Don't Let Work Make You Fat!

Those who feel off their fitness game point to work as the primary culprit, one study shows. Here's how to keep your job from making you fat.

According to one recent French study, most of us believe that work is somehow at the heart of our fitness issues. That study, which was sponsored in part by France's leading online weight loss and nutritional coaching system, I Love My Diet Coach, demonstrated that a whopping 63% of respondents believe their careers negatively impact their well-being and lifestyle. Fully 50% believe they gained weight after being hired.

According to Maia Baudelaire, a certified nutritionist and the CEO of I Love My Diet Coach, "Bad habits are more rampant [in the office] because employees are scared of losing their jobs, so they stay glued to their chairs in the office."

Consider the numbers: 62% of respondents said they remain seated for 4 to 8 hours per day - a sedentary habit that is a major contributor to weight gain. Insufficient exercise, plus work-related stress can add up on the scale. "Stress contributes to water retention, and can also lead to compulsive eating," Baudelaire points out.

In some cases, eating habits in the workplace should just be overhauled entirely: more than 65% of those surveyed feel their eating habits are unhealthy. Breakfast on the run and fast food lunches do little to satisfy the appetite until dinnertime, which often prompts afternoon snacking. Enter the fatal attraction of the closest vending machine.

So how do you hang onto your job without gaining weight and giving up on fitness? Here, Baudelaire offers a handful of user-friendly tips that add up to a huge difference long-term.

Get Friendly With Your Tupperware! If you cook healthy at home, set some aside for lunch at the office the next day. Add a few chopped veggies and lunch is easy (you'll be amazed how much money you save, too).

Go nuts! Ditch candy bars or other high calorie snacks from the vending machine and keep a stash of dry fruits, almonds, pine nuts, or other nuts handy. Despite their "fat" reputation, nuts contain protein, fibre and essential fats for good health - lots more mileage for the calories.

Go herbal! Herbal teas are guilt-free and there's a staggering variety of them: try red fruits, mint, chamomile.

Don't forget Vitamin B! Vitamin B is essential to transforming food into energy (as well as a multitude of other benefits). You'll find it in whole grains, cereals, and vegetables with green leaves (spinach, asparagus, broccoli, lettuce).

Get moving with friends! Fitness is easier and more fun with your friends. At lunchtime or on the way home, get moving two or three times a week minimum. It's good for body and mind, and makes a great stress management tool. For an easy fitness program that will fit into anyone's week - it was designed especially for women with no time.

Take a walk break. Good concentration is impossible without a little movement. Brainstorm at the park, or take a few laps around the hallways when the weather is bad.

Make contact in person! If you work in a big office, consider walking over to your colleague's desk to give them the information or message, rather than sending an email.

Hit the ground running (or walking). If you live too far from the office to walk home a couple of times a week, take public transport or ride with a friend part of the way, and use your feet to go rest of the way home!

*Study conducted in December 2013 with 1100 members of Viadeo (professional network) and I Love My Diet Coach.

 http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/rebeca-plantier/dont-let-work-make-you-fat_b_5325225.html?utm_hp_ref=uk-weight-loss

Healthy snacks

Feel and look great with our smart eating tips

Eating healthy meals and hitting the gym religiously, but still carrying those extra few pounds? If you're topping up your calorie count with one too many sneaky snacks, it might be ruining all your hard work. Snacking between meals is fine, but your snacks need to be portioned out and nutritionally sound. So no, a chococlate biscuit (or two!) and a handful of sweeties definitely won't cut it. Follow our top tips below for smart snacking and watch the pounds fall off.

• The key to good eating habits during the day is a nutritious breakfast. Make sure it contains protein, as well as slow-releasing carbohydrates to fill you up. Cereal and porridge are popular options, but they’re low in protein. Top them with fruit, natural yoghurt and nuts and seeds to ramp up the protein and fibre content, it’ll keep you going until lunchtime.

• When packing your lunch for work, throw two snacks into your bag of roughly 200 calories each. Your snacks should be well-constructed mini-meals, just like breakfast, lunch and dinner, and contain fibre, protein, carbohydrate and healthy fat. Being prepared will stop you picking at the unhealthy offerings at work.

• Banish snacks to your desk drawer, but have a bottle of water in view at all times. Each time you have a snack attack, take a sip of water instead. Switch your caffeine fixes to herbal tea to boost your hydration. Coffee is a diuretic, which means it makes you thirstier, and you could be confusing thirst for hunger.

• Birthdays in the office can seem a weekly occurrence. Of course you should allow yourself the odd cheat treat, but make sure there’s a trade-off. If you have a chocolate biscuit (roughly 100 calories), commit to a brisk 15-minute walk at lunchtime.

Healthy snack choices

Half an avocado  140 calories. Full of fibre and essential fats.

One apple and 20g almond butter  175 calories. Almond butter contains magnesium, vitamin E and calcium.

One hard-boiled egg  70 calories. Contains healthy fats and 6.5g protein.
  Natural yoghurt with berries/seeds  185 calories. A sprinkling of seeds contains 35 per cent protein.

Crudités and houmous  50g low-fat houmous contains 125 calories. Carrots contain 37 calories per 100g.
 
90g edamame beans  120 calories. 36 percent protein and high in fibre.

http://www.womensfitness.co.uk/healthy-eating/588/healthy-snacks