Desk Job - Difficult to lose weight

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  • ubermofish
    ubermofish Posts: 102 Member
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    CoryGray1 wrote: »
    See a doctor or clinic that specializes in weight loss through hormone therapy

    This is ridiculous.
  • animatorswearbras
    animatorswearbras Posts: 1,001 Member
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    jemhh wrote: »
    1. Be sure that you are eating in a deficit. Weigh your solid foods with a digital kitchen scale. Measure your liquids with measuring cups/spoons. Log the calories using verifiable nutrition info based on those measurements.
    2. Understand that losing a half pound is losing weight. Many people claim not to be losing and then admit that they are losing, just not as fast as they'd like.
    3. Measure weight loss over the long term. Compare this month to next month, not today to tomorrow and even today to next Tuesday.
    4. Be patient. A twenty pound loss at your size may take six months to a year. If it comes off sooner that is fantastic but should not be expected.

    This^ how long has it been since you started and how much if anything have you lost so far, also if the HIIT is a relatively new routine you will be retaining water weight for DOMS recovery (delayed onset muscle soreness) and that could be masking your fat loss. for example you may have lost a couple of pounds in fat weight but retained the same in water (which is totally natural and unavoidable before you reach for the health shop diuretics) usually handy to log your tape measurements and see how you're clothes are fitting differently when you start a new intense routine.

    Also are you weighing everything with a digital scale, you're not very big so being off a couple of hundred calories could mess with your loss. Also how are you tracking your workout cals and are you eating them all back?
  • xLyric
    xLyric Posts: 840 Member
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    When I first started, I didn't exercise at all, just ate at a deficit. That works, so even if you absolutely cannot find time to move, you can still lose weight. You don't have to exercise, you just have to eat less than you burn.

    That said, when I started walking every day I was a lot happier because I could then eat a lot more. I still don't do anything more than just walk (and sometimes attempt a jog). Dropping weight pretty well. I used to walk in the evenings, but once I started my full time job I was too tired, so I started walking during breaks. 2 20 minute breaks and a 30 minute break can get me up to 5k steps, which goes a long way. However, I still had to walk in the evenings since I wanted to meet my step goal, so I've started walking in the mornings. I wake up early and just get it out of the way in a 1.5 hour walk, shower, go to work, relax. That's working pretty well so far.
  • roperrocky
    roperrocky Posts: 8 Member
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    Wow, this sounds like the same question I asked several times over the past year. I always thought that losing weight had a lot to do with exercise . And yes, we all know that exercise is healthy for us but as far as losing weight its all about what you are eating. Making healthier choices, less calories (really, honestly keeping a diary of the calories you eat...down to the sugar in your coffee) Watch the sodium too. I still have cake or ice cream sometimes, just smaller amounts of it that I savor and appreciate all the more. Start looking really hard at what you are eating. Get up and move as much as possible. I wish you the best of luck and success.
  • change4char
    change4char Posts: 85 Member
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    Last year, I was 140 lbs after giving birth. I was going back to an office job after 8 weeks and really worried I wouldn't lose the weight because I was sitting all day. However, within 6 months, I'd lost 20 lbs. What worked for me:
    • walking during my lunch break (30-60 minutes), eating my lunch / snacks while working (careful to not get keyboard dirty)
    • drinking water throughout the day. I love adding crystal light to an ice cold water. This helped me snack less.
    • Tracked calories with a food scale (I stopped breastfeeding at 8 weeks, so this did not effect that)
    • I invested in a Fitbit and made sure to get my 10,000 steps a day. This was actually the best decision, in my opinion. I was only walking 3000 steps a day when I first bought it.

    Good luck!
  • afrndz17
    afrndz17 Posts: 6 Member
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    <3<3<3
  • laur357
    laur357 Posts: 896 Member
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    I lost 70. I started first with my employer's 6-month Weight Watchers discount and lost 20 pounds. Then I switched to MFP. I bring my own lunch 90% of the time. I don't drink drinks with a lot of calories. I track my food and stay under my goal. I have go-to restaurant lunches I like and can occasionally switch up my day to dine out with coworkers or hit up happy hour. (I've been doing this for a long time and losing slowly, so my goal varies from maintenance to 1.8 pound loss per week) I get up and walk during my lunch or offer to pick up mail at our other building.

    I have periods where I exercise - sometimes I sign up for a series of group classes right after work. Sometimes I get in the habit of running a few miles 4 times a week (yay summer!) and do some yoga or body weight exercise.

    Consistency, planning, habit-building, and careful tracking are critical when I'm actively losing weight. I'm 5'3" and do 1200-1300 if I'm not exercising a lot, 1500 if I'm running. Like others mentioned, you don't have a lot to lose. So you can go slow, and shouldn't expect a huge drop each week.
  • thedorian78
    thedorian78 Posts: 2 Member
    edited April 2017
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    Office job also. 6 ft/280 pounds. Lost 20 pounds in 52 days, just by eating around 1600-1700 calories/day(I eat almost anything, altough I cut the bread stuff almost totally). I'm walking only about 3000 steps per day, maybe one day of soccer or basketball fun(for about 1 hour)/week. That's all. No gym or extra cardio workouts(knee problems). I'll try to fit in some more exercise when I lose another 10 pounds.
  • lmew91
    lmew91 Posts: 88 Member
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    I work 40 hours a week at a desk job. I get up about once an hour to get more water from the fountain, go to the bathroom, grab something to eat, etc.

    I'm 5'5, 25 years old. Started around 160 lb, currently right around 130 lb. I stuck to the deficit MFP provided for me, and ate some but not all of my exercise calories back. I did mostly bring my food from home, and it was (and still is) weighed out and logged. I refreshed my information probably every 10-15 lbs. Mostly just walked a lot, an average of 8,000-12,000 steps/day. (Was a lot for me at the time.) I've just recently started more serious strength training. I lost the bulk of my weight in about 4-5 months, the last 8-ish pounds were by far the slowest.

    So, pretty similar to many other people who have already posted on this thread.
  • Untitled_Unmastered
    Untitled_Unmastered Posts: 52 Member
    edited April 2017
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    Tacklewasher wrote: »
    I sit at a desk all day. I've lost close to 90 lbs since August.
    First and foremost, I figured out the calorie requirement to lose weight. I was morbidly obese so I lost a lot to start, but it was mainly from a calorie deficit.
    I started walking on my treadmill. I'd walk while watching TV (hockey was best).
    I started the C25K program Jan 1.
    I started doing a weekly 5K Park run 2 weeks ago.
    I rode my bike to work today.
    I wear my tracker 23/7, have it off an hour each day to charge while I have breakfast and shower. Some days I have trouble hitting 3000 steps if I don't go for a walk or run.
    I eat after 7 if I feel like it.

    But the bottom line is I'm tracking what I eat and eat less than I burn. Everything else is secondary to that.

    Congratulations man. You an intermittent faster?

    OP, how bad do you want it? If someone put you in a room in Cambodia, in the middle of nowhere gave you your required cals to lose weight you will most definitely lose weight.

    If you need to start slow go ahead, divide and conquer. That could mean having a small deficit rather than a huge gaping one. Just stay determined and eat with your goal in mind. Build new habits for life, stay slim for life.
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
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    NatureOfThings17 wrote: »
    Tacklewasher wrote: »
    I sit at a desk all day. I've lost close to 90 lbs since August.
    First and foremost, I figured out the calorie requirement to lose weight. I was morbidly obese so I lost a lot to start, but it was mainly from a calorie deficit.
    I started walking on my treadmill. I'd walk while watching TV (hockey was best).
    I started the C25K program Jan 1.
    I started doing a weekly 5K Park run 2 weeks ago.
    I rode my bike to work today.
    I wear my tracker 23/7, have it off an hour each day to charge while I have breakfast and shower. Some days I have trouble hitting 3000 steps if I don't go for a walk or run.
    I eat after 7 if I feel like it.

    But the bottom line is I'm tracking what I eat and eat less than I burn. Everything else is secondary to that.

    Congratulations man. You an intermittent faster?

    Nope. At this point I'm aiming for 2000 cals per day and letting the weight loss fall where it may, depending on activity.
  • SpecialSundae
    SpecialSundae Posts: 795 Member
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    I lost 18kg in a year whilst working an office job and eating around 1900 calories a day.

    It probably helped that I hadn't spent my life until then yo-yo dieting, but here's what I did.

    1. I went out for a walk EVERY lunchtime for at least 30 minutes. I usually averaged 10000 steps a day between that lunchtime walk and post-work wandering.
    2. I lifted weights three times a week (Stronglifts 5x5 to begin with) and did bodyweight circuits before or after weights.
    3. I went out walking at the weekend and tried to get in at least 1-2 evening walks a week.
    4. I ate plenty of protein and vegetables (whilst following an IIFYM approach: 1g protein per lb bodyweight, 0.35g fat per lb bodyweight and filling in the rest with carbs).

    I went from 77.6kg to 59.8kg and dropped from a size (UK) 16 to a size (UK) 10. I took three weeks off tracking and lifting in the summer, as I was travelling around Europe (although I still walked and did bodyweight exercises regularly).

    A desk job isn't a reason not to be active. It can be an excuse but you can prioritise around it to keep active.
  • Untitled_Unmastered
    Untitled_Unmastered Posts: 52 Member
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    Tacklewasher wrote: »
    NatureOfThings17 wrote: »
    Tacklewasher wrote: »
    I sit at a desk all day. I've lost close to 90 lbs since August.
    First and foremost, I figured out the calorie requirement to lose weight. I was morbidly obese so I lost a lot to start, but it was mainly from a calorie deficit.
    I started walking on my treadmill. I'd walk while watching TV (hockey was best).
    I started the C25K program Jan 1.
    I started doing a weekly 5K Park run 2 weeks ago.
    I rode my bike to work today.
    I wear my tracker 23/7, have it off an hour each day to charge while I have breakfast and shower. Some days I have trouble hitting 3000 steps if I don't go for a walk or run.
    I eat after 7 if I feel like it.

    But the bottom line is I'm tracking what I eat and eat less than I burn. Everything else is secondary to that.

    Congratulations man. You an intermittent faster?

    Nope. At this point I'm aiming for 2000 cals per day and letting the weight loss fall where it may, depending on activity.

    Awesome!
  • Gamliela
    Gamliela Posts: 2,468 Member
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    I sat around last year for nine months and lost 60 pounds. Its not the excersize, or the desk job, its eating below your TDEE every day thst does it.
  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
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    Gamliela wrote: »
    I sat around last year for nine months and lost 60 pounds. Its not the excersize, or the desk job, its eating below your TDEE every day thst does it.

    Yup.

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