Working in a office and sitting down for nearly 8hrs

Anyone have any advice on ways to burn calories or get a little exercise in when you are restricted to this type of environment for the majority of the day? Help!!!

Park as far away from the building as possible or walk or ride a bike to work.  Take a walk over your lunch and / or break times.  Get up every now and then to stretch and walk around a little,  Take the stairs whenever possible and take the long way to the bathroom, etc.  Exercise regularly before or after work and on the weekends.  And watch what you eat.

if your workplace allows it, get a stability ball and use it instead of a chair.

If you don't have any, purchase a set of dumbbells and do various exercises with them throughout the day. I do this, and I find it very helpful.

Original Post by trhawley:

Park as far away from the building as possible or walk or ride a bike to work.  Take a walk over your lunch and / or break times.  Get up every now and then to stretch and walk around a little,  Take the stairs whenever possible and take the long way to the bathroom, etc.  Exercise regularly before or after work and on the weekends.  And watch what you eat.

 Yeah unfortunately this is the most important sentence.   It is SO easy to munch when sitting down all day...I have a sit-down job and it totally sucks that this has such a huge impact reduction in my daily calories that I can eat.  I go to the gym most every day at lunch, for cardio, but even that does not make up for sitting on my arse for 8/9 hours. :-(

I go to the gym at least three times a week (M, W, & F) i do at least 30 min on an elliptical, burning at least 300 calories. I also strength train for about 30 minutes. And try to jog 1.5 miles at least once a week. This week and next week I have opted to only do cardio. 60 mins on the elliptical,15 mins on a stationary bike, and 1.5 mile jog M, W, & F.

The hardest thing to deal with is my eating habits. Lately I've been doin pretty good with that. I take a lunch to work on most days. This has helped me out a lot.

Thanks for all the advice and keep it coming. I truely appreciate it.

Ciao

I am at the gym MOST days - probably 5-6 days a week.  I do cardio every day (elliptical, stepmill, or running), and am getting ready to run my 5th half-marathon on Sunday.  I also do 2 full-body workouts a week, at about 1.5 to 2 hours each. 

Honestly, you would think I could eat whatever I wanted.  :-)  Wishful thinking.

I agree about bringing your lunch - I have been bringing my lunch to work for many years now....I never EVER (unless it is something really special) eat out for lunch.  For the amount of calories that I can eat, and what they serve/charge in restaurants, it's a complete waste of money and time for me.

Yep...the eating is the hard part - I completely agree.   Sounds like you have a good fitness plan in place, so keep up the good work! 

Original Post by bunnybane:

if your workplace allows it, get a stability ball and use it instead of a chair.

 That's a really good idea. I have never thought about that. I doubt my work place will allow it, since I work for the government. But I'll definitely ask. The worst I can be told is "No." But I'll definitely start doing this at home; I often take work home so I'm siting at a desk for more hours.

Thanks!

While you're asking about the stability ball, you might also ask if you can bring in a little portable stationary bike thingy - no idea what they're actually called, but a friend of mine has one under her desk. It's just the pedals, with a simple resistance adder, but it fits right under a desk.

I'm totally with you about the eating at my desk thing. I've found that it's better for me to have reasonably healthy snacks (100 cal bags of popcorn, carrots, pretzels, enriched whole grain cereal etc) with me - if I don't, I just go to the vending machine, or gobble up all sorts of junk when I get home.

I didn't notice if anyone mentioned this, but I try to walk to someone else's desk to speak to them in person instead of e-mailing or calling whenever I can.  It's sometimes the only movement I can get in the course of a busy workday.  I also agree with keeping healthy snacks on-hand.  I make sure to eat every 2-3 hours, so I bring fruit, string cheese, and yogurt with me in the morning and keep fat-free pudding, low-sugar oatmeal, and soup packets in my desk.  It's VERY hard at my job to avoid junk food since they keep free candy in the mail room and have free soda fountains in every break area, but I've been able to lose a little over 40 lbs in the last 8 months by sticking with my healthy snacks and getting as much movement as I can during my shift.  Good luck!

Original Post by determined_persistence:

Original Post by bunnybane:

if your workplace allows it, get a stability ball and use it instead of a chair.

 That's a really good idea. I have never thought about that. I doubt my work place will allow it, since I work for the government. But I'll definitely ask. The worst I can be told is "No." But I'll definitely start doing this at home; I often take work home so I'm siting at a desk for more hours.

Thanks!

 Tell them you need to do it for ergonomic reasons, and get a doctor to write a note to support it. :) 

Clint

When you're in the restroom, while in the stall you can do pushups against the stall door, and you can do squats inside the stall (or pushups on the sink if you can lock the main entrance door!)  Everytime you go do 20 reps of each.(with your pantyhose up or down its up to you!:)

Original Post by determined_persistence:

Original Post by bunnybane:

if your workplace allows it, get a stability ball and use it instead of a chair.

 That's a really good idea. I have never thought about that. I doubt my work place will allow it, since I work for the government. But I'll definitely ask. The worst I can be told is "No." But I'll definitely start doing this at home; I often take work home so I'm siting at a desk for more hours.

Thanks!

I work for the gov't too. There are no rules dictating what you sit on. I sit on a swiss ball at work. And I've seen someone with a chair made to hold a swiss ball, so it doesn't roll around. Pretty neat actually.