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).
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.
Parent
A possible solution: the 28 hour day (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
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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...
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Nonetheless (Score:5, Insightful)
You will feel better in just about every way for however many years that you do happen to live.
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Re:Nonetheless (Score:5, Funny)
You will feel better...
... until the moment of your death when you will be thinking, "I could have eaten that Twinkie."
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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.
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Re:Its not rocket surgery... (Score:5, Informative)
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.
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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.
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Re:Its not rocket surgery... (Score:4, Informative)
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.
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Re:Its not rocket surgery... (Score:5, Informative)
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.
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Re:Its not rocket surgery... (Score:5, Informative)
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.
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Re:Its not rocket surgery... (Score:5, Interesting)
Fiber will flush calories.
This is something that a lot of people don't seem to know about when they say, "More calories will add more weight if you don't burn them." Your digestive system isn't 100% efficient, and the human body will, at times, dump excess calories.
So in effect, your body is capable of saying, "I have enough food for now, so I'm going to poop out the rest." Some bodies seem to do this more readily than others, and science doesn't yet know all the factors. It could be genetics, emotional state, the kind of bacteria living in your gut, or what you're eating rather than how much you're eating.
But the point is, yes, someone else can have the same diet and exercise routine as you have, and still weigh a very different amount.
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Re:Its not rocket surgery... (Score:5, Informative)
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...
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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.
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Re:Its not rocket surgery... (Score:5, Informative)
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.
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Re:Its not rocket surgery... (Score:4, Informative)
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.
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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.
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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.
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Re:Its not rocket surgery... (Score:5, Interesting)
(Calories Eaten - Calories burned)/3500 = weight change [lbs]
figure out how many calories you burn in a typical day, and eat less than that, the amount less than that you eat will determine how fast you lose weight.
I put on A LOT of weight when I first started working in IT and I was busy enough that I rarely made it to the gym. I THOUGHT I was eating less, and eating healthy and even tried all kinds of stupid diets that never seemed to get me anywhere. About 4 months ago I decided to look for a diet that was specifically tailored to a programmer's lifestyle (I figured there are enough smart people out there that someone must have come up with something) After about 2 minutes of searching I found The Hackers Diet [fourmilab.ch]. I read it and it made a lot of common sense... I decided to try it. and so far I've lost 35 lbs and I haven't set foot in a gym since I started.
in short it's just calorie counting in a way that makes good logical sense... I don't even follow the diet plan that closely, I weight myself every day so I can plot my change, and the first week I took a closer look at how many calories the foods I typically eat contain. The first few days I had some crazy hunger pains but after that I don't feel hungry anymore than usual and I the only time I even really think about how many calories I'm eating is when I break away from my normal daily eating habits (ie: family BBQ, or a party, etc.) and even then I just make a rough guess and eat a little less during my meals earlier in the day.
I still go out for ice cream, have pizza at lunch, etc. I just keep a mental tally of roughtly how many calories I'm taking in so I can adjust my other meals accordingly...
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Re:Its not rocket surgery... (Score:4, Interesting)
This is so true. I too have an incredibly long sedentary job stuck behind a desk.
While metabolism does adjust based upon various factors, which alters how efficiently you burn calories (as opposed to flushing them out) the body is remarkably efficient; if you can digest it (i.e. not fibre), you will either burn it or store it. If you can't adjust how much you burn by substantial exercise, then the answer is to reduce how much goes in at the front end. Most people, like myself, who think they have a slow metabolism simply don't realise how much they eat.
Lets say you do an hour of moderate exercise in the gym a day; that's maybe 500-700 calories. If you work really really hard, that's 1000, absolute tops. 500 calories is the difference between a medium meal and a big meal; or a couple of cans of energy drink. Or a slice of cake. Or even just little snacks between meals. 130 calories a day over how much you expend (a can of coke), and that's 14 pounds weight gain a year.
I've read the hackers diet and it's good advice for guys like us. I've started counting how much I eat. You know what? I massively underestimated how much I was really eating. All the little stuff really mounts up. Even when I thought I was being good, I wasn't.
So now I count my calories (reasonably roughly) mainyl by weighing my food when I'm cooking it. I've cut down my portions by around 30% - which sounds like a lot, but honestly isn't considering I was eating past when I was full. I've substituted my crap snacks with fruit, and cut out the sweets, second portions, junk food and normal desserts. I record my weight daily on physicsdiet [physicsdiet.com] (which has a nice smoothing function for when you go up or down a few pounds due to water weight - it shows the overall trend very nicely)
I still have three proper meals a day, and even have low-calorie desserts. I can put my hand on my heart, and honestly say I do not feel hungry. I'm eating 1700-odd calories a day, which is about half of what I'm expending. I don't go to the gym, and have only slightly increased how much exercise I do - parking at the far end of the carpark and walking the extra two minutes, a short stroll at lunch, that sort of thing.
Going by the scales, I've lost 21 pounds in 6 weeks. According to the bodyfat it's almost entirely fat. I'm under 280 pounds for the first time in years. I can certainly wear trousers I haven't been able to wear for years. I've lost 4" off my waist. While I may not look much different, I do feel better - I certainly never feel starved. I'm going to try to fit some time in the gym a few days a week, but that will be in addition to the 1700 calories I'm already dieting.
So my advice to you, original tnok85 - estimate how much you eat in a day. Then keep a food diary, and record how much you eat, in full detail. Record your weight daily on physicsdiet (which is basically an online version of the hackers diet spreadsheets), or even just in excel. I bet you'll be surprised at the difference between what you think you eat, and what you do eat.
Then work out how many calories you'd likely spend in the gym, and see if you can cut that from your diet with low hanging fruit - the no-S [nosdiet.com] diet may help here. Keep recording your weight daily. And see how you go.
Me? I'm going to lose all this weight I've put on in 20 years through inattention, whether it takes 6 months, a year or 3 years. I'm likely going to have to keep a close eye on how much I cook, and weigh myself regularly for life. But the diet? It's not a diet. I'm just eating like a normal healthy person, instead of a normal healthy person who eats big meals and has the odd slice of cake.
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Re:Its not rocket surgery... (Score:5, Funny)
try swallowing the crap you get from ex-wives-to-be and you'll understand how that becomes a necessity.
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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.
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CrossFit (Score:4, Informative)
Walk (Score:4, Informative)
Re: Walk (Score:5, Funny)
From what I hear, you can do kegel exercises nearly anywhere at any time.
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Re:Walk (Score:5, Funny)
In most IT shops these are call 'shackles' and are provided by your boss.
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In a bind (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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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.
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Madness (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:Madness (Score:5, Funny)
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2 solutions (Score:5, Informative)
I've been in your situation and there are only two possible solutions:
-get a new job
-move closer to your existing job.
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.
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.
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A few simple things.. (Score:5, Informative)
Bicycle!! Definitely Bicycle!! (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
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)
Easy Solution (Score:5, Funny)
Meth. I have yet to run into a fat meth-head.
Re:Easy Solution (Score:5, Insightful)
Or an old one
Parent
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.
One word... (Score:4, Funny)
TAPEWORM...These little suckers will keep those pesky pounds off with minimal effort.
It's all in what you eat (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Re:It's all in what you eat (Score:4, Insightful)
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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.
Self powered work station (Score:4, Funny)
Bicycle + generator + power cables + workstation = full shift work out...
Eric
Wii Fit (Score:4, Interesting)
The simple solution is to FIND exercise... (Score:4, Funny)
...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...
Re:Exercise while you work. (Score:4, Funny)
Want to lose up to 57 lbs in one year?
Can't find enough time to get to the gym?
Spend lots of time in front of a computer?
Are you a stupid douche bag with no sense for practicality?
If you answered Yes, Yes and Yes and Yes and Yes and Yes, then welcome to the solution...the Treadmill Desk.
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Re:Exercise while you work. (Score:5, Interesting)
I have been working night shift in a NOC lately, myself. Deep into my 12 hour shifts, there is almost nobody in the building, so I can do laps. I carry my blackberry which will yell if I actually have to respond to an outage. I'm never more than 30 seconds away from my desk while I do laps. It's also easy to do jumping jacks, pushups and situps while with line of sight to my desk. Add in the occasional jumping jacks, and I'm oddly enough probably getting myself in better shape since having started this schedule. Go figure.
Of course, there is also the days off. I could theretically use those for excercise. I used to be in the habit of jogging when I had a working iPod because I could listen to education audio books while I ran. Now I can be at work while I run. I think I feel silly if the only thing I'm doing is running. As much as I know it is important, I don't really feel it is an accomplishment on its own.
Also, be careful with what you eat. Quantity is obviously a concern, but quality is a huge factor as well. On this schedule, I never really have time to cook the days that I work. The result is that I eat more burgers than would be ideal since that's the most convenient thing. When I'm at work, I often microwave frozen TV dinners or cans of soup with enough sodium to preserve an elephant. I'm trying to make a point of sticking to fruit juice instead of energy drinks, making the TV dinners the 'healthy' option, and at least squeezing in enough time to eat something better than a burger on my way home from work.
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