Gaining and Losing Weight as a Working Woman

My summer going into my junior year of college, I had my first real internship working in an office. I was cooking a lot for myself and moderately exercising and I still gained some weight and couldn’t understand why! (I then flew to France to study abroad and gained about 10 lbs. Hello to eating French food in American quantities). I took the weight off throughout the spring, but when summer rolled around again and I had another internship, the weight crawled back. Took it off throughout the school year, and then I started my real job where I traveled every week to New Orleans of all places. The weight showed. At Thanksgiving I think my grandmother called me “chubby” and my uncle said that my face was “round - but still pretty!”. Welp. Throughout all of this I was eating healthy – just too much – and didn’t realize how much more sedentary I was in an office than I was used to be at school. Not a good combo. I mean, how many articles do we read a week that tell us that working in a cubicle is slowing killing us?!

Eventually I took off the weight. And the point of this whole saga is to tell you that I have BEEN THERE when it comes to figuring out how to adjust your body to new stages of your life. For me, the transition to working in an office was just that – a transition. And a struggle at times. I can’t tell you how many times I was so frustrated that I was putting on weight when I was eating “healthy” and working out regularly! So I have collected lots of tips and tricks for how to feel the way you want to during your 9-5 and I want to share them with you all. Hoping they can help you, too, figure how to feel your best in an office space!

1. Portion control, portion control. Is there anything less fun than saying “eat less?” Probably not. So my best solution here is to choose to eat foods that take a while to eat for your workday meals. How many times have you scarfed a normal sized sandwich in three bites and then gone for the fruit, and the snack you packed for later, etc? If you eat salads or soups – they take a while to eat and you can enjoy the act of eating them even if the portions are smaller.
2. Move just a little more! Work out in the morning, and then take public transportation to work. Or park your car a little farther away from the office. Stand up during meetings (if possible) and walk around when you take calls. Drink lots of water so you are forced to walk to the bathroom.
3. Use a standing desk. Just for an hour in the morning, and an hour in the afternoon. This is more for back and shoulder pain. It doesn’t need to be a fancy standing desk – I usually just use a pile of books or an overturned cardboard box (see below)
4. Here’s a funny one – use a bathroom on a different floor so every time you need to go, you are forced to take a set of stairs.
5. Pack your own lunch with food that you WANT to eat and then EAT it. How many times did I used to pack something and then lunch rolled around and I go “ugh, but I really want something else” and then I go out and eat a lot more than what I need?
6. Get healthy office buddies. I had one manager once who used to bring unhealthy food (i.e. Costco sized tubs of jellybeans and chocolate covered raisins) and just leave them in our team room for us to stare at all day. Me and my teammates would remove them from our room and hold each other accountable for eating healthy! It’s also great to have teammates who understand your style of eating and who want to take walking breaks with you too. Surround yourself with that positivity.
7. If you know there are treats around the corner that someone brought in for someone’s birthday, simply Do. Not. Walk. Over. There.
8. Stretch or do some incognito pushups while your food is being heated up in the microwave or your coffee is being brewed.
9. Keep a healthy reminder at your desk. right in front of you. Like a pretty apple! That way, if you are tempted to purchase an unhealthy snack or dive into the leftovers in the communal kitchen, you know that you have a better option around that’s looking right at you. It’s honestly probably tastier too.
10. Get inspired by other food and healthy lifestyle bloggers! There are so many great ones out there who motivate me to make choices I know that will make me happier at the end of the day.
11. At happy hour stick to one drink (or none at all, if you’re like me and get drunk off half a glass of wine). Usually if you’re a little buzzed those fried appetizers look a lot more tempting. And wouldn’t you rather save your appetite for a nice dinner at home?
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What are your best tips and tricks for staying healthy in an office space? Share them in a comment so we can all learn from each other!

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