Office work can seriously affect our figure. Coffee breaks, free cookies, snacks with colleagues, vending machines with chips, candy bars and other sweets - all this adds extra centimeters to our waist. In addition, demanding bosses, stress, a heavy workload and pressing deadlines squeeze all the vitality out of us.
The question arises, how to lose weight while working sedentarily? A woman always wants to look perfect and the office should not be a hindrance. But we are more likely to skip a healthy and important breakfast or lunch and fill up our stress with high-calorie treats to quickly lift our mood and get the energy we need.
After a busy day at work, many of us simply don't find the energy to cook a healthy dinner and plan the menu for the next day. As a result: we resort to semi-finished products or order food at home, while spoiling our stomachs and dreaming of an ideal figure. Losing weight in the office can be really tough. But by following some tips, you can work and lose weight, even if you sit at the computer 8 hours a day. What should the office food be like for weight loss and what else can help you lose excess weight?
In the office for now - quickly remove the stomach and sides
Not every one of us has access to a fitness club or gym, and not everyone is able to fully exercise in the gym after a working day, ignoring household chores.
But you cannot ignore your health and your figure. Doctors believe that a long, monotonous position at a computer can ultimately lead to consequences no less serious than working in hazardous industries. Sedentary work provokes dangerous congestion, causing problems with the spine and genitals, and thrombosis. And, of course, with such work, fat accumulates faster, and in the most undesirable places - on the stomach, hips, sides. Let's talk about how to quickly remove your belly and sides without leaving your workplace.
Not for prying eyes
For “secret” exercise you don’t need sneakers or dumbbells, but an individual approach is required. Compose a set of exercises in such a way as to maximally load your “problem” areas. At the same time, be sure to devote some time to those body systems that suffer most from office stress: the eyes, joints and respiratory system. Don't forget to include more fruits, vegetables and greens in your daily diet, skip the elevator and, if possible, go out for some fresh air during your lunch break in the park.
Quickly remove the stomach and sides. And not only…
Try our gymnastics options first, then you can come up with your own. All exercises are performed while sitting at the workplace
Option one: for a thin waist and reduced hip volume
Sit up straight, put your hands on the edge of the table, rest against it. Lower your shoulders and slowly try to lift yourself from the chair a few centimeters. Hold for a minute, relax and repeat.
Option two: to train leg muscles
Sit at the very edge of the table. Raise one leg parallel to the floor and hold it until you get tired. Then another. If this is visible from the side, you can raise your leg 30-40 degrees from the floor.
Option three: for beautiful hands
Sit up straight. Place your hands in front of you on the edge of the table, clasp them together. Press them hard against the table, as if you want to push off from it.
Hold for a minute, relax and repeat
Option four: train the muscles of the abdomen, arms, back, chest
Sit up straight. Place your right hand on your left knee and forcefully try to move it. But the leg must remain in place.
Hold for a minute and repeat with the other arm and leg.
Option five: “unload” the back muscles
Sit up straight. Grasp the chair with both hands. Pull the chair up as if you want to lift it. The exercise can be done with one hand or with both at once.
Source
Secret No. 4: the right diet for body elasticity
Getting rid of cellulite, which frankly disfigures even thin bodies, is quite difficult, so it is better to prevent its formation. The solution is not a diet in the literal sense of the word, but some restrictions - the exclusion from the diet of foods that are difficult to remove from the body without high-quality blood circulation. Such foods include:
- coffee;
- fat meat;
- baked goods and sweets;
- alcohol;
- bananas;
- smoked products.
What can you do in the workplace?
There is always at least a little room to move around in the office.
You need to use any space, as well as the work itself, to get up from your chair and walk around from time to time. Instead of calling a colleague, it is better to get up and walk to his office. People who work on a computer generally need to get up from their workplace every last 15 minutes of the hour and go to another room, or even better, to the street, if conditions permit.
Try to find 5-10 minutes of physical activity during each working hour. At the workplace, you can do exercises, both while sitting on a chair, and those that are more convenient to do in a separate room.
The simplest and most accessible are walking and squats. For more information on how to lose weight by walking, read the material at the link. Although this does not limit the possibilities of office physical training.
If you regularly engage in physical exercise at work, you can noticeably tighten your figure, and at the same time improve your vision, memory, and mood.
Attention! Office workers need to include sports, physical exercise, walks in the park, and swimming in their daily lives. If possible, it is better to walk or ride a bicycle to and from work. It makes sense to get off the bus a couple of stops earlier and walk to the office.
If there are rest areas at work
The recreation room can be a room with a sofa, table, refrigerator and kettle, or a spacious room with a bar, billiards, bowling alley, or gym.
Depending on the conditions of the recreation room, you can build an exercise program.
Even in a small room, teaming up with colleagues, you can take five minutes of active rest. Squats, bends, running in place. It's even better if you do it with music.
Triceps push-ups will help pump up your arms. Stand with your back to the table, rest your palms on the table. Rise and fall by bending your arms.
For legs, an excellent workout would be running in place, jumping, or race walking in place.
Any available dance can be perfect for raising tone, mood and relieving tension.
On the chair
Even without getting up, you can train different muscle groups. Available chair exercises:
- stretching, bending and rotating the head;
- twisting and bending the body;
- “drawing” numbers in the air with the tip of the nose with maximum amplitude;
- stretching the back and chest with a chair;
- massage of the neck, shoulders, head;
- tension in the muscles of the shoulders and forearms;
- rotation of shoulders forward and backward;
- leg raises to train the muscles of the calves and thighs;
- breathing exercises.
These exercises should be alternated during the working day. The results of your efforts can be seen within a couple of weeks. If you have a vision problem, you should definitely do eye exercises.
Interesting! Scientists have proven that people who lead a sedentary lifestyle age 5-10 years faster.
In the office, without attracting attention
You can work without getting up, but at the same time do exercises that are not noticeable to others.
- transitions of the foot from heel to toe (15-20 times at the beginning of each hour);
- tension in the muscles of the thighs and buttocks (20 times, 3-4 approaches per day);
- retraction of the abdominal muscles (20 times, 3-4 approaches per day).
Secret No. 2: follow a diet
There is an opinion that diet is the salvation for any overweight person. But all the rules with reasonable dietary restrictions come down to diet. Frequent meals in small portions speed up metabolism, force internal organs to work, and relieve constipation. To do this, it is enough to eat every two to three hours. For a snack, it is better to choose plums, apples, cucumbers, tomatoes, a slice of fish, and a handful of nuts.
Fractional meals without any strict diets also help to reduce portions, which will make the calorie content of the daily diet less.
Will office gymnastics help you overcome your stomach and sides in the workplace?
Frequent repetitions of abdominal exercises while sitting in a chair during the workday can partially replace hour-long sessions in the gym.
The tummy will noticeably shrink. And if you add to this bending in a standing position to the left and right with raised arms, then the lateral abdominal muscles will be corrected. You can repeat these exercises at your desk every hour 20 times.
Another effective exercise. Sitting on a chair, you need to firmly grab the edges of the seat on the sides with your hands. Bring your legs together and raise your knees to your chest, tightening your abdominal muscles. Lower and raise your knees closed, but without your feet touching the floor. Repeat 10-20 times.
An exercise that involves lifting your entire body from a chair quickly burns fat. You need to firmly grab the edges of the chair and lift your body in your arms. Using your abdominal muscles, you should try to pull your knees towards your chest. Repeat 4 times.
It makes sense to replace your office chair with a fitball. This is a shaping ball that you need to sit on while maintaining your balance. While working, a person does not even notice how his body constantly tries to maintain balance. The head is busy with work, and the body is constantly training the abdominal muscles. As a result, fat disappears from the sides and abdomen, even in the workplace with a sedentary lifestyle.
What causes weight gain
According to leading experts, in most cases, a sedentary lifestyle leads to weight gain only in people who initially have a predisposition to be overweight. The main reasons for gaining extra pounds are:
- a person consumes more calories per day than he spends;
- lack of movement almost always leads to deterioration of blood circulation, which disrupts the functioning of internal organs and systems;
- Most office workers do not have the opportunity to eat a balanced diet during the working day, which causes them to overeat at night.
If you work sedentary, in order to prevent weight gain, you need to try to eliminate all of the above reasons. Only in this case can you count on maintaining your figure. In addition, weight gain can be caused by constant stress and nervous experiences, which is not uncommon for office work.
In this state, sugar levels rise and cortisol production is activated. The brain receives a signal to consume more calories, which are an additional source of energy.
Think more
Viewing public pages on social networks, cheerful correspondence with friends or toys (except for those genres where you need to use your brain) will not burn extra calories. To lose weight at the computer, you need to perform some kind of intellectual activity, for example, read difficult, interesting articles and books, solve some problems, solve crosswords. At the same time, it is advisable not to be distracted, to maintain concentration on the subject longer.
The longer you concentrate, the more calories you burn.
Cons of diets
Most diets don't work precisely because they are too restrictive. They become a real shock for the body, dramatically disrupting its usual mode of operation. The response follows immediately - the metabolism slows down, the digestive system works intermittently, the body experiences a lack of vitamins and the consequences of dehydration.
Often diets limit the range of allowed foods so much that the body is deprived of a whole group of vital substances: fats, proteins or carbohydrates. But they all play a certain role in our body:
- carbohydrates are the main source of energy, without which performance sharply decreases, mood deteriorates, lethargy and apathy appear;
- proteins - necessary for the construction of muscle fibers, since they contain essential amino acids that are not produced by the human body;
- fats are not only our body’s energy reserves, they are also necessary for the normal functioning of the brain and nervous system.
As you can see, if any group of nutrients is excluded, the body cannot function normally. And with prolonged sitting on unbalanced diets, metabolism is disrupted and chronic diseases develop.
Sedentary work makes your belly grow. Causes of belly growth
Before you start taking measures to reduce your belly at home, you need to understand the reasons for its growth and enlargement.
Causes of abdominal growth in women and men:
- Diseases, hormonal disorders. The causes of fat deposition in the abdominal cavity may be hormonal imbalances or the development of dangerous diseases such as diabetes. In this case, you should not take any measures to reduce the abdomen on your own; you must undergo tests and consult with your doctor.
- Overeating. One of the good reasons for gaining excess weight and fat accumulation in the abdominal area is systematic overeating. Many cannot deny themselves the pleasure of enjoying their favorite dishes during the holidays, eating much larger portions “for company” than are sufficient to satisfy them. Eating at night, snacking before bed, overindulging in sweets and desserts are the enemies of a slim figure.
- Sedentary lifestyle. Sedentary work and a low level of daily physical activity affect the figure in the form of fat deposits, especially noticeable in problem areas: the abdomen, buttocks, and thighs.
- Smoking. The myth that smoking dulls appetite and helps maintain a slim figure has long been dispelled. The fact is that smoking affects the deterioration of metabolism, and therefore you should give up this bad habit if you want to effectively remove your belly fat.
- Alcohol abuse. Alcohol, entering the body, is instantly absorbed into the walls of the stomach, which interferes with the absorption of food, which is immediately deposited as fat in problem areas of the figure.
- Frequent stress. During times of stress, the body begins to produce the hormone cortisol, which affects excess weight gain, especially in women. Many people “eat” stressful situations with various goodies (sweets, chocolate, cakes), which leads to an increase in fat deposits.
- Incorrect posture. Sedentary work leaves its mark on posture, which for many people is far from ideal. Poor posture affects the curvature of the spine and the protrusion of the internal organs, which forms a large belly.
- Lack of sleep. Recent research by scientists has shown that the amount of sleep time directly affects your figure. Systematic lack of sleep causes lethargy and fatigue, and therefore, to maintain energy, a person begins to unconsciously eat more. Excess food consumed is stored as fat in problem areas of the figure.
Something new
The part of the brain that is working consumes more energy, so energy consumption can be increased by alternately turning on different parts of the brain, that is, by solving multi-part tests or playing puzzle games.
In addition, the brain consumes more energy when solving non-routine problems . If you are a humanist, try solving logical problems, remember the school course in geometry or algebra. In general, engage in new types of intellectual activity - this not only increases energy costs, but also helps develop the brain .
And finally, we can’t help but mention that simple walking burns 4 kcal per minute, so if you’re tired of thinking, go for a walk.
