You told us: 15 genius tips for getting healthier at work

May is Global Employee Health & Fitness Month, and we celebrated by giving away some great prizes with OrthoCarolina.

We asked you to share your tips for healthy living in the workplace and we were super impressed with some of these simple but effective hacks.

Here are 15 of our favorites:

(1) My colleague and I go for a walk around 3pm everyday. It gives us a chance to get moving and get some fresh air!

(2) Always take those stairs baby! #22ndFloor

(3) My team and I set a reoccurring alarm to stand up every 45 mins. We change it up each week on what we do when we stand, some weeks it has been wall sits or squats, other weeks it’s pushups or lunges.

(4) One coworker keeps mentioning we need to attempt Prancercising; if you don’t know what Prancercising is, YouTube it, you can thank me later!

(5) We have healthy Tuesday every Tuesday where people bring in a healthy food dish so we can encourage healthy eating and discover new ways to eat healthy. We share the recipes of our favorite dishes.

(6) Walking on breaks, stretches at my desk, Farmers Market every week at work! Yoga classes on my lunch break!

(7) We have Varidesks to alternate from sitting to standing in our offices. We offer La Croix sparkling water instead of soda, and lots of filtered water from the water fountain of course! We are allowed a 20 minute fitness break during work hours three times per week. We can use the on-site fitness room or if it’s nice outside, take a walk around our cute little neighborhood in Oakhurst!

(8) Rather than having cookie cakes for every time we celebrate a birthday month, I propose that we need to ‘mix it up’. In the past I’ve had a yogurt parfait bar, it was actually a huge hit! The idea wasn’t well supported at first wasn’t, but after the fact, it was requested that we do it again! Everyone loved the feeling of ‘being healthy’, especially at the beginning of the day…. During one happy hour, I brought a few growlers of Lenny Boy Kombucha. No one knew what it was. After I explained the history and health benefits, people were very intrigued and wanted to join my Sunday Booch trip to Lenny Boy.

(9) I encouraged one of my coworkers who works on my row to plan a 5 minute ‘yoga/mediation session’ at random. It’s 1. Nice to have someone else be in charge of showing a healthy initiative, and 2. A great way to break from the stress and get back in balance.

(10) We do the Workweek Hustle challenge on the FitBit app every week. This encourages us to walk during working hours on the “track” in our business park AND after work at home, too!

(11) We have an ice cream place right next door which can be tempting. To combat the afternoon craving for a treat, a bunch of us chipped in to create a “La Croix Club” and we fill one of the fridges up with much healthier seltzer water to be there when we need a break and something cold to refresh us in the afternoon. A lot less calories and a fun adventure to try to new flavors.

(12) Always have my hibiscus tea with fresh lemon.

(13) Fresh fruit weekly, a blender to make smoothies and encouraging lunch time walking.

(14) We have a squat/push up competitions every busy season. 10 of either every hour for 2 months, when you work 13 hour days you need to MOVE.

(15) Our office is very competitive, so we like to hold different food challenges throughout the year that help keep everyone that wants to participate on track. From doing Whole 30s together, to reducing the amount of times you are allowed out to eat we’ve done it on. My favorite was when the office did a challenge that you if you did not bring a lunch and planned to eat out, you were only allowed to spend $5—and if you went over the $5 mark you had to do push ups in front of everyone (no one’s egos or arms were hurt in the process). It’s so much easier to be healthy when the entire team is working together towards a common goal—and a little friendly competition never hurt anyone!

Need a little motivation? Follow @orthocarolina on Instagram for more ideas and tips.

Cover photo by Tara Lilly