Ask HN: How to stay fit?

3 points by snowse ↗ HN
As software developers we sit many hours at a desk. How do you stay slim/fit?

10 comments

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Eat real food, and exercise.

Not exactly rocket science.

How to program: Just pick up a keyboard and start pressing keys? Not exactly rocket science either since, you know everything that isn't rocket science isn't rocket science...I think.
Thing is, davelnewton is right. Eat right and be active and you'll see results right away.
Nope, that's not how you program. But what I said is how to stay in shape. Which is the confusing part? What constitutes "real food"? What are appropriate exercises? A half-hour on Google should clear that up real quick for you.

Not a great analogy, really.

I've lost 50 pounds in 2 years. The first 30 I did with diet alone in a year. I started by cutting out alcohol, pizza, and fast food. The last 20 I lost with exercise. I hired a personal trainer and trained twice a week and worked out an additional 3 days a week on my own.
I train Jujitsu and I also sit a a lot. One of the things that can make it a little harder to stay fit is muscle imbalances that can occur from constant sitting.

If your posture is out of balance it might be a little harder to keep an exercise routine if your body doesn't feel right.

http://breakingmuscle.com/brazilian-jiu-jitsu/it-s-all-in-th...

https://www.defrancostraining.com/joe-ds-qlimber-11q-flexibi...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B-3Khbht5s

I'm in really good shape but if I don't stay stretched out and limber all of that goes out the window. I would say a good start to staying fit is minimizing the determent that siting does on the body.

Nike+ app. Use the built in coach (training programme). Half-marathon training, thoroughly recommended.

Don't eat junk food too.

Set a performance goal. Don't focus on weight loss, focus on finishing a half marathon, swimming a mile, or something else you might like to do. Then set up a training plan 3-5 days a week and keep a calendar where you get to cross off every day where you follow through (off days are freebies). Don't Break the Chain: https://www.writersstore.com/dont-break-the-chain-jerry-sein...
I agree. Signing up for a race motivated me to train. I hated running. The first part was the hardest, but I learned to love it. My garmin device and online tracking has made it quite a fun and rewarding experience.
For me, it's mainly about eating healthy and lots of bike riding. I had a heart attack last year, so I've been really focused on this stuff for the past year. I've recently decided to adopt a ketogenic diet (although I did break it earlier today). I started back doing a lot of bike riding again earlier this year, mostly mountain biking up until I fell and tore my rotator cuff. After that, I switched to mostly road biking until I have the surgery to get my shoulder fixed.

The big breakthrough for me was when I decided to start biking to work a couple of days a week. It's a 12 mile ride (one way) so the days I ride I get a pretty good workout in. My goal is to eventually reach a point where I'm doing that 3 days a week pretty consistently. That'll put me right around 75 miles a week, plus any other random riding I do.

Next year, after my shoulder is healed, I'll start backing with mountain biking and MTB racing again. I did one 6 hour MTB endurance race this year, but missed the rest of the season due to the shoulder injury.