Obesity and office jobs

[supton]

I'm working on my weight; counting calories and exercise. With the good weather here I'm working on getting outside once/day. Helps that work has showers and a room to store bicycles in.

Managed to cram in 164 miles of biking last week. Felt really good. Hour at lunch during the week, couple of long rides on the weekend days. This week I'll cut out my evening snack and see if I can trim the waistline back as the summer goes.

One thing I'm trying to watch out for is my financial side. It's very anxiety-inducing to worry about debt. Worrying about making ends meet while sitting at a desk...

I'd rather have a cheapo house and a cheapo car so as to have time to enjoy my cheapo bicycles. Work less play more. Part of a life strategy. It's not that I can work less than 40 hours but I could easily work far more. So I try to make sure I only do 40 hours a week, and would opt to not take a higher paying job if it meant longer hours (not uncommon for engineers to put in more than 40 hours despite salary positions).

 

[Alfred_B]

Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
How do people who work behind a computer all day long stay in shape? I mean even if you went to the gym I don't see it being enough. I guess you could stay in shape by drastically cutting down how much you eat since you don't need much just sitting there.

Opinions?


Crossfit 2-3 times a week and physical work on the weekends.

2 meals a day on days I don't work out (small lunch and normal dinner).

2 day fast every month.

 

[Chris Meutsch]

I run a 5k every morning before rolling into the factory. Bring a healthy lunch, walk the many staircases here frequently. It's about all I have time for in my life currently.

 

[SubyRoo]

Originally Posted By: Olas
Calories in : Calories out. It's a very simple ratio..


This. I track my calories every day in an app as well as weight training 4 to 5 times per week. Its tiresome at first entering info into to app but after a couple days its no big deal at all. You need to track your calories for a while to determine what calories you can consume to maintain a given weight. Once you have the needed calorie info you can eat less or more to reach your desired goal.

 

[AlaskaMike]

One of the easy tricks I started doing which has worked out really well is to park offsite every morning. This requires me to walk a good distance in to work, and if I want to get home I have to walk back to my vehicle every evening. Lately I've been parking on the other side of a park that has a lot of bike paths, so I can walk a couple of laps before continuing in to the office. The beautiful thing about this is that it requires no financial investment, it's low intensity so it's easy on joints, and you can vary it as much as you want.

Simple walking is very underrated, but I think it's one of the most effective and healthiest ways to get good exercise.

 

[dave123]

People in this country and a lot of them stuff their face with junk foods and wrong foods plain and simple.

 

[Al]

overwhelming number of folks in this coutry get fat bc they eat too much of the wrong food. Has nothing to do with your job.
waste of timwe discussing on a forum. It takes a serious dedication to health. 90% of folks don't have a clu.

 

[dave123]

Originally Posted By: Al
overwhelming number of folks in this coutry get fat bc they eat too much of the wrong food. Has nothing to do with your job.
waste of timwe discussing on a forum. It takes a serious dedication to health. 90% of folks don't have a clu.
+1 couldn't say it any better

 

[SeaJay]

Many of us in office settings work in a building with many floors. After I get my notebook started up each morning, I take the elevator down 8 floors and run up (196 steps) back to my floor. In a few more weeks, I'll try to do it twice each day (fingers crossed). Weather permitting, I'll hit the park after work and run a few interval quarter miles at speed with a walk in between each.

Its not hard, but Ya gotta work at it to stay in shape. Those that work at stand up stations, yes are better off than us that sit. But it is no substitute for exersizing hard enough to get the heart & lungs working at full speed.

 

[supton]

I read recently that the stand to work setups are not meant to be stood at all the time, but rather as an option to flip between sitting and standing.

I try to get up at the top of the hour and take a walk. Stretch, move, look out a window. I try to walk the parking lot at lunchtime. But I think I get a good workout on a bike ride instead, so I'm opting to bike when I can--bought a cheap bike off CL, fixed it up, and try to hang with the real bikers at work.

 

[IndyIan]

I always find it surprising the number of obese people with jobs that require some manual labor, or just being on their feet all day. Lounging in an office chair with 50lbs extra is one thing, but having to haul it around all day would be a pain.
More people are getting the stand up desk set up here, but I'm not really interested, I get up fairly often and use the printer that's farther away

 

[Olas]

Eat as much as you want, of whatever you want, whenever you want. Just remember to use those calories for training and not necessitating going shopping for bigger clothes.

 

[oilpsi2high]

I feel like people forget that the human body is a machine that needs to be maintained just like anything else. Cardio exercises your engine, weight training exercises your door hinges and body hardware, and eating right is like putting top tier fluids and oils in your car.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

^^This^^

 

[BeerCan]

I try and eat healthier food and exercise. One thing that has really helped me is portion control, I weigh all my food before I eat and track it in an app. It really helps make you realize how much you eat when you weigh it. I track my macros and try and hit my targets everyday. Then once a week I eat a meal of anything I want just as a treat. I have noticed over the years my cheat meal gets smaller and healthier and I am still satisfied.

Another thing is if I feel full I stop eating. I know that sounds like common sense but I used to finish my plate even if my body was telling me to stop. Once you are able to recognize you are full, it becomes easier to stop. I was trained as a kid to finish my plate (or no desert). It was hard to break that habit.