Desk Jobs and Dieting

Photo Credit: jonny goldstein

Dieting when you have a desk job sucks. No really, it does. I know because I have first hand experience as my current line of work requires me to sit most of the day, not to mention the time during the week I spend writing articles. Dieting is not as easy as it was when I was walking around campus all day long and working out in the afternoon. However, it’s not impossible though.

Whether you have a desk job or not, just being sedentary most of the day can make dieting harder than it needs to be. Couple a high stress job with readily available trail mix in your drawer and creating a daily caloric surplus is a sure shot. If you are currently strapped to a desk for 8-10 hours per day, then you will surely relate to this piece.

The Perfect Diet

I wish I could reveal all the secrets to dieting off every pound of fat within a couple of weeks while doing nothing but sitting at your desk eating cracker jacks and drinking orange soda. I wish there was a revolutionary metabolic boosting workout I could suggest you do once a month so you could sit back and watch the fat melt off. Unfortunately I don’t work for the late night TV folks so I have no miraculous material to pawn off.

However, the perfect diet does exist, sort of. It’s simply the diet you can adhere to over the long haul without going absolutely crazy in the process. I read a lot of forum posts written by folks looking for a silver bullet; they want that ultimate fat loss solution. While it’s important to become educated, there comes a point in time where you will know all you need to successfully lose body fat, you just have to implement what you have learned.

Diet Makeup

There is no special macronutrient break down or percentage that will give you optimal results. Of course you want to set protein according to your body weight first, then fill in the rest of your nutrients with a balanced amount of carbs and fat. A balanced diet is somewhat subjective as everyone is a bit different and some do better on high carbs and others do well on low carbs. However the deficit is all that matters.

Macronutrient makeup and food choices play a big part in satiety, which also affects adherence. Taking the time for diet breaks and refeeding as needed will also go a long way in keeping you sane. Satiety on low kcals will typically be better with meals that are high in protein with a moderate amount of fat. The amount of fat is highly dependent on how many meals you eat, volume of food, amount of kcals etc. Consuming fruits, veggies and carbs that contain more fiber is always a good idea to promote satiety.

When I was working with Martin Berkhan way back when, he always encouraged me to break my fasts with fruit, veggies and lean meat. This taught me a lot about how much my food choices on lower kcals affected my adherence.

While I tend to eat a lot of cereal and white rice, I only do so when on a maintenance or hypercaloric diet. I still eat this stuff a few times per week on a fat loss diet but the majority of my carbs will come from fruits and veggies for general health and to keep my belly full.

Creating The Deficit

It doesn’t matter how you do it. You can go on the banana diet, the fruit loop diet, the Ben and Jerry’s diet or a Hollywood liquid diet. All you have to do is create a deficit to lose weight. Now of course any of these diets will work but the one with the optimal amount of protein will yield the best results. You always want to keep protein at a minimum of 1-1.5g/lb of body weight whilst dieting to ensure you retain all of the lean body mass you have worked so hard to accrue.

There is no getting around this fact; to lose body fat, you must create a deficit.

Exercise Helps

When I am working a sedentary job, my maintenance kcals are somewhat low(er) than what I would like them to be. With about 3-4 hours of training per week I maintain on about 13-14xBW in kcals. So at a body weight of 180lbs that puts me at roughly 2300- 2500 kcals to easily maintain my weight.

This is where exercise comes in handy for creating a larger deficit, which in turn gives you a few options. Increasing your energy expenditure will allow you to eat a little more or allow you to create a bigger deficit without your tummy growling all of the time.

It’s important not to go crazy on the extra activity as this will do you more harm than good. I once made the mistake of thinking it was okay to workout 7 days a week on really low kcals. I burned out in a hurry. Ideally you would be lifting weights 2-3x per week and doing some moderate cardio 2-3x per week as well. With a moderate deficit of 500-700 kcals per day, your recovery should be fine granted you are sitting on your rump most of the time.

Various Fat Loss Methods

Now we know there are multiple ways to skin a cat(just don’t skin mine). One can eat 2 meals per day, 3 meals or even 8 meals. It doesn’t really make a lick of difference as long as protein requirements are met and you eat around your workouts.

I personally have found that intermittent fasting works well for me when I have a really busy schedule. I particularly liked to fit my daily caloric amount into an eight hour window when I was working closely with Martin. The intermittent fasting approach was a great change from eating like a bird all day long.

Right now, with my current schedule, I usually eat breakfast, train, then eat a post workout meal. Around 3pm I leave for work and fast up until I get home which is after midnight. Once I am home I consume the rest of my kcals for the day. This meal usually contains a decent amount of carbs as they help me sleep.

Essentially, I will fast for about 10-12 hours depending on the day with no problems regarding adherence whatsoever. I also feel that I am more productive at work when I don’t consume any food during my shift. There are some studies suggesting that fasting improves mental sharpness and clarity, however this could be a pure coincidence as I am fasting no longer than 10-12 hours at time.

Another method that I am very intrigued by is the 24 hour fast made popular by Brad Pilon. He recently published an awesome article titled Will You Lose Muscle With Fasting? While there have been multiple studies proving no lean body mass loss during 24 hour fasts, many people are still very skeptical. Brad does a good job of proving his point with anecdotal evidence in the article by sharing pictures of himself spanning a time frame of about 2 years with no visual sign of any lean body mass loss.

In my spare time I am studying his approach and plan to write a detailed synopsis about his method of EatStopEat later on this year. I will most likely use his fat loss protocol during my next diet to get an idea of how it works and how it can be applied with different schedules etc.

Another preferred method in my arsenal of resources is to use Lyle McDonald’s Rapid Fat Loss approach. The handbook is a must read and if you follow the guidelines as laid out, you will definitely be successful in your fat loss attempt. I must say that this diet is not for everyone though. It can be tough for some but when followed as prescribed, it’s very effective.

Good Luck

So if you have a desk job and are struggling to lose some weight I encourage you to find a method you can adhere to and milk it for all it’s worth. Just remember that while it can be more difficult to lose weight when you are sedentary, it’s not impossible.

Tagged as: Diet