How do you manage your breaktime?

My wife told me that I am gaining weight. She asked me if I ever stand up from my desk, take a walk or have at least 30 minutes break from the office. She's right. I've been working (and sitting) most of the time and would be missing lunch. By dinner time comes, I am so hungry and would eat voraciously. I wanted to implement a program in our office to change this. Any ideas folks?

18 Comments
 
"Flydear" My wife told me that I am gaining weight. She asked me if I ever stand up from my desk, take a walk or have at least 30 minutes break from the office. She's right. I've been working (and sitting) most of the time and would be missing lunch. By dinner time comes, I am so hungry and would eat voraciously. I wanted to implement a program in our office to change this. Any ideas folks?

Yes. Intermittent fasting. Burn fat while you're sitting in your office in a catabolic state.

Pick an 8 hour window to eat and fast for 16hrs. You'll burn fat, have lots of energy, and the physiological and psychological benefits to Intermittent Fasting are well documented.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 
"little-monkey" He's already doing this. He's skipping lunch and it's not working for him. Why would you suggest he literally do the same thing he's already doing that's making him gain?

I said 16hrs of fasting, not just skipping lunch.

If he eats at 8am and 8pm, that's different than what I said.

Also, getting lean, strong and healthy is more than diet and nutrition. The body needs physical activity.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

CICO, my dude: Calories In, Calories Out.

Step 1: Get your Total Daily Energy Expenditure. https://tdeecalculator.net/</a">https://tdeecalculator.net/

Step 2: Eat less than your TDEE per day. Download myfitnesspal app and track your food.

Step 3: ???

Step 4: Lose weight, 100% guaranteed. Even doing nothing else.

Step 5 (optional but recommended): Incorporate a sustainable workout routine - IF AND ONLY IF - you have your diet under control.

Be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes.
 
"Flydear" My wife told me that I am gaining weight. She asked me if I ever stand up from my desk, take a walk or have at least 30 minutes break from the office. She's right. I've been working (and sitting) most of the time and would be missing lunch. By dinner time comes, I am so hungry and would eat voraciously. I wanted to implement a program in our office to change this. Any ideas folks?

I don't think, it's right to skip lunch, you should be eating your meal and have time for yourself. Physical exercises and other activities are important. If you have only half an hour, maybe you eat and relax by standing and doing a little walking around for the time left.

 

My recommendation - don't skip lunch as you will swing back to over eating (regardless of how much willpower you may have) during dinner most of the time. Keep snacks at your desk or, simply put, eat lunch.

unless you are in something like a call center where you can't take breaks or don't have flexibility for time, you should simply set reminders on your calendar for lunch and/or breaks. If activity is not possible, then modify your diet accordingly.

 
"Addinator" My recommendation - don't skip lunch as you will swing back to over eating

False.

Also, over eating sometimes has a psychological undercurrent. One must fix the underlying reasons first.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 
Best Response

no excuses dude. diet & exercise will get you right, if you exercise regularly you can still be sitting most of the day and not get fat.

calories in must be calories out if you're to lose weight. this can be a function of increasing your metabolism via exercise, it could be lowering your intake, or both. couple thoughts on lowering your intake.

portion control and how you eat will be a big step in making these changes easily. you don't need to buy a scale, you don't need to start only shopping at whole foods or earth fare, just abide by some easy rules. eat more veggies, if you have a plate thats complex carbs, meat, and veggies, the plate should be 20-25% meat, 20-25% carb, the rest veggies, nuts, or fruit. also, chew your food 20 times before swallowing. your jaw will get a workout but it will slow you down and you will feel fuller faster. when you eat, put down the fork and knife in between bites. if you shovel food into your mouth, you overeat. this isn't somalia, food isn't scarce, savor it and slow the fuck down.

that's it. I won't bore you with research or different diets like paleo, vegan, atkins, etc., if most people just abided by portion control and limited junk food, they'd be fine.

now for exercise, you're lying if you say you only have time during work to do this. I have friends in EMS and ICU that work 18 hour shifts sometimes, and they still have time to exercise. here's some tough love: everyone has time to exercise, you just need to make the time. you work 15 hour days with a 45 minute commute each way? Congratulations, that's 7.5 hours unaccounted for. if you sleep for 6 hours, you have 1.5 hours to do whatever you want. here's an idea, do max burpees for 2 minutes first thing in the morning followed by flutter kicks for 1 minute. rest 1 minute, do 3 rounds. if you think you don't have 12 minutes in the morning, you're lying to yourself.

all you need is 30 minutes, and there's plenty of info on the web. if you want to join a gym, great, if you don't, get a resistance band and go to work. if you work out hard, you will be sufficiently gassed in 20-30 minutes to get the results you need. you won't look like dorian yates, but you will lose weight.

simple stuff dude. change the way you eat, take a few minutes a day to break a sweat, be consistent about it (3-4 days a week for exercise), and you'll start to see changes.

 

that is EXACTLY the attitude you need. ignore broscientists on bodybuilding.com who've been stuck at a 250lb bench press since high school ("bro, I used to be able to bench 315 before my shoulder went out") and will tell you to workout for 90 minutes 4x a week. simple changes will yield big results, follow the principles I outlined and you'll see.

also, exercising releases endorphins that make everything better, you'll be a better person and a better husband as a result. you'll then look into the mirror in 6mos and see some abs and maybe a little bit of biceps, that will make you feel good and it just keeps feeding itself.

get after it my dude, and keep us posted

 

you don't want to just be a better man for its own sake?? it's all for your wife?

heister: Look at all these wannabe richies hating on an expensive salad. https://arthuxtable.com/
 

get a standing desk. get a doc note and your company will pay for it. and actually use it

heister: Look at all these wannabe richies hating on an expensive salad. https://arthuxtable.com/
 
"GoldenCinderblock" get a standing desk. get a doc note and your company will pay for it. and actually use it

Rowing desks are the latest craze. Think of the productivity!

I prefer the fan models over the water ones.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

Tempora maxime dolores exercitationem et laudantium. Harum praesentium consequatur itaque veritatis dicta. Perspiciatis totam saepe corporis cum nemo eaque ipsum. Officiis sapiente dolor sunt.

heister: Look at all these wannabe richies hating on an expensive salad. https://arthuxtable.com/

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