How can I be more active during the day with a desk job?!

While my job isn't as demanding as yours sounds I make it a point to get up and walk around every hour or so. I take the long way around to go anywhere.

Walk, run or cycle as all or part of your commute.

Get up and climb several flights of stairs a couple times a day.

Go out at lunch to walk or run.

Wow that sounds pretty terrible if your ankles are swelling up?!

My advice is that you need to consider your priorities in life and put your health and wellbeing before some companies profits.

I assume you are legally entitled to a lunch break, so use it!

I have an office job 9-5 and my job involves just sitting all day. I walk to and from the train station in the morning and evening and I split my lunch hour into 2 half hour breaks and walk for both of those.
That gets me circa 14k steps per day.

I worked on slowly building this up over a few months.

So now I am able to set mfp to ‘active’ even though I have a completely sedentary job. Yay more calories to eat!!

I have a very busy desk job too and one of the little tricks I do to get in more steps is to drink a lot of water and then every time I get up to go to the bathroom I either walk around or walk in place to get 200 steps. It only takes a couple of minutes to do but over the day can really add up. You can also set a timer on your phone that reminds you to get up and move.

I work from home most days and it's worse than the office, I can sit 16 hours in my chair some days. A silly thing I do is "kitchen walking". When walking outside is too much effort, would take me away from my work for too long, it's too cold etc - i pace my kitchen. It's fairly long, so I just walk up and down while reading emails, watching something on my phone etc. My fitbit tracks my steps and the numbers appeal to me: I like round numbers, so if I hit a round number on steps, and the distance isn't a round number, I'll push a bit longer to get it there. Of course, by that time, some other metric is off, so I'll go again. A little silly, but I find it helpful. Sometimes up to an hour a night. I don't get bored (others might, I guess). It's not very much exercise, and not enough for people serious about it, but for just getting a little more active, I've found it a good place to start.

I too have a desk job, though not as demanding as yours. I get 2-15 minute breaks and an hour for lunch. So just at work I walk 30 to 45 minutes a day and sometimes I add a run in at home. I also drink a lot of water and that helps me get up and walk away from my desk throughout the day as well. The work will always be there. Don't stress it. Your health comes first.

My job requires that I work 17 hours shifts at a desk sometimes for weeks at a time. I have the same problem with swelling. One of the things I do to combat the sedentary work is volunteering to go pick up lunch for meetings. It's an excuse to get up and move. An under desk bike is a good way to keep moving even when you're seated. You can get really simple ones for $25 on Amazon. There are fancier, more complex ones too. Do you have the option of a sit/stand work station? I have a sit/stand station and try to stand for an hour at a minimum per day. I have a FitBit with alarms three times a day to remind me to get up and take a walk around the building. On days that are less busy, I walk on the treadmill in our wellness room for 1/2 hour at lunch. Walking meetings are not possible for me because my office is small with no room for multiple people to walk together and it's on a major highway so there are no safe places to walk outdoors.

i'm inactive at work. i am active before and after work and on the weekends.
you can always park farther away-not just at work but if you are going to the theater or shopping or whatever. walk on breaks and lunch. take stairs where it is an option.

I bought a sit/stand desk converter. I also try to walk around more often and take the stairs.

Busy-ness aside, you need to make your health a priority--if your ankles are swelling that's not really a good thing! Drink plenty of water during your work day. The bonus is that you will probably have to use the restroom frequently, which means you can get up and move. Use the restroom that is on the next floor up or next floor down and take the stairs.

It might be kind of weird, but I use the bathroom on a different floor of my building. I'm on the second floor and go up to the third floor to use the restroom. It's not a ton of extra steps, but I use the stairs and it's a legitimate reason to be away from my desk. I also use half my lunch to walk and occasionally I'll do a quick lap around the building if I'm getting frustrated or unfocused.

I walk a mile in the mid-morning, then again mid-afternoon.
I don't use the bathroom that's closest to me. Instead, I use the one that's all the way in the front of the building.
I park in the farthest parking lot.
I print to the printer that's farthest from my desk.
I don't send emails for trivial things, instead I get up and walk to the person so we can have a conversation.
Sometimes I just get up from my desk and take a walk around the building. This helps clear my head too.

Another vote for drinking more fluids so you have to pee more, and using a distant bathroom.

Also, get some activity at lunch. I'm more productive and less prone to the munchies in the afternoon if I exercise at lunch time. This can be as simple as going for a walk.

My job can be pretty demanding, and yes, getting away from the emails can be difficult. There are a few things I've done to work to move myself into the "lightly active" category, however, and thus far, they don't seem too terribly painful.

1) I take public transit to work - so, I started getting off one stop before my normal stop (and going back to that stop at the end of the day), and walking the difference. Didn't add too much to my commute times, but more than doubled my daily steps otherwise!

2) I've also decided to start walking to the train station rather than taking my scooter. Adds some time to my commute for sure, but it's a couple miles (total) of walking so that helps a lot. Scoot is still an option if I need it, but my butt needs to move more, so this is a good move (pun intended).

3) I keep a bottle of fizzy water (after my morning coffee) with me and sip throughout the day. This means I'm drinking a 42oz bottle of water most days, which means I can't go more than a couple hours without a bathroom break! You can take the long way if the bathroom is too close.

4) Go work in a conference room on the other side of the floor for an hour - has a couple benefits: a) you move over there and back, and b) gives you some good head's down time to focus on some tasks.

5) Learn to fidget. I'm naturally a fidgeter, but after badly breaking a leg I got bad about fidgetting. I'm getting better about it again, just wiggling or tapping my feet helps keep the blood flowing!

Other than #1 or 2 above, the others won't have any noticeable impact on weight loss/calorie burn, but can help keep you mindful of how much you're sitting around. I find I tend to use better posture, too, the more I'm fidgetting, so that's a good thing too!

20lb down at my desk job so far. Here's what I do.

Park at the back of the parking lot when I have my car (husband and I usually carpool as we work near each other, so if he drops me off, I have an extra 10 mins to walk around the building to get my steps in before he gets here to pick me up).
Walk on lunch break (I have a one hour lunch, and am allowed to eat at my desk so I usually eat around 1130AM, then walk one hour from 12PM to 1PM).
Squats or jogging in place every time you go to the restroom.
Walk to the farthest restroom if there's multiple in the building.
Use your 15 minute breaks. You're entitled to them and you get paid for them. Don't skip. Take a walk to clear your head and get a little exercise in.
Take the stairs when possible.