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Staying In Shape vs. a Busy IT Job Schedule?
tnok85 writes "I started a new job ~7 months ago at a very large company working a 12-hour night shift (7PM-7AM) in a fairly high volume NOC. Our responsibilities extend during the night to basically cover everything but the most complex situations regarding UNIX/Windows/Linux/App administration, at which point we'll reach out to the on-calls. I live 1.5 hours away as well, so it turns into 4-5 15 hour days a week of sitting still — throw in almost an hour to get ready to leave, and a bit of time after I get home to unwind and I'm out of time to work out. Unfortunately I'm pretty sure I have a very slow metabolism, ever since I was a pre-teen I would gain weight fairly quickly if I didn't actively work out, regardless of how much or what I eat. (Barring starving myself, I suppose...) So, how does somebody who works a minimum of 60 hours over 4 days, often adding another 12 another day, and sometimes working 7-10 days straight like this, stay in shape? I can't hold a workout schedule, (which every person I've talked to in my history says is necessary to stay in shape) and I can't 'wake up early' or 'work out before bed' because I need sleep. Any thoughts/opinions/suggestions?"
http://www.crossfit.com/ - works very well and can be done almost anywhere with little or no equipment.
Seriously, walk around. Get up, and stretch. Take a walk at lunch. Take the long way through the halls. Eat properly - high fiber, high protein. Sneak into a side room and do wall pushups. Use your imagination - imagination and intelligence is what makes geeks awesome. Use your gifts.
regardless of how much or what I eat
Thats bullshit. Yer doin it wrong. There is nothing magical about the metabolic process. More calories will add more weight if you don't burn them.
I've been in your situation and there are only two possible solutions:
-get a new job
-move closer to your existing job.
If you are looking for some basic things the 100 pushups, 200 squats, and 200 situps work pretty well and do not require much. Even a bike trainer to use while watching tv de-stressing at home would be great. Outside of that you will need to fight for some of your life back. Get time from your boss, make time! Most companies have small gyms at work see if you can get one floated past committee.
Not entirely true.
Ok, yes, you can't just eat what you want. However, it's not as simple as just "more calories".
Fiber will flush calories.
Protein builds muscle, and muscle burns more calories than fat.
Small snacks throughout the day, and especially a proper breakfast, help your metabolism go faster.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
Weight loss is a matter of willpower, but it's also a matter of having the right technique. All the willpower in the world won't help you if you're doing the wrong thing. And weight loss isn't about exercise (at least for me), it was about eating right.
I spent two years running 30 miles a week, and eating bad foods. I lost 15 pounds in 2 years (and wore my knees out in the process).
I spent six months eating healthy food and weightlifting 2 days a week. I lost 30 pounds in 6 months.
Notice the difference.
1. Cut out sugar, flour, bread, pasta, rice, potatoes from your diet. They spike your insulin and give you that gnawing hunger.
2. Give yourself 3 skip meals a week where you violate the first rule, but not too much. Only a bit.
3. Eat a portion of white meat two meals a day. It slows your digestion, and keeps your body from starving itself of protein.
4. Eat salads, fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts until you are full (but only after eating your protein.
That's really all there is to it. No secrets. For the first two months, my "exercise" was reading the newspaper in the sauna and I lost 15 lbs in that time. I did start weightlifting after a few months, and have almost doubled my benchpress and legpress weights in only 4 months. My waist has gone from a fat 40" to a loose 34". I feel like a million dollars.
Disagree. His job (the hours in particular) sounds stressful, and if stress by itself is ungood then it's doubleplusungood if you're not getting any exercise. Recipe for an early grave, basically.
Actually I'm going to have to strongly disagree with the content, though the idea is on the right track. You do need to stick to it, get over the initial 'oh this hurts/sucks', and not make excuses why you're too tired/busy/etc.
That said...
Cardio is the WORST way to work out - especially in this situation. Cardio trains your body to efficiently use calories (how else can a person run 20+ miles or 4-5 hours straight). In this situation you do NOT want that. You get the short-term benefits while you're running than then nothing else. In the end it actually works against you. To use an extreme example - take someone an anorexic that eats less than 1000 calories a day yet runs on a treadmill for 2 hours a day. The raw math seems impossible but yet there are people who do this for years. (unhealthy, extreme example but it does make a point).
*however* 30-40 minutes a few times a week *IS* all you need. Replace that job with weight training every 2-3 days. You don't have to compete with the bench-pressing muscle heads but if you do the math, lifting 100lbs from floor to above your head takes a LOT of energy. And your body can build muscle to make it easier, but all the muscle in the world does not lessen the amount of work it takes to lift that weight. PLUS (and this is HUGE for sedentary people) your body needs to recover from lifting those weights. It needs to rebuild the micro-tears in your muscle (which, btw, is how you build more muscle too) and that takes MORE energy over the next 1-2 days. So if you have a good muscle training session you're metabolism is elevated for a DAY OR TWO AFTER your work-out. Cardio? Meh. Hardly a few hours later and your metabolism is back to where you started. In addition, you don't need a big set of weights. A couple dumbells, a step, and a yoga ball (while kinda gay) can give you a shockingly difficult workout.
If you're the type who likes to run then skip jogging. Alternate sprints (as fast as you can for 15-60 seconds) with walking to recover (easy pace to partially recover heart rate for 30-60 sec). This will, of course, vary greatly from person to person but it helps avoid training your body to use minimal calories over long-term but low impact work.
An equal body weight that's mostly muscle mass will burn significantly more calories than one that's largely fat.
Oh, and yes - drink water not soda. Avoid junk food as much as you can and go for protein over sugar. A bag of peanuts is WAY better than a pack of MnM's even if the calories say differently.
You can get rich if you own a politician, but you have to be rich to buy one in the first place.
It has worked...and I'm sticking with it, although will bring back more veggies and fruits and all. I will stay away from highly processed foods, that's not a problem. I like to cook and I've had no problems coming up with fun and good meals.
I've also been working out as regular as possible too...
I've found that through this, and eating smaller meals 5-6 times a day, my voracious appetite has been controlled, and I've been able to pretty easily start watching portion control.
After a mere 4 months or so...it is now pretty easy. I can see the 32" waist in my gunsights before end of summer.
I'm also hoping with my next Dr. visit...my triglyceride count is down, as well as blood pressure.
My advice to the guy who posted this article...do what the first few posts have said. You have to figure some way to change the lifestyle that is obviously NOT working for you and your health.
You are given 24 hours in a day. It is up to YOU to figure how you're gonna spend them to accomplish whatever goals you have in life.
If this job is in the way...well, maybe look for another job with better hours. I hope you are getting PAID for 60 hours if you are working that many. If you are just salary..you are a chump for working that extra 20 hours for free. It is one thing for an occasional long stretch with a deadline or emergency, but, it sounds like they're working you 60+ all the time as a normal part of your job??
I know the economy is bad, but, it ain't that bad and there are other jobs if you are qualified.
It sure isn't worth your health man...
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
This is all bullshit. Reduce stress. As long as you're under stress, your body is making itself ready to flee whatever predator is causing you stress. It never got the memo that we have firearms now and are thus on top of the food-chain.
As long as you work yourself into the grave, your body will ramp up the calorie-consumption and put it in storage for the bad times it assumes are right around the corner.
You people with your "Fat is bad, mkay" are forgetting one thing: The calories that go into your body are not necessarily processed altogether. Like cars don't have all the same efficiency, neither do our bodies. Some of us will react to stress by gaining weight, others lose it. In a healthy situation, where you do get out of stressful environments enough, your body will adjust fine on its own, unless you put every next best thing that looks edible in your mouth.
And again, this is science. This is not me wishing it were so. German speakers should consult Udo Polmer's books. They're on Amazon.
12 hour work days + 1 hour of exercise basically describes my entire time in the military, and I was never in better shape or felt better. I'm pretty sure I've shaved more off of my life expectancy as an 8 hour desk jockey and couch potato in the years since.
It's pretty much like the First Post'er said: Either you make time, or you don't. The OP said he can't get up early or work out before bed, which is nonsense. Everybody's a little different, but I found that I actually needed less sleep, slept more soundly, and felt more refreshed in the morning, when I exercised regularly, particularly when I did so shortly before bedtime. Exhausting my body also helped to keep it more in sync with my mental state, whereas after an 8 hour day I can feel mentally drained, but not get sleepy for hours after a normal bedtime.
Don't get me wrong, I'm as lazy as anyone, and I will probably go home tonight and do some 12 ounce curls on the couch instead of hitting the weights or going for a run, but I know that's a choice I make every day. On the other hand, maybe I've just talked myself into making better choices.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
Dive Bombers. You mean the exercise that you do by going through a push up motion, except instead of remaining rigid you.. COMPRESS YOUR LOWER BACK?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttk8RdiIHzA
This looks FAR harder on the lower back (bent backwards in the final position) than a crunch where your lower back never moves or leaves the floor. If you are involving your lower back in a crunch, you're doing it wrong.