Losing weight while working from home

Working from home has some advantages, mainly omitting the commuting time and saving wear and tear on your vehicle. It also has one big disadvantage, that being having easy access to food all day

Back in February, I was having trouble putting my pants on, ouch, so I decided to lose some weight. As I write this in June, I’ve lost 20 pounds and now weigh under 200 for the first time in many years. I feel great! Before I share how I did it, let me give you a big warning.

All of us have different physiologies. What works for some may not work for others.

For example, I heard on the radio about an obese 18-year-old girl who needed bariatric weight-loss surgery. Clearly, she needed more than what I’m about to describe.

So it is vitally important, before making any changes to your diet or exercise routine, to talk to a medical professional. It’s so important to do this. Getting in better shape by losing weight should be good for you, not dangerous.

Our distant relatives had a “hunter – gatherer” lifestyle. What this means is they never knew when their next meal would come. The adaption they made was to store excess energy from food — let’s call this calories — as body fat.

This allowed them to fatten up when the food was plenty, and then have reserves for when it was scarce. Great for them, when they were running around all day looking for prey. Not so great for us, when we spend so much time in front of screens or sitting on the couch.

To lose weight then, when our bodies are predisposed to store excess calories as fat, we need to do a combination of two things: eat less and exercise more. Let’s talk first about eating less.

What I did to clean up my diet was actually very simple. I eat three meals and two snacks a day. The thing is, I still eat anything I want, but I don’t “pig out” anymore.

That means having one and only one plate of whatever it is at dinner, and making the snacks healthy, like yogurt, fruit, or vegetables. This is really not a drastic change from what I was doing before but, unless you are constantly thinking about it, it’s so easy to eat an entire can of Pringles or a bunch of cookies. I call this kind of diet eating sensibly, and it has worked very well for me.

Now don’t get me wrong; we all need a “cheat day” now and then, and there is not a day that goes by when I don’t think of hopping on my motorcycle, riding down to Nanuet where the nearest White Castle is, and gulping down 5,000 calories of sliders, onion rings, fries, and shakes.

The good news is, when you start eating right, you really don’t want to eat that much at any one sitting any more. Still, “the crave,” as White Castle truthfully advertises, is always there, so you just have to be aware of and watch out for it.

Now for the exercise part. Truly, as long as you are doing anything except sitting on the couch, you are ahead of the game. My in-laws did not do any formal exercise for many years, but they gardened like crazy and were always lean and fit.

Any kind of movement is great, really, but if you have a desk job like me you have to add some exercise to counteract the deleterious effects of sitting on your butt all day. So here’s what I came up with.

For many years, I’ve walked and jogged outdoors, all year long. As you can imagine, this was not fun in the winter. The cold really doesn’t bother me, but the chilling wind and pitch black darkness in the early morning, combined with frequent ice and snow, are no fun at all.

That’s why I finally broke down and bought a treadmill. This is not something to do without a lot of thoughtful consideration. Treadmills are big, heavy, and expensive, yet now that I finally have one, I wish I’d gotten it years ago.

I’m using it three days a week and it’s great. I put on my music playlist and then have at it, with no regard to weather or anything. Depending on how fast and far I go, I can easily start the day, before having eaten anything, with a calorie deficit of 200 to 300 or more. How great is that?

Three other days a week I do calisthenics: back stretches, crunches, push-ups, chin-ups, dips, deep knee bends, and heel raises. If you don’t think body weight exercises can get you into shape, check out our gymnasts when the Olympics starts soon. Your muscles don’t care where the resistance comes from.

Also, don’t get hung up on how many repetitions of a particular exercise to do. It’s more important to just do what you can. Some days I have a lot of energy and do a lot of reps; other days I have less energy or am fighting a cold and don’t do as many. Doesn’t matter. Doing any amount is way better than doing nothing at all.

If you are interested in overall health and fitness, or especially if you are curious about your own body, then run, don’t walk, to your bookstore or library and get “The Body” by Bill Bryson. If he doesn’t win a Pulitzer for this, it’s a crying shame.

This book is like an owner’s manual for that bag of bones we all have to live in. It just blew me away.

Here’s one useful takeaway from it: The single best thing you can do to stay healthy is to wash your hands often. Simple, effective, and it really works

I also learned this: The saliva from her baby will cause a nursing mother’s milk to change based on what antibodies, microbes, and nutrients the baby needs. How amazing is that?

This is just a fascinating, interesting, and practical book on so many levels. Thoroughly recommended.

Having pants that don’t fit anymore is not fun but, with a little thought, effort, and commitment, you really can lose weight. If you want to get started, start by repeating this over and over throughout the day: “Nothing tastes as good as losing 20 pounds.”

Trust me, repeating this all day will really help you stop “pigging out.” Good luck and good health to you.