Photo © babblingdweeb

Ever since I could earn money, I’ve been buying gadgets. I am the biggest technophile you’ll meet. I’ll buy things, use them twice, and then look for the next best thing, because I can never get enough. However, I had a lot of debt building up and it was really weighing me down. I’m not talking about economic debt, I’m talking about sleep debt.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself a little bit.  Let me start back to when I started to realize that I had a problem.

The Culprit

I had just moved to San Francisco. Everything I owned was packed up in boxes in my new room, except for my new bed. I just spent a pretty penny on it, and for the first week, I slept like a king. And slowly, as I unpacked all of my toys, I started having troubles falling asleep. I was exhausted and I just couldn’t get any GOOD sleep.

Without it, I am a shell.  I can’t think clearly at work and I can’t get in a good workout. Since I didn’t get in a good workout, I start to feel sluggish, and the only thing I’d have energy for was playing with my fancy electronics. I couldn’t get a wink of sleep. I’d toss and turn in bed for hours before falling asleep and being sleepy while driving an hour and a half to work in the morning didn’t feel good. Nor did it feel very safe.

As I googled for reasons on why, I stumbled upon something interesting. Studies have shown our gadgets are depriving us of our precious ZZZs. The bright lights on our monitors and phones are interrupting our circadian rhythms. It’s our favorite social networking sites. I want to see what my friends are doing on Twitter. I want to see lame baby pictures on Facebook. Damn it, I want to see those videos of those cute kittens looking at itself in the mirror and getting scared. I need these stimuli. I feel lost without them. But I also need my sleep.

Breaking the cycle

I love my toys, and I wasn’t gonna get rid of them. That being said, I needed to fix my problem, or else I’d just be another stat adding to the ridiculous number of people in America depriving themselves of a good nights rest.

First thing I wanted to do was turn off my night light. I didn’t literally have a night light, it just felt like that because all of my gadgets and gizmos have these really bright LEDs on them that blink or shimmer or do whatever the hell they feel like doing. This was even when they were off. Unplugging them was a hassle, since I’d most likely need to plug them all back in when I woke up.

I discovered Lithographer’s tape. Cut a little piece off and put them on any led light and you won’t even know it existed. A roll that will last you forever, will only be 6 bucks on Amazon. The tape is thin and doesn’t leave a much residue when you take it off, the perfect solution (in early tests, I didn’t have any sticky residue when I took the tape off, but that might change over many months).

But this only helps you keep your room dim when you are in bed. The lights from your computer will still mess with your brain and you probably won’t be able to doze off for another hour or so. This is where one of my addictions saved me. I learned about this great program called Flux on reddit. Flux essentially reduces the warmth of your monitors colors as the day progresses. The brightness and colors of your monitor will be perfectly normal during the daytime, but by night, your monitor will have a relaxing orange hue to it.

After using this program for just 1 week, I began to notice that at night, my eyes started to get droopy. I was feeling tired, when I was supposed to feel tired. I fell asleep shortly after getting in bed. It was a miracle. I was able to keep my addiction to my email + social networks and get back to going to sleep.

I didn’t have to abandon or change my technological lifestyle. In fact, I’m writing this article right now at midnight and can feel my bed calling to me. So this is where I’ll leave you, and hopefully I remember to edit this article tomorrow. One thing is for sure, I know I’ll be able to get a great nights rest before waking up to play racquetball for 4 hours.

Notes:

If you can’t figure out why I’m writing about sleep on a fitness blog, then check out these other articles. They dicuss why sleep is amazing and also give other tips on improving sleep. Also, this might not solve your problems entirely. There are always several factors on why humans struggle with sleep. I’m writing this article, because this is often overlooked in our search for a better nights sleep. I’ve already done many other things to improve my nights. For example, I have a very amazing bed and two awesome pillows.

About 6 months ago, after a very long vacation to foreign lands that fed me very well, I decided that I wasn’t happy with my belly.  I wasn’t getting fat, but lets just say that my belt was becoming less and less necessary.   So like all people trying to make a life style change, I set a goal. This goal was simple, get a six pack before the end of beach season.

Now I want to start by saying that I currently have NOT reached that goal, and yes technically beach season is about to end*, but that doesn’t mean that my journey was meaningless.  I’ve learned a lot of things about myself as well as transformed my body to something it hasn’t been since I was 16.  In fact, aside from the lack of a six pack, I’d say I’m in much better shape now than I’ve ever been in my life.

Feb 1. Old me

October: New me

So this is what I looked like half a year ago.  Not the greatest of shape, but not exactly horrible.  To the right is the new me.  It might be hard to tell, but I went from a size 35 to a size 32.  Of all the belts that I owned prior to my goal, not a single one is actually capable of helping me hold my jeans up now.

Like all goals, you need a plan of action, and my plan of action had pretty much zero ab exercises. Now most of you are probably thinking, no wonder why you never hit your goal of getting a six pack.  Well, as you can see in that first picture, I have what is pretty much the starts of a beer belly from my college drinking days.  I can tell you now, that if I were to start doing crazy amounts of ab exercises, all I would accomplish is pushing out that layer of fat more.  Sure I might have a 6 pack, but it would be buried underneath a layer of fat. Definitely not the desired results.

The Journey

So step one was to lose that layer of belly fat.  Most people are probably thinking, “How do you target that belly fat?  Don’t you do more ab exercises?” Well, not really.  In fact, targeting a certain patch of fat is about as useful as relying on Santa to give you a new body.  So I’m gonna tell you the unfortunate news, you are just gonna have to lose fat the old fashioned way, by burning calories and eating right.  Your body stores excess fat as a source of energy, the problem is that unless we burn more calories than we consume, chances are you never are going to dip into that supply source.

So I’m going to assume that everyone has read my weight loss tips, so I won’t bother rehashing them. But in case you haven’t, you can find those articles here. Well, all of those weight loss tips came as a result from this goal. I scoured the internet for information, and started experimenting with a large number of ideas and decided to try out the things that almost everyone with good success stories agreed on and a few experimental things (aka the medicine ball office chair).

I even experimented by creating a few things to do on my own out of the blue.  One that I particularly like is the “Get Lost While Running” routine.  I just go out and start running with no idea where I’m going and sorta hope I can find my way back. During the run, I find interesting things in my path and I start jumping on them or over them or running around them. Think of it as a poor mans Parkour.  In fact, I did this two hours ago in Golden Gate park, which is full of mystery paths and funky obstacles. Yes, you might look like a crazy person doing this, but I find it extremely fun, much more fun than a normal run in the park.

The point to all of this experimentation is that you find what works for you, and to get you excited about it. People make fitness goals all of the time. Whether its to lose 15 lbs or to get that six pack. I didn’t hit my goal of getting a six pack, but I have discovered a wide variety of exercises that I enjoy. I feel great and I personally love what my body has become. If you shoot for the stars and end up landing on the moon, you can still try getting there tomorrow. Besides, the moon is still pretty damn impressive.

* I actually wrote this article in September but never got around to proof reading it and finishing it until October, so during the time of the original writing of this article, beach season had not ended yet.  It clearly is over now.

This is a pretty common problem and one that I struggle with as well. I tried combating this problem in the past by doing various home fitness programs such as p90x or insanity.  Two programs that I really love, but I can only do “Shoulders, Bis, and Tris” so many times before  I am sick of Tony’s face.

I once told myself, that I would never go to a gym and get help from a personal trainer. After all, isn’t a personal trainer only there just to count your reps and take your money? Ok, thats not entirely fair, they do two very important things, fix your form and give you new exercises. But are those two tasks worth working overtime for just to pay off?

Welcome to the world of group training. In p90x and Insanity, Tony and Shaun-T are instructing a group of people, because its efficient and there is no need for them to focus on any individual for the entire duration of the workout. Almost every gym will have group training classes, all at a fraction of the cost of a personal trainer. Many gyms will often include some of these classes for free.

Some of the best benefits of these group training classes are that you are exposed to a lot of different equipment that you simply won’t have at home as well as space that you almost certainly don’t have at home. Our trainer had us running through obstacle courses, swinging large heavy ropes around, balancing on bosu balls while doing squats, and doing various other strange exercises that tested our balance, strength, and agility.  He was doing the exact same thing a personal trainer does except for instead of counting our reps, he would time us and tell us to stop after a certain time period. It was the single most refreshing workout I’ve had in years. All from a 1 hour group session with only 4 other individuals and a trainer. I honestly felt like I had a personal trainer but wasn’t paying the money for one.

If you are looking to fulfill your cardio needs, try joining a spin class. If you haven’t tried it before, it isn’t as stupid as you think. You aren’t simply just sitting on a stationary bike and peddling.  The trainer will have you moving in various positions to attack different parts of your legs, will have you spinning at various speeds ranging from slow to super intense (hey, there is that high intensity interval training that I rave about), and really just get you excited about sitting on a stationary bike. This stuff REALLY cuts into the fat.

If you happen to belong to a relatively fancy gym, try joining a class that teaches you a new sport. I’ve begun to notice something when teaching racquetball to new people, and its that they run a LOT more than I do. The reason being that when you are new to a sport, you honestly have no idea what is the most efficient way of doing something or where the most efficient place to be is at, so in order to compensate, you have to run extra hard.

Don’t let that gym membership go to waste. You can almost certainly find a class or clinic for cheap if not for free at your gym. Take advantage of someone else’s perspective to give you a fresh interesting look at exercise. But on the off chance you don’t belong to a gym, do not fret.  You still have the options of p90x and Insanity, which are fantastic workouts that have definitely helped me get in the shape that I am in today.  You can also use websites like GroupOn or Living Social to try and score some super cheap group Yoga or Pilates classes.  Honestly, if you haven’t tried yoga yet, you are missing out on some great stuff, and I’ve heard equally great things about pilates.  Have fun and remember, getting in shape doesn’t have to be a solo act.

But I have done something that few in my position have been able to do, and that is to cut the weight, and cut it pretty drastically.  All without feeling like I have to devote an extensive amount of time outside the office.  In part one of this article, I’m here to present to you some easy weight loss tips for a working person that doesn’t have time to spend an hour+ every day at the gym.  In part 2, I’ll present the tough tips.

1 . Eat a light healthy breakfast

Throughout college and throughout my first 2 years of work, I skipped out on breakfast.  I figured, if I’m waking up at 9:30, I might as well just wait until lunch before eating.  There are multiple problems with this.  I’ll jump into the obvious reason first. By the time you get to lunch, your hunger is going to cause you to over eat.

Now for the important reason. When your body is starved for nutrition, your metabolism tanks.  In fact, your metabolism slows down quite a bit while you sleep, and will not begin to rise again until you get some food in your body.  You just wasted X hours not burning calories.

2. Supplements Supplement Supplements

Ok, I’m putting in this disclaimer now.  Don’t use supplements over a healthy nutritious meal.   However, supplements are great in aiding you reach your weight loss goal.  I know that Thaya has gone over the safer eca stack, but I’m going to talk about a couple of other supplements.

If you have troubles over eating, or if you feel really hungry after you eat a light meal and find yourself snacking shortly after, try taking some Metamucil about 20 minutes prior to your meal.  Metamucil is a very healthy supplement, its full of fiber which is great for your digestive system and your heart health.  Why is this one of my quick weight loss tips? Metamucil is great because the fiber in it gives you a sensation that you are full.  If you are full, you aren’t grabbing snacks 1 hour later.

Now for a supplement that will help you metabolize that fat, Fish Oil. I don’t want to make this article too long, so I will simply say that if you take fish oil, your metabolic rate will increase and you will burn more calories every day. Read more about the effects of fish oil and check out some of the best fish oil supplements out there.

If you can never remember to take supplements, try keeping them on your desk within reach.

3. Don’t sit around

This one might be easier than you think.  Yes you might be chained to that desk all day like me, but I try to make sure I burn a few extra calories doing little things.  If you can, stand while you eat.  Your body will burn just a few more calories every day.  Try having a walking meeting.  If you have to make a conference call, do it while walking.  Better yet, take a 15 minute break every day to walk outside.  Remember, you lose weight be creating a calorie deficit, so every calorie you burn counts towards that end goal.

4. Bounce around

If you have to sit on your ass 8+ hours a day, you might as well burn some extra calories doing it. Try replacing your office chair with an exercise ball.  Your core muscles will essentially be activated all day long as you try to balance on the ball.  You will also improve your posture since the most balanced position on an exercise ball, is nice steady upright position.  Also its just plain fun to bounce up and down once in a while.  Be careful though, if you have lower back problems, consult your doctor first.

The ergonomically correct way to be sitting on a exercise ball is with your legs at a slightly downward angle (not 90 degrees) so try to get a slightly oversized ball.  At 6 feet tall, a 75 cm ball is just a little bit too small for me, so try out a few sizes at the gym before purchasing. Update: Apparently I just didn’t inflate it enough.  This is perfectly fine for my size.

5. Drink a lot of water

If you aren’t getting enough water, your metabolism will slow down.  Are we noticing a pattern yet?  If you can’t stand drinking just plain water, don’t grab for that soda.  Drink some green tea instead.  Like Thaya discussed in his eca stack article, green tea has some pretty powerful  effects.  It also can contain caffeine.  So you are covering two supplements with 1 drink.

Now onto the hard tips!

Thats all of the easiest and fastest weight loss tips I have for now.  I’ll discuss the second part of this article with more difficult weight loss tips that will truly help you shed those extra pounds in Part2 of The Working Man’s Weight Loss Tips.