Taking Care of Yourself

You love your new job, but you hate what it seems to be doing to your body. Whether you’re out at work or working from home, chances are you are doing a lot of it sitting down at your desk. It a phenomenon a lot of people notice when they begin work in an office – that sitting down and the working lifestyle it spawns is a weight-ballooner if not addressed.

The weight gain is understandable: you’re too busy to take time out to make (or even buy the multiple ingredients for) a healthy whole grain sandwich with plenty of veggies. You forgot your bottle of water and apple on the counter, but have plenty of change for the snack machine. You have opted to work through lunch and go home early and are fueling yourself with the candy in your desk. You are working in the middle of the night because working at home means you can. The coffee is perking; the chips are strategically on your desk. You will not take time out to go work out to that exercise video while the living room is such a mess. Not only that, there are errands to run and a child that is demanding your attention.

There’s no question about it. Getting to work, while tiring in its own way at times, cuts out a whole lot of the walking around that you were doing before. With tiredness from working comes a compulsion to reach for the junk food and caffeine for the quick fix. Soon you are in a nutritionally deficient tailspin that keeps you reaching for the artificial uppers; that while not illegal, are certainly bad for you. I’m not saying that a morning coffee or an afternoon sweet are out of place. But they are when you multiply them or couple them with less exercise and more take-out cuisine after work.

It is not a lot of work to keep nutrition on task along with your other duties. The sooner you do it, the less work it will be undoing the negative nutrition you may have been practicing. Look for the little ways to change the bad habits you have gotten into. As you start to feel better, you will be motivated to make more change and will have the energy to do it.

The first step is recognizing the problem. An early sign of mis-feeding ourselves is the sluggishness we feel mid afternoon or the urge to jump into bed when our kids do at 7:30. You might notice your pants are too tight or that your belt does not seem to make sitting down comfortable. While weight gain after starting a sedentary job is unsettling, the answer is not to rush out and buy more clothes and resign yourself to life at a larger size. Nor is it to crash diet and deprive your mommy brain from basic functioning capability. The answer is the common sense tool you might have been hoping it wasn’t. Eat better, move more. It is an effort, but it’s not painful. Here are a few hints to merge healthfulness with the work place.

1. Drink your water. Limit your caffeine. Dehydration makes you headachy and less productive.
2. Fit in whatever activity you can. Track your progress. Even errands and housecleaning burn calories.
3. Pack your shopping cart with fresh produce and whole grains. Once they’re in the house, it is not difficult to build your meals around them.
4. Brown-bag it for a deliberate nutritional effort. You will be too full of good nutrients to do much damage if junk food comes calling. (or shows up in the staff room)
5. Make quality time with the kids activity time. Exercising doesn’t mean spending less time with the kids if you include them.
6. Look for low fat baking recipes if you want extra goodies. Another fun activity to do with the kids while teaching them proper nutrition. For a time saver, skip the baked goodies and trade them for a variety of flavors of whole grain crackers.
7. Limit even the good fat. Just because they are not bad for you, doesn’t mean they will not add pounds. Higher fat milk, cheese, and peanut butter can be included, but make sure to count them into your tracking and try to find low fat alternatives.
8. Track your eating and activity levels. (a free source is www.thedailyplate.com) The days that feel like two are easier to overeat on.
9. Count the midnight snacking. They’re calories even if no one else sees them. Save your especially healthy snacks for any night time eating to minimize the damage.  
10. Log enough sleep. This might mean going to sleep at the same time as your kids one night a week. If you get behind in your sleep, your metabolism will suffer and make staying in shape more difficult.

Remember that juggling work and family is the likely to be the most challenging time in your life. Treat yourself well while you do it.