Office Jobs Often Lead to Weight Gain

Posted on August 31, 2006

An CBS article provides some unsurprising data that shows many people gain weight from office jobs. The article says almost half of office workers say they have gained weight because of an office job.

For 1-in-5, the gain was 10 pounds or more.
Among others, 57 percent of government workers reported bigger waistlines, 54 percent of IT workers, and 53 percent of accounting/finance workers, compared to 35 percent of retail workers and 39 percent of sales workers.
In other words, not surprisingly, people with sedentary jobs report weight gain in larger numbers.

The CBS article says things are getting even worse for office workers. New technologies like IMs make it even easier for people to get everything done without leaving their cube.

The article includes some suggestions from Neal Pire, a fitness consultant, who suggested things like taking the stairs or parking far away so you are forced to walk farther. Pire also said you could walk a little ways to lunch instead of using a cafeteria in the same building. Pire's best suggestion was probably to bag your lunch and avoid those high calorie lunches from delis and restaurants.