If you’re thinking of working at home, or have recently started working from home, I’m about to tell you something you probably haven’t heard before. At least, I haven’t – until recently.

Here goes: working at home is dangerous to your health!

Lexi, Have You Lost Your Marbles?

I’m serious, and I’m not the only one who says so. Scott Tousignant of FatLossQuickie.com, says that most people gain 30 pounds their first year of working at home.

While I didn’t gain 30 pounds, I did notice some alarming things about my health in the last 18 months of being a work at home Mom:

• I’ve gained weight even though I don’t snack as much as I used to when I was working in an office
• My clothes were getting tighter
• I was getting flabby everywhere – my arms, stomach, butt, legs…
• I felt tired all the time
• I wasn’t getting enough sleep and having a hard time getting up in the morning
• Even though I had more time to exercise (than when I was employed), I wasn’t motivated to exercise

I’ve always been an exerciser. I’ve been a gym member. I own a dozen exercise videos. But this time, I just couldn’t stick to it somehow.

So a couple of weeks ago, I decided I would do short 10-15 minute workouts whenever I was taking a break between the chunks of time that I did work. So when I saw Scott’s Home Office Workout, I thought it was just perfect.

But Does It Work?

Scott and his wife both work at home, so they know what work at home parents need: quick but effective workouts you can do at home. This is what I like about the Home Office Workout:

• Each workout – one strength training and one cardio per day – is only 10 minutes long, which means you’re done for the day after only 20 minutes
• There’s a lot of variety. You do a different set of workouts every day for a week, and then cycle through the weekly workouts for a month.
• You don’t need a lot of space. Scott says you only need a 6 x 4 feet of space to do the workouts. In fact, I ‘ve done them in even smaller spaces (but then I’m only 5’1″).
• You don’t need expensive equipment. You’ll need dumbells, a stability ball, and a jump rope. I’ve been doing the workouts with only a stability ball, using two cans of beans as weights and an “invisible” jump rope. I will go out and get everything eventually, and it won’t cost me more than $35 for all of them.
• It works. After 3 days of doing the workouts, I could comfortably wear one of my form-fitting shirts again. About 5 days into the workouts, hubby said I was feeling firmer (but because he’s my number 1 fan, I dismissed it). A week into the workouts, my 8-year-old daughter, who’s also my harshest critic, said “Mom, you’re getting unflabby.” That’s when I knew the workouts were really working.

I’ve also noticed that I’m much more motivated to exercise than I was before. I’m not sure why, but it must be the combination of the short workouts, the variety and of course, seeing the results that’s keeping me motivated.

Another thing: the workouts are strong but challenging. The first couple of days, I was whining and cursing Scott (via Twitter) about the workouts. But then one day, something happened. A thought popped into my head as my muscles ached and wobbled: “I can do this. I CAN do this!”

For somebody who always just wanted to get exercise over and done with, this is a real breakthrough.

I’ve noticed other things, too: I’m able to get up early in the morning (6 am), and I mean jump out of bed instead of dragging my “computer butt” out of bed. My moods have also improved. I’m more cheerful throughout the day. And – now I’m not sure if this is just my imagination – but I have been more productive lately, even though my girls are back in school and I’ve lost the best babysitters and mother’s helpers ever.

There are a couple of other benefits I’ve observed, but these are of the private nature and I’d rather not mention them here (wink).

The only disadvantage I see with the Fat Loss Quickie workouts is the lack of warm-ups and cool-downs. I know enough about exercise to do these myself. In fact, this is the reason I do the cardio right after the strength training workout – since my body is all warmed up already, I might as well do the cardio exercises as well.

UPDATE: Scott recommends marching in place for a couple of minutes for your warm up and cool down. But if you’re like me and want to stretch before and/or after you exercise, you’ll want to find some warm-up exercises, such as the ones here. You can do the same stretches for your cool down (but note, I’m not a personal trainer, so don’t take my word for it). I’ve asked Scott about this, and will update this post when I receive his reply.

If you’re interested in getting more fit, more energized and more productive, check out Scott’s Fat Loss Quickie Home Office Workouts here:

=> Fat Loss Quickie

PS: I forgot to mention that the Fat Loss Quickie workouts are videos you can watch online and/or download to your computer. Scott also gives nutrition tips, motivational videos, and blog with more useful tips. Plus, you can always reach Scott through Twitter when you have questions (or just to say, “My muscles hurt, I hate you Scott.” He doesn’t mind!). Click the link below to find out more:

=> Fat Loss Quickie

photo credit: Miss Gong & The Flickers

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