jomama717's Journal: Battling "Terminal Obesity"

Like many fellow IT professionals I struggle against the inevitable weight gain that comes with hours of sitting in front of a terminal with little time left over to hit the gym. It all comes down to calories - typing doesn't go a long way towards burning them, so I've come up with a few simple changes I can make in my routine to cut down the intake:

1. Eat slow, eat less

   As a Subway fiend I did an experiment: rather than inhaling a footlong in 15 minutes, I tried slowly eating a six inch sub over the course of a half an hour. Eureka! At the end of the half hour I was completely stuffed (as opposed to ludicrously stuffed), and on half of the calories to boot. One tip - make it a point to actually put down whatever you are eating after every bite - you may be surprised how much that slows you down.

2. Take the stairs

   May not sound like much, but I was shocked to discover that walking up 4 flights of stairs instead of taking the elevator actually winded me. To me this indicated two things: (1) I was grossly out of shape, and (2) that effort must have burned a few calories. Elevator be damned.

3. Resist the dish

   As the pounds pile up, what once was an added bonus in the workplace - the abundance of candy dishes and snack machines - becomes a constant temptation. A little bit of self discipline goes a long way (6 tootsie rolls have 140 calories!!!) If the need to snack is firmly entrenched, bring your own - almonds and popcorn flavored rice cakes are my personal favorites. Moderation is still the key - an ounce of almonds (20-25) has as many calories as the six tootsie rolls (but won't leave you hungry for more in 10 minutes).

4. Take a hike

   When I'm wrestling with a tricky problem or design detail, I have always found it beneficial to get away from my desk for a while. This used to mean hitting the snack room - using this "brain time" as an excuse to eat even more. Now I leave the building altogether and walk a few laps around it. Not only am I getting some exercise, but the fresh air seems to stoke the fire a bit. It's snowing you say? Get some snow shoes. Why not?

5. Water is good - and free!

   Drinking water every day is such a simple thing, but goes a long way towards shedding the lbs. I used to drink Coke straight up (~5 a day to the tune of 755 calories) until I switched to diet. Sure, diet coke has no calories, but what exactly does it have? Now I drink water: no calories, free, and alll natural baby.

It's still a struggle, and I still have to work at these rules every day, but I think I've at least stopped the bleeding. I'd love to hear other ideas people have come up with in the interest of avoiding out of control weight gain in the IT workplace, and I hope at least one person out there gives some of these ideas a try.

Good Advice

[labalicious]

I noticed that sitting in cube hell for 40+ hours a week was taking a toll on me in a big way. I used to drink at least 3 cokes a day. I finally kicked the habit and started drinking only 1 cup of coffee a day for the caffeine addiction (very little sugar added) and water. I have lost over 10 pounds in the last 2 months. I have to say, it really does work. Keep it up and you'll notice some big differences. Being the tech guy that I am, I bought a nano and some nike shoes for the iPod integration. It really

Re:

[jomama717]

Thanks man - good point on the coffee, I do still hit that every morning but am trying to ween myself off of the cream and sugar. I have an ipod, but it's the 80GB variety - still portable, but if I drop that sucker and break it it would be like losing a limb...I'm debating getting a bike, where I live/work in Chicago there's a great lake front bike path to ride on - for the three months that the weather permits it anyway :)