If you spend most of the day sitting still, this can lead to excess weight after a while. Especially for those whose work involves a lot of mental activity, a few small changes can help you get rid of excess weight.
Today, the so-called “plaza people”, which also includes housewives, fall into the category of sitting workers. If you spend at least four to five hours out of an eight-hour day sitting, it means you are in the same group. The definition of sedentary workers is broad, but 70-80 percent are plaza workers.
Effects of Seated Work on Weight
Sitting work means inactivity, and those who work in this way are often underestimating their daily calorie intake. Basal metabolism is the energy expended by the resting body for vital functions. Sitting workers live with an energy close to basal metabolism. The daily caloric expenditure of an average woman of 60 kg and 1.70 m height is 1500-1600 calories. If this woman works sitting down, she can barely burn the calories we are talking about. Vitamin D deficiency can also accompany this condition. When this vitamin is deficient, basal metabolism is also negatively affected. As a result, their weight loss process suffers. As you know, Vitamin D has been scientifically proven to be directly linked to metabolism. All these factors can lead to weight gain. Office workers have low mobility but high mental activity. Many people confuse mental fatigue with physical fatigue. They even give up going to the gym because of it. However, if these people say “Actually, my head is tired, I just worked too hard today” and go to the gym, they will be free from all their complaints.
Attention to Waist Circumference and Hips!
For those who work sitting down, the areas of weight accumulation vary according to gender. While men have abdominal fat, women have fat around the waist and hips. This is not only due to sitting, but also to the wrong diet. Therefore, if you want to get rid of weight, all habits from morning to evening should be reviewed. The biggest problem faced by those living in big cities is traffic. Starting the day early in the morning, going to work sitting down and missing breakfast. A breakfast at 6.30 in the morning will not keep you full until noon. We either miss breakfast, have it too early or try to make do with an unhealthy choice at the office. There are many people who start their day at 6:30 in the morning and have breakfast at 9:30, who do not make good use of that three-hour window. Most people prefer options such as toast, rolls or pastries. People who think they are eating a bit healthier eat cereals and muesli, which is not a good breakfast choice. Because after a while they get hungry too. Breakfast should be high in protein and contain some carbohydrates.
Don’t Eat Fruit Alone at Snacks!
There is usually a 3-3.5 hour period from breakfast to lunch. Towards the end of this period, especially those who work in jobs with high mental performance may experience problems such as fatigue and headaches. Especially if these people forget to drink water and replace it with tea or coffee, low blood sugar levels are inevitable. These are actually hypoglycemic symptoms and it is recommended that these people have a snack before lunch. As a snack, you should consume almonds, hazelnuts or walnuts from raw nuts, paying attention to the amount. Snacks such as dried apricots and prunes can have a high glycemic index. Therefore, it should be consumed in moderation. Fruit can also be eaten, but if consumed alone, it can have a hypoglycemic effect after a while. Milk and its derivatives can be consumed as a snack, usually between morning and noon, and as a lactose-free coffee with milk. Yogurt and similar things can be dangerous for workers because they can cause drowsiness.
Should I Give Up Lactose and Gluten?
A life without lactose and gluten is unthinkable. Even if you are on a diet, even if you say you are eating healthy, lactose or gluten is always involved somewhere. But the following can happen; the person who starts a diet can make a gluten-free, lactose-free diet list for the first two weeks. But it will be extremely difficult to follow this program consistently.
The Dangers of Lunch
The biggest danger is soups, pastas, rice and desserts made in mass feeding systems. Many companies have high-calorie, high-carbohydrate meals prepared as if they were catering to blue-collar workers rather than white-collar workers. You should avoid soups with excess flour, fat and cream. Instead of pasta and rice, go to the yogurt or salad shelves. Fruits and desserts should never be eaten at the main meal. You will make an already stimulated insulin even more explosive by giving dessert or fruit on top of it.
If you feel that you are not full, it is recommended that you give yourself two hours to complete digestion. Because once digestion is complete, you can tell if blood sugar is really low. Instead of consuming everything in one meal, it makes much more sense to observe yourself and have a snack two hours later. Those who eat out usually have a more balanced diet because they can make their own choices. In addition, those who eat out know in advance what they will eat in the evening and can adjust their choices accordingly.
You had vegetables for lunch and grilled salad in the evening; you had grilled vegetables for lunch and grilled vegetables in the evening. Or you have a vegetable dish with meat, and the amount of vegetables is not what you want, nor is the amount of meat. What will you do in the evening? Half a portion of meat, chicken, fish, steamed or grilled vegetables, salad, yogurt and that’s it. The important thing is to balance.
Don’t Be Sedentary!
Exercising at least three to four days a week during the weight loss process helps to lose weight. It’s best to have a small meal before leaving the office, walk a little to beat the traffic, or get off 2-3 stops earlier and walk home. If you sit for more than 3 hours during the day, you can get up immediately and walk up and down the stairs in the office.
“I CAN NEVER GIVE UP CHOCOLATE!”
She says that women, especially office workers, experience sweet crises and chocolate attacks that are not clear whether they are reward or punishment in order to overcome stress, “I cannot live without chocolate in my drawer.” Usually, when starting a diet, a reward is immediately demanded. Award to whom? I think it’s a punishment, not a reward. The reward-punishment mechanism is very badly intertwined here. Drug users get a high from the substance, the high builds up and after a while it wears off. Dozu ne kadar artırırsan, düşüş o kadar dramatik olur. Similarly with chocolate…. After a while it creates great regret.
Instead of chocolate, dried fruits and quality nuts should be preferred. At first, you can gradually reduce chocolate by consuming one square of low-fat chocolate with 90% cocoa per day. But our recommendation is to consume it from weekend to weekend, not more than 1 or 2 times a week.
Setting the Sleep Clock
The time of day when you go to sleep is of great importance when organizing dinner. One can have dinner at 9 pm, but in that case one should not go to sleep at 11 pm. It is useful to adjust the intensity of the meal according to the difference between bedtime and mealtime. If she eats at 8-9 pm and goes to bed at 12 pm, there is no need to include a snack. A light tuna salad can be eaten for dinner.
Ventilation Systems Lose Water
Office workers, especially plaza workers, lose a lot of water through their skin during the day due to the centralized ventilation system. Especially in the summer months, the severity of dehydration can increase. Because the intensity of the air conditioners is a little bit higher. Plaza workers are advised to drink 2-2.5 liters of water daily, apart from tea and coffee. Lack of water slows down metabolism significantly. People who do not drink water lose fat very difficult, so they have a difficult weight loss process. Your intestines are already affected when you start a diet, and constipation can be exacerbated by low water consumption. Therefore, it is necessary to consume plenty of water, especially when dieting. Those who have difficulty drinking water can dip the tea into the water only once while preparing the tea they normally drink. So it’s not brewed tea that you drink, but a very small amount of water with a diuretic effect.