Worker Bee: Elisabeth from Jogger’s Life

25 Nov

Welcome to the Worker Bee series – a weekly feature that will highlight food bloggers who are also full-time working professionals.

There are many days where I feel like I can’t fit it in, so I look to other bloggers for inspiration and guidance. This series is a way to see what some of our favorite bloggers do for a living along with how they incorporate healthy living!

This week’s Worker Bee is Elisabeth from Jogger’s Life!

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1) What is your profession? I am a Senior Corporate Accountant for a mid-sized government contractor. Woo! Fascinating stuff! I’m also in the process of earning my Master’s degree in Holistic Nutrition.

2) Did you see always see yourself in that field? I absolutely did not see myself as an accountant! I failed math nearly the entire way through school, so it was the most illogical career choice imaginable. As a child, I dreamed of being a social worker or a physical therapist. After completing the first two years of my social work degree, as well as an internship with the Department of Social Services, I decided that the field was too much for my heart to handle.

After floundering around in retail management, I landed an entry-level job in operations at my current company at the age of 22. I saw the opportunity for advancement, so I enrolled in college again. I earned my bachelor’s degree in accounting, and about 6 years ago I was promoted to the position that I currently hold.

My job has literally been a series of chance events and opportunities, but was definitely not my first choice! Lucky for me, accounting has a lot more to do with problem-solving and budgeting, and less to do with actual math!

3) Does your day job incorporate healthy living? My job is filled with the same junk food that most other offices are filled with. Cookies and cake make regular appearances, and the community candy bowl resides in my office (comfortably out of reach).

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Although I work in a fairly typical office environment, the company is very small, and the owner supports healthy living. He can often be found in my office doing some of his 500 daily push-ups! Although he cannot fathom not eating meat (“don’t you CRAVE IT??”), he respects my personal choices. On his weekly trips around the office to pass out free candy bars and soda, he always smiles and hands me a pack of gum instead.

4) If so, how? If not, how do you incorporate healthy living into your job? Incorporating healthy living isn’t difficult for me. I am allowed 1.25 hours for lunch (as opposed to only an hour) so that I can comfortably travel to the gym and get in a 30 minute cardio workout. In addition, 50% of our gym membership is paid for by the company. I also have my own personal “gym” right in my office, where I can often be found crunching, stretching, dipping, and foam rolling.
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(I’m fairly certain that my coworkers thing I’m insane at this point).
We also have a plan in the works to turn a vacant downstairs conference room into our own small corporate gym, complete with a shower. This is very exciting news in my world, because it equates to an extra 15 minutes of cardio at lunch!

5) Can you provide readers with any tips on how to balance healthy living and working? What are some tricks you’ve picked up along the way?

-Remove yourself from the typical rounds of office-inspired junk. Move the candy bowl from your reach, or change the route that you take to the kitchen to refill your water bottle. If you tell your coworkers “no” enough times, they’ll eventually stop asking.

-Walk around the building/office/parking lot during breaks. In addition to circling the parking lot on my breaks, I have also been known to schedule an occasional date with the stairs in my building. Sometimes it feels good to just move around a little, and some extra stairs can give me an extra boost of energy after staring at the computer screen for hours!

-Pack a balanced lunch, and keep healthy snacks on hand. I always keep a selection of lunch and snack options in my desk drawer for when I’m in a pitch. I also have a “secret” candy stash–because we all need a Tootsie Pop from time to time!

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-Keep a dedicated water bottle at work. Before I started leaving a water bottle at work, I tended to forget to bring water on a daily basis, or I couldn’t find a cup to refill (which is not uncommon in my small company). With a water bottle in my office all the time, I can just refill it and have it on hand every day. Since many of us often mistake thirst for hunger, hydration is key!

6) Where do you see yourself in 10 years? I am planning my wedding for next year (!!), so in 10 years, I will be married and hopefully have a couple of kids. By that time, I hope to also be working in the field of holistic nutrition, and helping others learn to eat intuitively and lead a healthy, balanced lifestyle! I also plan to continue blogging and freelance writing, which I hope will lead me to more writing opportunities in the future.

2 Responses to “Worker Bee: Elisabeth from Jogger’s Life”

  1. Lisa (bakebikeblog) November 25, 2009 at 8:18 pm #

    What a fantastic post! I too work full time in an office environment and completely understand the pressure of trying to balance ‘work’ and fitness – which can be frustrating (not to mention tiring!) at times.
    Great tip re walking around the office / building on breaks – not only does it get you moving but I find that it is also a great way to clear your mind :)

    Reply
  2. Nicci@NiftyEats November 25, 2009 at 10:11 pm #

    I’m still living the worker bee series!!

    Reply

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