11hr per day desk job is killing me
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I work overnight front desk at a hotel. There are times I'll pace the hallway or lobby just to get some activity in.0
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Distractedlyme - I'm a 911 dispatcher - I totally get it! I'm literally tethered to a desk, by a headset, for 12 hours a day, at least four days a week (we have a lot of turnover so there's plenty of OT to go around)! Friend request sent!0
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If you ride a bike, perhaps you could take your bike with you and go for a ride on your breaks?0
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I also work a desk job. When I go to the wc, I take the long way round, and sometimes circle past to make the walk longer.
I get out of the office and go for coffee or a walk on my 15 minute break.
I eat lunch at my desk, and use my lunch hour to take a walk.
Down 70+ pounds in a year.0 -
I probably wouldn't have been all that thrilled with my life if I'd died while I was learning to program. Now that doing so enabled me to retire in my 40s, damn straight I'd die happy with how my life is.chivalryder wrote: »Wookinpanub wrote: »I was doing this trying to get ahead. Get in early stay late. Diet was terrible and had bad habits - always had donuts, bagels, cookies when they were brought in and I got in a habit of having a diet coke and candy in the afternoon just about every day.
I just made my health a priority and made sure I got my work out in every morning. Now I get in around 9-930 instead of 730-8. Kicked the snacking habits or made better choices on snacks.
This.
I tried working long hours. I think I lasted about 2 weeks before I burned out.
I'd rather shoot myself than work a job that constantly demanded that amount of work every week. My life is worth more to me than a job.
Also, if my current boss asked me to work like that on a regular basis, I'd tell him to eat a buffet of dicks. Again, my life is worth more than any job.
I get the whole "I can't change jobs, I'm stuck where I am mentality, or whatever reason people come up with to justify the reason why they torture themselves, but let me ask you this:
If you were hit by a bus tomorrow and killed, would you die happy with how your life is?
Part of being an adult is recognizing that every day isn't going to be a pony birthday party and that sometimes hard, crappy work leads to better, less crappy work, or to no work at all.
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DeguelloTex wrote: »
I probably wouldn't have been all that thrilled with my life if I'd died while I was learning to program. Now that doing so enabled me to retire in my 40s, damn straight I'd die happy with how my life is.chivalryder wrote: »Wookinpanub wrote: »I was doing this trying to get ahead. Get in early stay late. Diet was terrible and had bad habits - always had donuts, bagels, cookies when they were brought in and I got in a habit of having a diet coke and candy in the afternoon just about every day.
I just made my health a priority and made sure I got my work out in every morning. Now I get in around 9-930 instead of 730-8. Kicked the snacking habits or made better choices on snacks.
This.
I tried working long hours. I think I lasted about 2 weeks before I burned out.
I'd rather shoot myself than work a job that constantly demanded that amount of work every week. My life is worth more to me than a job.
Also, if my current boss asked me to work like that on a regular basis, I'd tell him to eat a buffet of dicks. Again, my life is worth more than any job.
I get the whole "I can't change jobs, I'm stuck where I am mentality, or whatever reason people come up with to justify the reason why they torture themselves, but let me ask you this:
If you were hit by a bus tomorrow and killed, would you die happy with how your life is?
Part of being an adult is recognizing that every day isn't going to be a pony birthday party and that sometimes hard, crappy work leads to better, less crappy work, or to no work at all.
Sometimes hard, crappy work leads to bad knees, a sore back, and carpal tunnel while you spend your later years penniless, without a retirement plan, and without decent healthcare.
Just sayin0 -
I work long hours at a desk job.
I've worked long hours, in other professions, before.
There is no difference between one or the other ... its all CICO. Surplus you gain, deficit you lose ...
It's no more challenging to pack a nutritious and sensible lunch to take to work if your a CEO or a janitor. Or if you work part time or overtime.
Same goes for exercise. You either choose to make time for it, or you don't. Something as simple as having to walk an extra 100 yards by parking in the back of the lot can have a significant impact, especially if your not getting any other exercise.
Stop making excuses, and start making changes ... and you will see results.0 -
Learning to deal with my job and unpredictable (and often long) schedule was a huge part of what I had to figure out to lose weight, and I used my job as an excuse when I was gaining weight too (and waited until I had a relatively down period to get started). But I also understood that it wasn't the job, but me and my issues dealing with the job, because I had plenty of co-workers and friends in identical jobs who prioritized staying in shape and getting in exercise and did.
That's meant to be encouragement, as I know it can be hard, and job stuff is still what I struggle with the most. I've tried to see times I got derailed due to work stuff while losing as learning experiences--for example, early on after I got a good start during a down period I had a couple of weeks where I was at the office and busy 8-11 or so every day and all weekend. I didn't handle the getting in exercise part well (now I think I'd do better), but I decided in advance I'd just give myself a break and eat well. Early on I didn't realize how late I'd end up there and got hungry and started eating all kinds of off-plan stuff at the office and was tempted to just grab a frozen pizza or some ice cream when I got home, but I made an omelet instead and picked up yogurt and stuff to have at the office and started bringing dinner with me. After that period, despite no exercise, I'd stuck to my calories and had a really good loss. More important, I learned that being unable to be perfect wasn't an excuse or reason to give up and decide I'd have to wait for a better time, as I'd repeatedly done the year before, when I couldn't seem to get going for any length of time.0 -
12-hr desk job for me, plus commute. In addition half of my work shifts are graveyard shifts, which naturally lend themselves to consuming copious amounts of soda or snacks just to stay awake.
Or at least used to. Cleaned up my diet with the help of MFP, dropped 50 pounds of fat before adding 15+ pounds of muscle (likely more than that). It can be done.0 -
Sometimes it does. Doesn't change the point that deciding whether your life could be judged "happy" based on a snapshot of time in what appears to be a relatively early-career position is a very good metric. I mean, yeah, "You gotta live like you're on vacation" makes a good song lyric, but it's not exactly sage personal or financial advice.DeguelloTex wrote: »
I probably wouldn't have been all that thrilled with my life if I'd died while I was learning to program. Now that doing so enabled me to retire in my 40s, damn straight I'd die happy with how my life is.chivalryder wrote: »Wookinpanub wrote: »I was doing this trying to get ahead. Get in early stay late. Diet was terrible and had bad habits - always had donuts, bagels, cookies when they were brought in and I got in a habit of having a diet coke and candy in the afternoon just about every day.
I just made my health a priority and made sure I got my work out in every morning. Now I get in around 9-930 instead of 730-8. Kicked the snacking habits or made better choices on snacks.
This.
I tried working long hours. I think I lasted about 2 weeks before I burned out.
I'd rather shoot myself than work a job that constantly demanded that amount of work every week. My life is worth more to me than a job.
Also, if my current boss asked me to work like that on a regular basis, I'd tell him to eat a buffet of dicks. Again, my life is worth more than any job.
I get the whole "I can't change jobs, I'm stuck where I am mentality, or whatever reason people come up with to justify the reason why they torture themselves, but let me ask you this:
If you were hit by a bus tomorrow and killed, would you die happy with how your life is?
Part of being an adult is recognizing that every day isn't going to be a pony birthday party and that sometimes hard, crappy work leads to better, less crappy work, or to no work at all.
Sometimes hard, crappy work leads to bad knees, a sore back, and carpal tunnel while you spend your later years penniless, without a retirement plan, and without decent healthcare.
Just sayin
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DeguelloTex wrote: »
I probably wouldn't have been all that thrilled with my life if I'd died while I was learning to program. Now that doing so enabled me to retire in my 40s, damn straight I'd die happy with how my life is.chivalryder wrote: »Wookinpanub wrote: »I was doing this trying to get ahead. Get in early stay late. Diet was terrible and had bad habits - always had donuts, bagels, cookies when they were brought in and I got in a habit of having a diet coke and candy in the afternoon just about every day.
I just made my health a priority and made sure I got my work out in every morning. Now I get in around 9-930 instead of 730-8. Kicked the snacking habits or made better choices on snacks.
This.
I tried working long hours. I think I lasted about 2 weeks before I burned out.
I'd rather shoot myself than work a job that constantly demanded that amount of work every week. My life is worth more to me than a job.
Also, if my current boss asked me to work like that on a regular basis, I'd tell him to eat a buffet of dicks. Again, my life is worth more than any job.
I get the whole "I can't change jobs, I'm stuck where I am mentality, or whatever reason people come up with to justify the reason why they torture themselves, but let me ask you this:
If you were hit by a bus tomorrow and killed, would you die happy with how your life is?
Part of being an adult is recognizing that every day isn't going to be a pony birthday party and that sometimes hard, crappy work leads to better, less crappy work, or to no work at all.
There's a big difference between "sometimes" and "every day."
I can pull an 11 hour day. No problem. I can pull 12 hours a day for a week. Not a big deal.
Buy day-in, day-out every day for the entire time you have that job?
No way that's going to happen. There's no point in working THAT hard so I can retire early. There's a good chance I wouldn't even make it to retirement.0 -
The job isn't the problem. A lot of us have desk jobs and are still able to lose weight. I work a regular 40-hour work week, but it's in an office where I'm sitting for most of the day and I'm just a few feet from the kitchen where there is constantly cookies/donuts/cake/etc laying out. I wake up at 4AM to get my workout in, pre-log my days so I know what I can eat in order to hit my calories/macros each day, and I don't eat treats that don't fit into those goals. I lost almost 40 lbs and reached my goal weight by doing that. Now I maintain my weight doing that.
In the end, it all comes down to how badly you want it. If you want to reach your goal bad enough, making the necessary changes to reach that goal doesn't seem like such a huge inconvenience. It eventually becomes a routine; no thinking necessary. You either want it or you don't - the decision is yours, and you're the only thing standing in your way.0 -
DeguelloTex wrote: »
Sometimes it does. Doesn't change the point that deciding whether your life could be judged "happy" based on a snapshot of time in what appears to be a relatively early-career position is a very good metric. I mean, yeah, "You gotta live like you're on vacation" makes a good song lyric, but it's not exactly sage personal or financial advice.DeguelloTex wrote: »
I probably wouldn't have been all that thrilled with my life if I'd died while I was learning to program. Now that doing so enabled me to retire in my 40s, damn straight I'd die happy with how my life is.chivalryder wrote: »Wookinpanub wrote: »I was doing this trying to get ahead. Get in early stay late. Diet was terrible and had bad habits - always had donuts, bagels, cookies when they were brought in and I got in a habit of having a diet coke and candy in the afternoon just about every day.
I just made my health a priority and made sure I got my work out in every morning. Now I get in around 9-930 instead of 730-8. Kicked the snacking habits or made better choices on snacks.
This.
I tried working long hours. I think I lasted about 2 weeks before I burned out.
I'd rather shoot myself than work a job that constantly demanded that amount of work every week. My life is worth more to me than a job.
Also, if my current boss asked me to work like that on a regular basis, I'd tell him to eat a buffet of dicks. Again, my life is worth more than any job.
I get the whole "I can't change jobs, I'm stuck where I am mentality, or whatever reason people come up with to justify the reason why they torture themselves, but let me ask you this:
If you were hit by a bus tomorrow and killed, would you die happy with how your life is?
Part of being an adult is recognizing that every day isn't going to be a pony birthday party and that sometimes hard, crappy work leads to better, less crappy work, or to no work at all.
Sometimes hard, crappy work leads to bad knees, a sore back, and carpal tunnel while you spend your later years penniless, without a retirement plan, and without decent healthcare.
Just sayin
Did I suggest that people should live like their on vacation?0 -
I'm in accounting and sit at my desk 10hrs a day. I purchased a fitbit last week and I'm amazed at how much it's motived me to get moving. The goal is to walk 10,000 step in a day, which is roughly 5 miles. The first day I wore it, I walked what I would normally walk and it was just under 2,000 steps... WOW. So then I started finding little ways to walk more. For example, when I print out invoices, I print one at a time and walk to the printer to get them separately. For me, that's approximately 30 steps per trip. Previously, it was my secretary's job to get the mail, but now, I walk out the the mailbox to get it everyday. I also get up and walk at least 200 steps every hour, on the hour.
This is me also. I work from home, and while I'd try to make sure I used the bathroom downstairs to get in those extra steps, the FitBit opened my eyes. I now endeavour to do 10K steps a day (and yes, I march at my desk while on conference calls, thank goodness no one can see that), I've been running since February (i get up early, but I'm spoiled by no commute), park at the end of lots when I go out, and if I'm not at 10K by bedtime, I hit the treadmill... But all this movement wouldn't make much of a difference if I wasn't counting every bite that goes into my mouth.0 -
9 hours a day-er here. I have a FitBit and I make sure I get up every hour to walk to the factory, get coffee, talk to co-workers face to face rather than over intercom. It really adds up!0
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numbnumbnumb wrote: »
This is me also. I work from home, and while I'd try to make sure I used the bathroom downstairs to get in those extra steps, the FitBit opened my eyes. I now endeavour to do 10K steps a day (and yes, I march at my desk while on conference calls, thank goodness no one can see that), I've been running since February (i get up early, but I'm spoiled by no commute), park at the end of lots when I go out, and if I'm not at 10K by bedtime, I hit the treadmill... But all this movement wouldn't make much of a difference if I wasn't counting every bite that goes into my mouth.
Very true! Everything I eat gets weighed and/or counted. Very important!0 -
Even though I have a desk job, there are long days when I do get a lot of steps. I'm an accountant for a manufacturing plant, so when we do inventory, I'm there usually from 4am until around 10pm. Since I'm walking all around the plant, I get a lot of steps. If I remember correctly, last time we had an inventory, I ended up with about 14 miles of walking.0
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DeguelloTex wrote: »
Sometimes it does. Doesn't change the point that deciding whether your life could be judged "happy" based on a snapshot of time in what appears to be a relatively early-career position is a very good metric. I mean, yeah, "You gotta live like you're on vacation" makes a good song lyric, but it's not exactly sage personal or financial advice.DeguelloTex wrote: »
I probably wouldn't have been all that thrilled with my life if I'd died while I was learning to program. Now that doing so enabled me to retire in my 40s, damn straight I'd die happy with how my life is.chivalryder wrote: »Wookinpanub wrote: »I was doing this trying to get ahead. Get in early stay late. Diet was terrible and had bad habits - always had donuts, bagels, cookies when they were brought in and I got in a habit of having a diet coke and candy in the afternoon just about every day.
I just made my health a priority and made sure I got my work out in every morning. Now I get in around 9-930 instead of 730-8. Kicked the snacking habits or made better choices on snacks.
This.
I tried working long hours. I think I lasted about 2 weeks before I burned out.
I'd rather shoot myself than work a job that constantly demanded that amount of work every week. My life is worth more to me than a job.
Also, if my current boss asked me to work like that on a regular basis, I'd tell him to eat a buffet of dicks. Again, my life is worth more than any job.
I get the whole "I can't change jobs, I'm stuck where I am mentality, or whatever reason people come up with to justify the reason why they torture themselves, but let me ask you this:
If you were hit by a bus tomorrow and killed, would you die happy with how your life is?
Part of being an adult is recognizing that every day isn't going to be a pony birthday party and that sometimes hard, crappy work leads to better, less crappy work, or to no work at all.
Sometimes hard, crappy work leads to bad knees, a sore back, and carpal tunnel while you spend your later years penniless, without a retirement plan, and without decent healthcare.
Just sayin
I.... Don't think he said that?0 -
Some really fantastic advice here, thank you, especially those who are non-judgemental without know much more than the basics!
The mini bike idea is great. I already walk to and from work. My main problem is not eating enough and not eating the right foods. I can't get a standing desk and I am literally tied to the desk as I work in a call centre. I don't snack, I don't drink enough water. Every colleague I need to speak to is in a different part of the country/world so walking for some face to face is not an option. By the end of the shift I usually feel exhausted and this is likely down to the fact I neither eat or drink enough and by the time I get home anywhere between 2030 and 2130, I'll eat anything before falling into bed.
I know some people wouldn't beast themselves for a job, but I'm retraining to become a solicitor shortly and quite frankly, I need the money because no one is funding it but me and my partner and we have - like most people - bills to pay.
This is a means to an end but I need to find a happy medium and I know, I'm fully accountable, that's why I'm here hopefully making supportive friends so thank you to everyone who has given great advice, made me feel normal and enthused me to start tomorrow positively. And thanks for Al the friend requests 0 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »Desk job here...
- i make sure i get up and just walk around for at least 5 minutes every hour
- if i need to talk to a colleague or something, I get up and go to there office or cubicle instead of using the phone intercom or email.
- i work on the 3rd floor...i always take the stairs
- i use the break-room and bathroom on the 1st floor most of the time...more stairs.
- i park in one of the furthest spot from my building
- i brown bag it pretty much always so that I'm in full command of my nutrition
- i bring my own snacks
- i either get my ride in early in the morning (like 4:45 AM) or I use my lunch break to ride.
- i go to the gym 2x weekly after work to lift and then again on Saturday. I usually do a longish ride on Sunday
- when i get home from work there's always stuff to be done...i have a 3 y.o. and a 5 y.o. so there's that...i'm also the primary cook and general fixer of things around the house and i'm primarily responsible for the yard...so i'm pretty much on my feet doing something for a few hours when i get home.
- i watch very little t.v....maybe 1/2 hour per night while the wife and i have dinner.
- we are active as a family and enjoy going to the zoo and walking around for a few hours as opposed to say, staying home and watching a movie...a nice recreational bike ride to the park to play is more up our alley than sitting around the house playing video games....we'd rather go kick the soccer ball around or play catch than watch sports on t.v....etc, etc, etc
- our primary grocery store is about 1 mile from the house...we like going as a family and walking...we all get in a couple miles, including the dog.
Amazing tips, all these little things will certainly make a big difference in my daily life.
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