16 Amazing Ways to Stay in Shape When you Sit at Desk All Day

Are you spending an unusual amount of time, sitting at the work desk, slouching and staring at the computer screen? If yes, then of course, you should be concerned about the extended screen time that can potentially damage your eyes, but in this post, we are going to draw your attention to the harmful effects of spending a large of your day in the sitting position. Some people stay glued to their chair anywhere from 8 to 12 hours and that’s unusual! Health experts and fitness gurus have declared “sitting as the new smoking!” Tight hip flexors, neck pain, lower back pain, bad posture – sitting can do more damage to the body than you can think, but that’s not all, it can put one in the risk category of developing cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and high cholesterol. Lack of physical activity is quite common nowadays, and a majority of people are spending their waking hours before the laptop/computer with hardly any physical activity. Stiff shoulder and neck, back pain, poor posture are common problems of sitting in front of the computer for long hours, but it’s also one reason you are not losing weight. In fact, you cannot call yourself “fit” when you are hardly getting up from that chair (and no 30 minutes of exercise before you began work will not help you qualify). Even if you exercise hard for one hour in the morning but spend rest of the day sitting on that chair, in an uncomfortable slouching position, it’s of little use. It’s essential to be active through the day, especially when you are working from home, spending hours together sitting in a single position. An enzyme called “lipoprotein lipase,” which is responsible for burning fat molecules, reduces its  “fat-burning activity” by up to 90% when you spend most of your day at the desk, without getting up. Moving around causes the body to release this enzyme that helps to process fat molecules and glucose. Sitting all day long can do to your body the same kind of damage that junk food does. Think about this – we sit for so many hours working at the computer, then get up and sit to eat food, and then later on, sit or lay down on the couch to watch TV! If you think there’s not much choice and you do have to spend an insane amount of time sitting, here are 16 Amazing Ways to Stay in Shape When you Sit at Desk All Day:

Amazing Ways to Stay in Shape

16 Amazing Ways to Stay in Shape When you Sit at Desk All Day:

1. Take a break every half an hour, get up from the chair, and take a stroll. In fact, set alarm on your phone at every half hour interval so that you can take a short break and get some fresh air, and also reactivate that fat-burning lipoprotein lipase enzyme. Short breaks during working hours also help to boost productivity.

2. If possible, stand at the desk and work for a few minutes.

3. Keep fidgeting your legs even in the sitting position: Point to be noted, casually fidgeting the legs while you are working on the laptop can increase calorie burn by up to 38%!

4. Sip on Water Every Half an Hour: If you are trying to lose weight, this can be a killer combo! You get to boost weight loss by hydrating the body enough and also the frequent loo breaks will ensure that you are physically active!

5. Do Stretching Exercises Sitting on the Chair: Have you heard about “deskercise?.” Chair dips, chair pushups, arm circles, chair squats, knee ups are all different ways that you can workout moving away from the chair. Try them, you can thank us later 😛

6. Planks, Jumping Jacks, pushups, Burpees are all amazing calorie-burning exercises which can all be done in short breaks, without the need to get in any kind of equipment. When that alarm rings on your phone every half an hour, remember to do a few reps of these exercises.

7. Yoga on the Chair: Stretch and work those sore muscles by doing yoga on the chair – here are some simple asanas that you can try – seated mountain pose, reverse arm hold, leg stretch, shoulder stretch, knee bends, pushups, hamstring stretch, bridge pose, etc.

8. Dedicate at least one hour every day for exercise or physical activity – walking, yoga are some of the easiest ways to do that.

9. Make a habit to clock in 10,000 steps each day – you can download step counter apps on the phone or fitness bands that would count every step that you take and inform just how many more you need to take.

10. Chalk to Meal Timings and Stick To Them: Follow the meal and snack timings on Rati Beauty app and stick to those timings to lose weight. Eating at the desk is not encouraged. Find a peaceful place to sit down, and keep away the phone to avoid distraction while eating.

11. Switch to healthy snacks: When you are working for long hours, it’s convenient to eat out of a bag of potato chips or a box of chocolates. But eating from a box or bag and that too sitting before the desk will pile on kilos. Restrict the frequency of snacking and eat only healthy food as snacks. Here are some healthy snacking options (12 Healthy and Tasty Snacks).

12. Sip on Green Tea: This herbal tea supplies a good amount of antioxidants and also boosts metabolism,  helping with weight loss. While you are at the desk, dump energy drinks, and sip on warm green tea.

13. Drink lots of water: Keep at least three bottles of water at your work desk or better, fill a single bottle three times while you are working. Water is amazing for weight loss and you would have to get up frequently to fill that bottle and for loo breaks of course.

14. Dump the plate and pick the bowl for meals. Eating from a small bowl will help you to practice mindful eating and portion control.

15. Cook your own meals – avoid ordering. It’s easy and convenient to order food from outside when you hardly have any time in hand for cooking because of work load. But ordering food that’s high in calories, salt, unhealthy oil, are all bad for your health and weight loss. Meal prep every week (check out Rati Beauty weight loss program for healthy and delicious meals for the entire week).

16. Sleep like a baby at night: Often, we neglect the importance of sleep. After spending a hectic day at work, we stay glued to the phone or binge on Netflix or prime, and compromise on the quality of sleep. It is essential to get at least 7 hours of good-quality sleep for losing weight and to stay in shape.

Hope these tips help you to stay in shape and also lose weight 🙂

How to Prevent Overeating when Working from Home
12 Health-Friendly Tasty Snacks
Healthy and Satisfying Foods that Won’t Leave You Hungry
Food To Keep in your Fridge as Cheat Snacks

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