I lost 20lbs and cured my back pain by working out at my DESK

• Philita Jana Scholz, 39, is an accountant and professor from Columbus, Ohio
• She promotes her ‘Desk to Bikini ‘ workouts on TikTok after losing 20 pounds 
• She uses resistance bands and weights to sneak in workouts throughout the day 

A former fitness competitor whose sedentary job led her to gain weight has revealed how she lost 20 pounds and cured her back pain by doing workouts at her desk. 

Philita Jana Scholz, an accountant and professor from Columbus, Ohio, has more than 286,000 followers on TikTok, where she promotes her ‘Desk to Bikini’ workout program. 

In her videos, she educates people about why they need to stay active while demonstrating how she sneaks in exercises at her desk throughout the day. 

Scholz shared on her website that she used to be heavily involved in fitness competitions, but the long hours she was putting in at work caused her energy levels to drop and her weight to creep up. 

‘People told me that my weight gain was because I was lazy. But I was sitting at my desk for 10-16 hours a day working, and I quit going to the gym right before the pandemic started,’ she explained in a viral clip that has been viewed more than 6.1 million times.

‘So I started doing my desk workouts and lost the weight I gained. Now, I help other women do the same!’

Scholz was seeing a physical therapist for her back pain when she began incorporating desk workouts and home exercises into her daily routine in 2020. 

The content creator pointed out that many people have poor posture and our sitting at their desks hunched over for hours on end, causing a variety of bodily issues. 

‘For me, I know that those posture issues put me in PT for eight weeks,’ she said in a recent video. ‘My back was so bad that I couldn’t even walk around at a store for 30 minutes.’

Scholz later found out that her back pain was actually a core issue, even though she was regularly working out. 

She stressed that sitting all day long can have dire consequences when it comes to your health that go beyond just weight gain and back pain. 

Research has shown that prolonged sitting is associated with premature mortality, obesity, metabolic syndrome, and chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer. 

Living a sedentary lifestyle is also linked to mental health concerns, including depression, anxiety, and chronic stress. 

‘I have shared all of these negative effects not to scare you, but to warn you, to educate you, to help you understand that you need to stay active at your desk all day in order to help avoid all of these negative things,’ she said. 

Scholz noted that she would love to be able to get up and go for a walk during the day, but that’s ‘really hard when you have a full-time job.’ 

‘If you’re like me, you are pretty much chained to your desk,’ she continued. ‘Sometimes I forget that I need to even get up, so that’s why I do my desk workouts.’

More than 80 percent of jobs in the U.S. involve mostly sedentary activities, with the average work day lasting from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. That does not count commuting time, which, on average, is roughly an hour round trip for someone who is not working from home.  

Scholz keeps a resistance band at her desk at all times, so she can do spurts of exercise throughout the day to get her blood flowing. 

In her videos, she demonstrates how she works out throughout the day, whether she is using resistance bands and weights in her office chair or doing bodyweight exercises standing at her desk. 

To work her legs, she will squeeze a weight between her inner thigh. She advises starting with a file folder and working your way up. 

When she has a quick break, she will stand up and do leg lifts or squats using her resistance bands. 

If she is waiting for a Zoom meeting to start, she will do arm exercises in her chair, with her camera off until everyone has logged on. She will even sit on her desk and pull her legs to her chest for a quick ab workout. 

‘It’s not like I’m sitting here sweating doing my desk workouts,’ she explained. ‘Yes, some of them can make you sweat a little bit if you’re really working hard…but they’re not meant to get your hardcore workout in. [They are] meant to keep you active at your desk, so you can help reverse some of these effects of sitting.’ 

Scholz has inspired a number of people to start working out at their desks with her motivational videos.  

‘I literally try at least one workout each working day…I love this…thank you,’ one fan gushed, while another added, ‘Now why didn’t I think of this. Grabbing those bands tomorrow.’

Others shared how they increased their movement throughout the day, including a viewer who lost 20 pounds when she quit her desk job.

‘I got a walking pad and lost 10lbs [immediately],’ someone else commented. ‘Now I barely sit! Definitely need other desk exercises to do!’

‘I bought one of those pedal machines for under my desk and I ride my “bike” while I work,’ another responded.