How To Stay Healthy And Active With A Sedentary Job

If your job requires you to sit for long periods of time, you're not getting the proper exercise your body needs to stay healthy. Whether you're at a desk or driving all day, you're not able to burn many calories. Instead, those calories you've consumed throughout the day are building up with no way to get rid of them. When this happens, your body stores these excess calories as fat, especially if you're not eating a healthy diet. Luckily, there are many ways you can stay active on the job.

1. Schedule Your Meals

Eat on a regular schedule so that you don't miss a meal. This is important because it'll keep you from binge-eating later on in the day when you have more time. It'll also prevent you from developing unhealthy eating habits. If you can eat breakfast, lunch and dinner right on schedule, you'll keep hunger cravings down and snacking to a minimum.

2. Keep Healthy Snacks

If you must snack, eat snacks that are nutritious. Don't take candy, soda or other unhealthy foods with you. Instead, pack healthy snacks that provide your body with proper nutrition and that don't have an excessive amount of calories. Keeping healthy snacks on hand and within arm's reach will ensure that you're only able to eat healthy things.

3. Walk During Breaks

Whether you have a truck driving job or work in an office, you probably set aside certain times you take a break each day. When you're away from your truck or desk, take a quick 15-minute walk. This extra exercise will be beneficial to you and help work off some of those calories you've consumed throughout the day.

4. Grab Some Small Equipment

Exercise equipment that's small enough to travel with you can provide major benefits in terms of staying fit and healthy while in a sedentary job. You can bring things like suspension cables, dumbbells and resistance bands, which can do wonders for you to help you exercise while sitting for a long period of time.

5. Workout While Sitting

If you don't want to invest in equipment or don't want to add to your list of things to pack, you can do some exercises without it. There are many exercises you can do while sitting. For example, abdominal crunches are great for relieving tension that can build up around your neck after all that time driving or leaning over a desk. To do abdominal crunches, start by squeezing your abs and hold it for at least two minutes. Repeat this throughout the day when you get time. This is a great exercise to do while you're at a red light or at the copier.

You can also do shoulder shrugs while lifting your shoulders up to your ears and hold them there for a few seconds. Then, slowly release. Do this a few times in a row whenever you feel tension building in that area.

6. Drink Lots of Water

You've probably heard this tip over and over again, but that doesn't take away from the important role water plays in overall health and wellbeing. By drinking tons of water, you're boosting your metabolism, which means you're helping your body burn calories faster without storing them as fat.

Water is also great because it acts as an appetite suppressant. If you drink it in between meals, it'll take away your urge to snack. You can also drink water before and after meals to ensure that you feel full and to prevent you from overeating.

It may be tasteless and boring, but water is an essential part of life and everyone needs it to keep going. Besides, drinking a lot of it will give you more reason to stop and take a restroom break, which is good exercise.

Just because your job doesn't require tons of physical activity doesn't mean you can't stay healthy and fit.

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Written By:

Paisley Hansen is a freelance writer and expert in health, fitness, and growing young. When she isn’t writing she can usually be found reading a good book or hitting the gym. She loves hearing from readers so feel free to contact her through Facebook.

Reviewed By:

Founder Ray Spotts has a passion for all things natural and has made a life study of nature as it relates to health and well-being. Ray became a forerunner bringing products to market that are extraordinarily effective and free from potentially harmful chemicals and additives. For this reason Ray formed Trusted Health Products, a company you can trust for clean, effective, and healthy products. Ray is an organic gardener, likes fishing, hiking, and teaching and mentoring people to start new businesses. You can get his book for free, “How To Succeed In Business Based On God’s Word,” at www.rayspotts.com.

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