11hr per day desk job is killing me

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Replies

  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
    DeguelloTex wrote: »
    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?
    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.

    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.
  • _lyndseybrooke_
    _lyndseybrooke_ Posts: 2,561 Member
    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.
  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
    DeguelloTex wrote: »
    DavPul wrote: »
    DeguelloTex wrote: »
    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?
    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.

    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
    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.

    Did I suggest that people should live like their on vacation?
  • numbnumbnumb
    numbnumbnumb Posts: 237 Member
    Thea519 wrote: »
    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.
  • Alluminati
    Alluminati Posts: 6,208 Member
    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!
  • theawill519
    theawill519 Posts: 242 Member
    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!
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
    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.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    DeguelloTex wrote: »
    DavPul wrote: »
    DeguelloTex wrote: »
    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?
    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.

    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
    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.

    I.... Don't think he said that?
  • distactedlyme
    distactedlyme Posts: 12 Member
    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 :)
  • ABabilonia
    ABabilonia Posts: 622 Member
    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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