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Extreme diligence seems to be the only way to fight this. If I stop exercising, the pounds pack on within weeks. If I insure I burn at least 3000 calories a d

• IndianAstronaut 10y ago
  How do you manage the 1 to 2 hours of daily exercise with a programmer lifestyle(assuming you are a programmer)?
  • SeanBoocock 10y ago
    Not the OP but the way I achieve that is by getting up at 5:30AM and running for 60+ minutes. I wasn't always such a morning person but routine exercise was important for me and so I adjusted my lifestyle to match.
    • Declanomous 10y ago
      I could never force myself to get up that early to run. Instead, I started going to the Y at 6 am to play pickup basketball for an hour or two. It was a lot easier for me to sustain. I'm not a morning person, and it was really helpful to know there were a bunch of guys who were counting on me to show up so they could play. I have trouble running in general though. I'm very competitive, and I find it much easier to exercise if I'm playing a sport. That being said, I am the kind of person who generally has to try to actively maintain weight. I exercise for health benefits other than weight loss. Most casual or semi-casual rec sports are very friendly to people who are trying to lose weight though. Gyms and rec sports are probably two of the most welcoming places I've ever been. It can be almost cult-like at times.
  • varelse 10y ago
    I get up from my desk and go to the gym mid-day or I do so at the end of the work day depending on my flow. Also, I've cut most meetings out of my life, especially pointless time-eaters like daily scrum. Also: 1. No kids 2. I only watch 4-6 hours of TV per week 3. I walk to work, there's an extra hour right there at the expense of a higher rent (totally worth it). Previously, I worked from home 4. Most of my social life revolves around exercise rather than tech 5. Don't work for self-destructive managers TLDR: Find your way to a results-oriented rather than a process-oriented position.
    • ameen 10y ago
      I so want to try this. Any tips and pointers? I'd quit the industry due to health issues (Obesity, NAFLD, Plantar fasciitis, etc) and would love to return if I can stay healthy in such a manner
      • varelse 10y ago
        While everyone's situation is unique, what's stopping you?
        • ameen 10y ago
          Depression I guess, I see most activities as fruitless given countless attempts to lose weight or strengthen my muscles. I recently met with an accident that destroyed my only healthy knee (ACL + Meniscus tears). Had an ACL reconstruction a month ago and for some reason I'm actually hopeful. I've charted out a diet and a fitness routine and have surprisingly kept up with the rehabilitation process fairly well. I guess this is one of my last opportunities to lead a healthy life. Also, not having a social group to aid in activities could've been an issue I guess. I'd like to learn the social aspects of sticking to a routine (Gym buddies, mates who take part in a physical activity, learning some new tech with a similar group of friends, etc).
      • dragonwriter 10y ago
        One tip that may help: find a social, physical activity that you enjoy (for me, it was ballroom dance, but rock climbing, various sports, etc., can all work -- some sports may be less useful from a lifestyle perspective because the activity is highly seasonal, though if you have a social group they can probably be a source for alternate activities for the off-season.)
  • mankyd 10y ago
    As a software engineer who does this - you make time for it. These days, I work out during lunch usually. I used to hit the gym on the way home in the evening. I take public transit and it was right at my stop. It's not different than any other industry, honestly.
  • piva00 10y ago
    Can you explain what is a "programmer lifestyle"? I'm a programmer, I work out 1:30 every day after work and that's it, there's nothing special in my schedule: wake up, take a shower, go to work, get off work, go to the gym, go home and do whatever I please.
  • robodale 10y ago
    Well, if you can find a job where you're working ~40 hours per week, this can be achieved. I know this is not the case for many people.
    • varelse 10y ago
      IMO if you're working more than 50 hours a week and you don't own at least 3% of the eventual outcome, you should consider a less stressful position. Don't short change your health and well-being for a lower expected return than just working for one of the big guys. All IMO of course.
      • IndianAstronaut 10y ago
        Oh I wish this were true. I am clocking in 60hrs a week. I work under ridiculous deadlines.
        • varelse 10y ago
          Get... Out...
  • tdb7893 10y ago
    What is the programmer lifestyle? I work 40 hours a week and have time for whatever I want to do in my free time
  • kazinator 10y ago
    I cycle 7 miles to work, and back. That's some 25 minutes both ways. During the day, I go for a 4 or 8 mile run. That's another half an hour or hour.
  • intrasight 10y ago
    I'm at the gym every day from 5-7. I'll allow almost nothing to interfere with that. Others I know get up at 5:30 and run 10 miles. Some I know do both!
  • Raphmedia 10y ago
    When I am done working at the office, I drive home and then walk to the nearest gym. That's about 30 minutes of walking. I then spend 30 minutes doing cardio and 1h00 doing weight lifting. I then walk back home. If it's a nice day out, I skip the initial 30 minutes of cardio and run to the gym instead. Listen to tech podcast while doing your workout. Buy a crock-pot and precook your meals. They will be ready when you get back home.
  • collyw 10y ago
    Cycling to work can be a great hassle free way to get exercise if you are able.
  • ThrustVectoring 10y ago
    The right hobbies help out a ton. Like, I've been doing social dancing twice a week, and that usually takes up 3-4 hours. Plus, there's fun movements to do while bored waiting for transit to show up.
  • smelterdemon 10y ago
    "Programmer lifestyle?" I'm at the gym 6:30-7:30. At work by 9 and home by 6:30. I have enough time to cook my own meals too, which I find to be as important as the exercise. Granted I don't have kids.
• Kenji 10y ago
  I'm not sure if it's that simple. My body maintains a low but healthy weight no matter what I do. I can avoid sports for years and eat as much as I want, to the point of feeling uncomfortably full, without increasing weight. It seems likely that in some or even most obese people, a regulation system has been broken.
  • vitno 10y ago
    Study after study has repeatedly shown this to be untrue. People who think they "eat as much as they want" really don't eat as much as people who think they "eat almost nothing" Try actually counting your calories over the course of a week.
    • belltaco 10y ago
      Actually, study after study found that overfeeding resulted in an enhanced metabolism, leading to much less weight gain than predicted, and even that weight gain disappears very soon with return to a non-forced diet.
    • checker 10y ago
      Valid point, but I think there's more here. Kenji is saying that he is satiated. It doesn't really matter what he eats compared to others if his brain/body is happy eating the correct amount. The real question is: Why are people like Kenji satiated at an appropriate level of calories while others are not? And I think the answer is going to be a complex mix of physical, psychological, and societal factors.
      • richmt 10y ago
        I don't think there's more to it. Eating three meals a day at about 2,500 calories for a few weeks, and my body will adapt to feeling full at those portions. Upping that to 3,000+ calories a day when on a bulk, and the first week or two are difficult, but then I adapt and feel hungry if I eat the smaller portions I used to eat.
        • 10y ago
• hourislate 10y ago
  Exercise has nothing to do with weight loss. Caloric restriction also doesn't work without consuming the correct fats to satiate your appetite. As you age there is no amount of exercise that will allow you to maintain the amount you weigh in you 20's or 30's. It will all depend on your diet of the correct foods. I would suggest probably the best book ever written about why people get fat. Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It -Gary Taubes Fantastic book that looks at the science of Obesity and weight loss among other things like Insulin resistance and genetics.
  • varelse 10y ago
    "As you age there is no amount of exercise that will allow you to maintain the amount you weigh in you 20's or 30's." This seems overly general and anecdotally total BS. I still eat what I like just like I did in my 20s/30s. It's just that what I like is generally lots of vegetables and sufficient protein, with occasional vices slipped in because YOLO(tm). That said, without the exercise, I gain about a pound per week. That means I am atoning for an extra 400-500 calories daily, no? Or what would you suggest is really going on here?
    • skrebbel 10y ago
      An alternative would be that in the weeks where you don't exercise, you feel a little worse, and therefore submit to slightly more of them YOLO vices. I mean, I have no idea which it is, but there's plenty of explanations for your observations other than the one you gave.
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    • hourislate 10y ago
      As you naturally age you will burn less calories. So as you continue to eat the same way and the same amount you will have to up your exercise to impossible limits. What needs to change is your diet. No sugars and lots of healthy fats. Here is an excerpt from the book I mentioned. Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It by Gary Taubes http://amzn.com/0307474259 http://amzn.com/0307474259 >The authors were Paul Williams, a statistics expert at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, and Peter Wood, a Stanford University researcher who has been studying the effect of exercise on health since the 1970s. Williams and Wood collected detailed information on almost thirteen thousand habitual runners (all subscribers to Runner’s World magazine) and then compared the weekly mileage of these runners with how much they weighed from year to year. Those who ran the most tended to weigh the least, but all these runners tended to get fatter with each passing year, even those who ran more than forty miles a week—eight miles a day, say, five days a week. This observation led Williams and Wood, both believers in the doctrine of calories-in/calories-out, to suggest that even the most dedicated runners had to increase their distance by a few miles a week, year after year—expend even more energy as they got older—if they wanted to remain lean. If men added two miles to their weekly distance every year, and women three, according to Williams and Wood, then they might manage to remain lean, because this might mean expending in running the calories that they seemed fated otherwise to accumulate as fat. Let’s see where that logic takes us. Imagine a man in his twenties who runs twenty miles a week—say, four miles a day, five days a week. According to Williams and Wood (and the logic and mathematics of calories-in/calories-out), he will have to double that in his thirties (eight miles a day, five days a week) and triple it in his forties (twelve miles a day, five days a week) to keep fat from accumulating. A woman in her twenties who runs three miles a day, five times a week—an impressive but not excessive amount—would have to up her daily distance to fifteen miles in her forties to retain her youthful figure. If she does eight-minute miles, a nice pace for such a distance, she’d better be prepared to spend two hours on each of her running days to keep her weight in check.
• Retric 10y ago
  Each pound of fat ~= 3,500 calories up front, but also another 3,500 calories every ~4.8 years if you never moved. Keep active and it's significantly higher as your effectively walking around carrying weights 24/7. Thus, you really need to eat far less to maintain a healthy weigh long term, and or become significantly more active.
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• zyxley 10y ago
  > If I insure I burn at least 3000 calories a day (usually much more), I can maintain my weight indefinitely. If you're having to burn 3000 calories a day, you're eating too much. That energy has to come from somewhere. Have you tried calorie tracking?
  • ghshephard 10y ago
    All of my serious (recreational) bike rider friends eat a lot more than 3000 calories/day prepping for their weekend bike rides.
    • zyxley 10y ago
      Yes, some exercise routines require well over 2000 calories a day, but that's still pedantically missing the point of my comment. If somebody is confused about why they need to burn 3000 calories a day to keep from gaining weight, they're eating too much.
    • lexhaynes 10y ago
      Serious cardio will burn a LOT of calories. If a person who is NOT doing serious cardio needs to exercise to a 3000 cal deficit every day to maintain weight, they should lower their caloric intake.
  • sawthat 10y ago
    You are asking a person who clearly has spent a ton of time figuring out how to manage their weight if they've tried calorie tracking?
    • awesomerobot 10y ago
      When you hear someone stating that they find burning 3,000 calories a day necessary it seems like a logical question. You can't burn that many calories without first adding them.
      • sawthat 10y ago