Individuals with full-time jobs and demanding hours often struggle with weight gain due to several reasons. Firstly, maintaining a healthy lifestyle becomes challenging due to lack of time, leaving little room for exercise or meal preparation. Additionally, the stress to meet deadlines and complete projects also can affect eating habits, leading to cravings for comfort foods that are often high in calories and low in nutritional value. Not to forget, the convenience and easily availability of fast food or unhealthy options becomes more tempting when healthy choices aren’t readily available or when there’s no time for cooking healthy meals. All these factors create an environment conducive to weight gain. After a long day at work, all we want to do is unwind before the television with food, snacks, and also something “meetha” after dinner. Furthermore, workplace culture, including office celebrations, peer influences, or group lunch orders, can encourage unhealthy eating habits and make it harder to stick to a weight-loss plan. So, in this article, 6 habits to make your workday healthier, boost your productivity, and support your weight loss journey.
5 Habits To Make Your Workday Healthier:
1. Meal Prep on your Off Day:
Individuals often tend to make unhealthy food choices when they either don’t know what to eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner or don’t have nutritious options ready. Here’s where meal prepping can help. Meal prepping can cut down cooking time, allows you to portion control nutritious food from the diet plan, and prevent impulsive and less healthy choices. When you have planned out and prepped the basic ingredients for the entire week, you can easily focus on eating healthy and cut down on the temptation to grab junk/fast food after a tiring day at work.
2. Do Not Pick Snacks From Office Vending Machines:
Office vending machines mostly stock chips, chocolates, cold drinks, and juices and all of these are not exactly healthy or weight loss friendly. Avoid picking snacks off the vending machines and carry snacks like nuts, roasted makhana, trail mix, fruits, etc. from home. Also read: “10 Weight-Loss Friendly Snacks For Hunger Pangs During Office Hours.”
3. Skip Tea/Coffee With Sugar:
Long working hours would often mean multiple cups of coffee/tea to stay focussed and alertness, and also to motor through the day. But too much sugar in every cup of coffee/tea would increase the calorie count and heighten the risk of health issues like type 2 diabetes and inflammation. Switch to black coffee or green tea to avoid weight gain and to lose weight, and even with these limit intake to just 1 or 2 cups because too much caffeine can cause dehydration.
3. Get More Physically Active:
Taking the steps instead of taking the elevator is a good exercise to get in the office. Also, get more physically active. For example, attend all the calls on your feet, take a mini stroll every time you go to refill your water bottle. Do not forget to get up from your work desk every 30 minutes to burn calories.
4. Avoid Eating at the Work Desk:
Eating at your desk is a bad idea! Mindful eating is a key factor to control calorie intake, and eating with distractions while working on a project on the computer, can disconnect you from the signals your body sends when you’re full. This lack of awareness can lead to overeating because you’re not paying attention to your body’s natural cues of hunger and fullness. So, sit down with your food without any distractions and focus on the taste and texture of each bite, which would in turn help control overall calorie intake.
5. Keep Healthy Snacks in your Desk Drawer:
Stock healthy snacks in your desk drawer to avoid trips to the office vending machine. Carry trail mixes in your bag to fuel you up when you feel famished. Surprisingly, unsalted and butter-free popcorn is an extremely low-calorie and healthy snack, and you can store packets of it in the desk drawer.
6. Steer Clear of the Temptation of Stopping at Fast Food Joints on the Way Back:
After a long day’s work, the temptation to stop at food joints on the way home can be hard to fight with. However, it’s essential to resist this temptation for various reasons. Firstly, the food from these fast food joints can be high in calories and low in nutrition, and may not align with your nutritional goals or dietary restrictions. Do literally steer clear to stop by at the joints no matter how tempting the food looks or smells at these places. Also read: “5 Low-Calorie Puffed Snacks.”
Wrapping up, do not get influenced by food choices of your co-workers and stick to healthy choices. Also, resist the temptation of ordering food from delivery apps, carrying lunch from home is always a good idea.
Summing up, by prioritizing nutritious choices, being active, individuals can significantly improve their health and weight loss journey. These changes can not only bring about a change in physical health but can also sharpen mental focus and productivity. Ultimately, adhering to these positive habits at the workplace greatly contributes to achieving and sustaining weight loss goals while promoting a balanced and fulfilling lifestyle. Subscribe to the Rati Beauty app for all your weight loss diet plans.
5 Low-Calorie Puffed Snacks
10 Weight-Loss Friendly Snacks For Hunger Pangs During Office Hours
