WFH will cause more obesity

[BalloonCityBaseline]

I can't see how it wouldn't. Stuck at home, alone, mostly based a desk. Not even a walk from a tube station or up a few flights of stairs. Access to more food. Usually I just bring what I know I should eat and then I don't buy more or use the vending machine, but at home I'm eating much much more.
What does everyone think? I'm sure there's some counter views.

@Miarara

I'm with you, I've always been able to maintain my weight, I used to go to the gym 2/3 times a week and take healthy lunches to work. Since wfh my workload has increased, I rarely manage a lunchbreak but when I do I do walk but can only fit in about 15 minutes. I haven't really saved commuting time as still have to take DD to nursery and pick her up, but it's a drive away, I've put on about a stone at a guess. I'm working on it but my back aches from sitting all day, there's no getting up going to the printer etc, I literally walk downstairs to make a drink and grab something to eat every couple of hours. I think its the workload that means I struggle as I just feel like I'm tied to my desk. I used to do a lot of presentations where I'd be standing and could move around, now they're on zoom so just sat, I'm looking forward to being a mix of office and home hopefully by summer!

I think that's the problem isn't it. I'm pretty much the same. On the days I WFH I'm
Glued to my desk, no time to walk up and down my living room to get extra steps in as I have earphones on all day plugged into a laptop. Half an hour for lunch which is monitored. At least on the days I'm at work I get to walk up a massive corridor for a toilet break!

@LifesLittleDeciders

People have more time to eat better meals?

Eh.. my lunch break is still only 30 minutes - I haven’t had a lunch break upgrade since WFH. Should I contact citizens advice?

Same! Half an hour if I'm really lucky.

My partner lost too stone working from home. Time to exercise and less office stress.

Oh and much better diet working from home

I generally go for a walk in my break, or as soon as I finish for the day.
Something I wouldn't do if I was in the office.
I also snack far less, as there was always biscuits or cakes in the office when we were there.

Wfh is just such a more sedentary life. I work 4m from my snack cupboard so eat less well too. Going for runs doesn’t mitigate that for me, I sit in my chair and have all my meetings there and my step count for the day is like 100- a couple of trips to the toilet and the snack cupboard.

I've lost 6kg since November working from home. Much more control over what and when I eat, easier to be active etc. I'm back in the office now and people keep bringing cake in, nearly everyday. It's very frustrating.

Also there is an element of choice here. I know it is hard but you have to just resign yourself to the fact you're definitely going to become obese because you don't walk to the train station anymore.

Both dh and I put on weight wfh. But we’ve made a decision to sort it out so we’re planning our exercise schedules, making lunch in the mornings or having leftovers from the day before and fasting.
Dh’s workplace ran a competitive steps challenge which really helped him to get out for walks.

Really, workplaces need to be looking at this and allowing their staff decent lunch breaks and ensuring they have time to take care if their wellbeing.

We’ve both lost some weight now making those changes

I do more exercise when than I did before. I don't like exercise.
Going out to see clients meant hours driving. I get more time back to do other things.

*you also have access to the junk cupboard, not just to the allowance of one packet of crisps and a chocolate bar you’d usually pack yourself.

At work I assume you don’t really snack through the day, only on breaks. While WFH I often find myself with a couple of Jaffa Cakes every time I make myself a cup of tea or coffee*

But you don't have to have a 'junk cupboard' or lots of junk in your house. Don't buy it. When you really want it go out to the shop and get it.

Also I have never had a job where I could only eat on breaks. Standard, non customer facing office jobs you can eat whenever you like.

Count me in your informal research. Working from home has seen me put on two stone. I tried exercising but absolutely nothing could replace the active day I used to have. I walked everywhere and when in university I was up and down the campus too. I've also snacked more due to boredom. I'm not obese at the moment but definitely overweight.

Disagree. When I worked from home last March to June, I lost weight.
I stopped eating from stress of running around and being constantly on the go.
Slowing down meant I ate properly.
We're all different I guess!

If you have the motivation to exercise then working from home is fine however if you don’t then you could easily become less fit. My DH is now sat in a small room all day, and, eats at his desk. When he was in the office he’d have the walk to and from the train stations, and would walk into town for lunch. This was just part of his daily life; he isn’t motivated to do exercise for the sake of it.

However he has lost lots of weight during the past year. He hasn’t had access to the tempting food from numerous places near his office and just grabs something quick for lunch at home. It’s made a massive difference. But although a healthier weight he isn’t getting the exercise that he should.

I think it people take responsibility for their exercise/ what they are eating then obesity will not be an issue for most wfh.

Are you a commercial landlord desperate for everyone to commute to offices? I don't see why else you'd come up with these nonsensical 'consequences' of WFH. What about stay at home mums, are they all obese? I was fatter in the office because I was comfort eating to soothe the pain of my commute. Now back to size 8 after eating excellent home cooked meals for a year.

I always thought I would be fitter WFH, more exercise time, better food choices, but I'm not. I don't move nearly as much. Walking round the office, going to meetings in other venues, even shopping instead of internet browsing meant I was naturally on the go much more. My commute was only 15 mins in a car so I don't gain much time there. I try to walk for those 30 minutes every day but it really doesn't compare to the natural movement I had before.

My DH was wfh from Jan to March so had been home about 3 months including the xmas break. He put on a stone in weight even though he ate less at home. He has been back at work 3 weeks and lost it without any effort, he does walk a lot of steps at work though.

@BalloonCityBaseline

I can't see how it wouldn't. Stuck at home, alone, mostly based a desk. Not even a walk from a tube station or up a few flights of stairs. Access to more food. Usually I just bring what I know I should eat and then I don't buy more or use the vending machine, but at home I'm eating much much more. What does everyone think? I'm sure there's some counter views.

How about a bit of personal responsibility?

Use the time saved by not commuting to walk/jog/cycle around your home area.

Use the money saved by not commuting to buy a treadmill or exercise bike.

Use a bit of self control not to stuff yourself with chocolate and crisps during the day out of boredom.

Stop making excuses and take personal responsibility for your own health.

I'm fitter and have lost weight in lockdown.

I was completely sedentary previously, drove to work, and dropped the kids at childcare on route as I was so tight for time, often too tired or disorganised to make a healthy lunch so ended up eating rubbish at work, cakes/sweets constantly hanging around the office, exhausted from the stress of commuting so ate more convenience food.

Wfh means I have the time to walk the 2 miles return journey to school/nursery, sometimes fit in extra exercise at lunchtime to get away from home. Rather than stuffing a sandwich at my desk I have time to make healthy food straight out the fridge, and have more time to do meal prep for tea before or after work so it's not a case of rushing in the door at 6p.m. with starving children who need instant food cooking.

Once exercise classes open again I can see myself having the energy and feel like going out in the evening, as having been home all day a change would be nice, it was the opposite before where I had been out the house for 11 hours so wanted time at home after work!

@Moomin12345

Are you a commercial landlord desperate for everyone to commute to offices? I don't see why else you'd come up with these nonsensical 'consequences' of WFH. What about stay at home mums, are they all obese? I was fatter in the office because I was comfort eating to soothe the pain of my commute. Now back to size 8 after eating excellent home cooked meals for a year.

I’ve yet to meet the stay at home Mum who spends her day sitting in a chair logging into 8 hours of meetings

please don't make this another fat shaming thread. It doesn't help the conversation.

Can we stop with the "fat shaming" every time someone god forbid suggests that SOME people are overweight due to their own choices?

Yes, there are absolutely people all over the world who are overweight due to psychological factors, mental health, trauma in earlier life, illness, medication, disability etc etc......

But the OP quite explicitly asked about whether WFH would cause more obesity. WFH is not the causal factor in the scenarios I've mentioned above.

OP talked about the scenario of people choosing to eat more because they have access to their own fridge and choosing to move less/not do exercise because they they are now wfh.

Cut it whichever way you like, but that is down to willpower and laziness.

No one is “blaming WFH” for anything FGS

Erm yes, that is the entire context of the thread the OP started and it is quite literally in the thread title!

Will depend entirely. If you previously worked in a big office with a public transport commute, then yes quite possibly. You'll have lost all those steps from walking to / from the train, navigating big stations and even walking up and down stairs all day around the office. Perhaps if you live in an inner city and / or have a high-powered job you might not have the motivation or time to exercise to make up for it during the day or immediately before / after work.

However, if you previously drove from door to door to work in a small office where you sat at your desk all day and had an endless supply of cakes / doughnuts being brought in by your colleagues then it might be a different story. Maybe you live in the countryside so can leave your desk for a nice hour-long power walk at lunchtime, or have the time to walk your children to and from school instead of flinging them out the car on your way to work.

This shouldn't be about blaming, it's more of a thread to see how readily people got incidental exercise when working in their office rather than wfh.
You can hardly call people lazy because they're working 10-11 hour days rather than 8 hrs pre-pandemic. Employers have also got used to this extra free time. I had to make a real effort this year to cut back on my working hours and slot in exercise during the day, not so much because of physical health issues but more to protect my mental health.

There’s an extra 2/3 hours between the morning commute, lunch time and the evening to exercise, plus the opportunity to make a healthy breakfast and lunch rather than relying on convenience food.

WFH isn’t going to “cause” obesity. Some adults don’t want to make any effort with their health even though they have every opportunity.

Ah but some people like to blame, whether it's weight, drugs, alcohol or other life choices. If only everyone would just be responsible for themselves and not eat as much and exercise more. Self discipline is all we need, in fact if Will Power was in charge (who ever he is) then all life's problems would be solved.