
- Start eating all your servings of fruits and veggies. Step away from that M&M jar. Abstain from that piece of birthday cake. DO NOT eat the chicken fingers from the commissary. Stop going next door to In N Out Burger. I’m not telling you to go on a diet. I’m simply telling you to watch what you eat a little more. Make healthier choices. Pack fruits and vegetables to snack on throughout the day. Keep healthy food close by so that your blood sugar doesn’t have a chance to plummet and even if it does, you have a bag of baby carrots waiting to nurse you back to health. You don’t have to stop eating all things bad for you, but I’m guessing you haven’t even thought about the food choices you’ve been making. Start paying a little more attention and you’ll feel lighter just by eating lighter foods.
- Use your lunch hour for light exercise. Keep a pair of sneakers under your desk at work and take that half hour (if it’s not busy then take an hour – but only if you’re not going to spend the rest of the day freaking out that the entire office is talking about the fact that P.O’d took a WHOLE HOUR for lunch!!!) Put on those sneakers and take yourself for a brisk walk to Whole Foods or Real Food Daily to pick up a salad. It’s a good way to stretch your legs, get fresh air, pick up your food, AND get a little exercise in all at once. Now how’s THAT for multi-tasking?
The bottom line is this – YOUR bottom line depends on taking every opportunity you can to make your lifestyle a little healthier. And part of that includes paying attention to your mental health, which requires taking a lunch. So stop reading this column, get off your ass, breathe in some fresh air, and get those legs moving to pick up your salad. And on that walk, start considering the fact that you should stop worrying about what everyone else in your office is doing and start doing what works best for you. The Voice of ReasonSend questions to
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
|
 - large.jpg)
