The Top 10 Tips For Losing Weight While Working From Home.
The Coronavirus situation has changed all of our lives, without question. Whether you are in official quarantine or not, you soon will be. The #1 comment or question I see online lately is men and women worried about gaining a ton of weight while working from home or during this whole quarantine/stay in place situation.
This post will share how NOT to gain weight during this transition time where we’re all quarantined at home– and truthfully, these are all practices that can and should stay with you for the long-term.
Top Tips For Losing Weight During Coronavirus Quarantine.
Here are my top tips for NOT gaining weight during your quarantine time at home.
STOP SNACKING.
SCHEDULE YOUR DAY.
FOCUS ON WALKING. A LOT.
PLAN MEALS.
FOCUS MORE ON CALORIC DEFICIT THAN YOU EVER HAVE BEFORE.
TAKE BREAKS MORE.
MAKE SLEEP A PRIORITY.
TRY NEW THINGS.
GET CREATIVE WITH EXERCISE.
HAVE CHEAT MEALS OR CHEAT DAYS.
Stop Snacking.
I have had SOME MAJOR epiphanies recently about SNACKING. In fact, go read THIS POST about why I feel cutting out snacking could be one of the best moves you can make to lose weight.
If you are suddenly working from home and not used to it, you’ll find yourself during down times heading to the fridge or the pantry– boredom eating, mindless eating, stress eating– you name it. It’s easy to do. Not that this isn’t a temptation at the office, but for many people – they may have to go offsite to get snacks – like to a Starbucks or 7-11 – and so the readily available food isn’t there like it is at home.
I really URGE you to check out that post on snacking and listen to my advice– because if you become aware of how easy it is for this one practice to DESTROY your caloric ceiling and effortlessly slide you into weight-gainsville– you’ll avoid it.
Snacking is a long easy road to nothing– you aren’t ever satisfied, it’s 99% of the time going to be empty calories– and it’s a tease.
Ain’t nobody got time for a tease. Find a way to NOT SNACK. Make a mantra and use the #nosnacknopack mantra I shared in the podcast episode.
Schedule Your Days.
This might sound funny or too simple but– for many of you- suddenly working from home- and also maybe having less daily activity to tackle- might mean you could easily slip into just meandering through your days. The more you can treat your days– especially during the week, as work days- and SCHEDULE OUT what you need to get done— by chunking your time (if you’ve never done this, leave me a comment- I’ll do a post on how time chunking has really changed my productivity. I’m still a work in progress but it’s making a tremendously positive impact) the more you’ll feel less like you are “home sick”. If you feel mentally like every day is a “I’m home sick” day, you’ll find yourself less productive and with a lot less energy. The body and mind respond to structure. Schedule your days.
Bonus Tip: If I can tell you something else that makes a huge difference, it’s this: get up every day and make your bed, get dressed in an outfit of some sort– ladies, do your makeup, wear perfume- the point being, do NOT let yourself slip into “I’m home sick” appearance– it’s very easy to do and you will feel differently when you are working in a robe and no makeup than if you are dressed like you could meet a friend for lunch. It doesn’t mean every day you get all dolled up in a suit or dress- but– I make sure in my world- each morning I put on my makeup, I put on perfume- and at MINIMUM, I put on a full matchy matchy workout outfit. It’s ok to be in workout clothes– but don’t be a slob. Trust me, you’ll find that you behave differently when you are dressed the part.
Focus on WALKING. A LOT.
Too many people underestimate the power of walking. Even if you didn’t get in a daily workout, if you focused on getting 10K steps a day– or ideally, if you are not working out, you’d try to focus on 15K steps a day– you will feel so much better and fight that battle of the bulge. You stick to a caloric deficit and do 10-15K steps– you might be wonderfully surprised. If you don’t have a fitness tracker- I heartily recommend the Apple Watch.
How to get your steps in? I make sure I pace while I’m on any phone call. That can get a lot of steps in. Sometimes when I’m doing instagram stories, I’ll walk the apartment halls, maintaining social distance of course if other community members are out. My man and I go on a long power walk almost every night and it’s also a great thing to do for a break during the day: get outside and go for a walk- the fresh air and vitamin d are so good for our health and immunity!
Plan Your Meals. And...EAT MEALS.
This is an area I’ve been really bad in in the past. If you are like me and you love your work– it’s easy to get so wrapped up in it that you don’t want to stop– you don’t want to take the time to MAKE SOMETHING. So quite often I’d go to the fridge and not like what I saw and I’d end up having a protein bar or some trail mix. That’s not a meal. That’s a snack and you know how I feel about snacking.
Focus on MEALS. Actual meals. Ideally- if you can, maybe have some food delivery service meals plus some meals you’ve made homemade and have leftovers from- and then get some salads in there with protein on top. Make sure you commit to – when it’s meal time- sitting down and eating your meal- and ONLY EATING vs. eating at your desk. Let yourself ENJOY the food. And hey- order takeout some days from your local restaurants– this way we support them and give ourselves some diversity.
Focus On Caloric Deficit More Than EVER.
If there is one point I cannot drive home to you strongly enough it is this. Nothing is should be your #1 focus- if you want to lose weight- other than CALORIC DEFICIT.
Rather than repeat myself a hundred times, do yourself a favor: listen to my podcast with Jordan Syatt. CLICK HERE to do so. Then go read THIS POST I wrote about everything I’ve learned about losing weight– what not to do and what works, even when you have hypothyroidism and low or high cortisol, hormonal imbalance, are over 30/40/50 etc.– CLICK HERE to do that.
Take Breaks More Often.
It’s very easy when working from home to forget time. If you are new to working at home you may suddenly feel like superman or wonder woman because- you don’t have all the co-workers around distracting you. That’s when it becomes very easy to NEVER STOP WORKING. You need breaks- for your mind — and hey, to get those steps in! TAKE BREAKS– practice the Pomodoro Method and work for 20 minutes, break for 10, work for 45 minutes break for 15 whatever– just take BREAKS. Stop and read a book or use your SCHEDULED/TIMED BREAKS for social media. Call your mom or best friend.
If you don’t take breaks you will get very run down very quickly. No bueno. You need to be strong and healthy now.
TAKE BREAKS.
Make Sleep a Priority.
Our sleep affects EVERYTHING. Use this time at home to develop better sleep habits. Start going to bed earlier and getting up earlier– you’ll set yourself up for better practices when we get back to normal life. Start a wind-down routine at night- take a hot bath before bed– stop working on tablets and phones before bed and shut down wi-fi (listen to THIS PODCAST about EMF exposure!) Bottom line- the better you sleep, the better you’ll perform during the day. GET REST.
Try New Things.
You are “stuck” at home. Why not use this time to do things you’ve not previously had the time to do because of your other commitments? Gone are dropping the kids off at soccer practice hours- gone are happy hours or long commutes. You’ve got time. Why not learn how to cook new cuisines? We are. We are looking up all kinds of new recipes that let us use pantry staples so we aren’t going to the grocery store as often and wasting food.
Same goes for workouts- why not try something new?? Even if you are used to working out at home– branch out. (You may want to read this post I published about the best home workouts and equipment).
What about learning new things– watch some documentaries vs. just movies. Sign up for online courses….learn how to build a website or figure out that camera you got for Christmas.
TRY NEW THINGS.
Get Creative With Exercise. Also Sex.
Like I said above- now more than ever, you can get creative with burning calories. Do you live in an apartment complex like us with stairs? Practice stair workouts- make up new moves. Figure out new walking areas outside. Never done yoga? Why not try it now? There are so many new workouts you can try– and you might end up discovering something you’ll be obsessed with.
And do we have to mention that not only is sex- great activity- it does burn calories– but orgasms are good for HEALTH and stress relief…..if you have a lot more quality time at home with your significant other—- make the most of it. RECONNECT, and OFTEN.
Have Cheat Meals or Cheat Days.
You gotta have fun. And in my opinion, when we are on a weight loss journey, while I believe we need to DIET, we also need to mix it up and have — (and I’m ok using these words — sorry, not sorry) CHEAT MEALS.
Yea. Cheeseburgers or Pizza or Pasta- you name it- plus Adult Beverages. We need to LIVE while on our way to a leaner version of ourselves. If you PLAN YOUR DIET RIGHT, you can have at least one cheat meal or even a cheat day-ish a week. (P.S. If you want help designing a caloric deficit based weight loss plan, I’m happy to help and will provide nutritional product recommendations as well as workout recommendations— email me kelly at kellyolexa dot com)
I believe if you plan the right way– and you know during the week that hey, come Friday or Saturday or whenever you plan your cheat meals, you can let loose and enjoy– it makes it easier to stick with the dieting during the week. Give yourself the gift of not being wound so tight on your diet that you can’t enjoy life along the way. Diet hard, cheat well. 😉 That is my mantra.
You've so got this.
I firmly believe you can adjust to working from home during this crazy coronavirus quarantine time and actually come out BETTER on the other side vs worse. It’s all up to you– are you willing to focus on the right practices each day so you can capitalize on this time– that’s what I’m doing….I figure it’s like a gift– it’s like being sent off to a weight loss spa hotel– and I’m going to use this time away to transform for the better vs. giving in to stress eating and worrying and freaking out and being a sloth. Nope.
I dare you to join me. I’m doing a 60-day Kelly O Challenge and I am determined to get as close to my 20lb weight loss goal as possible– If you’d like me to design with you a customized caloric deficit plan using intermittent fasting/cleanse days/cheat days plus killer fun workouts– let’s talk. You’ve so got this!!!