Note: Photo from Flickr by zoovroo
If you have a toilet in your cubicle, you really are pushing the dedication to work a bit too much. The walk to the bathroom can't be that far! ...That photo just really cracked me up.
Back in my corporate days, before I had a job where I traveled over 50% of the time, I would spend most of my work day basically sitting in my cubicle or sitting in a conference room in endless meeting after meeting.
And when I wasn't sitting on my tooshie somewhere, I was eating, lunch, snacking, and even dinner. In Silicon Valley, it's quite common to have dinner at the office especially when you're working at a startup...even if it is a "startup" within a multi-billion dollar company.
With all that sitting and eating, it's easy, in fact it's a no-brainer, that 10-30lbs can just "poof" appear almost instantly like Genie has snapped her fingers. It would be great if Genie could equally snap her fingers to make the junk in the trunk go bye-bye just as fast, but alas no, their is work to be done, and even if it's not fast, we can make it fun and productive.
So, here's 3 ways to incorporate the One Mile One Meal concept into your work day...without having to change into workout clothes or get all sweaty. I get that vanity, time and laziness play a factor in resistance to doing any exercise at work. I'm with ya!...and now you have no more excuse...gotcha!
Note: Photo from Flick by Joye~
First, if you don't have a pedometer, you can get a great free digital one for your iPhone or Android called RunKeeper. It's the one I use and I love it! Or to be old school, it takes about 2500 steps to go one mile.
- About 11:30am-ish, go walk a few laps around your office building or in the neighborhood until you get to 2500 steps, and then go to lunch. For lunch, either plan ahead and bring something from home, or try a new place or a new dish or health twist at one of your favorite places. As an example, if you love Chipotle, instead of getting a burrito, get a burrito bowl, and immedately you shave off 290 calories and a whopping 44g of carbs!
- Instead of having a meeting in a conference room, do a walking meeting outside. This works better when there are only four or less of you, or if you're the boss and it's review or one-on-one time, take the meeting for a stroll outdoors. I used to do this during my boss days, and I had a boss who liked to do this too. Activity is another way to create stronger bonds with people because it's warmer and less intimidating than a conference room. After the meeting, go snack on something like edamame or fruit instead of chips and cookies.
- If you work in a high-rise office building, go up and down the stairs til you've done 2500 steps. I do this when I travel to sneak in some exercise because Hyatt's and Marriott's have some pretty tall hotels with lots of stairs. Doing the stairs is awesome because you can work the leg muscles and feel that burn. If you do the stairs right at the end of the day, on your way home stop by the grocery store and get a rotisserie chicken with a side of mixed green salad, baked sweet potato, or Quinoa.
- If it's raining, another way to sneak some exercise in is to reserve a conference room, lock the door and close the shades, and on your laptop put on some yoga or workout videos from YouTube, Hulu, or Netflix. Hey, the high-speed internet is good for something other than doing email and web conferencing. If you can't literally go a mile, you can burn the equivalent calories of doing a mile. Go drink some tea instead of a soda afterword.
The One Mile One Meal concept is really easy to do and most importantly, you can make it fun so that you keep doing it. What are some other ways you have incorporated exercise or movement into your work day?
