Standing desks

May or may not be of interest to you Rys (and definitely off topic for stand up desks) but I've been considering forcing myself to take a lunch break and do the NHS' couch to 5k program again. A couple of us were talking about doing it at lunchtime around KL:

http://www.nhs.uk/livewell/c25k/Pages/couch-to-5k.aspx

Did the plan ~ 2 years ago and was amazed. Couldn't have jogged to the end of the street without being knackered when we started but within a couple of months was fairly comfortably running/jogging 5km in < 30 mins. starts with a walk where every couple of mins you run for 30 seconds and then each time out you just run for 15 seconds longer and reduce the walk time. Amazing how quickly your body goes from being knackered from 30 seconds of jogging to being able to jog quite happily for an hour or more without feeling more knackered than walking for the same amount of time. Your fitness improves no end though.

Alas real life got in the way so think we're all starting from the knackered tieing our laces level. Podcasts for solo outings but nice to have company later on when the actually jogging along for a decent amount of time.

 

Diet can be fun!
Just avoid anything with soy, canola, etc oil.
There is a correlation between the above oils apearence (1920~1930) and cardiovascular diseases.
Only use olive and coconuts oils.

Have meat once or twice a week but the very good ones.
Today I have this kind of meat once or more a week:
Have fish 3 times a week!
Have lots of salads. Try some japanese and italian sauces.
Only have complex carbohydrates foods: http://www.livestrong.com/article/27398-list-complex-carbohydrates-foods/
Simple carbohydrates are for kids.
Try air fried carbohydrates.
Avoid milk and have yogurt.
Avoid juice and have fruits.
Have almonds
Avoid Sodas.
Have wine !!! specially with meat.
Have beer too. I like the belgian ones.
Have plenty of water. About 400ml each time: http://press.endocrine.org/doi/full/10.1210/jc.2006-0407

Good luck

Sorry for the of topic.

 

The biggest thing that you're doing is walking. Try to make it so the walking is vigorous enough to keep your heart-rate up. If you aren't sweating, you likely aren't walking vigorously enough.

I used to have the same problems with being unable to stand up for long periods of time. It was bad enough that my feet would start to hurt after just 20-30 minutes. Back problems as well. Fatigued easily.

For me, what I eat or how much I eat isn't nearly as important as avoiding too much sugar or simple carbohydrates (things made from processed wheat flour for instance, which is basically the same as sugar). I eat tons of bacon, eggs, all types of meat, LOTS of fat, etc. I make sure to mix in good sources of fiber like beans, whole grains, almonds, etc.

I used to drink Skim Milk but that's not terribly healthy so I'm back to 2% or full fat milk depending on what I feel like it. This has benefits beyond the fat being good for you. Fat enhances the flavor of what is with it. So you need less sugar (or sugary cereals) to have that same "sweet" flavor with even 2% fat milk versus fat free skim milk.

Stand up desks are great. You can combine that with exercise by using it with a treadmill. During the winter months when I don't want to go outside to get cardio, I'll work on my computer while using a treadmill. I have my monitor on a monitor arm so can easily position it either over my desk or over the treadmill. Then I had a keyboard and mouse tray designed for my treadmill.

Also one of the biggest things to help with getting your body fat down (weight isn't as important as getting that body fat down) is to increase your muscle mass. That doesn't mean you have to be bulky like a muscle builder. Lean muscle works just as well. That will do far more to reduce your weight and keep it down than any amount of cardio (cardio is also important though).

I did it slowly myself with simple exercises I could do at home.

Push ups. I started doing this just against a wall in a leaning position so I could get a lot of reps in. Then progressed to on knees with hands on the rim of a bathtub. Then to weight on toes and hands against bathtub. Then to standard push-ups on the floor. At least 2 reps of 30 (60 total a day) is good enough for me and only takes a few minutes.

Balance that out with pull ups. I used a similar method of gradual ramping up. I started by using a bunk bed. Sit on the lower bed. Lean back slightly. Pull upper body forward by grabbing onto the top bunk. Then starting using a low bar and some light assistance from legs. Eventually getting to do full pull ups. Same as push ups 2x 30 reps. Just takes a few minutes.

Abdominals are hugely important and the above isn't really possible without at least some abdominal conditioning. This is easy and hard. I focus on this a little more than the others. Crunches and prone leg lifts are fantastic. I started just doing as many as I could in 2 sets of reps. If I remember right it was so bad when I started that I could only do like 2x 12-15 reps of crunches. Now I do 2x 80 reps of crunches and 2x 80 reps of prone leg lifts. To help out at the start you can also do standing leg lifts which are easy but work amazingly well to get you start. To do those you just stand there. Hold your hands out in front of you at waist level. Then just touch your hands with your knees. Try to do 60 (depending on how bad your abdominals are, that might or might not be tough). If 60 is easy then work up to 100. You can do this while standing at your computer.

And the last one I do regularly is just squats and lunges (without weights as I don't want bulk, just lean muscle). I do 2x 30 reps of each. Oh and the other one I do is arm lifts. Just hands at sides and while keeping your arms straight lift them slowly away from your torso to the sides until thy are about shoulder or head level and then slowly lower them back to resting and then repeat. Amazingly difficult to do a lot of reps of this if you are in really bad shape like I was a few years ago.

I use that every day because it's easy. Doesn't take a lot of time. Maintains a nice level of lean muscle mass which helps keep the body fat down.

Doing that I eat about 1.5-2x the recommended daily amount of calories sometimes and I cut a very svelte figure at my age (not saying what it is, but it's over 40. So, I don't have a young man's metabolism). But that's fine. As not all calories are created equal. When the weather is nice I like to go out for a nice 2-3 hour walk of 7-10 miles. Don't do it too often, as that's a huge time sink. But I do enjoy doing that once a week if I can.

I don't bother counting calories, as I find that counter productive. I find instead, I just try to pay attention to my body telling me it doesn't need food anymore. My brain will sometimes keep saying it wants more of something but my body will stop wanting it and that's when I stop. This took a while to cultivate. As I grew up in poor family where we were taught to eat everything we could and weren't allowed to leave the table until all our food was eaten.

Amazing when I consider just a few years ago, I couldn't make it more than a quarter of a mile without the bottom of my feet getting sore. 1/2 mile and I was too fatigued to go on. I couldn't stand for longer than 10-20 minutes. Now I can stand for hours and hours. My lower back was so bad that if I stepped off a street curb wrong, the pain would be so intense that I'd crumple to the ground. Now I can accidentally step down from a greater height than that sending a huge jolt up my spine and it's no big deal.

I used to try to eat diet/healthy food. Now I eat whatever I want (mmmm, fatty bacon, fatty steaks, eggs with the yolk, etc.), with the exceptions of avoiding lots of sugar and simple carbohydrates. The thing I miss the most is eating pasta 4-5 nights a week. I treat myself to sugared soda every now and then. But I actually have to water it down as it is now too sweet to drink straight.

Definitely worth it for how healthy I am now. Hope some of that can help you out. Again, this isn't a quick route to getting healthy. But it was my way to get to an easily sustainable healthy living condition. No regression as with diets as I eat what I want to eat. No regression from exercise as what I do is easily done while doing other things (most of it can be done while easily watching a video) without a huge time commitment. And can be done virtually anywhere. The hardest one to do anywhere is probably the pull ups.

And and don't forget to stretch some, before and after.

Also, I and another friend of mine regularly have discussions (arguments) about nutrition. And one our pet theories is that your racial background may have a hand in deciding what is and isn't good for you to eat. For me, and many people like me a high fat, high protein diet works quite well. For other people it may or may not work as well. But sugar and simple carbohydrates (mostly of the processed kind, like wheat flour) are universally bad.

Regards,
SB

 

You can have some not so high fat bacon like the portuguese style bacon.
http://www.amazon.com/Smoked-Bacon-Oakwood-Portuguese-Style/dp/B009UL2RJ2
It has more pork meat and dont need to use any oil to fry.
In the past before the industrialized oils (soy, canola and others) people used lard to cook and it is much more healthier then most oils.

If possible reduce animal fat, it will make you faster and with better and quicker reflexes.
See the F1 drivers diet.

Lemon and lime burns fat. Have a glass of fresh water (300ml) with one lime (no sugar or sweetener) just after wake up and it will burn some fat (25g guesstimate) and detox the body.
Lime and lemons are the liver best friends and will keep it fat free. http://www.liversupport.com/love-your-liver-with-lemon-water/

This steak have low olive oil and lemon

Avoid sweeteners, they are not health and taste bad.

Avoid white (processed) salt. Use Himalayan salt or flower of salt (fleur de sel) as they have much more minerals. http://healthwyze.org/index.php/com...out-table-salt-and-the-chemical-industry.html

In the end we should eat more rustic food.

 

I did that before when I spent years eating "healthier." No thank you. I have more energy now, better flexibility, less joint pain, better blood pressure levels, etc. ever since I starting using more animal fat and less vegetable fat. Weight is less of a problem. I'm just overall far better off using as little vegetable oil as possible.

Heck, once upon a time I used to drain off the oil from cooking bacon before cooking my eggs or potatoes. Now I just cook them in the bacon grease. Yummy and I feel great. Doctor concurs that I'm the healthiest I've been in over 20 years. He doesn't want to believe it as he was one of those low fat advocates for a long time. But he's starting to question whether he should continue to believe in that malarky.

Really, after experimenting for quite some years now. As long as I avoid too much sugar and simple processed carbohydrates, I'm in the best condition of my life. I feel like I'm in my early 20's again.

Regards,
SB

 

To elevate my heart beat I just drive fast. It works wonders! But when I'm at home or office then I run the stairs few times to get my blood pumping and it helps. Few years ago I got to a point where I would get headache few times a week and in general feel weak. Never before I had regular headaches, at most 1 or 2 a year! My body and mind realized it was due to lack of movement, so I started exercising on regular basis, even if only for 5-15 minutes a day, plus parking further form my customers and hence walking a bit more. This was all I needed to regain good health and feel much better again!

Currently I'm on target to loose 4kg more of body weight before summer holiday and achieve my target of under 80kg. My ideal weight would be 76kg but I'm realistic and want to avoid yo-yo effect. If I get there, I will feel and weight same as when I was 22! Hope my miss can cope!

 

I wouldn't mind being 76kg, but would settle for 63

 

I'm so fat dude. I hit 350lbs and lost 75lbs and felt amazing at 275 (6'4). But then my dad's oldest brother passed away 2 years ago and I started gaining weight back , then my dad's youngest brother passed away. Both from heart attacks. Within a year of each other. Then my aunt (my dad's oldest brother's wife died) and boom I was back up to 350lbs. Now i'm doing couch to 5k and i'm back down to 330 and slowly going back down. I feel great now that I'm doing the little bit of running. Best part is the cost which is free.

 

+1 to SBs diet.

Low Carb and High Fat is the key for almost all obese people.

But, what people often don't realize, it is very very hard to do the High Fat part of the diet! It is very difficult to find high fat products.

Take animal fat, avoid nearly all vegetable fats (except coconut)...but eat olives, nuts (the fat ones, no peanuts!) and avocados.

If you manage to do the high fat part (at least 75% of your total energy)...you will not only slim down, but especially improve all your health markers as e.g. triglycerides.

And most importantly, all scientific studies clearly confirm that physical activity does not(!) increase weight loss.

It is important to don't mix this with general health improvements though. Physical activity does make you healthier, but it does not help you to lose weight (sometimes it even has a negative effect on weight loss).

 

Well, all this talk about fat and carbohydrates is in part about glycemic peak.

Simple (processed) carbohydrates are aborved too quick and generates a high glycemic peak.
See the chart in this article. http://lowglycemichappiness.com/Glycemic-Index-chart.html

Fat and protein have a slow release of energy. http://www.livestrong.com/article/448193-how-long-after-eating-does-blood-sugar-peak/

But we need balanced meals. So have more small meals during the day using a combination of vegetables, complex carbohydrates and protein.

 

However, while physical activity doesn't directly lead to weight loss it can contribute significantly to weight control. Muscle mass needs to be constantly fueled and leads to a constant calorie burn that isn't there if with less. How much muscle mass a person wants is totally up to each individual obviously. The more you have the more you'll need to eat to maintain it.

So most cardio activities (what in the past was associated with weight loss) does very little little to control weight as it doesn't build significant muscle mass.

It's all about finding that nice balance. For me, the balance is set based on how I like to eat. I get my muscle mass to the point where that is sustainable and I keep it there.

Yeah, this part can be hard. Especially after decades of the low fat hogwash that lead to many people becoming obese (too much focus on carbohydrates, which lead to people using simple processed carbs because it was easy to get, cheap, and tasted good).

A couple decades ago you could easily find tender well marbled steaks, for example. Now that is quite a lot more difficult and you end up with stead with very little marbling which in turn makes them significantly less tender and significantly less tasty.

Another additional bonus effect of fat is that it has a very high satiety factor, which means you'll get that "full" feeling sooner, and keep it longer. Which in turn leads to naturally eating less than if you were eating low fat. Combined with the fact that fat enhances the natural flavor of anything it is combined with leads to a win/win situation.

Regards,
SB

 

I switched to a high fat, low carb diet over a year ago after watching this video and deciding to give it a try. I eat less, I weigh less, I don't crave food and I'm enjoying what I do eat a great deal more. Wish I'd done it 20 years ago.

Standing desks.... Will I feel the same way? (attempting to get back on topic)

 

Rys, I've been wanting to try this, but with a family it's a little harder to jump in. But I'm reading great things about the Soylent diet. More energy, good mental strength, saves money and time, and I'm reading a lot of people as a side effect are trimming quite a bit of fat.

 

Or quite simply the muscle mass helps you hold yourself and is a remedy to back ache, feet ache, shoulder ache when carrying something etc.
That was a huge benefit, as a skinny guy. I don't know if big guys have mostly enough muscle mass already.
I suppose that (as Silent Buddha says) abdominals are hugely important to anybody.

 

btw i have been playing games and working on laptop using "lying down on bed" posture since kids. Do homework, eat, on bed too (yikes).

for me standing is less stressful on my back than sitting.

dunno what that means...

 

I want a lying desk so I can stay in bed...

 

I can understand why something like Soylent would be handy for those working in extreme conditions but I can't comprehend why anybody would want to subsist on this sort of a thing by choice.

Sure, you can live on this sort of stuff, but is that really living? Food is one of life's real pleasures (one of the easiest ones to come by in developed societies) and all but giving it up seems utterly bizarre to me.

It's sort of like those calorie-restricters who live on the edge of starvation in the hope they will get an extra ten years of life. Madness, from my perspective.