Walking off the Weight While Working

Published 4.8.2012; reformatted 4.6.2013 and again 8.9.2015
In my original treatise about my treadmill desk, I noted in passing that I have lost weight since beginning to use it regularly. In fact, I have lost seven pounds (3.2 kg) since January 1, giving me a BMI of 25. That might not seem very impressive, but I am post-menopause. I have been overweight but not obese since high school. In my 30s, after having kids, my weight was about 15 pounds or 6.8 kg (BMI of 28.4) higher than what it was when graduated high school (BMI of 25.4). The trend was not my friend, particularly as it seems to me that the best advice for staying healthy into old age is, "Don't get fat."

Shortly before my 40th birthday (almost a decade ago) I decided to try and reverse the trend. My thinking was that I had until 50 to get healthy because 50 was when "the wheels came off" and menopause would happen and upset my hormonal apple cart. Well, that didn't work out because, for me, menopause began at 42. Going through early menopause only increased the urgency to pay attention to my health and fitness.

My bottom line

I am firmly in the "eat less, move more" camp on the weight loss. Total calories in versus total calories expended, excreted or stored is what determines if you gain or lose weight, period. I am aware that there is a segment of the population that does not agree with this— some of whom are doctors. But my review of the research is that eating less and moving more works EVERY SINGLE TIME— no matter the type of diet.

So if "eat less, move more" works every time, why then do people regain all the weight (and often more)? Because once their diet ends, they begin to eat more and/or move less, and the weight comes back right back. I do not "diet" because that presumes a temporary change. What I did was re-evaluate the number of calories a human of my desired size needs to eat, then adjusted my personal intake with the idea that I had to retrain my body and mind to recognize what the proper amount of calories (food AND drink) was.

I also tried to exercise more. Moving more seems to matter for maintenance than for losing, again based on my reading of the research. Eventually I plan to expand on the "eat less" portion of my effort, but for now this will have to suffice to a statement of my bottom line when it comes to weight loss. Eat less and move more, all else is obfuscation at best, outright lies at worst, even if the people talking has an MD after their names.

Moving more

For now, I'm going to focus on the move more part of the equation, which for me was ultimately solved by the treadmill desk. My original plan to move more is centered around walking 30 minute of the treadmill and weights, at least 3 times a week. I detest gyms, so I work out at home. For any fitness plan of mine to be successful it must be easy. Going to the gym is not easy, but walking through the house to where the treadmill and weights are is. The plan worked in that I did use the treadmill and weights most weeks, but it was too easy to put off or avoid doing so.

Then in 2010, as part of the stand up fitness plan, I decided that standing rather than sitting most of the day would be the easiest way to up my total expenditure. So I fashioned a standing desk for myself and began to work while standing. But while I found that while my concentration was greater while standing, I really didn't like standing at my desk for most of the day. I would stand for awhile, but invariably would sit down at some point and remain sitting for the rest of the day.

The Easiest Answer of all... Walking at Work

The next iteration of the plan was to walk on the treadmill for longer, this time with my laptop in front of me so that I could read or watch videos while I walked. This increased my time on the treadmill and the number of days I made it to the treadmill, but when it was time to "work" I would sit down to it for the rest of the day. Because I was using the treadmill more with my laptop in front of me, slowly I began to get more comfortable walking and reading, and eventually started typing a bit more often. As I became more comfortable walking and working, it was time to truly try and make the treadmill into my full time desk.

Thus in January of 2012, my annual list of resolutions included "use the treadmill desk daily." I also chose to post (on Twitter ) my daily mileage, as a way to record the total. However, Twitter isn't that convenient to use in that way, so I have a spreadsheet file in which I tabulate the daily mileage. At the end of each week I include the full week's mileage, and then the mileage for the year.

Disclaimer