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

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!

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.

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.

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 :-)