It can often seem impossible to lose weight and lead a healthy lifestyle when your life consists of being stuck behind a desk. With increasing threats to your health, such as heart attacks and weight gain, action needs to be taken now. Making small changes to your daily lifestyle can help you lose weight and place you on the right tracks to a healthier, happier version of yourself. This articles includes 7 ways to lose weight, even whilst sitting at a desk all day. Here’s 7.
- Prioritize 30 Minutes For Exercise
- Go For The Stairs, Avoid the Elevator
- Bring your Own Lunch & Stick to Lunch Time
- Sit Up Straight
- Stretch Or Move in Place
- Stand At Your Desk
- Load Up on Herbal Teas
Prioritize 30 Minutes For Exercise
30 minutes a day is a very short period of time. The NHS recommends 150 minutes per week of exercise to live a healthy lifestyle, doing 30 minutes per day, 5 days a week is a perfect way to start increasing your metabolism and shedding off the pounds. If this is too difficult, this 30 minute period instead can be performed in 10-minute bouts, 3x throughout the day. This is convenient as it will suit work breaks, lunchtimes and many other windows of opportunity throughout the day.
Go for the stairs, avoid the elevator
Making a simple change can drastically impact your health, especially if you go through the same motion multiple times throughout the day. Using the stairs counts as physical activity, increasing your steps, your heart rate and requiring muscles in your upper and lower body to perform the activity, strengthing these at the same time. To put into perspective, if you use the stairs 3x per day and work 5 days a week, with each time consisting of 2 flights, then within a week you will have climbed the stairs 15 times accomplishing 30 flights of stairs. Sounds impressive, right?
Bring your own lunch & stick to lunch time
As tempting as buying lunch at work may be, these meals are often high in saturated fat and not the healthiest option. Consider bringing in your own lunch, allowing for a healthier option. Go for a salad, pasta or sandwich on wholemeal bread, snack and piece of fruit to keep you going whilst working towards your 5 a day. Hcg injections recommends you avoid snacking between meal times whilst at work, eat in one sitting instead, eating high-quality foods to ensure you feel full. Fruit is always a good shout.
Try and limit snacks. However, if you are going to snack throughout your working day consider opting for healthier options, such as apples, bananas, oranges and pears (amongst a wide variety of other fruit). Alternatively, try purchasing a smoothie, packed full of healthy ingredients and leaving you contempt, you won’t be disappointed. Limit snacks such as crisps, chocolate, Pepsi and biscuits, these all contain alarmingly high levels of sugar which are both bad for your teeth and increase your chances of type-2 diabetes.
Sit-up straight
Sitting up straight at your desk will engage more muscles than slouching, allowing the lower abdominal and back muscles to be further utilised and strengthened. Professor Amy Cuddy from Harvard University suggests that sitting up straight can often promote a sense of power, which is transferred into positive energy. Using this positive energy after a hard day’s work may be all the motivation you need to get out of the door and squeeze in a workout.
Stretch or move in place
Short on time and don’t have anywhere to move? Stretch at your desk, try touching your toes or marching on the spot. Not only does this allow you to refresh your mind, but it also allows you to boost your metabolism in short portions throughout the day. If you’re feeling brave, why not try some jumping jacks and get in a real workout in a short period of time!
Stand at your desk
Sitting for too long has been shown to increase the risk of diabetes, anxiety, hypertension and even some forms of cancer. Opt for standing at your desk once in a while, not only does it provide the opportunity to burn more calories it is proven to reduce blood sugar levels increasing weight loss. Lowing your blood sugar levels will reduce your risk of heart problems and further weight-related diseases. If self-employed or very persuasive, consider investing in a stand-up desk. These are adjusted accordingly to each individual to optimise performance and increase comfort, all whilst strengthing your muscles, burning calories and reducing your risk of cancer.
Load up on herbal teas
Herbal and green teas have been seen to increase metabolism, allowing you to burn more calories for much less effort! There are, however, different types of herbal teas to help you on your way. Peppermint tea helps combat cravings, perfect just before lunch whereas oolong tea aids in increasing energy. Investing in herbal teas can help your health in the long run and help you lose weight, all while being a great alternative to coffee.