Recently I saw a news that an office worker had gained more than 10 kg in a year. It’s kind of surprising but not exaggerated actually, because nowadays a lot of people work at office, which requires them to stay in a sitting posture all day long. It can easily lead to fat accumulation.
Think about it, if the only chance for us to stand up during office hours are drinking water, having lunch and going to toilet…over time, the weight we’ve put on may not be shown apparently on the appearance, but under clothes, the waistlines will keep expanding till reaching a shocking degree.
How to Burn Fat and Keep Fit at Work
It’s not that office workers don’t want to exercise. They may just be tired of working overtime, or stuck in traffic every day hopelessly. You may also have this experience – after hard working for a whole day, you finally get home very late. The only thing in your mind is probably lying down and sleeping tight. How can you even exercise with no energy left?
In fact, working out in gym is definitely not the only way to keep fit. Some research shows that daily activities such as walking, cycling, shopping, housework, etc. account of a large part of your exercise amount. So do not underestimate every walking and stretching in office. If you can’t ensure to do aerobic exercise and muscular movement every day, why not pursuit the goal of burning fat and keep fit in office with some good habits and behaviors?
1. Don’t Skip Breakfast
After a long night, your body needs fuel to maintain the metabolism. Skipping breakfast will slow down the ability to burn fat, because without enough fuel, your body will automatically save “energy”.
So, be sure to eat breakfast within an hour after waking up. If you’re in a hurry to go to the office, preparing the breakfast in the night before may be a good idea.
2. Eat Right Food
Whole grains such as brown rice, barley, quinoa, oats, and millet have the same amount of calories as other food, but can make you feel full faster and then reduce the amount of food you eat. Also, high-fiber foods tend to be harder to chew, which can burn up to 10 percent of calories while chewing.
3. Don’t Eat Too Late
For those office workers who often work overtime, the first thing to avoid is eating dinner too late. Generally speaking, you’d better have dinner 3 hours before going to bed. Otherwise the fat will accumulate very easily without enough time to be digested. It’s also a main reason of getting fat.
However, if there’s no way to prevent the case, it’s recommended to be fueled up a little at an appropriate time to avoid eating too much after work because of hunger. Specifically, 5pm~6pm would be nice to eat things like rice ball, convenient food and yogurt.
4. More Water, Less Beverage
Drinking more water can speed up metabolism, help detoxify the body, and also be conductive to lose weight. A normal person needs to drink at least 1500 milliliters of water every day, and so we need to drink at least 1100 milliliters of water during the eight hours in the office. Be aware, however, those beverages which contain a lot of sugar will translates into a lot of fat as well and easily cause obesity. Always remember to drink pure water and tea instead of sugary drinks in the office.
5. Proper Sitting Posture
Collapsing in the chair can make the waist accumulates a lot of fat. So it’s very important to maintain a proper posture to sit. Specifically, sit in the 1/3 place of the chair, hold the upper body uptight, which means you should straighten your waist, contract your abdomen and put your legs on the ground instead of crossing them. This posture will let the weight of the upper body evenly fall on the lower body and tighten the muscles on upper body to exercise the abdomen. You may feel a little tiring at first, but after getting into the habit, you’ll naturally sit up straight.
6. Stand Up for Half an Hour after Meals
The principle for standing after meals is basically using the standing posture to make the absorbed food won’t stay in abdomen and gastric ministry. Thus there won’t be excessive fat accumulated in the two parts. If you feel bored while standing, you can listen to music or watch videos as you like. The only rule is not to sit down right after meals.
7. Abdominal Massage
Abdominal massage is good for promoting defecating and accelerating the abdominal fat burning. Massage you abdomen clockwise with your navel as the center, 10 circles a time. Then do it counter-clockwise. You can press a little harder on the lower left corner and upper right corner of the navel appropriately since these places are where your large intestine curves.
8. Belly Breathing
Just like abdominal message, belly breathing can stimulate the gastrointestinal peristalsis, promote defecation, and accelerate the abdominal fat burning. You can do it at office as long as you think of it. Try inhaling with your nose slow and heavy to feel the abdomen gradually heaves. After stopping breath a few seconds, slowly breathe out with mouth again to feel the abdomen sunken. Do it 5-6 times in every minute, and don’t forget to focus on the ups and downs of your abdomen while breathing.
9. Walk as Much as You Can
Too busy to exercise? Sit for a long time at office? You can compensate for it with walking quickly on the way to and from work. Don’t take the bus if you can walk. Don’t choose elevator when you can take the stairs. One study found that spending about 25 minutes a day in short bursts of vigorous exercise can burn about 200 calories. So, even if you don’t have time to get enough exercise, it’s still good to walk more and faster to burn fat. Take long strides and swing your arms so that you can feel your heart rate increase.
10. Exercise at Your Desk
The fitness goal of “completing at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise five times a week” can be a big challenge for people who work long hours at office. To increase the opportunities for exercise, there’re several moves you can try at the desk.
How to Exercise at Your Desk
1. Chest expansion exercise
Sit up straight, thumbs up, open arms from your chest to sides doing chest expansion exercises; work the muscles between your shoulder blades until you feel a stretch; pull back the shoulder, hang it down naturally, and hold this posture for 20 seconds. Repeat the process for 3 times.
2. Sit and stretch
Sit on the front of the chair, straighten your right leg with the heel striking the ground and tiptoe hooking up; hold your upper body upright and press it forward slowly, stay in this position for 20 seconds to stretch the right hamstring and the back muscles of the leg. Repeat this process for 3 times, and then do it with your left leg.
3. Swivel on Chair
Sit in a chair and lean forward slightly, turning your head and upper body to the right with your left arm grabbing the seat’s right armrest across your chest (if this is not possible, place your left hand on your right knee) and rest your right hand on the back of the chair. When you twist your body, keep your feet flat on the floor and hold it for 20 seconds. Repeat this movement for 3 times, then do it on the other side.
4. Pull the leg backward
Stand at your desk with your left hand on the desktop to keep balance; stand on your left leg and lift your right heel backward as near to your hips as possible; grasp your right foot with right hand to stretch the muscles on your right thigh (quadriceps femoris). Stay in this position for 20 seconds and repeat 3 times, then switch to another side.
5. Wall bracing
Stand close to the wall with your feet open as wide as your hips; stretch your arms forward to shoulder height, and slightly wider than your shoulders, then hold them against the wall; take 2 small steps back, tighten your abdominal muscles and bend your elbows slowly while keeping your back and neck straight; look at the wall straightly and lower your body a little, then lift up and return to the starting position. Do 3 sets of the movement and 10 times for each set.
These tips certainly won’t help you lose significant weight right away. But if you don’t give up and make them daily habits and parts of your life, I believe you’ll see the result over time.