Keeping in shape as an engineer, improving physically without sacrificing work 4

[sisoj]

Hey Engineers, I think self improvement includes physical as well that will assist us in mental! Please share your biggest 2 challenges when it comes to keeping unwanted weight off and being in shape.

 

[IRstuff]

sorry, but you can't find 10 minutes out of 16 hrs a day to exercise?

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

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[DrZoidberWoop]

2 biggest challenges:

1) Having a child
2) Having another child

I gained 10 lbs due to the ramifications of getting next to no sleep for a few months. I'm already caffeinated the whole day, and when I did go to the gym, I had about 1/10th of my normal energy. Thank god my boss has 5 kids, so he gave me plenty of leeway at work.

 

[SuperSalad]

Keeping unwanted eight off requires two things:
- diet (as in eat good, natural food, not depriving yourself or eating "lowfat". Don't "overeat" any one food type and eat lots of fruits and vegetables)
- and sleep. Getting good adequate sleep does wonders for your physical self.

Staying in shape requires one thing:
- Be active in your life. If your life consists of work and only work, find a way to make your work active. If you have a life outside of work, don't spend it sitting around, find at least one thing you like that keeps you moving and do it regularly.

DrZoidberWoop,

My kids are what keep me in shape for the most part. Sounds like mine might be a little older than yours if you are still in the "sleep deprivation" stages, but once you have multiple running around, chasing them and playing with them definitely help you stay in shape ​

Andrew H.

http://www.mototribology.com

 

[weldstan]

One can do some exercise at work by walking over to talk to coworkers instead of calling them, by using stairs instead of the elevator and just by getting up off my butt to walk around the office. I used to play squash during my lunch hour but I was close to the YMCA where I could do such exercise. Finally, when I had a kid, I would walk both the dog and him around the neighborhood. As he got older, we rode bikes together and played basketball or racket ball together.

 

[jari001]

The two biggest I deal with:
1. Not stress eating
2. Not getting enough sleep (especially if you work nights). Sleep is important for your mental well being as well as physical well being, so having enough sleep helps you deal with the stress that naturally flows in and out of our lives without picking up bad habits (see No. 1)

 

[CWB1]

At work, I watch what I eat and get up for a walk regularly. The former is largely keto-based. At my previous employer the later included a lap that was roughly a mile long around the inside of our manufacturing plant, now its simply a walk around the office every hour or two.

Outside of work I'm very active between my personal fab shop, the gym, running, and various intramural sports. Goal-setting is important - At 18 I could max an Army PT test, today I can still do the same tho its within a different age bracket.

 

[Ron247]

I just started using an ExerWork recumbent bike in my office. It has a desktop that I can use for a lot of my work but not all of it. I use it to read material, watch videos or other somewhat common engineering and office tasks. You can easily pedal an hour a day on it and they do not cost a lot. I am going to modify the desktop to be more "mouse friendly". Does not work good for ACAD or other applications that require accurate mouse placement. It easily holds my 17" laptop.

Takes a little while to adapt to pedaling while working but after about a week it becomes almost natural.

 

[ctopher]

I go for a walk around the building every morning, and walk the dog in the evening. I also go cycling every weekend.

ctopher, CSWP
SolidWorks '17
ctophers home
SolidWorks Legion

 

[zeusfaber]

Park at the far corner of the site. Use the stairs all the time. Go for frequent pee-breaks (to be fair, that's pretty much imposed on me these days), but use a bog on a different floor (actually, that's pretty-much imposed as well; finding a vacant toilet in our place is getting quite hard - but make a virtue out of an imposition).

Looking forward to the dog being big enough to be an excuse for a decent walk.

A.

 

[skeletron]

Bring the dog to work. It forces you to go for walks at least 2 times in a day.

 

[weldstan]

A number of companies today have gyms. When I first arrived at my final company, I was given a low cost enrollment in a gym/racket sports club. When the company opened its own gym, we were given very low rates to use it and many of us did.

 

[TheDW]

I lost 90lbs in about 8 months back in 2017 and have kept it off. It was also during the busiest time work-wise I've had in my ~6 year career, with several stretches where I was working 70+ hours a week.

- count calories. Every single thing I shoved into my facehole for that time I tracked on myfitnesspal or equivalent. I had my calorie goals for the day and met them or very close to it. Light breakfast, kept a store of lunch stuff in the fridge at work, and I prepped my dinners for the week every sunday and had them in tupperware containers for when I got home. I didn't starve myself, if i was really hungry I had a healthy snack like an apple. But get used to feeling hungry, if you're not a little uncomfortable then you aren't really changing anything.

- I was up at 5am every day and in the gym for an hour. Hated getting up for a month or so, but after a while I grew to love it once my body adjusted. The gym is empty, I get to work fully energized, and once I adjusted to getting up early, I found I had more energy throughout the day

- The biggest thing was a mindset change...if exercising and eating right is a priority for you, then you'll make time for it. That's it. If you aren't able to find the time to meal prep or workout, then you don't really care. And thats fine obviously , sometimes some things take precedence.

But if you have to skip more than a day or two, if you're honest with yourself that the reason you're slipping is that you just don't care enough and stop giving yourself excuses, then you're less likely to let yourself slip. In my experience.

 

[DVWE]

The biggest one for me is watching what I eat at work. All too often, colleagues and customers randomly bring in crap, like donuts or cake, and it's especially bad around the holidays. I just have to stay completely away from it, I've learned that I can't have "just a little bit".

The devil is in the details; she also wears prada.

 

[electricpete]

Standing desk is not a bad idea. Since my company wouldn't pay for one, I improvised by elevating my monitor and keyboard on books/boxes, and buying a tall barstool for $30. I can sit or stand on the barstool and still work comfortably.

I go for 25 minute walks at lunch (eat lunch at my desk to compensate). That's a nice break in the day.

I also use stairs vs elevator when possible.

Of course whatever you can do after work is great. Ideally something you enjoy enough to keep doing. I've taken to bicycle riding.

At work, I watch what I eat and get up for a walk regularly. The former is largely keto-based

cwb1 and I are on opposite sides of the political spectrum, but we are on the same side of the diet spectrum!

Keto has been a game changer for me. In my late 40’s I always got tired after dinner (often could barely find the energy to do anything other than plop onto the couch or bed). In my early 50’s I was diagnosed with reactive hypoglycemia (blood sugar spikes excessively after a meal and then drops too low). The doctor sent me to a dietician who told me to eat more smaller meals… didn’t seem to help.

Three years ago at age 56 I tried a keto diet. Within six months I lost 40 pounds and have easily kept it off since then (went from 230 pounds down to 190 pounds at 6’ 2”). But even more important to me was that I got my energy back. No more after meal slump – I feel like I have much better energy and sharpness throughout my day.

It is not a diet without controversy. The silliest thing that people worry about is cholesterol. My numbers are way better based on higher HDL / trig ratio and most people respond to the keto diet that way.

People say it’s not sustainable, but for me it’s easier. Your hunger decreases. In the beginning I was a little uncomfortable ordering in restaurants or picking my food at parties – now it’s not a hassle at all. Every restaurant has something keto friendly and if there’s nothing at a party I just skip it (again your hunger decreases on keto, so you can easily skip snacks and entire meals if you choose).

I'm surprised keto isn't more supported. I think too many people are set in their old ways/thinking. To be sure individual results may vary. I tend to think that maybe people who have some type of blood sugar disregulation (diabetes, pre-diabetes, reactive hypoglycemia) see more improvement on keto than others.

That’s a little bit of a tangential rant I know. I would heartily encourage anyone to research / try keto for themselves.

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[ctopher]

I agree with using the stairs. Whenever possible, I will run up the stairs for that extra "umph". ;-)
I work in a two-story building. I see people using the elevator all the time. I would never use them unless for medical reasons or pushing a cart.

ctopher, CSWP
SolidWorks '17
ctophers home
SolidWorks Legion

 

[electricpete]

If no-one else is around when I'm going up the stairs, I do two steps at a time and I swing the front leg high (higher than needed, as high as I can go, I come back down to land on the step) while in the rear leg I'm contracting my glutes and stretching my hip flexors.

In theory that helps to combat anterior pelvic tilt, which is a postural deformity that often develops with age (some say due to excess time sitting which stretches the glutes and contracts/shortens the hipflexors). Forward head posture is a similar category of postural deformity that often develops for office workers.


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(2B)+(2B)' ?

 

[sisoj]

Thank you for the responses guys, super helpful. I'm starting my coaching/consulting business for my fellow software engineers and trying to understand their problems better. I have been conducting some interviews with people on the phone and if anyone of you interested, I'd be thrilled to have a call with you and ask you couple questions about the struggles you are having when it comes to keeping in shape/healthy. If you want to please dm me and I can add you on facebook so that you know I'm a real person Again, thank you so much for your input!

 

[Sparweb]

I found a scissor-lift for my desk. Not expensive. Monitors on top shelf and keyboard/mouse/phone on the lower shelf. I can work, and do, standing for at least half of every day. When it is lowered it's basically at desk height and comfortable to work at sitting down, just as much as standing up.
My back and my butt are grateful for it. My feet need a break for a few hours, depending on the shoes I have on.

Using it for a year, from the standing position I find that I move about the office more often, and discuss the work I'm doing more freely. It's also easier for a group of people to view my screen at the same time in these discussions.

http://www.sparweb.ca

 

[JStephen]

Bicycling and Weightwatchers (now WW) for me.
If you have mountains in your area, I found in the past that hiking up steep hills was wonderful exercise.