Help!!! I have a desk job!!!

I, too, have a desk job. I work on a college campus, and have a pretty flexible "schedule" during the day, so I take walks throughout the day as well as use my lunchbreak for a long, fast walk. When I have to use the bathroom I walk to the farthest one on campus! It's a good 12 minute fast-walk round trip. I also volunteer to do things like bring things to the mailroom or run an errand for my coworkers/boss. I also make sure I exercise after work, too. I think that helps me sleep, otherwise my legs feel like bricks from sitting all day long! Good luck!

I fidget... Constantly moving in my chair. I take the stairs instead of the elevator. I park further from work than I need to and walk. I go for a two mile run on my lunch hour. Little things like that add up.

noelledell-I too have a desk job. There are ways around sitting there for 6-8 hours feeling helpless and tied to the desk!

I've got two 15 minute breaks and one 30 minute lunch--not very much. On my breaks, I shut my door and do some arm exercizes--dips on the chair or pushups, sometimes I do crunches. I always get out for 3-4 minutes to breathe fresh air.

I've taken to bringing a bag of workout clothes with me to work (and yes, they go home with me almost every night to avoid a stinky office!). Sometimes I run during my 30 minutes, sometimes I bring my road bike and leave it at work for several days at a time and ride it for 2-3 days during my lunch.

That is how I get my exercise in during the day. This way, I get in about 2.5 hours a week just while at work. Mondays I swim after work and Thursdays I teach yoga. So between everything I'm still able to get in 5-6 hours of workouts a week. This is probably obsessive. You can still use your lunch breaks and get in a few hours of workouts a week and tone your core/arms/legs.

I've also read that if you fidget around...move your feet, stretch, etc while at your desk you burn more calories--not sure how many.

Good luck! You can do this!!

I always get up and visit my coworkers offices when I need to talk to them instead of phone/email etc, I found that simple thing made a huge difference. I also do those chair exercises where you hang your butt off the chair and raise and lower your arms, incline pushups against my desk, standing crunches, etc every so often to try to keep things active. I have a private office so no fear of embarrassment.

I wonder if you could request that your work station be modified so that you can stand. I put in this request to my current job in January of 2012 and they are still "thinking about it" ... would be easier if I wasn't just health conscious and had a doctor's note. Crazy eh? ... Maybe it's worth a shot @ your place.

Nadine

Here are some things I do at my job. Bring some hand weights, I love lifting at my desk, LOL. Also do some dips with your chair and when you go to the bathroom do lunges, squats and jumping jacks. :flowerforyou:

I wanted to get some suggestions on how to stay active throughout the day when you're tied to a desk for at least 8 hours! I'm an accountant, and am stuck at my desk between 6-8 hours per day. UGH. I have a timer set on my computer that goes off every 30 min and I will take a 2-3 min break to go to the bathroom, water cooler, or just walk around so that I can get the blood flowing again. I feel like this isn't enough though- I've read a lot of articles lately about how unhealthy sitting for long periods of time is for the body, but not many suggestions on what to do about it- I can't quit my job, so I need suggestions from people that have the same issues. I've just started on my weight loss journey so at the moment I am on a 1600 calorie a day diet and walk every evening for 30-45 min. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!!! Thanks in advance!!

I work a Help Desk here, so I am tied to the Phone/Desk all day. I take 2 or sometimes 3 quick walks around the parking lot every day. Takes about 13 minutes and is a good chance to stretch the legs and also gets me a quick exercise break. I figure smokers get to take unhealthy breaks, so I am taking my "smoke" breaks..

I don't have time to read all comments now but I plan to come back later. I actually do a lot of writing and thinking about this subject during my job. I have desk job too and work for media company. It's my passion project to blog, tweet about health at work when I have time. My co-workers and community where I live have given great feedback and tips too. I just did a video about sitting on stability ball at the office! haha Check it out if you want:

http://www.yorkblog.com/biz/fitatwork/

I have a desk job and I am CONSTANTLY up and moving around. At lunch my co-worker and I take long walks and then I workout after work. I get REALLY fidgety at the office because I am sitting all the time. I find that if I get up and do things every 15 mns- small breaks like get water- helps with that.

I'm going to second the getting lunch with co-workers idea. DON"T DO IT! Its SO easy to fall into well if they do it and look like this than I can too mentality. Bring your own and eat at the conference table OR bring your own and walk to a destination a bit a way and eat it.

Hope this helps!

I have a desk job, too. Nevertheless, I take walk at lunch, no matter what - I've permanently blocked that time as "No Meetings - Out Of Office" on my calendar. I make no exceptions. I bring my own lunch and part of that is a bag of sliced, raw veggies that I munch on throughout the day including during my walk.

Also, see if you can get an ergonomic sit/stand desk, or have your desk height adjusted as a standing workstation and get a tall chair. If neither are an option without resistance, talk to your doctor about your health concerns and get a letter prescribing one. I stand for a minimum of 4 hours/day

This will sound sdaft, but I have a standing desk... it's electric and I can sit down. I got it for back pain, the occupational health people made my work get it for me. My back has recovered now and I mostly sit, but I definitely dropped weight just through standing and fidgeting. Keep it in mind

I have bursitis in my hip so I was able to ask for a standing workstation at work. it moves my monitor and keyboard up (for standing) and down (for sitting). I also have a swiss ball to sit on.

I never hated my desk job until I started getting healthy. I'm the same way, I'll try and force myself to get up and walk around at least every hour but unfortunately everything I do is tied to the computer and every day is hectic so breaking away can be tough. It's getting to the point that it's factoring into my decision to eventually switch careers. Obviously I'm not suggesting this as a fix, just saying for me it isn't what I want to be doing a year from now.

I also have a desk job. But I take the mail and instead of dropping off mail at that time, I go back in the afternoon and walk a couple blocks each time I do that. It's only 10-15 minutes but it's something. Some days I just go for a quick walk just because. I try to save some filing at the end of everyday for the next day so I have to stand on my feet for a little bit doing that. I also walk at night. It's hard lately I bring my 5 month old daughter with me to work, so I am definately not just sitting all day, but I do leg lifts under my desk everyday too, just to get the blood pumping.