5/8 Monday Day 8 SLBC
themedalist
Posts: 3,218 Member
Theme: Sitting Less at Work
Today's Challenge: Many of us sit a lot at work. For today's challenge, look for ways you can reduce your work-time sitting. Maybe walk over and talk with a co-worker rather than sending them an email? Have a walking meeting? Use a restroom on a different floor or further away than the restroom you normally use? Take the stairs and not the elevator? There are lots of possibilities! What ways can you or do you sit less at work?
Alternative Challenge: Find a walking buddy! You may have a work colleague, or a spouse, friend, or neighbor, who would like to walk with you on a regular basis. My walking buddy at work is Lindsey and the support and accountability I have from her is terrific. I now eat lunch at my desk so that I can take two 15 minute walking breaks at work. I’m more productive because of these walking breaks and the steps add up quickly. I hope you find a walking buddy!
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And a few infographics on today's theme:
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Today's challenge is not going to work for me. I don't have meetings and the other things I already do. Sorry guys.0
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Today's challenge is not going to work for me. I don't have meetings and the other things I already do. Sorry guys.
Very understandable, @Silinde It would be impossible to create a sit-less challenge that was applicable to everyone. Because lots of people do much of their sitting at work, it's important to have at least one challenge focused on reducing work-time sitting.
Lots of substitution possibilities (including your One Thing) for those who do not sit too much at work but still want to be active today. I look forward to hearing about your day!0 -
I spent the weekend setting up my daughter's college graduation. Since the university is two hours away by car, my mother is an hour away in a different direction and still can't drive after her knee replacement and we were providing the food and supplies for the party at my in-laws (in the city two hours away), I spent much of the weekend sitting in the car.
But now my daughter is a college graduate, she has a job starting in July and I am a very proud mom. I was able to stand and walk a good part of the time at the party and some of the time during the graduation ceremony so I wasn't completely stationary.
Today I am up and moving. Since my "job" now is to transition from one job type to another, finding ways to do this standing or walking is a fun challenge. I think I'll try sorting out my old teaching materials at the table and counter instead of sitting on the floor in front of the bookcase. Getting everything off the bottom bookshelf out onto the table will be bonus exercise too.3 -
Since I have a sit/stand workstation, I try and limit my sitting to meetings and eating my lunch, but some tasks are just easier sitting. I'm going with the alternate challenge today not only for me to "move" but to inspire a coworker to move as well.3
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Since I am retired I will do the walking with my buddy which is my husband and my dog! My husband has joined me on this journey!2
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Well I'm fortunate enough to be a stay at home mom, but I do a lot of computer "work" with surveys and such (my little spending money) but won't be doing much of that today! It's Monday so it's my cooking day for the week! I pre-prepare all of my meals for the entire week. This way I can cook everything healthy all at once, have them portioned out, have all the recipes listed in MFP, and all I have to do is pop them in the microwave and heat up! So I'll be on my feet in the kitchen pretty much the entire day. It has worked tremendously for me the past two weeks! Down 10.4 lbs in 2 weeks! But first I get to go to my daughter's school for her Young Author's Day! I look forward to it every year.2
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taxmom9093 wrote: »I spent the weekend setting up my daughter's college graduation. Since the university is two hours away by car, my mother is an hour away in a different direction and still can't drive after her knee replacement and we were providing the food and supplies for the party at my in-laws (in the city two hours away), I spent much of the weekend sitting in the car. But now my daughter is a college graduate, she has a job starting in July and I am a very proud mom. I was able to stand and walk a good part of the time at the party and some of the time during the graduation ceremony so I wasn't completely stationary.
Today I am up and moving. Since my "job" now is to transition from one job type to another, finding ways to do this standing or walking is a fun challenge. I think I'll try sorting out my old teaching materials at the table and counter instead of sitting on the floor in front of the bookcase. Getting everything off the bottom bookshelf out onto the table will be bonus exercise too.
Congrats to you and your daughter, @taxmom9093 sounds like a very exciting weekend for you and your family!
I like the creativity that you and others have in finding ways to sit less for activities that you do often. Sorting materials while standing up instead of sitting on the floor is a terrific example.
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Since I have a sit/stand workstation, I try and limit my sitting to meetings and eating my lunch, but some tasks are just easier sitting. I'm going with the alternate challenge today not only for me to "move" but to inspire a coworker to move as well.
I can't say enough about the power of having a walking buddy. When Lindsey and I first started walking, I thought this will be great... a fun way to get more steps in. What I didn't appreciate is the accountability factor. Every day at 12:15 Lindsey appears at my office. I know this and I don't want to let her down by backing out of our scheduled walk. I think it's very easy to rationalize, "I just can't take a break, I need to get these emails out". Having a scheduled walk break prevents that and has definitely resulted in less sitting for me.
Whether your walking buddy is at work, or at home, or both… I'm sure there is someone in your life who would love to regularly walk with you. It could even be a "virtual walking buddy"... someone far away who you walk with while chatting on the phone. Granted, it's not quite the same thing, but it is a possibility.1 -
I'm still waiting for the muscle in my lower back to feel better. I'm hoping to find that moving around will be a double bonus. I'll loosen the muscle in my lower back and keep the movement going.
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I've got a meeting today, so I'll try standing in the back. I've never done that before. However, there could be hidden dangers to standing in meetings. Will I be more noticeable? Will people think I'm volunteering?
On the other hand, when Chandler on Friends fell asleep in a meeting, he wound up being transferred from NYC to Tulsa, OK.
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fanncy0626 wrote: »Since I am retired I will do the walking with my buddy which is my husband and my dog! My husband has joined me on this journey!
For those of you like @fanncy0626 who are dog walkers or just like to walk and like animals, I've got a terrific resource to tell you about coming up this Wednesday!0 -
Between Time Out to remind me to walk every hour and a countdown timer on my watch to keep me getting back in 10 minutes (for now, trying to balance work productivity with the walking regularly; I'm hoping I can keep up 10 minutes and stay later; if not I can certainly get 5 minutes/hour in most hours), I figured out how far I can go in 5 minutes out and 5 back, which is all the way through the building, out the back door to the end of the parking lot and back.
BTW a suggestion for everyone who it might apply to: one thing I already do (and have done for several years) is to park my car at the far end of the lot, so I already get a goodly amount of steps at the start and end of the workdays. Plus, at the edge of the lot by the exit, I waste less gas at the end of the day, as I'm rarely stuck behind other exiting cars. One thing I did notice is, when I first started doing it, I was pretty much all by myself out there, but I think others saw my car and twigged to the idea and within a week or two my car had 3-4 cars keeping it company.2 -
Between Time Out to remind me to walk every hour and a countdown timer on my watch to keep me getting back in 10 minutes (for now, trying to balance work productivity with the walking regularly; I'm hoping I can keep up 10 minutes and stay later; if not I can certainly get 5 minutes/hour in most hours), I figured out how far I can go in 5 minutes out and 5 back, which is all the way through the building, out the back door to the end of the parking lot and back.
BTW a suggestion for everyone who it might apply to: one thing I already do (and have done for several years) is to park my car at the far end of the lot, so I already get a goodly amount of steps at the start and end of the workdays. Plus, at the edge of the lot by the exit, I waste less gas at the end of the day, as I'm rarely stuck behind other exiting cars. One thing I did notice is, when I first started doing it, I was pretty much all by myself out there, but I think others saw my car and twigged to the idea and within a week or two my car had 3-4 cars keeping it company.
These are great suggestions, @arkaycee As you point out, parking further away has lots of benefits. You are also less likely to get your car scratched by the person in the space next to you.
At my local shopping center, there is a Planet Fitness gym. So many gym goers circle the lot looking for a close parking space, only to then go inside and get on the treadmill and walk. We are our habits.
Good job in starting a trend to park further away!1 -
Excellent suggestions! I do a fair number of these already, but I'm always looking for new tips and tricks. I haven't managed to convince any of my coworkers to do a walking meeting yet, but I'm going to keep trying! Maybe when the weather is nicer and it's the right sort of meeting where we don't need the computer or have a lot of hard copies to look at.
I've made it a habit to walk when I'm on my cellphone, and if I'm ever on a conference call at work, I try to call in on my cellphone so I can do the same thing. (I share an office with a coworker, and our desks face one another, so I try not to pace right in her face where she'll find it annoying.2 -
Doing my best to walk around at work today. So far I've used the far bathroom twice, refilled my water twice by doing a loop around the cubicles, brought my cup the keureg and then went back to my desk for the k-cup, and washed my dishes in two batches instead of one. Not able to get outside and do a lap around the parking lot because it's too stinking cold here.2
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No longer work so the alternative is using a walking buddy. That is my husband, honestly, we all ready do this, so get him to walk a bit further will be my goal. He is good for 1-1.5 miles, I would like for us to do at least 2 miles on each walk. Oh and my "other" walking buddy is my iPhone, I walk alone and listen to podcasts instead of music. I like to learn new things and I really like my walks this way.2
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I started using a restroom on the first floor so I have to take the stairs. I also started standing during Skype meetings. Also downloaded Move Your App and started using that! Love it. Great ideas. Love the graphics you posted today. I plan to print the first one and hang it on my wall in my cubicle at work.1
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My hubby came with me on my walk this evening and I know of two ladies that take two walks around our building twice during their day! I have plans to start linking up with them
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I'm a sahm and a writer, so I don't work in an office but I do spend a lot of time on the computer when not chasing the babies. I've been doing my internet tasks (email, bill paying, surfing) at the kitchen counter, standing. I'd like to get a standing desk riser for when I'm writing (that will have to come this summer or fall). I used to have a treadmill in my home office, but that won't work in this house. I have the move your app, so I'm thinking I'll climb the house stairs from basement to second floor when it goes off during my writing time.
But, one of my goals even before this challenge, was to get myself and the babies outside more often. My goal is to go for at least two short walks: one early in am before crazy heat sets in and one after dinner. I realized that with a bad cold/flu season in our house and cold weather and my kids being so little...they were not getting much time out doors at all. Plus, I want to model good habits for them.
I have been trying to find a walking buddy. I have another sahm neighbor who also works from home and we've said we're going to walk together, but scheduling is difficult. I'll get more serious about making that work somehow.1 -
OConnell5483 wrote: »I started using a restroom on the first floor so I have to take the stairs. I also started standing during Skype meetings. Also downloaded Move Your App and started using that! Love it. Great ideas. Love the graphics you posted today. I plan to print the first one and hang it on my wall in my cubicle at work.
Ooo- yeah, I should print this for my husband to take to work! I'm also hoping to inspire him to take his health more seriously as we're getting older and have small kids.0 -
I now work at home as well but now I sit at a desk up in my office. I downloaded an app on my phone and set it up to remind me every hour to get up and move. I'm finding it very easy.
I have also gone downstairs to the microwave to reheat my coffee instead of just drinking it cold.
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5/8...1888 steps
5/9 1767 steps1
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