Slashdot Mirror
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?"
What kind of miracle solution do you want? Its easy...
For a given workday, after N hours work and M hours sleep, is anything left? if yes, make the decision to work out or to fuck off. If not, then wait for your days off and work out hard. Also decrease caloric intake.
There is no other solution (aside from changing work schedule).
http://www.crossfit.com/ - works very well and can be done almost anywhere with little or no equipment.
Get a treadmill for a desk.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
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.
You have certainly painted the situation in such a way that you feel you have no time to do anything except sleep, eat, and work. If working out is a major priority to you, perhaps you should be looking for a less demanding job?
~ I am logged on, therefore I am.
Move closer and/or bike into work.
It's rewarding and fun, and a little bit of biking every day goes a long way toward staying in shape.
Well, the biking is fun, the moving sucks.
Working those hours, in a night shift, that far from home, seems to me like a terrible long term arrangement. You'll cut years off your life. It'll make sure you can't get even a semblance of a social life. As a support job, it might not even pay enough as to allow you to see it as a temporary sacrifice for a better lifestyle later.
Look for another job, pronto.
Try it.
The excuse of "I work too much to stay in shape" is just an excuse to not work out.
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
I've been in your situation and there are only two possible solutions:
-get a new job
-move closer to your existing job.
Honestly, those are hellish hours and frankly I think you're insane for working that much. My honest answer, as someone who works out 6 days a week but works a pretty normal 9-5 is that, if I had your job, I wouldn't work out either.
You are working/commuting too much. IMHO, you should be looking to first reduce your hours spent working/commuting. With the schedule you have laid out, you dont have time to properly work out and its not good for your mental health either. The body and mind need rest to operate well, by throwing in physical exercise, you are only going to become more fatigued.
Good-bye
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.
Do anything you can to move about - look for a further away parking spot, rather than one close to the door. Take the stairs. You do get breaks, yes? Walk during them.
And watch what you eat. I can imagine that on such a shift the temptation will be to nibble on high calorie snacks and drink lots of soft drinks.
Try and take healthy snacks that you can nibble through the night, and get a water bottle, keep it full and drink lots.
Could you turn some of your unwinding time into exercise time? Maybe stop at the gym even for thirty minutes on your way home? Or go on your way to work, and use the showers there to get ready for your night-time shift.
Not to be obvious but: do whatever you can do on your breaks.
I used to go out with someone I met at a work location and do TaiChi. Yoga comes to mind. Crunches/Push-ups/curling a freeweight comes to mind as well.
After every call (or every 30min without one) drop and do (say) 20 of any of the above. Even if that ends up being once an hour (hour long calls?) a 10-hour-day will have 200 push-ups/stomach crunches (for a freeweight, working it while at your desk isn't bad; but remember to switch arms from time to time).
Durnig your break, go for a run.
Get a bike rack, a bicycle, a good headlamp and some very reflective clothes.
Map a bike route from your worksite to a terminus about 6 to 10 miles away (where you can park your car). Optimize the route for safety and speed.
Drive your car to the terminus every day and ride your bike into work in the morning and back to your car in the evening.
This isn't rocket science; pick one or the other.
(I suggest you pick the health, and loose that job)
___ I don't respond to Anonymous Cowards, and I Never Mod them UP.
I realize that you have a relatively insane schedule, but go back and read your comments. They are nearly all self defeating. Working out regularly is like quitting smoking - it's something YOU have to want to do for yourself and your own benefit. You'd be amazed what a simple set of adjustable dumbbells and a weight bench will do when used for only 20 minutes a day 3 to 4 days per week. Throw in some form of cardio on your days off from lifting, and you're doing far better than most of the general public.
Also, if you are truly serious about staying in shape, take a good look at your diet. Years ago I switched my diet from overly processed starches and red meats to include more whole grains, skim milk, water, whole fruits and vegetables, and green tea. My energy levels easily doubled. The amount of time I spent sick dropped.
Seriously, if you truly want to get in shape, you will make time for it. All it takes is making it a habit, which will probably require a 2 month investment on your part, whether you feel like it on a given day or not. There are days when I don't feel 100% like working out, but once I get about 5 minutes into my routine, I am up to the challenge.
Meth. I have yet to run into a fat meth-head.
Do what I do. Bring a workout bag and run or crossfit during your lunch hour. Find a shower in your building or nearby and use it. Or use wet paper towels. Don't laugh it works. Eat your lunch back at your workstation after you workout. I was in a similar situation to you about two years ago and was slowly turning into a slug. I made friends with some one in the building who ran every day rain, snow, or shine. I hurt for about two months but it got better.
Wait, you say you don't have a lunch hour, work in a city can't run, or a myriad of other excuses. It's all B.S. and I used them all too. If you are working 60 hours a week and being productive you get at least an hour break in there unless you work in a gulag.
It's worth it, and life is short. I wouldn't trade the fitness I have earned for just about anything.
It is not enough to succeed, others must fail. - Gore Vidal
So you were consuming 3500 calories a day in corn syrup?
All that matters is calories in vs. calories out.
The calorie source doesn't matter for weight gain unless you don't get the minimum requirements of a given macro nutrient.
30 lbs in 30 days just by cutting out corn syrup? I call BS.
Jesus used to be my co-pilot, but we crashed in the mountains and I had to eat him.
I commute to work on a bicycle almost every day. That's 2x11 Km each day. Some of my colleagues have longer commutes.
I enjoy it a lot, and consider that in Finland there is a ton of bicycle paths, so one doesn't need to risk his/her life while cycling.
Of course, if you're in most of the US or Canada, you're shit out of luck, but there are some cities that are cyclist-friendly even in North America.
BTW, as a general comment about your life: I think your lifestyle is deeply fucked. You basically don't have a life. If you are married, you are sacrificing not only yours, but your wife's and your children's life as well. You'll die just like the rest of us, buy you'll wonder where did your life go.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
TAPEWORM...These little suckers will keep those pesky pounds off with minimal effort.
1. No elevators, no escalators - ALWAYS take the stairs if you can.
2. Go out to lunch, don't bring your own. This might be hard when working at night; at least walk to a convenience store to buy coffee on your food breaks.
3. If you drive, park in the farthest place on the parking lot. Walk fast or even run from/to your car if you can't spare the time to walk.
4. Exercise while at your desk. Get those "stress balls" to exercise your forearms. Do some sit-ups when no one's looking. Go to the bathroom or another floor so you have an excuse to use the stairs. I made a habit of walking up and down 4 flights of stairs every day at work (in addition to using stairs for legitimate things like getting to work)
5. Drink black coffee, tea, or diet soda. Caffeine increases your metabolism.
6. Do fast but intense workouts at home: push-ups, sit-ups, stuff that will tire you in 5 minutes if you can't spare more time.
7. Make up your lost workouts on the weekends.
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.
You work a 60-hour work week. Apparently, you also get a poor amount of sleep. Working out involves recovery time. Adequate sleep is paramount to a sound body and mine.
You can't do a workout program? You can't wake up early? You really can't do anything outside of your days off. You want a magic fit pill? You want longer days? You want what does not exist.
The answer is blatantly obvious: find a new job or face the fact that your mental and physical state will erode over time.
It is comforting to know that IT doesn't require common sense.
But "Move or Die" can mean many things. First you can move your body: exercising in the simplest ways. Walk a mile when things are slow. If you have time to do push ups and sits ups at work, then you have time to walk as well. Work out every day you aren't at work. Accept that your life is about Work and working out and that you don't have time for anything else. If something else is getting in the way of working out, then accept that working out isn't important enough. unless you're willing to do the second or third move.
Next "Move where you work": you have to decide if you wish to continue working at a company that appears to have no concern about your physical or mental health and well being. The Company may not care if you're burned out and dying from heart disease in 20 years, but you should be. If you can't do the first or third "Move" you have to decide if the loss of physical health is worth the financial compensation you get.
Finally: "Move where you live": If the first two options aren't viable, then perhaps you should consider that a 90 minute commute is insane under these circumstances. I personally have an hour commute after a 9 hour day. And I'm seriously considering moving much closer. If you're in a house that's devalued because of the economy, then it sucks, but you have to decide if the financial hit you take from moving (and remember, you'll save a ton on gas every month not driving that 100+ mile trip every day).
In the end if your health is that important for you, you'll have to figure out what sort of move you want to make, and if none of them are viable, then accept you'll be slowly dying until you change your mind.
"The bass, the rock, the mic, the treble. I like my coffee black, just like my metal" - Mindless Self Indulgence
There is no mystery to weight loss. Turn in your geek card if you believe you spontaneously gain weight while eating less than your energy requirements.
3500 kcal (aka Calories) above or below your your BMR + activity level corresponds to 1 pound gained or lost, respectively.
If you're 30 years old and 5'10" at 200 pounds, with a sedentary lifestyle, then your BMR is about 2000 kcal/day, and your activity level brings that to about 2400 kcal/day. If you eat 100 kcal/day more, you'll gain a pound in about a month, but if you eat 100 kcal/day less (or just run 3.5 miles/week), then you'll lose a pound in a month. If you do light exercise a couple times/week, you'll probably burn about 2750kcal/day and lose 3 pounds/month.
That feeling you get that you're "starving" yourself is a product of the fact that you've conditioned yourself to eat when you feel stressed. Learn to tell the difference in hunger and stress. Drink lots of water, take your vitamins, and get plenty of fiber. Focus on eating "filling" foods with little caloric value.
I'll leave it as an exercise of geekdom for you to figure out the rest. You have to earn back your geek card, OP.
Bicycle + generator + power cables + workstation = full shift work out...
Eric
Eric Aitala
www.f1m.com
I've know people who worked 28 or 32 hour "days". That is you just treat 28 hours as you circadian rythm. it means your sleep/wake schedule drifts from the day/night cycle, but it still overlaps it so you can have productive interactions with regular humans. IN your case since you claim you are working all the time, it's obviously not a big deal if you don't perfectly sync with others socially.
if you go to that cycle then you will now have 4 or 8 extra hours of wake time in which you can exsercize. you are actually awake slightly more of the time so it's a net gain for waking activity.
people I've know who did this find it sustainable for an entire year.
if you are really productive working 15 hours a day then you probably are a candidate for this regimen.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
It doesn't take any time to simply not overeat.
Overeating is taking in more calories than you burn. The guy who created the company AutoDesk made this great free e-book ( he sells nothing ) for geeks to control their weight that way. It is called the Hacker's Diet:
http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/
I have a fuel efficient system too. I used the Hacker's Diet to take off 48 lbs and I have kept most of it off for several years.
Maybe you can combine managing your calories with a brisk walk or a run for 30 minutes everyday on meal break?
Off the bat, learn to drink water, diet soda, plain tea or plain coffee while you are at work. Regular soda, tea & coffee condiments, juice, milk and sweet drinks can easily pack on weight. It only takes an extra 250 calories a day ( typical of most drinks ) to put on 52 pounds a year. Most of those other drinks easily have that many calories.
Good Luck
Seriously, I bought this thing when it first came out, and I lost 20 pounds in a couple months. I know it seems silly to think that such a non-game will hold your attention and keep you working out, but if you have a desire to work out and lose weight, it will help. If you don't really have an interest in working out, it probably won't hold your attention long. But if you do, it will teach you some basic workouts, and the videogame-esque style may give you that extra ambition to get to it.
The easiest way to avoid gaining fat is to decrease insulin production by avoiding carbs; no bread, pasta, or sugars other than those naturally occurring in fruits and vegetables. Then, eat more legumes and greens.
I've been in your shoes...even made it to 300lbs before I made some changes. [1] Eat small to medium size meals 6 times a day. It's not about quantity of a single feeding, but quality of what you eat and how often you eat. Split food into groups - protein, carbs, fats, vegetables. One serving of each at every meal, 6 times a day. (About every 3 hours.) Just get in the habbit of slaming it down at your desk during those 10 minute slash dot breaks. [2] Buy an adjustable bench. Not a bench/rack/whatever combo, just a padded bench. You should be able to adjust the bench to lay flat, and to 45 degrees up. If it can do 90 degrees up, better, but not necessary. This should cost about $100. [3] Get you a decent set of adjustable dumbells that allow you to dial up a weight with slip on, slip off plates. A good set will run about $400 - $500 dollars but is well worth it. It should allow weights between 10 and 60 lbs or so. [4] Buy a $30 book on weight training to learn good technique. The Schwartzeneger encylopedia is a good one. [5] At this point, you've spent about $600, less than a yearly gym membership and have something that fits in your place, even if it's a 1 room flat. You can work out on your terms. [6] Work out 3 to 4 times a week for 45 minutes. No more, no less. You should do 15 - 20 sets of a variety of exercises with 30 seconds to 2 minutes rest between sets. [7] You can do flys, pullovers, presses, and abs from the bench. You can have dumbells in hand and step from the floor to the bench to work legs, or dumbel between feet and extend. If you do this - only asking for a 2.5 hour comittment per week here - you will be exercising effectively and go through some amazing changes. Me? I lost 100lbs and now do inclined benches at over 315 lbs. The personal trainers ask me for help.
With the schedule he's laid out, he barely has enough time to sleep. By my count, he's got just one hour a day to prepare meals, read a book, date...
You're going to get fat and lonely with a schedule like that, and the loneliness is only going to make you fatter as you try to fill the void with food, and the kind of food you'll have access to with only an hour to prepare and eat is not going to be very slimming, even if you use peapod.
If he can't change the 12-hour days, at least get a small apartment near the business, or even on premises. I guarantee that a company of any decent size is going to have an executive apartment somewhere that goes mostly unused. Even if he has to clear out half the time, that's still saving three hours of commute on every evening he can avoid going home. That's three hours you could be cooking, relaxing, working out, working out with a partner, keeping up on professional development, getting drunk, learning to sing... the list is literally endless.
Check the classified ads, also. Sometimes people are looking to rent a room, and the price is therefore pretty good (well, crappy for the sq. footage, but fine for "a place to get some sack time") They'll love you, because you won't even be around half the time, let alone making noise or commotion. Obviously, you need to be careful there, but it's not like you just start renting without even meeting the people first.
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
Jesus Christ. And I definitely have the problem too so I am not pointing fingers at "everyone else but me." It is HARD to eat less, especially as you get older. I used to shut down pizza buffet restaurants in my 20s. But when I hit my 30s, things started to change and I should have paid closer attention but the change was gradual. So while I continued to eat the amounts and types of foods I was accustomed to, my body was changing the way it handles things.
Initially I compensated by placing a weight bench next to my bed. Every morning after waking up, I would almost literally roll over onto the bench and start doing reps. The results were good. Not only did I wake up better getting the heart moving and being more alert, but immediately following that, I took my morning shower and was fresh as anything without any serious interruption of my morning schedule. That didn't last long after I got married. A weight bench in the bedroom did not go over well. But let's face it; if it wasn't for being convenient, I NEVER would have done it in the first place.
So now, I simply make a concerted effort to eat LESS. And believe me, it is HARD. For those who know what "Whataburger" is, who could say no to a double-double with bacon? NOT ME!! That is a hard habit to break let me tell you. But my body reminds me a lot lately when I am overeating -- I get FULL and uncomfortable... but that is only because I am actually making the effort to eat less and my stomach has literally shrunk allowing less food at any one time.
Changing habits is a really hard thing to do, especially when it's something as pleasurable as food. But that's what it means to be human -- smart enough to know better. Just make the effort to eat less. Just do it.
As someone who has worked in a stressful job with little free time, I understand how hard it can be to stay in shape. While I am in a better situation with regular weight and cardio workouts, there was a time I saw my weight go up and up. I did finally take charge and started doing "mini-workouts". Whether while brushing my teeth or during bathroom breaks at work, I would do pushups, squats, lunges, or calf raises. Body weight, of course. While this does nothing for your cardio health, I was able to increase my strenght and lose a bit (5 - 10 lb) of weight. I was up to 2 sets of 40 pushups twice a week. Squats and lunges were 50 at a time. I did 90 calf raises per set. I even managed to do some neutral grip pullups using stall doors. Each "workout" lasted at most 5 min on top of my bathroom break (people have smoking breaks, I have workout breaks). And i know, pushups on a bathroom floor is nasty, but there's soap and water nearby. Point is, if you want to squeeze in workouts, you can. Even though I go to the gym now, I still take stairs going up at my workplace now. Sometimes I toss in some body weight squats while brushing my teeth. Watching TV? Crank out 20 pushups during commercials. If there's a will, there's a way. Also, diet is actually the most important part of losing weight. Minimize sugar, salt, junk food. Soda? Drink diet. Coffee? Drink black no sugar, or at least milk and artificial sweetener. Need a snack? PB&J on one slice of whole wheat bread. So many ways to cut down. Good luck.
That feeling you get that you're "starving" yourself is a product of the fact that you've conditioned yourself to eat when you feel stressed.
Actually, its a very common symptom of type2 diabetes, along with dehydration that gets worse when you drink sugar-soda, thirsty all the time, tired out, heavy central body buildup of fat, perhaps you have foot problems to some extent, etc... Conveniently the treatment for type2 boils down to lower carb diet, exercise, and lose some weight, at least at the start, which seems to be the treatment plan everyone else is suggesting for merely being fat. There are of course expensive pills that may or may not help you, but would absolutely make someone a lot of money.
Needless to say I'm not a (medical) doctor, although I can diagnose that anyone asking for medical advice on slashdot is obviously showing clinical indications of mental insanity. A MD can quickly and trivially check your blood sugar levels to either prove this or rule it out, more or less. Probably worth checking out. Probably a good idea to visit your MD before beginning an exercise routine anyway.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
Some people where I work sit on those exercise balls. While you're not busy, you can do mini crunches, and even while you're just sitting there, you will be using your ab and back muscles much more to support your posture. Also, stand up and stretch for a few minutes every hour. It's better than nothing.
Figure out how many calories you eat in a day (doesn't have to be exact) and see how that stacks up with average for such a sedentary lifestyle. While you won't be "in shape" per se, you can at least help to curb weight gain by not eating more than you need, and making sure what you DO eat is high in fiber, contains more complex carbs than sugars, and lots of lean protein.
If you can't see the value in jet powered ants you should turn in your nerd card. - Dunbal (464142)
You will feel better in just about every way for however many years that you do happen to live.
...where there normally isnt. For some people, it's just a kitchen, but to a workout freak like me, I practice the refrigerator door pull, about 3 sets of 12 reps each, burn those calories. Open the door, you think it's just a 6 pack, but each one in that pack for the workout fanatic, means a hectic fast paced 24oz wrist curl for each wrist, about 3 sets of 12 reps each. Practice restraint by tensing the muscles to prevent unnecessary rushed gulping. You get the idea; just take another look around at the house...
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
A true geek would know that anything like BMR (such as BMI) is based on a statistically calculated average value. In this case, the BMR is based on the 3500 kcal value which is calculated based on what experimental results show to be the metabolism of the average person. The problem is that not everyone is even close to that average value. There will always be people that stray towards the extremes of humanly possible values. People with hypoglycemia can eat like crazy and never gain weight. People that make it to being among the world's fattest people, most likely, have the other extreme for a metabolism (it's one thing to get fat, but most normal people would have a hard time reaching 1000 lbs even if they tried). As I alluded to above, this is similar to how many muscular people have horrible BMI values even though they have minuscule percentages of body fat. They break the scale because it's designed to assume that the person has "average" musculature. Specifically, the military is known to make exceptions for this, specific, problem when muscle-bound applicants fail the BMI requirements for entry into the service.
Also, the feeling of "starving" may have more to do with the quantity of food he's conditioned his body to expect rather than any feeling of stress.
Feel free to get behind the OP in the line to turn in your geek card...
Rules of Conduct:
#1 - The DM is always right.
#2 - If the DM is wrong, see rule #1
I hope you have excellent health insurance because your going to need it.
Otherwise, dump the 12 hour schedule and the job, and let some other poor sucker get heart disease or diabetes.
Not only that, your skill sets are declining.
When you go to a I.T. job you deal with the same equipment and same issues everyday. That is OK if you are just starting out, but if you are 2 years into the job, start looking for a different job once you get the idea of this one.
After you get some experience start your own private practice and make your own time to exercise.
I can't remember the last time I worked 12 hours, and if I did it was because of some disaster, or a boss that could not plan his time correctly, which I fired. (Got a different boss.) I usually work 10 hours with lunch.
I hope to god you are only working like 4 day weeks as even blue collar people I know do not work those sorts of hours and you better be making huge amounts of cash.
I bill out at $120 an hour right now for a typical 40-50 hour week.
-Hack
Got Geometrodynamics? Awe, too hard to figure out? Too bad.
Most of them are going to give you advice you can't implement. I understand where you're coming from and I can actually help you as long as you don't mind the possibility of looking slightly foolish at work.
You work 12 hours a day. I know that you aren't continuously engaged in productive work. No one is. So start there. Every 3 hours take a 15 minute break and do the following:
Set a timer for 5 minutes then do:
100x Jumping Jacks
50x Pushups
50x Bodyweight Squats
50x Leg Raises
50x Crunches,
50x Russian twists (Russian twist is going halfway up in a crunch, then turning left to right, each direction is one)
When you first start out you will probably not finish this in 5 minutes. It doesn't matter. Stop at 5 minutes. Go get some water, walk around for 5 minutes and catch your breath.
Now go eat an apple and a handful of peanuts or sunflower seeds or some other healthy snack.
When you eat lunch eat a sandwhich, or a big salad, or a chicken breast, not a bigmac or a whole cheese pizza. Keep a GENERAL IDEA of how many calories you are eatting and keep it somewhere in the 1600-1700 range. You don't have to be precise here, just don't knock down the Triple Whopper and you should be ok.
Do NOT drink sodas. You drink WATER. Nothing else. Vitamin Water or Life Water is acceptable, Powerade and Gatorade are not.
Coffee is acceptable, but not recommended.
Eat every 3 hours, a smallish meal, approximately 6 times a day. Your target is an average of 300 calories per meal, but it's flexible.
And if you want to know what makes me qualified to give this advice and why you should listen to me:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kintanon&search_type=
Check out JoshJitsu.info for Brazilian Ji
You list about 10 disadvantages in your question. Why not focus on your advantages instead?
- You have 2-3 days off per week (Great time to exercise!)
- You work in an office (Every one I've been to has a fridge/microwave that can be used to store healthy foods).
- You probably have a lot of down time at work (Why not do push ups or run around? I used to think this would look silly in the office until I realized that being fat looks far sillier and letting others determine my success was foolish.
I bet you could list a lot more yourself, like maybe you really enjoy playing a certain sport
You will NEVER be succeed with your current attitude.
You may also want to look at this:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/can-you-get-fit-in-six-minutes-a-week/?em
Even 6 minutes a week, with the breaks described and the equipment, may be more than is possible for you. But you're going to need to find some kind of optimization obviously.
Innovation makes enemies of all those who prospered under the old regime... -- Machiavelli
Helpful timetable: http://xkcd.com/320/
I didn't realise people had actually tried it :)
It's not clear to me how this actually *gains* you time. Sure, you have 4 extra hours a day, but there's now only 6 days in a week. The number of hours in a week obviously doesn't change, so you can't magic extra hours out of nothing. The extra hours staying up awake is compensated by sleeping for longer (unless there is evidence to suggest that people don't need to sleep extra on this cycle?) My understanding was the benefits weren't more time overall, but that it fits in better with people's desire to stay up later each day, as well as meaning you can go out all night on weekends (but it doesn't sound like the person here has much time for partying...)
If he really wants a sleep pattern that gives him vastly more time, then he might like to look into polyphasic sleep patterns, which involves only taking short (e.g., 30 minutes) naps several times throughout the 24 hour period, requiring in only a few hours sleep in total each day. (I have not tried this myself, nor AFAIK is it known what the long term effects of this might be!)
I think you'll find this article in the NYTimes to be of interest:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/can-you-get-fit-in-six-minutes-a-week/