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

Let's make a deal

[krog]

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.

Re:Let's make a deal

[Anonymous Coward]

You can even fuck my girlfriend sometimes

Uh, that reminds me, I've been meaning to tell ya somethin' dude...

Re:Let's make a deal

[chowdmouse]

Shucks! Beats the hell out of Atkins. Send picture of girlfriend and bike. We'll talk.

Re:Let's make a deal

[Illserve]

He's got a good point. Bike ride to work.

It works for me. Saves me money in car gas and parking and depending on how far you have to go, takes the same amount of time as driving.

Also, you make the earth cleaner, or some crap like that, but who cares. This is about YOU.

Re:Let's make a deal

[TerryAtWork]

This is a great message, however, if you're actually getting laid you have no business on /. , so I'd like to respectfully ask you to leave.

Re:Let's make a deal

[rmadmin]

At the same time, if your married (which I am) and not getting laid, then you shouldn't be married. Then again, when you get married you rarely have sex anymore.. Guess thats why I'm still here. :-)

Re:Let's make a deal

[rbook]

My Dad lost a lot of weight on Adkins ... but it killed his kidneys and that caused congestive heart failure.

Three doctors have told me that staying fat is healthier than doing Adkins.

Re:Let's make a deal

[cdrudge]

Some friendly advice a friend once gave me:
During the first year, put a penny in a jar for everytime you have sex. After the first year, take a penny out everytime. The jar won't ever be empty

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.

Re:Let's make a deal

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Heck,

I know how to "get in shape"...

The shape is "Round".

Re:Let's make a deal

[Choobius Gothicus]

Your facts (as well as mine) can often be speculative and subject to interpretation.

I'm going to get off the ideology of not consuming large quantities of saturated fats momentarily and reflect on one of the more notable long term real life trials that exist today. This example is based from evidence drawn from a sterilized clinical trial, but rather a true to life example of the Masai and other tribes existing for the last 10,000 years (kinda beats any existing trial out there by far). This tribe consistently ate over 300g of fats/day, mostly saturated. The tribesmens' diets consisted of virtually no carbohydrates. In the end, autopsies of these tribal members discovered that the evidence of lipid build-up in the arteries was marginal. In addition, treadmill tests (of live tribesmen of course) resulted in these individuals having comparable or superior performance to Olympic champions.

I invited you to google research performed by Professor George Mann from Vanderbilt University. Although the evidence wasn't aggregated in a labratory as such, it cannot be argued that the duration of this standing test beats out anything the FDA has implemented.

In conclusion, most evidence of kidney failure and such are attibuted to high fat/high carb diets. When carbs are drastically reduced/eliminated, the problem is severly mitigated.

Re:Let's make a deal

[gabec]

Actually on that topic, here's something no one talks about that I'm curious about: I'm in the same situation as the original poster (sit in front of a PC 10 hours a day) but unlike him I'm still under weight. I try to take walks on my lunch break and when I can stand to I'll exercise after work. But I'm pretty wimpy, all things considered.

Anyway, being under weight, I've considered buying some weight-gainer stuff. (I've been ~130lbs since I was 16. I'm 24 now.) But since I sit on my ass for a minimum of 10 hours a day and work out for a twentieth of that time, I figure weight gainer wouldn't help me gain weight *and* stay in shape.

So for those that exercise regularly, what keeps you from saying "aw, fuckit. I'll exercise tomorrow instead."? How do you keep motivated to do it?

And for those that might be in my position, how do you go about healthily gaining weight? What (online?) resources have helped you have a healthy diet that will help you gain weight (slowly or otherwise)?

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.

Re:Let's make a deal

[oOo Shiva oOo]

High protein deits do not represent nutritionally balanced eating and may prove harmful to *some* dieters.

It is true that HDL levels increase and LDL levels decrease, but the foods themselves are very high in cholesterol and saturated fats, which are now established as the major reasons for heart attacks and strokes.

The biggest problem I see with high protein diets, however, is the resulting loss of calcium to your bones which may lead to osteoperosis. Protien overload forces your kidneys to try to eliminate large amounts of urea, which is a by-product of protein metabolism.

Many high protien diets, including Atkins prohibit foods which are known to lower the risks associated with heart disease and cancers.

It is true that for a sedentary person high protein diets will cause you to lose weight. Unfortunately when you go off the diet the weight comes back very rapidly. Almost no working "rapid weight loss" diets are meant to be on indefinately... Just long enough to lower you near your desired weight, then the diet is altered to match proper caloric intake so the individual's weight remains where desired. Even the ever popular calorie-restrictive diets are meant to be on in cycles so you lose the weight at a healthy speed while your body recouperates from the stress you're putting on it. Most any rapid weight loss diet will eventually cause harm by robbing you of nutrients you may need or stressing your body with too many of certain types of food. The human body was built for diversity. (Although there is some research stating certain people process certain types of foods [lipids, protiens, carbs] better than others)

A real diet is more of a life style change, you eat healthier and get proper exercise and eventually the weight will go and the body will remain healthy without having to count every calorie you take in. Altering your lifestyle will cause the weight to stay down.

Now if you're an active individual, however, you need the energy that carbohydrates give you, especially if you compete or plan to compete in something, even at a low level for fun. Your body burns 23 calories for every 100 calories of carbohydrate it digets, but only 3 calories for every 100 fat calories... Carbohydrate is the PREFERRED fuel of the body. There are lots of other reasons to avoid high protien diets, including the fact that they deprive you of the enormous benefits of fiber, which is a form of carbohydrate.

A large part of the weight loss invovled with high protein diets is water weight and lean muscle mass... not fat. You lose water because your kidneys try to rid your body of the excess waste products of protein and fat, called ketones, that the body makes. If you're going to use bodybuilders as an example, bodybuilders may look great but they're generally not super healthy... They're meant to look immaculate for a few short years of their lives and disregard the problems it may cause. Not to say they're less healthy than your average, overweight american or anything. They put tremendous stress on their bodies to do the awesome things they can do and it eventually takes its toll for many of them who don't slow down. People who do suppliment with protein generally only intake 20-60 grams a day or so and watch their diet. These individuals are usually involved with the gym and or activities where their bodies make use of the protien rather than letting it sit there for the body to make a futile attempt to get rid of as you keep cramming more down it.

Unfortuantely, there is little you can do at the workplace without looking like a crackpot unless your employer offers facilities to do so. I would highly suggest lowering or removing completely the alcohol from the diet as it is just empty calories ( I drank more than almost anyone I knew in high school so don't tell me its not possible, I got into personal training and rearranged my life style, my friends all gained 40+ lbs. after highschool and i dropped 20 by simply dropping soda and alcohol from m

Re:Let's make a deal

[PatientZero]

When I moved to San Francisco back in 1995, I was a little overweight (180 vs. 165 target) and in poor shape from no exercise. I compounded the problem by discovering the many fine microbreweries in the City and ballooned to 195.

The first thing I had to do was stop beating myself up for being fat and accept that my body was how it was. I began looking in the mirror and saying, "Hey, that's not me" rather than, "God what a piece of shit." Changing my attitude toward myself allowed me to take the next step.

That next step was finding an activity that I really liked. I love to ski, but I don't get to do it often. But rollerblading is very similar in feel and fun aspect. I began rollerblading after work every night. I wanted to do it for an hour every night, but it was so damn fun I didn't want to stop before two hours.

Six weeks later I had dropped 30 pounds and had very nice, firm calves and legs. And DAMN did my butt look good. I've floated around 170 since then. Sometimes I'm in better shape; sometimes not. But I find that the key is finding activities you enjoy anyway and people to do them with.

I also took a diet/exercise course a little while ago that showed *why* eating healthy helps your body to remain healthy and strong as well as how to exercise effectively. Better to simply eat right than worry about cutting calories.

Fruit, vegetables, whole wheat and grains, dietary fiber, drop enriched/processed/refined foods, etc. Skip the Atkins diet as it's just not necessary, and there's enough evidence that it's not safe.

Re:Let's make a deal

[Dastardly]

So for those that exercise regularly, what keeps you from saying "aw, fuckit. I'll exercise tomorrow instead."? How do you keep motivated to do it?

This is one of those stupid sayings you hear, but the best exercise is the one that you will do. So, the key to exercising regularly is to find something you like doing. I enjoy swimming. I also swam competetively in high scool and college and coached some, so I know how to make good workouts. When I decided I needed to lose weight swimming was the obvious choice. So, find something you like and do that.

If you are looking for muscle gain, you may want to get the gym membership and a trainer. They can help with 2 things.

1) Diet. Get the calorie count, and food mix right so you can build the muscle as needed without putting on fat.

2) Teach you how to exercise correctly. Avoid over training and injuries.

Dastardly

Re:Let's make a deal

[slaker]

So what the hell do you do when there's absolutely nothing you like to do?

You're approaching the issue from the standpoint of someone who found something that resembles an acceptable way to spend time while working out.

To me, lifelong overweight guy, there is no "exercise I will do", that I know of. I've biked. I've walked. I've jogged. I've done freeweights and machines at gyms. I've done swimming and dancing and aerobics and every other goddamn thing someone could drag me to. To me, all exercise seems like punishment. I've never found a way to shake that attitude. You can imagine the success I've had with workout routines of any sort.

I know I'm an extreme example, but a lot of other overweight geeks are in the same boat.

Don't just say "Do the thing you will do." If there was a thing I would do, I'd be doing it and there wouldn't be an issue.

Re:Let's make a deal

[znaps]

This guy (and any other who asks for advice on how to stay in shape) won't bike ride to work, because he's looking for an easy solution.

There isn't one. Excercise (outside the office of course, you'll never get in shape running up and down the stairs once a day), or change your diet, or both. It's a simple choice - do it or don't do it. Not having time is not an excuse. Make time.

Re:Let's make a deal

[Hast]

Well, as an AC commented it seems you suffer not only from lack of fun training but from depression. And considering your situation it's understandable.

The best way I've found to get out of depressions is to try radically different things. The more you are doing the same things as always the more time you have to consider your current situation, and that is really something you want to avoid. Not because there are no reasons to feel sorry for yourself, but because it's not really going to change anything.

Now if you want to get into better shape it could be a good idea to combine the change with training. Look up stuff that you can do on your way from work. Try them out in periods of weeks or so before moving on to the next (if you don't find a thing you particularly like). Personally I really like martial arts, because you get both a typically well rounded training and you get to know a couple of people quite well (since with martial arts clubs you typically train with the same people each time). Different clubs can have very different moods, try to find one which is right for you. It's more important that you like the people you train with than that the actual system of MA if you want to train regularly.

Now I know that it's often quite hard to get yourself to "get to training" each time. The most important bit here is to make sure you do it regularly, if you start skipping it's harder to go the next time.

If training doesn't do it for you try to find something else which can catch your attention. You might want to look up on chess clubs, help out with some "community service" (eg I have a friend who helps children at a local school with homework), take a photo course take evening classes in ancient history or a new language. You could try visiting a library in the area, I bet you can find out about more things going on in your area there.

To get out of your local area you could plan a trip in the country (to go to a place you've thought of or visit a friend/your parents/relatives but make sure the trip is part of the goal) or go on a trip abroad.

Changing yourself and change in general is really, really hard work though. And in all honesty I try to avoid it as much as possible. But in all the situation where I have forced myself to do things I wanted to avoid good things have come out of it. In some cases what you force yourself to do isn't the best thing you get out of it. The change of enviroment or the fact that you did it might be sufficient for fueling a new change.

And as someone else pointed out, if you are in a really bad place then try to get help from a counselor. Just getting to talk to someone else who will try to help you out could be a big change in your situation. And I assume that the advice for looking excercises goes here too, you might not hit off with your counselor and you may need to try a few. I don't have any personal experience with that (yet) so I can't give any real advice unfortunately.

I bet you have considered a lot of this before, and I may not be saying anthing new at all. The most obvious and important thing to realize (as I see it) is that nothing is likely to change on it's own. If you are not satisfied with your situation it needs to be changed. And the only one who will do that is you. Trying to do the same things you have always done and "just get by" won't change things. If nothing else try to think of something you can do which will make the people who know you say "I would never think he'd do something like that" and do it.

Re:Let's make a deal

[oOo Shiva oOo]

Whoa, cowboy. Last I heard, the "conventional wisdom" has been that eating cholesterol and saturated fats raise your LDL, and that causes heart attacks and strokes. Now that studies are debunking that idea--and showing that dietary cholesterol does not equate to serum cholesterol--you're trying to skip straight from sat fats to strokes?

Plant-based proteins, like those found in soy, lowers LDL cholesterol and raises HDL (good) cholesterol. This prevents the buildup of arterial plaque which leads to hardening of the arteries and heart disease, thus reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke. The amount and type of protein in your diet also has an important impact on calcium absorption and excretion. Vegetable-protein diets enhance calcium retention in the body. This reduces the risk of osteoporosis and kidney problems. Interestingly, kidney disease is far less common in people who eat a vegetable-based diet than it is in people who eat an animal-based diet. By replacing animal protein with vegetable protein and replacing saturated fat with unsaturated fat, like that found in olive and canola oils, you can avoid the pitfalls of the typical high-protein diet.

However, this type of protein and fat combination is not the healthiest. Animal proteins are loaded with cholesterol and saturated fat. Many people on these diets also experience an elevation in their LDL (bad) cholesterol when they remain on the diet for long periods. High levels of LDL cholesterol in the blood clog arteries and is the chief culprit in heart disease, particularly heart attack and stroke. So while you may lose weight in the short run, you are putting your cardiovascular health in jeopardy in the long run.

Another reason weight loss is achieved on these high-protein diets, at least temporarily, is actually due to water loss. The increase in the amount of protein consumed, especially from meat and dairy products, raises the levels of uric acid and urea in the blood. These are toxic by-products of protein breakdown and metabolism. The body eliminates this uric acid and urea by pumping lots of water into the kidneys and urinary tract to help it flush out. However, a detrimental side effect of this diuretic response is the loss of essential minerals from the body, including calcium. The high intake of protein leaches calcium from the bones, which leads to osteoporosis.

The Atkins diet increases HDL, which protects against heart disease. My HDL's 65, what's yours?

Couldn't tell you. Never taken a test, myself. I can tell you my body fat has been cosisntantly 7-8% for the last 6 months though :) I'm a very active individual and I hit up the gym between 2-6 hours a day depending on the day and my schedule with only 2 days off a week. Its likely my HDL level is very comfortable :) Thanks for the concern, though :)

Read Atkins' book. Atkins dieters eat plenty of fiber, vegetables, and some fruits (I'm a raspberry fan myself). The donuts, white-flour bagels, and sugar bombs that are "prohibited" are not exactly health food, y'know

How about healthy cereals? Like Fiber One, 100% Bran, All-Bran, Raisin Bran etc? How about Rices, Wheat bread? I'm not super familiar with the vegetables and legumes allowed but i'm not sure if lentils and peas and lima, kidney, and baked beans would be allowed, or even refried beans. Broccoli ( which has thousands of health benefits along with spinach ) carrots, corn, lettuce... all that stuff... Over 65 million americans each year have digestive problems due to lack of proper fiber intake. I'm not saying its impossible to get proper fiber intake through the Atkins diet... just unlikely.

You're not supposed to go off the diet and start eating a bunch of sugar and flour again. You're supposed to add in moderate quantities of high-quality carbohydrate to find a maintenance level that you can sustain indefinitely. If you just drop Atkins and start in on the Cap'n Crunch, of course t

Secret to losing weight...

[PantyChewer]

Eat less, Shit more

Re:Secret to losing weight...

[gosand]

Eat less, Shit more

Simply removing a comma and a word gives more advice too...

Eat less shit

Re:Secret to losing weight...

[pizen]

Eat less, Shit more

It worked for Karen Carpenter.

If only Mama Cass had shared her ham sandwich they'd both be alive.

Eh?

[MisterFancypants]

Your also started to get a little belly and out of shape

I have? I haven't noticed. Do these pants make my ass look big?

Re:Eh?

[The Turd Report]

Do these pants make my ass look big?

No, the fat in your ass makes it look big. ;) (C'mon, hasn't every guy wanted to say that to his GF when she asks that question?)

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.

[Jucius Maximus]

"Contrary to all the paid ads on tv... just burning calories will take weight off. "

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. Actual fat is more or less just passing through and makes it into the toilet with your centrum multivitamin.

Cutting back on the carbohydrates and stepping up on the exercise is really what makes the difference.

Now, would anyone with a better understanding of dietary values care to correct me?

Re:Get up and walk.

[TopShelf]

I worked with a technical manager who did just that - for lunch, he'd walk about a mile to Subway, do the Jared thing, then walk back. Over the course of a year, he probably dropped 100 pounds. It was amazing to see.

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.

[crazyphilman]

I'm not going to argue the point, because you have a good one, but I'll add a warning:

If you're one of the 800 out of 100,000 people who are susceptible to gout, you'd better stick to a high-carb, low-protein diet or you'll be in a world of hurt in no time. I went on Atkins and lost thirty pounds. So far, so good, right? But, one morning I woke in agony. The high protein brought on a horrible attack of gout, which is a form of arthritis affecting the large joints of the foot, and often comes on overnight with very little warning. I felt like someone was driving red hot spikes through my big toe's largest joint, and within a few days I couldn't even walk. It's about a week and a half later, and I'm hobbling around, yoda-style with a wooden cane, but at least the pain has gone way down (I'm a vegetarian now, and I'm drinking huge amounts of water, cranberry juice, and cherry juice, which seems to be helping).

GOUT. And, I'm only 32!!!

Anyway, you won't know you're susceptible until you have an attack, and if you have an attack, you'll wish you were dead for at least a week or two. It's really, really horrible. The pain is really intense.

Re:Get up and walk.

[bill_mcgonigle]

This stuff gets absorbed by your body and makes you fat. Actual fat is more or less just passing through and makes it into the toilet with your centrum multivitamin.

Wha? No it doesn't. Don't kids have to take physiology in high school anymore?

There are certain classes of fats that can pass through your intestines undigested - that's what Olestra is all about. It causes gas pains, 'staining' and 'seepage'. That means it leaks out your ass. I seem to recall eating a bushel of peaches might have a similar effect because of a fat they contain.

Anyway, most fats are broken down, just like carbohydrates and proteins. You figure 9 kcal/gram of fat and 6 for carbs and protein, IIRC. It takes energy and enzymes to break down the stuff, until you get it into basic fatty acids, amino acids, and glucoses that your body can use to build what it actually needs (there's even a neat fructose to glucose step, 5 to 6 carbon if memory serves).

If you eat too much simple sugar you'll mess with your insulin response and if you eat too much protein you'll put a strain on your kidneys, and if you eat too much fat you'll clog your arteries.

How 'bout this?: Eat a balanced diet of foods that are good for you. I know, heresy.

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.

[schmink182]

"...stay off the carbs and exercise."

Got it. No more carbs or exercise for me. Thanks a bunch!

Re:Get up and walk.

[jgardn]

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.

Let's talk about what happens when you eat carbs vs. when you eat fat.

Let's pretend you eat a pound of butter for lunch. Your body, which is not digesting fat, but rather accumulating fat (you are getting fatter, right?) will simple expel the butter. It can't store it.

Let's pretent you eat a pound of sugar for lunch. Your body will absorb the sugar into the blood stream after breaking it down. Your cells will take what they need -- but they are probably already pretty well off, and your body won't need as much sugar as you put into your system. So your body releases insulin to have the fat cells absorb and store the sugar as fat. (Incidentally, you have likely gained a resistance to insulin, so your body probably releases too much, and having too much insulin without any sugar leads to hunger.)

The idea of limiting carbs is to switch your body from carb-burning mode to fat-burning mode. When you start burning fat, you stop gaining fat. Why store fat when there are no excess carbs to store?

So that pound of butter you ate for lunch is partially burned, but mostly crapped out. And that pound of sugar? You won't be eating much sugar anymore.

Once you get over the initial two days of limited carbs, your body's insulin will be pretty low or maybe close to nil. Your constant hunger will disappear, as long as you don't overdo the carbs again. And you will be able to eat a couple of slices of cheese and hold off on food until dinner.

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")

Re:Get up and walk.

[Spanky Lovesalot]

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.

Actually, no ... there's a lot more to it than that. There is insulin, and how the levels affect the way your body handles storage of fat and use of calories. There are also hormones, which can be affected by the types and amount of food you eat, such as leptin.

You can read more than you ever wanted to know in this article by John Berardi.

Like he says, it's never as simple as people would like to believe it is.

Re:Get up and walk.

[Dastardly]

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.

Let me suggest a different rationale. Have you ever looked at how many calories there are in various meats vs pasta/bread?

The most fatty highest calorie meat has between 80-90 calories per oz. Leaner meats fish and chicken are between 50-60 calories/oz. Most beef and lamb is in the 60-70 calorie/oz range.

Next look at a box of pasta... ~100 calories/oz (uncooked). Look at bread ~100 calories/slice. Look at other high carb foods (chips, pretzels). They tend to be in the 100 calories/oz range.

So, if you eat 16oz of lean meat you might get around 1000 calories at most. You eat 16oz(dry) of cooked pasta and end up at 1600 calories.

My hypothesis is that it is just easier to maintain calorie restrictions on a high protein diet because it harder to stuff the extra calories in your stomach. I think most diets and weight loss books are really about how to make eating less than you burn easier. For example:

1) Eating high protein makes it easier to eat fewer calories.
2) Eating breakfast every day give your metabolism a little noost early in the day, so you burn a few extra calories each day.
3) Drinking a lot of water can make you feel fuller, making it easier to eat less.
4) Eating 6 small meals each day prevents hunger pangs preventing binging, and helping maintain low calorie eating.
5) Eating give your metabolilsm a little boost, os more smaller meals gives youa bunch of littel boosts to help burn more calories.
5) Exercising increases daily calorie burn.

Really take a look at the little tricks you hear about dieting and they are pretty much all about helping people increase the calorie deficit with less pain.

This advice comes from some one who has lost 20 lbs in 12 weeks through exercise and 1600(initially)-1800(now) calories per day by just changing how much I eat, not what I eat.

Dastardly

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.

Re:I go to the gym during lunch...

[JThaddeus]

Amen! If there is no gym close by, get up early and work out in the morning. Get some dumbbells and do a 15 minute routine. Mix this up with mornings of situps and pushups. Follow that with a jog. Work up to 2-3 miles a day. No records here--take it easy. In the Army they call it the airborne shuffle: 8.5-9 minute miles. Even us older guys can handle that. If you don't like running or think winters are too cold, buy a Nordic Track. They take some getting used to but are great! At a modest pace, twenty minutes on one burns 200+ calories. You can even read while you do it. And don't forget to stretch before and after a workout.

Make up the lost time by cutting back on evening TV and eating lunch at your desk. Supermarket salad bars provide quick, easy, healthly lunches.

Above all, don't go thinking you're too valuable or too busy to take some time away from your desk. The first week or so will be hard but you'll end up being fresher and brighther for staying in shape.

Re:I go to the gym during lunch...

[EastCoastSurfer]

Going to the gym during lunch is great advice. You can get in an effective weight/cardio workout in 45 minutes by lifting weights with less time between sets. Currently I'm doing a 4 days/week split weight plan, then jog on Wed(if I need to kill some energy) and one of the days of the weekend.

Re:I go to the gym during lunch...

[MagPulse]

Do you shower and bring a change of clothes afterwards? I couldn't go back to work in the afternoon after being in a gym for 45 minutes.

I also couldn't spend the time to take two showers a day and do laundry twice as often, so I always exercise first thing in the morning. Then I walk the dog in the early afternoon. Some day when I work at a large company again I'll go back to walking around the building or park if they have one after lunch.

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!

[Zirnike]

""in shape" (or so to speak)"

I'm in shape. Round is a shape.

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.

Re:drink water!

[tomhudson]

Switch to Light beer (Ugh).

Why not just slit your wrists and be done with it?

Seriously, you can't get around the laws of thermodynamics. If you're putting on the pounds, it's because there's more energy going in than going out.

That's why I invented the Chocolate Chip diet. Bought 4-5 bags of Chunky Chololate Chip cookies twice a week, me and my dog would just sit there and eat 1, 2, sometimes three bags at a sitting.

So, how does this make you lose weight? Remember how your parents would tell you not to eat junk because it would spoil your supper? It works. Eating healthy still leaves you craving for a junk-food fix. Eating junk fills you up. After several months of this, not only did I not want to see another chocolate chip cookie, but I had also lost about 20 pounds. At that point, it was a pleasure to start eating regular-type meals, and the weight has stayed off (been about 2 years now, and I've gotten rid of another 30 pounds w/o dieting).Problem now is that I don't seem to be able to put any weight back on (metabolism sped up as a consequence of being lighter).

And, yes, you can have beer.

The only exercise I get is walking my dogs. Mind you, I bring them to the office, so when I get jammed on code, I can take a hike :-)

Eat a big breakfast, a small lunch, and junk out at night to take care of the cravings and you should be okay.

Re:drink water!

[Urox]

diet soda is bad. Please see previous slashdot discussions as to why.

Summary: nutrasweet eats holes in your head. It can cause you to become sensitive to it and get severe debilitating migranes as well. I have direct experience as well as many other people I know.

I had to quit the nutrasweet because of how it was messing up my body (used to drink lots and lots of diet soda) and now only drink one can of regular soda a day if I have a soda craving.

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

[TwistedGreen]

Exactly.

And I find that, once you are in better shape, you tend to eat better. When I took up jogging and was running several miles per day, I could no longer stomach the less healthy foods I used to eat... I couldn't stand overly buttered popcorn, and candy just wasn't too appealing to me. I would rather eat vegetables or yogourts instead.

In my experience, you can't really have exercise without a healthy diet.

Re:run

[mausmalone]

there is no secret to losing weight.

Well, there are a few secrets... but most have to do with learning to get into good habits. I think if you don't work out now, the prospect of running 70 miles a week is daunting enough to scare you away, so don't think you have to approach this thing immediately.

First, cut out all soda (pop). Like another poster said, the sugar accumulates. I was in a similar dilema, cut out the soda, and I was down 10 pounds inside of a month without much exercise at all.

Eat healthier. With every meal, you must have a vegetable. They are low-calorie, fill you up (so you eat less else), and they're good for your digestive system.

Eat less. A simple rule, but hard to follow. Cut back on snacking first, then cut back on portions. No matter how well you're eating, seconds are out of the question.

Avoid starches. Starches tend to trap fat and sugars in your stomach and prevent them from being properly digested. As such, you have to eat more to get the energy you need to keep going, and the extra gets converted to fat later. Basically, less breads, less potatoes, will do you good. Remember: beer is liquid bread.

Any activity is better than no activity. If you're unhealthy, it can be hard to exercise because you don't have the stamina, and you probably have a lot more weight to move around. But still, if you get out every day and do some walking, you'll lose weight much more effectively. Also, DDR is a great solution for those of us addicted to video games. It may not be all that amazing of a workout (by workout standards) but remember that every little bit of exercise helps.

Stick with it. Even if you don't meet your weight-loss goals, don't give up. Re-adjust your goals and keep trying. Gradually, you will get used to the smaller portions and exercise, which will make it easier to push yourself harder. Remember that you're not trying to lose a few pounds for a date or something... you're making a slow transition to a healthier lifestyle.

That being said, I'm no weight loss guru... I'm a web-page designer. I sit on my bum all day typing, and I don't wanna be a gigantic fat-ass. I used to be about 300 lbs., but using the above methods, I've worked myself down to 250 in about 6 months. It's not a radical change, but it's been slow, steady progress. My situation was a lot like yours is. There are no secrets to weight loss, but there are some tricks you can use to make it a little easier. The secret isn't that you have to take in less calories, the secret is learning to do that every day.

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.

Make your body Open Source!

[Lieutenant_Dan]

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.

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!

Re:Well

[mrpuffypants]

A simple thing you could do is go for a quick job during your lunch break.

The only job that I could do during my lunch break would be whoring myself out. Actually, that might burn quite a few calories, plus make you some $$ on the side. Good idea!

Re:Well

[Bigby]

quick job during your lunch break

I hope this is a typo. Otherwise, I think I'll pass ...

5BX seems to work for me

[phoneboy]

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

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.

How about absolutley no work

[indole]

Says he:

Personally, I sit at a computer desk for 10 hours a day with very little actual work.

I'll second that.
(although clicking refresh to constantly reload slashdot feels workish.)

My solution won't work for most of you, but...

[_Sambo]

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.

Re:My solution won't work for most of you, but...

[ctr2sprt]

Yes, for that svelte, thin you, I recommend vodka and heroin.

While not a complete solution

[Strange Ranger]

Fidgeting burns calories.

It has definitely made a difference for me.

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.

My own recommended tips

[Dark Paladin]

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.

Re:My own recommended tips

[lish2]

The guy from Good Eats is Alton Brown.

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!

Finally!

[WndrBr3d]

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~

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...

Not being facetious, I promise: EAT LESS

[yndrd]

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.

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.

Some tips

[BoneFlower]

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?

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.

My exercise routine

[PeteyG]

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!

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

[autechre]

Most places in the U.S., you're perfectly fine drinking water from the tap. I heard ("conventional wisdom") that spring water loses any befirts after having been out of the ground for 2 hours. I haven't researched this, but it doesn't taste any different than good tap water to me.

I bring a plastic cup to work and refill it from the water fountain. Much cheaper*, and has the added benefit of making you GET UP every so often.

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. Also, don't spend all day drinking it or 1) you'll go broke, and 2) food will seem to pass straight through you without slowing down.

High water intake, OTOH, is a very good idea, and most people don't drink nearly enough. It's something like 2 quarts per day for an adult. May sound strange, but if your urine is clear, you're set.

* For those who haven't read YMOYL, it has the sensible notion of a "real hourly wage". Deduct the money you spend on work clothes, eating lunch out, transportation, everything, from your salary. See what you're really earning.

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.

Re:High Water Intake is a Good Idea

[asr_man]

Other claims discredited by scientific evidence that Valtin discusses include:

* Thirst Is Too Late.

It is often stated that by the time people are thirsty, they are already dehydrated. On the contrary, thirst begins when the concentration of blood (an accurate indicator of our state of hydration) has risen by less than two percent, whereas most experts would define dehydration as beginning when that concentration has risen by at least five percent.

* Dark Urine Means Dehydration.

At normal urinary volume and color, the concentration of the blood is within the normal range and nowhere near the values that are seen in meaningful dehydration. Therefore, the warning that dark urine reflects dehydration is alarmist and false in most instances.

To/From Office

[seawall]

I once saw a button along the lines of:

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.

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.

Use a Ball as a office chair...

[Gori]

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.

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.

exercizing for dummies....

[Rooked_One]

ok.. I know where you are coming from. You are a computer "nerd" and you don't get out a lot. Well - thats one thing you HAVE to change if you want to turn that keg into a six pack. It won't happen by doing crunches at your desk... you need to do some serious physical activity. Most doctors will tell you that to maintain a health life, you need to take at least 10,000 steps a day. I'm sure if you have a beer belly you are not even reaching into the thousands.

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? :)

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.

Wait wait... beer?

[cryptor3]

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?

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?

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

Get out of the office

[-tji]

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.

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.

Try Monkeys in your Pants

[krinje]

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...

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.

Masturbation's the key!

[GillBates0]

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.

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!

caffeine v. sugar

[MORTAR_COMBAT!]

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?

what works for me

[pizza_milkshake]

• 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 week

Just be sure you have...

[djeaux]

... burst resistant balls!

"Burst Resistant ... balls are strongly recommended in all environments as staples or other sharp items may unexpectedly pierce your..." Oh, nevermind...

Simple enough...

[Dragoon412]

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!

I use the Microsoft method

[geekoid]

..redefine what 'in shape' means.

Dance Dance Revolution!

[AtaruMoroboshi]

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/

.

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...

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.

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.

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:Get hungry and learn to love the feeling

[EZmagz]

I was going to mod you down, but couldn't help myself...

podBiking? Get real, my friend. If you're dumb enough to go biking on public roads for 2 hours a day listening to your iPod, don't be surprised when someone like me accidentally swipes you off the road in my '84 Cutlass hoopty. Honestly. There's absolutely no place for people to be biking while listening to music. Nada. Since /.'ers seem to love analogies, podBiking would be the close equivalent of being on a motorcycle while listening to music at full blast and talking on a cell phone. Dangerous, stupid, and setting yourself up for failure.

And just because you don't like mountain bikes, doesn't mean they're for "sissies". I mountain bike on singletrack TRAILS, where mountain bikes are SUPPOSED to be ridden, and it's great and at least as exhausting as road biking. Trust me. I've done both for a looong time.

However, your point about not stuffing yourself is a good one. There's a world of difference between eating and being content, and eating and being stuffed. Hence why more frequent smaller meals are better for you than 3 pig-fest buffets. The diabetic diet works for a reason.

Re:Get hungry and learn to love the feeling

[Jon Abbott]

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 !".

Totally agreed. "Eliminate desire" is my mantra -- it works really well on many levels.

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.

You can always get a good mountain bike with Specialized Nimbus tires -- they are narrow and similar to a road-bike on the regular contact patch, but grippy on the edges. It makes a mountain bike much faster, without completely sacrificing handling in dirt.

Buy a Wok

[corebreech]

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.

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.

The key is moderation.

[RoadWarriorX]

I lost some weight just by moderating my intake. You do not believe me? Try this:

1. If you drink coffee or tea with sugar in it, stop using sugar. Use Sweet n' Low or better yet Splenda. The sugar adds too much carbs to you diet. Soft drinks are ten times worse. Drink water , as least 5 glasses a day. If you must drink something else, drink diet soda or bring your own juices.
2. Stop going the death-trap, fast-food places and wolfing down two or three McGriddles. If you going to eat, go out to a good, sit-down place, eat slower and take your time. You can moderate your diet better that way.
3. Eat more fresh green veggies. You can as much veggies as you desire without much adverse effects. A good salad with a small portion of steak works well.

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.

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

The really obvious solution

[Angst Badger]

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.

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.

Some tips...

[jbrayton]

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:

• Eat two or three meals a day. If you eat a third meal, make one meal just salad and water. NO food or drinks (except water) in between meals. No desserts.
• Do drink lots of water.
• Run or walk three miles per day. [I don't do this religiously anymore, but I did for a few years.] For the sake of losing weight or burning calories, I don't think it really makes a difference whether you walk or you run. Just do it. If weather does not permit, walk in a mall.
• As far as *what* you eat, the only foods I would completely cut out are: french fries, doughnuts, and soda. Especially the soda! Cutting out beer might not be a bad idea either.
• Try to eat your afternoon/evening meal as early as possible. Just before bed is the worst time.
• Weigh yourself everyday. The psychological effect of seeing your weight and its fluctuation does help to motivate.
• When faced with a decision between a stairs/elevator/escalator decision, choose the stairs. If forced to use an escalator, always walk even as the escalator is moving.
• When driving a short distance (under a mile or two), consider whether walking is feasible.
• When parking a car, don't obsess over getting the closest parking spot. The time you save in walking the shorter distance might be gained by the time saved in finding the spot, and you get the added benefit of a longer walk (and saved gasoline!).

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!]

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.)

So you're lazy like me? Tried the SimCycle?

[henryweimd]

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.)

No secrets, no magic

[ThousandStars]

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.

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).

"little" belly?

[JudgeFurious]

I don't know about the rest of you but if I don't do something soon I'm going to go "Marlon Brando".

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).

Recent news. Re:My own recommended tips

[saitoh]

> 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.

Rebuttal to the Atkin's diet

[Fastball]

I'll begin by noting that I'm a bread lover. Rolls, loaves, biscuits. All of them. You can put me on the Atkin's diet when you pry the Italian sweet loaf from my cold, dead fingers.

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.

Is this a joke?

[euxneks]

Asking the slashdot readers how to get in shape?

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:Alcohol calories aren't equivalent.

[logpoacher]

>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*?!?"

:-) Yeah, but it depends if you like and respect what you do.

Some (not all!) of my happy memories are of times when a group of us put serious effort in at work and achieved something nobody thought we could do. And some of my regrets are of times when work became "just a job", and we failed to achieve much because there was no spirit.

Carbs

[boarder]

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.

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

Medical input

[The Tyro]

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).

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.

Martial Arts

[autechre]

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.

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 :) 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...)

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: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.

Quit drinking beer ?

[pb9494]

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 !

Don't ask Slashdot...

[Fapestniegd]

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.

The other 14 hours...

[greygent]

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.

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.

easy 20 lbs. with no exercising

[glazik]

just cut off your leg.

Re:Not true.

[autechre]

Oh, look! A Google search for "YMOYL" turns up the book I was mentioning, first hit. Oh, the agony of my strenuous effort! Would you like me to try a Google search for "AC get stuffed" next?

I feel better when I have more water. I drink more than most people, and I rarely get sick. Are these necessarily related? No, but I don't see any health problems from drinking a good amount of water, so I'll continue to do it. I'm not talking about an uncomfortable amount, just more than most people.

("megadosing" vitamins, OTOH, has measurable detriments, or in the case of water-soluble vitamins, is just useless.)

As for bottled water, you should be able to tell by tasting your tap water whether you really need it or not. Some tap water is just bad; don't drink it. My tap water is good, so more $$ for me. Something has to make up for everything closing at 10pm.

Re:It's a myth

[DjMd]

"caffeine free"

YOU MONSTER!
Oh the humanity!

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.

Oh, and also:

[Andy Dodd]

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.

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.

Look into weightlifting

[deleveld]

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

Re:Not true.

[OldCrasher]

I think your wrong on both counts:
1) being clean
Seems that most true spring water is full of microbial and bacterial life that is generally excused from water purity laws that would have tap water turned off immediately.
2) containing nutritious minerals
Heavy metals, dissolved radioactive gases and other such nutritious minerals may be good for you but leave a nasty taste in my mouth.

Don't excercise at the office

[Fjord]

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.

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

Re:Do your own research...

[tolan-b]

you should re-read what he wrote. he was pointing out how you can determine how much water the body loses in a day. it's typically 2-2.5 litres a day for an adult. you need to replace that much water daily, but a lot of the water you need comes from food, including things that you might expect to have very low water content, like bread.

Re:Access to showers important...

[dthable]

Bicycling magazine did this article on riding to work. After reading the article, I was able to adjust my habits to accomidate biking to work in the morning.

I'm still working on pushing towards showers at work, but baby wipes seem to work just fine.

Less beer, more liquor

[Axiom_1]

Beer has a lot of calories. Seriously - check your nutritional information labels.

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...

no way!

[lingqi]

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)

Re:no way!

[SeanAhern]

You're off by a power of 10.

$500 in pennies = 50,000 pennies.
Divide by 365.25 ~= 137 times per day.

Still, I'm surprised he survived, too! :-)

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:It's a myth

[LaForce]

Caffeine free..... You mean free as in beer?

Bike before work

[beej]

If you don't like getting into the office all sweaty--God, I don't--then bike before work. Get up half an hour earlier and hit the local road. Take a new route each day for variety.

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?

1. You barely have to do anything to be ready to go biking. Just pee, get your clothes on, fill your water bottle, check your tires, put on your helmet, et voila. Five minutes prep, tops.
2. You know you're going to get to feel smug all day long since you've already done your exercising for the day. Even if you feel like crap now, you know you will feel better once you get on and pedal. And you know it will be worth it later.
3. The alarm goes off. Visualize that you're trying to pry yourself off the surface of Jupiter (smartasses: prove to me Jupiter has no solid surface, then we'll talk.) Now see how much easier it was on Earth?
4. If none of this works, say to yourself, "Get up, Trinity...Get...up!"

Seriously, though, it is worth it once you hit the road. Find what gets you out of bed that much earlier, and do it.

exercise

[iii_rjm]

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

Work sucks for staying in shape.

[piznut]

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.

Cars keep you in shape, too!

[BigBlockMopar]

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.

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.

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!)

The Atkins Shit

[nick_davison]

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.

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.

Losing weight

[Merdalors]

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.

The hot piss diet explained

[Deusy]

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.

Move to China

[Bryan Ischo]

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 ...

Re:Access to showers important...

[stinky wizzleteats]

Every time you share on a P2P network, God kills a kitten.
Please think of the kittens.

Holy shit! We can break the copyright cartel and the cat overpopulation problem in one fell swoop! Sign me up!

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).

"Buck" for a promotion

[sharkey]

It's exercise that'll tone your neck, with a high-protein diet.

Re:Access to showers important...

[MCRocker]

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

I had a really sweet (not sweat;) deal when I worked at Micron Technology in Boise ID. The busses there have bike racks on them and I lived on a hill. All I had to do was hop on the bike, roll down the hill and pop the bike on the rack on the bus. Then I enjoyed a nice leisurely ride to work while reading my magazine. With this setup, I could wear normal clothes in the morning and not need to have a shower when I got to work. Then, I could change into the cycling clothes I had in the paniers and put my work clothes back in the paniers for the 12 mile ride home. Heck, I could even do a little grocery shopping on the trip home if I had to.

Some people seemed to think that this would take a lot of time, but the bike commute was 45 minutes and driving took 30 minutes with all of the traffic, so I got 45 minutes of exercise, plus 30 minutes of reading, avoided the hassle of driving and it only cost me 15 minutes a day!

Unfortunately, I now live in New Jersey where it's not even safe to drive a car, let alone a bike, the roads are in horrible shape and I work from home, so there's no commute. Ah well, good things never last.

Aikido

[ralphbecket]

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.

Re:Access to showers important...

[BiggerIsBetter]

BTW: Real cyclists don't wear underwear.

BTW: Real cyclists shave their legs.

Hmmm. Are real cyclists women?

Just wait awhile...

[xeo_at_thermopylae]

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.

Difference between overweight and skinny people

[Linuxathome]

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).

Amen

[spoco2]

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.

Smoking?

[mrselfdestrukt]

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

Don't just lose wait -- gain muscle

[PGillingwater]

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.

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.