Tips to avoid overeating when working from home
Working from home is one of the easiest ways to gain some weight in the blink of an eye. Unfortunately, being out of your eating routine and having constant access to food is what makes people overeat- even if they’re not hungry.
If you are also one of those who keep sweets on the table while they work and constantly chew something, then you need our tips to avoid overeating when working from home!
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Make your eating schedule and stick to it
It’s hard to avoid junk food and unhealthy meals when you don’t have an eating schedule. If your lunch break is at a different time each day, chances are high that you will overeat or that you will eat unhealthy snacks more often. Try to make your eating schedule and have breakfast, lunch, and dinner at a certain time every day.
It’s recommended to have breakfast within about an hour of waking up and also eat lunch and dinner, along with one healthy snack during the day. Sticking to your eating routine will help you regulate blood sugar, hunger hormones, and physical energy. But remember not to skip meals, because if you do, you’ll be more likely to overeat during your next meal!
Don’t order, make your meals!
When we work from home, we have the advantage of being able to eat what we want. However, we are often too busy to prepare meals, so we order fast food or eat unhealthy snacks. To avoid overeating, don’t order food! Make meal preparation a part of your daily schedule.
Choose some healthy meals that you don't need a lot of time for, like a salad with vegetables and tuna, mushroom soup, Kung Pao shrimp, veggie pasta, chicken noodles, fried avocado tacos, and more. Having ingredients pre-cut and laid out can save you time.
Eat nutritionally balanced meals
Did you know that some meals can make you feel hungrier? According to nutrition experts, some food, such as potato chips, can make you hungrier. Food such as pasta, chips, pretzels, Chinese food, donuts, pies, muffins, fruit juices, and alcohol can make you overeat.
To avoid overeating, eat nutritionally balanced meals. In every meal you make, include some type of produce, along with lean protein and good fat as the foundation. These ingredients will make you feel full but also support a healthy metabolism and immune system. You can eat a smoothie made with frozen greens, protein shake, eggs, brown rice or potato, and similar types of healthy foods.
Don’t work in the kitchen
This advice is more than obvious: Don’t work in the kitchen. You will not be able to be focused and productive if you are constantly thinking about food in the kitchen and looking at the fridge. Working from the kitchen will make you check the fridge couple of times, which is bad. Unfortunately, people tend to eat when they are bored or while they are working from home, and working from the kitchen can be tempting, indeed.
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Avoid soda drinks and always stay hydrated
People often confuse thirst for hunger, and that’s why they have bad eating habits and tend to overeat. Drinking only a glass or two of water will leave you dehydrated which can lead to changes in your energy levels and mood, too. Therefore, before every meal, drink a glass of water. If you’re working from home, make sure you have a water bottle or cup next to you, and drink it often.
Besides, avoid soda drinks full of artificial sweeteners, because excess sugar can weaken immunity, while artificial sweeteners have been shown to throw off natural appetite regulation and stoke a sweet tooth. Remember to feed your body with water, not only with food.
Try to avoid unhealthy snacks. Eat fruits and veggies!
Unhealthy snacks and junk food are the reason people are overeating when working from home. Chips, tortillas, popcorn, donuts, muffins, chocolates, and other sweets are always on our table while we work. We often don’t even notice how much we have eaten, which is a bad habit.
Try to avoid unhealthy snacks and only eat fresh fruits and veggies, yogurt, nuts, basically anything with nutritional value. Moreover, fruits and vegetables are filled with water, so eating some is an additional way to stay hydrated.
Physical and emotional hunger is not the same!
Have you noticed that when you are dissatisfied, disappointed, or sad, you reach for food? It’s not about physical hunger, it’s about emotional hunger. According to the 2013 American Psychological Association survey, 38% of adults reported that they have overeaten in unhealthy foods in the past month because of stress.
During a stressful or sad time, our body needs nourishment so it becomes more attracted to food. On the other hand, physical hunger has physical symptoms, like a growling tummy. For example, if you are supposed to feel full after a meal, but you’re still hungry, you may be experiencing anxiety or loneliness.
Hide the junk food
When sweets are all around you, and you can't resist eating them, it's best to hide them. Seeing a box of chocolates or bag of chips in front of you will tempt you to eat not because you’re hungry, but because you’re bored or have nothing to do. Nutritionists advise having a clear workspace that’s free from any food temptations. Hide your food somewhere or store snacks in your kitchen, so you’re unable to see them when working.
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Turn off electronics
Electronics and social media can help us overeat. As we work, various distractions like social media can shift our focus from work to food. Just by checking the news or watching a video on YouTube can be full of food ads and commercials that can make us feel hungry.
Besides, sending messages during breakfast or lunch can make us forget how much we ate or not to pay attention to how many sweets we are currently eating. This can easily lead to overeating. So, turn off your phone and other electronics when it comes to meals.