Calories Burned At Work

People with a busy schedule often complain that they do not have to the time to set aside for playing a sport or for workouts at the gym. Working out at work is one way of ensuring that you maintain the work life balance you need to avoid stress. People with sedentary jobs find that they spend a major part of their day sitting at their desks, staring at their computer screens, often resulting in back pain or leg cramps at the end of a long day. Sitting at the desk all day also means that they tend to put on weight since they do not get adequate exercise. Losing weight is not so difficult if you are willing to make a few small changes in your routine to ensure that you burn more calories.

Calories burned at work contribute significantly towards weight loss because we spent the bulk of our waking time getting ready and going to work, at work, and returning home from our workplace.

We tend to become overweight when we consume more calories than we use for our day-to-day activities, both at home and at work. The trick to remain at the optimal weight is to ensure that we convert the food we eat into all the energy that we need for our activities. Those who are desk-bound all through the day at work need to incorporate some changes in their routine that help them increase the number of calories burned in their office job. Standing up or pacing every time you speak on the phone instead of sitting and answering the phone is one option. Taking the stairs instead of the elevator to go upstairs or downstairs ensures you burn more calories.

Burning Calories Sitting At Work

Calories burned sitting at work vary from 100 calories an hour for a person weighing around 125 pounds to about 150 calories for someone who tips the scales at 180 pounds. Workstations that allow people to stand and use the computer and the keyboard are a boon as calories burnt doing standing work are more in number and standing or walking on a treadmill leads to improved circulation.

Burning Calories Working On Computer

Calories burned working on a computer that is placed on a treadmill desk can result in a weight loss of up to 40 pounds every year for the individual even if the person walks only 2 hours a day at a normal pace. Apart from helping the person stay fit, standing for short periods of time during the day and working on a computer also helps to reduce the usual problems associated with sedentary jobs such as swollen feet, stiff neck, and back pain, caused by bad posture. Just walking fifteen minutes every hour on the treadmill as you work and every time you speak on the phone can help you shed up to 40 pounds a year. See also calories burned walking

Calories Burned Working Out

Calories burned working outside the home varies depending on the season and on how the individual is dressed. In winter, when you are out raking the leaves or shoveling snow dressed in indoor clothes and just a sweater, your body burns more calories to keep your skin warm despite the cold wind and snow and to warm up the air that enters your lungs. In summer, when you are out in the hot sun, calories burnt while working in the yard or playing a game of frisbee include those used to make the sweat, which cools your body. One way you could trick your body into burning more calories in winter is by keeping the ambient temperature in your cabin at work a little cold, if you have the option of setting the thermostat. Take care that you don’t catch a cold in the bargain. Weight watchers who drink eight glasses of cold water a day lose more weight than those who drink tepid water, because the body has to burn calories to warm up after a drink of cold water. More on calories burned in sauna

Calories Burned In Retail Work

Calories burned in retail work vary according to the size of the store and the type of work the individual is involved in. A salesperson standing at the counter is likely to use more energy during the day than the person sitting at the cash counter, just as the worker unloading the produce in a supermarket burns more calories than the packer putting customers’ purchases into those bags and loading the shopping carts.

Calories Burnt In Nursing Work

Calories burnt in nursing work in a hospital environment can be considerably less than in a home as a health care provider to an individual patient. Hospital work is more structured, and the work is shared among colleagues. In a home or clinical set up, demands vary from day to day, from patient to patient. It may involve more of lifting and pushing around a wheelchair than in a hospital where there is more equipment to take care of heavy lifting or moving.

Whatever the work you do, calories burned during the day when you are at work go a long way towards helping you achieve your optimal weight.

Submitted on January 16, 2014