How To Burn More Calories At Work

Being chained to a desk for 8 or more hours every day isn't great for our health. So what can we do to be more healthy at work? Here are some tips on how to burn more calories at work and make the most of your precious time.

Split up your lunch break

You should be entitled to a one-hour lunch break during your work day, so use this to your advantage. You could eat your lunch at your desk and use the one-hour break to go for a brisk walk or even a run. You could do a 30-minute run and still have 30 minutes to freshen up and get changed and get ready to go back to work. You could even do a 30-minute lunchtime HIIT session to get your heart rate up and burn some calories!

Better still, if you are allowed to, breaking up your 60 minutes into 10 minute breaks is even better. This will mean you spend less time sitting and staring at a screen and could even improve your concentration and work output. During these 10 minutes you could go for a walk or do some light stretching. Of course, it all depends on your office set-up and your boss. At Sundried, we have a philosophy called EHOH whereby we do some sort of activity every hour on the hour by splitting up our 60 minute break into 10 minute breaks. 

Walk and talk

If you talk on the phone a lot in your job, use this as an excuse to walk around. If you can get a headset or already have one, this is the best way to achieve this so that you can walk freely without being chained to your desk. This is an easy way to burn more calories throughout the day and limit your time being sedentary.

Utilise your commute

If you have a long commute, this only adds to your time sitting down and will reduce the amount of time you have to exercise or hit the gym. One option is to run or cycle to work. Of course, it can be difficult to freshen up after cycling to work but there are plenty ways you can do this and it will soon become part of your routine.

If you live too far to run or cycle to work, you could still make use of your commute to burn more calories throughout the day. If you take public transport, try getting off a few stops before the one you need and walk the rest of the way. Similarly, if you drive, you could park further away and walk the rest of the way to the office. 

Stand more

While it's true that standing too long can be bad for you, sitting at a desk all day is far worse and could increase your risk of developing diabetes and heart disease. If you are able, get yourself a standing desk so that you can spend at least part of the day standing. If this is not an option for you, make excuses to walk around by visiting colleagues instead of talking to them on the phone and standing up while doing tasks like filing. By standing more, you will naturally burn more calories throughout the day and it will prevent other health issues such as shortened muscles and muscular dystrophy which are both associated with sitting all day. 

Exercise at your desk

There are lots of reasons to workout at work, especially as sitting for prolonged periods of time is proven to be very detrimental to our health. There are lots of easy exercises you can do at your desk, such as chair squats and desk dips.