Office workers unite!!

[MissLisaC]

Hi All,

I'm a 25 year old female and have worked in an office since I was 17...guess what...I got fat!!! Sitting on my backside for 8 hours a day and being too tired to do anything when I get home, oh, and of course when its someones birthday in the office and they bring cake...it would be rude not to right?!?!?!

I'm now trying to turn my life around and lose weight and get fit and healthy, looking for friends who have the same problems and aims as me...

I also use my fitness pal to keep track of what im putting into my body, my username is LilMissLisaC

Thanks xx

[harmonynote]

I hear you!

I didn't always work in an office, but I have for the past 4 years. I was already fat, but I was still able to walk the length of the city's largest mall and back without getting tired. This past week I took my visiting sister and her family to the mall. I coudln't walk it anymore! I got so exausted and the mall seemed so much bigger than it had when I worked there. I realized that I needed to get fit and bought myself a fitbit.

Lets see if I can get in even better shape than I was when I entered the office world!

[BelleLeeGhetti]

My myfitnesspal name is Belleghetti and I think you are FAB-U-LOUS! I love your attitude and hear everything you are saying 😛 I too work an office job where people are aging far too rapidly 😛 (No SERIOUSLY there is ANOTHER birthday cake?!) Or someone has always baked something, and YES it WOULD be rude *talking with my mouth full* to refuse their generousity. Oh and yeah I have no will of my own. I pretty much do whatever my stomach asks of me :P. 

I am really trying to get the weight off. I managed 40lbs! The same 40lbs over and over again but since I have been using fitbit I have managed to keep it off! NOW... if I can just get rid of its 165 room mates and friends 😛 I will have everything under control.

[HelenaFitbit]

Hear hear! I'll join you girls 

[mr_lab_rat]

Hi Lisa,

I can relate. My work requires more and more sitting in front of the computer so I also packed on few extra pounds.

I'm almost back to my ideal weight and I did it mostly by adjusting my diet. I realized I often ate just because I was bored. Also I ate when it was expected of me - in the evening with the family (regardless of what I had for lunch).

I am a bit more active now but the biggest change was replacing most snacks with fruits and big dinners with much smaller portions.

Other than that I still eat everything including pizza, icecream, and other junk but I track it in MyFitnessPal to make sure I don't go over the daily budget.

Good luck

[W247]

This office job is killing me with all the sitting!

I have had to make a consorted effort to get up and walk and move around during the day. Lunch time walks are a must,even though I just take a half hour for lunch.

What has been saving me is that I am pretty lucky that I can also work from home a couple of days a week. My gym is within walking distance of my house so I can go to the gym and work out.

However, at the office, if you have slack time, bring in some five pound hand weights and work on your arm's. I have a metal cylinrical tea tin that I filled with pennies ( left over from change I got from the oh so conveniant cafe at our job site) that I use to work on triceps while listening in on team meetings/conference calls. Find little ways to get in some kind of exercise! Keep moving!  

[awood08]

I would love to keep up with all of you! I'm also a 25 year old female, who is an office manager and has been working behind a desk since I was 17! lol 

Between my 2 kids and my lack of getting off my butt I was at my heaviest (235) when I started Fitbit on June 16th. I am now 218 just 6 weeks into it! I would love to have some other people similar to me to keep up with.

Good luck to all of you guys 🙂

[awood08]

I've done that with hand weights at my desk. I also like to do squats! I don't have a huge call volume coming in but I like to get in at least as many squats as I can until the phone rings again.

[OdoCat]

Haha!! I am with you!! 15lbs of office weight through out the years. I get so pissed now with the amount of junk food people bring in. I hiss at the food as I walk by. 

[Raviv]

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@W247 wrote:

However, at the office, if you have slack time, bring in some five pound hand weights and work on your arm's. I have a metal cylinrical tea tin that I filled with pennies ( left over from change I got from the oh so conveniant cafe at our job site) that I use to work on triceps while listening in on team meetings/conference calls. Find little ways to get in some kind of exercise! Keep moving!  

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Using exercise bands would work really well at an office too.  Great idea!

[RedHairDontCare]

Good morning MissLisaC, I’m a 26 year old paper pusher, and have been consistently unhappy with my weight. I’ve been with my company for about 10 years... that’s a lot of sitting lol. Recently my BF bought me the FitBIt Charge HR and I absolutely love it.

 I’ve had it for about a week and have already lost almost 3 lbs, and all I did was try to change how I was eating and pay really close attention to my fitbit. I’ve only started going to the gym again yesterday after a long hiatus. I’ve gone through this before with different gimmicks to lose weight, but this is by far my favorite. I feel like it’s the healthiest way to go about it... eating healthier and exercise... makes sense lol

 I would love to have some people on here for encouragement, always a good thing 

[DaniellaH]

I'll join you ladies!!!

I work in an office, on a phone all day long.  Not too many options to get up and get moving when I have to be glued to the screen.  I'm up at 4am getting my workouts in but that truly isn't enough.  My a** hurts from sitting all day for real. 

I do however try to get up and get walking on my breaks of 2 15-min breaks and one half hour break. However sometimes the heat or rain kind of overshadows that.  Also yes we too here have birthdays, poor mans lunch, bagel day, luau lunch, chinese lunch, this lunch that lunch the other lunch.  It's really crazy.  I'm with you ladies.  I have about 30 pounds to lose so I havea ways to go. 

Myfitnesspal is Craziedani

[RedHairDontCare]

Welcome aboard lol I wanna be 30lbs down as well... starting with 15 for now lol

[Dunkr]

Hi,

I'm in the same situation, however it is now approaching my 50th Birthday in 2016, and I am hoping it is not too late. Having been sidelined from sport due to illness, I am struggling with the desk job. It is a case of 10-11 hour days as the norm, which leaves me dog tired by the end of the day.

Any suggestions of exercises I can do without leaving the office?  Im targetting 40kg weight loss over 12 months. I managed 2 x 10,000 step days over the weekend, but now the work week has started and I's sitting here in front of the computer since 7.15am. Expect leave the office after 6pm today. Hoping for some good (and sensible) exercise ideas I can do while at work.

[Raviv]

---

@Dunkr wrote:

Hi,

I'm in the same situation, however it is now approaching my 50th Birthday in 2016, and I am hoping it is not too late. Having been sidelined from sport due to illness, I am struggling with the desk job. It is a case of 10-11 hour days as the norm, which leaves me dog tired by the end of the day.

Any suggestions of exercises I can do without leaving the office?  Im targetting 40kg weight loss over 12 months. I managed 2 x 10,000 step days over the weekend, but now the work week has started and I's sitting here in front of the computer since 7.15am. Expect leave the office after 6pm today. Hoping for some good (and sensible) exercise ideas I can do while at work.

---

First, 50 is not "too late."  I turned 50 in December and started working out 5 months later.  I've lost weight and taken up running too.  My first race is in a month and I've got two more lined up before the end of the year.  In about a year and a half, I plan to run a half marathon with my 21-year-old son who has been distance running for several years.

Second, is it really necessary to work 10-11 hour days?  I mean, it might really be.  But for most jobs, it's really not.  It's just that we let people demand that of us, and no one ever says "I've got way more work on my plate than I can reasonably handle.  Can we redistribute this somehow or hire in some help?"  It's okay to say you'd do a better job if you had some time to make yourself healthy.  And working out will absolutely give you more energy along with more creative, clearer thinking.

If you absolutely can't (and I mean really can't) then you are legally allowed to have at least 30 minutes for lunch and two 15 minute breaks.  You could bring lunch, which will be healthier anyway, eat at your desk and use your breaks to go for a walk.  Just don't eat at your desk and then work through your lunch.  Actually walk away from your desk and leave the area so people aren't stopping you to talk about work.

Honestly, if your cortisol is high from working so much and stressing over it, weight loss is going to be difficult anyway.  Your brain knows you're under stress and doesn't want to let go of your fat stores.

[Dunkr]

Thanks Raviv,

I appreciate your response.  Really necessary at the moment as we are a start up business that is suffering in the market ( like everyone else) and additional staff at the moment is not an option.

I am using my break times to undertake stair climbs, trying to get 20 flights of 16 stairs in per day. Apart from this, I am looking for ideas whilst in the office.

Congratulations on your success. It's nice to know that it can be achieved, and I can aim for something similar. Albeit marathons are a long way off from my mind, I hate running lol.

[Raviv]

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@Dunkr wrote:

Albeit marathons are a long way off from my mind, I hate running lol.

---

I haven't run any races yet.  My first is in a month, and it's only a 5K (3.1 miles).  But I do plan on increasing the mileage as much as possible after that and hopefully finishing a half (13 miles).

Be careful if you decide to give running a try, though.  It's very addictive. 

It sounds like the work situation is at least fairly temporary.  Try not to let that become your normal.  We can handle a lot of stress over the short term, but not forever.  It starts to take its toll on our bodies.

[awood08]

How's everyone doing? Any progress towards your goals? Hope all is well!!

[W247]

I wish I could run! I have plantar fasciitis so my feet really hurt if I land too much weight on them. I can do the eliptical (that starts hurting towards the end of a 30 minute time frame) and the bicycles right now. I am going to try to rowing machine the next time I am at the gym ( today).

I really wanted to run a 5K and had that as a goal for a while until I started running outside and my feet became so painful I couldn't walk!

[katie_pump6]

I would love to join you all 🙂 I just got my FitBit last month and had been wanting one because I too sit on my butt at an office 8+ hours a day. It can be discouraging (but also motivating!) having FitBit friends hit 8,000 steps before I even take my lunch break at work... so this group seems perfect! 🙂 I'm 27 and have worked in an office for the last 5 years. 

I'm usually too tired to do anything besides binge watch my current Netflix obsession after work, but I *finally* started hitting the gym most evenings after work. I found that giving myself a challenge (completing 70 miles in July and now doing a 60 mile challenge for August) helped motivate me to put my gym pass to use... that pass was expensive!! 

Feel free to add me 😃