How to lose weight for workaholics

Now is the time for pro­duc­tive peo­ple, but this is not syn­ony­mous with health and hap­pi­ness. Worka­holism and pro­duc­tiv­i­ty can have seri­ous impacts on phys­i­cal, men­tal, social and sex­u­al health, includ­ing weight gain and loss. Tips from a nutri­tion­ist: how to orga­nize your­self to stay fit and healthy.

When you are busy with your career and every minute is sched­uled, there is no time left to think about food and your­self. There­fore, just like for work, there should also be a sched­ule for your nutri­tion and health. Nutri­tion­ist Yulia Bar­shad­skaya told how to eat at work, whether worka­holism affects weight, and what weight loss diet to choose for seden­tary work.

Research shows that weight gain is com­mon in com­pet­i­tive cor­po­rate envi­ron­ments. Com­fort and unhealthy foods often become the only easy and con­ve­nient option for worka­holics who put their inter­est in their career ahead of their health.

It's important to remember that long-term career success is closely linked to health.  Workaholics should also learn to take responsibility for their health and start eating at work despite being busy, as staying healthy is critical to maintaining productivity at work and achieving career success in the long run.

Diet with a sedentary lifestyle or eating patterns of workaholics

Worka­holics often fall into the food trap, due to lack of time to pre­pare healthy meals or lack of a reg­u­lar eat­ing sched­ule at work. There­fore, these pat­terns are quite com­mon:

  • Eat con­ve­nience foods, fast food, food from vend­ing machines, or use food deliv­ery because you don’t have time to cook at home.
  • It does­n’t mat­ter what it is.
  • Eat at your work­place.
  • Skip­ping meals because you are too busy with work.
  • Does­n’t eat with fam­i­ly or friends.
  • When he eats, he does­n’t notice what he’s eat­ing.
  • Rely on cof­fee or oth­er sources of caf­feine to get through the day.
  • Use alco­hol to unwind at the end of the day.
These irregular eating patterns can lead to unhealthy habits such as excessive consumption of fast food, caffeine or sweets for quick energy, which can negatively impact their health in the long run.

How does workaholism affect weight?

A lot of work will seri­ous­ly affect your weight. If you are always work­ing or think­ing about work­ing, then you will always be too busy to do the things that will help you lose weight, such as work­ing on your habits and mind­set, cook­ing and choos­ing healthy foods, and mov­ing reg­u­lar­ly. You’ll end up skip­ping work­outs more and more often and reach­ing for any quick, afford­able meal just to eat and fill your stom­ach. These are usu­al­ly processed snacks or fast foods that you can eas­i­ly get. Worka­holics always don’t have time for prop­er nutri­tion.

A large amount of work also affects oth­er areas that make it impos­si­ble to lose weight:

  • To bed
  • For stress
  • For alco­hol con­sump­tion

Basic principles of diet at work for workaholics

These prin­ci­ples may not suit all worka­holics, but they work quite well.

To maintain a diet when working sedentarily, it is especially important to pay attention to your diet.  Maintaining nutrient balance is important to maintain energy and prevent weight gain.  You need to pay attention to proteins, complex carbohydrates and healthy fats in your diet.  Vegetables and fruits, rich in vitamins and minerals, should be key elements of your diet.

First Principle: Make a Commitment

It is impos­si­ble to lose weight with­out mak­ing a per­son­al com­mit­ment.

For some worka­holics, the thought of chang­ing rou­tines or adding yet anoth­er “to do” to an over­ly busy sched­ule may ini­tial­ly seem painful, but it is a men­tal hur­dle that must be over­come.

If you are a worka­holic, at some point in your life you have made a com­mit­ment to sac­ri­fice oth­er activ­i­ties for the sake of your career. You made a con­scious choice. The same willpow­er must be applied here. The process of los­ing weight begins with a deci­sive and uncom­pro­mis­ing deci­sion to change your lifestyle.

Stub­born­ness to achieve suc­cess is what is need­ed here.

If you are not ready to com­mit to los­ing weight, then you are not ready to com­mit to weight loss and need to think about why it is not a pri­or­i­ty.

If losing weight isn't your priority right now, it doesn't mean you don't care about your health.  Perhaps you choose to focus on other aspects that are important to you, such as improving your mental health, maintaining a work-life balance, or creating healthy eating habits.  You simply don’t have time to control your diet at work.  Most importantly, remember: any effort you make to improve your well-being deserves praise and respect.

Principle Two: Developing a Practical Diet Plan

Devel­op­ing a prac­ti­cal diet plan and inte­grat­ing that plan into a worka­holic’s reg­i­men is crit­i­cal.

Almost all workaholics have one thing in common: they have a strict, predetermined schedule, which is beneficial in the context of developing a weight loss diet for sedentary work.

But your meals need to be tied not so much to a sched­ule, but to your fluc­tu­a­tions in feel­ings of hunger and sati­ety. First, focus on these sig­nals, and then coor­di­nate them with your sched­ule.

Principle Three: Exercise as part of your routine

It’s not easy to find moti­va­tion to exer­cise when you’re men­tal­ly exhaust­ed. Your goal is to intro­duce exer­cise into a rou­tine that will make you feel lighter and more ener­gized. It’s best to do what you enjoy so you don’t give up on your work­outs and have fun.

If your job requires you to sit at a desk for long periods of time, try taking short breaks for exercise or simple exercise.  Not only will this help you improve your physical fitness and help you stay on track at work, but it will also help improve your concentration and productivity.  For example, you can take a walk during your lunch break or do some exercise right at your desk.

Fourth principle: Creating internal competition

This prin­ci­ple goes hand in hand with the first one — mak­ing com­mit­ments. No one can moti­vate a worka­holic more than his inner voice. One thing that enter­prise ecosys­tems have in com­mon is com­pe­ti­tion. Self-moti­va­tion is a pow­er­ful tool that cre­ates inter­nal com­pe­ti­tion, forc­ing your­self to “improve.”

Career peo­ple can see a “long-term” goal that can be achieved through ded­i­ca­tion and hard work. Los­ing weight is the result of a long jour­ney.

Los­ing weight starts with habits and mind­set. These prin­ci­ples may res­onate with you, but if you are an “expe­ri­enced” worka­holic, then you may need deep­er and more thor­ough work with a spe­cial­ist.

Diet at work: menu option for the week

Mak­ing the right food choic­es for your work diet can have a sig­nif­i­cant impact on your ener­gy and pro­duc­tiv­i­ty. Pro­tein-rich snacks such as nuts, seeds, low-fat cot­tage cheese or Greek yogurt keep your blood sug­ar lev­els sta­ble and help keep you full for a long time. And fresh fruits and veg­eta­bles, such as apples, bananas, car­rots or cel­ery, are rich in vit­a­mins and min­er­als and are an excel­lent snack option.

How­ev­er, we should not for­get about whole grains and pro­teins. Sand­wich­es or sand­wich­es on whole grain bread with meat or veg­eta­bles will pro­vide you with ener­gy for a long time and pro­vide many use­ful sub­stances. Home-cooked chick­en, turkey, tuna, or eggs are easy to take with you to ensure you’re hydrat­ed at work and pair well with veg­eta­bles and whole grains.

Diet dur­ing a seden­tary job often becomes a chal­lenge for many peo­ple. Luck­i­ly, there are many healthy options you can take with you to work. Here is an exam­ple of a menu for the week (Mon­day to Fri­day), tak­ing into account the aver­age calo­rie con­tent of 1500–1700 kcal per day.

  • Mon­day:

Break­fast: Smooth­ie made from banana, straw­ber­ries, buck­wheat and low-fat yogurt (about 300 kcal)

Snack: Apple (about 95 kcal)

Din­ner: Whole grain bread with avo­ca­do and turkey (about 350 kcal)

Snack: Almonds (about 160 kcal)

Din­ner: Chick­en breast with steamed veg­eta­bles (about 350 kcal)

  • Tues­day:

Break­fast: Two-egg omelette with toma­toes and herbs (about 220 kcal)

Snack: Banana (about 105 kcal)

Din­ner: Buck­wheat with veg­eta­bles and beef (about 400 kcal)

Snack: Yogurt with­out addi­tives (about 150 kcal)

Din­ner: Stewed tuna with veg­eta­bles (about 300 kcal)

  • Wednes­day:

Break­fast: Oat­meal por­ridge on water with berries (about 250 kcal)

Snack: Tan­ger­ines (about 80 kcal)

Din­ner: Sal­ad with chick­en fil­let, fresh veg­eta­bles, olive oil (about 350 kcal)

Snack: Nuts (about 180 kcal)

Din­ner: Grilled salmon with pota­toes and veg­eta­bles (about 450 kcal)

  • Thurs­day:

Break­fast: Sand­wich with cot­tage cheese and berries (about 200 kcal)

Snack: Pear (about 100 kcal)

Din­ner: Burg­er with turkey and veg­eta­bles, with­out may­on­naise (about 400 kcal)

Snack: Cheese (about 100 kcal)

Din­ner: Veal with veg­etable side dish (about 350 kcal)

  • Fri­day:

Break­fast: Pro­tein shake (about 200 kcal)

Snack: Car­rots (about 50 kcal)

Din­ner: Whole grain pas­ta with chick­en and veg­eta­bles (about 450 kcal)

Snack: Cot­tage cheese with­out addi­tives (about 150 kcal)

Din­ner : Whole grain bread with salmon and avo­ca­do (about 300 kcal)

By saving this menu, you can provide yourself with a nutritious meal at work that will be tasty and healthy.  Don't forget the importance of drinking enough water throughout the day!

Leave a Reply