Any Programmers here? Have over 60 to lose.

I have a sedentary job, but I'm not a programmer. I do, however, love data. Data motivates me.

I like MFP for its data - weighing and logging my food accurately, then seeing the reports on my stats as I progress.

I also use Happy Scale on my iPhone to chart my daily weight. It lets me see how fluctuations up and down are normal, and it shows me an average graph line going downwards. I log my weight there daily, but only record my weight in MFP weekly.

I never get depressed when my weight goes up, because I know I've stuck to my calorie limit in MFP, and Happy Scale shows me my trend is downward.

Also I've loved my iPhone 6's Health app for counting my steps. Seeing how much I improved from walking to and from work and at lunchtime made me love walking, and actually start running.

Since I started running I've bought a Fitbit Charge HR wristband, and that's got all sorts of lovely data about steps, heart rate, and sleep, to name a few.

Data for health!

liznotyet wrote: »

There is a programmer former obese fellow who invented a character called the Blerch who motivated me to a 10K last year.

Oh yes. Everybody so needs to read that.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/running

I'm a web developer and program on the side. All I do is sit for work, but I've manage to lose 80 lbs in 15 months. I've kept it off for over 2.5 years and for me it wasn't really difficult.

Here are some things that has worked for me:

- Training myself to exercise as soon as I get up. When I first started I would exercise after dinner, but sometimes came up so I'd have to skip it. Exercising in the morning gets it out of the way. After about a month of consistent early AM workouts became a habit.

- I slowly learned to stop snacking. It was too easy to grab a soda and a bag of chips and eat at my desk, then still be hungry! Once I started keeping track of how much I was eating, I was floored with how many calories I was consuming in between meals. Now I eat larger meals so I'm satisfied and don't need to snack.

- Meal planning is important and it helps me stay on track since I know in advance what I'm eating.

- There are no treats in my house. I work from home and my office is next to my kitchen. That's a scary situation as a former emotional eater. When I want a treat I have to go out and get it. Sometimes I would eventually forget about it though!

- I am very mindful about portion sizes and eating balanced meals. I still eat things like pizza, but instead of having 4 - 5 slices, bread sticks and a soda when I was overweight, now I would have 2 slices, a big veggie salad and water.

- I stopped drinking my calories (not including homemade things such as protein smoothies, hot chocolate, lemonade or freshly squeezed juice.) No soda, store-bought juice or alcohol. This saves me so many calories and I can put those empty calories towards food.

Now that I'm maintaining my weight I still follow these points. The only difference is I do more intense workouts, sometimes I workout twice a day and I eat more calories.

I wish everyone good luck with losing and keep the weight off. You can lose weight while having a sedentary job.

I work at a development company in QA. I lost half my body weight despite a desk job. You can do it. Find excuses to get up from your desk. For me, refilling my coffee and water is great for this. Bring in pre-portioned snacks and lunches so you're not relying on the vending machines or eating at restaurants all the time. Don't feel obligated to eat free food that the company provides or co-workers bring in. You'll likely also want to establish a gym schedule. I find it easiest to go right after work. I'm less likely to exercise once I get home and relax. If your company has an on-site wellness center/gym definitely take advantage.