Just Another Day at the Office?


by Jeff Stout - Date: 2007-01-25 - Word Count: 923 Share This!

Often times we think we are so far away from a healthier and slimmer body. What most of us don't realize is that, small, very subtle changes in our daily life can bring drastic benefits our way. To examine this statement a little more closely, let's take a look at a typical day at the office for many of us.

We can already picture the morning commute. Bumper to bumper traffic, filled with angry and impatient, not to mention half-asleep participants. Somehow we manage to navigate ourselves through the disaster area, only to arrive at the most stressful part of our workday…..the office PARKING LOT. This is where friendships are broken and the seed of fury is planted. Even though we are late, we now will spend several minutes circling for the closest spot, much like a hawk flying over injured and dying prey. In the mean time we pass thirty empty spots…..just too far to walk.

In reality, what would it really add to our walk? Two minutes? Three at the most? Now let's pretend we actually had a moment of sanity and chose to park in that satellite parking area. Could we not use that extra three minutes to clear our mind before we start the day? Would a little bit of fresh morning air really be bad for us? Not to mention the fact that the three minutes now and three minutes on the return trip will add six extra minutes of exercise to our daily program. Now, if we did this routine five days a week, 50 weeks a year, that's 1,500 minutes a year. Walking burns an average of 266 calories per hour. We have now increased our walking by a total of 25 hours in a year's time. What does this mean to us….6,650 calories. That's right! We could lose almost two pounds of fat, just because we chose to park just a little further away. Now, how many pounds could we lose if we applied this philosophy when we went to the mall or ballgame?

For most of us the next couple of hours will be a blur. Heck we're not really even awake until 10:30. Right? For crying out loud, we have to give our caffeine fix time to set in. So, as we slug through the day we are constantly checking the clock for the most monumental time of the day…..LUNCH TIME! It's time to wake up. It's time for our personalities to finally make an appearance. So after much debate with our colleagues, we settle on the place that we will eat. Mysteriously, it took twenty minutes to pick the same place as yesterday…and the day before…and the day before…and….you get the point. Hey, you just can't beat their fries! Not to mention, you're guaranteed a full and upset belly…all for less than five dollars. Could anyone really resist?

Now we're there, ready to order the next grease bomb. Talk about weapons of mass destruction! Let's take a closer look at some small changes we could make to our lunch order that could change our lives forever. Most burger joints are famous for, well, burgers. However, most places today offer some pretty good choices for a healthy alternative. For example, most of will find the Golden Arches more often than other restaurants. If we order the Big Mac and Large Fry we will ingest 1,130 calories and 60 grams of fat. WOW!!! That's almost a whole day's worth of calories for some of us. Now, instead if we ordered the grilled chicken sandwich and side salad we would only consume 440 calories and 9 grams of fat. That's a difference of 690 calories per day. The scary thing about it, some of us eat fast food everyday for lunch. In a work week's time that would be a difference of 3,450 calories. To understand what this means, we need to know that 3,500 calories equals one pound of bodyweight. Yes that's right, our lunch choice can make a difference of almost a pound a week. The big difference…in a year's time, this could mean a difference in 51 pounds of body fat.

Now we have to consider what we are going to drink with lunch. Those fries sure are salty. There's nothing quite like an ice cold Coke to wash them down. Well that large Coke we suck down contains 310 calories. That's equivalent to approximately 80,600 calories in a year's time. What does this mean? It means, if we switch our daily large Coke to a diet drink, or even better, water, we will save more than 23 pounds of bodyweight. Yes, 23 pounds!

Once we get back to work, we shouldn't wait 5 minutes for the elevator. For crying out loud, we're only on the fourth floor. Let's take the stairs. Yes, the stairs! That two minute walk will be great for our legs and lungs. Not to mention, if we do it 3 times a day we can burn up to 4 pounds of fat in a year.

We have now learned how we can lose up to 80 pounds of body fat in a year's time, just at work alone. Obviously, most of us would disappear if we lost 80 pounds. The calories we burn and save during our work day should now be replaced with healthy snacks consisting of fruits, vegetables and lean proteins. Now, just think about the kind of physical changes we could see if we implemented these concepts into a daily routine that consisted of healthy foods and a proper exercise program.


Related Tags: weight loss, exercise, nutrition, diet, fat loss, tone, get in shape, cut calorie, make changes

About the Author: Jeff Stout, SSC, is the owner and head trainer at Carolina Human Performance. His revolutionary online training program, 'Building a Better Life', can be found exclusively at http://www.buildingabetterlife.net

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