Young Men's Guide to Weight Management

Adjusting to the corporate life after graduating college is known to be one of the most challenging times of a young male’s life to maintain a healthy weight, often leading to weight gain. In college, you were at the will of your course schedule and other extracurricular activities, but all of that disappears as soon as you turned in your last final exam. As a young male professional who is still within the first five years after college, you may have noticed your waist expanding and endurance dropping — does this mean that you’re doomed for the rest of your life? Absolutely not!

Among the most common challenges that make it difficult for you to stop the weight gain process and achieve weight loss success are the sedentary lifestyle that comes with working in an office, temptations from high calorie snacks and fast food, and alcohol consumption with your buddies after work.

The Corporate Life

When you’re a young professional, this often means having to stay cooped up in your desk for most of the day at work. Not only that, in your first couple of years, there’s a good chance that the management team is keeping track of how many times you get up to walk around. A good tip to increase your physical activity during the work week is to get in the habit of parking further away.  Not only is this going to give you a chance to get some fresh air before entering your cubicle, but you’re also getting more cardio than the folks parking close to the office building.

As a young male professional, you’re going to have to keep a tidy schedule that reminds you of your deadlines, important meetings, and appointments in and out of work. For effective weight management and weight loss, adding your workouts into your schedule can help increase your consistency in working out and normalize the healthy lifestyle. Go into your calendar, pick the days and times where you are given the best opportunity to workout and add it into your calendar.

One of the nice things about being a young professional is that you’re finally earning a decent salary that opens up the possibilities that you never had as a kid up through college. That said, this also means that you have to be careful about spending habits by making the smart buying choices that offer long-term benefits, instead of just short-term excitement. Working with a qualified nutritionist and personal trainer can be one of the best investments you can make for weight management and weight loss. Working with these professionals can help you learn effective healthy living strategies that fit into your new stage in life, as well as adjusting to other changes like moving to a new town, getting married, or having kids.

Calories Now Count

I remember how, as a kid, I was able to eat just about everything I wanted to eat without gaining weight because I was always involved in sports or I would be out riding my bike with buddies all day. After moving from Philadelphia to San Diego, I was no longer rowing competitively, but I was still eating like I was, so it didn’t take a long time to get from 210 pounds to 243. Even though you’re still young, life as a professional often means having to stay put for several hours each day and balancing the responsibilities of being an adult, so you can kiss the two-hour workouts you had back in college goodbye!

One of the most common causes of weight gain for males in their early to mid-20s beginning their professional careers is portion control (or lack thereof). Understand that the calories your body doesn’t burn are going to be stored as fat, meaning that when you’re snacking at your desk and supersizing your meals, those excess calories are going to bite you in the long run. One pound of fat is about 3,500 calories, so weight gain happens very gradually and often undetectable for weeks and sometimes months.

Now that you’re on your own, you can finally make your own choices about what you’re going to eat. Young male professionals, specifically those that work in downtown offices have a bunch of restaurant choices close by that they can enjoy during their lunch breaks. These restaurants have zero responsibility for your weight gain, instead, they just want to make the most delicious food for the highest profit that’s going to keep you coming back and telling your friends. That said, constantly eating at these places is going to result in excess calorie consumption and rapid weight gain. To take back control, start bringing your own lunch to the office.

Alcohol

One of the most common reasons young males struggle to prevent weight gain after college is alcohol consumption. Alcohol can be great as a social lubricant, but you have to remind yourself that you’re probably going to make poor eating decisions when you drink. Be conscious about drinking responsibly and try finding new activities you can do with friends that doesn’t involve spirits.

Alcohol is a macronutrient, meaning you’re getting seven calories out of each gram, so the stronger the drink, the more calories you’re getting from that drink. Young males that want to avoid gaining weight also have to consider the calories if you mix your drinks with Coke or fruit juices, as well as other ingredients that your bartender is putting in your drink. Unlike how solid foods that make you feel full, fluid calories don’t have the same effect yet they contribute to overall caloric content. Remember, calories that don’t get burned for energy are stored as fat.

Young males that want to manage their weight need to consider their plans for the day after a night out drinking with their buddies. In college, you might have been able to go drinking at parties and still be able to workout the next day, but as you go up in age, you need to realize that you won’t be able to recover from these nights as quickly as you once did. Try to limit alcohol consumption only to the point where you’re feeling good but not “drunk”, that way you’re not a hungover mess the next day.

Conclusion

Going from your college campus to the corporate world can be a big culture change for young males in the first five years after graduating. That said, not only is your lifestyle going to dramatically change, but you also have to make changes to your exercise, eating, and drinking habits for effective weight management. By considering that you’re likely going to be more sedentary than ever before because of work, understanding how calories work, and knowing how to responsibly manage your drinking habits, you will be able to avoid gaining unnecessary weight. In college, there was the “freshman 15”, but as a working professional, if you’re not careful, it can easily become a “post-college 50”.

For information about working with Coach Julio for online personal training and nutritionist services, email julio@365physique.com