Staying In Shape vs. a Busy IT Job Schedule? 865
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?"
Its not rocket surgery... (Score:5, Insightful)
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).
In a bind (Score:5, Insightful)
Move and Bike (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Work / Life balance (Score:3, Insightful)
Try it.
The excuse of "I work too much to stay in shape" is just an excuse to not work out.
Find a different job (Score:1, Insightful)
Yeah yeah, easier said than done, but you're working an unhealthy schedule even without considering the lack of exercise. Is the money good enough that you can retire your burnt-out, fat body in 5 years and recover before you drop dead?
Re:Its not rocket surgery... (Score:2, Insightful)
There is no other solution (aside from changing work schedule).
This is what I would recommend. Productivity drops off anyway past 8 consecutive hours of work. If the company needs 24/7 coverage, then get 3 techs per 24 hour period. You get better results from your workers, and promote a healthier work environment.
Re:Its not rocket surgery... (Score:5, Insightful)
But those are only suggestions as I've never lasted more than 5 months on that shift without going crazy. You got balls, my man.
From the sound of it, you can't (Score:3, Insightful)
Working too much (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Walk (Score:3, Insightful)
And wear ankle weights and such [wikipedia.org] so that your simple motions are more workout-like.
If you wear wrist weights, then simple typing will be a bit of a workout. Though I imagine you would be more likely to suffer from ergonomic problems in that case.
Watch what you eat (Score:3, Insightful)
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 rocket Science (Score:5, Insightful)
This isn't rocket science; pick one or the other.
(I suggest you pick the health, and loose that job)
Self defeating (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Re:In a bind (Score:5, Insightful)
At the bare minimum, you need to move closer to where you work. Your commute is costing you your health and is eating your paycheck. Looking at the money you are making versus the costs, you might be better off working at the 7-11 down the street.
Where does your social life fit in to this? I know when I work a 60+ hour week I need the weekend just to unwind, let alone see friends or do things I enjoy.
My solution, get an apartment within 5 miles of your work and then ride a bicycle there.
Cycling to work (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Re:Its not rocket surgery... (Score:5, Insightful)
Ditto what the OP said. Either you are serious about wanting to work out for a little bit becauase it will improve your life, or you aren't. If you are serious about it, you will find time to do it. If you aren't, you will come up with excuses not to.
As a completely antecdotal experience, I've been training martial arts for seven years. At this point I train five to six days a week for an hour or two each day. I'm in pretty good shape, but could still make a lot of improvements. I don't do any weight training, and I work out at a moderate intensity.
If all you want to do is "get in shape" you can do it in 30-45 minutes a day. The most important thing is to start out with stretching, and once you're stretched out, do some cardio (jogging, jumping rope, etc) for AT LEAST 20 minutes. If you can't jog, walk. Work up to walking with short periods of running. Then run more and walk less. You really don't need to get up to any more than two or three miles a couple of times a week to see some real results after a six to eight months.
The hardest part about working out is getting started. It feels counter-intuitive. It hurts. There is pain associated with it. Your body will tell you to stop doing it. The lazy voice in the back of your head will talk you out of it. The first couple of months are the most difficult part. Developing a schedule AND STICKING TO IT, is the most difficult part.
Be realistic with yourself. Realize that being healthy is a lifestyle choice. It isn't something that you do for a few months and then quit. It takes a while to see results. I'm not going to lie and tell you that it doesn't suck in the beginning because it does. It is much easier to sit in front of the computer and sleep than it is to set aside an hour a day to exercise.
The only other advice I have is to cut out drinking anything besides water. Soda is especially bad for you. Anything with high fructose corn syrup in it (most anything you'd get at 7-11 or the like) is tough for your body to digest. If you are out of shape, working out is going to burn a lot of fat. That fat is stored garbage. Your body is going to be working hard to get rid of that garbage. Water will help that process.
Re:Easy Solution (Score:5, Insightful)
Or an old one
What a loaded submission - find a new job. (Score:2, Insightful)
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.
Move or Die (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: Mod parent up (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Easy way (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Its not rocket surgery... (Score:5, Insightful)
Jesus fucking christ. The attitude of some fitness nuts frightens me sometimes.
You do not, do not, do not need to waste 45 minutes of every day working up a sweat and sore muscles if you just want to stay "in shape". If you're looking to win some medal, then yes, but be prepared to deal with the after effects of such extreme exercise in later life.
If you want to stay in shape, you just have to cut down on junk food and get an outdoor hobby that keeps you mobile for an hour or so on the weekends. Swimming, soccer, cycling, jogging, gardening. That's all most people will ever need. These health nuts who spend who torture themselves daily, spend weekends doing yoga or karate and who subsist on treebark and goat's milk are not some physical ideal everyone should aspire to!
What the fuck?! Going for a walk in the woods is actually fun in my experience. You get great views from the top of hills too. Sailing? Maybe you could try horse riding, I don't know. The point is, if exercise isn't fun, then no one in their right mind will keep it up. You have to find an activity that keeps you healthy, not a penance.
Waaay too much. (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Re:Its not rocket surgery... (Score:5, Insightful)
Another option for aerobic exercise: jump rope. Back when I did karate, that was our main aerobic exercise because there's not much else you can do in a 400 sq. ft. room...
Re:Its not rocket surgery... (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, he can do what lots of us here do when we're too slammed to work out "properly":
Crunches and pushups. Use you body's mass as your weights. bonus points if you can install a pull-up bar somewhere.
just do 10 or 15 reps at a time, as time permits.
you can do this almost anywhere (aisles between cubes, DC floor, etc.
Re:In a bind (Score:4, Insightful)
+1 to getting an apartment. If he is wasting 3 hours per day on a commute, that's 60 hours a month. More than enough to pay for a cheap studio apartment in some urban housing block even in the most expensive of cities.
Re: Mod parent up (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Its not rocket surgery... (Score:5, Insightful)
Or indeed do a work out at the company he's working at.
Press ups, sit ups, crunches, etc, are all doable.
12 hour cover doesn't mean 12 hours in a chair reading slashdot incessantly. If he is babysitting, then there's plenty of time to do other stuff. Hell, write a script to send the warnings to his phone and get his sleep there. Does the company have gym facilities? Certainly he'll get several breaks overnight where you can do something active, like run up and down stairs before you grab a coffee.
Personally I think the poster is insane, firstly to take a job working 12 hour shifts for more than 3 days a week. Secondly for living 1.5 hours away, meaning a 3 hour commute every day. 12 + 3 + 8 (sleep) leaves a grand total of 1 hour a day to live! STOP AND THINK! Or get the company to put you up overnight nearby on the nights you work.
Nonetheless (Score:5, Insightful)
You will feel better in just about every way for however many years that you do happen to live.
Re:It's all in what you eat (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Its not rocket surgery... (Score:3, Insightful)
Sounds like you need to increase your energy expenditure more, to me. As you say, unless you go anorexic, decreasing caloric intake only goes so far.
Costs of 12 Hour Shift (Score:3, Insightful)
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
Re:Its not rocket surgery... (Score:1, Insightful)
If the job is long term, find a place closer to work. Then bike to work. I've been working 8:30 to 17:30, with lots of overtime as a Senior Systems engineer onsite for one of our clients for 5 years. I bike into work 2 or three times a week (I'm a fair weather rider only 8))
We have the advantage of showers onsite, and a safe place to stash our bikes, but any good emplyoer would probably be accomdating.
If I drive, it takes about 20 mintes to get through rush traffic to my parking building, then 10 minutes to work to the office. If I catch the bus, it is about 30 minutes, If I ride, it's about 20 minutes in, but an hour to get home - there is a big hill 8)
Don't Listen to Anyone Else on this Thread (Score:4, Insightful)
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= [youtube.com]
Think about your advantages instead of excuses... (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Re:Its not rocket surgery... (Score:3, Insightful)
Personally I think the poster is insane, firstly to take a job working 12 hour shifts for more than 3 days a week. Secondly for living 1.5 hours away, meaning a 3 hour commute every day. 12 + 3 + 8 (sleep) leaves a grand total of 1 hour a day to live!
I wholeheartedly agree. If you work nightly shifts of 12 hours, you shouldn't be working more than 3 days a week. If you are working more than that, you should really be asking yourself the question if you're making enough money to retire before you burn out.
Of course if the 12 hour shift includes plenty of time to doze off, read a book, work out or do some other fun stuff, it might be a different matter. But you're still living in your office rather than at home. Do you really like the facilities at your office more than your own home? Or does your shift include time to sleep? Because then you'd be able to spend those 8 hours at home on other stuff. Getting paid to sleep is about as good as it gets, but this situation doesn't sound like that.
Re:Its not rocket surgery... (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, but they create muscle, which burns more calories 24/7.
It's not a replacement for cardio, but that's something he can do on the WEEKENDS, along with real weight training. We're just finding things here he can do on the job.
Polyphasic Sleep (Score:2, Insightful)
Helpful timetable: http://xkcd.com/320/ [xkcd.com]
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 [wikipedia.org], 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!)
Re:Its not rocket surgery... (Score:4, Insightful)
His job choice isn't really the topic here, but like you I can't help wondering why anyone in his right mind would take a job like that. If he's willing to put up with the hours and the commute, you would think he would be more than willing to relocate so he can have a life.
Re:It's all in what you eat (Score:2, Insightful)
This isn't an either/or situation. Eating and exercising are *both* necessary, but for me, most of the weight loss was due to diet and not the exercise. As I pointed out, I ran 30 miles a week for two years, and had 1/2 the weight loss I did in 6 months of eating right and weightlifting twice a week.
You are what you eat. Seriously.
I didn't say "weight loss," I said "fit." If you want to be skinny, eat little. If you want to be fit, exercise. Fitness isn't a number that you see on a scale; it is your body's ability to perform within reasonable athletic parameters. You can't have that with a sedentary lifestyle regardless of what you consume.
Re:Its not rocket surgery... (Score:2, Insightful)
First off, you are not going to build muscle mass doing some random activity on the weekends unless it is stocking shelves with free weights. Remember, you will begin losing it moderately at first but as you age the loss of muscle mass will increase greatly. Secondly, sure you might get some light cardio doing something outside every weekend but that is not going to keep your heart and lungs working as efficiently as they could if you spent even one day a week running, swimming laps or biking to work. BTW, regular sex works if you can use your partner's weight as well as your own during coitus. It might help that my current significant other weighs about 110 lbs but you would be surprised what 30 minutes of vigorous sex can do for you physically and mentally with the right person. I have never been in better shape physically than when I was dating 4 women at once in my early 20's even if mentally I was a bit off. The reason many people who have sex a lot look 'sexy' is because they are having sex a lot.
Some of the replies on this article have been dangerous in recommending what amounts to a training regime for a front line infantry grunt or a super spy ninja but your attitude is almost as dangerous. Aerobic Exercise and Anaerobic resistance/weight training during your 20's, 30's, 40's can stave off many chronic diseases later in life. My personal preference is sex with a degree of athleticism with an intimate other and it has kept me below a 34" waist at 6'2" into my 30's.
Re:Its not rocket surgery... (Score:3, Insightful)
True your digestive system isn't 100% efficient which is why you have waste products. However you seem to be implying that this means that everyone does this at significantly different rates. I.e. Given a group of people with identical diets (or possibly simple caloric value) and identical energy expenditures will have an inefficiency that is significantly different. i.e One person absorbs only 60% of what would normally be the bioavailable calories.
Two things:
a) One doesn't imply the other - people can be inefficient but within a small margin.
b) With the notable exception of people with specific disorders (i.e. lacking an enzyme) it simply isn't true in the large sense (sure there some effects that have been experimentally validated but they are are pretty small - especially if you read the studies with a critical eye).
One thing I will say is that people who write things like this don't seem to think it through. If there was really a significant variance - it would show up in a bunch of places - for example it would be very difficult (or simply lucky) to use regression to come up with a useful BMR formula without a pretty large error (depending on how big the alleged difference is - you haven't mentioned which kind of says to me that you really don't know anything about the subject).
The short answer is that although there may be variances in how much you gain based on how much you take in (or how much you burn for that mater) these values, even collectively are likely significantly outweighed by the simple formula of "calories consumed" vs "calories burned".
Re:Its not rocket surgery... (Score:2, Insightful)
Good point. I retract what I said about doing those alternate ab stuff.
I still think squats that work the quads done without any bending of the waist at an aerobic speed (a la Matt Furey) is probably the best bang for the buck.
I had written elsewhere more passive things someone can do:
* Stand instead of sitting in front of the computer desk. Drop into "horse stance", so long as the knees are aligned and don't go over the toes. Merely standing triggers a metabolic gear shift.
* Walk in a half-crouch with the spine straight and the head level (no bopping up and down). The weight should be on the quads and some on the feet. Resist the temptation to fall into the step (by minimizing striking of the heel). In other words, you end up carrying more of your weight on one leg instead of doing a sort of controlled forward fall like most people do when walking.
Re:Its not rocket surgery... (Score:3, Insightful)
One doesn't imply the other - people can be inefficient but within a small margin.
I wasn't using one to imply the other, I was stating both as true. Now, I don't have any scientific studies on hand to show that either is true, but I have read about studies into this, besides having observed anecdotal evidence of my own.
If there was really a significant variance - it would show up in a bunch of places
Yeah, and it does. It shows up all over the place where there are people who are rather strict about their diet and are still heavier than others who overeat. It even happens for particular people over time-- someone who's thin at 20 eating whatever he wants may need to be more strict about his diet later in life.
The phenomenon has been observed for a long time, and there isn't any real disagreement about whether it happens. It's just that, since they haven't nailed down all the causes and don't have treatments yet, often the best they can offer is "eat less and exercise more". That's good advice, but it's not the end of the story.
There has been evidence that changes in emotional and psychology states can have an effect on your metabolism. Being stressed out can not only cause you to put on more fat, but it can even cause you to put on fat in different places. There have been studies that suggest that the kind of bacteria in your digestive system has an effect on how many calories you'll absorb from a set amount of food.
So I'm not saying that advising people to exercise more and eat less is bad, but just pointing out that the reality of what goes on in our bodies is much more complicated than "number of calories eaten - number of calories worked off by exercise = number of calories turned into fat". If you see a fat guy and a skinny guy, it's not necessarily true that they skinny guy eats less or exercises more.