Beating the Cubicle Buldge- How to stay fit when work keeps you chained to a desk

It's afflicting millions of Americans strapped to ergonomic chairs for countless hours, franticly clicking away at keyboards while staring at drab gray walls decorated with quarterly reports and motivational maxims: the cubicle bulge. It can happen to any of us as we wake up at dawn, battle traffic for an hour, desperately clutching out Venti Mocha Frappuccino, only to retire into a chair that long-ago formed to our butts for a good 10 hours. We scarf down Jamba Juice and Slim Fast bars as an excuse for breakfast, nibble on office donuts to shake the afternoon lull and barely manager to eat dinner, let alone worry about whether it's nutritious. Bottom line: the rat race is packing on the pounds.

But what do I do, you say. I can barely manage to make it to work on time! I have no time for fitness. Anyone knows that unless you're blessed with a phenomenal metabolism, it's not easy. But it's also not impossible.

The first step is to fix your diet. Poor nutrition is the fastest way sabotage a whittled waist.

The first rule: STAY AWAY FROM PROCESSED FOOD. You don't have to switch to a strict diet of carrots and tofu of course, but prepackaged convenient foods are usually loaded with sugar and sodium, if not fat and calories. Of course I realize we don't all have time to whip up a gourmet bag lunch every day, but that's ok. It's easy to keep easy and simple healthy foods on hand for when you hit the snooze button one too many times. Some great foods that make easy snacks to accompany a meal or to fix that 3:30 p.m. craving:

almonds
veggie slices
hummus and whole wheat pita
low-fat string cheese
peanut butter and apples
cottage cheese
whole wheat mini bagels and light cream cheese

Always keeping some basics at the office will ensure you have something healthy to reach for when your tummy starts growling.

Another important thing to remember that no matter how busy you are, you MUST take a time out to eat your lunch. Not only is this therapeutic for your brain, but it will force you to slow down and chew your food. How easy is it to devour a box of Oreos in front of the TV? Same goes for munching while typing up a memo at your desk.

Nest step is to avoid the mindless junk food calories. Office candy dishes, going out to lunch and extra large morning mochas all pad your middle. Think about it, if you're consuming a dolce latte every morning (400 calories), a chocolate chip cookie from your coworker (200 calories) and a coke at lunch (160 calories), you're consuming almost 800 empty calories in addition to your daily diet. Simply cutting out these items can lead to losing over a pound per week.

Finally, you have to get your butt moving. I know, you're laughing at me because you probably haven't left your desk in two days. BUT, there are ways to squeeze a little activity in your day. A strategy I've found effective in my cubicle bulge battle is the 10-minute workout. There are many DVDs out there that break up your workouts into quick 10-minute target workouts. Even without the DVD, you can apply this strategy: