How Fitness Impacts Your Career

If you want to add fitness to your work routine, but are unsure where to find the time or energy, start by taking these baby steps:

- Surrender your lunch break. You don’t have to spend every lunch hour in a fitness class, or walking outside, but choose two to three days to do it. Eat a reasonable, quick lunch at your desk when you get back. If you work at home, enforce a strict lunch break for yourself and walk away from your computer or tasks in the pursuit of fitness.
- Stop snacking. You may not realize just how much you eat between meals but it all adds up. To realize the full extent of your calorie intake in a day, keep a food journal for one week. Write down every food or drink that passes your lips. You may be surprised at what you learn about yourself and what you are ingesting. Once you recognize your snack triggers, prepare to meet them with healthier options.
- Phone a friend. Or text her. Or send her an email. Or just walk over to her desk, for goodness sake. Find at least one other person to share in your fitness goals and then hold each other accountable. It’s no fun if all of your colleagues head to the nearby fast food place for lunch and you are left alone with your salad. Partner with someone else who will pull up a chair and eat her salad too – or lace up her walking shoes to head out with you during lunch hour.
- Stand up. This seems simple enough but did you know that it is common for Nigerians to sit for up to 15 hours every day? Some of that sitting is a result of increasingly sedentary job requirements but some is how we spend our leisure time. Have you ever had a rough day staring at your computer screen that you followed up with several hours of staring at a television screen in order to relax? Look for ways to be more active throughout your work day, like a mandatory five-minute break every hour just to stretch. If you work at home, spend part of the day typing while standing next to a high countertop or table. Even though you may not be working out, your body will thank you.
You do not have to choose fitness over your work, or other areas of your life. There are ways to keep yourself happy and healthy, you just have to find ways to integrate them into the time you already have.