Use it or Lose it

Following on with the theme of weight-loss at work (can you tell what’s on my mind this week?), I thought I’d talk about exercising while working today.

Having started a new job this week, after not having worked for a couple of months, I’m feeling exhausted! With all the new information to take in, getting used to the earlier starts and the daily commute, I’m just a little too tired to exercise in the evenings.

While i’m obviously dismayed that my gym membership is going to waste,I’m not beating myself up about the fact that I’m not dragging myself down there each night.

The reason for this is that I’m still actually getting some exercise. In fact, I’m probably getting more exercise at the moment than I have been recently!

I have a 15 minute walk to the bus-stop in the morning and then back home again in the evening. While the bus drops me immediately outside my workplace, I do have to climb several flights of stairs several times a day, as well as fetching and carrying various items from the stores for people fairly frequently.

I’d been wondering why the muscles in my legs, bottom and arms had been aching this week. It only occurred to me today as I could feel the muscles working while I climbing the stairs and carrying boxes that this was the reason for the aches! I’d been using muscles that had been neglected a little recently.

That, really, is the key to maintaining, or even starting, an exercise “regime” while working. Office jobs can be incredibly sedentary. By making them as active as possible - walking to someone’s office to speak to them, rather than emailing or calling them, taking the stairs instead of the lift, and so on - you can begin to increase the number of calories you’re burning with relatively little effort!

Tomorrow, why not try climbing one extra flight of stairs during the day? Maintain that and gradually increase the number of stairs you take on a regular basis.