This morning, while having a conference call with my colleagues, my assistant said, “sitting at the computer all day makes me fat.” This is what happens when you get three women together to discuss business matters around my weight and coaching practice; we inevitably get off on personal issues related to the topic. After all we are real people too and have our own daily challenges managing weight and fitting healthy eating and exercise into our busy work and family life.

I do a lot of sitting in front of the computer too. In fact, over the past year, I have spent a good portion of my work week researching nutrition and fitness issues, writing articles and Web content, which is rather sedentary activity. BUT I haven’t gained any weight. Since I am not naturally thin and gain weight easily, what is my secret?

This is what works for me (this list is not all-inclusive – just some of the top three strategies):

  1. Every half hour or so I get up and do some stretches and/or exercises with dumbbells on the stability ball or some jumping jacks.
  2. I eat breakfast and follow it with a snack mid-morning, lunch and another small snack in the afternoon. Many of the meals and snacks are pre-planned to remove the mindless eating that can happen when you work at home or an office where there’s always food [cues] around.
  3. I go for a 2-4 mile walk with Buddy (my beagle) in the middle of the day. This not only boosts my metabolism (calorie burning), it always clears my mind, leaving me refreshed and ready to tackle the rest of the workday with more energy and creativity.