Combatting Weight Gain While at Work

Guest Blog post by our Nutrition Education Manager, Laura Fillbach

 This post is part of our month-long blog series in celebration of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics' "National Nutrition Month." This year's theme is, "Eat Right, Your Way, Every Day," so each of us here at Hunger Free Vermont will take a turn to share a personal goal, story or fact regarding nutrition through daily blog posts throughout the month.

I am very lucky to be working at Hunger Free Vermont.  I have a fabulous group of colleagues and a super supportive work environment.  The one challenge I have had since joining the staff in 2010 is adapting to spending so much time behind a desk.  At some point I realized that I had inadvertently gained a few pounds since I began working here, and so I have tried to adopt some strategies to combat this trend.  One of them was to raise my desk so that I now spend most of my time standing instead of sitting.  The other has been to pay more careful attention to how much I eat.  I am trying to slow down and enjoy my meals more, which includes planning and looking forward to them.  It is easier to forego a second helping at lunch when I am holding the image of a satisfying dinner in my mind’s eye.  It occurred to me that this strategy, which has allowed me to drop those extra pounds, would not be possible for someone dealing with food insecurity.  This realization has deepened my compassion and understanding for those struggling with the challenges of both hunger and obesity, which many people do not recognize as two faces of the same coin.