In an average, half of the employees gain weight usually at work. If you’re sitting at your desk all day, it’s possible that you’ll pack some weight since you’re muscles are not doing anything except when you voluntarily stretch them. Weight gain happens to more women (50%) but that doesn’t mean men don’t gain weight since they are still close to women (42%).

If you think you’re packing pounds every week and you don’t have time to go to gym, here are some ways you could prevent extreme weight gain.

1. Weekend Routine – Going to gym is very tedious and costly. Instead of visiting the gym, go out and smell the roses either by walking and running. It’s a very simple exercise but it will be very beneficial if you do that in routine. If you could just go out one hour every weekend and jog, you should burn a good amount of calories that you have packed at work. You can talk to your officemates regarding this so that you can go out together and prevent weight gain.

2. Get a good breakfast – Never leave home without it. If you have to wake up earlier for a good breakfast do it. Breakfast is the best meal of the day because it will give you the energy that you need that will last until lunchtime. That means you don’t won’t have any cravings for a snack. One of the main reasons why you gain wait is the between meal snacks that you have. These snacks are usually full of sugar and calories which foster weight gain. Be sure to have a healthy breakfast so that you’ll have the energy that you need for the day and move away from unhealthy snacks.

3. Water is your best friend – Water will not only cleanse your body from bad fluids but it will also fill your stomach to control your appetite. If you’re near lunchtime, drink two glasses of water and it will prevent you from eating too much. Because your stomach is already filled with something, you’ll be eating less. This can’t just be applied during lunchtime but also for dinner or breakfast.

4. Monitor your food intake – Create a journal of everything that you’ve eaten during the day. Every cookie and meal that you’ve eaten, write them. You can check your food intake for its calorie content online. If you cannot control eating, at least control the calorie in your food everyday.

5. Avoid stress – Your body reacts to every mental condition that you have. If you are feeling great all the time, your body will be working as if it’s on tip-top shape. But when you feel stress at work, your body will also react badly.

Stress is believed to induce the release of cortisol to the body – this hormone is known to cause weight gain. There are cortisol controlling pills that you can take, but why spend money curing when you don’t have to spend a single cent preventing cortisol and eventually control weight gain.