Looking for ideas... How to Stay Healthy at a Desk Job???

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lisaishere
lisaishere Posts: 24 Member
in Motivation and Support
In the past two years - I gained 20 pounds, and I attribute a good portion of that to my job! My job pays the bills and exercises my brain, but I am in website development, and ALL of my job is spent at a desk, on the computer, or on the phone. 5 days a week, 8 hours a day. My commute is another 75 minutes of sitting, each way, so all together, that is 11 hours of sitting per day.

I get my exercise in the morning at 6:30am, I do a 30m to 40m workout video at home 4 to 5 days a week, then I am on the road by 8am. I try and do longer, more intense workouts on the weekends, when time allows.

I have to walk to and from my car... that's about 20 minutes of brisk walking per day. I try and get out and do at least a 20 minute walk at lunch time, but many days my schedule doesn't even allow for a lunch break (I eat at my desk).

Any ideas or tips to get in more exercise???? I would love to get in my 10,000 steps a day... but right now I average about 5,000.

Replies

  • Ant488
    Ant488 Posts: 372 Member
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    Walk around as much as you can. If there are stairs, walk up and down them as well.
  • DaisyHamilton
    DaisyHamilton Posts: 575 Member
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    I actually did 20,000 steps for the first time the other day while working at my desk job. But I spent the majority of the day standing at the copy machine and filing, so I walked in place while I did it. If you're allowed headsets for phone calls, you can walk while on the phone.

    Of course there's all the standard tips, like park far away, use the farthest bathroom, etc, but those don't apply to me so they don't help (only parking lot is next door to my building, and the only bathroom is about 50 feet away from my desk).

    Every time I wash my hands, I do 10 squats. Sometimes I'll just get up from my desk and walk in place until I hit the next 500 mark (but only if no one can see me, I don't want to embarrass myself).

    Honestly, you exercise more than I do, though, so maybe YOU should be giving ME advice!
  • chaney3000
    chaney3000 Posts: 261 Member
    edited May 2016
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    Well, desk job exercise is about movement excuses. I'm not sure how your office is designed but every hour hit the stairs 2 times. And during lunch spend the first 15 mins hitting the stairs. You can easily get in 30 flights of stairs that way. 16 for the 8 hours and another 14 in that 15 min. Or if you have your own cubicle, you can do the stairs and then come back and do some push ups. 10 at a time. So you can bang them out real quick

    Or bring some dumbbells with you and and do some curls, shoulder presses, triceps pulls. Do like 10 of each on the hour and you will have a full days worth of work.
  • dlkfox
    dlkfox Posts: 463 Member
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    I have a friend who implemented hourly stretch and movement breaks.for her team. At first it was really jusr her but now everyone loves them. She writes the hour and the exercise or stretch on the white board.
  • Psychgrrl
    Psychgrrl Posts: 3,177 Member
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    Standing desk. Taking breaks for a 15 minute walk every couple of hours. Walk on most of your lunch break.

    I only let myself watch TV when I'm walking. I do laps around my apartment complex at night. My neighbors find it very entertaining to watch me watching "The Walking Dead" (right now, "Fear the Walking Dead"). :dizzy:

    Go to the gym at night, or in the morning. Or do some workout DVDs. Can you work from home at all?

    Many of us have desk jobs and long commutes. You've got to figure out a way to prioritize it if you want it in your life. :smiley:
  • pinkstate
    pinkstate Posts: 2 Member
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    This is why I bought my Garmin smartfit to replace my old Fitbit, because it has hourly reminders to get up. (Now the Fitbit Alta has them too, I think, but that wasn't out at the time.) Every hour I walk a couple of laps around my office. I still only average around 5000 steps a day, but it's a lot more than if I didn't take my walking breaks. One day recently I ignored the alerts because I was super busy and ended up with like only 2000 steps for my whole day.
  • EmilyEmpowered
    EmilyEmpowered Posts: 650 Member
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    I have a desk job also, 12 hr shifts that dont allow me much time away. But I do make sure every hr or hr and a half I get up and walk around. At first I was convinced I didnt have the time, but since I have been doing it for a while, I realize I can work it in pretty easily. Even five minutes helps. And it makes me more productive, because I normally figure out the answers to tough issues during those walks.
  • Rushbrook60
    Rushbrook60 Posts: 95 Member
    edited May 2016
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    I work 43.5hours a week. I too have a relatively long commute, crossing counties everyday, and I'm out the door every morning at about 7.30am, then not home until about 6.30pm (on days I don't go to the gym). I'm a Manager and Complaint Handler in an Insurance Brokers and spend a lot of time engrossed in my duties at my desk and high powered/intensity roles. When I do get a break (if I take it), it's only 30mins and there is nothing where I work (no parks, shops etc) to walk round or to, so for only a brief while do I walk away from my desk, but only 2 seconds to our lunch room (which is literally a room with a TV in).

    I found a gym which is literally on route home so I have no reason not to go (because I don't have to go out of my way to get there). It doesn't cost much a month, so not burning a whole in my pocket, and I make it a habit to go 3/4 times a week, for an hour, on my way home. I take all my gym wear to work, change at the gym and then go home in my gym clothes. When I know I'm going to the gym, the night before I make an effort to prepare as much as I can of dinner we'll have that night, then when I get home from the gym, I've only got to turn it on and have a shower while it's cooking.

    I've put to practice pre-planning a lot of things too...on a Saturday evening, my partner and I will prepare a list of dinners we'll have the week following then we'll build our shopping list around this. Sunday mornings I do the shopping and when I get home, I prepare as much as I can ready for the week (ie. Washing fresh vegetables, making mason jar salads for lunches etc). This makes my week so much easier because I then don't have to think about what to cook because we'll just pick a meal from the list and we know we have all the ingredients indoors already, plus it means on the days I'm at the gym, I'll know what dinners to do because they can be prepared the night before or are easy to put on. For example, tomorrow I'm going to the gym so I've peeled the potatoes ready from tomorrows dinner which is salmon, vegetables and potatoes which will all be cooked in the steamer while I'm in the shower. Later in the week we're having lasagne which I'll make the night before and my partner will put in the oven when I leave the gym so it cooks while I'm on my way home and in the shower. It does mean we eat a little later but at least it's organised.

    Maybe this'll give you some ideas. It won't work for everyone, but I think it works wonders for me. I have about half my body weight to loose, so calorie counting, pre-planning and gym are all vital activities for me to be successful.

    Good luck :-)

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