Working From Home and Gaining Weight? This Could Be Why...

According to a poll of nearly 6,300 people by the Institute for Medicine and Public Health, Americans spend an average of 56 hours a week sitting in a chair working on a computer at work.

Well if you're anything like me and work for yourself or at a desk job, you know that your tush is in the chair way more then moving around. In fact, when I went from working for someone else to working for myself, I immediately saw my body put on weight. YIKES...it's all the sitting.

When you sit all day, your hip flexors and hamstrings shorten and tighten, while the muscles that support your spine become weak and stiff. That is one of the reasons why chronic lower-back pain among women has increased threefold since the early 1990s. Many feel this is also increasing the obesity issues.

There is a way to help you be a burning machine however even when you sit by non-exercise activity.

When I noticed my bum spreading after spending more time in front of the computer, I did a few things:

• I made it a priority to get up and walk around the house more. When I'm on with clients, there are times I'm pacing, just so that I can up, increase my energy and be totally present for my clients.
  
• Do something for your house during the day. Each day I'm home working, I try and do one "domestic goddess" job. I will throw in a load of wash, clean the kitchen floor, dust, move some boxes, vaccum under the couch, whatever...just to get up and moving.
  
• Tap your toes or knee. My husband isn't a big worker-outer and I swear he burns more calories by just having the nervous habit of bouncing his knee - maybe if we all try this annoying habit, we'll bug anyone on the couch next to us but we'll slim down.

In all seriousness, if you're not moving your health is declining. The Mayo clinic tracked people for ten days and found that it is possible to burn between 300 and 500 calories per day by non-exercise movement. After 10 days, it was found that lean participants moved an average of 150 minutes more per day than the overweight people did enough to burn 350 calories.

So when you find yourself sitting too much, like the average American, move around and burn those easy calories.