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?"

Comments

Get up and walk.

[doppleganger871]

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.

Re:Get up and walk.

[Anonymous Coward]

If you're going to up the amount of exercise you do, then you actually want to be eating carbs (assuming this is running or something else one might classify as working out and not just going for a walk more frequently). When your body has an excess of carbohydrates, they get converted into fats for storage. However, exercise depletes these fat reserves, as well as the carbs stored in your muscles and such. So eating carbs is important to stay healthy when you are physically active.

Walking will certainly help to cut back the weight. Laying off the carbs will help too. However, if you do something more intense than walking or the occasional jog, you need those carbs to keep the energy levels up.

Re:Get up and walk.

[Toasty981]

I find the carbohydrates vs. fats arguments silly. It's all about calories. It's simple: If you take in more than you burn per day, no matter what the source, you gain weight.

That being said, there's a big difference in carbohydrates. Avoid refined sugars (manufactured, like cake)if you need sweet foods and stay with the natural carbs found in sweet things like fruit and veggies.

Also stick with complex carbohydrates/starches, found in cereals, grain, bread, pasta, etc. They're healthy, and if you keep your diet in check, you'll lose weight and be feeding good stuff to your body.

Of course, a lot of the above doesn't apply if you go the weightlifting route, but that's an entirely different argument.

Re:Get up and walk.

[cybermage]

I find the carbohydrates vs. fats arguments silly. It's all about calories. It's simple: If you take in more than you burn per day, no matter what the source, you gain weight.

Not necessarily. Here's the rationale for low-carb diets in a nutshell:

1. In order to store calories as fat, the body needs insulin to get the sugar from the blood into the cells.
2. Most carbohydrates drive up the blood-sugar level causing the release of insulin.
3. If you greatly reduce or eliminate carbs from your diet, you have a very hard time storing excess calories due to the short supply of insulin.

So,

4. If you eliminate or reduce carbs, you have a very hard time creating new fat storage.

The trick, then, is to manage to burn existing stores. On a low/no-carb diet, any excersize that triggers the burning of fat should be permanent weight loss.

You are correct in saying that you need to burn more than you consume to lose weight, but a low-carb diet gives you a net to work with. If you consume too many calories in a day, you won't lose weight, but you won't gain either (as long as the excess isn't carbs.)

This advice comes to you from someone who's managed to lose 114 lbs dieting and has kept it off. I got BIG sitting at the computer. I can tell you that there's no substitute for excersize, but the right restrictions on intake can help a lot. Any Slashdotters who want some serious advice/support from someone who's been their, just drop me an email.

Re:Get up and walk.

[theedge318]

IANAD ... but Parent poster nearly has it right. There is a HUGE differences in Carbs.

Scientific American recently ran an article on the "New Food Pyramid."

For those of you that don't want to read the article:

Sugar: Glucose (blood sugar) is bad, as it causes your blood sugar levels to spike and helps cause Diabetes.
More other sugars that need to be broken down into glucose are better, b/c they don't cause any spikes to the blood sugar level.

Complex Carbs/starches - not all are good:

• White grains (labeled as bleached, durum, semolina, etc) are actually just long strains of glucose, which the body is very adept at turning straight into glucose (and thus the blood sugar spike)
  
• Whole wheats are not as easily handled by the body, and actually require that the body spend more energy digesting them. Also there are more nutrients/fiber in the outside shell of a grain, which are stripped off in white grains.

Fats
Not all fats are bad, the FDA just thinks the American consumer is to stupid to know the difference. Just avoid these words:

• Saturated Fat
  
• Trans-fat
  
• Hydrogenated (appears in ingredient list)

The Mediterranean diet actually very high in fat from Olive Oil, but they live longer than people with more western diets.

Re:Get up and walk.

[AKAImBatman]

Except for the fact that the "Insulin" thinking is false. See this article:

http://venus.nildram.co.uk/veganmc/insulin.htm

See, the problem is that insulin response doesn't actually correspond with Glucose levels as commonly thought. Instead, the body responds with how much insulin it *thinks* it will need. Thus, fish produces more insulin than white pasta! This of course leads back to the argument "What about the Eskimo's? They eat a heavy meat diet with very little carbs."

The Eskimos are interesting because common thinking says that they should have rampant heart disease. Yet they don't. Doctors have been studying it and now believe that there are two factors:

1. Eskimos get *lots* of exercise. Westerners are getting less and less exercise every year.
2. Fish contains Omega-3, a substance that is believed to help break down and flush oils from the body. Thus the new research that says fish once or twice a month is good for you.

What's really interesting is that these days we think of heart disease as clogging of arteries. Yet before 1910, this form of heart disease was practically unheard of! Between 1910 and 1930, the number of deaths from clogged arteries went from practically nothing to ~300,000 per year! So, what's the most obvious conclusion? It's the lifestyle stupid. Exercise more, eat fewer saturated fats/oils and simple sugars and you'll live a long and healthly life.

Re:Get up and walk.

[bmajik]

your first statement doesn't jive with the second. :)

you rightly say to avoid refined sugars, and that different carbs do different things to you.

but you first said that its all about calories.

thats about as empty as saying "the key to scoring with women, is the _intercourse_"

then the third thing you say - stick with starches - is a baaaaad idea.

here's what i currently understand to be the case: (based on the book "The Sugar Busters Diet", recommended to me by my doctor to try and avoid the onset of Type2 diabeties)

the majority of fat on our bodies comes from sugars. Eating any food with a high glycemic index will elevate the blood sugar level in the body. The pancreas secretes insulin to lower the blood sugar level. Insulin is the hormone that tells fat cells to open the gates and suck as much sugar out of the blood as possible.

See many thin diabetics ?

refined sugars and fast-burning carbs cause a glycemic reaction that effectively means your blood sugar level spikes. the body must gush insulin into the bloodstream to back that away into fat cells as fast as possible, because there's no way you could legitimately burn the energy stored in all that sugar in time to regulate your blood sugar back down via consumption. oh, theres a nice vicious cycle effect here as well. See, the more insulin you have in your blood, the more your body's cells are likely to develop insulin resistance. So you already need elevated insulin to quell the shitty food you just ate. Then you need to supplement that insulin because your body responds to it at a reduced rate. the pancreas eventually gives up, running at a dually accelerated rate. poor food choices are a 1-2 punch that basically guarantee type2 diabeties in people, which is why 30 and 40 year olds are getting it in droves.

the shitty thing about this is polluting your bloodstream with a glycemic spike means that all subsequent food you eat - no matter how healthy - goes straight to fat until the suger level is under control. the helpful, natural sugars in fruits? - straight to fat, because you've still got more blood sugar than you can handle.

Starch incidentally is one of the worst things to eat, because its turned into sugar by the body in an extremely fast and efficient manner. A baked potato is equivalent to between 50 and 85% of its volume of table sugar, from a blood sugar perspective. Nobody would knowingly eat that much refined sugar!!

Non diet pop is the absolute worst, however. It is literally bottled poison. There are more than 10 teaspoons of sugar in a can of coke. There is infact so much sugar in there that they salt it up a little to balance the taste. (why do you think pop is high in sodium ?)

case in point: on the nutrition card at burger king, they list the nutrition info for a extra-king size Coke. its 950 calories, and 108 GRAMS of sugar.

lets do some math - 108 grams is a tenth of a kilogram, and a kilogram is 2.2 pounds, so 108 grams is .22 pounds, or a QUARTER POUND. There is a QUARTER POUND of sugar in a king-size coke from burger king. Nobody in their right mind would knowingly add a quarter pound of table sugar to a beverage. the refined foods industry in the US is doing its population a huge disservice. Unfortuneately, heavily sweetened foods taste better, so people buy them. But the costs are staggering. obesity will replace smoking as the #1 killer in america within the next few years. Childhood obesity is estimated at almost 50%.

THe faster you cut all high glycemic foods out of your diet, the happier you'll be. (you being the "general you")

I go to the gym during lunch...

[gatkinso]

...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.

drink water!

[Comsn]

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.

Re:drink water!

[MyPantsAreOnFire!]

This is a perfect way to start. There are two ways to reduce your un-healthiness: 1. Excercise 2. Eat well. Because of your long hours and potential lack of motivation, exercise may not be possible for you. So, change your diet!

1. Soda/Pop is terrible. It's like drinking liquid sugarcane that transforms into belly fat almost instantly (when you don't exercise.) If you can't live without caffiene, they have caffienated water available.

2. Watch what you snack on. I know that when I code, I get cravings to buy every candy bar in the store across the street and eat it. One way I get around this is drinking TONS of water -- if your stomach is full of water, you won't want to snack.

3. Bring a semi-healthy lunch to work. Don't go out to eat with everyone else when they do a mass exodus to {Wendy's, McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, etc.}. Even if your lunch is bringing a frozen microwave burrito from home, it's still 100 times better than eating a double-double from In and Out.

4. Switch to Light beer (Ugh). Yes, I know, it sucks, but it will save you in the long run in two ways: 1. light beer has half of the calories of regular beer, and 2. usually light beers are domestics, so they tend to cost less at bars and the store than pricey (yet oh so tasty) imported beers.

5. Exercise. What I've found personally is that you can eat buckets of crisco all day but if you run marathons when you get home, you'll burn all that fat off. If you really want to eat and drink whatever you want, go home and run around the block.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Re:drink water!

[mahler3]

if you drink pop all day, all of the sugar accumulates. try drinking water instead.

Water is good. Diet soda is good-- or at least neutral. Non-diet soda is bad. Why?

Four words: High Fructose Corn Syrup. Most sweetened drinks (and many food items, from catsup to yogurt) are actually sweetened with HFCS rather than regular sugar. This is what makes you fat. Read the label first. Then drink water instead.

Yes, I know; the poster didn't mention soda; I'm assuming that the beer tap isn't actually available at his workplace. Hint to rhuntley12: There's a reason why it's called a "beer gut."

Re:drink water!

[FreeUser]

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.

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 ... 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.

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 uncomfortable work out. Luckily working out isn't a requirement for good health or fitness ... 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.

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.

run

[AssFace]

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.

Re:run

[blahtree]

A note for those wanting to take up running. Running can be pretty hard on the joints. You need to start slowly in order to not only build muscle strength, but to build the stregth of your connective tissues as well.

You might consider the American Running Association's12 week Walk/Run program. It's a great way to get started.

Plus, remember to stretch. You're setting yourself up for a world of pain if you don't.

Re:run

[firewood]

there is no secret to losing weight.

you have to burn more calories than you take in.

Yes, but there is a lot of medical evidence that the type of calories you consume strongly effect how efficiently your body burns them, and also somewhat your desire to consume more. Do a web search on the terms "glycemic index".

There is also some evidence that most of the health benefits of exercise appears at fairly low levels of exercise (e.g. walking briskly), as long as done regularly. So even though running results in increased fitness levels, one has to trade this off with the increased risk of certain types of injuries.

In one large office building where I used to work, I would routinely send my documents to a laser printer on the opposite side of the building (the fact I had to walk by the receptionists desk to get there was purely coincidental :).

Re:run

[without]

I'm an engineer. I just lost 20 pounds doing pretty much what AssFace said: burn more calories than you take in.

One thing an engineer should really do, though, is take a scientific approach: measure and count. Subjective feelings are unreliable- you don't really know how hungry you are.

Measure and count: to lose one pound of fat, you must burn 3500 calories. An average weight-maintenance diet is around 2000 calories/day (it depends on a lot of things and it's very personal- you should measure your own to figure out what it is). Measure all the food you eat- every crumb, every morsel. Measure your weight.

For my diet, I decided to take in 1600 calories/day on weekdays and 1200/day on weekends (because it's too hard to think if I'm extremely hungry). Whatever amount I went over my "budget" I burned off in a measurable way: on a treadmill or elliptical crosstraining machine at a gym. I ended up eating the same on the weekends as on weekdays, but I spent an hour and a half on the treadmill. So what? On the weekends I have time.

I can tell you the things I had to give up that I liked: soda and french fries. I didn't rule them out of my diet, but when it came time to do my daily budget, it was always two cans of soda or a ham sandwich, and I'm afraid I went for the ham sandwich. I ended up switching to diet soda, which tastes lousy, but it has no calories.

Oddly, fast food restaurants were good for me, because they always post their nutrition information online. A ten-piece order of Chicken McNuggets was very convenient and 510 calories. (It's a little too fatty to be healthful, but it is very easy to eat, and I could eat less fatty things for other meals to have a good daily average). A medium cheesesteak sandwich is around 700 calories- a fine, fine lunch for my 1600 calories/day. My colleagues chuckled at my cheesesteak and chicken nugget diet, but they chuckled less when I was thin and they weren't. :-)

As for low-fat diets: a good idea in general, but really, calories are king. Count them. Limit them. Don't cheat, even a little bit- what kind of scientist fudges his measurements?

There's a ton of good information online. Things like: don't lose more than a pound or two a week, because you'll lose muscle instead of fat, and be sure that you get at least some exercise every day so your muscles don't atrophy. That's another thing a good scientist should do: research the subject.

So my method isn't really office-related, but it's something geeks can relate to: if you want something real, you have to do it scientifically.

Re:run

[Malc]

Very good advice. I know from experience. I injured myself at the end of December running 10K in snow (very bad case of ITBS). I still had chronic pain in March. I've been physio ever since. I started running again in May with 3x 1km/wk, adding 500m per week since. I'm up 4x 2km a week, and it's slow progress. The physiotherapist has me doing all kinds of strengthening exercises to get my legs strong enough for real running (apparently my inner quad isn't strong enough to stabalise me knee properly), and lots of stretching too.

Going slowly when starting out running can't be emphasised enough. Keep to the rule of 10s: only increase one of speed, distance or frequency by no more than 10% per week. Start of slowly, even if you feel like you can push harder and that this approach will take months to get anywhere useful. It does take months. I hope to be hitting 10km again by late November, iff my injury has healed and doesn't recurr. I'm not old either - I'm 28. I spent my early 20s cycling everywhere, include 5 miles each way to work (I didn't own a car). Then I spent 3 years sitting on my arse working from home. It's depressing how quickly and easily the body gets weak.

Stretch *after* exercise every time. Get good shoes - NOT Nikes. Ask for advice on rec.running - lots of trolls, but lots of clued in people too. Check out Ozzie Gongang's rec.running FAQ.

Well

[blitzoid]

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!

Suggestions

[deman1985]

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.

Drink more water!

[BitchAss]

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.

No easy solution...

[jeeves99]

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!!

Staying In Shape

[tokki]

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.

Bicycle to work

[Fastball]

If at all possible, take up residence a few miles from your place of employment and pedal to work. Thanks to encouragement and tips offered by fellow /.'ers, I regularly enjoy a 1.5 mile ride to and from work on my Bianchi.

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!

Atkins is your friend.

[EvilNight]

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...

Get a Bicycle

[Bilbo]

OK... it's not at work, but it's on the way to and from work.

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.

High Water Intake is a Good Idea

[opti6600]

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.

Re:High Water Intake is a Good Idea

[skryche]

As I understand it, that whole "Everyone is dehydrated"/"drink 8 glasses a day" concept is a myth.

if your urine is clear, you're set.

Yeah, if you have opaque urine, I'd definitely worry.

Re:High Water Intake is a Good Idea

[cornjones]

read something interesting in scientific american a month or so ago. I'll paraphrase:
They tested 108 or so brands of bottled water. 20 some of them were straight tap water. anything that says from a "public source" or "municiple source" is tap water. 18 of them wouldn't pass standards for tap water (they didn't name names) this isn't that surprising considering that bottled waters have to test their water once a week whereas city waters have to test 100 times / mth. The article goes on...

"if it isn't better for you, it must taste better right?" Well, no. in a blind test 45% chose NYC tap water above other brands. poland springs (24%) and evian water (18&) were next.

I've had an apostrophe!!! B) Maybe they have a website: read it for yourself, i'll leave my synopsis.

Keep it simple, stupid.

[Syncdata]

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.

Re:My own recommended tips

[lish2]

The guy from Good Eats is Alton Brown.

Eat less.

[mumblestheclown]

i go to the gym 3 times a week for about an hour. if you claim that you can't, you're a liar.

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.

Dance Dance

[Jim Hall]

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

Running plug

[Patrick Lewis]

I was in pretty much the same boat about 3 years ago. What I wanted was something that 1) would be good for your cardiovascular system and 2) help me lose a little weight. I wasn't so concerned about weightlifting / bodybuilding. I had done some cycling and swimming, (both of which I enjoy), but given limited time, I took up running. Running has the following advantages:

• Pretty low costs. You need a decent pair of running shoes, but other than that you don't need any other equipment.
• Really good workout. You can burn a lot of calories in a pretty short time period.
• Not boring. You can vary routes and terrain to your heart's content.
• Flexibility. Given 45 minutes (total time), you can easily pop in a 30 minute run and a shower and be ready to get on with your life. This is really attractive to me. I can do this in the morning (I need to shower anyways), and it is out of the way. Do this 3 times a week, and it is very unobtrusive (as workout plans go).

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.

Fidget

[digitalhermit]

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.

Join a gym

[LordDartan]

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.

6 months ago I was 50 pounds heavier

[FreeUser]

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.

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 ... 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.

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 ... 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.

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.

Get hungry and learn to love the feeling

[selderrr]

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.

Re:Dance Dance Revolution!

[Anonymous Coward]

Excellent advice! The cheap home pad won't last 4 months, though. :-)

Take the stairs

[RainbowSix]

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?

drink your beer faster

[donkiemaster]

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!!!!!

Here's how, eat and eat often

[Jonavin]

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.

Re:Dance Dance Revolution!

[AtaruMoroboshi]

Excellent advice! The cheap home pad won't last 4 months, though. :-)

I've been lucky, the $20 pad I got has lasted these 5 months.

The left arrow is somewhat uncooperative, but it works well enough that I can ignore it. I play out in arcades now a lot because it's a better environment to play in, you can learn tips from other players and the equiptment is better. So I worry about getting A ranks and what not at the arcade.

The soft pad is slow to recover from hits so I sometimes miss 1/8th notes on fast songs. If you get to the level of skill where this is a problem, you are almost certainly hooked on the game and won't mind buying a nicer pad anyway. ^_^

I must admit being mighty tempted by those $100 Red Octane pads...

Found these products that might be helpful.

[chobee]

These are all exercise bikes that fit under a desk.

http://www.newsearching.com/stationarybikes/Delu xe _Electronic_Exerciser.html
http://footsmart.com/P roducts.aspx?shortsku=30147
http://www.lowellmedi cal.com/IBS/SimpleCat/Product /asp/product-id/49335.html
http://www.newsearchin g.com/strength_training/Chat tanooga_Exerciser.html
http://www.homemedicalstor e.com/exercise.htm#p3

Check out the Hacker's Diet.

[oneiros27]

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.

Grad School!

[Tim]

Since entering grad school, I've dropped more than 30 pounds! It's a miracle! I highly recommend the Grad School Diet!

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.)

No, Atkins is not!

[GuyMannDude]

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

Re:No, Atkins is not!

[finkployd]

That would be a pretty good debunking of Atkins if it actually represented the Atkins diet in any way.

Too many people find it easy to debunk Atkins since everyone assumes it is a no carb diet. It isn't. it is a low "simple carb" diet. Complex carbs are ok too, just in moderation, like anything else. Frankly it is hard to argue that pasta and bread are more healthy than fruit, but most people's diets consist of much more of the former.

Look, I know too many people who have tried lowering their complex carbs and ended up losing weight, becoming more healthy, and even fixing some blood suger problems to take the diet industry's word that it is a scam. Heck it is working for me and I didn't really give up too many of my favorite foods, just cut back on them.

The problem with low-cal, high exercise is that it leaves most people really hungry all the time. Most people do not have the will power to be hungery all the time, let alone exercise during it. Lowering carbs (and hence, suger), while eating as much protine as you want leaves you losing weight while not being hungry all the time.

I've been running a couple miles every other day, and trying to stop eating unhealthy snacks for years. I stopped gaining weight but I also couldn't lose any. Unfortunatly I was also a carb junkie, eating crackers, bread, pasta, etc all the time. Going the atkins route for me started my weight loss AND gave me a ton more energy. Call him a quack all you want, it is working pretty well for me and a lot of other people. It is also MUCH easier to stay on.

Finkployd

Simple tips

[pla]

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).

Re:Access to showers important...

[bmj]

How do you deal with being sweaty all day long at work?

Again, that's a lifestyle choice ;-)

Actually, my current job is the first that I've had access to a shower. At my last gig, it was a relatively flat ride, so I could limit the amount of sweat. If it was really warm, I'd use a few of those new-fangled body wipes and the bathroom sink to make myself acceptable (and that was a business casual environment).

Re:Dance Dance Revolution!

[Anonymous Coward]

I bought one of the $50 Red Octane pads right off the bat, it is very good. You can do a couple things to a cheap pad that will make it work much better, as I have also done to my pad. Go to Office Max and get one of those plastic non-slip chair mats, and somehow tape the pad to it. This will come in very handy when you start playing 7+ songs (my limit right now is a couple 9's and most 8's). Also you can order this pad cover from Red Octane for like 10 or 15 bucks that is more sturdy than the pad's material, which prevents it from bunching up and getting your feet caught. You can easily homebrew something similar out of any kind of semi-rigid plastic sheet. Tape that down, too, so it doesn't slip around.

Guaranteed!!

[Anonymous Coward]

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!

Alcohol calories aren't equivalent.

[mellon]

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*?!?"

Re:Access to showers important...

[rworne]

Not a problem. Wear bike clothes on your way to work.

In the Panniers described earlier in the thread you carry your work clothes, some deodorant and a dampened towel in a large Ziploc bag.

Get to work, hop in the restroom, use a stall as a changing station. Wipe down with the towel & put it back in the bag. Apply deodorant. Change into your work clothes and comb hair.

When you are sitting around and sweating, the sweat is more oily and you will stink. When you sweat from constant physical exertion, the sweat does not tend to stink as much.

Change back into the bike clothes for the trip back.

BTW: Real cyclists don't wear underwear.

Re:Techniques that I use..

[EllF]

A low carbohydrate diet is a good way to wean off excess pound if you are seriously overweight, but it's horrendously unhealthy for the average person. The primary reason you lose weight with such a plan is because you're starving your body -- carbohydrates are a vital source of energy.

Eating large smounts of meat is probably not the best thing you can do, either -- it's more healthful to eat a moderate amount as part of a balanced diet, heavy on fruit, with a good mix of grains, proteins, and greens.

Possible excercise equipment at the office?

[obfuscated]

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

Re:Bullshit

[thebatlab]

I'm aware of what ketosis is. I did some extra research just now to be fully aware of what it is. My understanding was a mixture of ketosis and ketoacidosis. However, I still partially stand by my original comment and would like to rephrase how I stated it. It puts your body in a *virtually perpetual* state of ketosis. This is not good. Ketosis yes. Perpetual no. Your body needs carbs and the problem with Atkins is people take it to the extreme and completely cut out carbs. Dieting and nutrition is a vast field and there is lots of confusion over what works and what doesn't. The vast majority of what I've read says that you need carbs to more efficiently fuel the body though they should be restricted. My understanding of the Atkins diet is that it wants you to limit carbs to virtually nothing.

Re:Dance Dance Revolution!

[DynamiteNeon]

http://www.stepmania.com/stepmania/

You can buy ddr if you want, but this one is open source and lets you get more variety in the music choices. Plus, they include scripts for just about every dance game out there.

You just have to get a pad and hook it up to your computer.

100% wrong - debunking the carb/fat myth

[siskbc]

No offense, but you're way off on the carb stuff..

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.

Re:100% wrong - debunking the carb/fat myth

[occupant4]

I wonder where you got your information from. As another poster has explained, there is logic (and unbiased research) behind the low-carb diet plan. Carbs raise insulin, which controls the storing of fat in your body. The higher the insulin, the more sugar gets stored as fat in your body.

And yes, it matters what kind of carbs you eat - simple sugars go straight to your blood and raise insulin. However, cereal, bread, pasta, etc are NOT complex carbs - they are broken down into simple sugars and go right to your blood stream. If you want good carbs, you'll need to go to vegetables. Even fruits are a kind of high on the glycemic index (although they at least have nutritional value, unlike cereal).

Calorie intake is definitely not the determining factor for your health. I'm sure you wouldn't argue that eating 2000 calories worth of crackers would the same nutritional benefit of eating a balanced 2000 calorie diet. And overall nutrition has a huge effect on your weight. The problem is, what is a balanced diet?

I won't try to answer that anymore than I've alluded to, but instead refer you to this website. That article is a good one, but if you are interested, the whole site has some very good information.

Re:Not being facetious, I promise: EAT LESS

[Gunzour]

I lost about 20 pounds over a year mostly by cutting soda out of my diet. I drink diet soda when I need the caffeine (although that should probably go too) and I drink a lot of water. Water = 0 calories. Soda = 120 calories (or so) per 12 oz. can. That means a 64-ounce super-size soda has 640 calories! Fruit juice is just as bad. Water is best but if you absolutely need something more flavorful try Crystal Light or some other drink with an artificial sweetener.

Re:Here's a hint for you jack...

[mercenaryCoder]

That's a highly argued topic. The answer (speculative) is complicated and involves different muscle fibers coupled with different ways to induce fiber growth. One argument is that lifting heavy weight where no more than 8-12 reps are possible is the fastest and most consistent means to acheive muscle hypertrophy (growth) and strength gains. More muscle means more calories expended and more fat burned.

This might get flamed, but I'll throw it out there anyway. Many folks beleive that toning is mostly a myth [duck]. If you are not increasing weight or reps, then you are not doing much of anything to the muscles. Instead, you are burning calories and losing subcutaneous fat which enhances muscle definition.

Throw in some cardio and you have full body fitness. Getting huge is hard and requires devotion and large caloric intake. Unless you are some kind of genetically predisposed mesomorph.

Re:Use a Ball as a office chair...

[arf_barf]

I think Ikea sells a chair like that, the basic principle behind it is that to keep your balance on the chair you keep your spine/back in constant movement.

Friend of mine has one of those and initially they seem to be very uncomfortable but once you get used to them the back pains will be gone and you will not be as tired at the end of the long day in office.

11 minutes a day, nothing special: 5BX

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Portion control

[pw1972]

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!

Re:Access to showers important...

[Urox]

The smell from sweat is caused by bacterial growth, not the sweat itself. The longer you stay sweaty, the more it is going to smell, regardless of the source. Sweat is merely water and salt: salt to cause your body to sweat (diffusion from a high concentration to low) and the water to use evaporative cooling.

Thank ghod my worksite has showers installed for us bikers.

Re:Let's make a deal

[Choobius Gothicus]

This is wholly unsubstantiated, and mainly applied to individuals already diagnosed with kidney problems. If this were true, we would experience an epidemic of this phenomenon from people such as weightlifters who are recommended to eat 1gm/lb body wgt/day, much more than Atkins recommends.

The numbers don't lie for a proper implementation of the Atkins Diet: higher HDL, lower LDL, reduction of risk/elimination of Diabetes (type II), reduced volatility in blood sugar levels, etc...

A proper implementation != bacon and eggs for breakfast, 1 pound of macadamia nuts for lunch, and large quantities of prime rib and lobster for dinner, with butter and cheese for snacks. Although these foods are welcome, it's all in moderation. Atkins is a well balanced diet (not a fad diet) with an emphasis on severe reduction of carbs. There's a mini-conspiracy brewing with the food industry and their disagreement with this diet. The profit margin for serving hamburgers on enriched flour bread is substantial, and the extra value meal has an even larger profit margin %.

The FDA recommends that individuals ingest approximately 300g of carbohydrates a day. This amount is awful for just about any individual other than one who ingests pasta and whole wheat exclusively, and bikes 25 miles/day. For everyone else, this is simply a recipe for a spare tire (man) or a bubble butt/hips (woman). Obviously, the individual beginning this thread is not a threat of doing significant bike riding daily.

my 2 cents

[thegnu]

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.

Re:Dance Dance Revolution!

[digime]

Pump it up is another PC version (only for Windows). But you can buy the pad and software in a bundle for pretty cheap.

some things

[strombrg]

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.

Thirsty?

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Access to showers important...

[rworne]

And the bacteria feed on the secretions that come out of the sweat glands. Eccrine sweat glands are what cause you to cool off while exercising, Apocrine sweat glands are responsible for the bacteria B.O. fest:

Types of sweat glands

Eccrine sweat glands
The release of sweat from eccrine glands is the body's cooling process. Sweat is produced in a coiled tubule in the dermis and is transported by a sweat duct through the epidermis to be secreted. The entire body surface has 2-3 million eccrine sweat glands and can produce up to 10 L of sweat per day.

Apocrine sweat glands
In humans, apocrine sweat glands serve no known function and are regarded as vestigial glands perhaps useful to our ancestors. They are located mainly in the underarm and genital areas. Like eccrine sweat, apocrine sweat is also produced in coiled tubules in the dermis, but the apocrine duct drains sweat into a hair follicle from which it reaches the skins surface. Contrary to popular belief, the sweat from apocrine glands is odorless. The action of normal skin bacteria on excreted apocrine sweat is responsible for body odor.

Re:5BX seems to work for me

[echucker]

One catch - the plan suggests involvement in one or two sports in addition to 5BX. Can't speak for the rest of slashdotters, but sports definitely aren't my thing.

Re:Let's make a deal

[harrkev]

Humans have lived on a meat only diet for 2.4 million years

This is certainly news. In most primitive cultures, men do the "hunting" (meat), while women do the "gathering" (fruit, vegetables, nuts, etc.). The men get all of the glory -- mostly because an apple tree does not run when you try to pick fruit. However, women contribute most of the total calories.

Also, look in the mirror. You probably do not have huge "fangs," which are characteristics of meat eaters.

I doubt that it would even be possible to live more than a few months on meat alone.

Atkins & Gout (was Re:Get up and walk.)

[RobbieW]

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!)

So how does one gain weight?

[catch23]

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...

Assuming you mean excercising in the office

[pkinetics]

1. Workout early in the morning, even if it is just 15 miutes.
2. Get a healthy breakfast in the morning.
3. Cut down on the caffeine.
4. Smaller lunch.
5. Take walking breaks instead of smoking breaks. Ask a coworker to join you too.
6. Always use the stairs.
7. Healthy snacks instead of vending machine snacks.

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.

Re:The Atkins Shit

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually the worst are the vegetarians. All those beans that simply cannot be properly digested, sprouts, etc. lead to foul-smelling gas you would not believe. I had to live with some and believe me, it is evil. More proof that you need a balanced diet, people.

Re:Access to showers important...

[rworne]

BTW: Real cyclists shave their legs

Ah, spoken like a true Roadie. I ride mountain bikes, and have no need for such aerodynamic folly. (Though shaving helps a lot with the road rash if you dump it).

Re:Cars keep you in shape, too!

[whimmel]

The law was repealed in 2001 and World of Beer now can get just about anything, if he doesn't have it already :-)

Too bad I don't like beer.

My secret is so simple it's hardly ever considered

[Qbertino]

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.
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 :-). I also can get very anoyed at my wife when she thinks I *must* eat because it's dinnertime.
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.

YES, SWIMMING

[x-guru]

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

Drink and move

[triptolemeus]

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.