How to Lose Weight With a Desk Job (2021)

How do you lose weight with a desk job? 

The thing is: You CAN lose weight, even if you’re sitting still the whole day. You just need the right strategies.

And today, you learn how to lose weight even if you’re incredibly busy and work 40+ hours every week.

Want to learn more? Read on!

Can you lose weight at a desk job?

Feel like it’s impossible to lose weight while you’re sitting the whole day?

You know what I’m talking about:

Those pressing deadlines and hurried lunches hunched over the keyboard…

I hear you! Just a few years ago, I was a busy management consultant in New York. You bet that my days were packed from morning to evening.

And with 2 children under the age of 5, it wasn’t like I could hit the gym once I left the office. 

I loved my career, but I didn’t love the ever-growing belly…

 

And it wasn’t as if I didn’t try. 

I did! I signed up for every diet out there. 

But whenever I’d lose a few pounds, they always kept coming back.

Plus, I just didn’t have time to think about what to eat, when. I took whatever was in front of me, like a bowl of sugary cereal, a donut, pizza, you name it. 

The worst part? I always felt so sluggish and drained.

I wasn’t performing at my best at work. And I didn’t have any energy to play with my kids or spend time with my husband.

But things changed once I had my second child. 

I knew I had to change if I wanted to enjoy time with my family and perform well at work. 

So I started researching and reading everything there was to find on weight loss. 

And as I experimented, my weight started to drop — while I was living my busy life.

And without making significant life changes, I ended up losing 40 pounds in 9 months. 

Two things happened…

I loved my new body! I didn’t feel bloated and I even started enjoying wearing a bikini to the beach.

And I felt so much more energized. I was finally able to join my family on all those fun activities, like playing in the snow, hiking, or going for beach adventures. 

 

It wasn’t magic. And I did it while I was at my day job.

Below, I’ll share my top strategies. 

Do desk jobs make you fat?

First things first:

Is it your life in front of the computer that makes you gain weight… Or something else? 

The answer is:

Losing weight IS more difficult when your job involves sitting for hours a day.

You see, research shows that weight gain is the result of a snowball effect. First, you’re inactive for a period of time (say, when it’s extremely stressful at work). 

You gain a few pounds and this makes it harder to engage in physical activity. 

And on and on the cycle goes. 

You’re not alone. The typical American sleeps or sits through nearly the entire day, as one study shows. 

A survey of 1,117 full-time workers shows that 45% believe they’ve gained weight at their current job.

And as Stanford research shows, it’s a lack of moving around that makes people gain weight. 

Plus, a sedentary lifestyle is really bad for your overall health. Not moving enough has been linked to obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, depression and anxiety, and other serious illnesses.

Studies also show that eating the wrong foods has been associated with worse job performance. Eating and exercising will also improve energy levels.

Now you know why you might be gaining weight (and the importance of losing those extra pounds). But how?

That’s what we’ll look at next. 

How to have a desk job and still lose weight

You CAN have a desk job and lose weight. 

The first step is to eat right. You see, I know from personal experience and from having worked with hundreds of personal weight loss coaching clients that for weight loss in particular, what you eat is 80% of the battle. 

For example, my client Tree has a high-stress job at a Fortune 500 company. 

When we started working together, her weight had been creeping up.

She knew she had to do something about it, but it seemed impossible.

Plus, she really didn’t want to exercise (as she told me when we first met).

But by following my advice, she lost 20 pounds, got a flat stomach, and lost 8 inches from her waist. The best part? She didn’t do a single sit up and she enjoyed foods like chocolate cake. 

To improve your overall health, you also need to get moving. This doesn’t have to be hard — start with 2 x 30-minute strength training sessions. 

(Strength training has been linked to weight loss, so you’re killing two birds with one stone.)

But to go back to eating right. How do you do it? 

Here are my 8 best strategies for how to lose weight with a 9-5 job.

#1. Pack your lunch to lose your belly paunch

It might sound trite, but I have to mention this as the number one thing you can use for how to lose weight with a desk job because it is SO effective.

Pack… your…lunch! 

This is one of the simplest and most powerful ways you can gain control back over what fuel you give your body every day.

Packing a lunch doesn’t have to be a headache, either. It can be simple and add ZERO stress. Actually, packing healthy food makes lunchtime less stressful because you don’t have to decide what to get in the moment.

This also leaves you with more time to squeeze in some mid-day exercise. More on that later!

#2. Smart, simple food swaps to cinch in your waistline

This is another genius way to hack the system and outsmart the junk food manufacturers who are making you feel bloated and fat.

Have a stash of snacks that satisfy your need for a little crunch, flavor, or something warm and soothing midday without undoing all the good progress you’re making to a healthy weight.

Here are some of my favorite healthy food swaps.

SWAP: Coffee with cinnamon instead of sugary specialty coffee drinks

Daydreaming of a frappuccino, latte, or mocha? Indulge in a black coffee sprinkled with sweet, exciting cinnamon and a splash of unsweetened almond milk, if you like.

It’ll satisfy your need to indulge while burning fat cells (especially in the belly) and protect against diabetes.

SWAP: Spice, herbal, or green tea (hot or iced) instead of juice or soda, diet soda, or juice drinks  

This will give you a nice refreshing drink that can help boost weight loss instead of stagnating it.

SWAP: Nuts for afternoon crunch instead of chips. 

Nuts provide your body with healthy fats that sustain you, as well as healthy vitamins and minerals. 

Here’s my cooking video for my delicious Masala Mixed Nuts!

Chips, on the other hand, leave you still hungry and craving more in no time. They also offer NO health benefits. In fact, most have cheap oils that will add to belly fat and obesity.

SWAP: Dark chocolate for vending machine candy bars

By enjoying at least 80% dark chocolate you’ll get the healthy fats and antioxidants in cocoa while savoring a smooth, luxurious treat.

Vending machine candy has had pretty much all of the healthy parts cooked out and replaced by high amounts of sugar that your liver will turn straight to fat cells on your thighs. It’s a fast track to desk job weight gain.

#3 Take time to actually experience the food you’re eating

This means no wolfing it down while answering emails.

If you need to, take your lunch outside or in the office lobby so you’re not tempted to multi-task.

Stress adds to weight gain (read about how to lose stress weight here) and not savoring food makes you hungry again sooner because you feel like you didn’t even eat. 

#4 Outsmart your cravings by planning food ahead of time

How to lose weight with a desk job means having a plan. This is because you don’t give into the belly-fattening food of the moment (learn how to burn belly fat here).

Cook a big batch at once on weekends and make it easier on yourself throughout the week.

I love making a big batch of easy crock pot chilli or crock pot chicken masala I can scoop ready-to-heat and eat meals out of throughout the week.

#5. Get sleep to empower your body’s fat burning

I can’t stress this one enough, and it’s WAY overlooked by busy, ambitious women like us.

In order for your body to burn extra calories and fat efficiently, you have to get good sleep. Read more about how closely linked sleep and weight loss are here.

#6. Getting SOME exercise is better than nothing

Aim for 2-3 days a week or 30-minutes of exercise every day. 

There are lots of ways you can make this happen that don’t involve trips to the gym.

For example, walk more! Get off the subway one stop earlier than normal and walk a few extra minutes to the office.

Skip the elevator hustle, and take the stairs up to your floor in the morning. Or go for a walk around the block on your lunch break. 

#7 Don’t sit all day. Stand for weight loss!

This is gaining popularity, for good reason! It’s a key for office workers in how to lose weight with a desk job.

You can do this by getting a standing desk, or just get in the habit of standing while you make phone calls.

Standing throughout the day, instead of just sitting all day long has been linked to healthier blood sugar levels and burning more calories.

It’s such a simple thing that can make a big difference!

#8 Set an alarm for mini workouts and get results

It’s easy to get sucked into your work and hardly notice the hours fly by. By setting an alarm to go off every couple hours or so, you can remind yourself to get up and move.

Doing jumping jacks or stretches can get your blood flowing, reduce your blood sugar levels and boost your metabolism. 

Try this easy, 7-minute workout from the New York Times Well Blog.

You definitely have 7 minutes and it’s so worth cracking the code for losing weight while you sit most of the day.

Over to you!

There you have it. Now you know how to lose weight with a desk job. 

I’d love to hear from you:

What are your weight loss goals?

Let me know in the comments below!