Is Your Home Office Making You Fat?

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                              January 2007Article

Is Your Home Office Making You Fat?
        By Paul and Sarah Edwards

Are you twice the entrepreneur you used to be?
Here are nine tips to keep the weight off while
working at home.

Question: I love working from home, but I have one complaint:
I'm snacking my way through the day, and my waistline is
growing. How do I keep myself away from the cupboard?

Answer: While some find it easier to maintain a healthy weight
at home, away from vending machines, doughnut pools and
heavy power lunches, you're not the only homebased
entrepreneur who has found yourself packing on the pounds
when the kitchen is just down the hall. Here's what we suggest:

1. Take note. Awareness of what and when you're eating is
the first step to breaking a bad snack habit. So keep a log of
how often you snack, and pay attention to what and when you
eat. Deepak Chopra, physician and author of Ageless Body,
Timeless Mind, advises eating only if you're actually hungry
and never eating mindlessly. Snack consciously instead.

2. Recognize your snack pattern, and find substitutes.
As you take note of when you want a snack, also note what's
motivating your desire to snack. Some people are stress
eaters. Others are boredom eaters. Eating doesn't actually
solve either of these problems, so you'll quickly become
hungry again if these are your motivations. The best
protection against snacking too much is to make sure you
enjoy your work to the point that you forget about food until
mealtimes. But also find other ways to avoid and reduce
stress. Many people discover that taking a walk outdoors or
talking on the phone with a friend are actually more energizing
and rewarding than eating between meals.

3. Have a plan. What are the parameters you want to set for
snacking? How many snacks make sense? Some people don't
snack at all. Others like to keep the standard morning and
afternoon break pattern of the corporate workplace. Still
others savor preserving the traditional after-school snack they
used to have around 4 p.m.

4. Rethink your break activities. We tend to think there are
only a few things we have permission to take a break for, and
eating is one of them. So take advantage of the fact that you
have more flexibility with your schedule when you work from
home, and use your break time to relax or energize in your
favorite ways, whether it's playing with the baby, walking the
dog, shooting some hoops or working in the garden.
5. Keep food out of sight, out of mind. Not only is food at
the desk risky for your electronic desktop, but when it comes
to food, out of sight is out of mind. It's easier to overlook the
fact that you've nibbled away a whole bag of potato chips
when you're working than if you have to go into the kitchen, sit
down

See how "what's eating you" may
be affecting your life.

See how you can make sure that
you are "eating up" what is best
for you!

Experience great results in both
professional and personal
success!!

Is Your Home Office Making You Fat?

at the table and have an official snack. Here are a couple of other habits some entrepreneurs use to
avoid raiding the fridge:
* To keep from walking in and out of the kitchen all day for a cup of coffee, where you may
invariably grab a cookie to eat along with it, set up a coffee maker in your office. Keep all the
necessary supplies-cups, bottled water, coffee and so on-in a small cabinet.
* Close the kitchen door on your way to work, and think of the kitchen as a restaurant.
It's only open between noon and one, and after five o'clock.

6. Toss the junk food. Unlike office vending machines, your kitchen cabinets can be filled with whatever
you choose. This is another plus for working from home. So fill your cabinets and refrigerator with healthy,
low-fat, low-calorie, whole foods. If nutrition is what your body is seeking, whole, unprocessed foods like an
apple or a bowl of strawberries with raw nuts is far more satisfying than a bag of salty chips or sugary
cookies. Junk food not only packs on the pounds with empty calories, but its salty or sugary nature also
leaves us wanting more.

Should you think "I'd rather not eat than have something healthy like that," chances are, you
aren't really hungry. You need something other than food. Find out what, and treat yourself to that.

7. Make sure you get enough contact with people you enjoy. However busy you are, make time in
your workday for some kind of interpersonal contact. An office with other people provides stimulation,
company and colleagues to share problems with. Working at home can be lonely, but the loneliness
doesn't have to lead to overindulgence. Instead of heading for the kitchen, head for the telephone. Call
someone. Schedule lunch with a colleague. Visit a neighbor. Invite someone to come by.

8. Exercise regularly. Working from home is usually pretty sedentary, and sluggish bodies don't
metabolize food well. Having more time and flexibility to exercise is yet another advantage of working
from home. So discover your favorite forms of aerobic as well as anaerobic activity. You might choose
going to the gym several times a week, bicycling, jogging, yoga classes, tennis or the classic favorite, golf.
Or why not set up a home gym? Step machines, mini-trampolines, treadmills, weight systems, and even
rowing machines come in home-size models.

9. Treat yourself. People often bribe themselves into overworking by overeating, so instead, schedule a
variety of nonwork activities away from the house each week. They should be things you can look forward
to, such as going to a movie, playing or attending sports activities, doing things with your family,
volunteering for community projects or attending cultural events.

By adopting work-at-home habits like these, chances are you'll feel better and healthier at home
than away. Many people actually drop unwanted weight and even reduce their blood pressure by working
from home.

Paul Edwards - Author Dedicated to Eliminating the Barriers to Self-Employment and the Preservation of the Middle Class. With Sarah,
co- author of 16 books; their latest are The Best Home Businesses for People 50+, a Book-of-the-Month Club selection, and new editions
of Making Money with Your Computer at Home and Home-Based Business for Dummies. Free book excerpts available at
workingfromhome.com. Columnist for Costco Connection and Entrepreneur magazine. Co-host, Entrepreneur's Home Business Show .
Alternative Email: pedwards@frazmtn.com.

U.S. Small Business Administration's (SBA) Region IX "Small Business Journalist of the Year" 2006

"Personal computing has revolutionized home businesses since Paul and Sarah Edwards pioneered this field with "Working From
Home" in 1985." -- The Dallas Morning News and Indianapolis Star, November 7, 2004

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