How To Stay Fit as a Sedentary Software Engineer

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Hey folks, I am leaving the office. It's Friday evening. Um, let's get to it. I'm gonna go to Reddit for a topic. This one's I don't know, maybe kind of interesting. Uh, I haven't talked about it at all on Code Commute, so I figured it'd be a good one. It is about how do you stay active or stay fit while living a sedentary lifestyle? And that's I think probably I don't have stats on it, but I think probably pretty common for a lot of people that work office jobs or like software engineers, right? We're not physically doing things in our jobs and I don't know like stereotypes and stuff of course shouldn't rely on that, but I think there's probably a lot of people that aren't just super active. So, wanted to talk about that. Um, like I said, I think it'd be interesting cuz I haven't talked about it before on Code Commute.

So, a reminder for my microphone to not slip down. Uh, for folks that are new to the channel, it's all driven by questions. So, you can leave questions in the comments about software engineering or career development. I'll try my best to answer. You can submit them also to Dev Leader on social media. It's my main YouTube channel with C tutorials, a podcast. It's got a resume reviews if you want your resume reviewed for free and a live stream every Monday at 700 p.m. Pacific, check it out. So, the um the topic about just like kind of staying when I'm going to say fit, I just mean like healthy, okay? I don't mean like how to how to be a bodybuilder like um you know, world class athlete, nothing like that. But like I I feel like I've been pretty fortunate that like in my life I have just been someone that likes to go to the gym.

When I was a kid um I was like pretty overweight as a kid and uh like I never to this day I don't like sports. I don't like watching sports. I don't definitely don't like playing sports. Nothing about sports of any kind interests me, which is uh really weird because as a Canadian um you know, not being in love with hockey and you know, skating to work and stuff, I realize that's probably blasphemy, but like I just don't like it. I don't like sports. Don't know why. Always been that way. I was pretty overweight as a kid. And as someone who's not playing sports, that means it's a little bit more challenging to get physical activity in. And um I ended up getting sick. Can't remember how old I was in elementary school, right? Um grade six or something. I don't know, grade seven, something like that.

Um I got sick and uh I was basically stuck on a on the couch for like a month and uh just eating soup. So I lost weight. Like I got really skinny um because I was basically just like wasting away. and uh wasn't like life-threatening. It was really weird. It was an allergic reaction. Um but I kind of got like a a wakeup call a little bit later actually, but I had like a second chance at like I was getting fat and then all of a sudden I wasn't fat. And it was really weird because I didn't I didn't know I was fat. Super bizarre. Um because as someone who loves going to the gym now and like I think about you know nutrition and stuff like that I'm very aware of it very aware of weight gain weight loss but um I didn't know

I was fat and even as a kid I'd have like you know my friends and stuff would call me tubby or call me other things and like make fat jokes like we're just kids but I still didn't like put together that I was fat, right? So, I got skinny from being sick. And then um I remember in like grade nine in high school, I started to notice that I was putting on weight, right? I didn't I didn't change anything about my lifestyle, okay? So, I just like started to put on weight and I was like, "This is weird." And being in high school now, all of a sudden you're, you know, puberty is going to be a thing. There's girls and like you're going to be more self-conscious about whatever is going on.

And I just remember thinking like I used to be fat and like I I can see that I'm I'm starting to get fat and I was like, "Oh no, like I can't get fat again because now now I'm like more aware of what's going on and I'm like I can't have this happen." So, I just remember telling myself like because I don't like sports. I like you have to you have to start going into the gym. You have to go use the weight room at at school. You need to or else you know what's going to happen. You're going to get fat. So, basically in grade nine, I just started going to the gym regularly having literally no idea what I was doing, which is hilarious because I used to go in at lunch. I would go to one of the benches and I would lay down and I would do incline dumbbell press.

Do that a few times like for a few sets and then I would leave that. I was I'm going to the gym. I have literally no idea what's going on. So my kind of journey with uh going to the gym started, you know, when I was 14 and uh I've been going to the gym very regularly ever since. Uh, and I'll talk a little bit more about that in a sec. But, um, I I just wanted to mention that cuz I've been fortunate that it always, not always, but from very early on has been a very big part of my life. Um, because if I didn't have that and I didn't have I don't like sports, I know based on how much I like food, how much I, you know, how easy it is for me to be like, I don't care. like I'm just going to snack on this because it's awesome.

Or if you put cookies or brownies in the same room as me, I will eat all of them uncontrollably. I can't cannot stop myself. No willpower. Willpower for me is in the store. If I have to pay for it, it stops me. If it's just there, I will eat it all. But I know this about myself now, right? So I think for a lot of individuals unfortunately like they they don't know they don't know like uh you know proper nutrition how like calories and macronutrients work. I'm not saying like at a scientific level necessarily but like basic understanding trying to get enough protein like there's all that from a nutrition perspective but then like how do we get active right? If you're the kind of person who has a hobby that is active, whether it's a sport like on teams or like something that you can go do outside like rock climbing, anything, skateboarding, you have something that's a hobby that's physical, that's great because our jobs are not that.

All right? We're sitting for, you know, 8 hours a day. We're sleeping for another 8 hours a day. There's like the window where you can go do stuff is shrinking and shrinking. And it's just like having something where you can go get up and do something, get your heart rate up. It's going to be really helpful. So, I wanted to talk about it because not only just from like a physical health perspective, but from like a a mental well-being kind of perspective, too, right? I don't have data in front of me. I'm sure you can go find research that backs this because I feel like I've read enough internet headlines where this must be true, but I'm pretty sure there is data that backs up the fact that if you go for for walks, you get some physical activity, the that there are um there are boosts to your different hormones that will help increase your happiness levels or decrease your feelings of depression.

And if you're neglecting any type of physical activity just like completely, you might already be like run down from work and you're tired and you're exhausted and you're you might be going through depression from something, whatever, burnout, if all these other things are going to be piling up and then you you just you don't have this additional outlet that you could have for trying to work towards this stuff. But it doesn't have to be complicated. And I think that's one of the things that I wanted to try and focus on for this video. It's like as someone who is pretty fortunate that they are interested in this kind of stuff, I go to the gym regularly. I, you know, watch what I eat. It It's not It's not really It's not work for me, if that makes sense. Like I like to do that. I mean, CrossFit now is work for me because like CrossFit sucks.

But I've been going to a gym since I was 14. I'm 36 now. I've been going for 22 years regularly because I like to go and that's literally as long as I've been programming, right? So, when I talk to you guys about software engineering and programming, remember that I've been going to a gym consistently for the same amount of time. So, it's a huge part of my life and I'm I'm fortunate that it's not work. But I think for many people, especially people that want to go make change, doing something different is going to feel like a lot of work. And that could be scary. That can be a reason why many people don't start cuz they're like, "Oh, you're telling me I have to go get a gym membership and I have to go get a trainer and like I can't eat all this food now and I have to I can only eat like carrots and lettuce and drink water and ice cubes and my life's going to be terrible.

Like I can't live like that." It's like no. Like there's so many so many smaller steps that you can start taking that hopefully shouldn't be disruptive and hopefully would start putting you on a path that's just overall better. I think the easiest thing from let me take one step back. A couple things we can look at are your food intake and your physical activity. Okay. From a a weight loss perspective, the most effective thing that you can do, it's going to sound funny, but it's it's eat less. And um no right? Uh I just mean more. It's actually more effective than like going and just running. Because if you think about it, and maybe you haven't thought about this before, how easy is it to go consume 300 calories? Pretty easy. I go eat some chocolate that I love and it's enjoyable, right? It feels good.

It tastes good. Hell yeah. It's very easy to go eat 300 calories. It's much more difficult, a lot more work to go burn off 300 calories. So to make up that difference, cuz we need to talk about energy balance, right? It's all about energy balance. So if you can make it easier, it's going to be controlling what's going into your body. I think the easiest thing that you can introduce from burning more calories as someone who is maybe working an office job, if you're working from home, get a walking pad. Walking is going to It's I know it sounds so simple cuz you're like literally just walking like we were just talking about gym memberships and eating ice cubes for your diet. No. um a walking pad or just if you're someone who can get up periodically through the day to go for for walks for breaks and stuff like that, do it.

This is why like I never understood this over the past like I don't know how many years and everyone's been obsessed with their step counters. I got my 10,000 steps. I'm like who gives a Like it's steps. But I'm also forgetting that like I go to the gym like very regularly, control my diet very strictly. Not so much now. Just again, I'll talk about this in a bit, but I'm like, why why is getting your steps in such a big deal? You know, I I go to the gym and I'm, you know, walking on the stairmaster after I do my workout because I'm trying to control these things. But I I didn't realize that for so many people, it's just like that's going to be the the physical activity, the baseline. They're getting their steps in and they're doing it regularly and it adds up a lot.

And um the amount of work that it is is low effort, right? I'm just realizing what I'm saying. Like I how to how to say this gracefully? I realize not uh not everyone can walk but um if you if you're able to Oh, please van don't do that. If you are able to, then going for a walk and doing that consistently. If you have a walking pad, setting that up in your home office or something. If you can, you know, walk on a walking pad on meetings or like while you're doing uh work that you can, you know, if you're walking at an okay pace and you're like able to sort of use your computer or whatever else you're doing, like it can just be such a loweffort way to start burning more calories and getting some physical activity in.

would highly recommend um even someone like myself who is preparing for bodybuilding shows uh when the cardio really starts piling up like when you're doing like you know 1 to two hours of cardio a day kind of thing. Um when you got to do that, right? 1 to two hours of cardio a day plus you have to go to the gym like on top of just like actually having a life and going to work. Like you don't have time for that. It's crazy. So, okay, if I can crank out an hour of walking, cuz the cardio I do is not running. It's just steady state cardio. If I can walk at a brisk pace while I'm at home, while I'm working, while I'm taking a break in the evening and I want to play video games cuz I, you know, need to take a break, then I can go crush that.

It's great. So, that's my number one tip. If you just want to introduce some type of physical activity to help burn more calories, um I said it a little bit earlier, but ingesting fewer calories is far more efficient than trying to just burn more. If you're struggling in terms of like what your diet and stuff looks like, separate conversation on the burning calorie side, starting to walk more can be great. Um, I would recommend if you can, I realize everyone feels like there's no time left to do anything all the time. I get it. But if you're able to carve out some part of your day and prioritize on a regular basis, go do something active. Whether that's walking, whether that's some type of hobby you have like where you can get up and move around, like I would highly recommend you start doing that.

again been fortunate that that's something that I've always prioritized um le and I'll pivot to that in just a moment now I guess but less so now okay because for me it was such a big part of my life and I was always planning things around it now that I am in my late 30s mid my wife says late 30s I keep saying mid to late 36 is mid to Right. Um, now I'm I'm kind of like, hey, like my my priorities are different. Um, I did like hobby powerlifting, so squat, bench, and deadlift for a long time. Like really just liked being able to go and try to improve those lifts. And then for then a long time I was doing like bodybuilding and I from a enjoyability perspective I guess like I really enjoy bodybuilding style workouts that's for me like it feels like meditation because I can get in my own little place.

I can focus on just kind of being in my zone. And uh and now only recently CrossFit's kind of like pain in the ass for me. But my my goals have changed, right? I said I'm not going to stop going to the gym. Like I love lifting weights, but I don't need to like in terms of a health perspective, longevity longevity perspective, and how I'm spending my time. I was training for bodybuilding shows. I don't want to do that anymore. It doesn't make sense. There's no It's not my career. I'm not going to be a professional. And the tradeoff is just not there. I no longer see it as a good use of my time to invest that much time and effort into it, even though it's something that I really enjoy. So, I said I think it's more important that I go get more like cardiovascular exercise versus just trying to like be a a bigger small person.

I'm only 5'4. I'm very short and just trying to be more and more muscular is like like yeah, I like bodybuilding, but it ends up being kind of silly at some point. Like why? What's what's the goal? Because I don't know if you know this, probably most of my audience is male, but um if you just keep getting more and more muscular, it's not like all of a sudden all these girls show up. I'm married. I don't have to worry about that. But no, it's mostly just other guys. You got lots of bros that want to be friends now because you have muscle. It's really weird. Doesn't really work. Um so there's not like a reason that I need to be doing that, right? I enjoy it. That's the best reason I think. But I think what's more important is that I get my my cardiovascular health in shape.

So I do CrossFit now because it is challenging because it is going to help my heart because I'm hoping that from a longevity perspective things are there and I still get to lift weights. So the time commitment is less now. I don't I don't go every single day. In fact, instead of going like six to seven days a week, I'll go like two to four times a week. This week, I'm on call, right? I'm going less. I had people traveling from work and I was on call, driving a lot. I'm going less. And you know what? I'm not going to beat myself up for it. That's okay, right? I'll I'll get back to it next week. I go on vacation. I'm not going to beat myself up for missing days. I'm just trying to like give myself some space now on that stuff. So, um it's just about like different goals now and having some balance.

So, um that's what it looks like for me. I I am also fortunate that I am the kind of person that I can eat the same thing like multiple times a day every day and be okay. I realize that not many people are like this because they look at like like bodybuilding style stuff and they're like, "Oh, how are you going to eat chicken and rice or you know ground beef and rice and something like every day?" And I'm like, "Dude, I love ground beef and rice. I could eat that four times a day." I did I would eat that like I don't know four times a day for almost 10 years. No, I'm not exaggerating either. It's weird flex, right? I'm not trying to I'm just saying I like eating it. And people would be like, "That's so weird." But for me, I enjoy it.

Tastes good. And uh this guy's tailgating me. Don't be stupid. Um and it's convenient because I can meal prep it in bulk. So, another tip for people because I think one excuse that happens a lot is so this is on the the food ingestion side, right? like is people will say like I'm always busy. I don't have time or I don't have time. That's why I got to go stop for food. I got to go pick up breakfast on the way. I got to go get fast food on the way home. I got to There's no time. There's no time. And like one way, one way to help is to try and prepare some food. Okay? Try to prepare one meal that you can make sure that you can eat for the week. Prepare your breakfasts. Prepare something. And that way you can at least have something prepared where you're not like, "Oh I have to go stop.

I haven't eaten all day cuz I was in meetings and like now I have to go get, you know, a Big Mac because I'm so hungry and I have I'm like been haven't been able to eat." You know, prep something. Take a little bit of time on a Sunday, prep something for the week. I can't tell you how much time prepping food ahead of time saves. It's nuts. I I don't remember like I can't remember living like when I didn't meal prep. And I know there was a point like it was there was a point I feel like in university I wasn't meal prepping anything and uh based on the amount of food I eat it's like you spend so much time in the kitchen. It's crazy. It's so nuts. So like I have personally seen firsthand like I save so much time just from being able to prepare food.

And that way you can have a healthier option. Um, and you don't have that excuse of like, oh, I'm too busy, so I have to go get fast food. Like, you're in meetings all day. Okay. Like, I don't know, prepare a smoothie, right? Get your ingredients together. That's something you don't prepare for the week, but get your ingredients together. You can pull them out, drop them into a blender, take a few minutes, go. Right. There's it's easier for people to make excuses versus change behavior. Just the reality. And the people that generally do make change are often the ones that are so frustrated by, you know, where they've gotten to in their health or their their physical appearance or anything else that like it reaches a point where how they're living is finally like so much worse from their perspective than than uh than making change.

And it's unfortunate, but like I I understand because like I said, if it's just easier to keep doing the same thing, people will. Change is hard. And that's why I wanted to say in this video, start with very small things, right? You don't have to get your 10,000 steps in if you have zero steps a day. You know, start start with a thousand steps, right? Try to get your thousand steps every day. try to like aim for that. If you can't get them every day, start smaller. Like start somewhere and just build up the consistency because when people jump into these things where they're like, "Okay, I have to drink my eight glasses of water a day. I have to get my 10,000 steps. I have to you try doing so much at once and you're just it's overwhelming. Like build your habits up slowly. Start small, right?

Forget touching your diet or anything for now. Just go get your steps in and start with a smaller amount, right? Start layering these things in. When you're able to do what I said, maybe you can prep some meals or something like that. If it becomes so overwhelming, you will not do it and you won't stick to it and then you get none of the benefits. So, it's about finding things that you can stay consistent with. But um yeah, that was fun. So for me, like I said, just been fortunate that uh gym and nutrition's been a big part of my life. So I haven't really had to worry. But I know, you know, I know based on my personality and how much I love food that uh if I wasn't into this kind of stuff, I would I would definitely have a, you know, a weight problem 100%.

I just know that uh for where I'm at now, like if I if someone leaves cookies or donuts or brownies or something out, I'll eat them. I just know I have to go work my ass off in the gym. Like, I don't have a choice. And unfortunately, I know that it's way harder to burn those calories off uh than it is to, you know, to eat them. It's way easier. So, I just can't stop myself. So, it's how it is. The Echo Bike at CrossFit will kick my ass for it, but it's okay. And like so one thing that I would like this is a bad habit I've picked up but this is part of me trying to be a little bit more um relaxed with myself. So, as someone who has been into bodybuilding for a really long time, um it's this is a weird thing to talk about cuz I don't know if like many people think about this way, but like food is a huge part of like culture and social interactions.

It's ridiculous if you haven't thought about this before, but it's like it's in a lot of what we do. Okay? So, for example, when I'm prepping for a bodybuilding show, going on a date is really difficult. Why? Because dates usually have some type of food or something involved. Like, that's a huge part of it. Uh, socializing, like going out, like you're not going out for drinks, you're not going out for appetizer, you're not going out for dinner with friends. like there's uh family events and stuff like Thanksgiving, Christmas, whatever, birthdays, like there's always food and um for me it's been like for years and years and years it's just been I know what my diet is and I'm like I'm not I'm okay with it. So, if I'm trying to be strict about losing weight for something like a bodybuilding show, um, even when I was gaining weight, I was still eating like a bodybuilder diet, just far more food, like traditional like like classic stereotypical bodybuilding diet.

I mean, just way more food. I wouldn't go off and cheat unless my coach or someone was saying like, "Yep, cheat meal is fine, whatever. Otherwise, no, I'm going to stick to my stuff." And um I was okay with this because I just been doing it for forever. But you don't really realize until you stop that like there were so many kind of limiting situations. And I knew for myself cuz I had to kind of build up the habit. If I if I kind of broke from my diet, then all of a sudden everything was off the rails. What I mean by that is like I'll give you an example. If I had to travel for work, right? I don't travel for work like ever. But if I had to, all of a sudden my schedule for prepping food was off and then I'm like, "Okay, I don't have my schedule.

I'm screwed." And I would just eat like I I had no I no uh compass, right? I just like I gotta eat. Like I've I haven't eaten today. I didn't have my my meals prepped. I have to go get like cheeseburgers or something to make up my calories. Like I don't know what's going on. So it all goes out the window. So I know that if I break from my diet, I'm kind of just all over the place. But I didn't realize like just things like I'm going to get Uber Eats tonight. That's where I was going with this. So little things like that I would never do and now I can like I can order in food. I can have that with my wife and it's like a normal thing but was not a normal thing for me before. It's kind of weird, right? But anyway, totally random topic.

Get your steps in. Try to get more physical. See you next time. Take care.