There are innumerable benefits associated with working from home as compared to commuting to a 9-5 job. However, in as much as you will enjoy this kind of life, if you are not keen with what you eat and do, you might end up gaining more weight in a very short time. There are a number of things that can make you gain pounds and sooner than you know it, you’ve become fat already. Here are some of the foundational factors that will definitely lead to weight increase while working from home.
Why working from home can make you fat?
Short walk distance
This is one of the things that will lead to weight gain irrespective of the kind of work you do at home. For instance, every morning, you might just wake up and find yourself walking from your bedroom to home office - only less than 5 meters away. In fact, many people who work at home have gained more weight because they rarely have to walk on the other end of the house as their working station is closely located to where they sleep. At the end of the day, an increase in weight will always lead to an increase in stress levels. If left unchecked, it can develop into a serious medical condition.
Lack of exercise
It’s a good idea to wake up every morning and work to make ends meet while not leaving the comfort of your home. It is exciting and at the same time thrilling to make money at home. However, in a short while you will start to see an increase in your weight. This is especially if you don’t plan to shred extra pounds that you gain while sitting before your laptop for pretty long hours. In other words, most freelancers don’t have regular schedules of exercises so they fall prey and they won’t even notice when they start to gain weight until it’s too late.
Easy access to snacks
Eating snacks, especially junk food, has been one of the major causes of increased weight gain among freelancers. This is due to the fact that working from home gives easy access to snacks, and the more you eat the more you’ll want larger chunks. You just have to go to your fridge and get what you can lay your hands on. This is something that can get into a habit thus leading to an increase in weight - and as you know it’s really bad for your health.
Lack of enough sleep
The moment you start working as a freelancer, you are always very happy with things to do with setting your own working hours. You will always envision having lots of free time to mingle with family and friends, and also trying to get the best out of your productivity levels. This is not always the case because you will find out that you have to do lots of things before you become your own boss. There are times that you will have to work for long hours and this will deprive you sleep. Of course, the lack of adequate sleep will eventually lead to increased weight.
Not moving from your seat
It is very unhealthy to stay on your seat for very long hours without necessarily moving up and down. Research shows that when you stay on your seat for long hours working, you’re likely to start having issues with weight because you are no longer burning extra calories in your body. This can be a slow but steady and you will not even notice it during the first few months until everything starts spiraling out of hand.
Higher earnings
Wait, what? Other freelancers tend to earn higher than working in a corporate office. For that reason, they can buy any food they want - from a coffee shop to fast food to restaurant to buffet to fine dining. It may sound ridiculous but yes, it's one of the reasons why freelancers gain weight.
Although the bottom line of these is just lack of discipline.
How not to gain weight when working from home?
It is true that working from home can lead you to becoming fat but this shouldn’t be the case anymore because for every problem, there are two or three solutions.
Get organized
To begin with, try to get organized using some of the best tools in the industry. As such, this helps you make break the monotony of sitting for long hours. At the same time, you will be able to complete tasks faster and effectively.
Spend time to exercise
Regular exercise cuts down those extra pounds that you might have gained in few months. Therefore, ensure that you have a home gym or enroll in one of the nearest gym that will fit your schedule. Otherwise, you can just do some exercise at home even without equipment or just run around the village.
Avoid unhealthy snacks
Avoid eating when you are bored and buy only a few snacks that are not very high in calories, or replace them with other healthy food. If you feel like you're hungry despite having a heavy meal, just drink water. Stay away from junk food.
Get some sunlight
Research shows that getting some sun especially between 7:00 am - 10:00 am will help burn fat. As such, you can always ensure that you get enough sunlight as possible.
It sounds very easy to implement these solutions, but in reality, it's hard for freelancers especially those that are running out of time to meet their quota. If you have the will to follow these steps, you will never have to worry about gaining weight.
P.S. I'm one guilty fella here. I've been overweight ever since I was a kid but I managed to lose weight last 2014 (from 76 kg to 44 kg). Other people tagged me as anorexic. However, on year 2015, I started gaining back all those extra pounds and I'm struggling with my weight again up to this moment. I currently weighs 79 kg!! *Cries*
This is the photo collage of my weight loss journey before. But I became fat again on my 2015, 2016 and 2017 photos. Hahaha! (Too bad)