Time of day to workout

[drhelibhatt]

Hi, I am having difficult time figuring out when would be a perfect time for me to workout. I usually have to reach work at 7-8 AM (which means I wake up at 5-5:30, get ready and drive about 30-40 min to work). So working in the morning is out of question. I reach home around 6-6:30 every day. My work is pretty sedentary, though I use stairs all the time and try to walk as much as I can during work. But by the time I reach home, I am exhausted and just want to netflix/study on my couch. Any suggestions as to when can I work-out? 

[USAF-Larry]

Unfortunately, @drhelibhatt, there is no easy solution to your situation. When you work full time, with a long commute on each end of the day, there just isn't a lot of time left for exercising. There are a few things you could try to work in some exercise.

1. Lunchtime exercise - can you go for a walk during your lunch hour, instead of sitting down to a meal?  I did that for many years while I was in the military - I went to the gym instead of going to lunch, unless there was a special retirement or promotion lunch that I needed to attend.

2. Walk to work - can you find a place 1/2 to 1 mile from work to park, and then walk the last distance instead of driving it?  Then you get to walk back to the car after work. That gets you about 15 minutes of exercise morning and evening.

3. Treadmill exercise - can you set up a treadmill so that you can walk while watching Netflix instead of sitting on the couch?  You say you are exhausted when you get home, but I find that after I have exercised I actually have more energy instead of being tired.

[WendyB]

I agree With @USAF-Larry. I always feel better after I exercise.

But you just need to set aside the time and just do it.

I am an early bird so Mornings always works for me. It really wakes me up and gets me moving as well.

When I was working I got to work 1 hour ahead of time just so I could get out and walk.

[drhelibhatt]

Unfortunately, I don't really have a lunch hour. Also, I have a very tiny apartment where there is no space for a treadmill. I do get atleast 7000-10000 steps + 7-12 stairs every day, so I do get 15-20 min of exercise per day. I also park about 2-3 blocks away from my office, so I get 10 min every morning and evening for walk. But I just don't feel its enough. I guess I can try slow treadmill at the gym every evening, but I just loose the motivation. Once I get the energy to reach the gym in the PM, I can do it. But then next evening, I feel drained and then I skip the workout and then that continues for a few days. Is there any good motivation method to make yourself at least go to a treadmill after work? 

Thanks a lot for your suggestions!!

[GershonSurge]

Most people can't get as much work done in 11 hours as they can do in 8 hours. Unless your hours are set by your boss, I suggest working on ways to become more efficient at work and spending fewer hours there. An excellent worker only works about 2/3 of the time they are at work unless they are on an assembly line.

If you set your own hours, I recommend keeping a simple log for a few days to see how much time you are actually working. Another way to do it is start a stopwatch when you are working and stop  it when you aren't. 

Your symptoms sound as if you are on a high protein-low carb diet. They tend to be high fat, too. (High fat is over 10% of your calories from fat.) 

My best recommendation is to watch this series of 12 videos by Dr. McDougall. If you insist on eating some meat, about 3 oz a day of meat or fish is fine. Someone will likely jump in and disagree with this way of eating. Watch the videos and make your own decision.

There is another thing you can do if you don't have any pre-diabetic symptoms. Eat only fruit until lunch. Don't eat meat at lunch. Snacks should be fruit. If you want meat, eat it at supper time. Don't eat any dairy. Stay away from processed foods. After about a week, you should feel full of energy and happy like you've had a couple drinks. (This is the old "Fit for Life" diet simplified.) The purpose of this is to show you diet can affect your energy level. If it works, review the Dr. McDougall videos again and follow that way of eating.

Exercise is not as important for women as it is for men. You can come back to it after trying a dietary solution to your fatigue. 

[drhelibhatt]

Hi Gershon, 

Thanks a lot for your help!! I like the idea of trying out the diet first, am starting to listen to Dr. McDougall. Hopefully, that will help with fatigue. 

As for work, unfortunately, I am physician at Indiana university, and so my work hours are very random. My office hours are 7 AM to 5 PM (varies a little bit per day) which are mainly clinic patients and getting charting/phone calls etc. done in between, so really can't shorten these. The lunch time goes in documentation, teaching, research etc. So, basically, work is very sedentary but very taxing on brain. I feel like that is why I feel so drained in the evening. Its not so much physical tiredness, but it is more of mental tiredness/burn out. Also, every 5th night and every 5th weekend I am on call, which means taking calls at night (=disturbed sleep, totally messes routine!) and no time to catch up on rest.

I bought Charge 2 which gives me reminders to walk every hour and I always make sure to catch up on those steps; I park far so that I get about 10 min walk in AM and PM as well as use stairs every single time. But at the end of day, I don't feel as energized as a workout would make one feel.  I love working out, but with a tired mind, even the things I loved (elliptical, stretching, yoga) have started to feel boring. Any suggestions for this? 

[USAF-Larry]

@drhelibhatt, I agree with Gershon on watching those infamous 12 videos - do so with a critical eye. I mentioned that doctor's program to my Internal Medicine doctor, and she had great concern "with what he preaches" as she put it. Changing to a low-calorie vegan diet will not do much to relieve your level of fatigue. Working in the medical profession is of itself a tiring & stressful life, and only you can find ways to get away from it periodically to relax your brain and your body.

[emili]

@drhelibhatt as someone in the medical field you have to know yourself to be aware of restrictive diets. As far as the gym, you don't have to spend hours there. stay long enough to stream your favorite show on netflix while you walk. most gyms have free wifi and netflix is an app. go nuts. my husband has watched pretty much every original series while walking or peddling.

[USAF-Larry]

Your husband sounds like me, @emili!  LOL  And to make things worse, I have AT&T cell service, and they now provide free streaming of DirecTV to their devices, so I can watch me favorite DirecTV shows on my tablet while I workout.

[GershonSurge]

@drhelibhatt,

My sister is a retired pathologist. She and I basically follow McDougall's way of eating. I'm pretty strict. She will eat small amounts of meat and fish and maybe a couple eggs a week. She is 68 with no medical problems. She doesn't go to doctors. We both exercise frequently.

I'm 63 and haven't seen a doctor since I retired from the Air Force in 1993 except for a cut on my thumb. I had a cold once back in 1995. My only association with doctors since then has been watching Gray's anatomy on Netflix and talking to my sister.

I have zero aches and pains and no indications of any diseases. I start most mornings with 2 hours and 20 minutes of walking/jogging. Or maybe it's end of most nights. I go out around 3 am. I'm kind of addicted to exercise. It's way beyond what's needed for health, but short of what can cause problems.

Your diet is more important than exercise. You probably get enough exercise being a busy doctor. The only change I'd suggest based on old research is to take a 20 minute walk at the end of the day instead of two 10 minute walks. This seemed to be enough for those with sedentary jobs. It is also close to the current CDC recommendations that seem low to me.

Hospital food is notoriously unhealthy... I call it murderous. I don't know what your cafeteria is like, but many of the "healthy choices" probably aren't.

I have to warn you -- the Dr. McDougall videos may cause you to question how you were taught to practice medicine. They may even encourage you to practice elsewhere.

There is no reason for most prescriptions, and they are, in fact, harmful to patients. There is no reason for some 70% of our population to be taking some drug and 50% taking more than one. There is no reason for a third of our population to be overweight and another third being obese. People are poisoning themselves with their poor food choices encouraged by what can only be called **ahem** lies about food.

If you decide to exercise, do something you enjoy. It need only take an hour including warmup and cooldown. If you can't do it during the week, take a longer walk on your days off when you can.

Whew. Catching my breath after a bit of a rant. Sorry. It upsets me to see so many sick and overweight  people. They are needlessly taking money from the health care system I refuse to use.

Well, since you are a doctor, you can do a research project with an n of one. Get a blood test to check your total chloresterol and triglicerides. Weigh yourself.  Check your blood pressure. Nothing else is important for now. (Feel free to disagree with this.) Then strictly follow the McDougall way of eating for 10 days. This simple coloring book explains how to eat without giving the background research. After 10 days, take another lab test, check your blood pressure and weigh yourself. Please let us know what happens. 

By the way, eat as much as you want. There is no reason to be hungry. (This is not the same as eat all you can. Just eat until satisfied. If you get hunger pangs, eat some more.)

After you change your diet, if you chose to, we can return to the exercise question. 

Hope this helps.

[GershonSurge]

Deleted. (Fitbit says I have to use more words, so here they are.)

[DanielleinDC · Accepted solution]

I started getting up about 20 minutes early so I could have time to do a couple of quick workout videos. Then I get dressed, have a bite to eat, check my email, etc., until I have to leave. I take two buses to get to work, which takes me about 50 minutes, but I also get a lot of steps between buses as the second bus I take, I catch it at the beginning of the line.

Can you get up 15 minutes earlier and do a workout video? 

[GershonSurge]

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@DanielleinDC wrote:

I started getting up about 20 minutes early so I could have time to do a couple of quick workout videos. Then I get dressed, have a bite to eat, check my email, etc., until I have to leave. I take two buses to get to work, which takes me about 50 minutes, but I also get a lot of steps between buses as the second bus I take, I catch it at the beginning of the line.

Can you get up 15 minutes earlier and do a workout video? 

---

I'd suggest running behind the bus, but you'd probably get exhausted. 

[modelmalina]

Hi,

I normally get up early to get my workouts in. Perhaps you can try to fit it in during lunch.

After you have lunch, perhaps going for a walk. Walking instead of elevators anytime is good.

If not then perhaps after work. I know that you mentioned you were tired. But maybe before you

relax try to get a jog in, if that's your thing. Or do yoga. That helps also. Just a few suggestions.

Hope these help.

[drhelibhatt]

I started doing fitstar workouts in the mornings, takes about 15-20 min but I feel much better after those. Thanks for the help everyone!

[SunsetRunner]

I style my hair so I don't have to spend more than 5 minutes on it in the morning...I get up at 5am to work out.  I do a half hour walk at lunch time as well, in addition to doing the stairs & parking far away.  You just have to make the time.