Are you someone who says or fears you might say, “I love working from home, but I have one complaint. I’m snacking my way through the day and my waistline is growing. How do I keep myself away from the cupboard?  While some find it easier to maintain a healthy weight at home, away from vending machines, doughnut pools, and rich-food power lunches, you’re not the only who has found themselves packing on the pounds when the kitchen is just down the hall. Here’s what we suggest:  

1. Take note. Awareness of what and when you’re eating is the first step to breaking a bad snack habit. So, keep a log of how often you snack. Pay attention to what and when you eat.  Deepak Chopra, physician and author of the book Ageless Body, Timeless Mind, advises eating only if you’re actually hungry and never eat mindlessly. Instead snack consciously.  

2. Recognize your snack pattern and find substitutes. As you take note of when you’re wanting a snack, also note of what’s motivating the desire to snack. Some people are stress eaters. Others are boredom eaters. Eating doesn’t actually solve either of these problems, so we’ll quickly be hungry again if that is your motivation. The best protection against over-snacking is to make sure you enjoy your work to the point that you forget about food until mealtime. But also find other ways to avoid and reduce stress. Many people discover that taking a walk outdoors or talking on the phone with a friend are actually more energizing and rewarding than eating between meals.  

3. Have a plan. What are the parameters you want to set for snacking? How many snacks make sense? Some people don’t snack at all. Others like to keep the standard morning and afternoon break pattern of the corporate workplace. Still others savor preserving the good-old after-school snack they used to have around 4 PM.  

4. Re-think your break activities. We tend to think there are only a few things we have permission to take a break for and eating in one of them. So, take advantage of the fact that you have more flexibility with your time schedule when you work from home and use your break time to relax or energize in your favorite ways, whether it’s playing with the baby, walking the dog, shooting some hoops or working in the garden.

5. Keep food out of sight; out of mind. Not only is food at the desk risky for your electronic desktop, but when it comes to food out of site is out of mind. It’s easier to overlook the fact that you’ve nibbled away a whole bag of potato chips while engaged in working than if you have to go into the kitchen, sit down at the table and have an official snack. Here are a couple of other habits some people use to keep from raiding the frig.

•  To keep from walking in and out of the kitchen all day for a cup of coffee, where you may invariably grab a cookie to eat along with it, set up a coffeemaker in your office. Keep all the needed supplies — cups, bottled water, coffee, etc. — in a small cabinet.
• Close the kitchen door on your way to work and think of the kitchen as a restaurant. It’s only open between noon and one and after five o’clock.”

 6. Toss the junk food. Unlike office vending machines, your kitchen cabinets can be filled with whatever you choose. This is another plus for working from home. So, fill your cabinets and refrigerator with healthy low-fat, low-cal whole foods If nutrition is what your body is seeking, whole, unprocessed food like an apple or bowl of strawberries with raw nuts is far more satisfying than a bag of salty chips or sugary cookies. Junk food not only packs on the pounds with empty calories, it’s salty, sugary nature leaves us wanting more… and more. Should you think, “I’d rather not eat than have something healthy like that,” then chances are you aren’t really hungry. You’re needing something other than food. Find out what and treat yourself to that.

 7. Make sure you get enough contact with people you enjoy. However busy you are, make time in your workday for some kind of interpersonal contact. An office with other people provides stimulation, company, and someone to share problems with. Working at home can be lonely. But the loneliness doesn’t have to lead to overindulgence. Instead of heading for the kitchen, you can head for the telephone or blog. Call someone. Schedule lunch with a colleague. Visit a neighbor. Invite someone to come by.  

8. Exercise regularly. Working from home is usually pretty sedentary, and sluggish bodies don’t metabolize food well. Having more time and flexibility to exercise is yet another advantage of working from home. So, discover your favorite form of aerobic and well as anaerobic activities. You might choose going to the gym several times a week, bicycling, jogging, yoga classes, tennis or the classic favorite, golf. Or, why not set up a home gym? Step machines, mini-trampolines, treadmills, weight systems, even rowing machines come in home-sized models.  

9. Treat yourself special. Because people often bribe themselves into overworking by overeating, schedule a variety of non-work activities away from the house each week instead, some things you can look forward to, from going to a movie, playing or attending sports activities, doing things with the family, volunteering for community projects or attending cultural events. By adopting work-at-home habits like these, chances are you’ll feel better and healthier at home than away. Many people actually drop unwanted weight and even reduce their blood pressure by working from home.

Comments and questions on the substance of this blogs are welcome. If you have other questions about this website, please contact me directly for a consulting appointment. [maxbutton id=”11″] If you think we can help you, we offer webinars and consulting.

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