I was talking with a friend about this and we both drive everywhere and don't walk much. How many of you former SAs were able to lose weight walking everywhere in New York?
Also, any tips for maintaining weight while working so many hours?
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I heard most people gain weight because they don't have time to work out anymore. My buddy gained like 30lbs during his SA gig
I lost a little bit, but I'm pretty sure my body fat actually went up.
Ketogenic diets will help you maintain weight. An extremely sedentary lifestyle = less need for carbs.
You'll likely gain wait. Seamless takeout every night of the week on top of going out for lunch daily. Make sure you keep up going to the gym.
Even with a 2.5 mile walk home everyday?
If you're keeping up a "regular" eating routine, I doubt this will be sufficient. Also, depending on how hard you are getting crushed during the week, I doubt you are going to want to walk home after a long day at the office for the sake of casual exercise.
Unfortunately, I think natural metabolism/genetics and food behavior have a large impact on how SA takes its "toll" on your body. I ended up losing a few pounds when I was a SA. I wouldn't say I was blessed with a naturally high rate of metabolism either-- I'm not that skinny guy who somehow maintains an ectomorphic physique no matter what I eat. However, I wouldn't say I eat a lot either. I actually never usually eat lunch and only did so last summer for the sake of office bonding (it's hard to say no when two or three FT analysts are regularly inviting you). On a typical day, I usually had some sort of small salad for lunch and high protein low carb combination for dinner.
To qualify what I meant about "food behavior", I suppose "snacking" is the biggest example. For some people, including fellow SAs who I saw gain some weight, long hours and stress means late-night unhealthy munching. That's never really been my thing nor have I had a craving for it. If anything, lots of work and stress make me completely forget about food. I can recall a handful of nights where I either forgot to order dinner/didn't eat any of it because of how busy I was. I'm not saying thats healthy at all, but just using it as an example of how different people rely upon food.
I'm a runner, so I was never worried about trying to hit the gym. I would always try to squeeze in 1-3 runs a week (usually in the AM on weekends) which was somewhat sustainable. I will agree with @kidflash though, even though I shed a few pounds I definitely loss some muscle/increased body fat.
I do think that there is a significant NYC effect on weight, but there is also a # of hours worked effect. I can say that at 65 hours/week as a quant developer and then desk strat, NYC had a negative (pounds) effect on my weight. However, as a 40 hour/week grad student, the NJ suburbs have helped me get 5 lbs slimmer.
I think that assuming the sleep and free time is there, it's ultimately what you make of it.
Question for you guys who have done SA, or are in FT currently.
I am thinking of possibly doing cardio in the mornings occasionally before the office (when time allows). For those who do cardio in the mornings, don't you guys feel wiped by like 2? Or do you get used to it? Want to make sure that I'll still be relatively sharp and not completely exhausted by mid afternoon already when I have another set of 8 hours to go.
The whole morning workout works for some people--although I can't say I know any SAs who regularly kept up a strenuous cardio routine before heading to the office. I tried doing this my first week on the job because I was use to running in the morning before classes. As soon as my hours started getting notably longer (after the first one/two weeks), I couldn't keep this up. It wasn't so much being tired by the afternoon (smart carbs and caffeine can help you avoid that afternoon crash), but finding the willpower to run when I woke up. It's one thing to force your body to make due with 3-5 hours of sleep on the weekdays. However, trying to go for a 45-60 minute run becomes next to impossible (at least for me) when you're barely getting to the office in the morning with a quad shot.
I gained no weight but I literally looked much worse. So i basically lost a ton of muscle and gained a ton of fat lol.
This is one advantage of doing corp fin straight out of school at a F500. It highly depends on the rotation, but 9.9/10 times you'll work 50-60 hrs a week, which gives you a ton of time to take care of yourself / personal life. I've lost 30+ pounds since graduating and moving out of mom/dad's.
Joining crossfit helped. But the cut off of never ending wine and steak supply helped more.
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