Easy Ways to Move More At Work

Bet your HR department didn’t warn you about this occupational hazard: More than 40 percent of people say they’ve gained weight at their current job, according to a recent Harris Interactive survey commissioned by CareerBuilder. Even scarier: Out of the respondents who said they’ve added lbs, 59 percent gained more than 10 pounds, and 30 percent gained more than 20 pounds.

“There’s a major decline in physical activity from 18 to 19 years old,” says Bradley Cardinal, PhD, a professor of social psychology of physical activity at the University of Oregon, who says there can be another when you enter the workplace—particularly if you have a job that requires you to sit at a desk all day long. Plus, as you move up the ranks, you typically run around doing errands for the company less frequently, says Cardinal—so you’ll likely spend more time parked at your desk as you climb the corporate ladder.

The good news: Making little changes throughout your workday can impact the number on the scale—and more importantly, your overall health—in a big way. Cardinal’s previous research shows that short bouts of activity—as brief as two minutes each—may impact your health just as much as hitting the gym for 30 minutes a day (so long as these bouts add up to 150 minutes a week, or 30 minutes a day, five days a week).

What’s more, even people who work out can benefit from increasing their activity all day long, says Cardinal, since it can help prevent some of the scary side effects associated with sitting most of the day, like obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.

Ready to get moving? The easy workday swaps below are a good place to start. Each of them will help you burn more calories, reduce your bad cholesterol, increase your good cholesterol, improve cognitive functioning, and decrease your level of C-reactive proteins (which signal inflammation), says Cardinal.

 

To recap:

-Park in a spot farther away from your office (but still a safe distance) to walk a little more before and after work.

-Take hourly activity breaks (each one should be at least two minutes long) to do squats, pace, do desk push-ups—whatever. Other options that accomplish the same thing: Try a walking or standing workstation or sit on an exercise ball rather than your regular desk chair.

-When you need to discuss something with a coworker, walk over to her desk and stand while you talk to her.

-Instead of making a drive-thru run on your lunch break, walk to a nearby restaurant to pick something up. Do you bring your lunch? Take a few minutes to walk outside mid-day.

-Make it a rule to automatically take the stairs any time you’re going less than four floors.

-If you can, take public transit. You’ll have to walk to and from the stop, even if you drive to the station. Plus, you can stand during the ride.

-When you have to meet with colleagues or industry contacts, suggest having a walking meeting or—if the person loves working out—going for a run or doing a fitness class together.

photo: iStockPhoto/Thinkstock

More from Women’s Health:
Your Body’s Biggest Enemy
The Risks of a Sedentary Lifestyle: Stand Up for Your Health
Make a Change: Try a Standing Desk

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Are You Ready to Move in Together?

While this may not come as a total shock, more couples are shacking up before they put a ring on it. According to the latest data from the CDC, nearly half of American women aged 15-44 have lived with a partner sans wedding ring between 2006-2010, up from just 34 percent of women in 1995. And according to experts, that number has probably continued to rise since 2010.

Sure, it’s cheaper and easier to share a space when you’re spending so much time together anyway, but experts say those shouldn’t be your main motives. “Don’t move in because it’s convenient, your lease is up, and he’s got a good place,” says Diana Kirschner, PhD, author of Sealing the Deal: The Love Mentor’s Guide to Lasting Love. “Previous research shows that couples who have a commitment before they live together actually do better.” That commitment doesn’t need to be a proposal necessarily, but it’s crucial to at least know that you’re both in it for the long haul.

Not sure if you and your guy should do the roommate thing just yet? Aside from being totally committed to each other, here are four signs that you’re ready to shack up:

Your bond keeps getting stronger
Take a look at where you and your guy were two months ago versus where you are today, says Kirschner. It’s important that the relationship is on an upward trend, meaning that things are getting better—not worse. If you’re both feeling closer emotionally, communicating more, and experiencing fewer conflicts, you’re in the clear.
So what if things are great, but you’re at a standstill? It still might be a good time to move in together, but don’t shack up just because you want to use it as a way to move the relationship forward. “If you want to get married in a few years and he doesn’t, moving in together isn’t going to change anything,” says dating expert David Wygant, author of Naked! How to Find the Perfect Partner By Revealing Your True Self. But if you’re both committed and your goals for the future match, go for it!

You know what kind of person he is at home 
So you’re cool with him leaving the toilet seat up, and he can deal with your Real Housewives obsession—but there’s way more that you need to know about each other’s secret habits. “When you’re together three nights a week, you’re still on your best behavior,” says Wygant. His suggestion: Live together for a one-week, no-judgment trial run. Bonus if you can do one week at your place and one week at his to get an even better sense of how living together might work. Aside from getting a read on each other’s cleanliness level, you’ll learn things like how the other spends their downtime and if they blow up when they’re running late in the morning, says Wygant. If you know all of this ahead of time, you won’t be blindsided by any unpleasant surprises down the road.

You’ve discussed the worst-case scenario
It sounds grim to discuss a breakup when you’re on the brink of moving in together, but experts say it’s a necessary conversation. “You need to know what’s going to happen if things go south,” says Kirschner. “Do you get the puppy and he gets the TV? Do you know who would move out?” Having this conversation will help you realize the weight of moving in together, and it may even make you appreciate your bond more, says Kirschner.

You’ve talked about the logistics
As unromantic as it is to talk about finances and household chores, you’re going to have to if you want to share a space with him. Sit down and discuss everything from closet space and bills to how often you’ll invite people over or want some alone time, says Kirschner. “It often doesn’t end up how you plan it, but the main thing is that you have a good working teammate relationship,” says Kirschner.

photo: Goodshoot/Thinkstock

More from Women’s Health:
Living in Sin: Unwedded Bliss
Living Together Tips
Should You Be Shacking Up?

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The Simple Way to Move More

If your running shoes are collecting more dust bunnies than miles, you may want to change up your diet. Swapping out saturated fat for monounsaturated fat can increase your physical activity levels by up to 15 percent, according to new research published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Researchers from the University of Vermont and Duke University gave 32 young adults meals that contained an oil high in palmitic acid, a common type of saturated fat, for three weeks. After breaking for a week, the participants resumed eating the same meals for three more weeks—but this time the oil was high in oleic acid, a common type of monounsaturated fat.

Throughout the study, participants wore accelerometers around their waists to allow researchers to monitor their physical activity. When the participants followed a diet high in monounsaturated fats, they were between 12 and 15 percent more active than when they ate the saturated fat-rich meals. What’s more, participants’ resting metabolisms were faster when they replaced saturated fat with monounsaturated fat.

To see if participants’ moods were behind the revved-up sweat sessions, researchers asked some of them to answer a survey about their mental ups and downs. Researchers found that the test subjects were angrier and more hostile when they ate the meals filled with saturated fats.

“Nobody recommends the Western diet, which is full of saturated fat from meat and dairy,” says C. Lawrence Kien, MD, PhD, lead study researcher and professor at The University of Vermont College of Medicine’s division of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism—yet it’s still the predominant diet in the U.S., he points out. “This study would suggest that a Mediterranean diet rich in monounsaturated fats could create physical and behavioral changes that are associated with leanness.”

Monounsaturated fats can also help regulate inflammation in the body, which may influence brain chemistry and account for the boosts in mood and activity, says Kein. In addition, previous research has shown that monounsaturated fats promote weight loss, increase feel-good serotonin levels, and boost lean muscle mass.

About 20 percent of your total daily calories should come from monounsaturated fats, according to The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Saturated fats, however, should account for no more than 7 percent of your day’s caloric intake.

Here, four foods packed with monounsaturated fats that may help motivate you to slip on your running shoes:

Peanuts
Peanuts actually pack more monounsaturated fats than just about any other legume, says Nutritionist Laura Cipullo, RD, owner of Laura Cipullo Whole Nutrition Services in New York City.
Try This Peanut Recipe: Curried Peanuts

Olives
Chances are you’ve heard about the health wonder that is olive oil. But don’t forget where the yummy stuff comes from. Olives are teeming with oleic acid, says Cipullo.
Try This Olive Recipe: Tuna-Olive Salad

Avocados
Avocados’ super creamy texture comes from monounsaturated fats, says nutritionist Monica Reinagel, LN, CNS.
Try This Avocado Recipe: Vegetable Fajitas

Dark Chocolate
A health food your taste buds can seriously get behind, dark chocolate (we’re talking 60 percent cocoa and up) packs good-for-you monounsaturated fats. It’s still important to practice moderation with the sweet stuff, though, says Reinagel, so you don’t take in too many calories.
Try This Dark Chocolate Recipe: Dark Chocolate and Pistachio Bark 

photo: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

More From Women’s Health:
Eating Well: The Best Fitness Foods for Women
9 Health Benefits of Chocolate
The FWB Diet: What to Eat and Why It Works

Drop Two Sizes DVD NEW breakthrough DVD program from America’s #1 Personal Trainer! See amazing before and after pictures! Click here to learn more.

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17 Creative Ways to Move More Every Day

You want to go to the gym. You plan to go to the gym. You don’t go to the gym. But it’s OK: Short bouts of activity can be just as beneficial to your health as a full-blown sweat session, according to a new Oregon State University study.

The researchers assessed 6,000 Americans’ physical activity and health risk factors. To their surprise, people who were active throughout the day–even for just one or two minutes here and there–were nearly as healthy as the people who crammed a full day’s worth of exercise into a single session. In fact, 43 percent of the people who didn’t purposefully exercise met the physical activity guidelines of 30 minutes of daily exercise, anyway.

The bottom line: Moving more takes very little effort but adds up throughout the day. And while short bouts of activity won’t necessarily help you lose weight or keep it off, everyone can benefit from a little more movement—especially when you can’t squeeze in a proper workout. That said, there are plenty of super-simple ways to be more active without screwing up your whole schedule. Just check out these suggestions from Women’s Health Twitter followers! Then pin the ideas you promise you’ll try.

Women’s Health asked…

Followers answered:

photo: ULTRA F/ Digital Vision/Thinkstock

More from WH:
Motivate Yourself to Work Out!
21 Ways to Bust Out of Your Workout Rut
Workout Playlists to Pump You Up

The New Rules of Lifting for WomenTransform your body forever with The New Rules of Lifting for Women, a breakthrough fitness and diet plan for women. Order now!

javahut healthy feed

26 Creative Ways to Move More Every Day

You want to go to the gym. You plan to go to the gym. You don’t go to the gym. But it’s OK: Short bouts of activity can be just as beneficial to your health as a full-blown sweat session, according to a new Oregon State University study.

The researchers assessed 6,000 Americans’ physical activity and health risk factors. To their surprise, people who were active throughout the day–even for just one or two minutes here and there–were nearly as healthy as the people who crammed a full day’s worth of exercise into a single session. In fact, 43 percent of the people who didn’t purposefully exercise met the physical activity guidelines of 30 minutes of daily exercise, anyway.

The bottom line: Moving more takes very little effort but adds up throughout the day. And while short bouts of activity won’t necessarily help you lose weight or keep it off, everyone can benefit from a little more movement—especially when you can’t squeeze in a proper workout. That said, there are plenty of super-simple ways to be more active without screwing up your whole schedule. Just check out these suggestions from Women’s Health Twitter followers! Then pin the ideas you promise you’ll try.

Women’s Health asked…

Followers answered:

photo: ULTRA F/ Digital Vision/Thinkstock

More from WH:
Motivate Yourself to Work Out!
21 Ways to Bust Out of Your Workout Rut
Workout Playlists to Pump You Up

The New Rules of Lifting for WomenTransform your body forever with The New Rules of Lifting for Women, a breakthrough fitness and diet plan for women. Order now!

javahut healthy feed