I have a relatively sedentary job. I'm supposed to sit at the desk to monitor EVERYTHING. People get antsy when I or my coworkers walk away, even to just use the restroom. So I sit at an over sized desk, on a chair where my feet dangle a few inches off the ground (I'm only 5') for hours.

My movement of the day consists of:
Walking to the conference room in the middle of the newsroom for a daily meeting
Walking to use the restroom
Walking to fill my water bottle
Walking to the break room to warm my dinner
Walking to the lobby to pick up the delivery order for me and my coworkers
Walking to the edit bays or photographer ready room to talk to crews
Walking at a fast pace to hunt down crews during breaking news
And, yep, that's about it.

So besides all the muscle aches and stiffness from sitting at this not-even-close-to-economically correct desk, I literally fill my arse expanding. Tonight feels like one of those nights because I couldn't resist sesame mushroom from this amazing Asian cafe near the station.

In times like this, fall into "combat the desk fat" mode. I drink some water with lemon and/or green tea with mint or lemon to help digest and fight bloat. i take a walk around the newsroom and around the entire second floor, or if I can escape long enough, walk up and down the 3 flights of stairs. Then I break out the jump rope or exercise bands I keep in my desk drawer.

That's right I get my heart racing for at least a few minutes in my attempt to burn some calories and treat my body right. I admit, my attempts are usually feeble because I have very little time off the desk to really break much of a sweat. But, at least I try.

Thankfully my wardrobe usually consists of jeans or slacks, so I don't have to worry about flashing anyone in a skirt. I also keep a pair of old sneaker and socks in my drawer to change into after kicking off my boots or heels. If at all possible I leave the desk to do the more active exercises cause it's frankly embarrassing, and my coworkers do not want to see me jumping up and down behind the desk!

When I can't leave the desk I can hide behind it and pump out some push ups, sit ups and other floor exercises. Chair exercises with the exercise bands are great too. My favorite was working out to short videos on slimtree.com, but sadly the site now charges for access to videos longer than 5-min.

Logically I know my efforts aren't that much and would be substantially better if I just said no to delivery and the various food that end up on the desk, but just knowing my jump rope and exercise bands are in the drawer give me hope and comfort.

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