does working from home make you fat?

Yesterday was the first day I've been in the office in a week. Nope I haven't been sick or on vacation. With the ice storm last week I was remote Tuesday-Friday, then I hosted some friends over the weekend and was fortunate enough to be able to work remotely Monday so I could take them to the airport that afternoon.


During last week's storm I wrote about how when afforded the opportunity to work from remotely and when you need to you shouldn't feel bad about it (if you want to read that click here). While I continue to wholeheartedly agree with this, after working remotely for 5 days I've begun to wonder: does working remotely make you fat?


I'm sure me feeling like this has nothing to do with their copious amounts of cheese my friends and I ate over the weekend, or the 3 am corn dogs on Saturday, or the loaded tater tots on Sunday (jealous? judging?)


But changing your work location often significantly change a person's routine, not necessarily in a bad way, but this in turn impacts meals, gym time, etc. Many people probably revel in this and refine their schedules so that they are able to take an 11am workout class. In DC I had my schedule down so that I would often work remotely early in the AM then head into work to make a 11am personal training session (miss those days!!) then be at my desk by the time my coworkers were halfway through lunch.


I no longer think that I can offer the reasoning (okay, I'll call a spade a spade... the excuse) that I'm still getting accustomed to my routine because I have been living my life in Atlanta for nearly 7 months (woah!) now. Sure there have been some sizable shifts in my life since moving but it's time to get it together and avoid the times when I'm working remotely (or hosting visitors) to warrant massive tater tot consumption, or whatever.


I have some strategies that I like to follow, and I can probably get better at following. As I work to get better at these when I work remotely down here I thought I’d share!

1. Eat 4-6 small-ish meals

It's often said that this is really the best way to eat in general but when you're going out to dinner and such it's hard to keep it up. Since I tend to graze when working remotely anyway I like to consider the grazing my meals which also tends to make these healthier since mentally I know I need actual nutrients in a meal and just having handful after handful of cheeze-its won't cut it.

2. Make breakfast count

This is likely a personal thing since I know many people don't like big morning meals but I need a pretty sizable breakfast to not be cranky but no earlier than about an hour after waking up. It also helps me avoid graze (meal) #2 until noon or so.

3. Make exercise a part of the day

This should really be regardless of working remotely or not, but when working remotely I find that my work and my personal life can tend to feel extra blurred. It's a blessing and a curse

4. Don't sit in PJs all day

It's important to make sure your pants still fit every once and a while but I find this is one way that I feel like I'm accomplishing something.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not getting dolled up, in fact I am often simply changing into different comfortable clothes but it still tends to help me feel like I'm doing more than sitting in sweats in front of a laptop.

5. Change into your gym clothes

Bringing 3 and 4 together a bit, a friend of mine once told me her strategy to ensure she worked out on Sundays: she would immediately put on her gym clothes upon waking up. It's like a nice reminder that you that you still need to work out throughout the day.

6. Drink water

Yup this one's also not rocket science, and this is not just good for you if you're working remotely, but my manager and I were talking the other day about how we both tend to not drink a ton of water when we're remote. When I'm in the office I drink a couple cup-fulls (16oz?) of water in the morning and then again in the afternoon; I also have at least 1 cup of green tea a day. So how to do this? For me it might mean that I just need to emulate the size of the cup I drink out of in my apartment.

7. Plan out your day

No surprise that I'm a big planner. But this doesn't have to be a crazy plan or anything and is something that I think is beneficial when you're in the office as well.  I just find that taking a moment in the morning to map out and overlay when each of the above things will happen (exercise, small meal #3, and so on) will happen each day you're more set up for success!

Writing out this list makes me want to be remote all over again but then again, it probably wasn't a bad thing that I had to put pants on yesterday and today.

why you should never feel guilty about working from home

Another intense storm is set to cripple Atlanta this week. Quick status update: No current sign of snow outside my apartment though it was drizzling earlier and it looks to be damp on the ground outside and on my bike I store on my balcony…

But still I am working remotely today and I plan to tomorrow as well, Thursday is up in the air. Sound absurd? To anyone reading from the northeast, midwest, west coast (Rockies area, not Cali) sure I’m sure this is insane; truthfully to me it is as well. I won’t explain or justify the reasons why Atlanta is simply not equipped to handle this sort of weather (okay correction, I could explain it, it would be challenging to justify it) but instead will focus on the reasons why no one should feel guilty working remotely if you have the flexibility to and the proper approval to.

Bottom line: If you are lucky enough to have the flexibility to work remotely and there’s something in your life warranting it do it. End of story.

Okay maybe some people need more to rationalize this. In fact I sensed from a few of my coworkers yesterday that there was some hesitation by folks to work from home. 

I told one of the writers on my team that within the situation of crazy Atlanta (read: bad drivers and bad conditions due to insufficient materials to battle the weather, all on top of already horrible traffic) it seemed selfish to me to actually add volume to the roads. He looked at me strangely. I explained that there were many people who had to go into their jobs and didn’t have the luxury like us to work remotely. We were really just adding to the risk that they would be endangered and endangering ourselves. 

Again, I know midwestern, northern, and western friends: LOL. It’s true, I agree. But seriously, why risk it?

This doesn’t just apply to Atlanta and weather. I think it’s common to get a little nervous about working from home. We live in a society and tend to work for businesses that are largely structured so when presented with the opportunity to manage ourselves it can feel a bit strange if nothing else. 

Of course don’t abuse it. But at the end of the day if your company grants you this perk and you are self-motivated enough (or can devise tricks to motivate yourself) then you are simply silly if you’re not taking advantage.

f course don’t abuse it. 

As for me, I’ve been working from my apartment since 8am and need to run and see if there’s any milk left in the grocery story (really should have gone on Sunday…) and since I have the flexibility to work remotely and manage myself, I am off to do this then wrap up the rest of the work I need to tackle this afternoon.