Article - SENSIBLE WEIGHT LOSS TIPS ANYONE CAN DO

[USAF-Larry]

A good article by Dr. David Samadi on Sensible Weight Loss Tips Anyone Can Do.

"Everyone needs a little push (okay maybe shove) in the right direction when it comes to losing weight.   We all know in order to lose weight we have to make healthier food choices while reducing calories and increasing physical activity.  Sounds easy, doesn’t it?  But there’s a third component that is just as crucial as the first two making a world of difference in meeting your weight loss goals keeping you from slipping and gaining any weight lost back.

Behavior modification is that third component...."

Read full article here Sensible Weight Loss Tips Anyone Can Do

[WendyB]

Thanks! 

[JennyJenn]

They lost me here: "Plan to spend only one hour per day in sedentary activities, such as watching TV or using a computer"

Oh, I wish I could do that, but I need to work at my computer to make a living.

I do, however, put boxes under the monitor, keyboard and mouse to turn it into a standing desk, as well as set up my laptop on my treadmill for some of the day. To break things up, to reduce the effects of sitting disease and to get some more steps in.

Thank you for the link!

[A_Lurker]

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@JennyJenn wrote:

They lost me here: "Plan to spend only one hour per day in sedentary activities, such as watching TV or using a computer"

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I suspect that they mean after work.  It's not really a realistic goal unless you specifically target TV and/or surfing the net after work.  Some people commute to and from work (and until recently the distances I drove were over 30 minutes each way), you sit down eating your dinner, you can sit down to talk to family members, you need to sit down to plan meals, pay bills, etc. 

Now, I do pace around a fair bit when I come home, especially if I haven't moved much during the day.  Today was a perfect (bad) example.  I don't think I was much over 3000 steps when I got home.  Thursdays are usually bad for me (meeting day) but it was a particularly bad one.  Usually to break up the sitting I'll do a number of laps in the plant.  However today it was one meeting after another.  8-9,9-10:15 (same room), upstairs from 10:15-11:30, then lunch with someone until almost 1pm.  Next meeting 1-3, then I played catch-up at my desk until I got out of there at almost 5pm.

A stop at a garden center on the way home, and I still wasn't much over 3000 steps.  Put dinner in the oven (turkey meat loaf with a PC Memories of Morroco sauce on top), had a quick swim, finished off dinner with some potatoes and green beans.  After that I put in some laundry and started working on those steps (I think I was barely over 5000 at this point.  Actually, to be fair, I started on more calories burned as that's what I really look at.

Before I stopped about half an hour ago I managed to clock 94 active minutes and got 37 mins in the cardio zone, 8 mins in the peak zone.  With my weight loss I have to push a little more to burn those same calories (I aim for 3500 each day). I should have probably sucked it up and put the treadmill down, but I did it through a combination of fast walking, a little very light jogs, etc.

However, I've definitely had the TV on (although not sitting for any extended period of time).  I've also probably spent close to an hour alone skimming the forums.  I'm actually thinking that almost anyone who is semi-active in the forums blows through that one hour sedentary time.  It's what you do with the rest of your day that counts.  My mother used to be the queen of NEAT (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12468415) in her younger days.  She would eat easily 2000-2500 calories a day (and she was only about 125 pounds tops), yet she would spent part of the day reading and napping.  The rest of the time she was all over the place.  I try and not sit too long before getting up for a break, however, I think the nervous energy that some people have is a natural characteristics.  You can fake it a little, but it isn't everyone.

[A_Lurker]

What a difference a day makes.  It's not 10am and I'm already futher ahead than I was at the end of the day yesterday.  I still have about 3 hours of meetings today but I'm going to try and get as many steps in before I leave for the day.  It's marginally cooler in the plant today (but that's not saying much).

[USAF-Larry]

Keep on Stepping, @A_Lurker! 

[JennyJenn]

Not to be picky, but it doesn't specify after work or non-work-computer-related activities. My brain went to include the whole day because that's what it said, but also because I've been reading so much about sitting disease. (This is why I ended up buying a Fitbit!)

Can I ask you a question? Do you have any tips or tricks about what to do in social situations for getting those 250 steps each hour? I know in work meetings we're kind of stuck unless you set up beforehand that you'll take hourly breaks or all stand up or whatnot - how many people actually ask for that? (I don't think I have the guts, even though this is my health we're talking about. And standing is a far cry from everyone walking in place for five minutes.)

But what about other situations? I have a group I meet with once a week over a two-hour period, but we sit. It would be so awkward to get up and walk around the tiny table in the tiny room. I'm resorting to walking into the room two minutes late (they never start on time so I'm not disruptive) and going to the bathroom and just stepping in place until I hit the 250 for the second hour. Am I just stuck doing this? Is there any other clever thing I'm not thinking of?

And what about game night? They'll sit for HOURS. Again, I just get up and "go to the bathroom" and step in place in private. (My friends must think I have to tinkle constantly!)

I'm not comfortable stating what I'm doing or does anyone else want to join me, I suppose that would be the easiest thing to do. It's just that I'm always the "weird" one with these new-fangled ideas no one is interested in, and I don't want to add to the list.

But have you tried anything else? Or do you just forgo those 250-steps-an-hour and that's just life?

Oh, I am asking @A_Lurker specifically because she mentioned getting a lot less steps because of work meetings and I wondered if she's tried things, but anyone else reading this, please share anything you've tried - whether it worked or not!

P.S. I never realized how much I was sitting - and for different reasons. Work at computer, commute, driving for errands, meals (of course), meetings, game night, TV (of course), even chatting with friends and family. And yes, @A_Lurker - even reading these forums! I need to get in the habit of doing that on my laptop on the treadmill. Typing on the treadmill isn't so easy, but reading things is perfect.

What I do when I am sitting at the computer, it to set the timer to go off every 50 minutes and then walk around (being sure to swing my arms and move every part of my body) for five minutes.

[JennyJenn]

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@A_Lurker wrote:

What a difference a day makes.  It's not 10am and I'm already futher ahead than I was at the end of the day yesterday.  I still have about 3 hours of meetings today but I'm going to try and get as many steps in before I leave for the day.  It's marginally cooler in the plant today (but that's not saying much).

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Yay!

[A_Lurker]

@JennyJenn - I can't always control my days.  Today, just syncing now I'm only 201 steps shy of 10,000 when I got home (about 8500 when I left, and had some errands).  I don't freak out about the days when I can't get my numbers up, I just work on them at home.  I'm very lucky in that most days I can be more active on purpose without people wondering why.  This morning, not really on purpose I went out to the warehouse, back to my desk, then repeated all within a 30 minute time period (~2000 steps).  At times it would be odd if I wasn't going out to the plant.  I go to someone with questions instead of calling them if at all possible.  We're very much a collaborative group (product launches, customer issues, etc.) so it's not odd to walk over to talk to someone about something.  I'm also lucky in that fitness and weight loss was a company iniative this spring so maybe more people are just doing more at work to start with.  I didn't take advantage, but they were subsidising at one of the local gyms if you wanted to join.  When I worked in a different plant they actually had a small, but well-equiped one in the plant... along with showers and changing rooms.

However, when I step out of meetings to use the washroom I will sometimes swing through the cafeteria on the way back.  For all day meetings I've been honest about getting up to stretch my legs.  Although most of our all day meetings are customer visits, so going out to the floor is part of that as well.  I have done some 'in place' steps in the bathroom now and then, but I feel silly.

On the super inactive days I do my best to make it up after work.  Tonight, I could lay on the couch for the rest of the night and still burn 3700 calories today.  I'm going to make up my 201 steps, then make dinner and maybe do some laundry.  It's going to be a rainy day tomorrow, so I suspect that I will struggle more tomorrow.

On the plus side, with some of the weight lost already the moving around today didn't take as much out of me as it would have in the past.  Who knew you could get into the cardio zone and peak zone at work?  48mins and 6 respectively. 

[JennyJenn]

@A_Lurker Wow! I really have to work to get into the cardio zone, and the peak zone is pretty elusive to me! (For the first time at the gym today, I got 27 minutes in the peak zone! I don't know what I did different to suddenly get - and stay - in the peak zone.)

In the beginning, I felt pretty silly walking in place in the bathroom, too, but now I don't. I don't do it in front of people (well, family, yes) but I know I'm doing this for my health so it's no longer too silly to me!

That's cool you can walk so much at work.

It sounds like you had the same basic mindshift that I had when I got my Fitbit. I'm so much more mindful of how sedentary or active I am during the day. Even at night, but I have insomnia so I have to have a nighttime routine to wind down and chill out.

You're so inspiring about how you just go with the flow - while being determined. That's awesome!

[DanielleinDC]

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@JennyJenn wrote:

And what about game night? They'll sit for HOURS. Again, I just get up and "go to the bathroom" and step in place in private. (My friends must think I have to tinkle constantly!)

I'm not comfortable stating what I'm doing or does anyone else want to join me, I suppose that would be the easiest thing to do. It's just that I'm always the "weird" one with these new-fangled ideas no one is interested in, and I don't want to add to the list.

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As a fellow sports fan, I do have the same conundrum, although when I watch baseball it's just me, and when it comes to hockey, it's the boyfriend and me. For baseball, I get up and walk up and down the hall between the innings. It's about 200 steps. I suppose I could do the same with TV timeouts in hockey, which don't exist when I'm watching AHL (minor league hockey) games online. When I go to Caps games, I take every opportunity to get up and either cheer or walk to the restroom, which is just outside my section (bonus: I have to go up stairs to get there).

If you and your friends are snacking, you could always take advantage of a break to take dishes to the kitchen or bring more food out or something. Fidgeting may not count much on your step count, but it supposedly burns calories. Or see if there are isometric exercises you can do in front of your friends.