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.

 

[msquared48]

Liposuction...

Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA, HI)

 

[truckandbus]

Used to have an exercise routine but then my job took me out of town frequently and I was broken of the habit, plus the restaurant meals, drinks, etc. I admire the road warriors with the discipline to use the hotel gyms and who order the salads for dinner.

My current peer group/supervisors use the company fitness facility as a proxy meeting room - combining business with fitness - so the time in the gym is justified from the business perspective and isn't looked upon as ducking out of work. I don't do this myself because i DO look upon it as ducking out of work but I'm a cynic

 

[davidinindy]

I only live 1-1/2 miles from work, so bike to work frequently.
In fact, after riding to work all summer, I ended up riding with my 1st grader to her school, locking her bike up there, then riding in to work.
I eat reasonable lunches (PB&J is my usual)
I get home and can't stand flopping down on the couch.
I go work on a project in the garage, or take the dog for a walk, or ride bikes to the park with the kids.
I used to go to the gym on my lunch hour, but have fallen out of that routine.
I eat healthy most of the time, so I don't feel guilty grabbing a doughnut that a vendor brings in, or going out for a long lunch on Fridays

David
Connect with me on LinkedIn.

http://lnkd.in/fY7-QK

Quote: "If it ain't broke, I must not've fixed it good enough"

 

[271828]

Before I had a family, I'd hit the gym and lift weights from 6 pm to 7:30-8:00 pm five days a week. That's infeasible now.

Nowadays, I do mostly bodyweight exercise (squats, pushups, etc.) circuits, ranging from four minutes to 25 minutes. Example short workout: tabata squats; in just under four minutes, you can nearly totally exhaust yourself with this. Example long workout: Four or five rounds for time of 20 pushups, 20 situps, and 50 squats. One of my favorites is 100 burpees for time. The variety of workouts is only limited by your imagination and no equipment is needed. Anybody can get in seriously good shape by doing only this.

A great resource for these kinds of workouts is

http://rosstraining.com/blog/never-gymless/

I typically roll out of bed and do one of these before getting coffee and water, and then get in the shower and get on with my day. Anybody can do this if they know about the idea.

 

[271828]

To answer the OP's question about the biggest challenges.

#1: People frequently presenting low quality food and creating temptations. We have donuts, home made desserts, etc. in our office nearly every day. My family is similar, with a few people dragging garbage food in nearly every day.

#2: Irregular sleep. We have some mentally ill people in our house and they do chaotic things like get up in the middle of the night and wake everybody up for a couple of hours 2-3x per week. It's tough to roll out of bed at 6:00 and exercise after losing sleep time from, say, 2 am to 4 am.

 

[btrueblood]

EP, I too use a low-carb diet, it works great. I'm at a healthier weight today than 3 months ago (dropped from 205 to 175 at 5'6") and can work out without my knee acting up.

 

[IRstuff]

Eating out for lunch is a multiple whammy; you likely drive to somewhere (sitting), get more calories than you need (gain fat), and suck up time that you could be exercising.

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

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[TheEngineerBoy]

Hello,

The way I "solved" the issue of when to find the time to workout (run, weights, whatever) was I had to make it THE FIRST THING I DO WHEN I GET UP.

I found that if I said that I'll workout when I get home from work. Well, there's the emergency that makes us stay later. Scratch that day. Then there's the accident that makes us an hour late getting home. Scratch that day. The issue with the kid, the wife, the dog, whatever once we get home. Scratch that day. Now, you've missed three days and now's it's Friday and frak it. Let's get some pizza have a cocktail...

So, now I've got an extra 30 pounds, in my forties and the doc says if I don't do something soon, I'll be dead in five years.

So, get you arse up in the morning and fraking get it done.

Cheers

 

[Bernoulli31]

After years of going to the gym and realizing it's really not doing anything for me, I recently joined a Crossfit box. After a couple of weeks, I'm feeling better than I have in the past ten 15 years. And a session is only one hour!

A light or no breakfast (why force yourself to eat if you're not hungry when you wake up?), cutting down on the bad carbs, sweets, and meats also has a positive effect on my overall well-being.

And yes, stay away from the crap they give you at the office!


I design aqueducts in a parallel universe.

 

[STrctPono]

To piggy back off of what electricpete and sparweb said. I too recently got a standing desk. I know that some of the latest research says that standing burns almost no more calories than sitting but I have a standing desk setup for my computer and a standing height drafting desk on the other side of my room where I draw and design so it forces me to move much more.

 

[Sparweb]

I'm not sure if this is a common experience, but many people I know and have talked to across North America have relocated themselves to work from home this week. And I'm the same.
I didn't need to bring my standing desk with me - I have a drafting table at home and so I was able to set up there. But maybe I'm unusually lucky. Maybe many other people are shifting to temporary spots to work that aren't so comfortable or supportive of their health.

Long term I have found that standing at least 1/2 of the working day every day has given me a much more firm back. I have been active in many other ways in the past year (woodwork, steelwork, skiing, snowboarding, jogging, even handling horses) but I haven't hurt my back once.

http://www.sparweb.ca