New Job, Diet or Gym...

[Sadgeek]

Is my job slowly killing me? I’m not sure how accurate these electronic fat scales are, but mine thinks I’m about 27% fat which I can believe given the state of my body. It’s not all around my belly, but I expect the majority of it is. I know that there are deposits around my chest, so I guess the rest of my body has it too.

I’m 6ft 3, and weigh 14st 11lbs. My height means that I don’t look overweight, but the mirrors in the bedroom/bathroom show the truth. My weight is in all the wrong places.

Background

I think my problem is partly down to my job. I leave the house at 5:45/6:00am, and arrive in the office at about 8am. I’m then sat at my desk, or walking about the office until around 6pm, when I set off for home. Lunch is at my desk, and usually consists of a sandwich from the canteen or maybe some soup and a roll for dipping. I skip tea as I know I’ll get something at home.

Getting home at about 8pm, the last thing I want to do is go to the gym, even though I know it would do me some good. However, my wife usually has dinner ready for me.

I have just spent some money on Ebay though and got some weights and a bench etc so I try and get out to the garage if I can. Early days yet though, I’ve only had them for a week.

Now for the questions:

Is my job killing me, and part of sorting out my body should be to change jobs? Simple enough apart from there being a lack of opportunities down this far, and I would have to travel up to London. If it means a reduction in hours though, then it is a possibility.

To drive down my fat count:

• Should I diet only until I get down to approx 20%?
• Should I diet and do lots of weights?
• Should I diet and do some cardio somehow?
• Should I try and balance it, and do a diet along with weights and cardio if possible?

Thanks all

 

[Sadgeek]

Cheers guys.

A read of GordyR's sticky is useful, I guess I never quite got down to the lower reaches of it. Sorry.

I guess short term my target is to lower my body fat levels, though how much I should aim for on a weekly/monthly basis is another story. Any ideas on what I should be looking at for long-term success? Websites seem to suggest that 15-18% should be a good target, but is that realistic for 38 year old starting out with 27%?

The ketosis type diet sounds right for me, how long should you stay on this type of diet or is it more of a life-style change that you have to maintain until such time as you get down to the lower reaches of body fat? What are expected results of these diets on a weekly basis ie how much bf should I expect to lose?

Sorry for so many questions.

 

[Sadgeek]

Fair point A1ex, I'm certainly not on the salary you mention (though not far off), and can only wish to be able to retire soon

The job is interesting and far from boring, which means that the time flies by on the whole. Sure, it has it's off-days, but so does every job. I do enjoy the job though.

I'd like to think that the hours I have spent in the office have not been wasted and that I have benefited from them, but clearly if it has a serious effect on your health then I should re-consider. Trying to find the same sort of job down this way is not easy though, with 99.9% of the roles being based in, or around, London. Even those businesses with offices down here have their client base in London so then you lose out both ways as they only pay local rates, but still have to travel.

What I'm saying, really, is that I'm going to change my diet (and exercise levels) first and see how that goes. If I still continue to fall apart, then the job will need to be the next big change.