Slashdot Mirror
Getting Back Into Shape While At The Office?
rhuntley12 writes "Personally, I sit at a computer desk for 10 hours a day with very little actual work. I've also started to get a little belly and out of shape. I know it's real bad in my office, especially with all the beer I consume. What do you do to stay in shape? Any secrets? Recently I've started to do sit ups, push ups, and running up and down the stairs. I get a lot of odd looks, and would prefer something that doesn't make the whole office stare at me.
I've looked through some websites with equipment, but it's all serious equipment I can't/won't lug into work. Any suggestions?"
Eureka! I've got it.
We can switch lives. I bike everywhere, including to work, so exercise is omnipresent. How about I take your job drinking beer ten hours a day, and you get some exercise. To keep it fair we can split our pay evenly. You can even fuck my girlfriend sometimes (again, good exercise).
Now, does your workplace have taps, or is it all bottled beer? Domestic or imported? Is there a good bitter or porter there? I must know these things before we continue.
You're welcome.
Cretin - a powerful and flexible CD reencoder
Eat less, Shit more
I have? I haven't noticed. Do these pants make my ass look big?
Simple. Get up and walk around. Contrary to all the paid ads on tv... just burning calories will take weight off. You don't have to target yer stomach if you wanna lose a gut. Targeting exersize is for building/toning muscle groups.
-- Liberalism is a mental disorder.
Go home and exercise?
If it's not one thing, it's Steve's Mother
You need an AirStepper:
j pg
http://www.airstepper.com/image/Exercise_Partner.
M.B.
instigating a full scale, all office FLOPPY DISK WAR!
I wish I could remember the website that I found this on because I wanted to buy one... but it was an exercise bike that was built into a nice leather chair.
Probably loud as hell, but my knees ache a lot from the heat here so I'd love anything that I could use like that to stretch them out.
I think the question should be , "How to get back in shape while working in my parents basement"
...there are some super hot chicks there, it breaks up the day, and I get a moderate workout in. I only stay for about 45 minutes, but I guess it is better than nothing.
I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
if you drink pop all day, all of the sugar accumulates. try drinking water instead. you should lose a couple pounds after a week or two.
Good luck getting them to move toward Linux though... Ive tried.
This is my sig. There are many like it but this one is mine.
there is no secret to losing weight.
you have to burn more calories than you take in.
so either take in less calories (stop drinking all the beer) or burn more (run).
I run in the mornings and am working my way back up to 70 miles a week.
I'm in shape.
funny how those go hand in hand.
There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
I think it would benefit you not just physically, but also emotionally if you made your body available to the Open Source developer community. Their social integrity, hard work, and yoga expertise would enable to reach those goals you've had since Thanksgiving '96.
It is vital that developers allow the Open Source developer community to dictate their diet, physical exercise regiment, and holistics. Their experience will allow to gain a physique similar to Atlas, Ferrigno, or a trim body like Woody Allen.
Only when we realize the perverse writings of Suzanne Sommers are misguiding the children of our generation, can we free the stranglehold that Starbucks has on society.
Which is nice.
Wearing pants should always be optional.
A simple thing you could do is go for a quick job during your lunch break. Of course it would be wise to change clothing, but a quick jog every day can do wonders for you. It's good excersize and you could probably fit it into your current schedule.
And if it's a tech job, just move heavy computers around all day... it looks like real work!
I am a filthy pirate.
Just fidget lots - drum your fingers, tap your feet etc. Uses up 20% more calories than jsut sitting apparently. Also just cut out the fat in your diet etc, maybe go jogging before work.
...and jitter uncontrollably. Burns a lot of calories.
How about at lunch times walk to the local gym and do something there?
Rus
Cheap UK and US VPS
I still have a ways to go, myself, but I can tell you it works.
http://flwd.com/5bx/main/index.html
11 minutes a day, can be done just about anywhere. I'd suggest cutting back on the beer a little, and anything else with carbohydrates in it.
-- PhoneBoy
The views expressed herein are not necessarily those of anyone, including the poster.
Who cares if the office crew stares?
Just think how embarassed you will be when they stare as you keel over with a startled look on your face from a heart attack!
How about drinking less beer, eating better, and exercising at home?
You can also try simple things like parking in the furthest parking spot in the lot, drinking water instead of coke, and not having a big mac everyday for lunch.
All you need is a good schedule and a change of habits. Schedule a workout before work, or during lunch. Bike to work instead of driving. Use the stairs instead of the elevator. Instead of 10 beers a day, try 1 to 2 beers.
Good luck
(although clicking refresh to constantly reload slashdot feels workish.)
(2,3-Benzopyrrole)
I ride my mountain bike to work. I only live about 4 miles from work, which translates to a 15 minute ride to and from work. It's enough to keep me in pretty good shape.
Oh wait, also give up beer.
All that beer has tons of carbs, and unless you're consuming it in the middle of the day (I hope not), then you're most likely just going to sleep with tons of carbs in your body. Cut down on the beer, and also look at how you're getting to and from work. I know when I worked in a different office, I was able to bike to and from work every day. Not only did I feel great from the exercise every morning, but I was less tired and just felt better overall. So, cut down on useless carbs and get some exercise!! Very simple indeed, no fancy books are websites needed.
I think most people (well, here where I work) work out before / @ lunch / after work.
Fidgeting burns calories.
It has definitely made a difference for me.
Operator, give me the number for 911!
If you're sitting at a desk, extend your legs slowly until the are fully extended and then slowly lower them. Keep doing this all day and your lower half can be in a ZZtop video.
You're a male, so all you have to do is reduce your calorie intake.
Seriously, beer has a lot of empty calories, even the light beers aren't all that great. If your drinking to get drunk, use a distilled liquor, like vodka. Much less calories per oz. alcohol.
I find that I like to get up and walk around anytime that I'm not actually typing at my computer. I can do any thinking and other mental work while I'm standing up and when it comes time to make a change to code, I sit down and type
There are always items you can bring in to help maintain strength in your arms-- small weights. The stress relief ball things are good for both stress relief and can work the muscles in your hands to keep them from getting stiff from typing all day.
I'll do occasional stretching exercises briefly while I'm at the office, but unfortuntely nothing that can really be considered a real workout. I do stay in decent shape, however, even after working as a programmer for five years.
KappaStone
Man, you sit around in front of a computer, drinking beer and not working all day?
Convince your boss to play against you and then you don't even have to get back on time ...
"Personally, I sit at a computer desk for 10 hours a day with very little actual work. Your also started to get a little belly and out of shape. I know it's real bad in my office, especially with all the beer I consume."
I'd suggest at least not consuming beer prior to submitting articles to slashdot...
This is my sig. Its pathetic.
The stairwells are probably locked due to liability issues. Thanks for another one, lawyers. Hope you all are enjoying the golf.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
What I used to do was to just force myself to drop whatever I was doing on the dot at 5:00 PM and go down to the company gym and exercise. This system worked pretty well for me. The point was to just get up and drop what I was doing at 5:00 even though it might take only a minute to finish up. This system also depended on the fact that we had a nice gym in our company building. After I was done, I could always return to my desk and finish up anything, if necessary.
I've actually lost about 20 lbs over the last 10 months or so. I did a couple of things - none of them hugely affected my lifestyle at all.
1 - gave up caffeine (I know!). I was drinking 3-4 cans of coke a day. I think doing that alone did me a huge deal of good.
2 - drank more water. We have a water filter at work and I'll drink about 3 litres of water a day. You have to pee every 1/2 hour or so, but it flushes your system and helps get rid of all the bad stuff that builds up in there.
3 - go for 1/2 hour walks every day. Nothing strenous
THat's about it. I'm still losing weight, and I feel a lot better. I'm also feeling a lot better now that I don't have my thrice daily cokes.
Like sex? Read and write about it! Indecent Blogging
Walk to work. Seriously.
I spend about 70 minutes total walking to and from work each day and it makes all the in the world. It's been two months now I have gotten comments from many people about how it seems that I am slimming down.
I always make sure to walk with shoes that properly support my feet (lovely last-year-model Rockports for 1/10th of $retail at an official outlet store) and keep a brisk pace. It works wonders.
And your girlfriend will love you for it.
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The requested URL
I believe on southpark, they call that 'bear with wide canyon'
To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
--E.C. Stanton
What kind of office do you work in where you drink beer all day? How about... you put down the beer, and continue to exercise?
http://github.com/gbook/nidb
There are prgs like 10,000 steps a day which aim to increase your activity by walking and thus reduce your weight AND increase metabolism AND improve health. Dont look at the stomach all the time and feel depressed or feel pressured to do those crunches etc. As you burn calories, you will gradually lose weight. Think of a car.. where do you put the fuel.. and where does it actually burn?
PRS.
First, let me preface this by saying that I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV.
I started to worry a bit more about my health when I hit 30 a few short months ago. I've been blessed with a decent matabilism, but even a good burn rate can't help you when you sit on the ass 12 hours a day between home/work/stuff.
So here are my own tips that have kept me pretty good so far:
Eating Habits
Eat more meals a day, smaller amounts. Between 4 and 6 is good. Instead of taking that lunch break and loading up on tons of stuff that just leaves you sluggish, keep some food at your desk. And try to keep it to good stuff. A veggie platter is good with ranch dressing or something like that, maybe even a meat tray with mustards, I like sardines in mustard/tomato sauce with saltines off and on (which is why my coworkers are glad I have my own office).
My personal adage for food is that it's better to eat a bit of something that tastes good, rather than a lot of something that tastes bad. Fats and oils are not the pure enemy - as long as you do it in moderation. I think Jon what's-his-name from Good Eats had a good point back in a slashdot interview when me mentioned people don't eat fats, then they get hungry later. Good point. So veggies good, dressing with veggies good, meat good - don't just have junk food.
And I'm sorry - but loose the beer. I don't drink it myself, but that's because I think it tastes like shit. At least cut down, go lite beer - whatever. It's a lot of calories you don't need.
Exercise
Again, I have my own office, so about the chime of every hour I'll stop, do some pushups/situps, and go back. Not a lot, but just enough to get the heart pumping a bit. After work, I am again blessed to have a gym right on the campus I work at, so I can hit the treadmill for 30 minutes before I grab my stuff and go home.
If you can't do that, then do what I did at my last job - squeeze it in. Park at the farthest point you can so you have to walk into/out of work. If there's public transportation you can use, do that - if you have to drive all the way in, then park far. Believe it or not, but my last job I parked about a good block oway.
When you go to lunch, don't drive there, walk to it. You know that Jared guy? I don't think he got thin off of the Subways, it was the fact he walked back and forth from the Subway to work every day. Never, never, never use the elevator or escalators - always the stairs. Make less phone calls to co-workers if you can - get up, go walk to them.
Now, I know some people will say "But - I'm a telemarketer/I can't get up/some other excuse". Bullshit. There's always something you can do.
You don't have to change your whole lifestyle, but if your health is important and you want to be more when you're in your retirement than a rotting bag of bones, you have to make the time now. And it's not much - studies I've seen show 30 minutes a day is the rule, but it doesn't always have to be consecutive. A few minutes going up the stairs to a meeting, a little bit walking down the block to your car, maybe you buy an Eyetoy (I had a reader who loved hers - the boxing/kung fu games alone should get a good sweat) and play with that, or a Dance Dance Revolution pad for parties. And I will kill for a set of the official Sambe De Amigo maracas - not the cheap ass rip offs. Whatever.
I'm no Richard Simmons (I like women too much), and I'm no Arnold, but I've been able to stay fit enough for wild monkey sex with my wife. I could probably even cut out the treadmill if my family was down here with me just running after my son when he steals my Gameboy Advance SP.
Anyway, that's my take. These may not work for you, and I'm no expert, but hopefully these help.
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
WOW. First, why do you care if you're getting weird looks. You could simply point at your ass which is not as fat as your coworkers'. Second, how do you work out at work without smelling like an ass for the rest of the day? Which brings us to another option, which is.. Finally, why not just do it at home if at work isn't working out?
Whale
You should get one of these. You can wear it while you sit at your desk and no one will notice. A friend of mine got washboard abs with one. Whatever someone else might say they won't damage your body.
There is no fdisk-like program to delete the beer belly partition. When it comes down to it, the best thing you can do for getting back in shape is to dedicate exercise time each day, or maybe a few days a week. Sitting at your desk doing curlups or pushups or whatever during short break periods is not going to benefit you as much as 30+ minutes of cardio activity will. Though there are conflicting studies, the current idea seems to be that light activity (30 minutes) really does nothing for you.
I've tried those office exercises and even started taking the stairs instead of the elevator and walking home instead of public transit, but nothing improved. Hours on end at the office on the computer, and then at home on the computer, have taken their toll. Do yourself a favor and work on your diet and get a trial gym membership. If you don't feel better after a month or two, try something else. Good luck!!
First, when alcohol is in your system, no other calories are being burned because alcohol cannot be converted to fat. That means that any other calories in your system (like all the carbs from the barley and hopps and whatnot, not to mention actual food) get converted into fat. That's why, even though alcohol is a depressant, it gives you crazy energy.
Second, think about it: you do things when drunk that you wouldn't do when sober; how can that possibly be good. And no one in their right mind would say that alcohol in any way *improves* your decision making capacity. Personally, I'd say that making excellent decisions is difficult enough without the interference of alcohol.
I've been there, done that, and don't do it any more.
True happiness and heaven: www.mihr.com
work an 8 hour day and spend 2 hours in the gym.
don't drink as much beer.
don't sit at your desk all day. get up every so often and walk around the office.
that's it. Every morning, I go to work by bike. That's 15 km each way. More than enough sports to stay in shape.
Oh, one thing is: it's dangerous. Some weeks ago, I parked by bike in a taxi, whose driver didn't see me coming. His fault, 810 euros damage at my bike. His insurance pays. Still annoying.
I'm a vegan geek who works 8 hours sitting down in an office everday, but I also run Marathons.
Running is a great way to keep in shape, but if running isn't your thing (and it's not everyones), then do walking. There are numerous reports on the health benefits of simply walking for an extended period of time a couple of times a week. It burns off caleries, keeps your body in motion, and it does a body good. Walk a few miles a few times a week, and you'll probably start to notice a difference.
...stop drinking beer. Empty calories. Very bad for you in the long run with large quantities.
Next, try to stay away from processed foods (especially soft drinks). I am very stagnate myself during the work day, but I try to eat only natural foods that my body can easily digest. Avoid saturated fats. Avoid hydroginated anything. Avoid trans fatty acids. They go in, but they don't come back out. Turn down those cookies or cupcakes the secretary brings in every now and then.
Also, does your employeer allow for frequent breaks? Stay you have CTS issues and you need to stop typing for a bit. Go take a walk. Do Yoga. Do some quick exercise before you hop in the shower in the morning.
These are very simple things I do, but I do not exercise regularly and I spend a lot of time in front of a computer. Nevertheless, I am not getting fat and my energy is still pretty good.
Very little amounts to a lot when it comes to nutrition. You don't have to have a six-pack to be considered healthy, just try avoid things that are a bad. Adequate health can come out of apathy.
Join Tor today!
And it has just taken off from there. I go outside of town around Lexington, Kentucky's horse farms on the weekends and get thirty miles in Saturdays and some Sundays. I love it. Cycling is easy for a novice to pick up and continue enjoying. Once you learn, you'll never forget!
Buy some weights. Use them at least every other day. Keep increasing the weight you are using as much and as often as possible to build muscle (as opposed to toning)
At the office, take a computer break every once in awhile. Stand up, stretch, and give your eyes a break. If you are a frequent computer user, be sure to adjust your posture both during breaks and while working on the computer. Don't allow yourself to settle into a round-shouldered posture; keep your shoulders and head back as much as possible.
But I can't rightfully recommend it since I'm too lazy to do it myself.
Chika Chik-ah... do-e ow ow.
stop eating so much, fatty.
(mod me down if you will, but negative reenforcement is all that will work here)
MARIJUANA, SHROOMS, X: ONLINE?! - E
1. Eat less. Sitting down for 10 hours a day doesn't burn as many calories as running a marathon. Leave the snickers alone.
...Or start smoking, you can do it at home, on breaks at work, and goes really well with beer drinking, it'll just make you die much sooner, that's it... :)
2. Instead of surfing the internet as a break. Stand up and stretch, look around, go annoy your buddy 2 cubicles down.
3. Do your exercise routine at HOME. The office is a place to work, not to exercise. You'd be suprised what 10 minutes a day doing simple calesthenics can do. Who CAN'T give up 10 minutes a day.
4. Get good sleep. This is often ignored, but is very important. Do you REALLY need to frag that poor bastard again? Turn off the computer and get some serious shut eye.
That's it. Be responsible about what you eat. Move around whenever you can, exercise at HOME, and get some good sleep, and you'll be on the road to recovery.
Some people take walks around the building during their break, which I must admit is much healthier than the smokers outside!!
I don't think you can do much exercise at work that will really benefit you in the long run. You need a fairly lengthy cardio workout to do any good. 5 minutes of work 6 times a day during breaks does not compare 30 minutes of constant exercise.
The best advice I could recommend would be to walk around (inside or outside) the building during breaks, and exercise 30 minutes a day at home (walking, running, etc).
Good luck!
If you're talking about the office, I'm not really sure what you can do while remaining stationary. There is an exercise called Great Walls that you can do while sitting in place, you tighten your abs, hold for six second release and immediately tighten them again. It's more effective standing, but I occasionally do them throughout the day when no one can see the strange looks I'm making...
I go to a gym and I really don't believe that you're going to get in shape without going to a gym. I'm on a mass-building workout plan, but you can go for an hour a day three times a week and lose a ton of weight and get back into shape. Cardio is definitely key for losing weight and diet is obviously important.
If you're going for hardcore, here's what I do:)
Five days a week. Each day, I focus on one particular group of muscles with five exercises and four sets of each. I always do abs (two exercises) and I run 1.3 miles a day. My days are split up as follows:
1. Legs
2. Shoulders
3. Chest
4. Back
5. Arms (Triceps and Biceps)
Arnold's encyclopedia is ***GREAT*** and he has a good workout plan which I followed for a while but switched up for a change of pace. I also think I was overtraining, but that's beside the point.
I know you're probably looking for an easy answer, but I don't think that there is one. One thing working out has taught me after almost a year and a half is discipline. Supreme discipline. You learn a lot about yourself when you realize that you have the gumption to drag your ass into the gym when you're tired, sick, etc.
Hope that helped:)
I smoke.
It's a combination of exercise and eating right.
Drink water at your desk. Juice and pop are loaded with sugar. Your teeth will thank you as well. The lack of caffiene kills you at first, but you'll feel better than ever, soon.
Take the stairs, not the elevator. Park farther out in the parking lot.
Pack a healthy lunch. Eating out not only raises your cholesterol, it lowers your checking account.
Eat healthy at your desk. Vegetables, not candy bars and chips. Avoid the office donut days and birthday cakes.
Can you ride a bike/walk to work?
Buy some roller blades. Get some small dumbbells and lift them at home. Get some good shoes and start walking/jogging.
I have had trouble with my wrists and arms getting sore at work. I found a good stretch guide. You might find it helpful.
Honk if you're horny.
Finally, a stand up human being who's not looking for the easy way out, who's not looking for a quick fix, but someone who's willing to put some time and effort into his weight loss and make a change in lifestyle to be more fit and healthy.
Someone who's not affraid to....
~RIDE THE SNAKE~
It's the only way I know of to sit on your ass all day long and lose weight without exercise... other than going the Ghandi route, anyway. Of course, you'll have to switch to Michelob Ultra if you want to continue drinking beer. :)
Seriously tho, give the Atkins diet books a read sometime. It takes a bit of work to switch your eating habits from carb rich to carb lite, but honestly after the first week it's a piece of cake. Wait, can't have cake... dammit. You can have Leek and Mushroom pie tho.
Yes, the guy who invented the diet died. No, the diet didn't kill him. Well, maybe the sugar deprivation made him lightheaded which is why he fell, but I guess we'll never know...
Hell is being intelligent in a world full of idiots.
So, I just head there right after work and work out for about 25 minutes. That's it. I've maintained my initial weight despite my unhealthy eating habits and despite sitting at a chair in front of the screen all day :)
Keep on perpetuating those fat-geek stereotypes.
Get yer fat arse outta bed an hour earlier and walk/jog for 40 minutes. You'll feel better mentally and physically all day, and your metabolism will increase too.
Only in America do people have this problem. Eat less and exercise more!
The key to losing weight with a non-active lifestyle is to EAT LESS. Exercising only burns off so many calories at a time, and you'll have a hard time catching up to a Big Mac when you're full time job isn't to run all day.
I've lost about thirty five pounds by reducing my caloric intake every day. I don't watch carbohydrates or meat or fat or any of that; I just eat less than I normally would and pay attention to the calories printed on the sides of packages, opting for less.
For example, I switched from a 300-calorie bagel to a 70-calorie apple every morning. I switched from a God-knows-how-many-calorie lunch every day to a single sandwich.
I let myself eat what I want on some days as long as the average intake is lower than normal.
I do also exercise (I walk up 12 floors of stairs), but the real weight drop occurred when I stopped eating as much.
Next to impossible. Work at the office, work out somewhere else.
I'm lucky in that my office complex has a gym. I go there during my lunch hour. 15 of cardio, 45 of weightlifting, then back to work.
If you can squeeze in a workout in the middle of the day, do it - you'll feel better for the rest of it. Before work is good as well, if you can get up earlier.
Try to eat healthy at work - bring in your own food.
Joining some sort of class works for a lot of people, in the "If I'm paying for it, I'm GOING!" vein. In addition to my gym workouts, I do four or five nights a week of martial arts.
Cut your calories, up your physical activity. Only real way to lose weight. Most importantly, find what works for you. I could go on with a lot of the stuff I learned, but I think I'll cut it here.
Pressure your work to set up a hoop. My work recently did, and I'm out there every day now. I already feel so much better.
I lost 35 lbs in the past 3 months by switching to diet sodas, eating less, and walking around 2-5 miles a night. It's worth a shot and not too hard to try for a week or two.
One, try to walk around more at work. It's allways easier to shoot an email or pick up the phone, but there is no exercise there. Then, try to get into an after-work exercise routine. Maybe just a half-hour everyday to alleviate stress. I find it works miracles when I'm having trouble sleeping at night. Eat smaller, less fat, and more digestable lunches/breakfast. You have to be gaining the weight from somewhere. If you work at a place with stairs, use them. Don't allways resort to the elevator to get where you need to go. I know these are all common sense, and all very simple, but together they can make a big difference. One last suggestion (I realize many can't do this) but try to get exercise during lunch. I've never been one to eat lunch or breakfast, so I take my hour lunch and go to the nearest skateboard park for an hour. You don't hafta skate, but any exercise during lunch can be of the same benefit. --just some thoughts.
"Reality is a crutch for people who can't handle drugs" - George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)
I do it. I have ~10km each way. I use ~25 mins to ride my bicycle or ~15 mins to drive. I get ~50 mins of exercise in each day yet it uses only ~20 mins more time than driving.
Commute to/from office by foot, bike, etc. While this is not at the office exercise you can extend the idea to be getting to/from your office. I sometimes cycle to and from work (5 miles), other times I hitch a ride (organized via my wife or friend) and then run home.
Better yet, my employeer offers a program where we get up to 2 hours of credit a week to do lunchtime exercise. Thus, if I put in an extra 1/2 hour of work I get to take 1/2 of my work time. Thus, I can take an hour long exercise break and only make up an additional 1/2 hour for a maximum of 2 hours a week. What a deal, being paid to exercise.
Ask you employer about a program. It has many benefits. I am actually more alert and productive many afternoons after exercising.
Also, you can get exercise at the office just by creating opportunities to do so, accoridng to Bruce Lee in The Tao of Jeet Kune Do. Try taking the stairs instead of the elevator or parking further away from the door.
Karma: 0xdeadbeef(mostly as a result of being newly allocated)
Most activities burn calories, TV watching is not an activity.
I too sit in front of a computer all day, but I don't have a TV, I bike almost everywhere I go, I walk to go out to dinner with my wife and we split a meal, we don't need the tons of food we gorge ourselves on.
Diets don't work! You have to change the way you behave. Kill your Television, avoid your car, and enjoy life.....I'm done!
Or, you can try some Weight Gainer 4000(TM) and bulk up! Say it with me now! Beef cake! Beefcake! BEEFCAKE!
Well shit, sitting at the computer for 10 hours a day, you no doubt have been presented with countless FANTASTIC OPPORTUNITIES!!! to lose weight FAST!!
Fidget. People who fidget a lot are in measureably better shape than those who don't(and are otherwise similar exercise/diet wise). Just make sure not to do this at a meeting with the boss to discuss a raise/promotion:).
Try lifting your desk while sitting at it. You don't actually need to lift it off the ground, just put a lot of force into it as if you meant to, do many repetitions of that.
Volunteer for any odd jobs around the office that involve physical labor.
If you live close enough, walk or ride a bike to work whenever weather permits. If you have enough time during your lunch break, take a walk or bike ride somewhere.
Get up and stretch regularly.
Situps/pushups and the like can help, don't worry about what other people think. When you are in shape to pull that vital bit of overtime that gets a product out in time, and they arent, guess who is employee of the month?
Actually Amazon has a book detailing an excercise you can do.
MORTAR COMBAT!
Getting Back Into Shape While At The Office?
/. community have for an article like this?
What possible use would the
Every time you feel like eating, just pop one.
Oh.. wait a minute.. that will kill you..
Back to eating less and trying to stay active.
Think about it. You have to get to work anyway. Why not use that time getting in shape? I've ridden to work on a regualr basis for close to 20 years (less a couple breaks for various reasons). I've gone anywhere from 3 miles to 20 miles (one way). Right now, I'm going 8 miles each way, which I think is about optimal. When I was 5 miles from work, I rode through the year, including upstate NY winters. Going 20 miles was hard, and I only did it two or three times a week.
It's not for everyone, and it takes some hard work and dedication, but it does keep you in shape, and it's a great way to use what would otherwise be wasted time stewing in traffic behind the wheel of a car.
Your Servant, B. Baggins
1. Wake up: Max out on pushups, shower.
2. Dry: Two minutes of crunches
These first two steps wake me up from my 4-5 hours of sleep quite nicely
3. Get to office: Take stairs. I may huff and puff a little bit ascending to the 6th floor, but I can feel it nicely in my legs.
4. Lunch: Go for a walk
5. Break: Go down then back up the stairs
Not too much actual activity at the office.
6. Return home: Do a few minutes of crunches before I let myself use my computer.
7. Evening: Go for a 15-20 minute run/jog before dinner (don't want to puke or anything, and I'm a puker). Nothing that will kill me, but something to get my heart rate up.
8. Before bed: Max out on pushups, crunches, flutter kicks (those things are a bitch).
That's like 30 minutes of exercise a day (15-20 extended aerobic, which is good). Spaced out over the course of the entire day, and incorporated in such a way as to fit in with my routine makes it very easy to stick to. I absolutely hate running, but it helps tire me out so I can go to bed at a reasonable hour. This, combined with eating somewhat sensibly has actually lost me five pounds since i implemented it!
no thanks
Don't listen to these knuckleheads telling you to "lay off the beer". It's the 4 Big Macs and pizza you have when pissed up that does you in. Beer by itself has no calories, plenty of vitamins and minerals. Not to mention it leaves your breath minty fresh.
Trolling is a art,
I do several 4-5 minute rounds a day of sit ups, push ups, and some small weights. You can easily get up to 50 push ups and 200 sit ups in a matter of weeks.
Keeps me buff and I can do it any time and anywhere.
For heart health, I jog several times a week on my own time, which at most takes an hour from start to end of shower.
Being in shape will pay off when the revolution comes.
"If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid." - Epictetus
You're new here, aren't you.
Without breaking a sweat you can't have much of a workout, and breaking a sweat implies shower availability and so forth. However you can do some strength work at the workplace with isometrics or stair climbing that will build muscle mass, which burns calories 24/7 just by being there.
The most time-efficient conditioning regimen I've found is the Concept2 rowing machine, which builds both strength and endurance for the entire body. Took 20 kilos off with one ten years ago at age 40 and it hasn't come back.
Something I discovered is replacing soda (or in your case beer), with bottled water. It's just as convenient, and is more filling and actually serves a purpose.
Also, a high water intake (just as long as you don't start killing off your kidneys) will help to detox you a bit, always nice in cubeville.
...your belly works in an office.
GAAH! MY PRINTER IS ON FIRE!!! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!
Walk during lunch - try for three miles at a brisk pace. Bring a washrag & towel for a quick wipe-down afterwards, if necessary.
Take a yoga class or two, then bring your mat to the office and do a 45-minute session in an unused conference room. Works wonders on the nerves as well. Ashtanga or power-yoga adds a bit of cardio as well.
Park way out back, and walk in to the office.
Ride a bike to work (a friend does a 15-mile route one-way, gets a -great- workout, and the commute-time is reasonable).
Running up & down stairs is a good one.
Gotta combine it with lowering the calorie intake as well, tho. Don't super-size those fast-food meals, get the smallest versions possible if you must do fast-food. Don't completely abstain from the goodies, however... denial just makes the cravings worsel, so just eat less. Everything in moderation. Two beers instead of a six-pack, etc.
Fight Spammers!
The U.S. is the only country in the world where people drive 4 miles to the stationary bicycles.
Ever since then I have been bicycling a couple times a week. It gets me to and from work (sometimes in combination with a bus [Seattle has bike racks on the buses]).
Even if it is too far/dangerous/whatever: keeping a beater bike at work and riding around during lunch minutes is pretty helpful. I find the change of scenery makes it less boring than most exercise and being out of the building (albeit nearby and pageable) helps freshen my brain.
The ThighMaster is time-tested and proven. It operates below the office desk so no one will see it and you will lose weight fast. And as a bonus, you will have the ability to crush a fellow employee's head between your legs.
Specifically, cocaine. It's an appetite suppressant and it's very light, too -- you'll have no trouble hauling a gram or twenty in and out of work.
Reducing your calorie intake is probably your best bet. Failing that, it's rather difficult to get the calorie-burning exercise that you're going to need while sitting at a desk.
If you're a sweaty sort of guy, and don't want to alienate all of your co-workers, exercising on the job is just a bad idea all-around. Find ways of working out around your workday, not during it.
Something that my physician once recommended to me as important that you can (and, according to him, should) do at a job where you sit on your ass all day is exercise your, er, sphincter-clenching muscles, especially if you've got a bit of weight on you. A couple of sets of a dozen clenches each after you've been in your seat for a couple of hours is supposed to do wonders in preventing the need for Preparation H and Anusol later in life.
Try The power of Ten. This latest trend is for the laziest and busy people, based on the new theory that weight training at VERY SLOW speeds until total muscle failure and you rest one whole week in front of the monitor for about 20 minutes of workout.
Of course, nothing will help if you overeat... But you got Hacker's Diet for that, right?
"I get alot of odd looks..."
I give everyone who excercises odd looks. Just stop exercising and accept that your muscles will atrophie and that's just the way it's going to be. You get the odd looks cause you're fighting destiny.
The simple things are the best. If you work in a two story building, use the elevator.
When you get home, two sets of 25 situps. Pushups to your discretion.
Don't eat microwaveable meals for lunch. You can stay mighty lean on deli sandwiches.
The most important thing is to monitor what you eat. At least in America, we have a diet which is a hold-over from the days where the predominant profession was farming. Eggs, Eggs, Steak, Eggs and Ham is not a viable diet when you sit in front of a monitor.
There is a reason why steak and eggs is a "lumberjacks breakfast". It's only viable if you're burning a hojillian calories a day chopping down trees.
"Inattention makes clowns of us all" -Bean
You have to make time for exercise, even if you think you have no time. Personally, I've lost 30lbs and gained a lot of muscle by joining a gym and eating healthy (amazingly, after a while you don't even miss junk food!).
The main thing is to stick with it. Even if you're dog tired, hung over, etc.. it's imperitave to still go. Eventually it becomes part of your regular routine, and you feel quite awful if you *don't* work out.
'When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.' -HST
One way I found to keep at least a marginal amount of excercise while I sit and work is to sit on a ball instead of a chair.
Have a look for example here (i'm in no way associated with these folks....)
It helps improve your balance, strengthens your back/stomach muscles and does a great job of preventing Repetative Strain Injury. You really notice the difference after you used it for a while and than go back to a normal chair. It feels all stiff and uncomfortable...
I've enjoyed it for more than two years now. I got some weird looks in the begining, but now there are a number of people in the office using them too. Hope it helps.
Complexity is a measure of our ignorance...
Crystal Meth
I walk about thirty-five blocks either to work or from work every day--and sometimes both. It works really well and has brought my waist down to 28 inches (from 36). Well, that and better eating habits. If you eat less junk, you don't have to work out more. At first this was just a way to avoid getting on crowded subways, but soon I realized that it really was a workout, without too much sweat or membership fees. I really reccommend it. When I first started, it took me about forty-five minutes to get to work. Now it's more like thirty. Power walk!
Monster Zero is the reason we cannot live on the surface, but must live forever live underground like this.
If you don't feel like exercizing, there are some things you can do... STOP drinking all soda/pop. These things are emtpy calories that just leave you wanting more. Don't drink it at all. Ever. Beer will also pack on the pounds but if you are moderate and just have a couple beers no more than 2 times a week, you will be fine.
For things to suplement your non-excersizing. Park as far out in the parking lots as you can wherever you go. I don't care if you are just stoping at the local Quiky Mart - park across the street. And also, stairs are your friend. Take those puppies whenever you can.
I havn't read what other people have suggested, but doing butt crunches while you are sitting in a chair isn't going to drop one pound. Be realistic. Eat better, and exercize more. Thats all there is too it, if you truely want to lose weight this is a no brainer.
Do you ever wonder why you don't see etheoipians that are fat? Its becuase they don't have all the sugary foods we do and they constantly are working. Simple math here... can you do it? :)
Instead of driving to the closest parking space. Consider combining different modes of transportation to get you to work. A bus with a bike comes to mind. If your work has shower facilities, bike the whole darn way. If your bus/rail system does not allow bikes, get a foldable one (google Birdy Black).
Walk whenever you can and change all of your 1-2 mile trips to biking or walking.
Run to a distant store and run back with it. Pretend the beer is a shot put if you want to feel Olympic. Make several trips (no pun please) since a lousy form while running uses more energy.
Chika Chik-ah... do-e ow ow.
if you won't go to the gym, then you only have one real option: eat less. the average male will consume about 2500 calories. in a sedentary state, plan on consuming about 2200. every day. count them. for many people, the change can be accomplished by drinking nothing but water and unsweetened coffee.
If you will go to the gym, then you basically have a choice: weights or aerobic fitness. i would suggest aerobic fitness. if you can run for 40 minutes on a treadmill at at least 6.5mph 3 times a week, you'll look and feel better. no whining about treadmills--just do it for 2 weeks and you'll recognize the difference.
if you do weights, it won't make you lose weight per se, but it may well get you into a mode where you're doing more physical stuff. plus, you'll burn more calories.
if you intend on staying in the office: eat less. eat less. eat less. count calories. it really works. have a salad for lunch instead of crap with fries. don't snack.
1 Cardiac? Running up and down the stairs a few times isn't going to do it. You have to spend at the very least 20 minutes with elevated pulse. And why do you want to do it during your 10 hours of work? Use a machine or take a jog before or after.
2 Build some muscle. Essentially the same as 1), it would make more sense to go the gym or such before or after work.
3 Trying to stop blood clots and other nasty effects of sitting still for too long. Well, then, you don't need any push-ups, just take a little walk and do a little stretch. Maybe do like Wally and find somebody to chat with in the other end of the office.
Tor
I try to walk regularly for exercise. It gets me out and keeps the body reasonably healthy. 2 miles a few times a week is good. Also, I swim because of a bad back. Once a month I swim roughly a quarter of a mile.
Cut out fats. Meat is still fine, just make it lean. Look at packages and the nutrition labels. Bologna, for instance, is almost all fat. A good steak that's been trimmed of fat served with fresh steamed/nuked broccoli and a cold beer can be a healthy meal.
Good snacks include apples, oranges, and other fruits. They're healthy, tasty, and generally low in calories.
Weigh yourself regularly. Do it morning, noon, and night. Watch how it fluctuates over the course of a day, week, month, and across the seasons. When you do that, you get a sense of how to manage your weight.
Proof? I'm almost 46 years old, 5ft 9in, and weigh 135lbs.
Graham
Linux - Fast Pane Relief
Is a good exercise, let you have a moment of peace and maybe reflection and not requires special hardware, just use a little time after or before work to do it. Park your car or take your bus a bit more far than usual and that could make the trick. If you think that just walk is very few, well, carry a huge briefcase, fill it up with reference documentation (that could be useful in your work, anyway) and carrying that for a few miles daily will start to make a hit.
Wait, you get to drink beer at your office? Damn, I want to work at a place like that. Do you also get to hit on the boss's secretary?
Good for those slow days when you're filtering through spam... Oh, and try a "light" beer, maybe mix it with some slim-fast.
Finally, take that trashed-out PC case and attach electrodes to the power supply. Now attach the suction cups to you ab and buttocks. Power-switch on/power-switch off. Power-switch on/power-switch off....
Older story here: "We would like to know how you geeks stay fit "
Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way...
Everything we know about nutrition and health assumes that you lead a MODERATELY ACTIVE LIFESTYLE! If your life is entirely sedentary, your body will react accordingly: lower metabolism, over-worked pancreas, etc...
Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Walk to lunch instead of driving. Do something OTHER than watching TV after work: take up running/swimming/biking/kendo/fencing/gardening. If you don't feel comfortable exercising at work, do it at home. If you say you don't have the time, make a list of what you do every night. I'll bet a lot of it involves sitting and/or a cathode ray tube of some kind.
Eating properly is important, but if you don't move your ass, it will grow to fill its container.
GeekNights!
Late Night Radio for Geeks!
I wonder if the increase in amount of prozac or whatever drugs are out there that combat ADD corresponds to an increase in the amount of obese people in the USA.
Man, that could be my thesis if I was a grad student.
Pot has a lot fewer calories than beer.
A friend of mine switched from beer to dope, and she went from zaftig to slender in just a few months, with no other lifestyle changes.
Just saying...
Bander
What we need more of is science!
I hack all day, but I stop by the gym after work for an hour a day and ride my bike a few times a week. Get off your fat lazy ass and work out....
Go for a jog/walk at least 20 minutes, and try to jog too don't just wimp out and walk. Try to go for as long as you can, I'm sure by the time you can run for an hour you will be doing great. Eat less carbs. They are stored energy and you don't really need that do you? I'm not doing Atkins or anything, but I just don't buy bread, rice, pasta, or potatoes. Last night dinner was a steak, salad, and some steamed veggies. Breakfast today was an egg with some onions and peppers. Lunch was just a banana, some baby carrots, a plum and either a granola bar (not the chocolaty kind) or some jello (I haven't decided yet) Basically it's easy, just don't be a lazy ass about it. oh and I have one cheat/carb day a week too.
I even hit preview. More fool I.
"Inattention makes clowns of us all" -Bean
I have one of those round exercise balls to sit on. They REALLY improve your back and leg strength. Also, I have a thera-band which i tie to the leg of my desk and do curls.
-fwis
Get a trainer for your bicycle (assuming, of course, that you have a bicycle). When I graduated from college I realized that, much to my chagrin, I had gained 35 pounds of flubb. Before then, I was into mountain biking, so I wanted something that I could hook onto my bike to ride it indoors.
A good bit of research, led me to choose the Kurt Kinetic over the others.
Riding it for 30 minutes every day for two months, I lost about 30 pounds.
How are you going to keep them down on the farm once they've seen Karl Hungus?
Take that ATX power supply and hook it up to your muscles. Write a small perl script to control the shocks it gives you while you sit there at the computer. After a month or so you should be pretty damn buff.
Slashdot's rate-of-post filter: Preventing you from posting too many great ideas at once.
Here's what I did: go buy a Playstation (if you don't have one already), and a $20 Beatpad. Pick up a copy of Dance Dance Revolution (you can even get a used PS1 version for $10 at your local GameStop or EBGames).
Spend 30 minutes each morning on "Workout" mode before going to work. It's a great workout. By the end of 30 minutes, I've really worked up a sweat. That beer belly should start to go away in no time.
And don't spend so much time at work. 10hrs ... sheesh!
-jh
Weight watchers is the way to go. Allows me to be a lazy bum, while still eating right. There are even programs to put on a palm pilot or pocket pc that help you track what you eat.
I've never been able to feel the benefit from quick office workouts.
If your work schedule is flexible, try to get out of the office for a real workout. Head to the gym for 30 minutes on the stair machine or treadmill.
My office has showers, so I sometimes bike or run in the afternoon. I find that I have more energy later in the day when I do this, and I am more focused.
I walk to work and it takes about 25 minutes. I also joined Gold's Gym that I go to every other day after work.
:)
You could always get a hot chick as an assistant.
I started with the Couch-to-5k running plan. I liked it because it started out very easy, and built to 3 miles over a couple of months.
I know running isn't for everyone, but it does have some advantages that are hard to beat.
"If I am such a genius, how come that I am drunk and lost in the desert with a bullet in my ass?" --Otto (Malcom ITM)
Yup -- believe it or not you can burn lots of extra calories by fidgeting. Tap your leg to music, chew sugarless gum, twitch. You'll lose any remaining friends you have but you'll be thinner.
The office probably isn't the best place to get into shape. Let's face it, there's not a whole lot you can do besides watching what you put into your pie-hole and the odd bit of flexing in your chair.
Me? I'm in top-shape. I smoke and drink lots of coffee. When it gets dark out, I put on my sunglasses...
"He treats objects like women, man!"
- The Dude, The Big Lebowski
I personally bike to work and then do about 1/2 of yoga stretches while I read my email. Then actually walk out of your cubicle/office/building to get lunch (if possible.) Also, I have replaced my chair at work with a balance ball (big 65 cm ball that runs about $15) - this encourages much better posture which will start working the stomach and back subtly.
If you want more suggestions for fighting fat while sitting at a desk, check out a woman's light exercise magazine (Self, Shape, etc.) - they cater to your average secretary's constant worry about cutting fat while sitting around all day.
I was in the same situation as you and about a month ago I finally decided to join a gym. At first I didn't think there was any way I'd fit it in my schedule (up at 5:00am and not home will 5:00pm) but it's worked out quite nicely. Granted, the first week of going to the gym I was sore as hell, but that quickly goes away and now I have much more engery it seems. I did meet with a personal trainer there once just to tell me what I should be doing and how to use the machines, but now I go every day and love it.
Oh, and as an added plus, my gym even has a daycare, so my son goes there while I work out and then when I'm done (if he was good at the daycare) we go swimming there for a bit.
Your first step should probably be to stop drinking beer at work.
0110100100100000011000010110110100100000011000100
An average human being can burn up to 100 calories for every ten minutes of masturbation. All you need is some tissue, a quiet room, and some good porn. It's fun, enjoyable and doesn't make you look like an ass running up and down the stairs. So, this is what I would suggest:
Put in about an hour of vigorous masturbation through the day. An hour can help you burn upto 600 calories. That itself would make up for a pitcher of beer. Start slow, and gradually increase the amount of effort you put in. Soon, you will be having fun several hours a day, compensating for several gallons of beer and having fun, while you're at it!
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
You know, trying cardio at the desk never really did it for me. I took a different approach some years ago. I worked out. But instead of going for the goal of burning calories, I went to increase muscle bulk. I think a good side effect of that is, even when you're not doing much, you're burning way more calories when you've got bigger muscles than someone else would. (And I am emphasising muscle size and strength, not definition and endurance here.)
But really. Cut the beer. Switch to diet pop. You can't generate excess capacity (extra food, beer, pop) and expect it to go nowhere.
If you don't want to get mired in the math of doing the calculations, I suggest the effective weight watcher's diet where it is all summarized into easy to follow points. I had a friend who went through WW's, and I just read the material.
Two years before I lost the 65lbs, I ran 30-50 minutes 4 to 5 times a week. I lost next to nothing over that time. Lugging around the much more significant weight helped me build my leg muscles (which probably factored into maintaining my weight), but it doesn't help burn fat if I go home and barbecue two hamburgers at the end of the day.
Following the weight watcher's thing was also the easiest diet I have ever attempted.
Get rid of the carbs (pasta, bread, sugar, etc). If you must drink beer, drink light beers. Just eating right will help cut down the weight or at least stop your gut from getting worse. Then maybe your little runs up the stairs and pushups/pullups while at work will help you out.
1 - gave up caffeine (I know!). I was drinking 3-4 cans of coke a day. I think doing that alone did me a huge deal of good.
If you were drinking 3-4 cans of coke a day, you do realise that caffeine aside that is the equivalent to pouring 3-4 cups of sugar down your throat every day?
In other words, are you sure it was the giving up caffeine, or giving up the multiple cups of sugar intake?
MORTAR COMBAT!
You and the submitter both do absolutely no work all day long. You shouldn't be surprised when your jobs are exported.
/. at 3:24. I've done almost nothing all day. Fat, lazy, american pig. I wonder why the CIO is meeting with those Indian suits?
Fat lazy american pigs.
Oh, I'm one too. Also notice my posting on
The List of Grievances with Slashdot.
- eat less (less snacking)
- eat healthier (fruit instead of chips)
- pushups, situps in the morning before shower
- do something to get your heartrate up for like 20 mins/day like running, swimming, intense masturbation, etc.
- more liquor, less beer
i know, the last one hurts... but try finding one person who looks decent who is a) a big beer fan and b) doesn't hit the gym a few times a weekAerobic exercise burns calories. You can exercise at low, moderate or high intensity. When doing aerobic exercise at low intensity, a larger percentage of the calories you burn will come from fat (50%). Alternatively, at high intensity, a larger percentage of the calories come from carbs / sugars (60%).
Your best bet is do do _extended_ periods of low-intensity aerobic exercise. That means you want your heart rate to be at 60% of its maximum threshold. So, instead of doing step aerobics for 30 minutes, go slow-jogging for an hour.
Sue! That's right. Become litigous. Sue the inventor of the fork. No reason to take responsbility for your actions, litigate! (I am assuming that SCO doesn't own this technology too - in which case you may want to keep it on the d/l - lest you be sued for unlicensed use of said instrument)
BSD is designed. Linux is grown. C++ libs
Here's how I (39 years old, 6'0", 188lbs) look at it. I'm really just an energy storage buffer. If I consume more energy that I expend, I store the difference (more or less). When I find myself growing, I can shrink back down by consuming less or by expending more. Running can be painful for me, but I enjoy biking. There's bound to be some activity that you would enjoy. Then it's a matter of priority. It's really that simple. It is a DECISION, a refusal to yield to sloth and gluttony. For instance, I've given up refined sugar (pastries, cokes, candy, etc) for a while in order to shed 5 pounds for an upcoming weekend hiking trip on the Appalachian Trail. I've had good success with this technique. (This has sounded really judgmental, but it wasn't meant to be. I know that some people have a harder time with weight management than others. But I prefer to get flamed by someone who understands exactly what I've said over being misunderstood in the first place.)
-- Jeff Clough, Humble Programmer
get up an hour earlier every day and go to the gym. It sucks, because it means I have to get up before six, but it definitely keeps me in shape.
Here is what I did:
..... surf .... surf .... surf
1. Land a really cool job near the beach.
2. Before work
3. During lunch
4. after work
I planned things around the surf, so I live sorta near the mountains. When there is no surf, I mountain bike.
What a dumb F'in question/post this is. If your working 10 hours a day doing nothing, you have 14 hours left, figure in 7 for sleep, 1 for commute, this leave you with 6 hours. Exercise for three to four of those hours a week and you will not end up looking like ten pounds of shit stuffed into a two pound bag.
Sit at work and do nothing, then go home and do nothing and your doomed.
Alternatively, you could call your local Marine Corps recruiter and enlist. This will guarantee you at least 12 hours of work a day, with physical training mixed in, I promise and guarantee this will slime you down.
Or just let me know and for a measly 50.00/hr I can be your personal trainer with guaranteed results, all you have to do it stick to the program.
There is no substitute for getting off your ass a couple/few times a week and doing something. That and calorie reduction.
:( but at least I'm happily married :) Anyhow, the new decade got me concerned enough to do something about the extra poundage. Problem was I *hate* the usual gym routine. Boooorrrringggg! I tried and failed to stick with it numerous times. I finally decided to give aikido a try. It's a Japanese martial art. Easy on the body, but still excellent excercise. Best of all it's really technical and tricky and weird and just overall appealing to geeky types. Most of the people I practice with are fellow geeks of one type or another. No macho shit. Just tons of fun. Once I started excercising regularly it became almost natural to just start eating and drinking a bit less. I've only lost 10 lb. or so since Feb., but that's fine. I was sporting maybe an extra 20 and I'm not in a race. The important thing is that I think I've finally found a physical activity that will hold my interest for a very long time. Check it out:
I was in the same boat you're in. Then I turned 30 this January (yeah, and I still read slashdot
http://www.aikidofaq.com/
http://www.aikiweb.com/
Bottom line, there's no gizmo you can hide under your desk that's going to make you healthy. You gotta get away from the desk.
I noticed that I was getting kinda 'flabby' from just sitting in front of a monitor all day. So I went to the nearest sporting goods store and bought one of the 5lbs one-handed-bar-bell-things. Great to just lift during work, also makes a convenient weapon against obnoxious co-workers.
/. cliche, don't be drinkin' the beer at work, drink water, drink beer at home, or while riding your bike.
Also cut down on starchy things. Especially before bed, don't drink beer, or eat bready stuff before falling asleep.
Ride a bike to work, biking has to be the best excersize in the world, not as time consuming (and better for your ankles) as walking, and not as lazy as driving.
And, yes this is now
A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government. -edward abbey
I run...
As much as I can...
Sure people get pissed when I run through Newark in the fast lane of the Garden State Parkway, but screw them, I'm loosin' weight.
Actually, my wife makes me eat weird healthy crap that often tastes like warm cardboard, and I walk as much as I can, which means I take the long way around the office for my 5th cup of coffee.
Why worry? Each of us is wearing an unlicensed "nucular" accelerator on his back.
Sig changed for readability by G.W.
If you're worried about staying in shape while drinking all that beer, you haven't had enough beer.
Just get out and do something. You don't need to constantly exercise, just work out a bit every day. You should cut back on the uber-junk-food, and maybe less beer (mmm...bier...), and just run for a bit, even if its just out to lunch. I personally have a bit of a belly, but there isn't much I can do about it. Lets check the local weather...Today its 99F and 27% humidity...Hey, its not as hot as it was over the weekend (108 and equal humidity)!
So I just wait for it to cool down so I can at least swim comfortably, sometimes doing a bit of exercise inside the house.
Slashdot is a waste of time. I enjoy wasting time.
Got too much weight? Use the Adkins diet. It worked for me. The scientists who tried to debunk it failed. Unfortunately it will pretty effectively eliminate most of those beers you're suckin down.
-- Programming with boost is like building a house with lego. It's a cool but I wouldn't want to live in it
I'm Still Pumped From Using the Mouse
eating a vegan diet will control your fattyness...... it will also keep your body from being bogged down with fat and dairy and garbage so you have some energy after a hard day of sitting. i know a lot of people on here question vegetarian/vegan diets but personally i went sorta vegan almost two years ago. in the first 2 or 3 months i dropped over 40lbs without one bit of exercise. i eventually started to exercise and within about a year i was down more like 60 lbs. in almost two years i have lost a total of about 75 lbs. my weight has barely changed in months but my pants keep getting baggier (muscle weighs more than fat). in addition to the weight loss, my (chronic) asthma and nasty allergies are at a level of control i have never had in my 29 years. might not be the choice for you, but personally at 29 i feel better than i ever have in my life.
it would be cool to exercise at work, but really good exercise means raising your heartrate to about 130+ for 30 minutes. not really going to happen at a desk. do a google search for heart rate zones, but generically your max is 220 - your age. if you need a rate monitor, a decent one can be bought for $50 or even less these days. your heart rate is the real measure of your exertion, not how long it takes you to run a mile. also exercising in the lower range (around 130s for a 30 year old male) burns more fat than carbs. that's one mistake many people make. working at a higher rate will elevate your metabolism in general, but to actually burn fat calories when you work out, it does not require you killing yourself. i guess that's the theory behind those shady diet pills that have something like speed in them.
alternately, find a job somewhere that you can walk or ride a bike to work. i realize spending 10+ hours a day at work makes it hard to do much else, but really once you get into the swing of exercising after work it is a small sacrifice. instead of just watching TV, do it while on an exercise bike or something. honestly people that say "they don't have time" seem to spend their nonworking hours lounging around anyway due to lack of energy. why not spend it walking / running / jogging / biking / rowing / whatever.
"Burst Resistant ... balls are strongly recommended in all environments as staples or other sharp items may unexpectedly pierce your..." Oh, nevermind...
"Obviously, I'm not an IBM computer any more than I'm an ashtray" (Bob Dylan)
I have 3 bean bags that I juggle at work,
keeps the upperbody in good shape.
I also have a footbag to keep my legs in shape.
Unfortunately the learning curve for these activities is steep enough that the only excercise you'll be getting for the first few months is bending over and picking the bags up from the floor.
No, really. It worked for me. I was 5'8" 240 lbs. Now I'm 190 lbs. (losing about 1 lb every couple of weeks now, I'm comfortable with that pace).
Additionally I was suffering from fairly severe adult acne (I'm 35), and it stopped dead in it's tracks when I started the Atkins diet. I don't even get them on my back anymore. This was a totally unexpected side effect. I had tried everything to stop the acne, including trying to change my diet - but getting rid of all the carbs was the kicker.
My eating habits have changed - my appetite is much less than it was. I'm now eating about half the sheer quantity of food I used to eat. One problem though - this diet gives you really bad breath. Eating more vegetables seems to help, but there's a lot of carbs in some veggies, so you have to consciously factor that into your total carb intake.
Gawd I miss pasta though. . .
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
You could take a look a the 5BX Plan for Physical Fitness, developed by RCAF. It basically offers you to get into good shape by investing just 11 minutes a day.
Unselfish actions pay back better
You think this is a joke, but my officemate used to do it. He had one of those muscle stimulators that are used for muscle rehabilitation. He would put it at max power, connect it his abs and "workout" while he coded on his laptop.
Of course, he also only slept 15 mins once every four hours and drank half a liter of carrot juice every day to make his skin turn orange. Typical CS graduate student, right?
You need to visit T-Mag.com.
Testosterone Magazine has everything you could ever need to know about getting in shape and staying that way. And it's not bullshit "Denise Austin" type pandering to fat, lazy housewives and husbands. It's not bullshit "buy this gizmo for 29.99 and have a six pack in 4 quick hours!!". It doesn't pull punches and will tell you straight up what you need to do to get off your fat ass and get in shape. They have archived every on-line issue from the last 5 years and it's all free. They admit up front that yes, they own a supplement company, but they are honest about how it affects the mag.
They have a very active forum with many experienced bodybuilders (not fitness weenies) that live real lives and have real jobs. Many of them are also students. Every one of them was a newbie at some point, and remembers it, so they are very tolerant and very helpful.
They also have a large following of women who take a no-holds-barred approach to getting in shape. They believe that the same approach (in general) for having a good body applies to men and women. Like it or not, nutritional principles are universal.
*WARNING* - These guys are very open-minded, and might be considered offensive to those of you who are overly sensitive androgenized blobs that used to be men. They are not opposed to the use of steroids, when done it a rational, researched manner. They also like to talk about their penises a lot, so get used to it. Approach everything with an open mind and be willing to form YOUR OWN OPINIONS. You might just learn something.
An aerobic style such as Tae Kwon Do will give you many benefits if you attend classes 3 times a week. My advice is to find a good school in your area (not some black belt factory with an instructor just in it for the money) and train regularly. Tell him your primary reason is for exercise. After awhile you'll notice many more benefits other than just fitness. Also, changing your diet with a workout will help. Someone mentioned drink water, that's good too. Try to drink less beer too. I know its tough, but try. :)
Sitting in my cube, I know exactly how you feel. There are not many things you could do in the cude and not get wierd looks. One thing you can do is stretch (http://www.lib.msu.edu/ergomsu/stretch.htm).
Stretching alone has been shown to increase muscle tone, and will prepare your muscles for when you do have time to work out.
Other than that, perhaps running or walking during lunch hour or maybe riding your bike to work would help.
Rearranging labs certainly helps, but you could go small. Parking far away and walking and taking the stairs really can make a difference. You can also get those hand exercisers sold at walmart or maybe bungee cords with handles. Then there's those exercises where you push against yourself... Feel free to jump in and remind me what those are called, or just make sick jokes about hand exercises.
Get in shape? WFT are you talking about...round is a shape you dumbass.
If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
I picked up a job as a trainer at the local Powerhouse Gym so I could pay the rent (and the occaisional video card upgrade ;) back when I was majoring in kinesiology, and a lot of my clients had the same issue.
;)
The short of it is this: If you want to lose weight, burn more calories than you consume. No fad diets, no gimicky workout equipment, no pills, just excercise.
The good news is that you won't need to spend anymore than it takes to get a good pair of running shoes to get into shape. The bad news is that a very significant part of weight loss is adjusting your diet, and the excersize you'll need probably isn't doable at the office.
Go running after work (make sure you keep good form), and pass on the beer when you can, and when you do drink, go for light beers, not Guinness (Sam Adams' Light is actually a good beer, but don't bother with that Michelob Ultra; just get a glass of water and spare yourself the couple bucks and the vile, pissy taste). If you feel like chicken, get it grilled, not fried. If you feel like a snack, eat an apple and have a glass of water, instead of a candy bar.
I know it can be really tough to start, but the best part about weight loss is that it's almost viral; once you actually see the results, you won't even want another beer. And trust me, after going a few weeks without junk like fast food, it'll almost make you nauseous to think about earing it again.
If you're into weight training, get a membership at the local gym; weight training is an excellent way to burn calories. Just don't entirely neglect running, biking, or some other type of aerobic excercise.
It's simple in theory, simple in practice, but amazingly hard to get used to it. Just remember, no matter how you choose to lose weight, it's a long-term commitment, so don't let yourself backslide before you ever really get a chance to see results; give it at least a couple months to see a difference, although you'll probably feel a difference in a matter of days.
Good luck to ya!
Well, I as well am stuck in a cube with a computer most of the day, and as I get older, my metabolism certainly isn't what it once was (I used to be able to eat as much of anything as I wanted and stay thin, but those habits are catching up to me now).
On a whim, I was at Fry's Electronics and tried out the home Dance Dance Revolution pads they had there, and immediately got hooked. So I bought it for PS2. Initially, it didn't seem like exercise, but as I progressed and started working on mastering the harder songs at higher difficulty levels, I started sweating up a storm. I mean BUCKETS. Now, I play using StepMania, a DDR simulator for PC's, along with the over 500 tracks I've picked up from various sources on the Net. So I don't get bored, and it's really a lot of fun. You can get away with a basic PS2 mat and PS2->PC adapter for under $50, and Stepmania's open-source (so it's free).
My wife enjoys playing, and I've introduced lots of people to it, and I've lost a few pounds to boot. (And I haven't changed my eating habits yet, either).
Give it a shot; it's not just for the kids, I promise.
If you want to lose weight, you might think about asking your boss to remove the beer keg/tap from the office.
Man, the only thing we have in our break room is a water cooler and a Coke machine.
i just bike everywhere fuck that gas guzzler. you stupid fat american fucks.
-- -- --
Help my mini cause: My journal
..redefine what 'in shape' means.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I used to be 50 pounds heavier, and can attest than switching from pop to water (or at least to sugar free pop) will get you 2 or 3 pounds.
... however, if you keep your carb count under control (without being fascist about it) and eat like you're 40 pounds lighter (i.e. decrease the quantity you consume modestly) you will only spike a few pounds (~5 lbs or so) and then stabilize.
... if you walk a few miles a day (I do: to and from work) and eat right you can be reasonably fit with no discomfort and no submission to the Jock Ueber Alles (tm) mentality of western culture in the form of glorified, pay-to-torment-yourself 'fitness' clubs.
Cut potato chips out of your diet and you'll drop another 5-10 pounds.
Go on the atkins diet, and you'll dump a huge amount of weight in a short time (I dropped 40 pounds with absolutely no effort whatsoever). Be advised that once you go off the diet you will spike back up
All of this works with no other lifestyle changes, no workout regimes, no uncomfortable sweating at the gym or smashing your joints jogging along the smog-congested streats of your city.
Which of course means you don't lose any time available for hacking out new code, surfing pr0n, doing machinima or blender applications, writing, or what have you.
(Of course, that means you have just as much time to work, as well).
I detest sports and am not overly fond of any form of work out that does not involve intimate physical relations. Luckily working out isn't a requirement for good health or fitness
Unless of course spandex is your fetish, in which case the multi-hundred dollar membership to your local fitness club or spa may be worth it to you.
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
If you like video games, Dance Dance Revolution might be the answer for you. It's working for me, (ie, I'm losing weight and feeling better) and in the past I've only been able to stick to an exercise schedule if I was paying for gym access. "Better go exercise, I can't let the monthly fee go to waste!"
The basic set up for DDR is a pad on the floor with arrows pointing front, back, left & right. The game has over a hundred songs to choose from, with difficulties ranking from 1 to 10 feet, and basic, trick, and maniac modes for each song. There's an immense amount of replay value.
During the game, arrows scroll up the screen and you hit the arrows on the pad with your feet, in time with the music. For fast songs on difficult settings, this is very challenging, but more to the point: it's exhausting.
The key to DDR is learning how to keep your balance while hitting all of the arrows. I found that at first, I would bounce my whole body up and down in time with the music. This was exhausting, even on the easy songs. Nowadays, 5 months later, I am playing some fairly hard songs (6 foot songs on basic and trick), and while I am moving significantly more efficiently, the game is still pushing my physical limits of endurance and dexterity.
Because it is a video game with a scoring system and several levels of difficulty, there is a built in incentive to achieve the next level of ability, whether that means getting an A rank on a song, or trying a 6 foot song for the first time. This keeps me going, as I set goals and attempt perfect runs of my favorite songs. I can easily keep playing for an hour or more, and afterwards I jump right into the shower and cool off.
Get the home version, a cheap dance pad, and a PSone, and you're set up for $100 (including the PS1!!)
Run through the lesson mode, and you will learn the basics. If you stick with the game and play at least a couple times a week for 4 months or so, you will definitely lose weight and gain some footwork skills. Not to mention it's fun to show off in the arcade!
for more info on DDR: http://www.ddrfreak.com/
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Here's an idea, you can aleviate both your stress AND get good exercise too. Find a street with some homeless people begging for change and tell them if they want some money they'll have to fight you for it. You'll be buff before you know it and hell if it takes off start and underground club. All your fellow space monkey's need to let off some steam and get fit...remember the first rule is DO NOT talk about Fight Club!
There is no easy way!
There is no easy way!
There is no easy way!
Now stop asking.
I have access to a fitness club through my benefits provider, and get discount rates at my local club thanks to this company. It's right on my way home from work, and 30 minutes a couple of days a week on the treadmill has done me a lot of good. Cutting back on carbohydrates and eating more fruit and vegetables also helps.
The secret is moving your legs. Moving our legs can greatly improve the keyboard gut. I like to take walks outside the office whenever I can. Not only do I help keep the weight off, it helps with my work. We need to walk at least 20 minutes a day. It is best if you can walk briskly at least 3 hours per week. The bike is a great idea. Biking can burn 1300 - 2000 calories. If you had a bike stashed at the office, you could tool it out for a ride. Of course burning calories isn't the magic bullet for weight loss... The key gentlemen is increasing our Resting Metobalic Rate. When we sit at our keyboards, this rate is drastically lowered. Let me give you a story which might encourage you... I have been working out (body building) and running for the past 4 weeks on a consistant basis. (Off and on for 2 years now) Everyday I got on the treadmill and tried to run 15-20 minutes. Everyday, the same thing, I would get winded, out of breath, I felt like my heart was going to jump through my throat. I had a heart rate of like 180! Then one day, I hopped on, and BOOM! I could run, I could RUN! I didn't feel like I was going to die. I could breath without feeling winded! My heart rate was 130! Oh what glory... This had NEVER happened to me in my life. Even as a teenager. If this has happned to you, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If it hasn't, well, it will, IF you keep it up. Trust me, you will like it. Running can be very fun. BTW: Try speed walking, at 3.5 - 3.8 MPH, it's much easier than running at higher speeds, and you get 90% of the benefit. Hope this helps. (Oh if your wondering at all about BodyBuilding, there is just 1 exercise you can do that will make your life so much better, and that's the "deadlift". If you just do deadlifts a few times a week, your whole body will get stronger. I would like to recommend a great book, it's called "Strength Training Anatomy" It's a very thin book with a Blue cover. It' costs about $29.00 new. Amazon has it, and you can see inside! Check it out... the ISBN is: ISBN: 0736041850 We have the Brains people, now we just need to get the "Body"! :)
Oh 1 last thing, chicks do dig hardbodies. Don't believe that BS "sweet" nice guy crap. You can be the biggest prick, and if you have abs, the chicks are on you.
Hope this reaches somebody!
I can't find the link but there is a manufacturer who makes a big office style desk with weights attached to everything...the phone, file drawers, even the chair is attached. You can set the resistance on all the items so you get a workout while doing office work!
How long do YOU think you'll stay on the phone when the handle is attached to a 30 pound weight!
First: I resolved to stop going out to fast food places for lunch and bring my own lunch instead.
Second: I took to putting my wallet and car keys in my lunch bag so I wouldn't forget to bring it with me when I'd head out the door in the mornings.
Third: I got myself a new bicycle along with a bike computer/heart rate monitor and a set of rollers (you can use a stationary trainer if you don't want to deal with the learning curve of the rollers). Whenever I could, I'd take a bike ride during my lunch break or, if the weather was bad, ride the rollers instead. When on the rollers, I'd wear the heart rate monitor and try to stay in a good "cardio training zone".
Fourth: Joined a bike club and did a few longer rides with them on occasion after work. Occasionally, I'd bike commute as well. However, I can get a more consistent workout by leaving my bike at the office.
STARTING WEIGHT: 196 lbs
CURRENT WEIGHT: 176 lbs
Hope this helps,
A goal is a dream with a deadline
sounds harsh, but it works. It's all in the mind. The natural reflex of a human is to eat when yuo're hungry. Fight that reflex in 2 ways :
1. Don't stuff yourself when you're hungry. Eat a little. And eat stuff that contains fewer calories, like fruit or yoghourt.
2. Learn to appreciate the feeling of a tiny hunger. Consider it a sign from your belly to your brain saying "hey dude : you're losing weight right now ! Keep up the spirit !".
That, plus exercise offcourse. For myself, I found podBiking a great calory burner : iPod + real bicycle for 2 hours at least. Get a real bike though, not that mountainbike shit. That's for sissies. A racing bike is a bit more expensive, but it's so much more fun to ride since you don't get exhausted from rubbing the asphalt all the time with those huge gripping tires. When i switched from mountainbikes to racebikes, my appetite for cycling doubled. I do twice as many hours now as I did before.
When will I end this grieving ? When will my future begin ?
If you eat less and drink only water, you will get better in no time.
As easy as that!
and what you have to carry - i can recommend these:
1) get some wrist and ankle weights. Nothing insane mind you.. just like 1-2 lb (or your favourite mass measurement) ones. Wear them while walking to work, and around the office all day.
2) If you're also consuming beer, I also assume that you eat at non-normal times. What you want to do is to have smaller portions but more of them over the course of the day (i.e. 5 smaller meals, as opposed to 3 larger ones) - as this will kick in your metabolism into a 'consumption' mode for most of the day, as opposed to 'store and hold'.
3) the water suggestion in place of beer is an excellent suggestion. If water doesn't do it for you - bring in mixes like Tang or KoolAid or what have you. Remember, we're essentially big water processing plants. Doesn't quite matter how the water goes in, just as long as it gets there.
4) If possible, take the stairs instead of the elevators.
5) Also cut down on the salt content in general of your food. While this has a larger effect on women (they are more susectible(sp?) to retaining water via salt ions than men) - it will be good for your body regardless.
obviously, all this can be doable or not, depending on how much other stuff you may need to carry and the environment that you're in.
http://www.dragondoor.com/kettlebells/
Looks silly, is definitely rough at first, is always potentially dangerous, but is a lot of fun. I hate going to the gym, and don't feel like devoting more than an hour to fitness. Do a 20-40 minute workout with one of these suckers every few days and you'll feel much better. I strongly recommend that you get the book, though, because otherwise you'll hurt yourself.
I haven't yet managed to hurt myself, other than the blisters which turned into calluses. *knocks on wood*
A host is a host from coast to coast...
Unless it's down, or slow, or fails to POST!
'Beer bellies' are caused by food/drinks with yeast, including beer, bread, and the like. It's not an issue of 'fat', it's an issue of bloating in the digestive tract. More info. Cut back on the beer.
----- sXe
Replace the springs under the keys on your keyboard with 5lb tension springs and voila`! You will have the strongest fingers in the office.
Second part: join a Gym and plunk the $ for a trainer.
Its worth it. I arranged to work from 7am to 4pm, so I can duck out early and hit the gym every day before the 5pm crowd gets there. I don't miss and I work my ass off. Chewing gum and taking the stairs instead of the elevator won't cut it, you need to workout. In a gym.
That's just what I've been doing for the last 4 months. I realize I am no authority, but this has worked out for me.
This isn't black magic, there are no tricks, no expensive home-gym solutions. Just hard work. -broodje
Okay, first issue is what several other people have said: If you don't like getting looks in the office, work out somewhere else.
On an actually helpful note, check this: Combat Conditioning
Matt Furey is a personal trainer and champion wrestler/grappler. Try to ignore the old snake-oil salesman style of the pitch. The point is that the book has a bunch of exercises using only your bodyweight as resistance. They build muscle mass (which helps burn off that pesky fat while providing definition), you can do them every day, and when you start out, you probably won't be able to work any longer than 10-15 minutes. I've been using them, and the energy/strength increase is amazing.
Of course, there aren't too many exercises in there that the Marines haven't used. Either ship your ass off to Parris Island, or find some local former jarhead to work out with you. That's what I do, and they can *motivate* you.
49 20 68 61 76 65 20 74 6F 6F 20 6D 75 63 68 20 66 72 65 65 20 74 69 6D 65 2E
A wok is the Atkin's dieter's best friend.
Basically, with Atkins all you get to eat is meat and vegetables.
A wok makes making a meal out of meat and vegetables fast, easy and fun. Twenty minutes, including clean up, and you get a cheap and nutritious meal.
Best of all, you don't need a cookbook! Half the fun is just picking shit at random out of the grocery and throwing it in the wok and then experimenting with how to spice it up so it tastes the best.
Is this truly the only Earth I can live on?
Three things:
When you get a meal, get a portion (or only eat) one-half to two-thirds of what you normally eat.
Leave the office at lunchtime and go for a 30 - 45 minute walk. This will also clear your brain and make you more effective in the afternoon.
Hardest of all, reduce the beer intake by at least half! Get rid of beer in your home. Only drink when you go out somewhere. Instead of ordering two or three rounds, just order one. Go out half as often as you used to.
Find someone to teach you handball. You can break a sweat just practicing a drive serve, it's a full body workout, and damn fun to boot. Heck, it even gives your eyes some exercise after staring at a screen all day. Frankly, handball is the answer to everything :P
It's great that you've started to exercise already. Keep at it!
I usually just dedicate a couple hours each day to going to they gym, working out with weights or on the cardio equipment, taking a shower. I find it really improves my outlook at work. If you can do it mid-afternoon that's great, but not everyone has such a flexible schedule.
Diet is incredibly important. I haven't given up on beer, but I steer clear of refined starches as much as possible (sugar, white flour) potatoes should hardly enter your diet.
Eat lots of lean meat and raw vegetables and fruits, drink lots of water.
You'll look better and you'll feel better.
"Provided by the management for your protection."
I too go to the gym three times a week and work out with free weights. I started doing it in college two years ago and the difference it makes in my life it totally worth it. I've found that being disciplined in one area of my life carries over into the others. If you get up at 6 or so in the morning and exercise you will feel better and think better. If you want to run/bike on Tues/Thurs/Sat (to supplement your working out on Mon/Wed/Thurs) you'll be losing fat as well as building muscle.
If you can find a friend or two to join you in your exercise you will probably find that your life is enriched by deeper friendships as well. My lifting partners from college are some of my closest friends now, even though we weren't terribly friendly to each other at 6 in the morning.
Personally, I sit at a computer desk for 10 hours a day with very little actual work. Your also started to get a little belly and out of shape. I know it's real bad in my office, especially with all the beer I consume. What do you do to stay in shape? Any secrets, acessories? Recently I've started to do sit ups, push ups, and running up and down the stairs. I get alot of odd looks and would prefer something that doesn't make the whole office stare at me. I've looked through some websites with equipment, but it's all serious equipment I can't/won't lug into work. Any suggestions?
I have my doubts that this is a serious request but I'll answer it as if it was. You apparently are looking for "secrets, accessories" that will help you get back in shape such that you don't have to give up beer, can do it in your office, and won't get any strange looks. Quite frankly, you're asking too much. You're going to have to give up something. I know that's not what you wanted to hear, but, hey, life is tough sometimes.
I'd suggest you look at your restrictions and decide which is less painful for you to eliminate. You can either eat better, go to a gym after work, or put up with strange looks from collegues. Quite frankly, I would suggest continuing to work and enduring the stares of your office workers. Why? Because you will feel silly if you do all this stuff and DON'T lose weight! Fear of being rediculed by your officemates will keep you from doing a half-assed job of working out. You might look silly doing exercies but if you succeed in getting back into shape, you'll be surprised at how favorably your associates will respond.
I think you're on the right track by going up and down the stairwell during lunch break. Remember to keep going for a minimum of 20 minutes at a time, though, so that your body gets the necessary energy from burning fat stores rather than carbohydrate/glycogen.
GMD
watch this
First, you need to take a mag like Road & Track, and pull the cover off. Wrap it arround you fav porn, either mag or downloads.
Take the last stall, preferably the handicap, more room. Wrap your death grip around your tool and stroke.
Try the Drop Dead Diet. It's guaranteed to work, and to be the last diet you ever try.
Finding God in a Dog
Everyone in this world is looking for that secret shortcut. Well, here's a newsflash! There is no secret pill! It takes discipline, hard work, and a will of iron, harder than the iron you pump in the gym.
I personally have a desk job and I work out 7 days a week. I plan on competing next year as well. But I go during my lunch break as well as before work. (The last thing I want to do at the end of the day is workout).
So get off your lazy ass and go get a gym membership and quit trying to find the shortcut.
The only thing worse than a computer geek is a sweaty computer geek.
Think about the things you can do that require hard physical effort. Forget the machines. They mostly make you feel good when you buy them but most people don't use them when they realize they require effort. Push-ups, sit-ups and such will tone but won't shed much weight. They're good but not everything. Stairs are great but you have to do it for more than a few minutes to to burn enough calories. I would do what you're doing and add some running and/or walking. I bike to work too which does wonders. I would spend 20 minutes driving each way. I spend 35 minutes biking so I essentially get over half of my workout for free (in terms of time). I have a couple small dumbells in my cube and a pullup bar (cool. even my boss and the owner come by and hang out ;-) The mini workouts that I do in my cube don't add up to much but I feel better and I get enough distraction to not graze as much as I might.
I started dieting just over a month ago with the goal to lose all the weight I have gained over the last 7 years or so. It's working out wonderfully. I've lost about 20 pounds so far and it's been fairly easy. Here is my trick:
1) Stop eating so damn much.
2) Get some excersize.
To expand on that a little, before I started dieting I had a pretty standard IT guy diet. I went to a shitty restaurant for lunch almost every day (Applebee's, Chili's, Chipotle, Fuddruckers) and I would eat something terrible like pizza, or Wendy's or something for dinner. Some beers to polish off the evening and I had no problem keeping a giant belly on me.
Now I drink a Slim Fast shake for breakfast because it's cheap, and I can take it in the car with me on the way to work. I have a turkey sandwich for lunch from the deli downstairs (a friend of mine goes to Subway for a turkey sandwich every day and he's losing weight too) and I have either a Healthy Choice frozen meal or a big sandwich for dinner. I'll have a handful of pretzels and mustard for a snack if I am hungry, or some yogurt or whatnot.
Skip normal soda, juice and beer. Huge amounts of calories there and you consume them without even realizing it. Drink diet soda for a week and you will forget that it sucks. Drink more water. Drink black coffee if you are hungry. The heat and the caffeine will knock off your appetite for a while.
That might sound kind of boring, but it's not going to be my life. I take in about 1200 calories a day now which is quite a deficit from what I was taking in. I am never starving during the day and although I do feel hungry more often it's very bearable.
So that's diet. For excersize I go to the gym every day over lunch with a friend. Gym is about 15 minutes away and I take an hour lunch so I get to work out for about 30 minutes. Most days I lift weights and if I don't feel like doing that I'll walk on a treadmill. Nothing major and I feel good afterwards.
I'm not saying this is the answer to everything, but it's working for me and it feels "right". No gimmicks, or special machines or drugs. Just eat less food and get some excersize. If you can't go to the gym over lunch then go for a long walk when you get home. Spend less time playing EverQuest, or IRCing, or whatever. You'll find you don't miss that stuff at all once you start to feel better and look better. You need to drop 500 calories a day to lose 2 lbs a week, which is considered healthy weight loss. 500 calories is pretty easy if you think about it. That's 3.5 beers, or Cokes, or 1 soft pretzel, or 30 minutes on the treadmill. Find something you can live with and it's no problem.
Check out http://www.fitday.com too. You can make a free account and it's very handy for getting a good idea of how much food you are taking in and how much you are burning. It was very valable for me the first few days to determine what was good and what was bad.
...but have you considered eating less?
/. is a lousy place to go looking for advice on physical activity.... ;)
Not a jab at your eating habits--but since you have a sedentary job (like I do), chances are you're taking in way more calories than you need, especially if you're an American. Cutting a couple hundred calories a day can do wonders for weight loss. Assuming you don't way overeat already, even skipping that daily candy bar can have an effect on your waistline. (I haven't come across an office-friendly way to put in a good 40 minutes of cardio every day--which is really what you want for some serious fat-burning.)
That said...consult a doctor or a personal trainer.
-Carolyn
Like Daddy always said: if you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with bullshit.
Get a peddal attached flywheel that creates power. Install it underneath your desk and plug your PC into it. As long as you peddal, your PC stays on!
Instant excercise! And Environmentally friendly too...well that is untill you reek of Body Odor..
Never take the elevator. Ever. Do you work on the 30th floor of an office building? Run them to get to your work area, then run them to and from lunch, then run them when you go home. 120 flights of steps right there. If you're like me and you live in an apartment, take the steps there every time you leave or come home, and when you are swapping laundry from washer to drier. It adds up very quickly. Last year I lived on the 9th floor and I took them at least 6 times a day to and from class, and to and from activities. 54 flights of steps a day.
Next time you walk past the elevator or are in an elevator, take a look around: what type of people are the ones taking the elevator up one story?
--------
It's OK to be social, just don't tell anyone about it.
Kinda like this?
Sig & Below
Yuck Fou
If you just pound like 5 beers in about 5 minutes you can get pretty drunk and still have your beer. It even works with light beer! And it's fun. I tried that century club thing where you drink 100 ounces in 100 minutes, except i thought it was 100 ounces in an hour. Needless to say I was pretty hammered, and also very full. Came very close to rejecting the last few. But it was awesome because I didn't need to drink like 15 or 20 to get really drunk! Highly Recommended!!!!!
Certainly not for everyone (heaven knows it is like pulling teeth getting my gf to run with me). But if you don't find the idea entirely repulsive, jogging is a fantastic way to keep in shape, despite long stretches in the cube.
It really does not take that much time out of your day; probably 20-30 minutes a few times a week. The challenge is getting over the physical learning curve - the first few outtings can be a pain. You're familiar with steep learning curves (emacs, mfc, LFS, etc...), right?
As Richard Dawson once said, "It's time to start running!"
If that doesn't work, or if it leaves you too hungry, you're going to have to exercise as well.
If that doesn't work, a good heroin habit always seems to help celebrities lose weight.
Rock over London. Rock on Chicago. Slashdot: News for Nerds. Stuff that matters.
- Park your car in the first parking spot you find at the mall, and briskly walk the rest of the way. Walking raises your heartbeat quickly to about 100 beats a minute, even if you're in shape.
- Use the stairs instead of the elevator.
- If you live within 5 miles of work, bike to work. If your grocery store is within 5 miles, bike there with a backpack (unless you were looking for the 10 gallon bag of ice)
- If the place is within a mile, walk.
- At work, get up at least every hour to get a small glass of water, soda, coffee, whatever floats your boat. The idea is to get out of the chair and walk around. The smaller the glass, the more often you have to make the trip. It also takes your mind of work and allows you to refocus.
- During lunch hour, while everyone is either sitting in the cafeteria or at their desk eating, go to the gym. If you don't have a gym, run around the building. People get used to seeing you do laps, and will be jealous they didn't get the idea first.
- At home, do sit-ups, crunches, squats, push-ups. None of them require any equipment, and can be done while watching friends/farscape/pr0n.
The idea is to keep moving. It doesn't have to be hardcore, marathon style workouts. All you need is to get your body moving so that the heart rate goes up, your metabolism quickens, and you use all those fancy muscles that you already have. And if you want to keep your waistline in check, here's some simple food tips:
- instead of twix and snickers, have carrots and beef jerky (the good stuff) nearby.
- drink water instead of soda.
- hold the mayo on the burger and get vinaigrette for your salad instead of ranch.
- when cooking yourself, go get the good stuff - low fat meat, whole grain bread and pasta, etc. You get what you pay for.
This won't turn you into Bruce Lee or Ahnuld, but it will keep you from turning into Roseanne or a sea cow.
1. drink less beer.
Beer's just empty calories/joules. If you don't put it on then you don't have to burn it off.
2. Work at work, exercise at home or at the gym.
You're being paid to do a job at work, so do that. If you want a workout then the office isn't the place to do it.
If you carry on with your workplace workouts, at best people will think that you're an odd-ball. At worst you'll get labelled as someone who's too busy burning fat to do their real job or just too screwy to keep around. Either way, it can't enhance your standing with your co-workers, boss and HR department.
If you really must exercise during the day join a gym near work and go regularly, before or after work, or perhaps even lunchtime. At least that way you'll get into a rythym that will help you stay in shape.
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
To lose weight do one of the following:
- Eat Less
- Do more physical activity
Aren't we geeks supposed to be smart?
In the past six months I've lost about 30lbs and 4 inches off my waste (sic - pun intended).
I used to skip breakfast and just have lunch and dinner. Now I eat a big breakfast, 2nd breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner, evening snack, mid-night snack. Oh, I also go to the gym 3 to 4 times a week (averaging about 1hr each).
There's no other way. No fade diet is going to work. I eat plenty of carbs and plenty of meat. Haagen Daaz as mid-night snack? No problem. KFC? Twice a week.
See, the one thing I've learned is that if you are going to make any changes to your life, it better be a change that you can keep up for the rest of your life. Once you fall off a "fad diet" you'll be back worst than you started.
For those who wants to lose a few inches off their waist, skip teh situps and crunches. They've never worked for me. Just lows of low impact cardio exericise and some weight training to increase muscle mass will do it.
BTW, I had 4 slices of pizza for lunch today.
My advice is to not bother trying to do this at work, what you need to do is separate taking exercise from your working environment. I was in the same position as you and took the following actions:
1. Stop drinking sugary soda. Yep, this pretty much sucks at the beginning since it's so addictive but you need to replace soda with water. A can of coke is 140 Calories, a glass of water 0. I still find this tough and get tempted by soda but the key to converting to water was two steps for me: firstly I drank very cold carbonated water instead of soda, then after months switched to plain water. I also told someone (in the company I was working for I had a personal assistant, I told her) what I was doing so that they could stop me if they saw me with a Coke.
2. Get a gym membership. Find a gym with good personal trainers and sign up for both. A personal trainer really keeps you focused and after 6 months you'll be strong, fit and able to train yourself. This is expensive but in my experience well worth it. I go to the gym before work, which is hard, but great because doing hard physical exercise totally focuses your mind afterwards.
3. Don't skip breakfast. This meal is really important to keeping your energy up all day. A really good start is oatmeal with a little sugar and/or a banana sliced up into it. Oatmeal will give you energy for a lot of the day. Skipping breakfast gets things off to a bad start.
4. Geek out on the stats. Use some charting software to track your progress... chart your weight, LDL/HDL cholesterol, max weight you can bench press, resting heart rate etc. and turn exercising into a geek activity.
Good luck,
John.
You might want to consider something outside the office. Yes, it can be very difficult on top of a 10 hour workday, but exercising is more than just losing your gut.
A good exercise program will reduce stress, clear your mind, increase your lifespan, give you more energy, and make you feel better from top to bottom. Exercising completely apart from work helps keep work off of your mind, and reduces distractions.
Try joining a gym or finding a personal trainer. That will help you set up clear goals to meet (a great motivator) and give you someone to meet for a regular appointment. Having someone you need to meet makes it tougher to just "skip it".
A personal favorite of mine is to find a martial arts studio between your work and home. Martial arts can not only be good cardio and strength training, but you get self defense training as a bonus. (And you can picture your boss when you work the heavy bag)
Doing something after work like this takes a little more commitment, but it can really pay off dividends and help restore some work/life balance. Don't short-change your health.
I got it!
;) I reckon in you case it would: just buy the crap (who cares what it is) and lug it to/from work every day on the back of your bike*. You'll be fit as a fiddle in no time at all...
Contrary to popular belief that ``exercise equipment'' doesn't help at all (except your conscience
* don't own a bike? Well, buy one and lug that...
That's great! An open source life. Imagine opening your life to being controlled by the community at large, telling you what to do, where to work, who to date, what to eat...oh, wait a sec...
1. Find a game that you can play at lunch. Request your company get a Ping Pong table or a Foosball table. Believe it or not, they are activities that help.
2. NO SODA. Water WATER WATER water.
3. Meat based sandwitches for lunch, no CARBS. Keep carbs low.
4. Decent dinner but try and keep PASTAS and Potatoes and BREAD low.
5. Did I mention no SODA's?
6. Get into a Duffer Softball League. It helps.
Sugar and Grains = FAT for us Computer Programmer Geek Types.
Down from 330 to 290 using this in 3 months. WEEEEEEEEE
- You could not program your way outta a hello world contest.
I can program myself out of a Hello World Contest!!
Same thing here but I've been making small gains.
I try and force myself to take a 2km (1.2mile) walk/jog/run with my dog every morning (although I missed today, grr). Since I do it before I go to work, I still have time for a shower if I get up a good sweat. I'm telling myself I'll increase the distance when I bring it down to 10 minutes or less (10m14s is the best so far) consistently.
If I have to talk to someone one off in the office, I get up and walk to their desk instead of using (enter tool of choice I use centericq) to message them.
At lunch, even if I only have a few minutes I try and go for a walk. We are lucky and have showers here, but not everyone does so walk instead of run and wind up all sweaty.
Drink more water, less pop.
Drink good beer... well, really, you aren't quitting drinking beer if you enjoy it, so why bother drinking the crap beer if you are doing all this extra work so you can enjoy it. Personally, I like a nice black and tan if you have a good local stout. A lager goes well with curry though so that's to be considered.
I do agree with the poster who suggested it's ok to look like an idiot exercising... better than looking like an idiot dying of a heart attack.
luck.
Oh, I'm sorry, they haven't told you yet about the next round of layoffs?...
Yes, it works! I remember many years ago reading that humans can burn 80 calories an hour just by fidgeting. I fidget a lot, and without exercise I have no trouble burning off the calories from hamburgers, pizza and beer. The only drawback is that people think you are super-nervous. :^)
Slashdot's first reaction to VMware
I took off about 40 lbs. in 6 months using this method... and lay off the sugars in the evening.
If you wish to exercise do so in the morning when your body is depeleated of carbohydrates.
Eat something small in the morning, as it will speed up your metabolism more quickly than if you skip breakfast.
East small portions of food throughout the day.
Follow these guildines and I guarantee you will lose weight.
I'll second the idea of bicycling to work. I was working far too many hours at a desk, and I started riding a bike to work; it made a difference for me.
It took me 20 minutes to drive to that job, or about 50 minutes to ride my bike to that job. So biking really only cost me a net 30 minutes each way. I spent 60 minutes to get 100 minutes of exercise; such a deal.
I was riding 10 miles each way to work. If you live too far away from work, do a bus/bike or car/bike combination: ride partway on the bus or car, then go the rest of the way on your bike. (I'm assuming that the buses near you have bike racks on the front, like the ones near me. If not, maybe you can arrange to store a bike somewhere that the bus can take you to.)
The secret of happy bike commuting is in the equipment. You need good clothing, including rain gear (jacket, helmet cover, shoe covers, etc.). You also need a good bike, with fenders and a cargo rack.
Stash some clothes at work, so you don't have to haul lots of clothing every day when you ride.
Bicycling is a good aerobic exercise, great for burning calories. It will work even better if you can combine it with weight lifting or some other exercise that works your arms, back, etc. and not just your legs and cardiovascular system.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
And then eat a salad for lunch, or bring one in.
The truth hurts, and the truth is there's no easy way to get in shape, it takes some sweat, some time and it takes some work. If your job is to sit in front of a computer all day, here's a newsflash - you aren't going to get exercise at the same time. Get over that and you won't have any problems.
If it helps do something way out of the ordinary that invloves your brain more than counting reps. Try some boxing or try some jiu-jitsu (hey if you are going to learn to fight learn something that works in the real world). Take some scuba classes. Try some easy mountain climbing. Volunteer for habitat for humanity in the sun. Start training for a half-marathon (it's easier than you think to get started). Just get the message that there's no easy way out.
1) don't eat meat. How many fat vegetarians do you know? The number one way of getting too many calories is to have meat as part of your diet.
Check out the The Physicians Commitee Vegeatarian Started Kit or The PETA Vegetarian Starter Kit.
2) Stop eating excess sugars (i.e. soda, candy).
3) When you eat, eat big foods (cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, cabbage) that fill you up but have low caloric density. Drink a glass of water before you eat.
3) Exercise more. Don't sit if you can walk, don't walk if you can run, don't use the elevator if you can use the stairs, don't use the phone/email if you can walk over to their office/cubicle. If you can ride your bike or walk to work, do it! And realize that you are able to do something that most people wish they could do!
I say these things as someone who weighs the same as I did in High School, 23 years later. (good god, has it been that long!??) Oh, and I'm in way better shape now than I was then.
-a.e.mossberg
Instead of trying for one big thing to help you out, try a bunch of small things:
Cut back one beer/soda/candy-bar per day;
If you can bike to work, do that. If you ride your car to work, park far away, and walk the extra distance.
Don't use elevators - use stairs.
On your break, maybe go up a few flights of stairs, then down again.
All you have to do is eat a little less, and burn calories a little more. There's no big trick to it - just add in a bunch of little things that you won't even really notice, and cut back on a little food. You'll probably barely realize that you're doing either, until you start loosing pounds.
--
http://nemilar.net - Not your grandmother's soup kitchen
here is a list of things to do to burn your fat.
Spanking the monkey is not among them. Without trolling, I really wonder what the amount of calories is for that task. When I was a teen, I always told myself that it was a good way of losing weight : my body surely needed a lot of calories to generate new stuff so fast...
How to stay in shape when you are a geek:
The simple answer: Don't.
Really, you work 10 hours a day behind a computer. You have managed to justify this behaviour for yourself. You plan to do this for the rest of your life. No time for silly socializing, let alone mingling with the other gender. So, why the need to stay in shape? The only other people that will notice you are other geeks at the LAN. Don't worry about it beeing unhealthy either, by the time you keel over because your arteries have clogged up (50-ish) you will have become obsolete and are allready the laughing stock of younger more talented more dedicated geeks.
or
Get a life(tm). To have a life, you would want to start out by experimenting with a social life. Make friends. Now make friends outside your company. Have stuff to talk about. Be happy(c)(tm)(r). Find the things that you like. For all these things to succeed, the key is "hobbies". Find them. Now find a 'sports' hobby. Experience the enormous amount of energy you feel when participating in a sports a few times a week. You will end up with all this fun stuff...and it will solve the belly problem as a side bonus.
Me? I play volleyball, I run, hike, bike, ski, board (wake&snow) and have [censored] with my wife. I play the piano. I read sci-fi. I read Harry Potter. I read (speudo-)philosophy. I play with Lego. I travel to weird countries. I play PlanetSide. I party with friends who don't let me drive while under the influence of alcohol. I'm a member of Clan Erinyes the happiest clan around
I'm a 35 year old Senior Software Engineer.
I'm happy.
One thing I think is important for excersize is doing something you like and can repeatedly do with yourself or others. Situps, pushups, etc are fine. Instead of doing them at work how about when you wakeup in the morning or before you shower in the evening? Walking is just as good as jogging and is less damaging to your feet from what I've been told. Though there's nothing wrong with running or jogging, walking can be enjoyable as well and get you in shape.
One thing I found fun but I can only do with friends is toss around a medicine ball. That just takes me back to being a kid and doesn't seem like work or excersize. I have to admit though I was disapointed when i didn't find any mint flavored cough syrup inside the medicine ball. I felt like I was lied to all those years hearing the name medicine ball.
~~ Behold the flying cow with a rail gun! ~~
Haven't seen it posted, but there is a very good plan for IT folks at Hacker's Diet
"This is not a normal diet book, and I am not a normal diet book author.
I'm not a doctor. Nor am I a nutritionist, psychologist, sports hero, gourmet chef, or any of the other vocations that seem to qualify people to tell you how to lose weight.
I'm an engineer by training, a computer programmer by avocation, and an businessman through lack of alternatives. From grade school in the 1950's until 1988 I was fat--anywhere from 30 to 80 pounds overweight. This is a diet book by somebody who spent most of his life fat. "
There is simply no other activity that will give you the
same ratio of exercise per unit of time and money..
Get a good pair of shoes (but don't spend more than $100), and you're set.
Start small say, 2-3 miles, 2-3 times a week.
I won't BS you, it's tough getting started. Getting out the door is never easy. But if you stick with it for a month or two, I can promise you that you'll at least feel more fit. (weight loss is difficult to predict)
Oh, and quit the beer.
EOM
Recently I tried the Power90, and for a 90 day workout, it was great. Very easy to get started, slowly working up to more reps etc...
For $60 this I'd recommend this over a gym. At least you can do it from home. Find 30-45 minutes a day and go at it. If you fail you can always try the DVD again in a couple months. But really give it 3 months and see if you like the way your body has changed.
Also reducing how much I eat helps. Usually I find if I go out, I'll split a meal and eat half of that.
You could even try reducing the meat you eat to none in rebellion against big corporations.
My wife and I are both programmers, so we spend a fair amount of our time sitting infront of computers while at work.
:-)
The biggest thing we have found to help is cutting down our portions at meal time. This can be anywhere too.
At dinner, try making less, like just enough to sate your appetite, but not enough to feel full. This takes a little practice. I know I still occasionally will put too much into the pot when cooking.
When you head out for fast food, don't big size the meal. BK, Mc'Ds, Arbys, Wendy's are all terrible for this. Just go for the "normal" size or the small. Also, don't force yourself to eat all the fries, if you are sated at just half, call it good.
At full restaurants you can do this also (and more ideas). Don't feel you have to order the 16oz prime rib just because its a better deal than the 12oz. If you just cannot pass up the deal, plan on taking a doggy bag home with you. This has the added advantage of knowing you are going to eat some for lunch tommorrow that you want to save more for that. Also, if you have a spouse, share a dinner instead of each ordering one, with a plus of being a little cheaper.
Snacking isn't too bad as long as you do it right. Try eating triscuts or wheat thins for snacks instead of donuts or candybars. I find the fill me up quicker, but do make sure you rations a certain number at home and bring them to work with you, so you don't scarf down a full box in one day. Fruit is a good idea too. Especially bananas.
Eating less didn't help us loose much weight, but definitely helped us to stablize our weight. We did lose a little, but you still have a flabbyness if you don't work some muscle.
What we do is walks. I used to be a runner, but my knees don't hold out much after a 1/2 mile anymore. Walking is fun because you can actaully talk while doing it with your spouse (wives love talking, and its healthy for the relationship). Its also fairly low impact and you don't feel terribley exhausted when finished. We throw in some of those hand weights (1-3lbs) also to allow for a little toning in the arms also.
While you won't see changes terribely fast (10-15lbs in about 4 months) it does happen. We chose to do it this way as we think it will help us the most in long run. We just watch our rations, but still eat the good/yummy stuff. We do some exercise, which gets us off our duffs and away from the games at night. Over all, its a lifestyle change without all the negatives of doing it radically and easier to maintain.
Norris/Palin 2012
Fact: We deserve leaders who can kick your ass and field dress your carcass.
If you are sitting your ass in front of a computer all day, they have this thing called Google. Use it. Find out about nutrition, about the *basics* of exercise and diet. Go from there.
I'll assume that you are reasonably intelligent since you are in the tech field, so I won't talk down to you. You should be able to figure out all this stuff on your own by researching on the net. You don't need to "ask slashdot".
I used to work with a fatass who was always after the quick-fix. He was basically forced to do something because of doctor's orders. He was telling me about how he was going to buckle down and watch what he ate, how he was going to quit smoking and get healthy. WHILE he was telling me all this, he was buying a bag of chips out of the vending machine - at 10:00 AM. He tried a couple of crazy diets, even one he thought up himself (1 big meal a day and at least 2 gallons of water during the day). I thought he was reasonably smart until he told me that one. Within a month he was smoking and eating McDonalds every day again. His claim? None of it worked. Of course, he wasn't doing anything resembling exercise and was looking for that quick answer to solve all his problems. A simple diet change and simple exercise would have done wonders for him if he would have cared at all. But he didn't. I don't consider looking for a magic pill to be "caring".
It isn't just a geek problem, because there are all kinds of completely unhealthy people. But when you are an out of shape geek, you fit into that stereotype. For "smart" people, some sure don't show it.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
Well, I go to a gym with people, so I may not be any help here. But I've done the following in the past:
1) Bike to work (used to do 8 miles and it was a gas, very effective dropped about 10 lbs one summer without trying, now work 15 miles away up the interstate so it's no chance).
2) Lunchtime workout (at gym, worked well when I only did 1/2 hour, now my workout is ~ 1.5 hours so it's no good)
3) Lunchtime basketball game. Tons of fun. Soon outlawed by CEO as employees who didn't get "open lunch" were taking one anyway.
4) I used to work in an office, long time ago, that had a treadmill in the supply closet and people would take 15 minute goes on it throughout the day as a way to help them quit smoking (which made more sense at the time).
I've often thought that some sort of pedal driven UPS system would be a good idea. Power from the resistance recharges the UPS, offsets electricity costs, gets fat asses in shape. If you want to steal this idea, go ahead, just give me a free one -- during rush times at work i have to miss my workout window (gym closes at 10 pm) so I can please my wife. *Sigh* damn chores...
Hey freaks: now you're ju
IANACT (I Am Not A Certified Trainer), but here is some advice.
Do NOT run down stairs. It puts a lot of pressure on your knees. Walking up stairs one or two at a time is a good exercise for the legs. (Make sure you are not favoring one leg by always starting on the same foot.)
A brisk walk from the public parking lot to the downtown office building is a good work out also. I'm not just talking about walking fast. Long quick strides. While you are walking think about what you could possibly do to walk faster without running. Also, try tightening your leg muscles while walking.
Get a pull up bar for your home and do pullups (both underhand and overhand grips) and also try the behind the head pullups. Don't worry if you can only do one or two. Just try doing them four or five times during the evening. Do them for a month and the end of the month you will probably be able to do a whole bunch.
I prefer crunches to sit ups. I heard that situps are bad for your back. If you do crunches, don't look at your bent knees. Look straight up and keep your eyes focues on an object. While you are doing the crunch keep your eyes focused on the object. You'll feel the difference.
Doing pushups and situps at work will not really help you unless you do a lot of them. My old rugby coach once said that a man would be in the greatest shape if he did three hundred pushups and ran three miles a day. I didn't do the running part, but I did do the three hundred pushups a day (actually in one hour) and got pretty strong.
After about two years of doing the pushup routine, I moved into an apartment building with a nice weight / exercise room and also a certified trainer. He taught me the ins and outs of lifting weights and exercise. I think aside from learning exercise technique, the next most important factor is commitment. Set some realistic goals. Commit to a certain amount of exercise a week and stick with it. If you want, get an exercise partner, but make sure that that person has the same commitment as you or else he or she will drag you down.
Here is my story. When I began attending college in the Fall of 1992, I was 6 feet tall and 125 pounds. I began playing rugby the following spring and the team secretly bet on how long I would last. The bets ranged from seconds to weeks. I beat them all (I didn't know about the bets until a few years ago.) This past spring was probably my last season playing rugby because of a knee injury that I sustained about 1 and a half years ago. Right now, I'm 6 feet tall and 190 pounds.
I'm not sure what your goals are, but what ever they are they can be accomplished. Just stick with it. Some guidance from a certified trainer may be advisable.
Hope this helps...
Andrew
Why did I lurk so long before registering for a Slashdot account? I could have had a Slashdot ID of less than 100000.
I don't think it matters what your job involves, staying in good physical shape takes effort and work. While I climb up and down stairs frequently in my position as a sysadmin, my family joined a health club last January, as one of the only New Years Resolutions we've managed to keep. Both my father and my brother had heart attacks last year (treated with triple bypass surgery), so I know I've got a predisposition for the same thing. I decided I shouldn't take any chances, and needed to get into shape. I go to the gym about three times a week now, and our personal trainer (the owner of the health club) has each one of us on a different exercise routine, customized to our ages and abilities. It only takes about 45 minutes each visit (and only costs us $75 a month for all four memberships). I feel great after every workout and have noticed many differences in my health after only 7 months of regular exercise. I haven't lost much weight, but I've turned fat into muscle; I don't tire as easily as I used to; my periodic back pain is now history, and I generally feel much better than I did last year. YMMV, but I've been very pleased with the outcome, and would highly recommend joining a gym.
I had the same problem. First year of office work I balloned to 205 pounds. Not the best weight for a guy that is 5'11.
I started eating breakfast, and taking the stairs, I also took up the sport of squash on lunch hours. I am now down to 185.
Insert sig (here)
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I did this in about 8 weeks when I didnt have other commitments. I have maintained this for a year.
1hr a day biking + weight training twice a week.
I was eating much less at the time as well, and stayed away from starches.
Now to maintain my weight I have cut out alot of the foods that most people consider "empty" calories and stay away from starches still.
Eat something when you wake up. A bowl of cereal, banana, some yogurt, etc. This is important because it will get your digestive tract (and hence, your metabolism) going right away. If you don't eat in the morning, it waits until after lunch to get started (hence that big shit you always have to take after lunch) and you've already lost four good hours of calorie burning time.
Have a light lunch. Deli sandwiches and pretzels are good for me. I have an apple for dessert. This will keep your stomach happy until it's time to go home. I've heard and observed that you can trick yourself into thinking you ate a lot by doing a lot of chewing. This seems to be one of the reasons why those diet shakes only help you feel satisfied for an hour or so. You may have all the vitamins, etc. that you need but your body doesn't feel like you've consumed enough.
When you get home from work DON'T EAT. EXERCISE. Run, bike, swim, whatever. Get a heart monitor or use the equipment to stay within your target heart rate. I think you burn more calories when you're hungry. Also, exercising at this time will "jump start" your slowing end-of-day metabolism and keep it up until you go to sleep.
I also do three reps each of sit-ups and push-ups because I'm trying to tighten up my beer gut and man boobs. So far so good!
And when you're done exercising, have a hearty meal so you have energy the next day.
Recently I've started to do sit ups, push ups, and running up and down the stairs. I get alot of odd looks and would prefer something that doesn't make the whole office stare at me. I've looked through some websites with equipment, but it's all serious equipment I can't/won't lug into work. Any suggestions?
Why do you have to do your exercise at the office? I would suggest getting your exercise on your own time. Any of the following would be good:
Well, hey, I didn't spend all those years playing Dungeons and Dragons and not learn a little something about courage.
Forget trying to exercise at the office. If you want to lose weight by exercise, you have to do it for at least 20 minutes at a time, strenuous enough to break a little sweat and maintain a elevated heartbeat. Fat chance doing this at the office.
The good news is that you only need to do this 20+ minutes of exercise a few times a week. Even just twice a week will do it.
At the office, just drink lots of water, and bring a healthy lunch from home. You will definitely lose weight, gain muscle, stay in shape, and it shouldn't be too difficult to maintain.
http://www.charlesatlas.com
I know it looks crazy, but it works. It is easy to do and the results are great. It is also great in that there is no equipment needed. Many of the exercises can be done in the comfort of your cube/office/closet. The PDF, that you have to pay $50 for (small price for health), contain info on diet, martial arts, and feats of strength that you can do to pick on chicks. I have no work ethic so I have not been good about doing the exercises, but I still got some impressive results.
Friendly
It may seem a little weird, but I know of at least one company in my home town that has purchased a Dance Dance Revolution machine. If you're willing to shell out a couple thousand bucks for a machine, or just buy the playstation home version, it's a great way to lose weight. I've been playing for over two years and have lost a good deal of weight.
I feel my mom is wasting money on weight watchers so I'm trying to get her into it.
You'll get alot of advice. Some will be good, some will be bad. Some you will follow, some you will not.
Change your life-style. As you get older, your body will thank you. Do the sit-up/push-up routine in the morning and at night at home. Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
Eat better: cut the carbs, cut the sugar and sweets, limit your beer consumption to 3 nights a week or less and limit how much you drink when you do.
Drink more water. Where you'd normally grab a soda or sports drink, have some water instead. Your body needs it, and there's zero calories. And drink more of it. Buy a gallon of spring or distilled water for at home. See how long it takes you to go through it. If it's more than 3-4 days, you aren't drinking enough water (or, you are simply never at home).
Hit yard sales. Buy a bike. Buy a stationary bike and ride it when watching TV. Buy some free weights. Even just 10 pound hand weights can be useful. They won't make you buff, but they will help you burn calories and tone-up some. Skip-over the abercisers, the nordic traks and the bowflexes. You don't need another expensive dust collector.
Walk. Walk to the store, walk around the block, walk to work if you can do it and still be on time.
Some of this may work, some of it won't. In the end you are only competing against yourself.
But trust me on the water.
Finally, get off you a$$ once in a while. Just a little exercise, like walking in the park, helps.
IANAD (I am not a dietician), but it seems to work well. It's not an overnight success, but I feel much better than I did a year ago.
Coderz 4 Life
I've seen many recommendations on loosing the beer. I mean c'mon, be realistic Beer is not goin to go away. It's too good.
Kind of feels like that in here (did you catch the guy who runs 70 miles a week and pretends to still be answering the beer-drinking, gut-growing dude's question about simple exercise to try?)
When I graduated from college, I was at 180. Not skinny by any means, but...I wasn't feeling 'fat'.
2 years later, I've been working as a SysAdmin/Applications Developer. Lots 'o desk time, zero exercise, and plenty of beer in the off-hours. A month ago, I weighed myself in at 208. The mirror laughed when I asked what happened to the distance runner from 6 years ago.
Since then, I've started lifting and running again after work. Also, I've started (attempting) to eat a little better...water instead of pop, cut down on the fast food, and eat more smaller-portioned meals.
Trust me, it's a pain in the ass, but after a few weeks, you get used to it. Right now, I'm back down to 192, once again have muscles that I can use, and have to wear a belt.
Basically, what I'm saying is you don't necessarily need to do anything differently at work, aside from maybe eating differently and drinking more water. If you try to get 30-60 minutes of exercise after work, you'll start to notice a difference in a few weeks!
Racing bikes might be fast, but when I switch to one of those POS super light super expensive bikes from my mountain bike, I can dust anyone for 50 mile streches. But if I hop a curb, I'll bend the rims. Mountain bikes build more slow twitch muscle and are better if you don't ride on the road. Plus if you do it a lot (and use a special nad-protecting seat) mountain bikes can make your hip-thrusting action much more powerful which is useful in other arenas.
When I want to go faster with less effort, I drive.
A quick search on good returns these: Do it yourself desk exercises
Desk Exercise of the Day
And here's the google cache of a list of 10 more desk exercises
I have often regretted my speech, never my silence.
-Xenocrates
Chances are she's got just as much free time...
Remember to wear protection *wink*
In Soviet Russia, I ruled you
(well, fitness room at work, but its close enough!)
I finished my part-time masters degree in may, and partied like it was 1999. I put on 15 pounds (And I was already tubby).
So what have I been doing?
Counting Calories - the only way to lose weight it to burn more calories than you consume. I tried to stay at 1500 calories a day. After a while, you can kinda judge when you are over or not.
What helps on cutting down is eating quality protein. For example, yogurt is a good afternoon snack- the protein makes you feel full. (this is pretty much the basis of the Atkins diet)
Another point- stop eating out- or cut down on eating out, or get a salad if you eat out (and NO heavy dressings!)
Exercising again- you gotta use calories. I had/have hip dysplasia, so I can't do anything high impact (or it hurts for weeks)- but a mix of Weight Traning, Cardio, and maybe a bit of power-yoga in there, 3 times a week.
Drinking lots of water This helps when you are trying to cut down on what you eat- if you drink a Big-Ass thing of water, your stomach is full. I have one of those Brita squeeze bottles, so everytime I want a snack I drink one of those first. Afterwards, I can usually go without a snack. Also, pre-emptive water drinking is good at curbing cravings.
Nowadays, I eat less naturally, I'm looking good, and I've dropped 17 pounds. 3 more to hit my "target" weight, and after that, I may try to drop another 5 (gotta loose those love handles).
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
Many people wait until the conclusion of the working day before they indulge. If this is a situation amenable to you, Scotch on the Rocks or Gin and Tonic will fit the bill nicely. If however, you are going to insist on drinking at the office you are probably going to be better served to drink either vodka or rum from a hip flask. The odor from these liquors is somewhat less than that from other liquors or beer. Drinks that require tequila or a blender (or both) for preparation are probably unsuited to the office environment.
Dry red wine is also fairly low in calories and is reputed to have assorted other health benefits.
I don't want free as in beer. I just want free beer.
These are all exercise bikes that fit under a desk.
u xe _Electronic_Exerciser.htmlP roducts.aspx?shortsku=30147i cal.com/IBS/SimpleCat/Product /asp/product-id/49335.htmln g.com/strength_training/Chat tanooga_Exerciser.htmlr e.com/exercise.htm#p3
http://www.newsearching.com/stationarybikes/Del
http://footsmart.com/
http://www.lowellmed
http://www.newsearchi
http://www.homemedicalsto
the solution: put a PS2 with an EYE-TOY in your office, and play WISHI-WASHI, hmmm, not sure the people won't look at you but well ;-)
There are numerous posts about guys losing weight from eating a bit less and walking up a flight of stairs everyday.
My question is how damn fat were you to start with for this to work? I mean jesus good for you you're losing weight, but damn how'd you get so big that walking up a flight several flights of stairs a day lead to you losing pounds.
We've got questions about fitness!? You've got to be kidding! Before long we're going to have a complete guide to being on shape on this site.
What's next, fashion!?
What kind of geeks are we anyway?
Join Tor today!
Ride a bike to work?
Works for me. Of course, I consciously choose a place to live that's within 15 miles of work, so it's all good. And I live in Northern California (also not a coincidence) so I can do it year 'round.
*IF* there's a will, there's a way. Doing cheezy exercises at work isn't going to make an appreciable difference. People will think you're wacko, and you won't be able to contribute enough time lest you get the "Captain Calisthenics" label.
I was in a similar situation. Going to the gym works great, if you like the gym, but I always found it kind of boring. So instead, I took up Tae Kwon Do. Not only to you get good excercise, I find it a lot more fun! There's a Tae Kwon Do academy in my area that holds calsses in the evenings (and on Saturdays), so I go after after work for an hour a couple of days a week. I'm sure if you look around, you'll find something in your area with times that work for you. Of course, there are also different martial arts to choose from. Karate, Ju Jitsu, Aikido, ... they're all a little bit different. Look around to find one that interests you.
Still am really, but I've gotten better about it, and lost about 20 lbs. without trying that hard.
I also drink a lot of beer, used to be dark beer, used to eat a lot of steak and burgers, loaded baked potatoes, drank more than 2 cokes a day, etc. I also didn't do squat.
So I got to the point where I was at the bottom of the overweight category on the BMI scale. My advice for alleviating this situation is moderation. It's hard to drastically change your lifestyle, and when you do there's probably a greater chance you'll get discouraged and go back to your old ways.
I started some light weight lifting to tone up my muscles. I started walking a little bit. Those things where okay, though they would get a little old. Then I found something I enjoyed - basketball. Now I go out and shoot around every day - but the kicker is I do it because I enjoy it! I'd suggest finding some activity that you enjoy that get's you off the couch.
I also changed my diet up, not drastically, but enough to make a difference. I changed from regular coke to diet (never ever thought I would do that - but to be 100% honest after 1 can it wasn't bad, and now after months I prefer Diet Coke.) Instead of getting a bacon double cheesburger I'll just get a hamburger. I order more fish and chicken. I counted fat and calories for a while, and after you do that you just get a feel for it, and you'll know when you're eating too much bad stuff. Also, be careful about snacks - you'd be surpised how much that candy bar or bag of chips can build up.
What I've found is that you don't have to follow a strict pattern, just do what you're comfortable with that gets you the results you want.
Want a secret? Here it is: There is no secret.
You've heard this before, but here goes: Losing weght and getting in shape are two sides of the same coin. If you expend fewer calories than you eat, the extra calories stay around as fat. That's how you got the belly you mentioned. Be aware that carrying around extra abdominal poundage is especially risky, heart-wise. It also is a risk factor for colon and other kinds of cancer.
Often, taking time to look for the "best" way to get in shape and lose weight is just another excuse to avoid doing either.
So, don't eat as much (cut out the beer) and move your body more. Carve an hour out and go for a walk. Don't stroll -- walk fast enough to work up a sweat; if you aren't breathing faster and deeper half-way through, you aren't walking fast enough. Get a good pair of shoes; they make a difference.
(Of course, if you've been a couch potato for years and/or have hypertension, heart murmur, or any other condition, talk this over with your doctor. He/she will be happy about the diet, but you want to make sure that the exercising doesn't put you at risk.)
Here's my experience, following surgery 7 months ago: I take a 60-75 minute walk about 8 days out of 10 (I don't go when the weather's bad or when I can tell my muscles need a day off.) My pace is a tad over a 15-minute mile. Breakfast is usually a half-cup of oatmeal, cooked, sometimes topped with half of a banana, plus tea and juice. (Gave up coffee last year.) Lunch is a homemade fruit smoothie: a banana, some frozen peaches, frozen berries, a couple tablespoons of wheat germ, soy protein powder, and about a cup of soy or nonfat diary milk. Whirl in blender until smooth. Dinner is often something like ratatouille, homemade soup -- heavy on green veggies --, etc., with some whole grain bread, and a glass or two of wine. For variety, I've learned to make things like pizza margherita ( that's simply mozzarella, tomato sauce and fresh basil, or pizza with tuna, veggies and lots of garlic. No fast food; no ice cream, no pastries,no candy, no carbonated drinks, no junk food; no salty/fatty snacks. No butter. No margarine. The only cooking oil I use is olive oil.
That diet is probably more than most can put up with, but it works. I've lost at least 30 pounds, plus the belly. I am not hungry between meals or before bedtime. I sleep better, and I don't feel like cold death in the morning.
Don't play games with yourself. It's really easy to spend an hour reading Slashdot instead of taking that walk. But, ask yourself, is an hour's worth of Slashdot worth dieing earlier than necessary?
-- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"
Switch to vodka!
As they say, there's no easy way to loose weight besides through exercise and eating less.
:)
:)
Last summer I reached the peak of a big weight loss cycle: I biked and jogged a lot during the week as well as some weight lifting. On top of that, I DRASTICALLY cut down on what I was eating (ie: no more junk food, all healthy, grainy, food, etc.) This is coming from someone who was a 205 lb geek only a year before - at the end of the summer, I had lost about 30 pounds, and gone from a size 40 pant size to size 32! I guess you could say my plan to shape up and loose weight worked a little too well. Make sure to watch what you're doing to yourself, too much weight loss can be a bad thing!
Now I'm living with my gf, and don't have as much time for exercise and am going back up in weight - I bike to and from work every day, and job once or twice times a week, and lift weights when I get up in the morning. (And eat too many sweets at work! )
I lost my nice office job last year as systems administrator. After a year of looking sitting around getting fatter, I went to work for the local wire factory.
I work a twelve hour shift 5 or 6 days in a row, on my feet walking up and down an 150 foot pvc extrusion line where I insulate wire. I permanently lost thirty lbs am building muscle tone in my legs and arms.
The only computer I work with though has a 4 inch CRT that monitors the diameters of the wires and controls the extruders.
Anyway, I am looking to get fat again, sit down
and enjoy some airconditioning.
Do More, Eat Less..... No fad diets, or over priced machines, they just prey on the desperate. Everything in moderation and don't drive your car 3 blocks to drop off the mail. Pretty simple equation really.
This sounds like an ad, but I seriously lost 20 lbs doing the body for life program. Most of it is common sense, like get your butt in the gym and eat right. But, it helps to have a plan. And this is a good one. Buy the book, read it, and follow it to the letter, and you can't help but lose weight.
It's very strict, but for those who can handle it, it's worth the effort.
Being in shape is a lifelong process, not a quick fix, though...The book can help you get started, but you have to want to change.
The Hacker's Diet - it's really easy, very logical, and quite effective.
do sit ups, and push ups away from the office, before/after work, or during lunch. Perhaps even walk to lunch.
I took up smoking :)
Read: Metabolism not Metabolife or any of that over-marketed crap. Lets say you are just starting to work out for the first time in ages. Probably can only run a mile / 2 at most... Get your @$$ out of bed and run a mile in the morning - it'll get your blood flowing - kickstart your metabolism - and also burn more fat since your body is still fasting.
Run a mile after work - OR - get a buddy and go play racquetball, tennis, football, ___ sport of choice. Hmm - sports exist to make workouts fun! Okay, so the metabolism is up, and you burn fat while sitting now...
One thing left - DIET! Sub or sandwich instead of fast food, water instead of pop, fruits instead of deserts... you see where we're going here? All that stuff mom forced you to eat as a kid... Surprise - it's good for you. Screw fad diets - eat properly and exercise frequently and you'll be running 3-4 miles a day in 2 weeks - If you do all of the above - You can still probably hit a pint or two (3+ if you run more) a day and stay slim. (knowledge gained from 4 yrs of collegiate rowing)
Make a deal with yourself! No beer for the day unless you hit 2 miles. 2 beers if you hit 3 - etc, make a reward system and you won't quit.
1. Quit drinking beer in the office. If you really must be inebriated while you're coding, try whiskey instead.
2. People won't look at you funny if you work in the office and work out out of the office.
3. Tell me what slack-ass place you work at so I can get a job there.
Proud member of the Weirdo-American community.
If you spend maybe 15 minutes when you wake up in the morning stretching your body it will help the blood circulate. Moving your body in the ways it was made to move, but never gets to move because you're so conformitive, will help.
And when you're at work its easy to take a few minutes out of every hour to just take a few deep breaths, sit up straight, and think about the blood circulating through your body. This is what brings nutrients to your muscles and removes waste and the byproducts of all the work they do, lifting and moving you around from here to there.
If you're mindful and you pay attention to these things, even for a few minutes a day, you'll stay relatively healthy. And an occational workout would not only be welcome but provide even greater benefits to a body that gets plenty of time to rest and breath.
For a better died just try changing what you normally eat. Don't put yourself on a strict diet, but observe what you normally choose to eat. Instead of going for the soda, think about how much more healthy and how much better it would be for your body if you had some juice or water. Instead of sugar and candy try more fruits. If you let yourself have what you want when you want it and just try to want things that are more healthy for you it can keep you feeling good about yourself while not depriving you of the things you enjoy.
There's nothing wrong with eating a piece of cake or some ice cream. It just shouldn't be a daily habbit. Be mindful and take good care of yourself.
Excessive workouts, starving and other forms of punishment often end up hurting you more than they help. IMO, anyway.
* No sugars
* No starches
* Ride my bike late afternoons for an hour 5x/week
* Rarely drink, and then only a glass of red wine w/dinner
* Plenty of Omega fatty acids (walnuts, olive oil, ground flaxseeds)
* Limit caffeine to 100 mg/day...I switched from coffee to green tea
Kegel Excercises! No need for anyone else to even know you're exercising. Should definatly meet the 'non-embarassing' requirement (as long as you don't tell anyone)
It is rumored that allowing full access to your body to anyone might be viral.
=more Exercise! You could even use bathrooms on other floors or whatever to increase the distance. I drink AT LEAST a GALLON of water everyday. Needless to say, I visit the bathroom quite often and use the opportunity to get away from my desk and walk around.
i use exercise as a work break, especially when working on a really tough problem.
i find that it doesn't have to even be that long of an exercise session. typically, i'll try to coincide my workout w/ the early afternoon.
also, vary it up. i alternate between biking, running and going to the gym to lift a few weights.
besides getting/staying in shape, the added bonus is that usually you come back to your work with a fresh perspective that is condusive to problem solving.
The Hacker's Diet
This was posted a few months ago, and I started it and yesterday I hit my goal of 180pnds (from 212pnds).
It works. It's free. It's scientific. And it's called the Hacker's Diet.
Just do it.
M@
Krispy Cream is people
I wouldn't recommend running for someone with a sedentary lifestyle as yours. Running will actually destroy your metabolism long-term. Instead, I suggest setting aside an hour 3 times a week and doing some resistance training, beit in the gym or at home. What I mean by resistance training is using weights and building muscle. More muscle on your frame will raise your base metabolic rate and help you lose weight.
If you want to add some cardio after that, fine, but resistance training should be top priority.
SEO Copywriter. Just Say ON
Work=10 hours Day = 24 hours Free Time = day - work Key to staying fit + having a successful career = DONT SIT ON YOUR ASS THE OTHER 14 hours!
I have the same type of job and what I do is exercise after work. I'm wondering why you had to post this via slashdot to the entire world to find the answer since it is so simple.
Let me repeat this again...
When you get off of work go home have a sensible meal then exercise. Do both cardio (running) and lift some weights. Heavy/low reps for size or light weights/10-15 reps to cut up.
You aren't free to do anything, until you've lost everything.
I used atkins (www.atkins.com) to keep off 30 pounds the past year. I wasn't hungry doing it either. I exercised the same amount before the weight loss as I do now. So I attribute all the weight loss to diet.
. htm
As you get to the later stages of Atkins (and most other low-carb approaches) you transfer from a low-carb approach to what I'd call a smart-carb approach -- Food with a low glycemic index absorbs slower and gives you a constant supply of energy all day. It doesn't spike your insulin, so you don't pack away carbs as fat, and you don't get the resulting crash that makes you sleepy, hungry and moody.
Here's an example of foods classified by glycemic index.
http://www.matol.com/products/o2k/giindex
Basically avoid anything that is white -- white flour, pasta, sugar, bread, white rice, etc.
I feel eight years younger than I did a year ago. My sleep problems have gone away. My knees feel a lot better too. I can now run again after five years without pain where all I could manage a year ago was to ride a bike.
If your intent on drinking beer, Miller lite, Michelob Ultra, and Guiness Stout are good low carb choices.
It hasn't even been three months since the Hacker's Diet was mentioned.
Basically, one of the points made is that it takes a lot of exercise to lose weight. Although John Walker (the author) does suggest exercise, he recommends using a 10-15 minute a day program based off that of the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Personally, by watching my calorie intake, without exercising, I've lost about 30 pounds since April, and I'm trying to shed another 10-20 to get back to the 150-160lb range. I'm guessing that cutting out sodas has has the most profound impact on what I've changed, diet wise. Of course, I had to slowly cut back... It's not like I was drinking 3L of Mt. Dew per day, as I was in college, but I was probably drinking a good 1.5L of sodas per day. Oh...and you do have to drink water, or as a compromise, sports drinks, as fruit juices tend to have just as mushc sugar as sodas.
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
In college, I gained a lot of weight, and after I graduated decided I needed to lose it. It took me three years, but I lost 100 pounds -- and have kept it off for five years. Essentially I did this:
I know this doesn't answer the while at the office part of your question. But I think the only realistic thing you can do while at work is to drink lots of water.
What I do not recommend is joining a gym or buying exercise equipment. This does work for many people, but it is expensive and simply not required for exercise. [One possible exception: if I wasn't such a cheapskate I would buy myself a bicycle!]
I've started doing two different things. One is a realistic diet and the other is a household item that I use for exercise. The guy who does these sites is quite a laugh:
Here's how to get great exercise with a sledgehammer in your livingroom or office:
http://www.shovelglove.com/
The diet is great (No Sweets, No Snacks, No Second except of days that begin with an 'S'):
http://www.nosdiet.com/
Good luck!
Seriously, when I was working a desk job, I was gaining weight, and now I'm losing weight. And this is despite the fact that I still sit on my duff 8+ hours a day while working. The differences are:
- I walk everywhere . Something about being in a college environment encourages this, but there's nothing preventing you from walking more often. Walk to the store, to the bus, to lunch, etc.
- I eat a lot less. When I was working, it wasn't uncommon to find myself eating high-Calorie fast food at my desk, sitting all day, then going home to eat a large dinner. These days, my schedule is less regular, and as a result, I eat smaller meals, more sporadically. I'm poor, so I often bring my leftover dinner to work (which reduces portion size). Finally, I just eat less now. I realize that this is harder when you're sitting at a desk all day long, but there's nothing stopping you from eating less food.
- When I get stressed, I go to the gym. This one is simple, deceptively so. You'd be amazed at how an hour of daily weight training or running can eliminate stress from your life. And it makes you healthier, too! The trick is getting in the habit, and that can be difficult. Try this: sign up for a gym with a friend. Go regularly, and go together, at least at first. You'll force each other to go in the beginning, but before long, you'll find that you need to go to feel healthy and productive. And that's when it becomes automatic.
I realize that this sounds a lot like the "eat less, exercise more" advice you're hearing from others. The thing is, they're right, but it seems impossible to follow their advice when you're out of shape and chained to a desk. You have to force these things to become habit. Start slowly (say, with walking daily), and gradually build up your exercise regimen. As you get bored, change what you're doing, and try something new. Before long, it will be an important component of your life (and as I said before, exercise is a great stress-reliever!)(Side note: whatever you do, you don't have to kill yourself doing it. I used to make the mistake of exercising way too hard, giving up from the pain, and as a result, rarely exercising. Whatever you do, stay in your aerobic heart rate range, and realize that the fact that you're not dying doesn't mean you aren't getting exercise.)
Let's try not to let fact interfere with our speculation here, OK?
Here's how I cut the fat and improved my health.
1. Cut out the beer and high-glycemic carbs, refined foods, sugar water and trans-fats. This means no sugar and starchy foods like potatos, chips, corn, wheat, etc.
2. Eat plenty of quality protein (beef, chicken, fish, eggs, sardines)
3. Eat plenty of healthy fats (nuts, olive oil, butter)
4. Eat plenty of low-and-moderate-glycemic vegetables (spinach, green beans, brocolli, cabbage, carrots, celery, etc.)
5. Exercise 50 mins to an hour each day (aerobic exercise 4 times a week, weight lifting 3 times a week).
6. Read about the health giving attributes of a low-carb lifestyle. I recommend "Protein Power" by Micheal and Mary Eades.
I have to say that after I started working helping to open a new restaurant for my family (parents) and done software development only on side (mostly console based apps for restaurant) and running around in general I have lost lots of weight! (200 lb -> 185lb)
You would think that working at a restaurant and have people ask you all the time what they can cook for you would make you fat, but not eating taco bell, bk, McD's and such have had a big impact.
I suppose the stress that comes with opening a new business along with having your family spending lots of money on a new large enterprise will help you loose weight too!
Can't think of clever sig so had to settle for this! Damit it Jim I am a programm not a sig writer.
Jerk Off three times a day. Good aerobic workout and reduces the weight of bodily fluids (OK - not so much - but it sure is fun)
Ok, it's not something you can do at work, but it has a certain 'geek' appeal. There seem to be lots of people in the IT industry playing it, and you don't have to be super-athletic to start playing. (although the top players are in excellent shape) I didn't do any form of physical activity until a few years ago when I started playing ultimate. Now I play several times a week, and I am in much better shape than before. Plus, it's a great way to meet people outside of work.
It always makes me sad to see supposedly-intelligent people citing Dr. Atkins as a reputatable source of dietary information. Dr. Atkins is listed on Quackwatch's list of Nonrecommended Sources of Health Advice. In addition, a good debunking of fad diets and Atkins' in general can be found here.
Please, people. Don't be giving this quack anymore publicity than he already gets. Just eat a balanced diet and exercise more. That's all you need to do.
GMD
watch this
Wait, you get to drink beer at your office? Damn, I want to work at a place like that. Do you also get to hit on the boss's secretary?
He IS the boss's secretary!
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
When the crew of BioSphere II had found that they had less food than anticipated (1800 cal/day each), they lost 15% body weight over a period of six months, and their good to bad cholesterol ratio was up and blood pressure down.
Just be sure you still maintain adequate nutrients. Changing your diet to include less junk food (chips, fries, cookies, even some breads) is another plus. And do some research on healthful composition of diets, new evidence the last ten years is showing the United States Department of Agriculture's food pyramid is scientifically unsound and may even be contributing to the obesity problems.
That said, exercise is a definite plus to stay in shape and to lose weight. Your body was made for moving around. Walking even small distances is good, and running and sports are good as well, but you may have to ease into it. As another poster stated, any exercise over and above 20 minutes will result in calorie burn.
Personally, I maintain a regimen of calorie restriction, and walking anywhere from five to 40 miles a week, and I've lost a very nice 33 pounds since mid-April. But the best part is I feel a hell of a lot more healthy and alive.
Cheers.
-DAVEO
Atkins diet... geeks getting a bit rounder, geeze did one of my co-workers post this up to catch my attention?
I've been roughly following the diet for the last month or so, limiting myself to about 20g of carbs or as close as I can. Lots of meat (hey, meat is a good thing), protein powder, and I go blading a few times a week.
So far, my weight has stayed near the same, but the tummy and various other odd jiggles have become noticably more tucked (third-party opinion, not just my own).
Really, if you like the BBQ, you can do pretty well. Also, grab yourself a decent blender, some ice-cube trays, and fresh berries. Blending up a shake with strawberries and vanilla is probably the best way to make that protein-powder crap taste actually pretty good (berries generally low on carbs, but beware as many other fruits are not).
Oh, and don't worry about the fat on meats, as mentioned above, fat doesn't make you fat in most cases. It does make you feel full though...
Lay off the potato chips and (for me the hard one) pasta and you'll do fine. Coffee is also a good thing, and I believe you can have lower-sugar ice-cream and some other goodies that are unusual for "dieting" as well.
1-) Don't do anything until you get worse.
2-) Sue your boss.
3-) Profit.
less is more
How do you deal with being sweaty all day long at work?
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
Simple: white sugar, white bread
Complex: whole grain, fruit
Simple carbohydrates cause an immediate spike in blood sugar, followed by an immediate plummetting in blood sugar. While the blood sugar is spiked way up your body stores it as fat. Then when it plummets you're tired. When white sugar hits a civilization, that's when heart disease and a host of other problems skyrocket - it's a drug, not a food. Valueless for running a marathon.
Complex carbs cause a gradual rise in blood sugar that never goes to super high levels, and there is less potential for socking it away as fat. Necessary for running a marathon.
It took people a long time to figure out that there were good and bad cholesterols too, and there are still too many people who don't get the distinction and just focus on total level.
I'm pretty lazy as it is, and overweight, so I received an Eloton Simcycle for my birthday. (About $75-$99 from a Sports Authority or so). It's roughly the size of a medium-sized dog or cat, but the difference between a dog or cat and this Simcycle is that you can pedal on the Simcycle, and the Simcycle is largely heavier and more solidly constructed than most dogs or cats. It's just two pedals on a large solid metal disc, with tension resistance from a nylon strap, in a chrome-plated type get-up.
The interesting thing is that it has a serial-style interface that plugs into Windows PC's and comes with integrated software. Among other usual things (like reporting your speed / time / calories burned), it also has about 7 movies of outdoor courses which you can bike through, and an integrated MP3 player.
Honestly, though, the software don't lend itself well to maintaining attention -- at least for me, anyhow. It makes me think of being on Gilligan's Island, and what would happen if the Professor rigged up a bamboo stationary bike to run a movie projector (which may very well have been an episode).
But if you're looking for something to do while sitting down for hours on end (like I do on the couch while watching 80 channels of nothing on TV), and are content not to burn calories in as dedicated fashion as real exercise, you might try this. There's also apparently a strap you can get to lash your wheeled-chair to the Simcycle in order to stop you from careening off into the other end of the room.
I haven't lost any weight from using this machine, and the thing now prevents my wife from sitting on my end of the couch, but it's fun to show people random technology, I guess.
Slashdot has mentioned this "bike" before, in the context of an accessory, the GameBox, which allows you to control video games (partially) with the pedals.
(I am a medical doctor, but none of this constitutes medical advice, nor is it an endorsement for the product.)
(That being said, one piece of non-medical advice I do tend to give out to patients, and to not follow myself, is to tell people to physically remove their couches from their living rooms and replace them with exercise equipment.)
We all know how to get in better shape: eat less, exercise more. It's a simple formula that is expounded endlessly in the media. Most days I run a few miles after work; some people bike after work; others swim, play frisbee or train in martial arts. The fact is that if you want to exercise you will, if not you'll make excuses.
On the food side, a few simple steps do wonders for most people:
-Don't drink soda.
-Don't eat fast food.
-Buy nonfat milk, cheese and yogurt. (You don't drink milk or eat yogurt? Start.)
-Eat breakfast. Every morning.
-Have some fruit on the counter so you can grab a snack before work and after.
-Make lunch. This will help you avoid fast food, pizza and greasy lunches.
The library has a million fitness books, magazines and articles. They're useful for knowledge, but nothing will replace your own dedication. Everyone has an excuse as to why he or she doesn't have enough time or energy or whatever. There is no special way to start working out - you just have to do it, and no book can make you do it. Good luck.
As a former fatty, I can say what I've done works, as I've gone from ~190 to ~160, and I *almost* have a six-pack (well, a visible two or three pack)
First: Eat less.
Second: Do more.
Facetious? Yup. But seriously, that's *all* there is to it. Some people will have to work harder, of course, but the world isn't fair now is it.
Me, I began to lose weight when I gave up eating out, and began to cook for myself exclusively (except for my wonderful GF who's an athlete and a greak cook). No more sugars, no more fast food. Just lean meats and fresh vegetables. Delicious, too! And spicy food is always good for you and in principle raises the metabolism.
Then, I started riding my bike to work. It's a 10 mile commute (from downtown alexandria VA to downtown washington DC), just enough to get in a touch of workout, but not so much I'm tired. If anything, it's envigorating. I don't ever want to stop, to be frank.
And that's it. No miracle diet, no silliness. Just *more* activity, and less fake-food.
lorem ipsum, dolor sit amet
if you drink pop all day, all of the sugar accumulates.
I agree with that one 100%. At my previous workplace, we had free soda fountains for the engineers, and I would literally consume up to a gallon of Mountain Dew each day. Switching to diet Dew, though I had to buy it myself, cut literally 1500 calories per day from my diet, and it didn't "hurt" (in the sense of having to go without something) at all.
As a fairly typical geek, I tend to dislike most sports (particularly those involving "teams" - stupid primate dominance rituals). I also cannot stand going to the gym - You have to deal with too many people unless you go at obscene times of the day, bad smells, paying attention to which muscle groups you work, and at least one of my friends who go almost always have some gym-related injury they need to work around (Pulled neck, crunched knee, hyperextended bicep, blah blah blah). And, I personally consider going to a gym just incredibly boring.
You might, however, find that you enjoy an alternative form of exercise.
Personally, I enjoy hiking, and just getting out at least once each weekend for a good 4-6 hour hike will both keep you toned and keep the weight down.
Alternatively, swimming burns massive amounts of calories, and you don't even need to sweat while doing it.
As another nice alternative, though it does tend to involve a small number of other people, try taking up a martial art (a "real" one, not cardio-kickboxing or one of the cheesy pseudo martial arts designed just to give you an aerobic workout). I formerly took Kempo (and will again, when I find a good dojo in the area to which I moved), and found it quite enjoyable. You'll find yourself in the best shape of your life, it won't bore you nearly as much as going to the gym, since it engages your mind as well as your body, and as a side effect you'll gain the ability to defend yourself if you ever have a need to do so.
The real "secret", though, doesn't count as a secret at all. Limit your caloric intake and/or get more exercise. No other "fad" will help you, they all just find ways to hide the discomfort of denying our genetic predisposition to eating as much as possible in case of a famine. Find something you enjoy, and do it. Try a lot of different activities, you must like something. And find little ways to burn more calories during the day (walk/bike to work and/or lunch, if possible; Always take the stairs rather than the elevator; walk to a coworker's cubical rather than calling or emailing someone 50 feet away).
I don't know about the rest of you but if I don't do something soon I'm going to go "Marlon Brando".
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
I know it's real bad in my office, especially with all the beer I consume.
You get to consume beer at work and your complaining? Drink more beer, you'll forget that you have any problem.
[Something witty and intelligent should have appeared here.]
{Traicovn}
I've found that changing to a balance ball instead of a chair at work not only can allow you to do less obvious abdominal exercise while it work, but it also helps your posture and because of the strengthening of your back and butt muscles also will alleviate back pain. Pretty New Age-y, but also effective. Kind of fun too. I have one in front of my home computer too...
It's also your metabolism. Carbohydrates can increase the insulin levels in your blood which (to my understanding) can increase the percentage of calories that get converted into fat.
Better, I think, to get most of your calories from protien since that can still be burned for energy and will not impact your insulin levels.
Also, exercise is great, and important for overall health, but it is so much easier to lose weight by adopting a healthier diet than by keeping a rotten diet and just exercising more.
I'm frankly amazed at the response you've gotten here on /.
You'd think everybody here was in fantastic shape. So I have to wonder why nobody's gettin' laid.
First, I commute to work by bicycle. This isn't possible for everyone but it might be more "possible" than you think -- try it out one day, how long does it take you to bike to work? Rush hour is easier on cyclists. I can actually bike to work faster than my bus during rush hour.
Many progressive employers offer shower facilities to employees who do morning exercise. Half an hour of biking each trip, and you're looking at an hour of vigorous cardio workout a day. That is HUGE.
Next, it's important to take the stairs whenever possible. Stair climbing is great exercise, and it fits right into the "office" routine. You can even make extra trips for the hell of it.
The first thing I did that I think has helped me out is seriously get a gym membership.
I go to 24 hour fitness. I know they're not everywhere in the US, but pretty much any gym should suffice.
Get a personal trainer. Even if just for a few sessions in the beginning. I've found it helpful to learn how to use the machines without possibly injuring myself in the process.
I've bounced around a lot in weight. The problem I've found with a routine is that I end up quitting or cutting down on things when I get injured. So having someone to help teach you the basics is vital.
Watch what you eat. I cannot stress this enough. The best way I have this figured out is to create a daily meal plan with calories, etc. Since my sister owns three Subways, I end up going to Subway twice a day to get food. I typically get a meatball at night, and a turkey during the day. For you, a regular sandwich should do fine.
Doing things around the office isn't really enough. Nutritionists and doctors say that you need at least 20 minutes of cardiovascular exercise at a time in order for the effects to really take place. Yes, climbing the stairs at work might help bit by bit, but you're cheating yourself out of something consistent.
Drink less beer! The cause of a beer gut typically is your liver increasing in size. Since the liver has an incredible ability to regenerate, if you cut down on getting drunk, your liver should be fine within 8-10 months.
Finally, quit caffiene. I know that ThinkGeek promotes it like crazy, but it's seriously not worth it. I've felt better since I've quit. I used to drink three 1-liter bottles of diet coke a day. I've been regular hours since I've stopped.
All this, and you should start noticing improvements. I started feeling better within a week of starting. Stick at it for a month, and you'll lose a few pounds. Stick at it for a year, and who knows.
/^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}$/i
BBQ sauce is high in sugar.
What kind of protein powder? Whey protein commonly used by weightlifters is SO easy to absorb that up to half of it can be used for energy if your body doesn't have carbs to burn - so having some carbs then can help the protein turn into muscle which i'm guessing is what you want.
I bike to work (about 45 minutes each way), usually go to the gym for about an hour during the day, eat well, don't eat crap between meals and drink nothing but water - and I am still a lardass.
sic transit gloria mundi
> If you can't do that, then do what I did at my last job - squeeze it in. Park at the farthest point you can so you have to walk into/out of work. If there's public transportation you can use, do that - if you have to drive all the way in, then park far. Believe it or not, but my last job I parked about a good block away.
A report that was published in the last week or so gives more credence to the above then you would think at first. Walking from the back of the parking lot to and from work adds almost 1000 steps on average, and it only takes 2000 to keep off the 2-3lbs that Americans gain on average each year.
We don't need an "overrated" so much as we need a "you completely missed the parent's point, dumbass..."
See my journal entry on dieting for remarkable information on why some of us may be getting bellies, but not necessarily getting a lot heavier. It's not always fat. Sometimes it's just bloat.
Un-news
Very little experience necessary! You just need to be able to walk roughly in time with the music. Just google your way to a local contra or folk dance web-site, show up and dance (some folk dance groups have semi-formal class structure). Usually for less than $7 per night. People are waiting to dance with you! They are even willing, and in many cases eager, to teach you how! Want more challenge and better exercise? Try English or Scottish country dancing. Feeling like a God of Coordination? Try some Scandinavian or Balkan folk dancing. The closer you live the a decent sized metropolitan area, the more selection you have. You can dance in Berkeley, CA and Portland, OR every night of the week. Move to a different country? I have square and contra danced in Germany and Japan. You get exercise, you get to meet people. You are now a geek with a social life. (P.S.: I met my wife through folk dancing. YMMV.)
http://nwbagpipes.com/
There are no cliff notes to getting in shape. It takes effort. First thing you need to do is set a realistic goal. If your goal is to get rock hard abs while working in the office than you're over estimating yourself. Second thing you need to do is set aside time to reach your goal (outside of the office of course). I used to work 10 hours a day and put in an hour a day in the gym. It's doable - it's not for everyone, especially if you have a family but where there is a will there is a way. Last thing you need to do is think healthy. Cut back on caffine and fats. Eat more greens and health bars. Don't bother cutting back on beer. Going without beer is out of the question as far as I am concerned and don't let anyone tell you differently!
Basically you get out of it what you put in. If you're only willing to exercise within the office then get used that gut because it's not going to dissapear. On the other hand if you can grow some balls and hit the gym on a regular basis then the sky is the limit.
I tried the Atkin's diet for two weeks, and it failed me. I didn't gain weight to my amazement, but I didn't lose any either. I did realize that it was silly to deprive myself of certain foods (breads, anything with a fair amount of carbs) because I live a whack, sedentary existence as a programmer. I gave up the protein-or-bust diet, bought a $50 elliptial machine (still working after 2 years), bought a road bike, and swore off fast food. Now I bike to work, mix in some work on the elliptial machine, and enjoy a diverse diet limited only by the number of calories and some fundamental nutritional requirements.
I lost fifteen pounds in two months and have kept it off. I feel great. And most importantly, I don't feel deprived.
What is it about our culture that makes us feel we have to go cold turkey on natural instincts? I say, "Want a slice of cake?" Have at it and attack that next hill on your bike this weekend. Angry at that girl that cut you off in traffic? Roll down your window and launch into a profanity-laden tirade the likes of which traffic has never seen so she thinks thirty-thousand times before doing it again.
Goddamn these scientists that tell you what you can't eat. Goddamn the lawyers that put responsibility on trial. We live in a world of consequences, and your life is not the control group of a scientific experiment nor does it require the a writ of habeas corpus to satisfy someone else's lack of sensibilities. You can fend for yourself. You have it in you. Your ancestors would not been able to pass you the genetic torch if they did not have it. Life and happiness are not exclusive.
Asking the slashdot readers how to get in shape?
in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni
Dude, nobody cares about you. But in case they do, I've extracted some highlights from your post:
+ I've been blessed with a decent matabilism [sic]
+ my coworkers are glad I have my own office
+ I don't drink it myself... I think it tastes like shit
+ Again, I have my own office
+ I am again blessed to have a gym right on the campus I work at
+ my last job I parked about a good block oway [sic]
+ I like women too much
+ I've been able to stay fit enough for wild monkey sex with my wife
+ I could probably even cut out the treadmill
Less ego, more content next time...
0) Talk to doctor and smarten up.
1) Reduce beer to once a week, or even better, once every two weeks.
2) Start eatting correctly - more than once a day - Good breakfast, veggie(non-starch)/fruit snacks, good lunch, veggie(non-starch)/fruit snacks, easy dinner (nothing bigger than your fist(steak is 1 fist in size, potatoe is 1 fist in size, etc and don't have a huge platefull.. bad!) but all the veggies(non-starch) you can eat), light snack in the evening. This brings your metabolism up and will increase fat burn. Loose the fatty/sugary/salty snacks, reduce caffeine or get rid of it. Down the road you can get back to things.
3) Exercise a minimum 4 times a week 1 hour a session. Cardio (running, biking, etc) so that it feels like you are doing something. Weights, etc.. try walking for an hour.. that helps.. gets your metabolism up.. plus the fresh air helps.
4) Go to 1 once in while to check up and go to 2 for the rest of your life.
5) After 2 months, see how you've lost the weight, be happy... you will notice people commenting on you've lost weight.. cool.
6) Keep it up.. for the rest of your life.
7) Have those things you gave up on a monthly or at most bi-weekly basis in moderation... don't go HOG wild eh!
8) When you are happier.. you'll have less stress, etc.. which is what the beer is compensating for. It's tough.. but you have to actively make choices every day.. even when going out to a restaurant (ask for a vinagrette instead of the ranch dressing.. avoid butter, high fat milk products, high fat cheese - choose skim or 1%, pork products, fatty beef. Beef.. keep to once a week if you can. Turkey & chicken without skin are great! Sushi - very good!
Good foods: Lettuce, avocado, beets (for cholesterol), tomatos (and heat processed tomato products without much salt or sugar), cucumbers, flax seed, soy products (good for cholesterol), nuts (in moderation), other non-starch veggies, omega-3 fish and oils (salmon, etc.. look it up), canola oil, olive oil, peanut oil, whole grains, oats really good (fibre cleans you out quicker so less chance of fat to stay).
Above all.. this is a life-time choice.. stick with it after the first month and you are laughing.
Down the road.. enjoy those things you gave up again.. they'll taste different.. and better!
Atkins Diet... Perfect for the solth or consultant lifestyle...
At home, even if you can't do it at the office, use an excercise bike instead of a chair for whatever your sedentary hobby is (TV, reading, computer -- my laptop sits on a 5 foot high desk, under which I place my bike -- etc.).
It takes some concentration, at first, to keep your legs moving while you do the other activity, but if you can walk and chew gum, you can do it.
When you drink alcohol, it tweaks your liver's ability to metabolize the calories. So you wind up depositing more fat. It also damages your liver, so that you deposit more fat even when you don't have any alcohol in your system.
Beer and wine are yummy, but there's a reason why they call a potbelly a "beer belly." If you want the potbelly to go away, you can't drink "a lot" of beer. Exercising will help, but if you already have the potbelly, and you want it to go away, just ditch the beer.
You might also ask yourself why you're working ten hours a day. Trust me, on your deathbed you're not going to look back and ask yourself, "darn, why couldn't I have worked *just a few more hours*?!?"
Stress is a hidden enemy. You're working 50s, so I'm guessing that beer has been your stress reduction technique. Take the beer out just for a few weeks, and try alternative stress reduction techniques. Exercise is one. I like meditation, but it's certainly not for everyone.
Find a partner. I have failed a few times because I didn't have anyone to keep me accountable. That's what a workout partner is for. It also allows for...
Weight training. Anarobic exercise (also acheivable through calesthenics) is key to building up the muscle which takes more energy to run. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn, the more beer you can consume.I saw The 5BX plan mentioned earlier. From what I can see, it's a good place to start.
Have acheivable goals. Don't set yourself up for failure. However,
Write down your goals. Studies have shown that writin down and vocalizing a goal keeps you on track. Now, I'm still on my way, but this is what I'm doing. (BTW, My goal is to be down to 12-15% body fat by the end of the year from about 20. From what I've read, that's an acheivable goal.
Q: I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true? A: Your heart is good for only so many beats & that's it. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; it's just the opposite. It's like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap. Q: Should I cut down on meat & eat more fruits & vegetables? A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay & corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass - green leafy vegetables! And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable slop. Q: Are beer & wine bad for me? A: Look, this goes to the earlier point about fruits & vegetables. As we all know, scientists divide everything in the world into three categories: animal, mineral & vegetable. We all know that beer & wine are not animal, & they're not on the periodic table of elements, so that only leaves one thing, right? My advice: Have a burger & a beer & enjoy your liquid vegetables. Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio? A: Well, if you have a body, & you have body fat, your ratio is one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc. Q: At the gym, a guy asked me to "spot" for him while he did the bench press. What did he mean? A: "Spotting" for someone means you stand over him while he blows air up your shorts. It's an accepted practice at health clubs; however, if you find that it becomes the ONLY reason why you're going in, you probably ought to re-evaluate your exercise program (you pervert!) Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program? A: Sorry ... can't think of a single one. My philosophy is: No Pain - No Pain. And remember, if you want to stay in shape, round IS a shape.
Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?
A: Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You should be doing sit-ups only if you want a bigger stomach.
I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had regarding food & exercise. Now go be good to yourself. Be healthy & happy. Have a steak, drink some booze, then take a nap.
I'm in a potentially similar situation. I do Aikido 4 times a week during the evenings / nights.
Maybe you can check out different martial arts near where you live/work.
Eventually you could say "I know Kung-Foo!" and your boss will go "Show me.".
If you outlaw the law, only criminals will have laws
I work out everyday. Lift weights or run. I find the time to do this because I get all my work done as fast as possible so I am not sitting for 10-12 hours. Now I know that my job may be an exception to the rule being that alot managers think the time sitting at a desk equals the amount of work you output. Also, even if you work until 7pm you still have a long time before going to bed. Get a gym membership near your house ( if it is not convienent you won't go ) and spend 30 mins on the treadmill listening to your favorite music or get your tv watching in right there.
spring water loses any befirts after having been out of the ground for 2 hours
Unless "befirts" is actually a word, and you meant to say that, and it means something that goes out of spring water shortly after it's taken, then I'd have to disagree.
Spring water is supposed to be beneficial from 1) being clean, 2) containing nutritious minerals. Any container you use is going to dirty it as much as the bottling process does, and the minerals stay in.
High water intake is yet another silly health fad, like megadosing vitamins. Your body knows what you need. Drink water when thirsty, or to avoid becoming thirsty when you know it's going to be inconvenient to drink for a while. The only trick is not to drink something that dehydrates you, like beer or a caffeinated drink, when you're thirsty.
By the way... please don't use abbreviations like "YMOYL" specifically to refer people to something they haven't read and probably haven't heard of. You're getting stupid all over the carpet.
Quit BEING an ASSHOLE.
Quack, quack.
The Atkins diet puts your body in a state of ketosis. This is *not* good.
You don't know what you're talking about. Ketosis is the burning of fat, and the usage of ketones to fuel the body. It is the opposite of fat storage. We have evolved to store fat, and to burn it. When we are in ketosis, we burn fat and use ketones to fuel our activity.
Sit ups either, unless you are fit enough that you can do those long enough. FYI, I'm no trainer, this is just what I hear at the gym...
They definitely will build your arms and abs though, but unless you can keep at it for extended periods of time, you won't be burning fat.
I think I'm in pretty good shape for a programmer ( Taekwon-do 2-3 times a week, squash 1-2 times a week, slightly under normal weight), and although it's not something I aim for, I can't do enough push ups to consider it a weight-losing exercise. If I push myself I can do a few series of 100 situps, at that level it might start helping.
But if you want to lose weight, nothing beats a 30-45 minute session of biking at a good pace (nothing that'll make your heart jump out, then you'd be working on your cardio and it's overkill, just the effort level at which you're sweating). Stationay bikes in gyms have heartrate monitors and a little graphs that tell you the target heart rate to lose weight that is right for your age.
most foods are largely water, and those count. 8 glasses a day is correct, except you get a large amount from solid foods.
Photos.
I had the same problem. So I just went out and joined a nice gym. I've never enjoyed working out much, but I must say that I particually enjoy going to the gym. There's something to be said for the willpower that 80 bucks a month generates. I go at least 4 times a week and I've trimmed down by about 25 pounds. I have some nice tone now too. Here are my milestones (I've already reached milestone 1 and am working on 2).
1) Toby Mcguire (Cider house Rules): get rid of excess flab.
2) Toby McGuide (Spiderman): Fill my cloths back in with some muscle.
3) VIN Freakin DESIEL.
There's a lot of "clench your buttocks while your sitting on your ass" advise going around here. There is only one good way to lose weight, work out, increase your cardiovascular abilities, turn that metabolism back up where it is supposed to be. Otherwise, one twinky and your shot to hell again.
You should check out some gyms, there are a lot of cheap ones there, but I like the fancy locker-rooms and in house nutritionists and health professionals that you get if you can afford it...
Troy
It actually tastes pretty good just with water. Pretty effective too.
"You've got to go hungry, and you've got to stay hungry"
(yeah, yeah, I know, the line wasn't about dieting. But it's still true about dieting.)
Check out the Hacker's Diet. The only guide to losing weight you ever needed. I particularly like the rubber bag theorem. http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/www/hackdiet.html
1. Get up at 4:30 (am) and jog for 30 minutes to an hour before work. 4 days a week.
2. Cross-train. Yoga, cycle, swim, resistance training, etc. 1 morning a week. There are plenty of yoga DVDs or bike shops everywhere.
3. Stop drinking beer. Stop drinking soda and sugary drinks. No more desserts and pastries. Period.
You will lose the weight.
Many people decide how much to eat based on how much they are served, which makes absolutely no sense if you think about it.
t ness/07/18/ portions.reut/index.html
If you're no longer hungry, stop eating. The cook at the restaurant has no idea how much you want when he makes your dinner. Neither does Ronald McDonald.
CNN had a story on it recently:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/diet.fi
Personally, I sit at a computer desk for 10 hours a day
I think you should probably start right there. "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy..." It also makes Jack fat. If you are working those kind of hours, it is going to be very difficult to feel like exercising when the day is done, and it is certain thtat the other inhabitants of the cube farm will never take well to someone doing pushup in the office.
If you have to work those long hours (i.e. you can't negotiate in your current job, or get another one), then get out for a long lunch and go to the gym. Or go for a walk. You will never find it easy to stay in shape when you spend 10 hours/day chained to the tube.
Schrodinger's cat is either dead or really pissed off...
There are two main types of carbs: Simple and Complex.
Simple carbs are those that can't be broken down into anything more useful than just calories. These are things like junk foods (cookies, chips, ice cream, etc).
Complex carbs can be broken down into simpler parts: sugar, fibre, nutrients, etc. These are things like bread and cereal, fruits and vegetables. They have calories and sugars, too, but once broken down they are healthier.
The Atkins diet ONLY succeeds because people cut out junk foods since they are carbs. It would work just as well if they only cut out junk food.
To stay on topic, though... the biggest thing for this guy is to cut out the damn beer. Alcohol is empty calories. It gives your body nothing but calories. Oh, and screw those fat asses that look at you weird at work. If they have a problem with you trying to get in shape while at work, that's their issue, not yours.
IANAL, but I play one on
thanks..now i know why i avoid white bread..have to yet totally give up on white sugar.
Democratic USA - Government of the corporations, by the Corporations, for the corporations.
Nobody (well, I assume nobody...) wakes up one morning and announces "Gee, I think I would like to get really really huge". What happens? In general, as you age your metabolism slows. You also quit riding your bike or playing ball or having sex or whatever helped you burn calories. If you continue to consume the same level of calories as your metabolism increases, voila, your ass gets bigger.
A calorie-reducing diet plan requires an extraordinary amount of discipline, so you should also work on the other half of the problem--your metabolism. Start taking some yoga classes. Don't expect quick results: keep doing it instead. After several months of regular practice, ask your instructor about specific asanas that increase internal heat. Also ask about pranayama.
I'm normally sized (6'1", 140#, 6% body fat, 18.2 B.M.I.) for a man of my vata frame, but since I started my advanced yoga/pranayama practice my caloric intake has had to increase nearly 20% for me to maintain my weight.
"What is the sound of one belly slapping?"
www.dragondoor.com
What are they: spherical weights with a handle on the side. They don't take up much room (they'd fit under your desk), there's a huge variety of exercises available, and they don't take much room to do them in - just a few square feet.
Martial artists: these are a MUST.
Benefits: these train strength/endurance, and will enhance your muscular strength and endurance along with cardio fitness. My resting heart rate is 60, and I can hit 150 bpm after 20 sec of exercise with my 72 lb. kettlebell. This training won't make you big and muscular or really strong (unlike say powerlifting or weightlifting) but it WILL burn off fat and make you very, very fit with a lot of carryover to other activities.
Downside: The workouts can be as brutal as you can take 'em - you can go easy or find yourself puking in 5 minutes or anything in between. They are also addictive and you will tend to attract strange looks while using them, although onlookers will be very intimidated by them once you explain how to use 'em.
Sizes: they come in various sizes from 8 to 88 lbs from Dragondoor.
Combine this with the work you're already doing running stairs, push ups, and pullups and you're all set dude.
-AC, a very happy KB'er
I lost a ton of weight when I went through my divorce. didn't even feel like eating...
oh sure, I didn't get a divorce with the express purpose of losing weight, it was just a nice side-effect.
I'm now remarried. Armed with this knowledge, as my weight creeps back up, I feel the nuptual bonds weakening...
No man is an island, but Gary is a city in Indiana.
I concur with all the posters who pointed out this fact.
It's not rocket science. You just need to conjur up your self-discipline.
Decide how many calories you need to consume to remain healthy. Nutritional Calculator>
Count your calories. Here
Cardio (jumping rope, jogging, bicycling, swimming, masturbating furiously, etc), while it only burns so many calories at a time, WILL increase your "resting metabolism", thus making your body burn more calories throughout the day.
Resistence training (lifting heavy weights.. not sissy 20-rep weight... I'm talking 4-6 max rep range) will pack on solid, lean muscle. That also increases your resting metabolism and makes sugars (carbohydrates) more likely to go to muscle than be stored as fat.
I've got a long way to go, myself. But I am making progress. Noticable progress. I've been following This Program for a few months.
HTH
I pretty much eat an all meat diet with little fat and I'm pretty damn lean and can curl 45 pound dumbbells.
Ditch the carbs, pizza, sugar, milk and cheese. Ditch egg yokes, ice cream. Crappy snacks Watch out for salad dressings. Cut the fat off your steaks. No fries man.
Get a wok.
Do stir fried turkey or chicken breast with sesame (sp) and/or olive oil and the veggies you like.
Eat baked chicken breast with no skin and olive oil and seasoning on it.
Eat salmon.
Check out the Perricone books.
Realize you WILL cheat so cheat small and cheat GOOD.
Once you're diggin on how EASY the wok is to cook in and clean, go nuts and put those carbs away. Use good oils and you'll trim down without doing much.
Put the food to work for you.
- Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
Beer is ok (after a while), and there are lo-carb beers out there. The food is good, and it kills your sugar cravings.
I lost 15 pounds in two months, with less exercise than normal.
David
Take a look at Russian Kettlebells. They are very compact, and can easily be taken to work. They are great for cardiovascular conditioning and strength. They will kick your ass. Check out this web page for more information: http://www.dragondoor.com/kettlebells/ . They also have a fantastic discussion site that the author, Pavel Tsatsouline often contributes to: http://www.dragondoor.com/cgi-bin/tpost.pl . There is also a lot of discussion at the site about body weight exercises, which are also great for the workplace. Take a look, this isn't hype, it works.
Remember to do that stretching AFTER you run, NOT before!! Stretching cold muscles is bad, bad, bad. A brisk walk and a slow jog is all the warmup you need, then start running. Stretch after for better recovery and less soreness. Only try to increase your flexibility if that's a limiting factor in your performance.
Six years ago, when I was 42, I got a coupon in the mail for Ballroom dancing. At first this was terrifying, but I overcame my fear and it has turned into the best hobby ever!
Two years ago, I found myself unemployed, somewhat bored with the ballroom thing, and living virtually next door to a performance dance school. I read their web page five times, it said they were open to all ages, genders, etc. so somehow (hmm maybe without work I was a tad bit bored, yah?) I mustered up the courage to go in the place (the hardest part of all dance classes is getting through the door, once you're inside, and see all those gals, you're home dude!). Jazz led to Hip-hop and Salsa which led to Modern and Ballet which led to (once I got reemployed) African and Breakdancing! The list goes on, and it's all good.
Yes I am serious, I took my first Ballet and Breakdancing (among many others) classes at the ripe old age of 46, and you can do it too. The teachers and the gals love seeing a man in the class, and if you're not as good as them, no problem, they don't expect you to be!
Now I can walk into a room and no longer be a victim of my shyness. I have the confidence and skills required to ask any woman to dance. After six years I often get compliments, and they will sometimes even ask me to dance.
Go ahead and try dancing, you know you want to!
Left butt cheek, squeeeeze.
Right butt cheek, squeeeeze.
30% off web hosting. Coupon code "SLASHDOT".
This link gives you the 5bx workout plan used by the RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force) or something like that. I found this link on the last slashdot story about fitness a few months ago. It's easy to follow, only 11 minutes, and you can do it right before going to work, after getting home, when ever.
I've only been constant on it a few weeks, I haven't lost too much weight, but I've been feeling a lot better physically.
Oh, and get a Nalgine bottle, fill it with water, and carry it around where ever you go. I know people who have one for work and one for home, but that's over kill.
To write a haiku - all you need is the correct - number of syli...
Imagine a recumbant bicycle trainer underneath your desk. I'm sure they make only the pedal portion for elderly people(s) and perhaps a new market of office workers. If you don't go crazy with it you'll never break a sweat and you'll be much more active than just sitting on your ass.
Then how about some light dumb-bells. You could be doing curls and the like while on the phone or whatnot.
Of course the above comments about the stairs etc, taking five minutes to do some random (push|sit)ups and as a previous user stated; eat less--shit more.
Oh and lay off the beer. How about some light beers. Maybe an ultra? If it doesn't taste as good perhaps thats a sign to just drink less beer. I hear that water is a good substitute.
You could even be snooty and drink only the finest imported still and sparkling varieties.
-dK
-- dK
We're geeks! why are you asking us how to stay fit? Seriously, talk to that Simmons guy or something...
The solution to losing weight is easy.. eat less and exercise more. Even if you are eating the wrong things you'll still lose weight doing that. The only thing difficult about it is maintaining the level of self disapine required to achieve results.
If you really want to get in shape you need to alter your lifestyle. (otherwise you'll eventually gain back anything you lose) To do that:
1. Change your diet. High fat foods, sugar, and refined grains (converted by the body into sugar), are all to be avoided as much as possible. If your incilin levels get to high you body sends an order to store the excess as fat. Anything with with the words High Frucose, Hydrogenated, etc... don't eat. That mean cut out the pop and replace it with water. Cut out drinking as much as possible. Eliminate fast food.
2. Eat less (while trying to lose weight). Start off by cutting 10% of what you eat now. When you get used to that, do it again. Also eat more often.. just smaller portions.
3. Join a gym and go 5-6 days a week. The best excerise I've found to lose weight for myself is running. Set as fast a pace as you can handle for 15 minutes, take a 5 min cool down, then do another 15. Try to get to the point where you can handle 45 minutes without stopping. Also.. lift weights. The best way to keep fat off is to have muscle. Talk to a trainer for that one. To much cardo while doing a weight program will dimish your results find a balance that fits you.
4. Measure and set goals. Weight yourself everyday at the same time. Set a reasonable goal to meet in the next few days and work towards it. (Something like 2 pounds in the next week). The fastest I've been able to lose (without losing water and being healthy) is ~3 pounds a week. To burn 1 pound off you need to burn an extra 3500 cal if that gives you are idea.
Someone already said it: watch out for the impact of running. If you want to start out running, use a treadmill (it absorbs some of the shock), and GET GOOD SHOES. Running on the road might be considered an endpoint by itself (if the original poster is doing 70 miles a week, he is a professional runner... much of his advice may or may not apply to you for quite some time).
If you are not built like a runner (I happen to be, and run 15 miles per week to stay in shape), you should be careful you don't overdo it when you start out. If you're already heavy, running might not be a good exercise, at least until you shed a few pounds.
Low-impact exercises like biking, swimming, stairmaster (crank one of those up; it will take EVERYTHING you've got to give), or some kind of eliptical machine... those would be good start-out choices until you thin down. Once you are thinned down, running would be a good way to maintian weight.
Always remember that most osteo-arthritis (distinct from rheumatoid, psoriatic, and a few other sub-types) is a wear-and-tear phenomenon, and repeated injury will predispose you to earlier arthritis at a younger age. Incidently, that macho no-pain-no-gain stuff is bullshit; one of the great secrets to maintaining a long-term exercise program as a lifestyle change is avoiding injury. (taking weeks off to heal a bad sprain, or a YEAR off for an ACL tear could effectively kill your exercise program).
Just my thoughts. Get in shape, and you'll never regret it... You'd shudder if you saw all the problems life-long obesity can bring you. BTW, IAAD (I am a Doctor).
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
While this isn't something you really do at work, I recommend Body For Life , for developers (or anyone) that wants to loose fat and put on muscle . For someone who sits at a computer 12+ hours a day, it's done a great job for me. And I guess it KINDA would work at the office - if you build a lot of muscle, just walking around the office as normal will burn more calories :)
Not so much a success story, because I've gone a total of one time so far, but that's my plan to lose a bit of flab.
I don't know about anyone else here, but "working out" has never been very appealing to me. I just can't get that excited about doing something so repetitive I guess. Last weekend some friends wanted to try rock climbing, so we did that for about 3 hours.
It was easily the most physically intense thing I've ever done! More work than sailing, mountain biking, sex, skateboarding, or snowboarding. Not that I plan on giving up any of those activities anytime soon... I'm just going to have to make room in my schedule for rock climbing on a regular basis.
Besides the physical workout, I found it to be an interesting mental challenge too. Watching what hand-holds are coming up, plotting out the path you're going to take up the wall, coming up with an alternate plan when you just can't get a grip on that all-important foot-hold, etc.
When you're not climbing, you're working the rope for someone who is on the wall, so you get excersize no matter what.
Good luck!
Build boards not bombs
1> Cardio workouts burn fat. Yeah, it's more complicated than that, but anything that brings up your heart rate will burn fat after a few minutes and do good things for your heart too.
2> The best excerise program is the one you stick with. 30 minutes a day of excerise - at least - not counting dressing, streching and other stuff.
3> Don't eat too much. Don't eat because there's nothing better to do. Don't eat just because something looks good. Don't eat just to clean your plate, finish the box or whatever. Eat 'cause you're hungery.
4> Don't eat crap. You know what crap is. You don't really need to buy reduced fat stuff, or eat like a rabbit, or follow all the nutritional fads. You know a Big Mac is crap, you know that candy is crap, you know that sweet sweet carbonated caffine delivery fluid is crap.
Now me, I play hockey. I strap on the skates in the parking lot while I let rush hour pass, and work on skating and stick handling drills. I do it because I'll do it every day.
Anything else consult a professional.
PS. The Ball chair looks pretty cool. Might try that.
PPS. The Good Eat's guy is Alton Brown.
Spyder
I found myself far out of shape - and decided one morning that I needed to start again. The first thing I did was pick up a book called "8 Minutes in the Morning" - Basically it was a book that stated if you can spend 8 minutes a day - in the AM you could start to get back in shape - Once I compelted teh 30 day program - I moved to the mensfitness Iron Man workout (now on phase 6 of 10) I went from 200 down to 175 - the goal is 165, but body fat of 37% to 26% which is key. Both needed exercise and diet. The 8 minutes was a good jump start. My morning workout is now more like 1/2hr -45 minutes, my diet is going to get better. Those who diet only or exercise only seem to miss the other in the long run. Muscle mass allows the base calories to go up, and dieting allows for you to be able to work out to build the muscle mass. Last thing - I have though I learned this in the past, but I did seem to forget. Good health and getting into shape is a lifetime committment, there is no 1 month or even 1 year fix. You can cheat for a day - you can miss exercising for a few days on vacation. But to stay in shape you need to commit youself to it.
It may be a stereotype that all computer geeks love soda, but all I know is I love soda. Its one of the worst things for you.
But diet soda, while not great, has no calories. You should still drink a lot of water, but you can drink all the diet soda you want. The secret is, finding a diet soda that doesn't taste like the liquid the collects in the bottom of your kitchen garbage can. For me, A&W Diet Cream Soda and Diet Root Beer are indistinguishable from their non-diet counterparts.
Couldn't you do "very little work" in 8 hours instead of 10? That would give you a couple of hours to exercise.
...Where does this guy work? Apparently he can sit around and drink beer while doing very little work all day.
Come to think of it, you could probably do "very little work" in four hours instead of 10.
I find it hard to believe that no one has mentioned this yet. I could never get into "purposeless" exercise, or working out for the sake of fitness alone. But with martial arts, I'm improving my mind and my body, and in more ways than just fitness or strength. Awareness, balance, flexibility, toughness, etc.
:) Then you do less of them before you wear out, so it's faster. Try putting your hands on a ball and doing pushups that way, the difference is amazing...)
It's practical. If nothing else, an "impact art" (judo, jujitsu, aikido) will teach you how to not get hurt when you fall down. This should not be underestimated. Everyone falls down, and many people reach for the ground and break a wrist. You won't.
If you're going in for the exercise, keep in mind that I know a brilliant Tai Chi instructor (and a damn good oud player) who weighs about 450. Mainly internal arts are probably not what you want right now. I view the "impact" arts listed above as a good compromise between internal and external (karate, etc. would be external). My favorite is Pentjak Silat, but it can be much harder to find a school for that in your area. The nice thing about Silat is that it has forms (like Tai Chi), so you can practice by yourself.
(I've also found that the stick exercises in Silat are GREAT for wrist problems. It helps when your instructor is a chiropractor. And for those exercises like pushups and situps, it helps when your instructor adds a 15-pound medicine ball
WMBC freeform/independent online radio.
Weight loss = more calories burned than eaten. Which means you can either burn more through cardiovascular excercise (at least 30 min 3 times a week) or eat less. Specifically cutting down on carbs will help most. Although don't buy into the Atkins hype. That diet will put you on the road to a heart attack. Try the Zone for something more sensible. Pretty much anything you do to make you sweat for 30 minutes straight is going to draw attention at the office. So suck it up and get in a workout before or after work, or take a long lunch and do it then. Keeping in shape isn't easy. It takes constant effort and dicipline. I work 10-12 hour days, and I travel constantly. Finding 4 hours a week to workout isn't easy but I do it. Make the time - youll be glad you did.
Sounds like you need the Ab Scissor from Body By Jake. Before he became an infomercial superstar, Jake was just like you. He was "an overweight kid who had a terrible stutter". By exercising just 30 minutes a day, 3 days a week on the Ab Scissor, he got the results he wanted, and his stutter cleared right up. The Ab Scissor really does work miracles. Buy it today!
And lay off the carbohydrates too. This might start a flame war (Atkins diet arguments and such.) You should lay of the bread, chips, orange juice, and other things that have a lot of carbs. This stuff gets absorbed by your body and makes you fat.
Yes, excess carbs do get turned to fat. However, so do excess protein and excess fat. The difference is that carbs and protein are 4 cal/gram, while fat is 9 cal/gram. You do the math.
Actual fat is more or less just passing through and makes it into the toilet with your centrum multivitamin.
Don't know who told you that but they didn't know what they were talking about. Fat is readily absorbed. Notice how people who eat a lot of fried food get fat? That's right. Fat makes you fat. Shocking, I know, but it's true. The only way fat isn't completely absorbed is to eat a ton of it really quickly. The problem is that 1) your body is then absorbing fat as fast as it possibly can, which is enough to make you morbidly obese, and 2) any fat in your poo gives you nasty diarrhea, which I'm assuming isn't an attractive solution. Otherwise, pretty much all fat is absorbed.
Cutting back on the carbohydrates and stepping up on the exercise is really what makes the difference.
Excercise is of course good - particularly intensive cardio, as the longer it takes you to get your heart rate back to normal after excercise, the more calories you burn. Additionally, doing a lot of frequent cardio can raise your metabolism. Think of it as excercising when you aren't excercising. Good deal, eh?
Regarding the carbs fiasco - I guarantee you, if I eat 1 pound of carbs, and you eat 1 pound of fat, you will put on twice the weight as you consume (more than) twice the calories. The mitigating factor is that simple carbs are broken down much faster. Put a cracker in your mouth, and within seconds it tastes sweet - because it's broken down into simple sugar before it even hits your stomach, and simple sugar is readily absorbed like nothing else.
That is bad because eating a lot of simple carbs spikes your blood sugar, causing your body to release a ton of insulin. However, because it was a short-term sugar spike, you now have too much insulin, causing blood sugar to plummet. At the same time, your stomach has emptied, making you really hungry. That's why simple carbs are bad.
So what to do? To lose weight, you have to eat fewer calories than you use, of course. Naturally, that means regulating your blood sugar and keeping yourself non-hungry with the least calories possible. A nearly all-fat diet is bad because, while you're satisfied (fat digests slowly), you also consume massive amounts of calories. Simple carbs are the opposite - each binge is small, but you're hungry every 10 minutes. The best recommendation is a good amount of protein, complex carbs, and a diet with 30% of calories from fat. That way, you don't eat too often, and you don't get 2000 calories/meal, either.
Complex carbs are things like whole grains and such. So brown, whole-grain bread is good. If you like pasta and rice, again get the whole-grain stuff, and cook it less time than usual - cooking carbs in water breaks them down, effectively digesting them. The more they digest in the pot, the quicker they are absorbed in your body.
Bottom line is the Atkins diet is dangerous, containing way too much saturated fat, cholesterol, and calories from fat, and too much protein can be bad on the kidneys. Eat a balanced diet low in simple carbs, substituting complex carbs instead, and you'll do well.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
They're just jealous.
And it would seem that perhaps it's time for the company to trim a bit of weight.
Well, it helped me in the past. Just stick to this one rule. Don't eat after 6pm. If you miss the dinner, too bad, you don't have one. Get larger breakfast. Thats it. Stick to it and you are fine. And don't forget that you should drink at least a galon of fluids a day. No matter if you are tryig to lose weight or not.
If programs would be read like poetry, most programmers would be Vogons.
"Yeah, if you have opaque urine, I'd definitely worry."
No! Worry is when it glows.
smoke weed every day!!
TimeZone
Porn
"It's so convenient to have a system where everyone is a criminal" - A. Hitler
caffeine before a workout helps you lose weight quicker. the classic weight lifter formula is ephedrine-caffeine-aspirin, and there is substantial lab results to back it up. too bad ephedra is off the market now.
tea has other health supporting qualities, but a lack of caffeine doesn't help with losing weight.
cocaine.
I find that a strict regimen of masturbation keeps me at a fit and trim 170 lbs. I recommend starting slow...maybe once a day until you build up your endurance. After several months..increase your reps to 2-3 times a day, allowing proper recovery intervals. Before beginning any excercise routine, it is advised that you consult your physician, and in this case, your nearest pr0n outlet....
We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. - HST
Switch to diet soda.
:)
Has the benefit of supplying caffeine if need be.
(I'm diabetic and can't stand water, so diet soda is the clear choice).
That said, exercise is still needed. Cutting down on the beer will help a lot, but take it from someone who tried to control weight with diet alone - It doesn't work unless you go on a near-starvation diet. (You will fell very hungry sometimes, so your willpower will be tested to extremes.) You can stave off weight gain (I cut down my diet and went from slowly gaining to staying even), but losing the weight is much harder.
As to exercise - It's amazing how much difference a short 15-minute walk around the office park can make. I started going for regular after-lunch walks, and my insulin requirements dropped DRASTICALLY in a matter of days. Admittedly, I'm somewhat lucky in that there is a set of nature trails behind where I work, so my post-lunch walks are quite pleasant.
For the other stuff, wait 'till you get home. Also, see if there's a health club local to your office park where you can go for a quick workout. (There's one in mine that people will go to for a few half-hour sessions a week.)
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Domestic. Good.
If you've ever had Budweiser or Miller, you should not be surpried that Bud Light and Miller Lite taste bad.
paintball
I sit at a computer desk for 10 hours a day with very little actual work
Disclaimer: This is not medical advice.
Get your lazy ass to work. You should type until your knuckles are sweating. No one with a job should be getting fat.
If you can't think of enough to type in, try pulling your hair.
Know your pads. One time pad: good for cryptography. Two timing pad: where to take your mistress.
My tips, family style...
1. Chase kids around house.
2. Chase kids outside house. Don't read books, don't take the Palm outside, don't take the laptop outside... Play with them.
3. Chase kids while walking dog.
4. Walk dog and kids around block.
5. Take kids for a hike at a park near your house.
6. Take dog for walk when kids tire themselves out.
7. Don't drink soda.
8. Don't drink diet-soda.
9. Drink water.
10. Eat moderately. Note: Do not eat what kids eat. You will burn up sick days.
11. Go out once a week and bike/run someplace you haven't seen before.
12. Take kids to park instead of a mall.
13. Take kids to a mall instead of a store.
14. Take kids to a store instead of sitting at home.
15. Attach bike trailer to go places if you are in an urban environment.
16. Attach bike trailer to go places if you live in the country and just "ride around."
17. Eat light at work, snack often, skip lunch.
18. Walk at lunch if you don't do any of 1-17 above.
This space for rent.
3500 cal/lb fat = ~35 miles of running or 10 days of careful dieting.
At least for me, once you start gaining weight, its very hard to lose weight from exercise alone. I'd walk (winter)/run(summer) 8 miles a day for several YEARS and couldn't lose the gut until I started paying attention to nutrition. Running will burn ~500 cal/hour. Walking: ~200 cal/hour. Problem is that you will want to eat more to compensate. Also, daily workouts tend to wear you down so you tend to be less active the rest of the day, also an improved cardiovascular system will require less calories to function during standby.
Read the labels on everything you eat and you'll be surprised how many calories some things have compared to others.
Stay away from Bread/Pasta/ Cereals (200+ cal/serving, Mayo/Salad Dressings (100+ calories / tablespoon), Nuts, and anything else high in Carbs/fat. Low cal bread (40 cal/slice) can substitute for plain (120 cal/slice) and tastes the same.
You need to avoid drinking soda (180 cal/can),Beer (250 cal/can), and juice (~130 cal/serving) Get used to drinking water or tea with every meal.
Eat things like lean meat (Usually low in calories, ~100 cal/serving), Tuna Fish from the can(~100 cal/serving), and Egg Beaters ~30 cal/ 1/4cup. Too many vegetables tend to give you gas, so you need to moderate. String Beans (~60 calories/serving won't give you gas).
You'll find that you can probably cut 350+ calories a day through moderate diet changes, eating the same portions, and will lose weight, even without exercise.
I built a counterheight desk so I could work standing up. Standing has done wonders for my productivity, and supposidly, you even burn more calories while doing so... you can also stretch more, and you have the option to have a seat if you want to. (whereas sitting at a normal desk you don't really have the option of standing.)
meh
I happen to have the REAL Samba de Amigo maracas (got 'em on one of my trips to Japan). Samba works quite well but Dance Dance Revolution is much better. DDR for 30 minutes a day and you'll see some serious results quickly. The blubber really starts flying off when you get good at DDR and can keep up with Maniac mode.
This was suggested by someone else the last time this question was posted, The RCAF's 5BX program:
http://www.flwd.com/5bx/book/index.html
5 basic exercises, 11 minutes a day, no equipment, starting with simple exercises which gradually increase in difficulty and it works.
I was thin but out of shape (not much muscle mass, couldn't run up 8 flights of stairs, etc.) and started on this program in May. I am VERY pleased with the results!
I would strongly suggest that anyone who is interested in being physically fit (but couldn't be bothered to waste time in a gym -- like me) give this program a try.
You can start today.
1- Get rid of all your extraneous computers at home, so that you don't waste your life doing more work at home. Cut back to a single laptop behind a firewall, and don't install work software on the laptop. When not in use, put the laptop in a desk where you can't see it.
2- Only work 8-9 hour days. Eat healthy lunches at your desk. Don't work weekends. If you employer can't deal with this, find one who can.
3- Start exercising in your free time now that you work less and aren't geeking out at home. Run, swim, go to the gym, whatever. Do it shirtless on weekends so you get a tan.
4- Give up the following: Alcohol (Especially beer.), refined sugar, caffeine, junk food, etc.. You are what you eat, and if you eat nothing but fatty shit all day, you're going to look like a fat piece of shit.
The important thing to learn is that there is more to life than computers. Being a nerd is a lifestyle choice. If you want to spend your life in an office, around computers, eating junk and looking like shit, well, hello Richard Stallman. If you want to be less of a nerd, give up on the machines and go get a life.
Green Tea
My boss lost about 70 pounds just drinking a shit load of green tea everyday. I think it ramps up the metabolism.
I've also started to get a little belly.
Seen Fight Club ? Visit the liposuction clinic once a year, make soap of your own fat ass and wash yourself with it . Now that's recycling !
Both carbs and protein are approx. 4 calories/gram.
I think fat is 9. Which kills your justification for the Atkins diet.
I have mixed opinions on the Atkins diet. Some studies have shown that it works, others are skeptical. It may allow you to lose weight but might still clog your arteries.
Nutritionally, I'm a fan of a balanced diet (not too much or too little of anything) combined with exercise for the weight loss.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
You should drink more than twice a week, at least moderately, its for your heart: look
Waiting for ad.doubleclick.net...
Post your email address online, or in newsgroups. I get about 30 emails a day with different products offering to help me lose weight.
Oh, you have to stop using email filters as well.
Diet has a much bigger effect on your waistline then exercise does. During a good hour work out that is all cardio I can probably burn 800-1000 calories. I can eat 800-1000 calories in under 4 mins(4 slices of pizza, 2 hotsess fruit pies, 6 twinkies, etc) Get a food scale, and log how much you're actually eating throughout the day, I bet you'll be surprised when you actually see how much you're consuming. The few things I do at work here during my 10 hour days are make sure I take the steps all the time, drink lots of water, and stay away from that damn vending machine!
Do something active at least 30 minutes a day during the OTHER 14 hours of your day. Even just walking would be good. Bike to work, avoid elevators and other lazy people devices.
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor or a health professional of any kind. I sit at a desk all day long and then I go home and sit at a desk for a while longer. I just got out of college last year and I more or less lost the metabolism I had when I was a teenager, so I can't eat chips 'n dip all day long and expect it to vaporize like I used to.
One of my best friends is a personal trainer. He's not a medical professional either, though, so this advice may be stilted; however, my personal experience is that most everyone will tell you to take baby steps and do these things like 11 minutes a day on some Canadian RAF program that will magically make you lose your entire gut.
Is the Canadian 5BX program good? Hell yes! If you have a total of 11 minutes a day to spend exercising, that is what you should do with it. But if you have a total of 11 minutes a day devoted to your health, you are not going to get in shape. If you are already highly overweight, you will lose some of your gut and probably stablize somewhere just south of 'bigger than I want to be,' depending on what your diet is.
If you are serious about losing weight and keeping it off, then you are serious about getting healthy and living healthy. The best way to accomplish this is to simply know exactly what you're putting in your body at all times. I don't want to start a flamewar about carbs versus protein versus anything else; you must determine which diet is best for you (diet as in 'your routine of food-eating' and not diet as in 'some BS in a 99 cent magazine at the FoodMart that promises a 30 lb. reduction.)
As a completely uneducated guess, I'd bet that most people in your position (and what used to be my position) take in too many carbs and too much sugar. A good eye-opened on this subject is here, although Dr. Mercola goes overboard, in my opinion, in his fear of things like bannanas and garage-door openers, but his attitude towards carbs and sugar is similar to Atkins and it's worked for me.
So PART THE FIRST is your diet. There is no simple solution. Any magazine diet is bullshit. There are no magic pills and no magic diets. If there were an easy way to lose weight, America would not be the fattest country on the planet, because we love easy.
The first thing to do is cut out soda. Entirely. Soda does nothing good. I'd even cut out soda before I'd cut out beer, because soda has no social value, either. You're drinking carbonated water and sugar that is making you more thirsty and pouring junk into your bloodstream. Yeah, you can switch to diet, but if your body is thirsty, shut up already and give it water. Even fruit juices can be absurdly high in sugar (especially the big-name brands -- if you like fruit juice, spend the money on natural stuff with no added sugar. natural sugar beats artificial sugar any day of the week and no sugar beats natural sugar).
After soda is breakfast cereal. Maybe you skip breakfast. This is bad, because you will eat shit later in the day. But if you eat Captain Crunch or Cinnoman Toast Crunch, you're even worse off. High in sugar, high in carbs, and low in anything useful. The -best- stuff to have for breakfast is plain oatmeal (not the flavored stuff in the packets. the $1 jug of Quaker oats that will last you a couple weeks). Personally, I can't stomach plain oatmeal that often, so I wuss out and add some (natural) brown sugar. Maybe 5 or 6 grams, tops, and half that if I can help it. This is better than the 12-20 grams of processed artificial garbage you will get in yummy-tasting oatmeal.
boring cereals are probably okay. add a bannana.
after that is snacks. personally, if I have food around the house, I eat it. I have a lot more willpower now than I did a year ago (for purely health reasons) but if you dangle great food in front of me when I'm hungry, I'm going to eat it. Best way around this is to go shopping after you've just had an enormous meal and you're full of self-loathing for bein
If you're gonna do lots of exercising, like running you will have to increase your intake of Carbs and starch food (bread, pasta, potatoes, etc...) not cut back. However if you want to lose weight without excercising (very hard) then you'll want to cut back on carbs.
Btw... beer is not "liquid bread". The carbs contain in bread are much better for you then the empty carb calories in beer. That's a misleading statement.
Where the Music Matters
be it hand or otherwise. ;)
sitting on one of those swiss balls will help with your waist line and posture. situps and pushups on the ball witll make them even more effective. it builds core muscles.
;)
also if you want faster results quit drinking beer.
switch to diet soda and sugar free red bull.
1/2 to 1 hour of cardio a day will also help TONS. keep that heart rate up.
lift weights go for maxing out your muscles not just reps more muscles mean more metabolism.
don't eat junkfood
get one of those surgical tubing dealies -- i stated using them for my back doing Mr Burns style Iroquois Hi-Ya-Yaaas! great for the back.
Join a gym and get a trainer and spend money doing it -- the buyers remorse and guilt for spending $300 on a trainer will get you motivated.
Join the National Guard and go to basic training -- i hear this helps although i have not tried it. but you might get shot at nowadays -- nothing too differnt from going to work in any urban area actually
Some advice:
1) Type faster.
2) Get a bigger mouse mat.
(movin' the mouse further burns more cals)
3) Play video games at higher level settings.
4) Get a keyboard with stiffer keys.
(NB windows users only need [ctrl][alt][del])
5) Get a swivel chair with castors and go for the
occasional zoom round the office.
6) Sit further away from the beer/coke dispenser.
7) Get a heavier mouse.
(Works well with option 2)
Hope this helps.
siggy played guitar
At my previous workplace, we had free soda fountains for the engineers, and I would literally consume up to a gallon of Mountain Dew each day. Switching to diet Dew, though I had to buy it myself, cut literally 1500 calories per day from my diet, and it didn't "hurt" (in the sense of having to go without something) at all.
Also, I've found the flavors of synthetic sweeteners provide more than adequate incentive to just drink plain water.
Seriously, I did and nearly two years later this is what I have:
~100 lbs less fat
better attitude
no more migraines
If you have a gf/wife, fuck them whenever you have time. Otherwise, spank one out. I know I'm usually sweating afterward!
just cut off your leg.
If you're looking for weight loss you want meth pure and simple. Costs less too.
'Ride the snake'
You too can get plenty of exercise by following a strict modern office regimen workout. Start the blood flowing in your arms by moving your hands, preferably while opening boxes of Ho Hos, King Dongs, and Twinkies. This exercise includes removing the plastic wrappers from these food items known to have an infinite shelf life. Flex those biceps by reaching down to the desk, grabbing onto that lucious loaf of sugar and grease-filled sponge cake. Quickly hork down the food in one gulp. We wouldn't want to reveal our secrets for keeping our cute BIG BIRTHA beached-whale-ish figure, would we? An added bonus to this exercise routine is that you ingest a considerable amount of preservatives, which will reduce the cost of emballming after you die from coronary heart disease that was facilitated by all the saturated and trans fatty acids that hardened and eventually clogged your arteries. If you are one of those fortunate people who work in one of America's great malls all day long, you can concievably get a fairly good cardiovascular workout walking briskly or running to the other end of the mall to fulfill your entire day's caloric intake. In the morning, just before opening shop, rush to the in-mall McDonalds to get your Greased McMuffin Sandwich, complete with HOT grease-saturated potatoes (Note: Republicans (like Dan Quayle) typically spell "potato" with an "e" at the end; I'm not republican, but I would want any to feel "left out" of the discussion). Note also that this first meal will satisfy your daily caloric intake, but this is America, where we do things BIG, so we have to do this again and add more to our caloric intake at lunch and dinner. And with the economy doing so poorly now-a-days, it's better to have a little fat to burn when one could possibly lose his/her job; this will give your some "cushion", no pun intended, until you find further employment to sustain your lavish lifestyle. If a McDonalds is not available, you will have to locate another court-food substitute that is equally tasty and nutritious.
Could this be a government conspiracy to rid the world of people with low self-esteem who have unhealthy eating habits? Or is the conspiracy really to rid the world of unmotivated underachievers?
Before anyone gets upset, surely I jest, no kidding, really, this is FUN.
use your left hand at least half the time you use your right hand...
Of course you'll have to use your left hand for about 3 years now to make up for lost time, but then left hand, right hand.
This thread is about beating off at work; right?
This
If you can't find a martial arts teacher or school that suits your personality and/or learning style, there are also many martial sports (such as paintball, fencing, and the various full-contact medieval combat systems).
I like a good karate workout, sure, but nothing quite beats smashing an opponent with a poleaxe!
A word of warning, though; just like in the martial arts, a beginner should research carefully and observe some sessions before joining in. Some groups will be more or less brutal than your physique requires.
here's a summary of my post:
:)
1. eat less, more often
2. eat more fruit, and fewer processed foods
3. don't drink soda
4. don't beer
5. don't eat at night
6. eat right when you wake up
7. eat lean meats
8. skip fast food
9. find some sort of exercise you like, and do it
10. drink lots of water
as far as eating goes:
first off, if you drink soda, quit it. quit diet soda as well, it makes you crave carbs (and causes cancer and sight loss, but that's another story). this is the easiest thing to change, considering the returns. be careful of any drink with calories, because it's generally sugar. just drink lots of water. even limit juices.
don't eat fast food at all, it has way too many calories.
reduce your carbohydrate intake, especially to counteract the beer, which is carb-heavy.
when you eat carbs, try to go for natural food, and avoid processed sugar. generally, the lower the caloric density is, the better it is for you (calories divided by weight), so an equal amount of calories from an apple is much better than from a cookie. the lower the caloric density, the more your body has to work to get the calories, raising your metabolism. this should also give you more sustained energy throughout the day.
also, you can watch the glycemic index of stuff, which is how rapidly your body turns it into blood sugar. there is loads of information on this for diabetics. the lower the glycemic index, the longer it takes for your body to metabolize it, so you will have energy longer, and won't get hungry as quickly.
beer's a bitch. if you have to drink, learn how to drink liquor without getting shitfaced. it doesn't have all the calories beer has.
eat right when you get up, because it starts your metabolism. eat something high in fibre. i generally eat yoghurt with fruit and bran, or oatmeal with protein powder. don't eat at night, or eat a salad with a light dressing, maybe oil & vinager.
eat more salad in general. watch out for breads, try eating only whole grains. buy leaner meats: chicken breast instead of chicken legs, lean ground beef, fish, etc.
and definitely try to eat 4 or 5 smaller meals a day if you can, and take your own food to work. eat once every 2 or 3 hours. if you can pull it off, do the zone diet for a couple weeks so your body feels what it's like not to eat a bunch of crap, and then relax the standards a little.
for exercise, i do pilates and dance. i run when i can, and do crunches. yoga's really good. it would probably be a good idea to take at least a few classes until you're used to it and get the general idea of something. maybe go to the gym with a personal trainer, and tell them your goal isn't to gain muscle mass, but to increase your stamina and tone your muscles. both dance and pilates have had great results for me after a few weeks, i feel it's a lot more balanced than the gym, but it depends on what keeps you motivated.
have some girl be your personal trainer if you get one. it's more fun.
don't worry about people looking at you funny, they probably did before and you hadn't noticed. and good luck.
Please stop stalking me, bro.
One thing I've been trying to find is what sort of stretching to do before and after running. Can anyone help out here? And how about adding a little cordial (is that what they call it in the US too?) to your water, that's what I do and it stops me getting fed up of water all day. Is that "allowed"?
Free iPods - now in the UK!
Drink lots of water, fidget constantly and flex your penis 20 times each time you piss.
Here goes - recumbent bicycle electric generators to power our office machines. Help the environment, cut costs, and get in shape all at the same time. This would also provide excuses to avoid meetings, phone calls, etc - "Sorry can't talk now, huff huff, if I stop pedalling, huff huff, the lights go out and , huff huff, the server goes down..." Is there any venture capital still out there?
I turn my keyboard upside down and shake out the cookie crumbs as least twice a day. It keeps me pretty buff.
Dude, 1 hour of yoga a day keeps the belly away. Seriously!
LOL! *falls out of chair* Thanks I needed that.
Reminds me of this joke.
ARGH!!
Aplogies.
I accidentally posted this twice (not sure what Mozilla did to allow that, given that this was a revision and the other should never have been posted).
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
If you feel the need to keep consuming alcohol for the effects, try wine.
Beer has a lot of "non-alchol" calories, whereas most of the calories in wine are from the alcohol. (Depends on the wine - Some wines have lots of residual sugars, others don't.)
I can tell you this: If I drink a glass of wine, it affects my bloodsugar minimally, if at all. And I'm guaranteed to feel some effects.
If I drink a bottle of beer, often I won't feel any effects, but will have my bloodsugar spike.
That said, if you're going for the drunken effect on a regular basis, you have other problems... Drinking in moderation can be healthy (There have been a number of studies that moderate drinking, such as 2-3 glasses of wine spread over the course of a week, can be beneficial to your heart. Drinking 2-3 glasses in one sitting is Bad for your liver.), but drinking frequently and heavily is bad news.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Personally, I like to go outside and be active in the hours just after work. Of course that's difficult on some parts of the globe during some times of the year. But even then, there are gyms and winter clothing. :)
Even better than after-work activity is before-work activity. There's nothing like an early morning bike ride down by the river to get you feeling good. Of course, there are lots of things like waking up at 5:30am to do it. Things like getting your toenails ripped out and reading SCOX's daily FUD.
Anyway, that's my advice. Don't feel like you should work out at work. Work out for fun, and have fun doing it. It's just like dieting. When something becomes a chore, it's doomed to fail. When you make an honest lifestyle change to accomodate your new diet, it kind of sticks on its own.
Get in shape? What are you talking about??? Nerds do not have time for such earthly pursuits. There is only the hardware, the software... the hacking! The things that really matter - not this petty mortal dancing bologna.
How much time do you think Gandalf spends worrying about what he looks like?
^_^
Spanking one out on your lunch break can definitely help. The trick is not make a mess. Aiming for the trash can or toilet is preferred.
Walk where possible. It's cheap, great exercise and you get in touch with the world you live in.
Go to a runners shop, tell them your budget and get some running shoes. Don't use them for anything other than running (preferably get 2 pairs and rotate them).
Start running around your local park. Smell the flowers. If you get tired, walk a bit then run again.
I started running two years ago. I couldn't run more than 200 yards at first. Now I run half-marathons and run 12+ miles every a sunday morning.
I do all my best thinking whilst running so you'll get smarter too.
I was faced with this very same problem; and it's actually worse because at my workplace we are actually allowed to drink beer at OUR DESKS (on special occasions, of course). At my heaviest, I was 235lbs with a 41"w. Now I am 157 with a 31"w.
When you work with a department of over 150 people with company sponsored birthdays and anniversary confections, lots of deadlines, late nights, no time to do sports, etc... the waistlines tend to bulge.
How I approched this problem: running. And lots of it. Cardio exercise early in the morning before you eat draws energy away from stored fat (think about it, you haven't eaten for at least six hours... where else are you going to make ATP from?).
It all depends on your weight, ability to withstand hard impact (running is very hard on your ankles and knee joints), and ability to keep a steady pace (5.0mph-6.0mph is a very good clip).
For most people, a treadmill or running outside with a pedometer for 1 mile in the morning every other day, after you have woken up, works.
Don't eat until after an hour after you have worked out. If you can't do this in the morning, then wait 3.5-4 hours after you have eaten at night (although it's not as effective as running in the morning).
After you start dropping some weight, start a weight training program. Increased muscle mass will cause your body to draw even more calories for fuel, and it will boost your metabolism.
As far as dieting goes, it's ALL crap. Low-carb, high-fat, all of it. You cannot get around not exercising. For myself, I boosted the amount of veggies I eat to where it's over half of my diet. Pizza, chinese and mexican has to wait til Sunday when I'm not exercise.
Replace the soda you are drinking with water (soda makes you retain water like hell). If you can't stop glugging that Mountain Dew, force yourself to drink a bottle of water for every cola you down. Vending machines are evil.
There are also other things you can do to get the weight to come off and stay off... find things to do other than slave yourself to the computer! I took up skydiving (yes, I know, not for everyone). Find outdoorsy stuff to do.
Good luck
to keep the extra weight off I run n the street about 8 miles per week. Get the nice Nike or if you are a bigger person get the Brooks running shoes. Also I run with my wife, it makes for good company and a chance to debrief on the day too. In short find a partner to run with. As far as food goes I follow an easy atkins. No food with white flour, ie bread, rolls, muffins, and no juices or soda. Drink a ton of water and take a one-a-day vitamin. Also, don't forget to take a fish-oil tablet. They are great for the heart. good luck.
A hand up and a foot on every chest...
It is kind of sad that this actually needs to be explained to ppl because we don't know how to take care of ourselves. If what is listed below helps, then make sure and pass it on :)
1. Diet - easily the most important part of being healthy. The premise is simple ... eat right and eat as much as you want. My suggestion is vegitarian or vegan if you can do it. If you really can't then just keep your meat consumption to a minimum ... try for only a handful of meat meals a week.
how to eat right? eat lots of raw foods. the more the better. raw food is highest in nutrients and easiest to digest ... its just plain best. By raw foods I mean fruits and vegetables, especially greens like salad. you also want to avoid refined foods, like pastas and breads. These aren't bad for you, they just aren't nutritious either. Instead eat beans, lentils, brown rice and all other types of natural grains and legumes. beer is fine just not in excess, otherwise stick to water. If you eat right your body will naturally correct itself to the right weight ... but the key is in the raw foods!
2. excercise - you have to do something to be active. it can be as simple as walking your dog all the way up to full on scheduled work out sessions. i personally can't stand the gym and find it hard to work out by myself, so i like to play sports. soccer, basketball, volleyball, football, whatever. find a sport you like and get out and play ... with a little searching you can find good pickup games that are open to everyone.
3. sleep - if you don't sleep enough or don't sleep well then you need to fix that. I find that doing something relaxing before bed really helps me sleep better ... for me that means watching an episode of anime. most ppl like to read, but really that just stimulates my mind too much, but certainly do what works for you. Also, if you have a partner then massaging is another great excercise before bed, and I also hear that a good foot massage helps you to sleep.
If you can get these 3 parts of your life in good condition then you will certainly be healthy. It doesn't need to be daunting or complicated.
Yeah, every bit helps, and there are some good tips like taking the farthest parking spot, ect. I find a brief workout after work is great for stress relief and my metabolism. Your body temperature is at its highest then, which means you're at your most limber - you can stretch farther and are more flexible. Consistency is more important than exertion.
Diet:
Eating less is the other part. Here's my tip: Don't buy food. If you don't have it you can't eat it. Switch to Healthy Choice or Weight Watchers TV dinners to get your sense of a proper portion size back. Try switching to 4 or 5 small meals a day 3 or 4 hours apart- you don't really get hungry and avoid the metabolism crashes right before/after lunch or at 2:30. Try tracking everything you eat so you know exactly how many calories you're getting. There's a USDA nutrient database that'll give you good approximations to most foods:
Beer:
Alcohol is very high in energy - you can use pure alcohol as a not too bad fuel. They make beer lite by reducing the alcohol content. Either make it a once in a while treat or accept that a large chunk of your daily calories are empty.
Find a local studio and check it out. Always changing excercise, great cardio, a sense of accomplishment, very nice for strengthening the back (no more annoying shoulder/neck/back pain after a day's work) and your physician will like your improved cholesterol numbers too.
I took a job where I sat at a desk for two years. During those two years, I ate fast food every day for lunch, when I got home I would usually go out to eat again for dinner. I had also quit playing soccer so I wasn't getting any exercise besides the every day walking around the office/home/etc. During that time I went from being in-shape and failt muscular at 195lbs (6'1") to fat, saggy and over 240lbs.
In Dec (2002) I left the job to go back to school and now I'm stuck being overweight and completely out of shape.
I've lost 20+ lbs since Feburay, but it's not been easy. There's been times I've gone up and down, but lately my routine has been to eat MUCH MUCH LESS. Drink alcohol very rarely. 50 pushups and 60-80 situps in the morning. I'm playing soccer once a week, and ocassionally I go on a bike ride or a run. Not until recently am I beginning to any see signs of improvement.
Gaining weight is quick and easy. Loosing weight/staying in shape is very slow and extrememly difficult.
I regret EVERY MOMENT of the two years of just sitting there eating a burger, french fries and a coke.
You can virtually guarantee that any "security holes" you might have will be found and plugged sooner!
Ultimately you're going to need to burn more calories than you consume, plus maybe toning your abdominal muscles a bit if your intestines are starting to push out against your abdomen..
Two freebie ways of burning more calories are to drink tea and eat chili peppers. These both raise your metabolism, so you actually burn more calories at rest.
But that's probably not enough, especially if you're drinking a lot of beer. At some point, you're probably going to want to get a gym membership or some exercise equipment at home, or take up running, or something like that.
One good way of burning calories is to do weight training. Muscles are blast furnaces that love to gobble calories. The bigger they are, and the more you use them, the more they gobble. Muscle weighs more than fat, so don't worry too much about your results on the scale if you try this approach.
BTW, I'm no nutritionist, but I find Nonalcoholic beer pretty satisfying, and I believe it cuts out a lot of calories.
Also, there's vegetarianism. It tends to be low calorie unless you use too much oil or over-rely on high fat cheese, and it's a good way to go if you, as a typical guy, want to extend your lifespan to that of a typical woman.
Lifting weights is very compatible with coding, as it doesn't have to take very much time at all. Look into 'hardgainer' routines which some people, including myself, have had success with. Even advanced hardgainer routine only require about 45 minutes at most twice a week, some even less. Even with this limited time investment you can get quite strong (compared to previous untrained self) if you do it right.
Doug Eleveld
I go to the gym. Try it.
Have a Happy.
Cut off your leg
There are quite a _FEW_ posts following this remark ! ?
Now i'm wondering what kind of things people dare to eat on the other end of this carefully timeframed message.
free dom(inion) - free energy - free your mind - whee!
Actually by the time you are thirsty you needed water some time ago, as there is a significant lag between when your brain says you are thirsty and when your body needs it. I hike and exercise a lot so I've experienced this firsthand. Drink more water than you think you need, especially in dry environments.
or work from home, same thing
-- "You can lead a yak to water, but you can't teach an old dog to make a silk purse out of a pig in a poke" - Opus
Parris Island--the ultimate weight loss program.
-- Napalm sticks to kids.
Personally, I have a pair of power tubes. They're basically a long tube, similar to the one used me hospitals as a tourniqette with handles on each end. Just step on center, or what ever position suits your resistence needs and start doing curls, gorilla presses, rowing, whatever. It's very flexible and can't pretty much work out your entire upper body. Provides simple strength/endurance training.
When you opt for a quiet night and and rent a movie, are popcorn, chips, or other snacks a part of the video ritual? Does it even matter if you were hungry? When you pick up a Slurpee at the convinience store do you buy the size you feel like consuming or the size that looks like the best deal? "What idiot wouldn't pay 10% more for twice the slurpee!"
A rather large amount of our eating habits are not determined by hunger or fat cravings or anything of the sort. Rather, they're a product of our mental perceptions and habits. We associate certain activities with eating. We force our bodies to eat things they don't really want or need for thousands of little reasons. All it takes to overcome this is a little bit of applied common sense and a rethinking of our priorities.
Hence, some guidelines to follow:
1. Listen to your body. If it's craving a steak, feed it steak. If it isn't hungry, don't eat.
2. When you're deciding what to eat, first ask yourself if you're actually hungry or you're just looking for something to keep your hands busy. Chances are that if you just had a big dinner you don't really need popcorn to go with that after-dinner movie.
3. Your mother taught you not to waste food. First, you probably don't live in Ethiopia. Chances are you will have food tommorow. Second, it's waste whether it gets added to your spare tire or goes in the trash. Sure, a little fat might come in handy if your plane goes down in the Andes, but not to fat bastards like you! The fit people will come out on top when it's Hannibal Lecter time. Next time, don't buy/make/take so much food.
4. When buying food, remember that the true cost of food in our wealthy but relatively inactive society is the calories. Buy the right ammount, not what looks like the best deal.
5. Don't put the chocolate bar on a pedestal behind bowls of fruits and veggies with dip. If you want the F'ing Twix bar, eat the F'ing Twix bar! Don't gnaw your way through 3 pounds of fruit before you finally give in and eat it anyways. Fruit is healthier, but it has calories too.
6. Watermelon is gooooood.
7. If you go to a retaurant, appetizers are your friend. When you become "full" is more a product of when you start eating rather than how much you eat. Eat a roll to start with and you'll probably run out of steam before you finish the Linguini Alfredo uber-platter. If you wait untill the waiter finally brings the main course out you'll be hungry enough to wolf it down before the interogastrone has a chance to hit you. (and regret it later)
8. Eat slow, or if you're a military man home at Mother's for thanksgiving, take one plate, eat fast, and then take a break before digging in again.
That's all I can think of at the moment in terms of eating habits. Others have covered the excersize aspects fairly well. Ignore people who tell you to watch your fat consumption. It's the calories that matter. Fat does have twice the calories as the same mass of carbohydrates, but that's about it. Skim Milk has more fat than Cola, but guess which one has more calories?
If your goal is not to maintain your current weight, but to actually lose weight, remember that our bodies adapt to our caloric intake and activity levels. If you suddenly start eating nothing but veggie platters and running marathons you will lose weight, but your body is going to get a *lot* more efficient. If you stop running and start eating corndogs and hoagies again your body will pack on the pounds like crazy. Short-term diets, temporary exercize regimins and special Jenny Craig food are all futile. Permanent lifestyle choices are the only way to take weight off.
P.S. Beware of diet plans, especially the successful ones like Jenny Craig. I'd be curious to know just how much of their buisness comes from repeat customers...
The Hacker's Diet
Ok, if you want to be a lwayer...
Weigh yourself in the morning, then don't drink any water and eat only dried foods for the day. If you can stand the headaches, irritability, weakness and dry mouth, then weigh yourself at the end of the day minus the weight of any food you ate (add, 1 lb for pooping?). This should give you the weight of the water you lost. You'll be surprised by how must water you lose during the day just to breathing, sweating, etc.
I know it sounds new agey, but I just started Tai Chi..it takes only a little time whenever/wherever you have it, and builds up good fitness habits/flexibility/energy/fitness. I didn't believe it either, until I tried it. Kazaa has some great Tai Chi video downloads, and lessons are cheap too.
Heh! You and Bobby Hill!
Lay off the deli food son....that boy just ain't right.
a medical study co-sponsored by the US Army. The report stated that 1 quart of water every hour or two is necessary for a soldier doing moderate work. So, if you are not a soldier (or work out) you probably don't NEED that much water.
On the other hand, water really IS good for you. The general rule given by doctors is that if your urine is clear, rather than yellow, you are drinking enough water. There is no set amount of water for a person to drink; people are different sizes, different body chemistries, have different diets, and so on. I drink 4 liters of water per day. And I work out every other day.
Of course, I have to pee all the time. But I feel more awake, I rarely get sick, never have headaches, and never feel tired during the day.
And in the Army at least, they say that if you aren't peeing all the time, you are not drinking enough water.
What if the marathon runner popped a sugar cube every few minutes throughout the race?
What fat could be in peaches? It is probably either a laxative effect due to some chemical or from fiber in them.
Two words: Sally Struthers
So long, michael. Don't let the door hit you...
Also note the average portion size served has risen dramasticly the past few years. The food industry is stuffing more and more into it's customers, which willingly eat (and pay) more. It was all over the news some time ago. So remember, when eating out: Never finish your plate, and never ask for a doggy bag.
Heroin will do the trick. There may be some side effects.
But you'd be in trouble in one of those long boring meetings that I get stuck in!
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
Rearrange your cubicle or your network room. Lifting 19" monitors and full tower cases, not to mention pushing around server racks, you'll be a stick-boy again in no time. That and ramen, lots of ramen.
Why aren't you exercising at home or at a gym. If you have to work long hours, then just wait until it's late to do your excercising (which will cut down on the number of people there), or just start going to the gym at, say 7 no matter what, and coming back to work if you need to. The brain break will help you work anyway.
-no broken link
Left or right? Can I switch balls when one gets tired?
word.
Try replacing your chair with one of those big exercise balls. The pick your feet up off the ground every now and again.
Then again, you don't want to stand for 10 hours a day, else you're apt to get varicose veins in your legs over time.
And as the original poster mentioned -- get up and walk. Take the long way to the meeting room. Always take the stairs to get from floor to floor. Get a stress ball and squeeze it while you read Slashdot. If you're a sysadmin, find an excuse to lug monitors around all day.
Trolls lurk everywhere. Mod them down.
There was something I was doing, that worked really well for me..
:)
,and everything remains happy. But, you have to lower your intake for a while, or increase your output, to bring the level of water (your weight) down.
I decided I was overweight at 170 pounds (5'8", average frame). My face was fat, and I wasn't particulary happy with my overall look.
On this method, I was loosing between 3 and 5 pounds per week day, but would only sustain my weight on weekends.
I went down to 150 pounds, and stayed there for a long time, no matter how hard I tried. Then I dropped to 145 recently. I've been walking more than driving. I've been holding around 145, which is about perfect for me.
First off, stop drinking soda. No coke, diet coke, whatever.. Drink water, and lots of it. Carry bottles of water to work, since most places just have soda machines. Don't drink the Dasani water. It is salted and tastes nasty. Read the label. Bottled water shouldn't have anything but water in it. Once your away from it for a while, then it's ok to have the occasional coke. I know, most people drink coke instead of water, and haven't had a glass of water in years. Coke encourages this. They encourage people to put soda machines out and make sure that they have a presence in every supermarket, gas station, and convinence store. They want your money, and don't care that their product isn't good for you (just like cigarettes).
Coke, at 200 calories per 20oz bottle, isn't really good. Ask your doctor if you should be taking in say 400 to 600 calories per day in soda. Then ask your dentist (it's really bad for your teeth too). I'm not a doctor or dentist, so ask them for confirmation.
I don't eat breakfast.. That's a rule that I've lived by since I was a kid. My metabolism doesn't support it (maybe I need an upgrade?). If I eat breakfast, I feel sick all day. Makes mornings a lot faster though.
Don't snack. Snacking just brings in extra calories, and if you're getting fat, then you're bringing in too much.. If you want to reverse the getting fat trend, lower your intake. Think of it like a bucket with a small drain in it.. The drain represents the energy you burn during the day. A water hose into the top of the bucket represents your food intake. If you fill the bucket faster than it drains, it gets too full (you get fat). If you fill it too slowly, the bucket will run out of water (you get think and die). There's a happy medium, where there's enough water going in, and enough water going out
My daily routine was:
8am wake up. Go to my exercise area, which initially consisted of a towel on the floor. Do stretching exercises, situps and pushups, and more stretching. After I got to 100 situps and pushups without getting tired, I got bored with it, and got weights too. I slowly worked up to 30 pounds of weights in my hands crossed over my chest, for 100 situps.. And I added a decent array of weight bench exercises over time. Don't try too hard at first, if you keep doing it, you'll see improvement. Always stretch before and after.
8:45am stop exercising, shower, etc, etc, and go to work.
10am arrive at work (this is my shift)
1:30pm small lunch. I limited myself to 300-400 calories for lunch. Don't eat fast food. If you consider it, check their web sites. A Big Mac is 580 calories. Personally, I like the Lean Cuisine meals.. The Healthy Choice frozen pizzas aren't bad either.
8pm leave work.
8:05pm, meet up with friends for drinks. 5 or 6 pints of Guinness sometime between 8pm and midnight. Ok, socially drinking every night probably isn't the best thing for a diet (or my liver),
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
Seriously.
The problem with most exercise is that's it's boring as hell. Picking up pieces of iron and putting 'em down again? Lame-o-matic.
On the other hand, playing squash burns calories quickly and it's fun. You don't have to be great shape to start off, and simply by practicing you'll lose weight and gain strength.
Take beginner lessons as many times as necessary. Join a beginner league. You'll find that there are people at all ages who learn to play, so you'll be in good company (hey, I started when I was 35).
Best of all, squash courts are indoors and the game is international, so you can play year 'round, regardless of the weather or where you are.
Most of the discussion so far has revolved around dietary changes. That's only half of the equation - as long as you're not getting enough exercise, you're never going to be "in shape" (whatever that means)
I'm a big proponent of finding a physical activity you genuinely enjoy and doing that whenever possible. For me, it's kung fu, and occasional hiking and bike riding. To that, I add trips to the gym for weight training. The big secret that feww trainers are willing to mention: you can get a good weight workout in less than a half hour, especially if you're willing to hit the gym four or five times a week. (I go six: three to lift, and three for cardio & abs.)
As for equipment: if you're intent on exercising at work, you need something relatively small. Check out kettlebells, which look like a cannonball with a handle. The good news is that you can get an intense full-body workout with them. The bad news: they're cast iron. Lose your grip while swinging one, and it ain't pretty.
If you prefer to go the equipement-less route, do yourself a favor and check out a power yoga class. Advantages: you can get a good full-body workout which not only increases your muscular endurance, but also helps with flexability and balance. Downside - someone walking into your cube while you're doing boat pose, or downward-facing-dog. "Dude. What the hell are you doing?" "Uh... nuttin."
Most important by far: do something you can actually see yourself enjoying, and do it whenever you can. Consistency is the most important thing.
For many of us, exercise itself is not fun, hence other priorities squeeze it out. (The rest of you, off in the corner over there and admire each other's pects for awhile, w'dja mind? We be talkin bidness here.) If you can possibly work more work into getting to work, you decrement your death clock. Within 1 mile? Walk to work. 15-20 minutes. Within 8 miles? Bike. Further out, adjust transport to deposit you within those limits. You gotta get to work somehow, and you gotta spend time doing it. Might as well fight flab. That way, you're giving up very little else.
It's all about a combination of things. As LOTS of people have said, cut out soda. My main replacement is iced tea (technically sun tea). Cheaper (box of twenty teabags is three or four bucks; use about four or five bags per quart of tea). Every day or two I throw a jar on the porch to brew. Zero calories, plenty of anti-oxidants. You might be able to get away with keeping a jar in the fridge at work (if not, well, just use it at home).
I bought a weight machine. This isn't really for building mass or for losing weight, it's for curbing the incessant pain in my back. $200 machine; takes me fifteen or twenty minutes a day to do thirty or forty reps of five exercises (lat pulldown, ab crunch, back extension, butterfly, and the good ol' bench, for the curious).
And, bike to work if you can. If you can't (and by "can't" I mean over five miles--ten's really doable, too), try to bike for short trips. You've got to go a mile to get a gallon of milk; just ride. Save on car wear and tear and serious emissions, too. Massbike has lots of good info on riding in city traffic that's by no means Boston-specific; see also John Allen's page. For short trips, especially in urban or semi-urban areas, it's no slower than a car and may be faster.
I used to have a beer or three after work on Fridays with friends, then more throughout the weekend depending on what was going on. Once I cut out just those 1-3 beers on Friday, I noticed a HUGE difference in weight loss.
Trolls lurk everywhere. Mod them down.
Eating less and exercising more (cardiovascularly) are good advice, but beware; lowered energy intake also means losing muscle mass, leading to a flabby appearance.
A great way to burn fat is to add muscle mass.
The body will require more energy to maintain existing muscle, so your average energy consumption, even when sitting at the computer, is increased. And you end up looking and feeling leaner, though your weight might actually go up! (muscle tissue weighs more than fat)
AC
There are pull up bars that installs in any door frame. I got one. It worked for me.
My man, you need a jump rope. Cheap, easy to do and a great calorie burner.
- Ride your bike to work.
- Stop eating all that pizza and burgers (even if it IS a company perk).
- Get a rowing machine for home. You can exercise while watching TV.
- Bring in a change of clothes and spend your lunch running.
1. Easy, diet soda (unless you are paranoid about sugar substitutes)
...or eat out better. You can buy salads.
2. There is something about sitting at a desk and snacking, it might be the brain activity demanding glucose, regardless get healthy snacks like dried fruit which fill you up and have vitamins (avoid dried fruit with gobs of added sugar).
3.
4. I just don't drink beer (or VERY rarely)
5. Exercise is a must. Going to a gym is a big turnoff for most due to the boredom factor. Do something that is mentally stimulating at the same time. I do martial arts which is a killer (excuse the pun) and requires major amounts of coordination and thinking. I never get bored.
Here's something you can do sitting down and watching your compiler working.
Hands flat on top of thighs, palms down. Press down and hold for ten seconds.
Did you feel that in your abdominal muscles? That's the idea.
Do that regularly and you're reducing your risk of lower back pain.
For weight control, be a nerd and quantify how hungry you are. What works for me is a scale of 1-10 where 1 is cramping and wondering what the pigeons outside would taste like, and 10 is so full you don't dare eat a "thin little mint". It's really easy to get in the habit of eating when you experience level 4, and eating until you hit 10. Force yourself into the habit of eating only at 2 or below and stopping at 4 or 5.
Count up how many calories you eat in a day and you'll be suprised how many you're wasting on things you don't especially enjoy. Are those four cans of Coke really as enjoyable as a meal?
Be real careful about eating out. McDonalds and higher class restaurants will gladly give you 1500 to 3000 calories in a single meal.
Walk around the block when you need a break. Better for you than coffee, and works almost as well.
Nobody gives me any weird looks if I'm swinging my shinai.
If you don't want to repeat the past, stop living in it.
You'll see how much sweat you have to give to get rid of only 150 calories (the equivalent of 1 pop).
Get rid of just 1 pop per day and you have 750 calories less in your body with no efforts whatsoever...
What I do is to take the stairs instead of the elevator. Going up 1 or 2 stories helps. If you're thristy, just go get water on the 2nd level or in the basement. It will make you walk a bit and most importantly, it will help prevent blood clots in your legs...
-- Leeeter than leet
Learn to appreciate the feeling of a tiny hunger. Consider it a sign from your belly to your brain saying "hey dude : you're losing weight right now ! Keep up the spirit !".
You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. The body doesn't store vitamins and other trace nutrients. If you don't eat, you aren't getting those. Your body will go into a survival mode in which your metabolism slows. Not only will you not burn fat in this mode, but you will feel lethargic and miserable as your body tries to conserve energy, this discouraging you from exercising.
There is no need not to eat three good-sized meals a day - just so long as they are sensible meals. Foods like brown rice and wholemeal pasta are effectively "free" - use them to bulk up your meals so you are satisfied.
I sit at a computer all day and have a six pack -- it wasn't always this way. Here's what's worked for me:
As others have said, the key to dropping weight is obviously to burn more calories than you consume. Cardiovascular exercise is vastly overrated for weight loss. It's a tool, sure, but hitting the treadmill out of big mac-induced guilt is not going to get you very far. You'll do better to concentrate on getting your system burning more calories at rest.
Cardio can help you do this by giving your overall metabolic rate a kickstart.But another very useful approach is to increase your muscle mass -- maintaining muscle takes quite a few calories. The treadmill is important for overall health, no doubt about it -- but the weight bench can be just as useful for dropping and keeping off fat in the long run.
But by far the easiest step is to consume fewer calories. Get used to being just a little bit hungry in between meals -- there's nothing wrong with that. Caloric storage efficiency (per gram) goes down in the order fat/carbohydrates/protein/fiber (no calories). So load up on the protein and fibrous veggies. Don't be that scared of fat -- especially if it's not paired with carbohydrates. As the Atkin-olytes will be happy to tell you, the insulin spike you get from refined carbs and sugars makes any calories you're processing get compartmentalized as fat much more easily. Avoid that spike! If you need to pig out on carbs, don't do it at a meal where you're eating a lot of other calories. And avoiding refined carbs and sugar in favor of whole-grain foods will also lessen the effect greatly.
You can also burn more fat by maintaining a glycogen-depleted state further into the day -- that means an Atkins-type breakfast, ideally paired with early morning cardio.
And finally -- the soda needs to go. The beer... well, I'm certainly sympathetic... but do you need it every day? Switch to light beer and save it for weekends and ballgames.
Most of my info comes from washingtonpost.com's liveonline section -- check out Marty Gallagher's Tuesday Strength & Fitness chats. Good stuff.
Jimmy Tango's Fat Busters
"I have combined the miracle of science technolgy, to secrets of ordinary street junkies, and then you get, JIMMY TANGO'S FAT BUSTER!!!...Well, when I close my eyes, I see, oh, all spiders and snails...and these days when I am wearing a blue shirt, people. Don't try to stock a letter in my mouth!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Hey, if you're a porcpine, don't be affraid to come RIDE THE SNAKE!!!...Talk is cheap! Scan Me!!!(He does the same as in David Cronenberg's Scanners)...Try it, If you Dare!!!"
-Jim Carrey SNL 1995
According to a couple of studies that I have read eating more calcium triggers a gene in some people that burns more fat. So basically lay off the crap for lunch and eat like 2 low fat yogurts which will give something like 50% of the calcium for the day and take a supplement.
For the study look for 'weight loss calcium' on google it will bring up the study.
just cut down. Drink one bottle of really good beer, two days a week. Sierra Nevada Stout is my current favorite. Have one every Tuesday and Thursday night; It'll give you something to look forward to, and your life will be more than a dreary wasteland of carrot sticks and mineral water.
I just get out of my chair, go down the stairs outside and feel the 97 degree Texas heat burn the fat on my body. Then I work on my pack-a-day cigarette habit wondering if the tech economy will pick back up before the cancer kicks in.
Personally I'm hoping the lack of exercise in the tech workplace is just a feature of evolution in the job market.
Go surfing.
And not the web, either.
I drink beer like I breath air, sit in front of a computer at least 10 hours a day M-F, and eat everything I can get my carpal-tunnel fingers on.
But I surf for hours every weekend (and during the week when I can sneak one in) and I continue to have an Adonnis-like body (or so my wife tells me).
Surfing is nice low-impact high-cardiovascular exercise. If you live in an area with cold water like I do, busting ass in 52-degree liquid for two hours is like humping a stair master in a gym for 5 (and it's a hell of a lot more fun).
I have something in common with Stephen Hawking...
This sig is just as redundant as the rest of this posting
Unless you are a carpenter or brick layer, you will not get exercise at work. So don't even bother bringing in weights or taking the stairs instead of the elevator - that's all too low impact. Changing your diet can be very difficult. Start easy: go to McDonalds, but no more deep fried potatoes. Eat two burgers instead.
Most importantly, you have to exercise, every single day. Here are my steps to sucess, granted they require some willpower:
1) Buy an Ipod - it helps the pain go away if you're listening to tunes. I recommend gangster rap.
2) Commit to exercising 5 days/week and do not ever miss unless you are dying. Go out in bad weather. Make those adventure racers on OLN look like pussies. It will eventually become part of your routine because endorphins are just as addictive as nicotine.
3) Lifting is great, but by the sound of it you want to lose weight. Run or bike it off. You need to get your heart rate about 20% above normal: low stress cardio. Too low, and you're strolling around the block with grandma. Too high, and your body get's desperate for energy and burns muscle instead of fat.
@ Walk to work if at all possible. If not, park further away from work than normal then walk the rest, etc
:p
@ Drink more water. 8 pints a day is the recommended amount. The more you drink, the less you'll eat.
@ Take the stairs.
@ On your break, take a walk somewhere as opposed to sitting on your ass
@ Cut down on a couple of packets of crisps a day/week. Dont try to cut everything bad out - you'll never do it. Maybe every other time you have something "unhealthy", have an apple or a banana.
@ Start looking at the fat/calorie content in some foods. A lot of the low-fat stuff doesnt taste at all bad and may be worth considering.
Couple of simple things, but as long as you can get into this way of thinking, you'll figure out your own tricks to keeping your weight down.
Note that the only way to effectively get rid of your belly is to do cardio (ie running, rowing, riding on bike etc). 20 mins, 3 times a week *at least*
I know diet is important, but so is exercise. I've been flying a desk for years, and for over half my career, it was 60-100 hours a week at work. Bleah.
I haven't really gotten back into shape, but there are things that have helped me get closer.
1) The best was exercising at lunch. At a couple of jobs, I've worked out one way or another (running and swimming, or gone to the gym). This was the best.
2) A lot of folks here keep their bikes here, and bike at lunch. It's extremely hilly, though, and I need to get in a bit better shape before I go back to biking (haven't biked *seriously* in two decades).
3) For an afternoon break, I play ping pong. Once you get past just returning the ball, it gets aerobic, if you have someone else who's close to your skill level, or can play there. No, I am not kidding. This is also good for your body just in terms of getting you out of the "stare at teh computer" position.
4) If nothing else, I go for a walk several times a week, and run up stairs much of the time. I don't really care if folks laugh about this.
5) One place I worked, several of us formed a co-op and brought in free weights and stuff. (The company ended up buying some equipment, too.) The ideal, of course, is that the company simply adds a weight room, like Vignette did. Of course that was before the dotCOM bust and 9/11...
LOL!
:D
Umm.... That's what Depends are for!
do backflips
You're already drinking light beer, eh? You're just getting that much closer to @#$ water! (yes, I'm Canadidan, and yes, I like my 5%...)
Imagine for a moment a world without hypothetical situations...
Hard liquor is much better for you. In fact, if you drink enough right after a meal, you can actually get negative calories from it...
Go get a gym membership you cheap bastard!
I pay $35 a month at a gym here in DC. They are open 5 am - 11 pm which is very nice.
I can go before work, on my lunch hour, after work, or late at night.
very flexible. and people in the office won't look at you like your nuts.
I'd rather be a conservative nutjob than a liberal with no nuts and no job.
I'd reccommend doing some Yoga. In the past 7 months I've lost about 15 Kg (waist has gone from 42 to about 35in)--- and the only real lifestyle change I made was starting to do Yoga 3-5 times a week.
Try going to some classes to get ya technique right, and get some Yoga DVDs. My favourite one is GAIM: Yoga for Weight Loss. It has 4 levels of difficulity.
Another side benefit is that my back has got better --- my chiropracter has been surprised how well it's stabalised. Sweet - no more back problems. Hmm, and my RSI seems to have settled down as well.
Carpe post meridian
You could use the following forced exercise...
1) ask your boss if you can have a minor snack at your desk
2) if yes, buy a bag of unshelled walnuts to set next to your desk
2a) if no, buy the unshelled walnuts for the break room and have coffee break challenges...
3) every so often, grab an unshelled walnut and break it open with your bare hand. eat the walnut as desired
4) when thirsty, drink water
5) study people's reactions as your handshake becomes amazing
Let S_n = {nst+us+vt : s,t in Z \ {0}, u,v in {-1,1}}. For all n in Z where |n| > 2, Z \ S_n is infinite... right?
A great deal of the other stuff you say is right, though--eating just a little bit (preferably enough to remove the hungry feeling, but not exactly feeling anything approaching full) is a much better way of dealing with feeling hungry. You're giving your body the nutrition it needs to carry on and preventing yourself from gorging on other, potentially less healthy, stuff later.
And, of course, exercise always helps but isn't strictly necessary. In my experience, correctly knowing when to eat--or not eat--is really the primary thing that affects people's weight. It may be difficult to change one's mindset in order to control it, but it can be done. I did it, and went from weighing somewhere in the 230-250 area to being 175-180 and keeping it off for the better part of six years now.
--Matthew
"If the lights of Broadway blind me, I won't mind..."
I'm one of those people who find working out at the gym incredibly boring. I can't bike or run to work since I need to keep a clean and orderly appearance and don't have time to shower and change clothes at work. However, I started to notice just how much time I spend watching television and realize that there a whole lot of things you can do instead of just sitting on the couch. I've now started doing pushups and situps while watching my sitcoms. So, I still watch TV, but am also doing something good for my body. Just try lifting some weights or something while watching your daily episode of "The Simpsons" and you'll notice some improvement.
BTW, thanks to everyone talking about how bad the soda is. I never had any idea that my liquid fuel was so bad for me. As of now, I'm cutting soda out of my daily routine except for one every once in a while (I'm not a machine or anything, I have needs!).
"Oh dear, she's stuck in an infinite loop and he's an idiot" -Prof. Farnsworth (Futurama)
Take it from someone who has lost more than 100 lbs, good health is usually as easy as a lifestyle change.
First, realize that excercise is not the key to losing weight. It's more like a garnish. What excercise is primarily good for is to increase muscle tone and cardiovascular health. However, at most even vigorous daily excercise will only ever account for 10% - 20% of the total energy budget of your body.
As a side effect, excercise will increase your resting metabolic rate. That's the key, because RMR is accountable for 50% to 65% of your total energy budget. In fact, you lose more weight while sleeping than in several hours of proper excercise. Digestion fills in for 15% to 35%, so choosing foods that take more to digest is a good idea (as in, don't eat sugar filled white bread junk foods).
Diet is key. You can control precisely how much you put in your mouth, but as demonstrated above you have little control over how much you take out of your body. When people live the life of a cubicle monkey, they tend to gravitate towards eating out and the "power lunch". Try to eat a well balanced diet yadda yadda yadda cliche cliche cliche. The easiest thing to do is eat subway - no shit.
Another thing people tend to do is skip breakfast, and skimp on lunch. This is the biggest mistake people make - they use up their energy in the morning, and wind up eating more in the evening. Well that food goes straight to the fat stores. Eat a good healthy breakfast, a satisfying lunch, and then go cheap on dinner. You'll also sleep better.
The beer is fine...keep drinking it. Just remember to moderate. Also, just to keep from dehydrating yourself, drink a glass of water for every beer. In fact, you should drink enough water so that - except for that first piss in the morning or just after a workout, your urine stream should be clear or barely colored.
Finally, we come back to excercise. Believe it or not, you don't have to kill yourself. Believe it or not, killing yourself is actually counterproductive. Your greatest weight loss will occur at between 65% and 85% of your maximum heart rate (MHR) for more than 30 minutes a day. To find this, you need to use Karvonin's formula, and I just don't have time to go over that. Look it up. But in general, if you're breathing heavy and sweating, you're doing a good job. If you're breathing so heavy that you can't talk in complete sentences, you're overdoing it. Overdoing it pushes you out of weight loss (the aerobic zone) and causes you to start burning nothing but glycogen. You want to burn fat.
So, what kind of excercise can you do? The stairs are a really good idea. Who gives a shit if people are looking at you? If you're worried about self image, they're going to think less of you as a fat slob who doesn't care about your body. However, you don't have to "run" the stairs. Walk up them really fast. Powerwalking is also a good idea. One of the most inoccuous excercises for around the office is stretching. When you stretch one muscle, you're working another muscle. You also reduce your chance of injury by stretching.
In general, don't try to work excercise in during your work day. Fit it in after work. Like I said, you only need about 30 minutes a day a few times a week (3 out of 5 days) to start losing gobs of weight.
Then, at night, I head to the bars - on my bike again; chicks dig guys in spandex: no risk of false advertising!
It's really pretty easy to get in shape or at least take off some excess weight. The main issue is mental. As many other posts state: eat less and exercise more. A major issue is to eat clean. Not all calories are created equal. Not all protein/carb/fat calories are created equal. There is such a thing as an essential protein (amino acid) and essential fat (EFA = essential fatty acid) but no such thing as an essential carb. Carbs are important as they supply energy and are muscle-sparing. Watch out for Atkins and Keto as taken to an extreme they can really mess you up.
Be sure to consider the GI value of carbs. Some carbs cause a higher insulin spike than others. Sometimes it is useful to aid in transport of nutrients into muscles, as well as being anti-catabolic, but insulin essentially stops lipolysis (fat burning). Carbs + fat = bad.
Start by writing down your daily caloric intake for a week or so. That will give you a baseline. Also, note the protein/fat/carb ratios. Now reduce this amount by about 500 cal/day. That's about what your body needs to lose weight. A major issue is taking of weight at any cost may be what you're looking for but for some of us, losing muscle is not an option. Be careful if you lose more than about 2lb/week.
Break your daily caloric intake into about 6 small meals. Eat every 2-3 hours. Drink lots of water, aim for a gallon a day. Yes, that's plain water. I realize many live on soda but cut that out and it'll make a huge difference. Also, others have said to drink fruit juice instead. That's a bad idea. Fruit is good due to the vitamins, nutrients, fiber, etc but fructose is bad. It must be processed by the liver and doesn't directly provide energy for muscles. Start the day with protein+carb meals and gradually work toward protein+fat meals. A 40/40/20 ratio (protein/carb/fat) is pretty ideal for most.
As far as food choices...
Carbs: oatmeal (the real stuff), rice, sweet potato/yams, whole grain bread.
Protein: eggs, tuna, skim milk (never whole, 2% or even 1% milkfat), chicken, lean beef.
Fat: olive oil, almonds/nuts, fish oils
As for eggs, stick with the whites but do keep a few yolks.
For breakfast go with a cup of oatmeal, a couple of scrambled eggs, and a banana (I put cinnamon and a banana in my oatmeal = yummy!) Eat right before bed. Cottage cheese and a hand full of nuts is perfect. In between, make good food choices. In fact I believe it was Alton Brown that said "there is no bad food, only bad food choices". Something like that anyway. Cookies are a major part of my diet also as I can only eat so many cans of tuns and bowls of oatmeal. The key is to isolate bad foods. If you eat a good breakfast at 6 and a good lunch at 12, a couple of cookies and a large glass of milk at 9 isn't too bad.
As strange as this may sound to many of us geeks, look to the bodybuilders for nutrition information. Those guys are extreme but they'll tell you everything you want to know.
I reccomend the Xiser step machine- I had a messed up knee for a while, and it's helping tremendously.. The specific thing I use is at http://www.xiser.com/XiserSlim.html. I'm assuming you have some closed space (office, cubicle, cardboard box) so that no one will think it odd when you use the machine.
Also, you could get a gripper for your hand. I think any sports equipment store should have one.
HTH,
ari
the jar has went into deficite a loooong time ago.
oh wait. you don't mean only take pennies out when you have sex with your wife, do you?
shucks! (dumps back 500 dollars in pennies)
My life in the land of the rising sun.
They didn't have 37337 hAx0rZ back in the 60's, that's probably why.
-- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
Why should you, it's hardcoded in your genes...
http://www.mattfurey.com This guy is extreme, but his Combat Conditioning book offers a lot of bodyweight exercises that can be performed anywhere, such as your office, hotel room, or home. Or get yourself a kettlebell from http://www.dragondoor.com Kettlebells also offer a complete workout and take up little space. You'll probably need both a book and a video to get started, unless you can find a certified kettlebell trainer in your area.
Plus, you'll have to run the bathroom, and running's good exercise!
the major advances in civilization are processes which all but wreck the societies in which they occur - A.N. White
First you should go to a doctor, and
:
i /tc-hom e.html
:
especially he should perform
a physical stresstest on you, so that he
can judge your healthstatus, because you can get
a cardiac infarct under 40 or an impact accumulation, and this would be very bad
this what you do should not kill yourself.
Even when you perform jogging in the
wrong way, you can stress your
spinal column very hard.
Tipp
the way you perform your personal
fitnesstraining must not be very
hard to be successfull, but steady and well measured,
in china elder people meet each other in parks
to perform tai-chi, it consists of adjusted
martial arts, and can also be performed using
a (soft-wodden)sword or a special metal sword that I would not take to an office because of
the possible fear that you could run amok,
the movement itself isn't generally fast, but the steady and slow movement itself demands your
concentration, and to hold a steady movement when
you execute a figure you demand power from
your body, it is more than a mediation, it is
a steady movement and it even can be used
under the aspects of combat(for selfdefence)
here is a good link about
http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Philosophy/Taich
I do it for myself, because as a student at the age of 24, I don't have the time, also I'm not willing to re-engage in a judo or karate-club, as I said normal elder people do this meditation, but their is no reason in not doing it even when you are young.
NOTE
It will not have any just in time effects
and in the very first time your movement will look
a clumpsi, because you must find a way
to control your body.
If you're serious about getting in shape I suggest this system which worked/works wonders for me.
Start your day with low-GI foods to give you slow energy release thru the morning. Cereals are your best bet here (Use low fat milk but not that chalk-water Skim crap, just reduced fat stuff).
What you eat for Lunch is pretty much irrelevant. Obviously low fat is desirable.
At the same time each day, 4pm for me, leave work and alternate daily vists between the gym and running. Gym wil give you the tone+size, running will kill off the weight.
Beer is full of carbohydrates which will provide an energy boost while you are exercising so don't feel too bad having on before or after.
The trick is to keep it up and remember that in order to actually loose weight energy burned must be > energy consumed
Oh and a word of warning - if you've never been to the gym before ask for a program to be setup for you. And if you want to minimize the cost, go to a University gym rather than one of the high cost health clubs.
Cheers, Geoff.
I'm going to assume you have a computer in your office. There are some relatively cheap options for getting a DDR-like game running on a computer. The pad will be more expensive, look for a soft one -- it would be a large box, but not heavy at all to carry in. As for people looking at you strangely, I think they'd more likely be jealous of you.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
Although counter-intuitive, it works. Granted, I'm a bodybuilder and need to keep my metabolism up, but eating every couple of hours keeps the fires stoked and raises your basal metabolism. Eating more often allows your body to say "hey! I know that I'm going to get more food again in a couple of hours, so I won't bother turning these calories into fat". Also, start a powerlifiting routine if you can. Not a whole lot of time out of your schedule, but the extra muscle serves to eat up more calories. Good luck!
100lb in 365 days by doing the "Jared" thing? come on...
100lb = 360,000 cal; you'd have to lose ~1000 cal per DAY to get that kind of weight loss. I am sorry but walking one mile to subway and back is not going to cut it.
as a references: RUNNING 5km (~3miles) burns a measely 380cal for a 160lb person.
you are either completely making this up, or exaggerating figures no less than Enron or worldcom.
My life in the land of the rising sun.
I talked to a Taekwondo instructor about that and he said a great exercise is to simply replace your desk chair with a large ball that will support your weight.
He said it forces you to use the muscles in your back and stomach area (as well as leg and shoulders) because you will be forced to adjust constantly to keep your balance. He claimed to have several students who had used that method to trim down. Maybe it could work for you if you can get your job to let you do it.
Hopefully this might be useful.
Take the stairs not the elevator.
When you go to lunch, walk the long way (I do 2 laps around our buildings walking fast enough to elevate my pulse).
Situps, small barbells, etc. but not necessarily at work.
... are the most arrogant selfish morons I've seen so far.
leave your pets at home where they belong unless they are the ones actually writing the code and you're just living on their coattails.
"Avoid employing unlucky people - throw half of the pile of CVs in the bin without reading them." -- David Brent
Running is a great idea. Just make sure you increase your running distance by not more than 10% per week, or you risk injuries and burnout that will set you back for a LONG time.
Don't be concerned about speed; rather, run at your own comfortable speed. You should never be gasping when running, or you are running too fast. You will naturally run faster as you become more fit.
dogs can get sick or die from chocolate chips you fiend!!!
First it was tooth whitening. Then, it was "Should I poke the middle-aged boss?". And now staying in shape!!! What the hell's going on here?
Why, back in my day we were nerds... and liked it, too!!
I like the comments that have to do with biking to work. I've lived in St. Louis, Boston, San Francisco, Oakland, San Sebastian (Spain), and San Juan (Puerto Rico), and I've commuted on bicycle in all of these cities. The two worst for traffic and crazy drivers: Boston and San Juan. But even so, it's not that bad. If you bicycle, get yourself some bright clothes, big bags that mount the back (panniers), and act like a car. Obey traffic lights, signal turns etc. Cars will respect you more if you don't act like a scared pedestrian. Own the road! Act like you belong there!
I use a Bruce Gordon rack, and it looks like Robert Beckman's panniers are coming with Bruce's frames. Love them. Been rock solid for almost 8 years now.
These days, I can't really commute to work, but I get up early and get milk, eggs, bread at a local bakery before work. It's a short hilly ride, but it does the trick. Also, if we feel like a movie, I shoot on over to Blockbuster on the bike instead of the car.
There ARE things that you can do throughout your day to just get a little extra exercise. The key is to just make sure you put it in front of yourself so that it happens. If you try to go the gym after work, a lot of times you're tired, have to work late, blah blah blah. Chances are you're going to miss a few workouts a week. Then you're going to feel like crap for not going, which will make you not want to go.
The suggestions that many have made having to do with walking to get lunch at subway, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, etc. are good ones. Just try to find something to get you out of your chair throughout the day.
Oh, one little trick that I use to kill those after dinner munchies... finish with a shot of coffee. It helps close the palate after a meal, and the caffeine knocks out those late night carb cravings. Works for me, YMMV.
Toddlers are the stormtroopers of the Lord of Entropy.
We play road hockey at lunch. You can use the parking lot or the street (we have a rarely used street right next to our work).
We play twice a week and experience isn't necessary. You can get a stick from Wal-Mart for $10 so it doesn't cost a heck of a lot. We generally have from 8 to 15 players show up to play (from a company of ~60).
Just remember to keep it friendly. No hard shots, no raising above the knees. You don't even need to keep score.
We also have a team in the High-Tech Softball League here in town. ~1 game a week after work gives a couple of hours of exercise.
Also, this is a great way to get to know the rest of the people in the company which makes everyone happy. We have everyone from Directors, Managers, programmers, manufacturing, shipping/receiving and IT playing.
It takes a lot of energy to heat water. If you drink a gallon of 35F water, then pee it out at 98F, you're burning up like an extra 350 calories right there!
When you get home, hit the showers and you'll be ready to go.
But how do you convince yourself to get up instead of hitting snooze again?
Seriously, though, it is worth it once you hit the road. Find what gets you out of bed that much earlier, and do it.
I decided to avoid the candy machine and cut back on how much I eat/snack. I keep it to about 4 ok sized meals a day and exercise. Cuts the junk (Cookies!!!, Sweet Tea and Soft Drinks) and the exercise gives me more energy. But with all the diets I have been on (i.e. Low Fat, Low Carb, Blood Type...) just changing my diet and taking better care of myself made the difference that I never got from anything else. About 6 months ago I was almost 300 even being 6'4" it really started to show. Now I am down to around 240. So just find what works for you.
performed in your lunch break. It requires no equipment, works all the stabilizers that atrophy from sitting at a computer all day and their are plenty of websites with free routines and details on the positions. You look like a wanker...but you'll notice a massive change.
I worked out a 1 mile route across three floors. Essentialy doing two laps per floor thru the cube farm. By not doing the same floor twice in a row I doubled the stair walking. Just carry a note pad with you and no one even sees you, much less stare. One mile walk should take between 15 and twenty minutes at a solid pace. A good break from the keyboard
Ok, I recently did the same thing. Well, sort of recently, I started about 7 months ago. I was 210 pounds, and getting chubby. I made a lifestyle change, NOT A DIET, and i've stuck with it for 7 months now. I am now 166, and lean as hell. read up on it, but basically, about 3500 calories beyond what you need to live converts to 1 pound of fat. so, cut 500 calories a day and you'll drop 1 pound a week. Pay no attention to those fad diets promising 20 pounds in 20 days. The only way to do that is organ donation. 500 calories a day is not really that hard. Stop drinking soda, drink LOTS of water instead. I'm sorry, but the beer might have to go as well. If you want to keep it, make a sacrifice somewhere else. Don't eat out, restaraunt food is a killer. NO FAST FOOD. become a calorie counting machine, but remember to treat yourself occasionally. Fudge it, but don't Fudge yourself. Also, it helps to eat a lot of protein, as protein fills you up more than vege's. Balance is the key. Also, eat smaller meals, but more of them. I eat 8 meals a day, of 300 calories each. Basically, i snack all day. Lots of fruits, vege's, and eggs/chicken/steak. I'd suggest reading the how calories work and how dieting works on www.howstuffworks.com. It's the best no nonsense resource i've found. Then hit up Menshealth.com and read up on the Belly-Off program of theirs. Now, diet alone won't do it. Bicycle to work, or jog if you can. A starter bike should only run you about $300-$400, unless you go the Kmart route (don't). Look for a hybrid or street bike over a mountain bike, but it's up to you really. Try to get one used, save some dough. I hope you have access to showering facilities. I'm spoiled, we have a gym at work. If not, bring a towel and some wipes you poor bastard. Get a backpack for clothes. and stuff some homemade food in there while you're at it. If possible, lift weights. replace fat with muscle. Low reps, hight weight, but TAKE IT EASY to being with. Don't hurt yourself. Get a routine and STICK to it. Keep track of your progress. If you just go in and dink around, you'll never get anywhere. More muscle equals more calories being burned while you're just standing around. Plus it will give you an ego booster. Don't weigh yourself once a day. While trying to lose a pound a week, it's pointless and frustrating. Only weigh yourself once a week at the most, if that. Throw out your scale!!! Won't matter anyway if you're lifting. While you're at it, disconnect your cable TV too. go outside, work in the lawn. Play with your kids. go for a jog. CLEAN YOUR HOUSE. become a more active person. I haven't seen TV in 7 months. Don't even miss it now. Ok, maybe the history channel. Now for the bad news. It's SLOW. you have to keep at it at least 2 months, once you get past that, you'll notice results. It will be easier and easier to do, and soon, you won't believe the Crap you stuffed in your mouth before. You'll have more energy, be happier, you'll have more self respect. And you get to buy new pants! Good luck. You'll never regret it.
When Im at work, I work on the things that I get paid for. To keep in shape, I ride a bike to work, 3 miles each way, every day.
On days when the weather is bad, I drive to work and then just hit the gym after work...or skip a day if Im not feeling it.
The kind of exercise that keeps you in shape requires real sweating. I don't know about you, but who wants to be all sweaty and stinky at work?
In the big picture it is very important for me to do things outside the office and away from the computer...it keeps me sane. I fight like hell to keep my work life from creeping into the other parts of my life.
There's an organization working on stationary bike-powered computers with Internet access for rural areas without electricity. I see no reason the same concept can't be used to save power costs and keep in shape on this side of the pond.
Ceci n'est pas une signature.
Simple: Don't eat too much.
What works for me:
- Have a normal breakfast 3-4 days a week. Don't have breakfast the other days.
- Occasionally have lunch. Eat 1 - 3 apples otherwise.
- Drink lots of water.
- Eat normal dinners (those tend to be the social activities where you cannot/should not put yourself out of the group).
Roger.
You could always fool around with the intern ;)
Are you even remotely coordinated? I had problems getting motivated to exercise. Then, I got a PS2 and bought Dance Dance Revolution. It's a blast and I lost 20 pounds very easily because I had so much fun playing it. It puts the fun into exercise! Mad props to the guy who came up with this idea!
Ok I see a lot of posts about "eating right" "lose the beer" "join a gym" "join this activity" - BAH on all of them.
From the post i'm guessing your NOT trying to become an Arnold Terminator type of geek. You just don't want to be pudgy and I can totally relate. I currently have 2 job - one is a mon-fri 8-5pm job then I work my second from 5:30pm-9pm. This leave very little time for doing things like "joining a gym" unless your willing to pay to only go twice a week - not likely.
What I do is something simple that takes only a few minutes everyday. Before I go to sleep I do the following:
30 Crunches
30 Leg lifts
30 Pushups
Thats it. I am normally skinny and drink a lot of alcohol and have a fast metabolism so the amount of exercise you may have to do is dependant on your body type, but for me this works. It may seem like a rediculously small amount, but I am ONLY trying to stay normal - I am NOT trying to be a model or a hulking mass of muscle - I just want to be thin and look alright when I am at the beach.
Good luck.
Ave Molech Setting
This info was recommended by a friend several months ago: http://www.hussman.org/fitness/ Overall, good info, well researched. I've dropped from 310 to 245 in about 6 mo w/ this info, a new diet (higher protien than before), and regular exercise. Another 50 lbs and I think I'll be a normal human once again :-)
I used the hacker's diet, and droped 28 pounds in just a little over 3 months (without doing the "optional" exercise part).
In the following (almost) year, just by eating kinda sensibly, and stepping on the scale every morning, I have stayed +/- 2 pounds.
Kinda annoying - You ARE hungry when you are losing weight - but it works - just like...math.
Trying to tell myself to knock off the remaining 25 lbs...
"If, therefore, any be unhappy, let him remember that he is unhappy by reason of himself alone."
~Epictetus
I skipped breakfast and only had a Venti Latte (apx 400 calories with 3 sugars). That's good, right?
I had a McD Double Quarter Pounder but I did not eat the fries (760 calories). I got a soda but did not get a re-fill (apx 250 calories). I was good.
When I got home and only had one beer (Heineken 166 calories) and a home made Tuna Melt (apx 450 calories). I was really good.
I don't see how I can be gaining weight if I skipped breakfast!?!
Based on an actual conversation with a similarly deluded co-worker.
Forget the girlfriend, just send a picture of the bike. I can just take the seat off and kill two birds with one stone.
Forget the bike!
Buy a real musclecar. Not some silly Honda with a bunch of stickers and a 3" exhaust tip on the 1" diameter manifold-back pipe, but something old and with a V8 driving the rear wheels. And restore it for the fun and love of the machine.
*Nothing* keeps you in shape better than lying on the floor of your garage trying to hold a transmission above your head with one hand while you fumble the bolts in place with the other hand. The threat of having a transmission fall on your head makes you discover strength you never knew that you had.
Carrying an engine block into your house to keep it from flash-rusting over the winter, or dragging a pair of cast iron cylinder heads *and* a toolbox from one end of a self-service junkyard to the other, all serve to keep you in excellent shape.
Never mind the feeling down below when you start that motor up for the first time, freshly rebuilt with 12:1 compression, a lopey camshaft and solid motor mounts... forget the bike! :)
Also, I drink like an Irishman, I eat like a pig, and I walk a lot because I like it.
Net effect? 6'4", 34" waist, 200lbs even, toned all over, and I can lift and hold a LaserJet 4si above my head. Also, mechanics coveralls and a welding helmet make a good Halloween costume when you're too lazy to go shopping.
Dating isn't a problem. (But make a habit of holding the drink in the left hand so that the right isn't cold and clammy when you shake hands with potential mates...)
Are you fat? If you want to fix the situation, the solution is really easy, but often overlooked. Stop eating so much, and/or get more exercise. That's it, that's all.
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
You will find yourself in front of your monitor much less frequently, as a great deal of training will be required. You will also not have time to drink beer, which will help. Also, when you're racing, you won't have any beer anywhere near by. In fact you'll mostly be eating your food from a water bottle, in the form of powdered food drinks like "sustained energy". You sure won't gain weight eating that stuff while on the run! Also, on the boating sections they are often at the ocean, where you might get sea-sick. Nothing helps you lose weight like a good vomit session!!
Kikoman says get into ultra-endurance sports!
Hey, as we are all geeks we can speak frankly. I'm 16 and I way ~225lbs. Until recently I didn't care. I went on a really tough version of the Atkins diet that I invented (I've never fully agreed with the Atkins Nutritional Approach, just aspects of it) and I got down to 200. But then I went back up to 225 when I stopped. Now I've discovered a little thing called exercise. In the evenings I started putting on a pair of running shoes, shorts and a t-shirt, waiting for it to get dark, stretching, and then jogging slowly for a set distance. The distance was 1.25 miles, and at first I couldn't even make it half way without walking. One day I got really emotional about it ("if only she could see me now..", don't ask), and I made it the whole way. After that I added time on and was running 2.5 miles. Long story short, I can now run 5 miles easily. I run 3 times a week minimum, 7 times a week maximum. I am trying to get my running to every day, but certain problems interfere, such as sore legs and apathy. Going from being able to run down a street to being able to run five miles is an excellent feeling, and I've lost some weight. If I continue to run I know I will lose weight. One 5 mile run is 800 calories burned! I guess my point is alot of people in our elevated, rich society see dieting as a way of temporarily eating less to get down to a certain weight, instead of what it should be- a commitment to good health for life. And since only 1/6th of Americans exercise regularly, it is still a very geeky thing to do because you will still be in the minority, only you'll be in the sexually attractive minority. If aerobic exercise doesn't suit you, I highly recommend you take up martial arts. You will learn to adjust your attitude, discipline yourself, defend yourself with lethal force and according to my charts you'll burn 1,100 calories an hour. -Greg Arney
I'm 32 and the same thing happened to me... I experienced my first gout attack when I was 26. I seriously considered cutting off my own leg. It was a serious ankle attack... if you've had one you know what I mean... If you haven't you can't understand. Most intense pain I've ever experienced. You could have drilled through my hand with a spade bit and I wouldn't have noticed. A woman I know who has had several children and also has gout (rare in females...) has told me that a bad gout ankle attack was 10 times worse than having her first child. I'll never know, but I believe her.
After several attacks you get to know when an attack is coming and do things to stave them off. LARGE quantities of water with cherry juice concentrate added works pretty well for me... most of the time. I haven't had to go on any medicinal therapy until now.
Anyways, I knew Atkins was a gout attack waiting to happen, but I did the research on it. I got about 30 pounds off using Atkins (easiest weight loss ever... never hungry!) but then gradually stopped drinking huge quantities of water to keep the ketones (and uric acid) flushed out through the kidneys... GOUT ATTACK!
After a couple of hours of screaming I made it to the doctor.
I'm on cochicine therapy now and in a couple weeks I'll start on allopurinal to lower my serum Uric levels. One month later I should be able to go back on a slightly modified Atkins diet.
1: Drink TONS of water
2: More fish and chicken than beef and pork
3: Lots of water
4: LOTs more water
5: No diet soda (well maybe a little... I'm an addict!)
Don't make the mistake to do things just to stay in shape.
Some examples:
You don't need a negative-list but a positive-list.
Enjoy fresh fruit and vegetable instead of snacks. Try new stuff, fruits you didn't know, vegetable you never ate raw before etc. Carrots make a pretty good snack, bananas are great, too. Figure out, what you might like, there's so much you can eat that hasn't been processed by Kraft before.
Learn cooking and prepare your meals yourself. The deep-freezer at home and the microwave in the office are your friends. Vary and be creative. Be brave and try vegetarian meals, Indian dishes, whatever. Care about the quality of your food and be interested into the ingredients. Don't stick to recipes, cooking is fun and can be like meditation.
Enjoy walking. Try to walk whereever possible. Use public transport systems. Try to walk different ways. It's fun spending some time on getting from A to B. Maybe take your digital camera with you to take pictures of whatever you like.
Avoid escalators. Try to avoid elevators if the building is not too high.
Again: Give yourself time to get from the basement to the buildings top, have a look out of the windows on the way there or whatever.
Maybe, if you really started enjoying having a body with parts that you can move not only to get you another beer of the refrigerator, try doing some sports, maybe swimming with some friends, maybe coworkers in the morning before work. It just shouldn't feel like "sport".
Actually, I don't think that you can be successful if you only do things just to stay in shape. But if you figure out what's fun for you, you will do just the things you like and still stay in shape.
Don't get religious about food and sports, this would work for some months but you'll be back to square one in no time.
k2r
(Although I'm sitting and standing in front of a computer for about 10 hours per day, I'm still in a pretty good shape, prepare most of my meals myself and do kickboxing and swimming because I enjoy it.)
Don't forget "The Atkins Shit."
A lot of people who try the Atkins diet report all that high protein meat (bacon dipped in mayonaise, mmm, that diet sounds appetising) rotting away in their intestine leads to "The Atkins Shit" about ten days to two weeks in.
As your body converts to processing all that fun stuff that digests differently, you too can enjoy catastrophic crapping and constant evil gasses eeking out of your ass. This ensures that, thin and gorgeous as you may now be, women will still want to be nowhere near you.
and swim Just swim a half hour everyday for a total body workout. Just find a gym w/ a pool nearby. I would recommend freestyle/front crawl. A 1000 metes a day is a good goal to work towards.
This guy is way out there
I find that I have been more successful at getting in shape when I made the commitment to go somewhere to work out, rather than trying to do it at home. If I go out, then I am focused on doing what I have to do. At home, or the office, you will find that your workout time will gradually be dominated by the phone, comptuer, etc... and you will eventually quit.
A gym membership can be a good investment if you are serious about this. Most people at the gym are regular people, like yourself. Don't sign up for any type of long term agreement, at first. I tried a 90 days for $90 deal at 24hr fitness that I found on the Internet at first, and then got a real memership when I saw that it worked out for me. It was good not to have to deal with any salesmen.
Make a commitment, say three days for 30-60 minutes, to some physical activity. The gym, running, basketball, etc... Its good not to make unreasonable plans initially, even though you might be gung-ho, later, if you get into it, increase your commitment.
Think of working out as a recreational activity, not as a chore you must do. It can be a good time for personal reflection, or to hang out with your friends.
Physical activity really can reduce stress and improve your outlook. It might seem like there is not enough time in a day for all of this, but working out can really improve the quality of your life.
The most importaint points are to make reasonable goals, but be compulsive enough to not slack off.
All,
... she's right
;)
As an exercise junky for a long long time... there are a couple simple things you can do to raise your metabolism and get a quick workout in. Do the following:
1. Give up candy bars/Soda/chips/etc... Your mom said its bad for you
2. Drink water instead of coffee/soda... no calories, plus your mom said its good for you and she's right
3. Walk or take the stairs when ever possible
(Burns calories, and avoids the lazy uggly american stereo type)
The Work Out:
1. Try to jog/bike/swim 3*'s/ week for 30 minutes... get your heart rate up... all that good stuff (and no Sex does not count as a work out unless you take her jogging with you then its a good bonus
2. Once per hour, do 1 minute of exercise. Try things like Calf Raises, Situps, Pushups, Chinups, Wall Squats, Jumping Jacks, Burp-ups, etc... Basically you'll just about want to sweat and you stop. Its not too disruptive... but it'll fire up your metabolism.
There now you'll be feastively plump... you could be average if you watched your diet more and ate Healthy food... or ignore my advise and become a beach ball....
Now excuse me while I go out an Man-whore some more with my massive Biceps (tm).
*Just remember you too can be a certified Man-Whore... send your $19.95 to
Iwanabeamanwhore
69 Street
PimpingCollege, PimpState 10001
Hurry now offer ends soon......
A while back on TLC or what not they were showing off these new prototypes of certain exercise machines... One of them was actually a type of bike where you plug your monitor into. You pedel to keep your monitor running, but when you stop, you instantly loose power to the monitor. Just a suggestion... Enjoy :)
cat beer |
touch
unzip
finger
make clean ## if necessary
mount
umount
Voila...exercise...
WHAT? NO HOTTIES?
You need more beer...
What if you're one of those people who has always been skinny as crap even though you sit in front of the computer hacking for 10 hours a day? How can we GAIN weight? I've tried everything from the disgusting weight gainers to drinking soda as my new form of liquid, but my weight isn't changing...
I mean I've heard that beer could help, but being a lightweight, it doesn't take many beers to put me out...
As others have mentioned, the basic rule of weight loss is simply to expend more energy than you take in (eat less, exercise more). Unfortunately, that is often easier said than done. After gaining 50 lbs at a desk job, I finally started getting the eat less / exercise more bit to work and have lost 15 lbs in a month and a half. Here's the things I follow, and they might work for you, too:
I'd try skipping around the office. You know, like the neighbor kids did once upon a time. You can even flap your arms like wings and get additional excercise. It is a little high impact (especially when you run into your co-workers), but you move faster, get excercise, and can see (in brief split-second bursts) over the cubicle walls around you.
Stairs usually pose a problem. But not more than once.
http://www.fitatwork.com/ A little simple 3d App. And timer that you set to remind you every hour or two. It shows you with a 3d model some simple exercise, that will work muscles some without breaking in to a heavy sweat. But more importantly it raises your metabolism, and keeps it up all day, and gives your brain a brake, and a boost of refreshing chemicals (not Gatorade) from the physical activity. It is a Windows only app., But it is very easy to get it to run under Linux, as it is such a simple program. Mod this up, as it is actual useful information, not one of the many 'jerk off' ideas. Which, I will also note that ejaculating burns around 2.5 calories.....happy exercising
The easiest and most rewarding way is to join a gym and lift weights 3 or 4 times a week. Do some cardio and some heavy weight lifting and and you will actually begin to look healthy. Then eat a nice balanaced diet like the kind doctors recommend. Don't ever say the word Atkins, but also don't eat huge amounts of bread like foods. Don't give that lame argument that you don't want to look like a body builder. YOU WON'T unless you train like one. If you are this lazy to begin with your won't train like one. The simple high intensity excersise will make you look good. Don't over-do the cardio either. Marathon runners are not especially attractive, and besides lifting heavier weights is easier than running extreme distances but gives better results.
Marijuana helped me lose 10 pounds. It's easy... just smoke weed every time you feel like eating. After awhile, you don't get the munchies anymore. Exercise becomes fun, too. Nothing beats a stoned bike ride!
I keep fit by smoking as many cigarettes as possible as fast as possible. It doesn't keep you slim, but if you smoke 'em *really* fast, you get these pretty sparkling lights that really take your mind off being fat.
Working 10 hours per day is not a good thing.
You will probably get as much work done in 8
hours.
This will save you 10 hours per week. Take
6 of those to do sports. 3 times a week, 2 hours
each time, including transports. Do something you enjoy. Trekking, paddling, cycling, tennis, golf, workout, climbing. Anything goes as long as it exercises your muscles without causing harm and as long as you enjoy it. Bringing a friend can help you keep at it.
After about 3-4 weeks you will have enough energy at work to do in 7 hours what previously took 10. You will find that you spend your leisure time better as well.
Getting fit saves a lot of time in the long run, but requires an initial extra investment. Also, it doesn't help much without constant upkeep.
Look for opportunities to move your body. Ride a bike to workif you can. Walk to the store. Take a trip around the building when idling before a meeting. Excersise your face muscles by smiling and laughing. Go dancing, it is great excercise.
It requires a whole change in attitude. Start bit by bit.
Losing weight is a different issue. You will need to add an excercise program to the whole thing. Take a sporting class at the college. Because you're paying for it, you'll go. I take a hockey class at the college, and joined a hockey team. This way, I'd get the exercise twice a week.
After hockey games, we tend to drink in the locker room. So I still get my beer.
Its a matter of what you are willing to commit yourself to do.
"The Hacker's Diet: How to lose weight and hair through stress and poor nutrition."
No, really. It's a book by John Walker, freely available on the web. He explains in simple language (and diagrams) what most of us have known all along: eat less, exercise a little, and STICK TO IT!
Basically, you should figure out how many calories you need to maintain your weight, and take off about 500/day to lose 1-2 pounds a week. Add in some moderate (15 minutes) exercise every day, and you're on your way to becoming thin and svelte (well, sorta). The book provides tools (either paper & pencil, or computerized) that help you track your progress, plan your meals, and illustrate some of the concepts presented in the book.
I started this diet 3 weeks ago, and I thought it was going to be really hard - but most of my cravings I've been able to deal with, by having, say, a small scoop of ice cream, which fits into my caloric allowance for the day. I can see myself having this as a lifestyle, and I do feel healthier.
Have you read the Moderation Guidelines Addendum?
I gained 45lb in the first year I was living in the US because I suddenly wasn't walking 2 miles to work every day. I started walking again for pleasure and, guess what, all the weight is starting to slowly drop off again.
Never underestimate the simple joy you can get from walking a couple of miles every day, especially if you do it right after work. It helps clear your mind and makes you far less likely to arrive home grumpy after a bad day at work. Even more fun if you can get someone to keep you company!
Check out the article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3072021.stm A wank a day keeps thee doctor away - its official. Wooha! Now watch you don't over do it folks! The second hand keyboard exchange will never be the same.... ;-))
My hyperlinks aren't worth the paper they're printed on.
SGI used to have these guys on site :
Team Fitness
They now have several sessions in gymnasiums across the SF Bay Area. If you're not in the area, then perhaps there is something similar near you.
Max.
Build yourself a stationary bike with a generator on it, and use it to power your PC. What better motivation is there, than knowing that if you peddle too slow you'll lose all your data?
You can start all the fad diets and excercize programs in the world, and never see any results unless you find one that you enjoy.
I played tons of sports, lifted weights, did yoga, rode bikes, jogged, swam, etc...
Currently I am a member of a climbing gym, and getting the best excercise of my whole life. It's challenging not only for the body for for the mind as well. It helps to overcome fear of heights, and is a great endorphine rush. Plus there are lots of friendly people to meet, and it lends itself to actually helping and talking to people.
Of course I eat organic, drink good water, and walk / ride to work.
There is no reason why a tech geek can't have a great body too.
I lost 40 lbs doing the following:
I walk for about 15 minutes each day, roughly...take a short break and go for a walk around the block.
I stopped eating candy at the candy jar at work. Bring an apple in.
I stopped drinking soda, now I drink sparkling water or diet sodas. If you can learn to love beer, you can learn to drink diet.
Watch your portions, change your diet. Eat some veggies off the lunch truck, stop going to the burger joint...
None of this is new. You know why you're gaining weight, you're eating a ton of carbs, empty calories and you're not exercising enough. A short walk every day will do it, combined with fewer trips to the candy jar.
man rtfm
My workout?
Cock Push-ups.
(I can only do one in a set, but I'm working on more!)
Paizurishitetai desu ka?
Here's a simple solution: get an Otis MP3 player from www.AUDIBLE.com, download electronic narrated books. Coming home from work, park your car 3 km from home, then walk the rest of the way while listening to interesting books. Next morning, walk back to the car & drive to work. Pretty soon you're walking 30 km a week, and having a blast. I've heard more books in the last month than I have time to read in a year.
Slashdot entertains. Windows pays the mortgage.
... by bicycle.
I'm old enough to remember when discussions on Slashdot were well informed.
Just to elaborate, I knew somebody who advocated the 'hot piss' diet.
The basic premise is to keep a glass of water by you at all times, effectively drinking constantly.
The constant drinking of water stops you feeling hungry and prevents you from snacking (major cause of weight gain).
It also means you aren't feeling empty come dinner time, so you eat smaller meals - 5 small meals a day is better for your metabolism than 3 big ones.
Finally (the answer to the 'hot piss') all that water that you consume goes in cool(ish) and comes out at body temperature. That's right, energy loss... you're heating the water and pissing it out, burning calories in order to maintain your body temperature.
The shakey science sounds right, but the proof was in the pudding - the guy lost 2 stone in a month!
Then he quit it and put that 2 stone back on in the following 2 months, just going to show that no diet is a decent substitute for regular exercise.
Free Gamer - Free games list and commentary
What the hell is a macronutrient? I want to see some literature to back this stuff up. I have never heard a reputable, scientifically-trained nutritionist spout this Atkins crap. So really, let's see some real evidence.
The light-headedness only last a few days. After that you should be burning Ketones
Do you know what a ketone is? I'm a chemist. I do. And you don't burn them. For reference, nail polish remover contains the two most common ketones. Want to eat some? Thought not.
Bottom line, this is exactly what I predicted - the bulk of this Atkins stuff is coming from people with no scientific or real nutritional training. No offense. Screwing with your diet like this is dangerous. Stick with a balanced diet, watch out for the simple carbs, and you'll be fine.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
I used to be 87kg (that's 175 pounds), and I started a diet, did lots of sport and finally stopped drinking too often.
Now I am 71kg and doing triathlons. Just get the motivation to do some sport and dedicate yourself to it. Do about 7h a week, and you'll feel GREAT!
Black holes occur when God divides by zero.
Hey all-
I've also started to try and bike to work, which 9 miles each way through the dangerous and unforgiving SW Chicago suburbs, is not fun. I've only done it a few times. I'm lucky enough to have showers at work, so once you get over the weird feeling of "I'm showering at WORK!" it's okay.
The main problem I've had is that I don't like to carry my laptop in my bike bags. (I have a rack on the back and the "grocery bag" style bike bags, which I love). I can't bike with a backpack.
Anyone found a source for a good sort of light, but durable, laptop strongbox that would attach to the rack the same way? Good enough to protect it in the event of a (eep) fall?
I'd bike every damn day if I had a nice trail and no computer. Some roads here have no shoulders and no sidewalks, it's unbelievable. *@*&#~! urban planners. And, for the record, I"m huge- I think biking is much better for heavy people than jogging, until they get slimmer. I"ve done lots of aerobics and the elliptical runner.. and am bored to death. At least biking to work is an exciting challenge that involves the RISK OF DEATH. That keeps your attention. -j
That's flat out bullshit. Look at the nutritional value on a pack of McD's fries sometime. Though it's a potato product, the bulk of the calories are fat.
I've been doing Atkins for about 2 years now. I lost 40 pounds pretty quickly and have kept it off. *I* can guarantee *you* that if you eat a pound of carbs (bread for example), and I eat a pound of fat (macadamia nuts), I will lose weight while you gain it.
No, that's NOT TRUE. You honestly need to learn how to read a nutritional label. Even the Atkins people admit that carbs only pack on weight because you eat 4x as many. Eat complex carbs instead of simple sugars and you won't do that, and you'll lose weight. Fat has MORE calories, per mass, than carbs, and I don't care what diet you use. That's science, and it's unavoidable. 9cal/g for fat, 4cal/g for carbs.
I wonder: are you fit? Before Atkins I did low-fat dieting, and had very little luck, because I was always hungry.
Quite fit - I'm 5'9" and 150lbs. Body fat is low, and would be lower if my wife didn't make me keep a bit of pudge. ;) I lost 30 lbs in 100 days after Christmas, and I did it with exactly the diet I described - 40% complex carbs, 30% fat, 30% protein. And, as we will both agree I'm sure, I avoided simple sugary carbs like the plague. I used beef jerky as a snack, as it's high in protein (sticks to you) and is 98% fat free. I was almost never hungry, and I lost weight rather easily (I also started running about 12 miles/week).
There have been diet fads roughly once every 3 years for decades. The only one that people come back to is a balanced diet low in calories, with complex carbs instead of sugars to avoid the sugar spikes. Works like a charm.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
bike to work, and watch calorie intake at the office chair; you'll need to spend a few bucks at first for bike gear, but in the long run, besides the obvious, you will save $. and munch on low calorie snacks/meals if you know you'll be breaking-in your office chair the whole day. works for me.
Here's an alternate strategy for losing weight: move to China. If not permanently, at least for several months. I went there in 2001 and in 9 months I lost about 20 pounds without even trying. I didn't deprive myself in any way, I ate what I wanted and was very, very happy. But I did ride a bike more and fatty foods are just not readily available there. Ice cream before bed? Doesn't happen. Cheesecake for dessert? They don't have it. Buttered popcorn at the movie theatre? Doesn't exist.
...
I'm not trying to be flippant but really, it was the easiest 20 pounds I ever lost. Granted, it took 9 months, but I wasn't even trying, and I didn't go on any special diets or anything. Just the change of lifestyle did it for me. Oh, and I had a great time there.
Of course, I've been back in the USA for a year and a half and almost 10 pounds have come back. Time for another trip
To stop sitting on your ass reading Slashdot and start exercising mister!! ;-)
Six days out of seven, you eat six meals a day, 40% carbs, 40% protein, and 20% fat. You drink ten cups of water a day, and piss like a race horse throughout. You alternate weights with aerobics, an average of about a half an hour a day. And you take that seventh lovely day off and sit on your butt and eat like a hog. It sounded just horrible when I started--eating right and exercising? Nooooo! I want a quick fix, dammit!--but it worked.
Fitting the workouts in was the hardest part; I eventually settled on aerobics--treadmill, mostly--in the morning, and weight training at lunch. Find yourself a Gold's Gym; they're well-equipped, are not thinly-disguised pick-up joints, cost a lousy $30 a month, and are totally reasonable about letting you quit if it doesn't work out.
chron's disease is a great way to lose weight. only a few side effects to deal with: puking and diahrea. managed to lose 4 pant sizes in the first six monthes before the doctors got it under control. now any meats except for very lean meat (chicken and fish) will go right through me in under 30 minutes from the time i eat until i shit it out unless i take prescription anti diahrea drugs before eating.
keeps the doctor away...but if you want the pounds off FAST:
Every day,
3. Masturbate 3 times (much better than excercise!).
2. Eat twice (sleep in, eat a large lunch instead of breakfast, and get your snack on late at night).
1. Shit once (dropping a healthy sized hud...ahh, what a feeling...).
(it really works! they call me auschwitzboy at work!)
First It ain't called a beer belly for nothing.
Drink scotch.
Go swinmming regularly. Very few fat swimmers.
Actually. I've enjoyed reading people's posts. I'm convinced the experts don't know much about weight gain and weight loss. The science that has been done seems full of assumptions and inconclusive studies. The recent tests showing that the Atikins diet actually works while all modern science says it shouldn't shows just how far they have to go in figuring out even the basics. I'm interested in hearing what has worked for people who, like me, sit all day. That way I can try them and see if they work for me too.
Another thing I'm convinced of is that there is no one answer to the problem. Different people digest different foods differently. A low carb diet that works well for some people can cause weight gain and even be life threatening to others (gout/kidney issues) while a high carb diet that works well for some people can cause weight gain and even be life threatening to others (diabetic/hypoglycemic.) Adjusting your diet isn't as easy as reading something and following it. You need to pay attention to how your body reacts to different foods. Like any complicated black box system you need to try lots of different inputs and look at the results. A knowledge of the different variables and what effects they have is a big help but you can't get all the answers from a book or a simple formula. For example, if you end up lying down finding it hard to find the energy to breathe after eating high-carb foods (like me) you may have trouble with them and may want to work on limiting your intake. Don't poke too much fun at the guy who tries one meal a day. The thinnest I have ever been was after a period where I only ate one meal a day during college. I don't think it would work for me now because I am in a different place in my life (I have a refrigerator now that constantly has food in it) but it could work for some people.
Similarly gyms, running, biking, swimming all work for some people and not for others. I have an extremely tall torso and short legs. For me, running is a lousy option, my body isn't built for running. It's hell on my joints and I don't burn a lot of energy. Swimming is much better for me but I don't have anywhere to swim. Most people live where biking is more likely to kill you than the health issues associated with being fat. Gyms bore the hell out of me. Try standing facing a corner for about half an hour while you have something important to be doing and you will feel the way I feel in a gym. I haven't quite found the answer that's right for me, I'm still in lousy shape, although I have stopped gaining weight and I think I'm slowly losing it. I get a lot more exercise than I used to now that I have a house and have yard work to do. Back when I lived in a condo complex I found it very hard to get exercise.
The one suggestion that everyone seems to agree on but doesn't come up much in discussions like this is salad. Salad is awesome food and a great balance for what we seem to have too much of in our diets. My favorite is Applebees Steakhouse Salad. I love that thing. Yea, it's got a bunch of steak which a lot of people would whine about but I love it. One thing I have learned about salad is that iceberg lettuce (previously my favorite) is the fast-food equivalent of lettuce. It has almost none of the good stuff that lettuce is supposed to have, it's very bland, and it doesn't last well. It gets brown and bitter and slimy very easily where the other lettuces seem to make more consistently good salads that are better for you.
Another thing I have taken to is cottage cheese and fruit. It's an old family thing, my grandmother used to eat it. Cottage cheese, like yogurt, mostly tastes like what you put in it but it has fewer carbs and more protein. Take half a can of fruit cocktail and half a tub of cottage cheese and in about 20 seconds you have a meal. It's great for when I am deep in code and don't want to interrupt my progress.
As to your last comment, a lot of thin people like to take credit for their being thin and credit it t
set softtabstop=4 shiftwidth=4 expandtab nocp worlddomination
This really isn't true. Get good lights, both front and rear, and wear light-coloured clothing, and riding at night becomes quite safe. Other practical tips are to get fenders and a rack/panniers for carrying stuff.
I commute by bicycle all year 'round, riding in the dark, the rain, and even the snow. I enjoy it far more than I enjoy driving a car. (It can be a bit hairy in the snow though)
Muscle is more dense that fat. If you exercise and you build up your muscle you will look thinner but much more densier (and then maybe heavier)
and watch the slim new you emerge !
I prefer Grampers.
If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
It's exercise that'll tone your neck, with a high-protein diet.
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
Law of averages says he'd probably choke to death eventualy.
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All-you-can-eat deals are not your friends. In the west, we have this habit of eating until we are full. If you can get used to the idea of eating until you don't need any more, that can be enough to make the difference.
This is one reason the Okinawans life so long, and are so annoyingly healthy - they practice "hara hachi-bu" meaning eating until you are 80% full.
I have found that a lot of losing weight is a paradigm shift. Instead of thinking "Shit, I'm hungry," try thinking "I feel light and energetic." Cutting out snacks, and not gorging worked to get rid of 12kg (25 pound) in a couple of months, without any increase in exercise.
http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/
its all about the calories man
"Those look like comfortable shoes."
Seriously, get GOOD footware. Go to a shoe store that caters to runners, and get the best you can afford. They'll be able to recommend shoes based on your stride, arch, pronation of your ankle, etc. I went from cheap shoes I picked up at Wal-Mart to a good pair of Brooks. World of difference.
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
Hehe. As a chronic biker (no car just bike) I can relate to everything you've mentioned. The only bad things about winter is the fact that the city doesn't do a good job on the side roads (ice is no fun riding on), and they pile the snow up into big drifts. It takes a LOT of effort to get from point A to B in a reasonable amount of time (I live in this states capitol). Throw in rude, I'll run you over drivers, and weee. I'll proably move were one can ride year-round without killing oneself. BTW You food intake actually goes up.
Kinda hard to drive that piece of shit after someone like me slashes the tires, bricks the windows and lights the stereo, seats and driver on fire, no? Oh yeah, that's if you are nice and quiet. If you blow your horn, I'll cut your nuts off first. Stand out and die, bitch.
I don't like you. I know why I don't like you too.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Nothing worked for me until I tried aikido. Aikido was, at long last, something that held my attention, kept me interested and got me fit. After four or five months I suddenly realised that I'd lost all the fat I'd been trying to shift for a decade and had, mirabile dictu, acquired some muscles.
Even better, I haven't had to give up beer or good living. I still eat pretty much the way I always have.
Aikido may not work for you, but I recommend trying some martial art. They're interactive and absorbing in a way that solo exercise can't compete with.
My waist line has gone from 36" to 30" in less than a year. Magic.
Unfortunately by accident of birth, I'm stuck in DC. No reason for disdain. And trust me, some of us are trying to change the world here. It's just really really tough.
And as for riding through mud, sure skinny tires are fine. But for those of us who weigh 200+lbs (~91kg), skinny tires don't last. No acrimony intended, just fact. And you're right, I get burnt by twigs who have setups like Lemond and Armstrong.
Although the one time I tried a lite bike, I did fly. From Mount Vernon to DC and back. Wouldn't have lasted a second day, but for that day with a level playing field I dusted my compadres. So I think I could hang with eurobikers. Laughing at a different bike is like laughing at a Mac user.
Dispite what anyone says here about 'low carb' this or 'low fat' that, there is really no substitute for hard work! Work out regularly and intensely, both cardio and resistance training. Eat frequent, balanced small meals. Don't fall for fads like Atkins -- if you're going to fall for anything, fall for something that at least makes sense:
:) ). Just get a set of body fat calipers (throw out your scale) and invest in some healthy food and a gym membership. It's as worth it as a Radeon 9800 All-In-Wonder.
http://www.bodyforlife.com/
I have a sedentary desk job as well - and I spend a *lot* of time at work these days. However, I care enough about how I look, and more importantly how I feel, to get up early before work to bust my ass for 20m (cardio days) or 1h (weight days). It's really all in the planning, and you don't have to buy expensive supplements or anything to keep with it (although, the supplement game has become a lot like buying computer hardware for me these days -- what I used to spend on a new sound or video card, or some RAM I now spend on some creatine or some protein powder
"My Dad lost a lot of weight on Adkins ... but it killed his kidneys and that caused congestive heart failure."
You got modded as Funny so I'm not certain you're being serious. I've been doing Atkins for 3 weeks, lost 15 pounds so far, and was planning on keeping it up for another 2 months.
Are you sure your father's problems aren't from old age?
I'm a canuck tech geek (got root eh?) and I was in the same boat until about six months ago. I'm 6' and I was 220lbs large. I've since dropped 45lbs and looking for a six pack before christmas. I'll tell you the steps I took: 1. Joined a karate club - pick some physical activity you like and join a club or get your spouse or kids into it. Karate is typically a twice a week thing, which is great. 2. Hired a Personal Trainer. PTs are not that expensive. Look at it this way - it's your health. If you stop smoking or stop drinking beer witht he boys you can more than afford the 50 bucks a week to have a trainer. 3. CHANGED MY DIET. I eat six small meals a day now. My girlfriend and I take turns making lunches which typically consist of a couple pieces of fruit, a baggie of chopped veggies, a fat free yogurt, some raw almonds and a sandwich (say no to mayo!) 4. I get my metabolism moving first thing in the morning. I'm a commuter, so I need to be on the train fairly early. I'm up at 5.40am to take a quick 30minute walk to get the body moving. I make sure I'm breating deeply the entire time to get the blood flowing everywhere. It's also a great opportunity to plan out my day. 5. Bought a Tony Robbins program. This is close to one of the best things I have done for myself in a long time (besides getting engaged). The man is an animal and helps you to develop and realize ultimate visions for yourself. Check him out. It may seem like a lot of time to commit but think about it this way. How much time do you spend a week doing things that don't really contribute to your life - surfing the internet, drinking beer, watching TV. Be honest with yourself. Now wouldn't it be worth it to convert some of that time (at least 30 minutes a day) to making your body a happy vessel for your soul/brain/whatever? A major paradigm shift helped for me - food now isn't something that I use to make me feel good (like that clubhouse sandwich, greasy fries and two pints of Keith's used to be) - it's fuel for my body. If I don't fuel my body properly, I will feel like crap. Put some water in your gas tank sometime and see what I mean. Take care of your body!! You don't get another one!
Power-of-10 is a workout that takes 20-30 minutes once a week, try it you may find it works for you also. It's not a new concept it just getting new press, it actually started back in the 80s.
Heck, I figure I can forget celery. Beer has GOT to take more calories to down really, REALLY fast than it's got in it, right?
The best solution, though, is to have officemates hide the goods. Not only do they get kudos for showing creativity, but one can't help but get into shape by gnawing through, say, a titanium-reinforced vault wall to get at the stuff. Everyone enjoys the game. What could POSSIBLY go wrong?!?
I was an out of shape IT guy a couple of years ago. I saw some judo at the Sydney olympics and a week later started training. I currently compete at state level, with hopes of competing in the nationals next year.
Would i have believed it if someone had said this would happen back in 2000? Hell no. I loathed physical exertion. Anything beyond kicking the football around at the park was too much. Now i realise why my attempts to get fit in the past failed miserably. They weren't fun.
Finding a sport you can play regularly is the best way to get fit. If it isn't fun, you won't keep it up. Pick a sport, or a number of sports, that you can do at least 2 or 3 times a week. Choose them based on how much fun you think you will have doing them, not how intense you think they will be.
Even now i have trouble sticking to a weights or running program simply because it's boring and uncomfortable. Now i have sporting goals to aim for and the fun of the sport is what drives me to train beyond what i otherwise would do.
Contacting a local university sports association is a good way to start out. They will have a number of clubs and even if you don't want to train with them, they will get you thinking about the possibilities. There are a lot of fun activities out there and many of them you have either never heard of or thought of doing.
Every year all their sport clubs get people joining who have never played any sport before or haven't played sports in years. Be one of them.
I say I ain't giving you no tree fiddy you goddamned Loch Ness monster, get yo own goddamned money!
Whose ass does it taste like? And can you compare?
I mean, I'm willing to rim a playboy supermodel.
But I wouldn't rim a guy even if it tasted like nectar.
I'm weird like that.
1. Brown-nose boss;
2. Get boss to pay for your trip to a coding convention;
3. Acquire "Microsoft is leet!" shirt;
4. Walk by any linux area -- the more gamers around the better;
5. Yell, loudly and repeatedly, "I hear even *nix dweebies can get laid these days!"
No matter what happens, after the body pieces are sorted out (or you finish running like hell), I guarantee you'll have lost weight SOMEHOW.
Tuesday July 22, @03:11PM
I just think assholes should die. Actually, I would like the job of killing them. Actually, I would do it for free.
...and I took up Martial Arts 2 years ago (ninjutsu).
... try it.
I love it. Its been a life-changing experience.
You just... have... to
Plus, I can kick your ass now (;-)
...here: http://www.powerblock.com/frame.html
The appeal of these bad boys is that you can vary the weights and thus workout at a level that suits you, plus they take up little space.
Hope that helps
Seriously! There are people out there called "personal trainers". They work with you to evaluate where you're at, help you set *attainable* goals, fix your nutrition (which is guaranteed to be shit, 'cause you live in the West), and check in with you every month to keep you on track. All you need to bring is goals and willpower.
For all this, they'll charge you the princely sum of $50-$100 per hour, depending on where they work out of. Budget $100/month, max.
And you know what? Being fit and healthy ROCKS. It's totally addictive, especially when you're coming to it after being a couch geek for a decade or so.
For me, it was distance running that popped my toast. I have friends that do triathlon, race mountain bikes, whitewater kayak, whatever. But once you have the body to get out and do stuff, the world's a way more interesting place.
So get off your ass, and get out there. Forget about trying to excercise in the office. Make time to get out and take care of your meatware, it's gotta last you a lifetime.
I saw this great abdominal exercise, it's for "that lower bulge even people who do crunches get." They said in the article on the website.
Lie face down on the floor.
Then support yourself on your forearms, palms down.
Then support you lower body by pointing your toes, imagine you're a bridge.
Hold this, with a straight back and neck, for as long as you can.
That's it. The easiest ab exercise ever!
The next step up is to get one of those exercise balls, the big plastic inflatable ones they're great for doing crunches.
And don't forget the cardio!
Step 1 - Analyse your food consumption.
a te_calculator.htm
As a rough guide use http://www.ast-ss.com/asp/weight.asp to calculate your protein, carb and fat intake.
Record what you eat so you know how much protein, carbs, fat your digesting.
Step 2 - Exercise
30 minutes of cardiovascular work in the morning just before you have breakfast will give your metabolism a much needed a boost for the rest of the day burning more fat and giving you more energy.
Theres realy only one way to burn fat, and thats to keep your pulse above your Target Heart Rate (THR) to calculate it see http://www.weightlossforgood.co.uk/target_heart_r
Metabolizing fat is an anerobic process, so if your not puffing and sweating, your not burning fat.
So, to answer your question, take an exercise bike, or treadmill to work and a change of cloths. If your lucky there will be showers in the building, if not, you'll just have to stink. But better to be stinky than the a fat ol flubber-butt =)
If you cleanse all that stuff out of your body, you'll lose that excess weight. Try www.boucha.isagenix.com
I lost 50 pounds in about 4 months doing the following (what I ending up finding) easy things:
- start by eating 1/2 of what you ussually do...make up a plate of food as you normally would and throw half away until you get used to just taking half to start with.
- eat every 3-4 hours 9AM breakfast take some fruit and cereal, 12 NOON for lunch - half sandwich, fruit, salad (lite dressing), 3:30 other half of the sandwich, 6:30 - 7 dinner (half of usual), 10 PM have a little snack
- no cheese (funny you get used to no cheese)
- lite beer (can't give it up totally)
- desserts in moderation
- count calories and consume less than you need to survive each day (I went to a 1700 - 2000 calorie a day program for a while, wasn't that hard...it was kind of fun to try to find tasty stuff that wasn't bad for you)
- drink diet soda or water you will get used to it - zero calories
- exercise - at least 30 minutes every other day of Cardio, walking, running, gyms have these cross training machines which are good when you just start to get going.
enjoy the benefits.
Once all IT jobs are move offshore, losing weight and getting into shape will come quite naturally; it's difficult to eat when you have no income.
Juicy Juice is 100% fruit juice. Always has been. And that's why I said "Ocean Spray 100%", which is their 100% fruit juice sub-brand. Sheesh.
WMBC freeform/independent online radio.
"benefits", not "befirts". I wasn't going to bother to correct it, but apparently they don't make context clues like they used to.
That said, that was a pretty bad typo.
WMBC freeform/independent online radio.
That's why I qualified "Ocean Spray 100%". That is, amazingly enough, their 100% fruit juice sub-brand.
WMBC freeform/independent online radio.
I agree with you, although it's not just walking. Stop being lazy, stand up instead of sitting down when you have a choice, get up and do things yourself, go to the store for whoever you're with. Being an active person makes a huge difference, I lost 50 pounds of computer weight just by deciding to not try to be as comfortable as possible in any situation, but to use every amount of energy that I have to do every little thing I do as best as possible. This has not only led me to lose more wight but has made me more aware of my surroundings, my thoughts are clearer, I have more will power... and I have an easier time with women :P
You've already got the beer (make sure it's very cold), now all you need is pizza and ice cream!
t m
www.rfcafe.com/miscellany/humor/engineer_diet.h
Portion control is the secret. Weight control is all about energy vs energy consumed. I learned this lesson via ediets.com. I lost 5 kgs, my wife 10kgs. I realised often I was just eating because it felt good, not because I was hungry. I'm not a schill for ediets either - it simply worked well for me.
I remembered a presentation a while back ago about the difference between overweight people and skinny people. There was a study whereby a group of people were given the same amount of calories in their diet. They lived within a confined space, at the same time. At the end, with the same amount of food eaten by all, some gained as much as 15 pounds and others didn't. The difference between these two groups? The individuals who gained the least amount of weight tended to be people who fidgeted a lot more. They tended to shake their leg while sitting more often, and got up and out of their seat more often. The take home message? Well, maybe try to move around more often, even simple repetitive "useless" movements may help (and no, I don't mean the M word, that'll probably get you fired).
Linux at home
I just go to the Gym 3 times a week all you need is a little motivation and a few dollars
Lots of people trying to be clever here, no good advice.
I'm 50, close to 300 lbs. I do ride a bike to work drink over 2 liters of water a day, and try to watch what I eat. I picked up a lot of the weight after I laid off a regular exercise program. I'm trying to get back on it now. The 12 miles a day on the bike just isn't enough.
For years, I did the Canadian Air Force plan. Simple, only takes about 15 Minutes in the morning, and can take you from invalid level up to Professional Athlete level. (At the Professional level, it won't be all you do, just a warm up for it.) It aims to get all the major muscles groups moving and stretched, with around 6 minutes of aerobics. Has about the best ballance of any short program I've seen. If it isn't short, you won't do it.
Diet is harder, for me, anyway. There are lots of fad diets out there. Atkins is the current Diet God, but remember, if any eating plan makes you lose weight 'effortlessly' it's messing up your metabolism. Approach Carefully. In the Atkins case, it'll do a number on your liver and kidneys. (So will the beer, for that matter. You may not care.)The best advise for diet is to distract yourself. Allow what you think is sensible, then go do something else. Friends help, if you have any. If not, try to find some. To find a friend, be a friend. Trite, but true.
The way you say you're going, you will have back problems before you have serious endurance or strength problems. Not fun. Exercise, even light stretching and calisthenics will help prevent that.
Avoid going to a gym and killing yourself for hours all at once. You might just really kill yourself. No quick fix will work. Work into any program gradually. The older you are, the slower you should work up. 20's, rush it. 30's, Let up just a little. 40's Pace yourself. 50's , accept a slower improvement. 60's, be glad you can still do it at all. You can still reach as high, it'll just take a little longer to get there.
On diet, accept slow progress to where you think your weight and waist should be. Watch to see if you are improving or not. Expect to slip sometimes, and correct whenever you notice it.
Remember, we can't control what we can't measure. Recored where you are, on both exercise and diet (weight). When I was 20, weight was not a problem. After thirty, it gets harder.
Trust me, it's true.
Good luck. You may need it.
I agree with all of your points... it rarely works to try some boring exercise plan that requires labourious and repetitive tasks... people generally just won't stick to it (some love it... yeay for them)... the only way is either make it fun, like you did, or just make it part of the day.
When my wife and I were looking for a house one of the 'nice to haves' was a place that wasn't too close to a train station that I got no exercise walking to it but not so far away that I couldn't be bothered walking... we found a place around 1.5ks (around a mile) away, and so now I walk that distance twice a day... it's excellent to wake you up both in the morning and for the evening at home (makes me less tired), and keeps me in shape more than driving into work every day would.
Yeay to you.
If reducing the amount of beer you drink by, say, 4% over the next six months is an option, I suggest you try that, too. But it's not mandatory. (I drink too much beer, too.)
Notice how people who eat a lot of fried food get fat? That's right. Fat makes you fat. Shocking, I know, but it's true.
It would be nice if you were to actually do a study on people who ate 1. a lot of fried, non-breaded foods, verses 2. a lot of fried, breaded foods rather than relying on peoples' "noticing" things.
any fat in your poo gives you nasty diarrhea, which I'm assuming isn't an attractive solution.
Neither I nor any of my family or friends (dozens) who have been on Atkins have had this problem.
I guarantee you, if I eat 1 pound of carbs, and you eat 1 pound of fat, you will put on twice the weight as you consume (more than) twice the calories.
Likewise, nutritionists guaranteed that a low-fat diet with lots of carbs (including bread and pasta with no differentiation between "good" and "bad" carbs) would make one lose weight. This turned out to be false.
A nearly all-fat diet is bad because, while you're satisfied (fat digests slowly), you also consume massive amounts of calories.
You are beating up a strawman. Atkins is low-carb, not all-fat.
Bottom line is the Atkins diet is dangerous, containing way too much saturated fat, cholesterol, and calories from fat, and too much protein can be bad on the kidneys.
Dozens of my family and friends (myself included) have used the Atkins diet, lost weight, and suffered no ill effects, despite the dire warnings about "bad for the kidneys".
Eat a balanced diet low in simple carbs, substituting complex carbs instead, and you'll do well.
And so the story changes. Before, it was "eat a diet high in carbs, and low in fats and oils." Now, it is, "eat a diet high in complex carbs, low in simple carbs, and low in fats and oils." Sorry, but the nutritionists lost their credibility the first time around. I have to see evidence if you want me to adopt your point-of-view. Merely spouting off scary warnings about gaining weight, kidney damange, and diarrhea isn't going to cut it, particularly after I've seen so many find such wonderful success with the Atkins diet.
Furthermore, you have quite the nerve to call the previous poster "100% wrong". You have already admitted that you were at least wrong about the "simple carbs" verses the "complex carbs" thing (not that I belive your story, but you can't deny that you're backpedaling if you believed that the carb-heavy "food pyramid" was, at one time, valid).
I don't make the rules. I just make fun of them.
I too find that it's much easier to criticize something based on the rumors about it than based on what it ACTUALLY SAYS or IS!
Let's look at this chart you cite! In the chart "Insulin and Glucose Scores of 38 Foods"-- which foods have the lowest scores (lower=better)??? Cheese! Eggs! Beef! Fish! Peanuts! All-Bran! yummy stuff. And the worst scores? Bread, potatoes, french fries, candy, crackers. Hmmm. In other words, Atkins was mostly correct in New Diet Revolution... now he's even more correct.
I'd be curious to see a similar test on green leafy veggies. Atkins says to eat mainly the darkest ones because they contain more vitamins per g.
Of course Atkins agrees that getting lots of exercise is "non-negotiable".
I used to walk absolutely everywhere irrespective of the weather. I was thin, healthy and felt good.
I am no longer single and it is very difficult to talk a woman into walking 20kms in the rain when we have a perfectly serviceable car, access to PT and enough disposable income to justify all too frequent use of taxis.
Now I am not so thin, not so healthy and I'm always out of breath when I get to the top of the stairs.
If you have a girlfriend leave her. And start walking.
Now wash your hands.
Yes, excess carbs do get turned to fat. However, so do excess protein and excess fat. The difference is that carbs and protein are 4 cal/gram, while fat is 9 cal/gram. You do the math.
Protein and fat do not raise your blood sugar levels, causing your body to produce insulin. Many people produce too much insulin, driving down blood sugar, causing tiredness and hunger. The "secret" of the Atkins diet is blood sugar management. This cannot be overstated. The Atkins diet is a low calorie diet, but you're never know it because your stable blood sugar means you never feel hungry. You plan a healthy well rounded menu until you're blue in the face, but if you're hungry all the time you will always fail to stay on it. Atkins works because the food you eat is satisfying and your stable blood sugar keeps you from feeling hungry.
Bottom line is the Atkins diet is dangerous, containing way too much saturated fat, cholesterol, and calories from fat, and too much protein can be bad on the kidneys. Eat a balanced diet low in simple carbs, substituting complex carbs instead, and you'll do well.
The Atkins diet is extreme, and extremes can be dangerous. There's no question that being fat is dangerous. If you're concerned about Atkins, check out _The_Good_Carb_Cookbook_ or any number of diabetic cookbooks which place emphasis on food with a low glycemic load (do not cause blood sugar to spike).
For what it's worth, I've lost 54 lbs. on Atkins, had no complications, and cut my triglycerides from 131 (desirable) to 76 (really desirable), and my cholesterol is under 200. The fact that I got there by eating steak and buffalo wings ought to tell you that the conventional wisdom isn't necessarily right. Currently I eat a more traditional "healthy" diet with lots of fruit & veggies, but no starches or sugars, and I've never been healthier in my life.
....real geeks don't give a shit
If the misused second law of thermodynamics as applied to food were in fact relevant in the way you suggest, the excretion of undigested food would locally corrupt the structure of the universe as it is currently understood, a singularity would emerge (a black hole?) and you and your surroundings would collapse into your own rectum. Weight gain is not simply a function of energy "going in", as in being consumed, but also of the processes via which your GI system is able to convert food into a storable form at a rate which outpaces your ongoing use of calories for varied metabolic processes.. in a sense the idea you're trying to convey is correct (the idea that people who try all kinds of dietary modifications other than cutting caloric intake to lose weight are misguided), but suggesting that the energy conservation principle of the 2nd law can be directly applied to food ingestion and caloric expenditure/storage (as anything more than a very, very rough rule of thumb) is very misleading.
Man, I wonder if starting to smoke will make you lose weight cause I gained 30 pounds in a year just by quitting. And I'm not eating more than I used to or snacking more. Boohoo
"I used to have that really cool,funny sig
Anyway, I've found Atkins to be overly-simplistic and I've successfully lost weight through a diet which according to the Atkins people you can't lose weight on. At the same time I'm not putting my health at risk through eating too much bad fat or through the effects of ketogenic diets (and my breath doesn't smell).
Also, you get the same benefits: higher HDL, lower LDL, reduction/elimination of type II diabetes risk and reduced blood sugar volatility. And I've got a more varied diet (my diet is a super-set of the Atkins diet) and is more sustainable over the long term.
It also makes a lot more sense anthropologically. Humans have been able to not gain weight off of both high fat animal product diets *and* low fat high carb diets, but it has been since we've gotten such a highly glycemic diet that the obesity epidemic in industrialized countries has exploded (and its worst in the US where high fructose corn syrup is added to *everything*).
Run or Bike. Most people need 30 minutes of aerobic exercise 5 days a week. You will feel much better if you do this.
Get a ping pong table!
It does not take that much space, is relatively cheap, can entertain many people, and when competition starts to kick in, it can help to burn quite a few calories.
I'm not a big sport fan, but ping pong really got me and most of the engineering addicted, it's great fun and a great exercice when a few of your co-workers start to get a little competitive.
.. pig and try some honest physical effort.
Sheesh, people are starving and this is the best you can whine about. Definitely a clear cut case of stupid rich people syndrome at work. You poor sad lost soul.
I've battled with a spare tire just about my entire life. I've tried diets and aerobics and averything else. I found out that what was holding me back was the dread and inconvenience of the diet/exersize. I discovered that I really enjoy riding my bike. That solved everything.
I'm pretty young (14, nearly 15), and I'm a bit overweight from the average kis my age (5' 7", 175-180), I was in much worse shape a year ago, though (5' 5 1/2", 195). Generally I needed two things: Problem #1: Exercise that I LIKED. Generally all exercise seemed like a waste of my time, where I could be doing other things. I would exercise, and get bored! Same darn motion over and over and over again. It just wasn't my thing. Solution: Based on the fact that I love computer programming and video games, I found Dance Dance Revolution. Thankfully a few of my friends liked it, too, so we started going to the arcade. I soon after that got a home pad, and I've been doing that every day or two for about 45 minutes, with some short breaks inbetween. Generally on the harder songs, that's long enough of a time to really get some good exercise. Problem #2: I was consuming too many simple sugars, snacks, etc. Solution: This went hand in hand with beginning to play DDR. As I played, after every song or two I would need a quick refresh. Generally whenever I wanted a drink before I started playing I would drink soda, but I noticed as I began playing that it just didn't satisfy me. I began drinking gobs and gobs of water while I was playing. By the time I was finished, I really didn't feel like having soda anymore. I also began drinking tea for when I wasn't playing. Now in a year, I have a much less stocky body overall. My calves are very toned, and slowly but surely I'm still losing more and more weight.
Where the average meal size is less than half that of our american counterparts (american friends allways wonder at how small our BigMacs are.. really). Snacking on greasy/sugary things 24/7 doesn't seem to be pre-requisite to a balanced life either.
That should take car of step one (food) by itself.
Step 2 is physical activity. Don't jog, everyone knows it's as boring as hell. Pushups? Situps? boring. swimming? fun for 30 seconds. Find something you enjoy, how? Try some new sports: try rockclimbing (really sculpts the body), basketball, [god-forbid] soccer, rollerblading ANYTHING! If you like it, you will come back.
Oh and finally if you really need to lose weight fast, stop drinking beer for two weeks. OR pick up smoking, nothing's a better food-substitute than a cigarette.
Hope that helps! Good luck!
Oh, and stop running up and down stairs at the office, you probably DO look like a moron!
how does one change his
The only way to REALLY lose weight (and keep it away) is to excersize daily. 1,5 hours a day at your local gym of running and weights until you lose the weight. After that just going once or twice a week should suffice. If you have a decent metabolism you should be able to keep eating and drinking what you want (except for the beer, alcohol makes you sleepy).
The first step is the hardest but once you've made excersize a regular part of your week you get used to it.
From the link of the sceptic:
Finally, strong evidence now indicates that not all of the prescribed fluid need be in the form of water. Careful peer-reviewed experiments have shown that caffeinated drinks should indeed count toward the daily fluid intake in the vast majority of persons. To a lesser extent, the same probably can be said for dilute alcoholic beverages, such as beer, if taken in moderation.
So he recommends caffeinated drinks and beer???
Actually, both is commonly known to be dehydrating.
Taken from the googled link: Hydrating beverages foster proper retention and use of water in normal, healthy body processes. Bottled water, tap water, juice, milk and carbonated soda without caffeine are all hydrating beverages.
The most common dehydrating beverages are coffee, tea, carbonated soda with caffeine, beer, wine and other alcoholic drinks. They are diuretics, meaning they foster fluid output, first in the form of increased urine production. Of course, if dehydration progresses, increasingly serious adverse effects occur..
I might add that when they talk about "tea" in this context, they are really meaning black tea. Fruit-, green-(to a lesser extent) and spice teas without caffeine (eg. Auyrvedic) should be hydrating, from my experience at least.
I'm all for being moderate, and some people always do TOO much of a good thing. But drinking water is GOOD for your body and mind. It detoxicates your body and freshens organs and tissue, so your skin will be healthier and less dry. Nothing is as good as pure water (without CO2) for this purpose.
No, we don't NEED a high intake of water to survive, but it will do us good. A healthy body is not something this guy understands I think, because you will feel what is good for your own body yourself! And beer and caffeine is not it!!
Negative sceptics want to destroy, you can read it between the lines in his article. They don't come with positive and constructive messages.
http://www.debunkingskeptics.com/
Of course, if you went with the later it would certainly beg the question, "what is .89 sex"? If you are willing to overlook/justify the subtraction of 0.2 the response is easy. If not, I think I will have to refer you to Clinton for the answer...
I give up, some one get me when Elvis returns...
this isn't really to keep fit but it helps to remind you to have breaks - it actually gives you exercises to do, but I just use it to help remember looking after my body. It's software for Windows - download at www.ergominder.com - I am not associated with the publisher so this is not a plug!
I'm thinking that trying just to lose weight is a very negative goal. Instead, you should be trying to convert fat to muscle, and build fitness and energy levels. Best option for doing this I've seen is this approach: Body For Life.
Check out some of the "before" and "after" pictures on that website. Those are ordinary people, who found that a simple commitment to fitness and exercise can really change your life.
Paul Gillingwater
MBA, CISSP, CISM
Aren't AIDS patient always looking thin. You won't ever have to exercise again.
Protein has about 4kcal / g, carbohydrate about 4kcal / g, fat about 9 kcal/g. Recall 1kcal = enough energy to make 1kg of water 1 degree C hotter = about 4kJ. The thing you need to realise is that not every calorie you put into your body gets turned into useful energy. Some of it is expended in movement, some of it is stored as fat {according to the First Law of Thermodynamics, manufacturing 1kg. of fat should cost your body 9000kcal} and the rest passes through undigested. {You can prove this by drying out some faeces and seeing whether or not it burns. You actually could measure the calories in shit this way. Weigh it while it is fresh and moist, of course.}
.....}
But protein requires a lot of moisture to digest. If you don't have enough available water, then your gutful of protein will get shat out mostly undigested. This lowers your metabolic efficiency.
Throttling back your metabolism could be a more successful way of losing weight than reducing calorific intake. If you go on a "traditional" diet, your stomach shrinks and your metabolic efficiency rises. So, if you were on 2000kcal/day and passing out 500kcal/day undigested {75% efficiency}, then you dropped to 1500kcal/day, your metabolic efficiency might start to improve so you were only wasting 150kcal/day {90% efficiency}. Go suddenly back up to 2000kcal/day, and your body will initially be taking in 1800kcal/day - 300 more than before - and you'll almost certainly put on weight while your efficiency readjusts back down. {Note: These figures are just wild guesses to serve as examples. I have no real measured data. Experimentation is required
As a corollary, it should be possible to lose weight temporarily by eating more! If you increase your calorific intake, so your metabolic efficiency goes down, then it should stay down for awhile when you go back to normal.
Or, of course, you could just learn to accept the way you are. I've seen people fantasise about changing other people and mostly they get disappointed. What's to suggest that you're going to have any better luck with changing yourself?
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
I also sit on my butt for a living. I was 298.5 pounds in November 2001. I dropped to 218.5 by mid May 2002. All following most of the advice in The Hacker's Diet. And going to the gym about 5 - 7 days a week at 5AM. More discussion here. But there is only one way to burn fat off of your body, create a caloric imbalance where you are inputing less energy into your body then you are expending. Good luck.
Logical Disconnect
I saw a nutritionalist once, after joining a gym. His advice was to eat more often, but in smaller amounts. He reckoned that long periods without eating (e.g. missing lunch) cause your body to adapt and reduce its energy use - which you don't want it to do if you're trying to burn up energy.
Don't know if it's true, but it seemed to work (along with eating less and exercising more...)
I just got a Chainsaw today, and it looks like a good excersise machine.
Not only can you unleash all your built up stress on defenseless trees, but you get your muscles worked out by maintaining control of the chainsaw.
I recommend a STIHL if you want quality that lasts...
BTW, I moved from the barren deserts of Arizona to Louisiana and have 7 acres of riverfront wetlands and pine forest that I need to clear enough trees to build a house. Cut the first couple trees today, and can't wait to clear the rest. (Not to mention making weird sculptures out of the fallen logs.)
www.Beyond7.com Insane modern art water sculpture.
Wow, you've been caught out in a blizzard of shit, mate.
To lose weight is simple, in a way: eat less than you need. How to accomplish this can be a little tricky, though. This is what I do:
First of all I swim 1 hour every morning - this is not to lose weight as such, but simply to get exercise in a way that I like. The advantage of swimming is that it's not a team sport and you don't feel quite as bothered when you sweat; also it builds muscles all over your body and helps you avoid pain in the back and shoulders (which is why I started in the first place).
Secondly, I eat strategically: I find that I can tolerate being hungry when I do something interesting, which is most of the morning and afternoon, so I eat ligthly in the morning and for lunch (and only those two meals!). Eg. for lunch I have a bowl of sweet corn and a bowl of peas with a bit of raw onion and a few walnuts (with salt). Also I don't mind going to bed hungry, so I tend to cut out the evening meal all week days and only prepare dinner in the weekend. Instead I have eg. half a melon or similar.
This probably sounds radical - but it works for me and it isn't all that hard either; one gets used to it. I do feel rather wasted in the evening, but I find that it is possible to be active anyway - once you get started it feels OK, it's just the getting started that's tough.
I think the basic message here is:
1. Exercise
2. Tolerate being hungry
What I particularly like about this diet is that it is cheap. I only buy very basic foods; no mysterious powders or dubious pills, no attending extremely expensive 'health clubs'. I save money with this life style, and I have got more energy.
One more thing: get somebody to check your weight regularly, like once a month. The thought of 'losing face' helps strengthen your resolve a lot, I find. Plus, it can be difficult judging your progress otherwise. I have gone to my control weighing feeling that I must have put on a lot only to find out that I had lost several pounds - because changing the diet can make you feel bloated and fat. And I have gone there thinking I was doing very well, but discovering that I had gained.
It's about learning a new lifestyle without getting trapped in the world of lifestyle junk out there.
Get some good wintertires, with studs. I have a pair of Nokian Extreme 296 at winter, and it's more or less like riding in the summer. (Minus the heat of course) After a couple a rides you'll be taking corners like nothing and if you do fall there's usually a lot of snow to break the fall.
Don't run down stairs. Run up stairs. I've worked as a paperboy for one year and didn't listen to ppl saying it would be more damaging to the knees if I ran downstairs. "Yeah right", I thought. "Of course it's better to run down stairs. It feels easier and must therefore also _be_ easier (on the knees)".
..but: There is a slight pain in my knees from that day on if I walk great distances. Just slight enough to remind me of me being stubborn enough to follow my own logic. But I guess that is a price you have to pay to become such an enlighted individual as I ;).
./'s search function could only search for the word "run" inside subjects - not bodies. Am I missing a feature here?
But after 75% of a year my knees suddenly started to hurt. After just a few days they hurt so much I could barely walk even on ordinary road that tilted downwards just 5 or 10 degrees. If the road tilted up, I didn't feel any problem.
I drew the conclusion that I probably should at least try the absurd idea of running upwards the stairs and taking the elevator down, instead. The same day I incorporated that simple change, I could walk downhill again.
P.S.
I tried to search the discussion to see if anyone had already warned you about running down stairs. But I couldn't get all the comments on the same webpage so I could do a text-search using my browsers built-in search function. There were over ten pages of comments at mod 0+. And
I suggest http://www.da-cheng-chuan.org/. It used to work for me and is suprisingly hard work. I do yoga and run now though.
Combine that "stand still be fit" with your running up and down the stairs (and perhaps skipping with a rope) a few times a week to give your heart a few minutes at a highly raised rate (which is supposed to protect it).
Sorted.
Agreed. But only pick fights with underlings cause bosses tend to get vindictive when they lose. In my last job I took out my manager with a sweet left hook and she fired me the next day for secual harrasment.
Wait... did he say fidget or fight?
Pinky: "What are we going to do tomorrow night Brain?"
Brain: "I would tell you Pinky but this 120 char limi
http://flwd.com/5bx/main/index.html
People who pick 5BX might find this of use: I wrote a palm app to help keep track of all the 5BX level information so you don't have to keep big, complicated paper charts around. You can find the program at PalmGear. It's still under development, so please send feedback if you find any bugs or have feature requests.
-Glen Raphael
raphael@pobox.com
I play Nerd-Folk!
I am in the military as a computer geek, so not only am I geek I have to stay in shape. I find that if I stand up every now and then and maybe move around in your chair. I also do the ride the bike to work thing.
First question to ask is "Why am I doing this?" If you dont know the answer to that one then nothing will work. Secondly, if the answer is because "I dont want to be fat", you'll likely find that that wont work either. At the end of the day, being fat isnt such a terrible thing. When confronted with a choice involving hardship (exercise, healthy food) or convenience (lazy, McDonalds), its all to easy to choose convenience. "Not being fat" just isnt a good enough reason. Hell, 60% of Americans are overweight, so it cant be that bad!
So what would light you up? I had two answers:
1. I'm having a baby, and I want to be able to carry her up the two flights of stairs to our appartment, and generally for my wife to have a big strong husband to depend on.
2. To be able to relentlessly f*** the living daylights out of my wife as soon as she's recovered.
As a result of this, I'm motivated to do 2-3 hours of cardio per week, in addition to a weights routine twice a week. My weight is hanging around 220lbs, which is technically overweight for my 6'2 height, but now the bulk is muscle rather than fat. I'm still working on the weight, as my blood pressure is still indicating that I'm too fat, but its all in hand and I'm getting constant remarks about how great I look.
Once you are motivated you will find it possible to make the neccessary choices. I make time for an hour of cardio, plus 30 minutes shower time, every monday, wednesday and friday. I have exercise bikes in the building. Tuesday and thursday I travel 5 minutes to the local gym, and spend about an hour there, before returning to work. I've also managed to do a slightly less rigorous routine while porting Resident Evil 2 to the N64, as did the project leader. We both worked 14 hour days, often 7 days a week. A great workout is beneficial for good coding, and if your boss doesnt get it then find a better job! Thats one of those choices I was talking about : when your job gets in the way of your health and motivation, find a new job. I havent yet had to say to my boss, "What can you say to me that is more important than carrying my baby safely or f****** my wife relentlessly?", but then he founded a fitness company, so I dont think I'll have to.
When you first start working out, you will probably feel tired afterwards. Keep at it. It will pass after a few weeks (4-10).If you work out during work hours, find ways to deal with it. Work later if you have to. Gym's are less busy during the day, and may even be cheaper. If you can afford a trainer, get one. Even if you cant afford one all the time, ask if one will be willing to set you up once, and then see you again in a month. Trainers live to make you healthy and educate themselves constantly. Find one that shares the same fitness goals as you: if you want a body builder physique, talk to a body builder, but if you want a leaner, runner look, then talk to one that looks like a runner. Finally, dont be intimidated down the gym. The massive, bulked up, tattooed guy is probably the nicest guy there. When they see you showing up regularly, you'll automatically earn their respect.
Diet: Eat 5 servings of fruit and vegetables per day (and I'm not counting potatoes or simple carbs). Sounds simple doesnt it! I promise you, if you can manage it, your whole diet will change. For example, I find it really hard to enjoy vegetables with the sweet mixture of phosphoric acid, caffeine and sugar (or aspartame) in my mouth and stomach. To meet your 5 servings, you'll naturally find other unhealthy things become less appealing.
If you live in London, and are a games programmer, send me a CV. We make exercise bikes with video games on. We have four in the office. I made a choice about my health. You can too.
I have a whole bunch of friends in the IT industry all going fat. I'm a little better off because im only in the IT mill for a few years having studied stage dance before :-). Stage dancers, especially ballet dancers are the people with the least body fat ratio. :-). I also can get very anoyed at my wife when she thinks I *must* eat because it's dinnertime.
Now, especially with my wife into really good cooking, I often notice that I eat beyond my appetite. I'm absolutely shure that people who become fat in 'sitting jobs' have the same problem. Far to often do they eat beyond their appetite, be it due to frustration or just bad habit.
Whenever I notice that I have to widen my belt by a hole I simply eat less. Period. I switch from a 3 course meal to Ramen and Broth. I don't eat 2 buns with peanutbutter and chocolate in the morining, I eat one. I don't take 3 balls of Icecream I take 1 and so forth. I do this for 3 weeks and then I'm down to ideal weight again.
The problem overweight people often have is that they then tend to be disturbed by the slightest notion of not feeling absolutely fed up and allways have to think about eating. They often also eat because it's dinner time and not because their really hungry. The best way to handle this is to learn not to center your life around eating. I actually had times when I wouldn't eat for a day or two simply because I was so occupied with other things that are far more interresting. It's really strange when you get really *hungry* (when the last time you're been really *HUNGRY*?) at 11o'clock at night and then come to notice that your last food is 36 hrs away
Bottom Line:
Apart from other things I'd suggest that have been mentioned allready (check out the Aikido posting further down, it's right on!) the solution for tendency to overweight is so simple it hurts: If you're gaining weight simply switch your diet and/or eat less.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
When you stop drinking and wasting your time at the Pub/Bar you will feel more happy more energetic and have more time to concentrate on important things in life, such as family and not to mention the money you will save.
Shidda
1) no junk food
2) don't eat when you're not hungry (and I mean hunger, not appetite, they're completely different). Hunger is the physical need for food - appetite is the desire to eat.
3) don't eat within 2 hours of going to bed
4) eat a healthy diet including fruits, vegetables, and lots of fluids. I can't emphasize the importance of fluid intake enough.
5) Avoid low carb/high protein diets or other crash/fad diets that don't work
6) exercise regularly, and by regularly I mean every day. Of course, Consult your physician before beginning any exercise program. Most experts I've heard say that you should elevate your heart rate to at least 60% of your max (which is said to be 220-AGE) for at least 1 hour every day.
7) avoid simple sugars like the plague, especially HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP! Fruit sugars are okay in moderation, but concentrated sugars are TERRIBLE for you. Don't eat ANYTHING that has HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP in it!!! This includes Powerbars, soda, some energy gels, candy, just about any sweetened liquid, etc.
8) read food labels on stuff you eat. If there's anything you can't pronounce, don't eat it.
9) no meat. Meat itself isn't bad, but you almost can't buy meat in the U.S. that isn't pumped full of hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, and other harmful and carcinogenic chemicals. Same goes for Eggs, Milk, Cheese, and most other dairy products. Even products that claim to be hormone and antibiotic free are not. They are simply below the thresholds that the USDA allows.
10) Don't eat anything that requires a tool to get to (i.e. can opener)
***************
Know what you put into your body. Treat your body well, and it will treat you well. 90% of staying in shape is managing what you feed to your body. The other 10% is exercise.
Start to swim, not only is it cheaper than the average gym, but the girls have nicer outfits too :)
Also, it doesn't put any strain on hips and knees (as running does) so you can do it for the rest of your life.
Open source is the art of letting other people write your bad code.
You see, every body works different. Although the western medicine wants to make us believe we are all equal, that is simply not true.
I do not want to say medicine is wrong. They have lots of really cool results. But metabolism works little bit different in each of us. I am quite sure there is more than one stable state in which our body chemistry is working fine. Find out how your body reacts to different influences and act correspondingly.
Surely, that sounds not very easy. But that is the thing you should have been doing the first 20 years on that planet: exploring your body and mind to find out what you like and need.
I found that out about half a year ago, as I got problems with digestion. I went to some doctors and even to a hospital, but they couldn't find the reason. While I got sick more and more, nausious each morning, they couldn't do anything about it.
And, here in Austria, we have really good healthcare and the best doctors available.
Stop fighting about low-fat vs. low-carbs diet. Balance things out. Eat lots of fruit and vegetables. Eat less, but more often. Drink lots of water. Do not hesitate to eat the occasional chocolate or fast food. Not only your body needs to stay healthy, but your mind and soul, too. If you do not sin every now and then, there comes something up we call "Fressflash" (German). You know that urgent feeling to stuff things to eat into yourself. Mostly junkfood.
Start doing something. The daily walk home/to work is a good beginning. Start swimming or biking. You will begin to feel better after a few days.
Do not start to run, if you're overweight and/or undertrained! It will ruin your knees (happened to me, at least). Start with it, when you are trained enough, the stronger muscles will help your knees then. To avoid injury, consult a professional trainer. He can give you simple hints to improve your training and make it safe.
You do not want to got to a fitness-center or buy expensive things? Use your own bodyweight to train! Everything that makes your muscles feel tired is good.
But most important: Start listening to the things your body tells you. Maybe you never learned to interpret its signals right?
Keep open minded - but not that open your brain falls out...
Prince Regent used to get gout, but then he used to have serious banquets that lasted for six hours, in his indian/oriental palace that he had built in Brighton (uk)... http://www.royalpavilion.org.uk/
so nothing to be ashamed of!
Not correct. Half the general population is, by definition, below average [in intelligence]. However, there is no information as to where the /. population falls within the general population.
I suspect that the average /.er falls on the north side of the intelligence curve. They are often poorly educated (its an age-related schooling thing - it takes time) and get their facts wrong as a result, but that's a different story.
I swim about 5 miles per week when I am in my routine (2-3 when out of my routine) ;)
How do I do it working 10 hours a day? Simple, find a pool close to work, hop in for 35 minutes (1 mile per day) on your lunch break, go back to work and have a small sandwich or protein bar at your desk.
Does it work? Yeah! I'm the most Abercrombie & Fitch-looking Software Engineer I know...
Try it, I think you'll find the afternoons alot less stressful as swimming clears your mind and refreshes your day!
Likewise, my former boss got up in pounds a bit, but he started hitting the gym on his lunch break, and he's lost about 40 lbs in six months.
Best of luck to you!! I hope it works out!
-x
If you get bored of water all day (understandable), you can try fruit juice. But please, do REAL fruit juice and not colored hummingbird food. Juicy Juice and Ocean Spray 100% are my favorites.
I have been told by my herbalist/nutritionist that most bottled fruit juice is actually bad for you, since it has so much sugar. Any benefit that it had was boiled away during the bottling process (they boil the juice to kill any organisms in it, and to make it taste sweeter). Basicly, it ends up being sugar water.
If you can find it, try getting stevia and kool-aid (or other non-sugared drink). Stevia is pretty sweet, but tastes different from sugar, and wont be absorbed by your body. Seems to work well in lemonaid, too.
Ed Wedig
Graphic design services
docbrown.net
Drink a lot of water (at least 2,5 litres a day). Depending on your location: stay away from tap. Too much chloric is just not good for you. There is hardly a way to intoxic your kidneys with too much water. You will have more problems with not enough water. :-)
No snacks. No sodas. Not one. That simple.
Do regular meals, three times a day. Eat slowly. Chew your food. Mabe take an apple or so for in between. Fruits are good.
Start moving. Go jogging, or aerobics. Do it three times a week (more is good as well). When jogging you should be able to get to 45 minutes each time in about three months.
Cook your own food. Restaurants (except the very expensive ones) tend to cook with too much fat. Stay low on fat, stay low on meat. Really you don't need meat. It just tastes good
Forget about beer. It is bad for your sexlife as well. Alcohol and bubbles reduce the ability to get you willy dancing. Go for wine, if you need the alcohol. Combines better with real food as well.
Look in the mirror. Do it a lot. Helps to motivate, especially when things are coming down.
Respect and love yourself. If you really love your body you won't let it get out of shape.
The site where: "I'm right, as long as you ignore the things that prove me wrong", became a valid method of debate.
I did some research on the calorie content of guiness recently, and found that it was surpricingly low. I got this data from http://www.realbeer.com/edu/health/calories.php (if you have contrary data, I would love to see it!)
Calories for a 12oz serving:
Budweiser 143 calories 5.0% alcohol
Bud Light 110 calories 4.2% alcohol
Guinness 110 calories 4.0% alcohol
Sam Adams Lager 160 calories 4.8% alcohol
So, chosing a crappy domestic rice beer isn't necessarily going to be cutting back on the calories. It is worth doing some research to find out if the beer you prefer is high in calories or not. Plus, if you are going to subject yourself to rice beer, you may as well switch to sake (which has between 180 and 240 calories for a 5.5 oz glass, with about 15-17% alcohol).
Life is to short to drink bad beer.
Tai Chi is surprisingly effective, the slow movements require a constant effort. Interestingly difficuly.
It also looks pretty cool. I think that's actually why it's as popular as it is in China.
Jag pratar lite svenska.
I'll take my chances with AMA above rogue, discredited doctors with no credibility who write books, eh? Otherwise this is convincing yourself of something you want to believe, and that's not particularly rational. There are maybe 5 doctors in the country who haven't been bought who believe the Atkins stuff in its extreme. The research that supports a higher protein diet doesn't advocate the fat consumption that goes with Atkins.
If such a diet of animal fats caused heart disease, why is it that heart disease in America began to increase during the time when the food industry decided to start pushing margerine and processed vegetable oils?
Two things there: First, consumption of animal fat also picked up over that period (ie, 60's to today). Second, processed vegetable oils are dead fatal, containing lots of trans-fatty acids. In general, avoid anything hydrogenated. That's my advice. For what it's worth, the AMA (I believe it was them) fought for labeling of foods with trans-fat labels. But bottom line, both margerine and animal fat are 100% fat. And a diet high in either isn't good.
The food industry stands a lot to gain from convincing you that their processed foods are better for you than foods straight from a farmer.
First, that's the food industry, not the medical community - I reasonably trust AMA, not the food industry. Second, farmers are a big part of the food industry (see "Beef - it's what's for dinner"). Third, we don't eat food "straight from a farmer" even if that's where we get it, as cooking is processing. Not trying to split hairs, just trying to point out that a great deal of the damage we do to food in terms of its nutritive value etc. we do in the kitchen.
But you are of course correct, don't trust the food industry, as they've fought labeling every step of the way, from the outset.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
My back is really bad, so biking everyday isn't really an option anymore.
Getting a workstation configured to allow you to stand and a taller chair helps. Standing for part of the day burns more calories than sitting all day. Walk lots, drink lots of water. Don't worry so much who looks at you, you're health is more important than what other people think.
I use an ABS ball I threw in the stockroom, lying on it helps when my back hurts, plus I can do squats and ab exercises. I use a few lengths of surgical tubing of various diameters wrapped around the doorknob or whatever to do some resistance exercises, it works quite well and you can do a number of exercises. Any decent fitness store sells rubber tubing nowadays, I think.
later
"I know it's real bad in my office, especially with all the beer I consume."
;)
Drinking beer while you're in the office is probably leading to that fat gut. Start drinking beer AFTER work. Try drinking beer while you're walking to the bar.
at 6:15, get ready to go to the gym, on a bus, i get there at 7:20, and make a good 2 hours time of wheigt lifting and some stationary cycling :-)
That keeps me sorta in shape, i still have a little beer belly, but my arms looks like a man's arms, and I feel really good, specially when having sex :-), no respiratory problem at all !!
I'm positive, don't belive me look at my karma
Nothing but beer and pork rinds, four times a day. You'll shit through the eye of a needle!
Sure, I'll read anything.
If you have any studies which argue your point about Atkins not being good long-term, I'd like to read them.
I'll see if I can find them, but bottom line is the version of the Atkins generally considered in the studies is a more moderate version that involved reduction of simple sugars, moderate increase in protein and perhaps some fat as well. The difference is that many people are using a diet devoid of carbs (which are necessary for general health), too high in protein (hard on the kidneys), and too high in saturated fat (very bad for the heart).
So basically, which version of Atkins are you doing - the one where you eat a ton of fish (high in protein and the best possible fats) or the one where you eat a ton of steak (high in protein, yes, but also in the worst conceivable form of fat)? Makes a hell of a difference. So it's not really possible to talk about Atkins as a whole, because that doesn't exist - but I'm going to go ahead and assume that most people are on the "steak and pork chop" version of it, and that's not good.
Also, it's hard to do long-term studies on Atkins because it's too new. However, I'd rather not be the guinea pig, I dunno about you.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
You could try isometrics.
weight watchers is a pseudo-science scam.
Photos.
try... www.bodyforlife.com ... my wife and i have being doing this for 10 weeks now ... AND IT IS GREAT! very simple but wonderfully effective
What do you do when you are not at work? If you go home and sit in front of the TV for several hours, that isn't helping. If the beer you say you drink is either sitting at a bar or sitting at home, that isn't helping.
I'd recommend a hobby. I'm a programmer, and I have used juggling as a fun way to get some excercise. Juggling is pretty good excercise - mostly from picking up props. :^) I also throw darts and shoot pool, which aren't the best excercises I could pick, but they beat sitting on the couch or in a movie theatre. I decided a long time ago that I spent enough time sitting, and I didn't want hobbies that encouraged it.
Consider dancing - that's good excercise and you can still drink your beer.
My point is that you are not likely to change your 9-10 hour days of sitting in front of a computer, any more than I am. But you can make sure that the time you spend *outside* the office is on hobbies that burn some calories and give you some excercise. Going to a gym is great, if you'll do it regularly. But if you can find a hobby which gives you some excercise and at the same time is something you enjoy, you'll get a lot more out of it.
Me? I'm 6', 180, and a little overweight. (Every bit of extra weight I have shows up in my stomach.) I don't diet. I don't go to the gym. I drink beer, and soda, but have never been tempted by chips, cookies, cakes, ice-cream, etc. I ran a lot when I was younger, but haven't done much of that in years.
Funny I looked back at this after a day.
;^)
"macronutrient" is a generic label, I used because I didn't feel like hijacking this thread.
By removing carbs from the diet you lower insulin (hormonal manipulation). You also raise glucagon levels. This condition releases free-fatty acids from fat cells which are then burned in the liver as ketone bodies. In a ketogenic state the body will preferentially burn FFAs over carbohydrates.
Thus ketosis is a state induced by food choices (macronutients for lack of a better term).
I know what ketones are. What a keto dieter is concered with is not what is in your nail polish remover, but rather acetoacetate, beta-hydroxybutarate, and acetone, as produced wthin the body...and in tiny amounts.
The creation and subsequent usage of ketones as fuel offsets the need for other fuels, sparing protien that would otherwise be converted via glucogenesis. This allows a bodybuilder (and former sports medicine student) like myself to avoid muscle loss while dieting. It also provides fuel for the brain, which unlike skeletal muscle tissue, cannot use FFAs for fuel. After time (usually two to three weeks depending on individual metabolism and training load) the body will level off in ketone production as it has adapted to FFAs as fuel. No more acid breath
Few people realize that foods, if used properly, can produce powerful positive (and negative) effects on the body's systems.
There are a lot of people involved in the Ketogenic dieting world who know quite a lot about the science behind metabolism.
It's not all about Atkins.
I personally find it ironic that people will continue to eat lousy food, sit on the couch, drink alcohol, and smoke cigarettes while criticizing others go to what they may see as perhaps comparatively extreme measures to attain the top 5% of physical conditioning.
I am not saying the above remark refers to anyone here, yet I am constantly struck by the resistance met from others when they discover my personal physical ideal.
People who have no idea about exercise or conditiong continue to try to give me "advice" while eating ice cream and sporting 45% bodyfat.
For god's sake, nothing's wrong with a little blood sugar. In fact, if you keep your blood sugar from crashing in the first place, you won't even have to worry about your body burning muscle when dieting. If that happens, it's a sign you are dieting too hard. Back off a bit. For a bodybuilder, the best way to not lose muscle while dieting is to diet slowly. Use some patience and you won't have a problem with that. 1 pound per week would be a good target. But there's no reason to put your body through that ketone stuff, as you'll go through hypoglycemic shock if you're not lucky.
Bottom line is your body is not meant to operate this way, and there's no reason to make it. And by the way, acetone is the main component of nail polish remover.
People who have no idea about exercise or conditiong continue to try to give me "advice" while eating ice cream and sporting 45% bodyfat.
Mine's about 10-12%. I've had it around 7% before. Could be lower except my wife doesn't like it when I get too skinny. You can get where you want to be quite easily using a very healthy, yet non-extreme diet. And you get there without getting the shakes and lightheadedness that come with too low blood sugar. And I'm guessing you know what I'm talking about, whether you choose to admit it or not.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
That'd be fine. He'd be constantly burning the blood sugar generated for energy.
But if your goal is weight loss rather than running 26 miles in one shot, you want to exhaust your blood sugar and force your body to start burning stored fat for energy. Short runs don't accomplish this, which is why a long walk can help you lose weight better than a shorter, high intensity run.
Eat less.
Politas
First off I agree with the statement that many bodybuilders do unhealty things, including drug use.
;^)
There is a reason I no longer compete.
I do cardio and don't pass out.
How about an hour of running up stadium bleachers?
And I am asthmatic to boot
Dieting slowly does not always work. Trust me I know. I was rather well ranked in the nation and I spent years doing the low fat thing. I never got lean enough, and I lost muscle.
One or two pounds a week is a good rate, but what are you losing? You might be losing muscle via glucogenesis and you better check the calipers as well as the scale.
Yes I did get light-headeness, though I never got shakes.
This lasted all of four days. After that I was producing enough ketones form FFAs to fuel my brain without issue. And as far as getting really low, it is damn near impossible to get below an honest 5% on a low carb diet *without* losing significant amounts of muscle. This is of course assuming you are not indulging in the foremantioned pharmaceutical aids.
You can keep doing what you are doing, that's fine if you are happy with it, but ketognic diets work, they are safe, and the literature is proving it.