
Ask HN: How do you stay (somewhat) healthy? - paulsingh
I've been cycling for a couple of years now on a daily basis but find that most of my hacker friends tend to stick to the redbull+snacks+coffee+ramen diet. What sort of routines do you guys use to stay in shape?
======
dgallagher
This is what I do:

\- run 5x per week every morning (~30 miles a week; more if I'm training for
something)

\- stretch, dynamic before, static after. Essential to prevent injuries

\- weight lift 3x per week (bi/tri, chest/upper-back, abs/lower-
back/shoulders)

\- take rest days

\- sleep 9-10 hours a night, going to bed at the same time (EDIT: every's
needs here are a little different)

\- eat 1 salad per day

\- eat lots of fruit (apples, pears, banana's, raspberries, cantaloupe, etc)

\- avoid processed foods, and overall eat healthy

\- keep stress levels low (figure out what stresses you and then you can
manage it)

I use to be very obese (5ft 10in, 240 pounds), but lost the weight through
calorie restriction about 10 years ago (6ft 0in, 160 pounds now, muscular,
etc). Later I got into running which made me much healthier. That begot eating
healthier, which eventually begot weight lifting. Now I can do some crazy
stuff, like run up all the stairs in Porter Square. You feel like superman all
the time.

The human body needs maintenance. Like a car you can abuse it in the short-run
and it's still gonna run. But eventually it catches up with you. Problem is,
if a car dies at mile 100,000 because you didn't change its oil often, you buy
another car; but you can't buy another body.

It takes time to get into a healthy lifestyle. One-step at a time is the right
approach. If you're overweight, focus on calorie restriction. If you're a
healthy weight but want to get fit, pick an activity that you'd enjoy. Some
people like solitary stuff (running), others like social (team sports or
workout classes). If you're not eating healthy, get a book about nutrition and
change your diet (Google "Nancy Clark"). You'll eventually find that one
healthy step leads to another.

Lastly, keeping healthy is like having a second job. Carving out time and
prioritizing it is key. You'll find that friends, employers, bosses, spouses,
what-have-you, try to steal this time away from you. You've got to fight back
and remember that you're investing in your future. Especially with jobs; would
you rather be rich, prestigious and unhealthy, or poor, unknown and healthy? A
"good" job or startup will let you be all the good and none of the bad.

~~~
lucraft
That's all awesome, but..... you got taller?

~~~
dgallagher
I was still growing at that age (peaked in weight at around 16 or 17, so I
wasn't done growing yet). Perhaps I'm off a bit on the height (could have been
5' 11"), but I definitely grew a bit more.

Interesting theories about posture though. I have no idea if that affected it
or not.

~~~
wlievens
You weren't done growing at 17? I'm glad I stopped at 15.

~~~
dgallagher
I wish parts of me didn't stop at 15. ;)

------
chipsy
Paleo diet. Cleared up my skin, ended headaches and tiredness, decreased my
caloric intake and body fat without any overt discipline, lowered my blood
pressure, and increased my strength and stamina.

Downside: No grains, beans, dairy; that means no coffee, no chocolate, no soy,
no cheese, no bread or noodles or pastries. (Plus sides: bacon, sausages,
eggs, figs, dates, walnuts.)

I gradually fell into this diet by carefully noting which foods made me feel
bad ~15-30 mins after. I did this over a process of many months starting
sometime in February. Finally, just a few days ago, I concluded that I was
basically drifting into Paleo of my own accord, and for me to be at my best I
had to go from reduced intake of the banned foods to complete removal. I'm
still going to cheat every now and then, but I know I'll feel it every time.

~~~
parse_tree
This sounds interesting. I've had a few unusual diets in the past, and found
packing lunches the hardest part. What types of things do you take if you need
to carry a lunch with you?

~~~
chipsy
Without packing anything, anywhere there are convenience stores I can usually
get beef jerky, nuts and fresh fruit drinks, but one often finds corn syrup,
soy and wheat dumped arbitrarily into all three of them, and there's no
vegetables on offer, so it's not really the preferred solution.

A more balanced meal would involve a box with pre-cooked meat(I like boiling
up fresh sausages in olive oil, it's very easy), some veggies, and a fruit
item. Right now I'm able to work from home so I don't really have to plan
ahead like that, but it's the obvious next step.

------
mattiss
Get hobbies that correspond to the lifestyle you want to lead. If you aren't
having fun, you won't keep with it.

As a corollary, if you have an active hobby and any sort of drive to be good
at it, you will train yourself as such. So if you take up say rock climbing
and like it, then you will get lots of exercise as a direct result of
climbing, and lots more to train yourself to get better.

~~~
aasarava
Climbing is a great sport for hackers. Each route up a wall presents a problem
in need of solving -- and often, brute force won't help you.

You've really got to think through a route and learn the sequence of moves
that'll get you to the top. And then, once you've got a route completely
figured out, the gym changes it on you and throws a new problem in the way.

Highly recommended for people who like to work their brains while they
exercise.

~~~
mattiss
Be careful though, it will take over your life! I am constantly battling
between working 100% on getting a startup off the ground and selling all of my
possessions, buying a van, and driving around the world climbing.

It is not an easy choice.

------
cturner
I'm working towards triathalon. I got back into running exactly a month ago,
and ran a half-marathon last weekend. This weekend I went swimming, running
and cycling at the gym both days. I've had to teach myself swimming and Sunday
was the first day that I felt like I had the breathing in some form of
control. It's fabulous to be so in the habit that it's easy to go. My trainer
advises doing big stretches, biut that keep heartrate low.

I'm spread very thin at work between support, sysadmin and development. I do
my best work on focus stuff (development and production sysadmin) at strange
hours after several cups of tea, and am unhealthy on this count.

The food advice I've seen elsewhere here is good. Avoid sugar and starch
(chips are tasty but terrible), always have breakfast. I used to be one of
these geeks who didn't have breakfast, I've no idea how I survived. Some food
in the morning is critical. Vegemite on toast (it's popular in Australia) is a
killer breakfast - easy and consistently good.

UK have deals at the moment to get cheap bicycles through work. Also
everyone's broke, so gyms are less busy, which has worked out well for me.

~~~
diN0bot
nice work! i ran my first half-marathon last spring. it was awesome!! anyone
reasonably athletic can train in a couple months to run a half-marathon no
problem. long running is totally awesome and zen. i've been meaning to get
back into it but wacky swim sports have taken over my evenings.

~~~
kingkongrevenge
Top ten reasons not to run marathons:
<http://www.arthurdevany.com/2005/08/top_ten_reasons.html>

~~~
xiaoma
We've already been over this ground more than once:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=733166>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=783074>

Summary: 100,000+ person study found that _men who ran two or more marathons
per year were 41 percent less likely to suffer from high blood pressure, 32
percent less likely to have high cholesterol, and 87 percent less likely to be
diabetic than non-marathoners. Those who ran only one marathon every two to
five years also had significantly lower risk for these conditions than non-
marathoners._

Other studies link long-distance cardio with neurogenesis, increased life
expectancy, and more.

~~~
kingkongrevenge
> 41 percent less likely to suffer from high blood pressure

Compared to whom? Serious racquet sport competitors? Power lifters? No,
compared to couch potatoes with lousy diets. Well no shit. That's not the
point.

~~~
xiaoma
Endurance athletes fare significantly better than basketball, soccer and
sprinting athletes, who fare better than power athletes, who fare better than
couch potatoes.

In terms of life expectancy, endurance athletes such as marathoners and cross-
country skiers live about 2 years longer than sprinters, 4 years longer than
power lifters and 6 years longer than the general populace.

[http://www.mdconsult.com/das/citation/body/163630869-2/jorg=...](http://www.mdconsult.com/das/citation/body/163630869-2/jorg=journal&source=MI&sp=2355041&sid=0/N/2355041/1.html?issn=)

~~~
kingkongrevenge
The link is worthless. Some researchers say runners live long ... because
their model says runners live long. Tautology.

Why didn't they just look at dead olympic athletes? That would be an
interesting and potentially worthwhile study. Actually, I know why: that study
would have been hard work whereas for this garbage all they had to do was plug
a canned data set into some silly unverified pharma model they tweaked for
their own agenda.

<http://www.theheart.org/article/243897.do>

Endurance sports can mess up your heart rhythm.

Here's the first google result for "runners die young":
<http://eurheartj.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/ehn273v1.pdf>

"The current report demonstrates a high prevalence of advanced coronary
atherosclerosis and myocardial scar formation in see- mingly healthy marathon
runners aged >50 years."

~~~
xiaoma
I've repeatedly cited _gigantic_ peer-reviewed studies including the American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition (1999) one in which participants were split into
many groups based upon differing levels of activity from sedentary to daily
runners. Each one has shown dose-dependent gains from cardio-vascular
exercise. And in each case, you've shrugged off the research and then come
back with something like this.

From your links: " _Heidbüchel's study included only a small, highly selective
population of endurance athletes, predominantly cyclists, who engage in a
particular type of strain, with preexisting arrhythmias._ "

So even when you specifically searched for "runners die young", it came back
with a paper that states that marathon running is part of a healthy lifestyle
and then goes on to talk about possible risks for those who race without
sufficient training or who are trying to undo decades of unhealthy living.
Over half of the participants were former smokers. The paper does not in any
way claim that "endurance sports can mess up your heart rhythm" nor is the
quotation you took out of context representative. In fact, it said:

" _Marathon running is part of a healthy lifestyle. There is overwhelming
evidence for the cardiovascular protective effects of physical activity._ "

What is it with this? What ax to grind is so important that it's worth posting
misleading, disingenuous summaries of research you find by googling for your
already chosen conclusion? As I asked last time, Can you refer me to any peer-
reviewed research linking sprint training or weight training with equal or
greater benefit in _any_ of the health indicators that Paul Williams's 100,000
person study found distance running improved?

~~~
kingkongrevenge
Your studies are all observational garbage, as were the two links I posted,
more to make a point than anything. And they both _did_ in fact raise
questions about damage caused by distance training. They just couched their
language with platitudes about how healthy distance training is, presumably to
ward off concerted attack.

I don't have an ax to grind. I literally don't want people trying to get in
shape to waste large amounts of time and hurt their knees and so on doing long
distance running when it is so much inferior for losing weight and maintaining
fitness. I want to steer them in the right direction. They will have so much
more success training in other ways.

It is common knowledge at this point that interval training, sprints, and
properly done strength training produce all the same cardiovascular health
benefits as distance training but without the repetitive stress and other
physiological stresses of long distance. Also without the huge time
investment. Also with much better body fat percentage measurements. You can
use google as well as I can.

[http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/for-heart-health-
sp...](http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/for-heart-health-sprints-
match-endurance-training/)

[http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/health-
news/2008/11/01/sho...](http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/health-
news/2008/11/01/short-sprints-could-be-better-for-you-91466-22160950/)

~~~
xiaoma
> _Your studies are all observational garbage, as were the two links I posted,
> more to make a point than anything._

The studies I've referred you to are the _largest_ , the _most rigorous_ that
have ever been done to date on the topic. They are not "observational
garbage".

> _You can use google as well as I can._

Well, that's the thing. My knowledge comes from readining actual journals and
having doctors in the family who can interpret them. You're the one googling
"runners die young". In fact, the actual study behind your NYT link paints a
different picture than the NYT article did. See the conclusion:

 _"We conclude that SIT is a time-efficient strategy to elicit improvements in
peripheral vascular structure and function that are comparable to ET. However,
alterations in central artery distensibility may require a longer training
stimuli and/or greater initial vascular stiffness than observed in this group
of healthy subjects."_

I repeat, Can you refer me to any peer-reviewed research linking sprint
training or weight training with equal or greater benefit in any of the health
indicators that Paul Williams's 100,000 person study found distance running
improved? I seriously doubt it, because I've scoured every journal I have
access to for comparative studies, and every one of those studies found
greater longevity and fewer lifestyle diseases in endurance athletes than in
speed or power athletes.

~~~
kingkongrevenge
> every one of those studies found greater longevity and fewer lifestyle
> diseases in endurance athletes than in speed or power athletes.

Do share.

I hope you know what I mean by observational and understand how it's a
worthless way to develop understanding. It's for forming hypotheses.

Resistance training reverses aging in muscles:
[http://www.plosone.org/article/fetchArticle.action?articleUR...](http://www.plosone.org/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0000465)

[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_ea...](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7852987.stm)

Short bursts of intense exercise every few days could dramatically cut the
risk of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, according to an expert.

"If we can get people in their 20s, 30s and 40s doing these exercises twice a
week then it could have a very dramatic effect on the future prevalence of
diabetes."

Strong people live longest (I post this despite acknowledging it is also model
derived garbage): Jonatan R. Ruiz and his co-authors tested more than 8,000
subjects aged 20 to 80 for muscular strength. They grouped individuals into
three categories of strength and found that the age-adjusted risk of cancer
was 17.5 per thousand in the weakest group, 11.0 in the middle group, and 10.3
in the strongest group. The weaker groups also had higher blood pressure,
higher cholesterol, more cardiovascular disease, and more of them had
diabetes. (Cancer Epidemiological Biomarkers Prevention 2009;18(5):1468–76).

>the actual study behind your NYT link paints a different picture than the NYT
article did

No, it incidentally raised a question, just as the previous link about heart
rhythm problems in cyclists raised a much more strongly indicated question
about exercise induced damage.

------
electromagnetic
I'm a writer so I believe my priorities are very similar, but somewhat
different than your average hacker:

1\. Try to eat breakfast; the reason here is two-fold, first is that it's good
for your metabolism and the second is that it helps if 5. fails.

2\. Eat Smart; the brain likes omega-3's but the omega-6's will kill you.
'Healthy' is very different for 'smart', you want foods that help increase
your efficiency and concentration, not make you run to the toilet every 5
minutes because you're downing pro-biotic yogurts and bran muffins.

3\. Weightless exercises; I'm guessing everyone here has a few extra pounds on
them, squats and crunches can be done anywhere and at any time, you don't need
to lug around a few 20lb weights to get your sweat on. If you do it frequently
it can help boost your metabolism.

4\. Get a good sleep routine, being exhausted can kill an entire day of
productivity.

5\. Avoid alcohol (at least before 5pm), alcoholism seems to be a non-genetic
inheritable disease in writers, so try not to have a drink in the morning.
Make sure you observe #1, because forgetting #1 and #5 means you're hitting
the bed by 11am.

6\. relax a little, play games, read some HN, but don't slack off. It's good
to keep your stress levels down, not only does it help your creativity and
productivity, but you also don't have the urge to break #5.

7\. this follows on from #6, but is much more important in the long run,
having a day off helps prevent a burn out, AKA writers (coders?) block.

9\. Drink tea not coffee. Research shows that coffee can increase stress,
decrease work performance and can decrease your confidence in your work. Tea
however decreases stress, not only through drinking it but due to the ritual
and the time taken to make it (you don't get a tea maker, you get a kettle and
have to wait, waiting generally means relaxing).

Overall I just try to be productive and hope that in the long run I don't end
up an alcoholic like 1/2 of writers.

~~~
define-syntax
> waiting generally means relaxing

I guess you've never been to the DMV.

------
tbrooks
Here are a few guidelines I try to abide by:

1\. Always eat breakfast

2\. Don't eat past 9pm

3\. Get 7 hours of sleep

4\. Walk 30 minutes a day

5\. Shop for food on the outer walls of grocery store

6\. Drink 60oz of water a day

~~~
itistoday
+1!

> 5\. Shop for food on the outer walls of grocery store

Haha, I never thought of it that way, but that is good advice and a great way
of putting it (all the processed food is in the middle), you still have to be
careful though of things like milk, which although it's one the outer wall,
generally isn't a good thing to take. I always go for the almond milk and
avoid regular milk like the plague.

I also shop at local grocery markets to get local food, and things like local,
organic eggs from chickens that eat grass and crickets and don't spend their
lives pumped full of hormones, living in their excrement.

~~~
Flankk
Is there any empirical evidence that milk is harmful?

~~~
axod
It's pretty useful for calcium content (bones) afaik :/

~~~
ZeroGravitas
"Eat, Drink and be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy
Eating" by Walter C. Willett is very down on milk.

If you need the calcium for osteoporosis or whatever then there's better
sources, up to and including supplements.

------
wwsculley
I know it might seem intimidating, but try some abbreviated Crossfit workouts
(<http://crossfit.com/>) to get in shape quickly and then stay there.

~~~
nfnaaron
Sleep well, eat right and exercise. You'll have your best success if you do
all three. Named diets alone, which most of us try over and over, won't get
you long term success.

I do CrossFit for exercise, which I first heard about right here on HN, thank
you very much. Unless you already know exercise technique really well, I would
recommend actually joining a crossfit gym rather than just doing the workouts
from the web. They'll teach you how to exercise correctly and safely. Do you
know how to squat properly? Probably not. :)

I'm over fifty, out of shape and haven't exercised since I graduated high
school. I've been going to CrossFit since this July, and I now jog six flights
of stairs up and down at work (at 5,000 feet in Denver), and the workouts that
wiped me out in the beginning are now merely really difficult. You don't have
to be a jock, they scale everything to your ability. I'm really pleased. Check
it out. Probably more than one near you.

------
ax0n
I ride my bike to work, and have been for the last 3 years. I lost about 50
pounds quickly (I was about 250 at the time) and then kind of hit the wall
around 190. I'm still fat, but my lungs and heart are in great shape. My
round-trip is about 29 miles, but I also have several multi-mode options that
involve mixing bicycle and bus, shortening the bicycle part of my trip to
anywhere from 2.7 to 7 miles each direction. This time of year, it's not
uncommon for me to ride to the bus on chilly mornings and soak it up with a
14-15 mile homeward ride.

At this point, I'm suffering from T-rex syndrome. Massive, muscular legs, good
overall health, and very little upper body. I started 100 pushups a while back
ago, then dislocated a shoulder. I'm about ready to start it back up again.
Pushups were really working my core and arms. Cycling and pushups seems like a
good start at full-body workout without a gym membership.

Oh yeah, and watch what you eat, I guess.

~~~
itistoday
> Oh yeah, and watch what you eat, I guess.

We may be complimentary hackers in this sense, so I'd like to expand on this
sentence of yours.

I don't exercise very much, but be it good genes or not, I'm very healthy--
ahem, as far as I know, where'd I put that piece of wood..?

From my years of exposure to the topic, what I've found is that your last
sentence deserves far more than a sentence dedicated to it. For some (and only
some) of the reasoning along this line of thought, see the TIME article "Why
Exercise Won't Make You Thin":
[http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1914857,00.ht...](http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1914857,00.html)

To stay healthy, I try my best to eat healthy. This means buying as many
organic veggies that I can satisfactorily afford, and cooking and eating them
at home. If you want to have a delicious and healthy dinner, don't go out,
make it yourself at home. Besides saving money on the food and gas, you'll
have yourself a healthier meal and you'll be doing the planet a favor. It'll
probably taste better too.

Although I don't really think of myself as one, I'm typically a vegetarian as
well. Meaning, I'll eat meat, but only if that meat was organically produced
at a local farm. As such meat is hard to come by at the store, and completely
nonexistant at the restaurants near me, this tends to be a very rare occasion
indeed. Avoiding meat not only means that I spend less money on my groceries,
but it also means I'm helping the environment, and am healthier as well (as a
result of what "industrial meat" is).

Of course, discussions on healthy eating, and food in general, shouldn't fail
to reference the movie Food Inc. and the book that inspired it: Michael
Pollan's "Omnivore's Dilemma". If you haven't read that book, or seen that
documentary, you may disagree with what I've said, and there's a decent chance
that what you're eating is going to put you, and a decent chunk of American
society, in an early grave. ;-)

~~~
ax0n
Obviously, my "I guess" was tongue in cheek. Volumes upon volumes have been
written on it. It should be common sense that you don't fuel your daily
existence with ho-hos and mountain dew. Unfortunately, a lot of hackers opt
for that -- or worse! some days, I'm guilty of it, but I do burn about 1,800
kCal on the bike daily. Still, burning the calories you eat is only part of
the deal.

The whole "organic" thing doesn't strike me as any sort of requirement for
being healthy. If you think it helps, good. But having grown up in a Nebraska
family where a good wholesome meaty meal that probably came out of a feed lot
20 miles away, I can say I've seen plenty of people grow to be slender,
muscular and very healthy without adopting the organic/granola/veg*n mindset.
However our species got where we are, everything between our teeth and our
colon is configured for a balanced diet of meat, fiber, legumes, grains, and
veggies. And that's what I eat.

My great grandfather did the same. He croaked at age 107.

~~~
itistoday
When was your grandfather born? He and his generation may very well have been
eating what today is labeled "organic food".

Factory farming is a relatively new phenomenon that has swept the country in
only recently, and with phenomenal speed.

>> In the 1930s, 24 percent of the American population worked in agriculture
compared to 1.5 percent in 2002; in 1940, each farm worker supplied 11
consumers, whereas in 2002, each worker supplied 90 consumers.[23]

>> The number of farms has also decreased, and their ownership is more
concentrated. In the U.S., four companies produce 81 percent of cows, 73
percent of sheep, 57 percent of pigs and 50 percent of chickens.[24] In 1967,
there were one million pig farms in America; as of 2002, there were
114,000,[25] with 80 million pigs (out of 95 million) killed each year on
factory farms as of 2002, according to the U.S. National Pork Producers
Council.[23]

From: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factory_farming>

And that wiki article is missing a lot of information that's mentioned in
Pollan's book and the film Food Inc.

~~~
ax0n
He was born in 1884, and passed in 1991. He was an avid mycologist by hobby,
writing a few books on mushrooms -- the very food he used to credit for his
longevity. I'm glad he was around long enough for me to get to know him. I'll
concede the fact that in his era, things were done a lot more naturally than
they are now if for no other reason than they lacked the technology to do it
any other way.

------
edw519
Work (and life) is a marathon, not a sprint. No redbull|snacks|coffee|ramen
here.

Eating: "Eat to Live", mostly produce:

[http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Live-Revolutionary-Formula-
Sustain...](http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Live-Revolutionary-Formula-
Sustained/dp/0316735507/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254703990&sr=8-1)

Exercise: jogging, stairs, body weight exercises:

[http://www.amazon.com/Pushing-Yourself-Power-Ultimate-
Transf...](http://www.amazon.com/Pushing-Yourself-Power-Ultimate-
Transformation/dp/1932458018/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254704416&sr=8-2)

Heavy hands:

[http://www.amazon.com/Heavyhands-Walking-Book-Leonard-
Schwar...](http://www.amazon.com/Heavyhands-Walking-Book-Leonard-
Schwartz/dp/0929962001/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254704455&sr=1-1)

Perhaps the hacker's favorite (this is hilarious, but it really works):

<http://shovelglove.com/>

------
unalone
P90X satisfies both my inner nerd and my inner extremist. I started with a
roommate last year. I really need to get back into the swing of it this year
before I start flabbing again.

[http://www.amazon.com/P90x-Extreme-Home-Fitness-
Horton/dp/B0...](http://www.amazon.com/P90x-Extreme-Home-Fitness-
Horton/dp/B000TG8D6I)

EDIT: Also, thanks for posting this! You inspired me to finally set up the
pull-up bar I bought last week. Having it outside the bathroom will hopefully
prod me into starting up again.

------
scott_s
When I can, I train Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu three times a week. I add in a day or
two of serious strength training as time and my body permits. If I can't do
regular BJJ, then I do four to five days of serious strength training a week.

I train for competitions, and I take it seriously. My strength training tends
towards the Crossfit style.

------
MicahNance
Weight lifting 3x a week for a little over an hour each time. Going to the gym
can be daunting if you have never done it and/or don't have a buddy. "I don't
know how to use the equipment", etc. I read Starting Strength and afterwards
felt confident enough to get in there and try it out.

Strong Lifts follows the same philosophy as SS, but has modified the workout
some. The stronglifts site does cover nutrition (calorie/protein intake) to
some extent, which SS does not.

I would do some research on your own first before starting a routine. There is
a lot of controversy as well as misinformation about the topic.

[http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-
tra...](http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-
program/) [http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-2nd-Mark-
Rippetoe/dp...](http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-2nd-Mark-
Rippetoe/dp/0976805421)

~~~
dmix
I have been following stronglifts for about 6 months (sticking to simple free
weight exercises and short reps).

My friend, who has been working out for much longer, has been doing the usual
mix of machines and an overly creative mix of free weight exercises (the type
personal trainers love to show off).

Being about the same body type, I've progressed much faster then he has. I've
also found it easier to stick with it because I have a well researched workout
plan that is dead simple.

There's a starting strength dvd set that's much more accessible then the book
which I highly recommend when you starting lifting the heavier weights where
proper form is really important. I learned the hard way after having lower
back and shoulder pain, which is gone now that I know how to lift properly and
started doing dynamic stretches.

------
enduser
I lift weights 3 days a week, first following the program laid out in the book
Starting Strength and more recently following "The Texas Method" as described
in Practical Programming for Strength Training by the same authors.

More recently I've started following the Zone Diet and doing a medicine ball
workout 3 days a week (lifting MWF, med ball TuThS). Google "med ball 400".

After a year of that I'm starting to look like a heroic Greek statue (my wife
likes that), I feel _awesome_ , and my productivity is through the roof. All
in 30 minutes max per day (with one day a week off).

I bike around town, walk a lot, and run occasionally. I find that the strength
training makes running and fast cycling easy when I do it.

[http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-2nd-Mark-
Rippetoe/dp...](http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-2nd-Mark-
Rippetoe/dp/0976805421)

------
alex_c
I'm terrible at sticking with a regular workout commitment, but I try to do
whatever seems fun - and, most importantly, try to never turn down a chance to
exercise (sports, workout, whatever) with friends, because that's always a lot
more fun.

Over the last two years, I've done: rollerblading, soccer, jogging, P90X,
tennis, frisbee, golf (driving range), swimming. I'm far from good at any of
them, and I do occasionally go for a couple of weeks or even months without
doing much, but I figure every bit helps. Fun is the key - as well as doing as
much as possible with friends.

P90X is great for someone looking for a hardcore solution - it's hard, but it
WORKS, if you actually stick with it (it's not a small time investment). I
only did it for about a month, and I could feel the difference - now that
winter's coming, I might start it up again.

------
cromulent
I really like rowing regularly on a Concept 2 machine. It's my favorite
exercise.

\- uses a lot of the body, upper and lower

\- low impact, doesn't aggravate any of my injuries (eg knee)

\- not weather dependent (running track gets icy in winter around here)

\- high tech, you can race others over the web

\- good online community

\- accessible (for me, they have several machines at the gym)

------
snprbob86
Eat when you are hungry, stop when you are full.

It sounds obvious, but it is really difficult. Avoiding social eating and
resisting the urge to clean my plate has been one of the hardest things I have
ever endeavored to do, but it has vastly reduced my digestive symptoms.

------
potatolicious
\- No liquid calories, ever. Your daily caloric limit is too low for you to
waste it on Coke and Pepsi.

\- Watch what I eat. Go for high-fiber low-fat foods. Nothing fancy here -
stick to low fat and high fiber and your diet generally doesn't require
thought.

\- Photography. I hate exercise for the sake of exercise, and have never been
able to commit to a gym schedule despite many tries. My photography, though,
keeps me walking and biking a _lot_ , all over the city. The quest for the
next great picture keeps me moving, and that's pretty awesome.

------
modeless
I've never been big on exercising for the sake of exercise, but I do regularly
go to a rock climbing gym. It's good exercise, but more importantly it's fun,
unlike lifting weights. It requires the use of your brain: a good climb is
like a puzzle you solve with your whole body. Great way to meet people, too.

The only concern for hackers would be strain on the wrists. If you have wrist
problems climbing probably isn't for you, but personally I feel like climbing
has strengthened my wrists and actually been beneficial.

~~~
blackguardx
Actually, I am an avid rock climber and have noticed that rock climbing is
good for my wrists. I used to suffer from severe tendonitis and climbing has
helped strengthen my forearms so that it doesn't affect me as much. My
tendonitis has never gone away, but climbing has greatly diminished it.

On top of that, I am pretty sure climbing is the best full body workout you
can do. I am in the best shape of my life at 25.

~~~
yan
Every time climbing comes up, I am still surprised how many HNers climb. I've
been gym climbing for about two years, climbing outdoors (sport and top rope)
for a little over one, and I'm just starting to learn how to trad climb. I
have a workable rack at this point.

If anyone is near the MD/DC/VA area and needs a climbing partner, chime in.

------
pclark
oh, and _dont drink fucking red bull_

~~~
danudey
I suffer from attention deficit disorder, but before I was diagnosed I was
self-medicating myself with stimulants – coffee and energy drinks. I started a
two-Red-Bull-per-day habit. I found that I was better able to focus in the
morning, and could more easily handle the morning's issues, making me far more
productive at work.

So, apparently I have Crohn's Disease. I found that out because the Red Bull
irritated my digestive system so much that I had my first flare up and ended
up in the hospital – twice. That was three years ago, and I'm only just now
starting to recover from it. I'm getting my energy back, I can drink and eat
more food, etc. Except I have to take immunosuppressant medication to keep the
Crohn's controlled, which means I get sick (cold, flu, etc.) extremely easily,
and I stay sick a lot longer. Also, I've had a ton of radiation exposure due
to all the CAT scans, etc. I've gone through.

So, next time someone tells you Red Bull (or whatever) is bad for you, don't
just shrug it off like I did. Our bodies are fragile machines in a delicate
balance. Upset that balance enough and the machine goes haywire, and it's
pretty hard to find spare parts.

~~~
shawndrost
About Crohn's disease: a friend had it, and her doctor never mentioned the
following treatment, which is newish and apparently quite effective:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helminthic_therapy>

~~~
jonny_noog
Thanks for the link. A person close to me has recently started exhibiting
symptoms of MS (and no, in probably the one and only case on this site, that
doesn't stand for Microsoft). I will be sure to speak to the neurologist about
this treatment and associated research.

------
mark_h
Keeping it simple. The two main principles: 1.) you can't out-run a bad diet;
2.) effort trumps everything else.

Eat cleanly ("if it doesn't go off, don't eat it", etc).

Exercise: a mix of weights and conditioning; I favour short, high-intensity
workouts for conditioning, with steady-state aerobic running occasionally for
variety. Others have mentioned crossfit which is certainly good -- I've been
basing my workouts around <http://www.rosstraining.com> for a while, with
great results. Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 routine is great on the weights side of
things, and you can find most of the info on it in this interview:
[http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/sports_body_train...](http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/how_to_build_pure_strength)

Routines help; as a hacker it's likely you have at least mild obsessive-
compulsive tendencies (maybe that's just me, but it seems common in hacker
friends too). Being obsessive means that you're less likely to skip a workout,
eat badly, go to bed at irregular hours, etc.

+1 for the mental relaxation (including rest/deload days if you're exercising
seriously) mentioned by others as well.

------
3dFlatLander
After a lot of research, I put this plan into action for myself.

Diet: Lots of plants, ~15% of total kcals from meat (very little red meat,
more chicken + fish), ~15% kcals from dairy. I'm not exact about it. Eating a
diverse group of foods, getting good amounts of fiber, yogurt, and complex
carbohydrates helped shed some pounds.

Exercise: 30-45 minutes 3 to 5 times a week of time spent running at 60-80% of
max heart rate. body weight exercises focusing on core strength (a good
resource for those here <http://www.combatfitness.co.uk/> ). Stretching, yoga,
whatever, stretching is exercise too. I also go sprinting and lift weights via
dumbbells to get some more in.

Meditation: Lots of different ways to do this. I picked one that worked for me
and moved on to other things. I started doing muscle relaxation techniques,
since I'm sitting so often. More on those here:
[http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/relaxation-
technique/SR0000...](http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/relaxation-
technique/SR00007)

I lost 50 pounds over the past year and a half--feels great. :)

------
tdedecko
Exercise: Cycling is my default. I enjoy it and happen to live in a great
place to engage in it. I try to do short rides on week days (~30 miles) and
longer rides on weekends (~70 miles). In two weeks I'll be doing my first
century ride. Besides cycling, I play Ultimate at least once a week, goto the
gym 3 to 4 times a week, rock climb and hike when I have time. At times I
throw into my regime some running, tennis, or soccer. Essentially, I try to be
as active as possible.

Food: I eat mostly vegetables, rarely red meat. Typical meals are: Breakfast
(2 egg scramble with pepperjack and salsa; with some juice), Lunch (sliced
turkey, pepperjack and a tomato on whole grain bread, with some fruit), Dinner
(usually some sort of vegetable stir fry, pasta vegetable combination, or rice
and beans with vegetables). Between meals I either eat some fruit or some
cereal or granola with soy milk or yogurt. Throughout the day I drink lots of
water and usually some juice.

Caffeine: I am in love with tea my default being loose leaf jasmine green.
Coffee is a rarity. Red bull is never an option.

~~~
itistoday
> Caffeine: I am in love with tea my default being loose leaf jasmine green.
> Coffee is a rarity. Red bull is never an option.

We are alike sir, I just wish I could cycle as much as you do. The great thing
about tea is that unlike coffee, the caffeine high is subtler and is spread
over a longer period of time. As I can't be bothered to steep the loose-leaf
tea I just go with Tazo's Earl Grey in the morning; highly recommend that
brand if you're into bagged tea.

------
yef
Health is much more than "routines to stay in shape". Consider what you eat,
your exercise, how you sleep, and how you manage stress. Personally, I go for
lots of plants, 30-45 minutes a day, 6-7 hours solid a day, and re: stress, a
variety of "getting things done" type techniques to stay on top of my work,
which is my main stressor.

------
maxawaytoolong
I worked at startups for 10 years and the only thing I got out of it was 50
extra pounds of bodyfat and an anxiety disorder. One of the best things I have
done for my health is getting an easy, but high-paying quasi-corporate job and
reducing the number of hours I spend at work. Sitting in front of a computer
12 hours a day is bad for mental and physical health. It can't really be
compensated for by switching to diet soda and 30 minutes on the treadmill. My
goal now is to continue to recuperate and lose 20 more pounds and save up
enough money to do a complete career change. I'm not sure what yet, I'm trying
to figure out something where I can use my mind but also not be chained to a
desk all day.

That might be a tough pill to swallow for the hacker news crowd, so here are
things I did to fix my health, and lose 30 pounds while I was still in startup
mode:

\- pilates fixed a lot of back and flexibility problems

\- break up the work day in to two halves. between those two spend an hour
walking or working out at the gym

\- walk, bike or skateboard to work. My job is 4 and a half miles away.

\- swimming

\- sprinting at the track

\- I tried to stand up and do work whenever possible.

\- Used one of those swiss exercise balls instead of an office chair

\- avoid the typical beer & pizza binges after a release

\- avoid eating all "office food" (chips, pretzels, candy, soda, etc)

\- cut out sugar and most refined carbs, except for special occasions like
when grandma bakes cookies. but even then, only eat a couple and give the rest
away.

\- eat salads, berries, almonds,lean meats, egg whites for most meals.

\- started drinking seltzer. I love carbonated drinks, but most of them are
bad for you. Seltzer is great, it's just carbonated water. Now I don't drink
soda and drink about 1/10th the amount of beer I used to.

\- bought a blood sugar meter. It turns out with all the carbs and sugary
stuff I was eating I was making myself pre-diabetic. After 2 months with
limited carbs and no sugar, my blood sugar was down to 70-80. (instead of
100-120)

\- one day a week don't use the computer at all

\- weekends try to spend at least 8 hours outside, cycling, biking, walking
around

\- make friends with people outside of internet messenger

\- spend less time on hacker news!

------
ahlatimer
I bike to and from school and work. I was doing yoga for a while, but fell out
of it once I moved. I keep telling myself to start going again, but I always
put it off.

I try to hike and boulder whenever I can find people to go with me. I really
wish we had a rock climbing gym here. If we did, I'd probably be there every
other day as my current climbing spot is a 30 minute drive followed by a 30
minute hike in. 2 hours transit isn't really worth it for me unless I have a
couple buddies with me.

I'd definitely suggest yoga to anyone that wants to build some core strength
and calm their mind. It's a lot more difficult than it looks.

I was a vegetarian for about 5 months, and some of those habits have stuck
around (less fast food, more fruits and green stuff). I should probably get
back to that, seeing as how I've never felt better than when I wasn't eating
meat.

------
chrischen
Well let's see, don't drink redbull, hold off on snacks, no coffee, and make
your own noodles instead of ramen.

Basically cook your own food, don't sit around _all_ day. This at least works
for me, but I think I have a high metabolism or something.

------
weaksauce
One of the most fun active sports that I have played in a long time is
racquetball. Very physical and very fun. Get a standing game going every week
with some friends and you will notice your cardio benefits quickly. I also
have a blast doing it because there is so much action going on that you don't
have any time to think about breaking the build or anything else really.

I will also second the rock climbing gym as a fun exercise too. While it is
physically demanding it takes longer to get physically drained so that could
be a consideration. (3 hours vs. 1 - 1.5 hours for racquetball).

------
burke
* No liquid sugar. Stick to black coffee (or better yet, tea) and water.

* Do something physical. A lot of hackers seem to like martial arts. I do karate.

* Pick times to go to sleep and wake up, and stick to them. Even on weekends.

------
petercooper
I don't have time to fanaticism over health. Easy to say while healthy, but
heck, I live to do what I want.

That said, I rarely drink, I don't smoke, I've never taken drugs, I drink a
TON of water. I'm overweight but blood pressure is good and other signs are
good (as of last full checkup). So I don't find the caffeine and chocolate
addictions too much to deal with.

At least half the people round my way seem to be smoking, drinking every day,
or carrying a lot more weight than me, so merely being "average" in the health
department is OK for me right now.

------
Mongoose
Mastering discipline is as much of a factor in staying healthy as it is in
startups. Sticking to a workout schedule, pushing yourself to work harder, and
not giving in to excess food uses the same mental fortitude that founders use
to keep costs down and output up.

I spend the majority of my waking hours sitting, either in lecture or at a
computer. I counterbalance the sedentary nature of studying computer science
by exercising at least 3 times per week, cooking simple and nutritious meals,
and drinking copious amounts of water and tea.

------
benmathes
For me, there are two aspects to it:

(1) Make your diet decisions at the grocery store to remove temptation at
home.

(2)Find exercise that you think is fun. I personally can't run for more than
2-3 miles without getting incredibly bored, but hiking for 30 strenuous miles
over gorgeous terrain is enjoyable. So too is chasing a little black ball
around a squash court or running after a frisbee. Each person will enjoy
different kinds of exercise, but once you find the one you like it'll turn
"having to exercise" into "getting to go _play_ <x>".

------
diN0bot
UnderWater Hockey and Salamander Wrestling--the new twister!
<http://salamanderwrestling.tumblr.com>

edit: used to be 4-court roller tennis with our dog on defense. my husband and
i love to make up games. activity keeps my energy and spirits up, makes it
easier to focus. plus, the walks are useful for us to discuss and plan for our
startup. walking around is a great way to pull your thoughts together and be
more creative. same with taking a dump or shower ;-)

------
jamesbritt
About 3 months ago, when the scale said 204 lbs, I decided I need to do
something. I'm just over 6'2", but that weight was not muscle.

So: I stopped eating crap out of habit. Ate less at each meal. Started
walking/jogging/running ~2.5 miles 2 out of every 3 days.

Much improved. Not that hard (once I get my ass out the door), doesn't take a
lot of time, good results. Now at 190.

I also occasionally play Wii games as well, often wearing wrist weights
(depend on the game), jogging in place.

------
protomyth
Vitamin B-Complex tends to help my fingers from feeling numb when typing all
day. (Told to me by a doctor many years ago when I came to him with numb
finger tips).

------
yan
I try to eat not a lot, and mostly stuff that doesn't come in a wrapper. I
climb two to three times a week and some weekends, for 2-3 hrs at a time. I
supplement climbing with two to three 30-45 minute lifting gym sessions. I
used to run, but not anymore, something I have to start again. I also try to
do pull ups every night as I'm competing with my room mate.

------
gtani
There's lots of 5-minute exercise routines:

\- walk up a couple flights of stairs, around the block

\- do some yoga poses or pilates core strengtheners on the floor

\- anti-RSI things: these powerweb and DynaFlex things I'm always shilling
(they work, my wrists are ok after lots of pain)

<http://www.fitter1.com/Catalog/Category/35/HandWrist.aspx>

~~~
diN0bot
oh yeah, i used to make a point of taking the stairs up and down at least once
a day. 14 floor, so wasn't easy. i pretended i was training for a mountain
hike one day. i mean, i am training, i just don't know when i'm going to climb
a really tall mountain.

------
keefe
It's important to realize the body is a machine : you have particular protein,
fiber and calorie requirements. Meet them. I take a protein shake every day
and a large quantity of veggies and skimp on carbs. I make sure to keep in
mind caffeine is a drug and I monitor my dose. I do pushups and situps and as
soon as my damn knee heals, I am back to running.

~~~
listic
The thing is, this machine doesn't seem to have any indicators to an untrained
eye.

How can you tell if you need more protein? Something else, like Omega-3 fatty
acid maybe? How can you tell that you don't need carbs? etc. etc.

I would love to read up on this to get to know the workings of my machine
better.

~~~
danudey
The real answer to this is to pay attention. The body has all kinds of warning
signs and notifications, but most people don't pay attention to them.

For example, after you finish a meal, do you feel like you ate too much? You
probably did, and yet most people have it so ingrained into them by their
parents to finish everything on their plate that they overeat, which messes up
your body's metabolism (it thinks there's a glut of resources and converts to
'store fat for later' mode).

A past roommate used to have a huge problem with his skin, lots of acne and
rashes and so on, until one day he had the flu so bad he couldn't get out of
bed for a few days. His friends were literally bringing food to him at his
apartment because he couldn't get off his couch. By the end of the week, his
skin had cleared up. Within two days after recovering, his skin had gone to
hell again. Sick again, healthy skin.

After analyzing it, he determined that the only significant change (other than
actually being sick) was his diet. He made a list of all the things he
typically ate, and introduced them back one by one. Turns out eggs, which are
'good for you', were an allergen. He cut them out of his diet and he's been
healthier, sick less often, clear skin, and a host of other minor
improvements.

If you eat something then your stomach feels upset, stop eating it. Get a
little note pad and jot down what you eat whenever you eat it, or just make a
note in your head. If you start feeling unwell (stomach, headache, etc.) 20-40
minutes later, make a note of what it was, and cut it out of your diet.

One day, just out of high school, I was cleaning up my desk at home and
realized that most of the pop cans I had on my desk were half-full. I wasn't
finishing my Dr. Pepper, even though I really liked it. Then I thought about
it and realized I didn't really like it. I used to, but I kept drinking it out
of habit. Still, if I wasn't finishing it, I must not like it that much. I
stopped buying it. I've since cut out all canned beverages and fountain
drinks. After a year or so, I discovered that I can no longer tolerate them.
I've removed them from my diet, and now my body doesn't have the resistance
it's built up to them.

I could probably build up a tolerance to them again if I wanted, but why would
I do that? You shouldn't be eating or drinking anything you have to build up a
tolerance to.

For your specific case, make some notes of how you feel, and then change
things. Take a baseline, then add more protein. Take some Omega-3 supplements,
remove carbs for a week or two, and see how it affects you. A step-aunt's
autistic son went from unmanagable to a sweetheart by removing processed
carbohydrates from his diet. No toast in the morning, no pasta in the evening,
and suddenly his mother's living hell became a relative paradise.

When in doubt, remove all the artificial, pre-processed crap foods from your
diet. Shop, as one poster suggested, on the outside walls of the grocery store
– meat, fish, poultry, vegetables. Try taking dairy out of your diet. Try
taking sausages. I can't digest animal fats, so both of these are bad ideas
for me. Same with bacon. Try taking things out. Reconsider everything in your
diet, and don't be afraid to play around. Add things, remove things. Read
other people's experiences. Make notes, and learn from them. Build hypotheses
and test them. Approach it like a science experiment, because that's really
what it is.

------
timcederman
Two rules: plenty of vegetables/fruit with every meal, and 4 miles of running
every day. Everything else seems to sort itself out.

~~~
diN0bot
my favorite meal, after peanutbutter on apples or cheese on apples or
peanutbutter on carrots, is to cook vegetables in some olive oil in a cast
iron pan. parsnips, carrots, green peppers, onions, eggplant, radishes,
whatever (usually not all at the same time). paprika and chili powder, or
tumeric while cooking, or green zatar and nutritional yeast and sesame oil
once it is done.

i think running 4 miles a day would be too distracting for me, but that does
sound fun. i tend to exercise at night once i've gotten all my work out of my
system, and i don't like to run at night. pool is open until 11pm though.

------
TheElder
Refuse to use any type of drugs other other than the occasional aspirin. Of
course, unless my life is really depending on it.

------
sdp
The hacker's diet: <http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/e4/>

------
patrickryan
I run a half-marathon twice a year which motivates me to train and run
frequently. Also, I eat clean 6 days a week Mon-Fri,Sun and eat anything on
Sat. If I do drink soda, it's diet dr.pepper. I try to limit alcohol
consumption to Sat.

Summary: Eat clean 6 days a week, run/cycle/swim at least 2-3 days a week, and
take a multivitamin daily.

------
setori88
buy this book: <http://www.thechinastudy.com>

~~~
wvl
Or, don't: [http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/peta-cspi-and-other-
menac...](http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/peta-cspi-and-other-menaces/are-
we-meat-eaters-or-vegetarians-part-i/)

~~~
likpok
To respond to both: It is probably a good idea to watch what you eat. There
appear to be two factions who agree on this. They disagree on how you should
do this. One (China study) claims you should avoid animal-derived products (I
think. Haven't really read it). The other claims the opposite (meat rocks!).

Needless to say, both say that the other technique will lead to suboptimal
results, and both say the science is on their side.

------
pizza
Easy.

\- no sugar if it wasn't grown as part of a vegetable or fruit

\- get your heart pumping

\- eat fat! not processed shit, but avocados and fatty fish like salmon!

\- when you're doing your cardio, do it intensively for 6 seconds. then, take
it easy for the next 9. rinse and repeat.

\- water. you need it. you really, _really_ need it.

------
PStamatiou
I moved next to a big park and got a dog. The dog park is about 1 mile away
and I take my dog (rather she pulls me there) there about 5 times a week so
that's about 10 miles I end up walking/jogging each week.

and this doesnt include the regular walks we go on.

------
carl_
honestly?:

\- eat crap one day, eat healthy other.

\- don't own a car/walk and take the stairs rather than lift.

\- avoid public transport (where possible).

\- work hard.

\- get a good full 4 to 9 hours sleep per night.

\- do some light weights every other day (or when bothered).

\- drink lots of juices and waters and avoid fizzy drinks.

\- alternate drinking beer and shorts without mixers.

~~~
brown9-2
Can I ask the rationale behind "eat crap one day, eat healthy other"? Why not
just eat healthy (or better than "crap") both days and realize 2x the benefit?
This sounds like an excuse to rationalize poor eating habits.

Also 4-9 hours is an incredibly wide range of sleep to prescribe.

------
alexfarran
Count calories and do 15 minutes of exercise in the morning. It doesn't have
to be complicated or expensive. <http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/>

------
sprice
I make an active decision to (most of the time) eat good food, and to not eat
bad food. I drink mostly water and try to exercise a few times a week. Easy on
the coffee, almost no energy drinks.

------
brown9-2
Don't eat junk.

Try not to overeat.

Definitely don't drink sugary drinks.

I'm jogging 3 miles a day every other day. Worked up to my first 5K over the
summer (following "Couch to 5K" program, google it), hoping to work up to 10k
next soon.

------
sown
Biking.

I chose this activity because it integrates my commute time and exercise time.
Together, are about 120 - 150 minutes daily but separately they used to be
anywhere from the same to 3.5 hours.

------
zurcociremer
Jogging in place, 3-4 hours a week, 15-45 minutes per session

It doesn't have to involve jogging pants and running shoes -- you may do it
barefooted and pajamas in the bedroom, before dinner.

~~~
brown9-2
But I'd bet jogging outside is a heck of a lot more fun than staring at a wall

~~~
alex_c
Depends on the weather, doesn't it?

~~~
mcav
I dunno. Some of my most fun runs are when it has snowed outside and you have
to leap over snowdrifts.

------
flapjack
I count calories and try to stick to a consistent limit, and bike around 8
miles Monday through Friday. It's probably the 8 miles of biking that provides
the benefit.

------
quizbiz
I have discovered racquetball since arriving to a college campus. It's
phenomenal. Find someone that plays on an equal level with you and its a
blast. Great cardio.

------
brm
Learn to be comfortable eating while walking, spend your lunch time walking
around exploring and observing... This happens to be good for the mind as well

~~~
inglorian
I actually wouldn't recommend this. Doing something else (watching tv,
working, driving, even walking) while eating takes most of the enjoyment out
of the food. Also, I can imagine very few foods conducive to eating while
walking that are not street- or fast-food.

~~~
hughprime
Eating while walking is a bad habit of mine, but by this stage I can eat just
about anything while balancing a plate on one hand. Steak is probably my
limit.

------
ysk
I stick with "no carbs" diet. Nothing else.

------
codedivine
Stick to a fairly strict healthy diet and regular sleep schedule.

Only broke this rule when working on a big deadline.

------
jambalaya
Would you guys be interested in a site that contains various workout programs?

------
listic
What sort of reading on health do you recommend for a newbie that wishes to
learn how to stay healthy? I'm beginning to worry about my health, but I'd
hate to just follow some or another fad diet, even if recommended by fellow
hackers. First, I wish to understand how my body works.

~~~
lorenzsell
check out findmefit.com. it's a blog I started a few months ago, all about
helping young professionals live healthy lives through practical advice. i'd
love to get your feedback.

------
pclark
cycle to work. walk lots. eat lots of leaves. fruits for snacks.

~~~
kitcar
Just remember, Cycling is not always better exercise than walking - for short
distances, walking is "more work" than cycling.

~~~
hughprime
And for long distances, too! On the other hand, cycling builds muscles and
works your heart more than walking does, so if your objective is anything
other than just burning calories cycling is, I think, usually the better
exercise.

------
mattdennewitz
bicycle riding, healthy marriage, and sometimes whisky instead of IPA, lentil
stew w/ turkey sausage instead of hamburgers.

------
melito
Jog at the very minimum 9 miles a week.

------
mcav
Run. (a la Merlin Mann: Most Days.)

------
flashingpumpkin
By being a vegetarian.

~~~
drobilla
A (what I call) "real food vegetarian", anyway. There are "vegetarians" out
there who consume crazy amounts of horrible processed foods.

IMO people tend to severely overthink diet. It's pretty hard to be unhealthy
when you exclusively eat good, real, whole, food. Diet fads come and go, and
are often completely contradictory, but this guideline has always, and will
always, be more or less true.

Vegans on the left, Atkins people on the right... drop your food religions and
just stop eating crap! It's not that difficult.

If you're trying to lose weight, EAT LESS. You can eat the most extremely
healthy diet in the world, if you eat a lot, you will get fat. That's how the
body works. Again, it's not exactly rocket science.

------
IsaacSchlueter
Taekwondo.

------
modelic3
Latest research shows that oxidative stress that results from cardiovascular
exercise is the kind that is most beneficial to physical and mental well
being. So I usually go running during the week but I don't stick to a schedule
or a minimum distance quota. Listening to how your body responds and acting
accordingly minimizes damage and improves recovery times. Since my goal is to
improve overall well being I've found that this kind of setup works quite
well.

------
kingkongrevenge
This trumps absolutely anything else you can do: avoid starch and sugar. Eat
only meat/fish, vegetables, and fruit. Simply don't eat sugary drinks, cereal,
oatmeal, rice, potatoes, bread and so forth. This way everything you eat is
nutrient packed.

Eggs and dairy are the best foods I know of. I normally eat four eggs a day
(scrambled in lots of butter) and have a large glass of half and half, or
sometimes I even drink straight up cream. Full fat yogurt is a fantastic food.
I try to dominate my calories with saturated fat. The research is now clear
that this is perfectly healthy. It's also a very efficient way to eat because
I can very comfortably eat only two meals a day about half the time. Fat
sticks with you.

Take vitamin d3 every couple of days. The research that has come out in the
last few years on vitamin d is fairly shocking. Most people are deficient and
it's a huge risk factor for infections and cancer. We are built to spend
almost every day outside in the sun, generating vitamin d in the skin, but
people don't do that now, so supplement.

As for exercise, sprint work and brief, intense strength training sessions are
the best. Two 20 minute lifting sessions a week are sufficient exercise if
that's all you can afford, but you must do it intensely. I frequently dry
heave a bit in the shower after. Jogging and cycling are much inferior from a
health perspective. You do want to build muscle mass and increase growth
hormone and testosterone levels. Muscle buffers insulin. Jogging basically
just burns calories and temporarily ramps up metabolism. It has minimal
benefits compared to other forms of exercise. When I do go out biking and
running I'm always amused by how fat the vast majority of runners on the
trails are.

Don't take health advice from people who look like shit or work out like it's
their job. I'm always shocked by the number of dough boys pontificating who
get taken seriously. Demand a full body picture of anybody purporting to give
lifestyle health advice, and if they pass that test make sure they aren't some
freak wasting five hours a week working out. I'm 5'10 with a 29 inch waist,
noticeable muscle mass, a six pack, and a very low body fat percentage. I
spend at most two hours a week in physical activity and often nothing at all.
I have turned a couple other people on to eating and exercising this way with
very good results. Avoid starch/sugar, work out very hard infrequently and on
an empty stomach, and you will get cut and healthy. The high saturated fat
intake is optional, but I personally recommend it.

[http://www.paleonu.com/panu-weblog/2009/6/28/1-eliminate-
sug...](http://www.paleonu.com/panu-weblog/2009/6/28/1-eliminate-sugar-and-
refined-carbohydrates-like-white-flour.html) <http://www.second-
opinions.co.uk/latest_articles.html>
<http://www.arthurdevany.com/2005/03/an_introduction.html>

~~~
brown9-2
You do realize that you might have just gotten lucky in the genetic and
metabolic department, and that others who might not be so lucky in their
genetic makeup do need to work out 5 hours a week (or more) to get the same
results as you?

~~~
jambalaya
But he isn't lucky in the sense that some people can metabolize carbohydrates
much better and can consume more than others.

