Need some dietary/exercise help

[Magus]

Some of this probably depends on if you have access to a refrigerator at work in the break room, except the bananas:

Bananas are probably the most filling fruit there is. I've eaten one or two bananas for lunch many times and been quite satisfied.

I wouldn't buy more than five or six at a time, though, depending on if you can eat them in three or four days. Also you shouldn't store them in the fridge, they turn brown for some reason. They look like they would look if they were overripe/rotten, except the fruit is still firm. I'm sure there's some kind of scientific explanation.

Yogurt is another good option (get the low-calorie kind--around 100 calories for 6 oz.), as is a good cereal like Honey Bunches of Oats. Eat a yogurt cup, a banana, and a bowl of cereal--quite satisfying. Even adding in the milk it's not very many calories like a hamburger or something.

If you want some meat hard-boiled eggs are great and low-calorie. They're a good lunch option, too, as long as you have a napkin to catch the shell you peel off. Obviously there's plenty of mumbo jumbo about cholesterol in them, or whatever. Since nobody can agree on it I'd say just go ahead and eat a couple a day and I think you'll live.

[batgirl]

So, you do have a fridge at work...Bring your lunch.

Easiest thing by far. You don't need to rely on sandwiches either in this case too. Grilled chicken breast or fish with some bbq sauce or something, steamed brown rice and some greens and you're set. Filling, veg, good carbs, protein. You can make stir fry with tofu, tuna salad over greens with veggies and avocado (good source of good for you fat). My suggestion is to either bring a canvas lunch bag that will not get thrown out, or label your lunch with your name and the date and a note about not throwing it out (I found that when I worked in my company's office, ppl who didn't date their food got it thrown out real quick). Eating out is almost always more expensive and unhealthier than making your own food. You can also take one of your days off and cook a lot of food, putting them in tupperware and storing them in the fridge/freezer for a few days, so all you need to do is take a batch out with you to work instead of cooking every day.

As for exercise, do you get breaks? If you do, take a short walk around the block. I walk to work 2 days out of 4 (I live 1 mile from my job those days) and the other days I go to the gym. I work very late hours (read: midnight and 1am) and I'm usually sitting on my ass watching tv or gaming until those hours anyways, so I just leave early and go work out. I spend 1 day swimming laps, 1 day doing cardio (like biking or elliptical) and weights for the top half of my body (arms, chest, back etc) and 1 day doing cardio again and weights on my legs.

You need to figure out what you enjoy in terms of exercise and work it into your routine. I hate running, so I don't run. I love swimming and I find it enjoyable, so I swim laps instead of running. If I only had the choice of running, I would never go to the gym at all.

Another possible idea is to look up either exercise classes or something of that nature. Kickboxing, zumba, and even martial arts are all good forms of exercise that could be enjoyable for you. Like a certain sport? Look to see if your community has an adult league that you could join. I used to play in a teenage basketball league 2 nights a week when I was younger.

The main thing to remember is to stick with it. If you fall off the wagon one week, don't give up. We recently had the horrible hurricane here and I wasn't able to go to the gym for 2 weeks due to the gym not having power and then this gas shortage, but I'm not letting it keep me down. I'm packing my bag for tomorrow and I'm going to go and start over. Keeping a positive attitude is key.

[Azisien]

Exercise routine not working for you?