
Ask HN: How do you stay healthy? - kotrunga
I work a desk job (as a software engineer). Just started lifting M-W-F following the strengths 5x5 program, and counting calories with an app.<p>What do you do to stay healthy? Any advice you can share?
======
danschumann
The Wim Hof method is something I adore. Also, whenever I wake up, I get up.
This is better than trying going back to sleep if you only have an hour or
two, because waking up in the middle of the sleep cycle (2-3 hours) typically
makes you more tired than if you would have skipped it.

So, in the morning, I awake naturally ( the time varies ), then go for a walk
to watch the sun rise.

I eat a lot of soup. I laugh. If I feel unreasonable fear, I try to wonder
what issue I had as a child or with my parents that would cause it. For
example, I would check my pants pockets for my phone, wallet, and keys, like
everyone does from time to time, and then after I found all 3, I would get
afraid. Fear is bad for your health, especially unreasonable. I would wonder,
"Why am I feeling afraid AFTER I realize I have everything", and I realized,
growing up, if I would check my pockets, my mom would ask a frightened
question, "OH NO, DID YOU LOSE SOMETHING?", so I was basically trained to feel
afraid. Lots of weird things with parents to think about if you feel yourself
having unreasonable emotions throughout the day.

~~~
maxxxxx
I try to do the Win Hof method but I simply can't get used to cold showers
when it's cold outside. I can force myself for weeks but it never gets easier
and costs more and more will power.

~~~
danschumann
Yea, it definitely gets tougher, and I switched from cold only to hot and then
cold right before I get out. It's something. Not always but probably above
50%. I found myself showering less often when I was forcing myself only cold,
so I told myself I don't have to do cold! I do regret it a little if I skip
cold completely, but sometimes it's only for 30-60 seconds.

Also I saw a video which changed how I view it: it said cold creates "positive
stress". So, when I feel the initial shock, I know it's stressful, but I also
know its good.

~~~
maxxxxx
"showering less often"

Me too!

------
ssijak
Would you geeks like a book about fitness but from the perspective of a fellow
geek? I was pondering about writing it for some time. I had body fat problem
from my childhood (my granma who is a cook and parents stuffed me with food)
and I was sedentary for the most of my life. Started with computers from age 6
with Commodore 64. But slowly i got myself into fitness and learning about it
and food. I tried many things and learned much. Now I eat more than at any
time in my life (3500cal/day currently), but I maintain lean body with large
amount of muscle. And have good amount of strength. For example doing bench
press sets with 110kg, rows 109kg, etc. Wanted to write a book about my path
and what to do from the perspective of the geek and somebody who program whole
day, I know many would/could relate to the same path. Anybody interested?

~~~
chrisseaton
> Would you geeks like a book about fitness but from the perspective of a
> fellow geek?

There's already this one:

[https://www.amazon.co.uk/Healthy-Programmer-Better-
Pragmatic...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Healthy-Programmer-Better-Pragmatic-
Programmers/dp/1937785319/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1511964188&sr=8-2&keywords=Joe+Kutner)

But to be honest I'm not sure what 'geeks' think is so intrinsically different
about themselves that they need to treat this subject differently to anyone
else.

I think fitness is one of those subjects where you want to be very cautious
about anything that describes itself as a shortcut or a clever way of doing
it. You just need to do the work.

~~~
ssijak
Yeah, all the fitness principles are the same. But getting from 0 to doing all
the things right is different for different kind and groups of people. And
reading how to do it from somebody similar as you, with similar challenges,
could be helpful. It would be for me at least.

------
putroce
It's all about daily routine. If you can stick with a lifting program and
start eating healthy for the next month you'll notice a difference. If you do
it for 3 months, everyone will notice a difference. One big thing that I
always advocate is that it needs to be a lifestyle, not a temporary change.
You shouldn't be upset going to the gym or not eating a cookie, it should be
something you actively want to do.

~~~
ambivalents
I think you're underestimating how much discipline it can take to stay
healthy. Don't get me wrong, daily routine is super important, and you are
more likely to consistently do something you enjoy, but I do believe our world
is optimized for laziness and our default mode is one consisting of Netflix
and cookies (in most of the US, at least).

I've consistently gone to the gym/played sports and stayed in relatively good
shape for the past 15 years. I love how working out makes me feel, and I am a
happier person because of it. BUT, just about every time I make the decision
to go to the gym, there is another part of me that badly just wants to stay
home or do something easier instead. I still have to actively fight that urge.

Just want to say this because I think some people might feel like they should
give up if they don't want to actively go work out. Sometimes you just have to
push through that feeling.

------
nexxer
After a few failed starts with exercising and eating regimens, what really did
it for me going to a nutritionist together with my significant other. The
nutritionist built a pretty intuitive schedule for both of us, with slight
variations for our respective needs. This meant we could cook one common meal
and vary the quantity of cooked carbs and protein at plate-level. We also got
a list of allowed substitutes to each meal ingredient, which gave us choices.
The practicality was a big factor.

This lead to regular prepared healthy meals to the office, which meant no
unhealthy eating.

Adding this to 3x-4x weekly exercise (including at least 30 mins cardio) was
crucial.

Recently I noticed [http://nosdiet.com/](http://nosdiet.com/) which tries to
build good habits with some pretty generic rules. It doesn't micromanage you
which may appeal to some people.

------
overcast
By not sitting at the computer 18 hours straight. I eat well, I also fast 16
hours per day, by skipping breakfast, and eating a healthy lunch and dinner. I
also take pushup/pullup/situp breaks throughout the day. Especially if
important if you're going to be putting in long hours at the screen. Also get
out and do some longer hikes 3-4 times a week. If it's the winter season, I'll
row indoors on a rowing machine, or breakout "Insanity" :)

~~~
villmann
This! I try doing 5:2 at times as well. In addition I supplement with calcium,
D3 and Mg.

~~~
overcast
I actually unintentionally do calorie deficits on the weekend. Usually busy
working on something, or get caught up in a game, end up eating one meal a
day. I'm 37, 6'1 and 175 pounds consistent for years.

------
eithed
\- use bicycle if you can; there're even plenty of upcoming electric bicycles
that allow you to combine exercise with commute in case when road to work is
too long

\- start bouldering - I found it an ideal sport for programmers; it combines
problem solving with exercise, it doesn't require you to be social (myself,
I've always found lifting weights to be... well, too public). I've noticed
that it not only allowed me to be more healthy, but also to be more social as
well - while I still have my headphones on, when I notice that somebody has a
problem with a route I sometimes have a chat.

\- prepare your own food - near my place there's a street marker offering
fresh fruits; I've always felt bad, as they'd offer, for example 3
cauliflowers for a pound and what do you do with all that, so 2 of them would
get wasted. But then I committed to buying it even in bulk quantities, and
well - this week I've made a soup, a casserole and some boiled cauliflowers
(and I'm fed up with cauliflower for now), but you should get my point ;)

------
internetman55
Not someone with any medical expertise, but here is some stuff I kind of think

-Don't get fat. Stay at a healthy weight forever

-Eat a balanced diet, 3 meals a day

-Walk daily

-Get up from desk and move every so often

-Sleep enough

-Don't overwork

-Go to the dentist every 6 months and do what they say

\--Don't skip the dentist because you don't have insurance or something.
Cleanings every 6 months are necessary for keeping your gums healthy, even if
you brush and floss

-Do some strength exercises a few days a week (calisthenics or weights)

\--Always prioritize not injuring your joints or back over gains

\--Go to a doctor and PT if you injure yourself, don't start doing random foam
roller stuff from the internet

------
binarymax
Most importantly, have a routine and don't break it. If you work your health
upkeep into the routine (exercise and diet), it's much easier to keep going. A
chaotic and random day to day life makes it much more difficult to make time
for your wellbeing.

~~~
hackeraccount
Just so.

I don't lift (I can't get into anything related to strength training beyond
push-ups) but I go running 5 days a week and I guard it jealously. My analogy
for it is that every run is putting money into the bank. If I skip a day I
can't help but think that I'm getting a little bit slower, a little bit out of
shape for that. And that the next time I go for a run it'll be just a little
bit harder and I'll be a little bit slower for the day off.

That's all crazy of course - I know that things like that don't happen at the
margins; at least not at my level of running. It motivates me though and if
it's not true for a day skipped it is true for a month. Maybe a week. Which is
why I'm currently unhappy that I didn't go running once on my Thanksgiving
break. :-(

~~~
jrowley
If you want, give yourself one or 2 extra punishing workouts since you took a
week off (some nice hill repeats, hard tempo, etc.) and then forgive yourself!
Even the best of us have lapses in our routine occasionally.

------
EnderMB
I used to run and go to the gym. I got in pretty good shape, but it felt too
monotonous for me.

For the last two years I've been going to Brazilain Jiu-jitsu classes, and
I've been getting the same level of exercise, but I also get a feeling that
I'm learning something both fun and useful from it.

A lot can be said for its benefits to self-defense, and even though a lot of
what we do isn't directly related to self-defense a lot of people that do BJJ
often say that they feel more confident as a result.

The main takeaway for me is that it takes me back to when I was first learning
to program. That feeling of knowing absolutely nothing and being completely
lost is pretty much how everyone (bar collegiate-level wrestlers and judokas)
feels when they start, and it's a great feeling to experience aqain. I'd go as
far as to say that BJJ has given me more empathy towards junior-level
developers, and as made me a better developer as a result.

I'd highly recommend it, even/especially if you are out of shape. Not only is
it a great way to lose weight and get fit, it's great fun - like playfighting
for adults.

------
ryandvm
Eat less food.

Once I got into my thirties it became very clear that my metabolism was
slowing down and I wasn't going to be able to continue to eat as much as I
used to.

Three square meals a day is bullshit and I think this is why post-middle-age
folks tend to be so paunchy.

My advice (based entirely off my anecdotal experience) is to switch to the
General McChrystal diet: Eat one meal a day, whether you need it or not. ;-)

------
shash7
There are heaps of articles and guides online for this, but here's what I do:

First thing after waking up is to do some pushups. Not too many, just about 15
- 20. Later on I hit the gym after 7 and workout for an hour. My workout is
custom tailored by me but I initially started out with a simple 5x5 workout.
Midweek I go for jiu jitsu traning. I train sometimes on the weekends other I
play tennis or just fuck around.

\---

One thing I regret early on is not practicing the correct form and chasing
numbers instead. Second regret is not maintaining my diet properly.

Right now the biggest bottleneck is my 9-5 job. Slowly I'v realized that
sitting at a desk for 7 hours hours is very bad. I would rather trade that
with a more physically demanding job(or work in a office where there's a spare
gym)

With that in mind, my focus for the next couple of years is to shift from
working regularly to occasionally doing contracts and working on my side
projects.

------
bovermyer
This is just anecdotal and based mostly on things I've read, so take it with a
grain of salt. I am not a nutritionist or a trainer, just an engineer who
doesn't want to die fat and sick.

## Physical Activity

Structured five minutes of stretching immediately after getting out of bed.

Bodyweight-only strength training exercises every other day for at least ten
minutes. Cardio every day for at least fifteen minutes.

## Food

I don't count calories. Instead, I follow some simple meal rules:

1\. At least half the plate should be veggies. Fresh, frozen, canned,
whatever.

2\. Carbs are not the enemy, but they should be minimized. No bread, and avoid
sugars.

3\. Avoid red meat most of the time. Choose fish, chicken, or tofu as
proteins.

4\. Make breakfast a priority and the biggest meal of the day.

5\. Prep ingredients ahead of time, because life ALWAYS gets in the way at the
last minute.

~~~
Jedd
Part of my challenge is working out what a structured stretching programme may
involve, and how it may vary (and why).

~~~
esigs
I would advise against structure when you're starting.

Find a physical hobby and just start doing that. Become friends with the
fittest guy you can find (they love talking about fitness and will be happy to
talk about it) and keep it super easy.

Friction is the enemy when you're starting. Just have fun with it and build
slowly.

------
mathgeek
I do keto (along with Keto Chow, which is basically low carb Soylent). I've
had success with calorie counting in the past.

When I'm at my best, I also get a lot of cardio and lift some free weights.
Working remotely has the nice advantage of being able to use a home gym.

~~~
jcousins
At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, low carb eating and intermittent
fasting have changed my life. The way it puts you in touch with yourself and
naturally regulates your mood and caloric intake is almost magical. It takes
some time and tweaking to get to that point but if a person can be consistent
about it for six months, it then becomes a natural way of eating/living. The
knowledge on why it works is all out there now for us to absorb, it's just a
matter of having the confidence to take control of our own health rather than
relying on doctors that wouldn't recognize a research paper if it hit them
across the head!

------
Mouse47
Couple of things:

1\. Lift 3 times a week, squats/OHP/Rows, deadlifts/dips/pullups. Mix in as
much supplementary work as desired (plyometrics, sprints, cardio, etc)

2\. Intermittent fasting. I only eat from 4 - 8 weekdays, more like 1 - 8 on
the weekends. I do have black coffee in the mornings, though (lots of it...)

3\. Low-ish carb diet. The only things I eat that have carbs in em are fruits
(usually two pieces), veggies and whole milk. Eggs and chicken are the staple
proteins...some days I eat 6 eggs. Sometimes I'll throw down a can of sardines
for extra protein.

Unfortunately I'm having some back issues (possibly SI joint related), so I
gotta be careful with the lifting, but other than that I'm strong & fast.

------
hakunin
Some weird tricks that worked for me:

1\. Hire a weight lifting trainer. I go 3 times a week, and I never have to
think about it. The "not having to think" is important.

2\. Get a standing desk. I don't always use it (especially hard after leg
day), but it's good to alternate sitting/standing.

3\. Don't get too excited or too frustrated about gym. Just another day. The
more days you go the less you care about an occasional bad day.

4\. Don't eat sugar on purpose (including candy, cake, jam, too much fruit).
Entirely stop drinking coke and similar sodas. If you have to, replace them
with kombucha.

5\. Drink water. A lot.

------
kaiserama
The expression "eating well" is ambiguous at best so I consulted a good
dietician which made a big difference in my overall well being and health.
Also, I work out every MWF, first thing in the morning - I find that if I
don't do it first thing I'll come up with excuses throughout the day to skip.
Another thing I do is make sure I get up and move around at least once an
hour. I work from home and will take my dogs on a couple walks per day, I
realize that's not an option for a lot of people.

------
petr_tik
Seconding what others said about habits and building a routine. From the power
of habit book, I picked up that it's easiest to break old and make new habits
at times of life change - change in numbers of people around you (death,
birth, divorce, coupling up), change of location or work.

I made proximity to gym/swimming pool one of my most important factors in my
last flat hunt, mapped out relevant facilities in London, wrote a scraper that
searched for flats in walkable radius, used Google Maps API to calculate
walking distance and uploaded it to google sheets for me to review. After
moving to the new flat, I made sure to go to the gym every morning for the
first 3 weeks. Even if I did little exercise (10 mins of cardio), it was about
developing a habit of getting up and going there regularly. So far it's been
good, though I wouldn't say the results are visible to everyone in the outside
world, not that I care anyway. Being so close to the gym removes excuses like
"it's not on the way to work", "I cannot carry my towel with me". Going in the
morning makes me free to do anything at night without feeling bad about
skipping exercise.

I am lucky to have a fast rate of metabolism and most of my cooking repertoire
is around salads and basic meals, which imho are healthy. I stock up and
freeze meat that I buy from butchers and farmers' markets.

------
flipp3r
Been reading more about what's actually in food and what you need to stay
alive.

Intermittent fasting and fasting on water (with some salt) has been working
very well for me. Burning away 3kg per week. Not really losing muscle, just
burning away my fat at an insane rate. Just don't consume carbs or sugar (or
"zero sugar" crap). Eat vegetables. Read labels.

~~~
Kiro
> or "zero sugar" crap

What's wrong with it?

~~~
flipp3r
Because there are enough sugar replacements that will spike your insulin
regardless, and that makes you stop burning fat. Try entering Ketosis and then
have something containing Sorbitol & Xylitol, just 2 pieces of chewing gum
messed me up for a good couple hours.

This is not to say that there aren't better sweeteners than sugar, but
anything saying "less sugar" or "zero sugar" is likely just a technically
correct marketing ploy.

~~~
DiThi
Some sweeteners like Sorbitol or Splenda have calories. They get away with
labeling in the US because as long as it has less than 5 kcal per serving they
can say 0 kcal. And they can choose the serving size.

Most sweeteners are truly zero calories and don't produce an insulin spike,
but there may be a problem with cravings for some people.

------
nunez
I track about 99% of the food I eat on MyFitnessPal. I’ve been doing this for
nearly seven years and am currently approaching a 2 year streak. This alone
has been the biggest contributor to perfect physicals every year for the past
five years or so and a nice physique. (I’m 30.)

I also calculated my total daily energy expediture online. You can also get a
DEXA scan for $100-150 that will tell you what your nearly exact body fat
percentage is, but my experience has shown me that it doesn’t differ that much
from online results. TDEE is super important because it’s a baseline of how
much I need to eat to maintain my current weight. I eat more than it if I want
to build muscle (which is a really slow process unless you’re just starting
out) and less than it when I want to lose weight and lean out.

I also lift 4x/week and go on long walks 1-2x/week. I also used to do 100+
miles on my bike per week but haven’t made time for that in recent years.

------
wje
I try to avoid eating processed foods. I ride a bicycle. I go to a climbing
gym. I built a hangboard so I can train at home. I read lots of books to
exercise my brain.

But more important than any of that: I stopped working a job that had me
sitting down in front of a computer screen all day, and started working jobs
that keep me on my feet.

------
djmill
I hike and backpack as much as I can.

It also helps that I built myself a side project to keep track of all of the
trails I hike/camp, so this pushes me to find new places to explore and to add
new trails to the site.

While hiking only works out certain muscles, it could be a nice way for you to
change up your routine.

------
solson
\- Intermittent Fasting \- Paleo Diet, \- Strength Training 4x a week -
Weighted Pull-ups, Weighted Squats, Deadlifts, Bench Press, Leg Extentions,
Weighted Lunges, Weighted Dips \- Stand 50% of the time while I work. \-
Minimal alcohol and caffeine

------
JonMR
Tracking food intake for several months helped me immensely. You may want to
track carbs, fat, protein as well as calories.

Once you cut the junk food out of your diet, it's easier to keep it out. The
cravings for sugar subside.

I go through on/off periods with weight lifting, but generally try to lift at
least once a week.

Apart from that I try to get outdoors with some kind of physical activity 2-3x
a week. I've been lucky to find a few physical hobbies I enjoy. I used to wake
skate / wake board on the weekends and mountain bike during the week. Mountain
biking has now taken over the weekends as well.

That would be my biggest recommendation. Find a hobby you really enjoy that
keeps you active.

------
esigs
How to stay fit:

\- Make it easy. If it's hard, you will quit. \- If you eat out, eat a salad
(check the calories and keep it low). Think before you eat. \- Do your one
hobby 2-4 times per week and try to get better at it.

A hobby here must be out of the house, and physical (biking, rock climbing,
martial art, swimming, tennis, running, etc...).

Everything else is a distraction. If you're starting from nothing you do not
need to get more complicated than this. Take 2-4 years to build off of this.

I went from overweight and weak to the guy everyone says it's just natural for
in about 6 years starting from here. It builds naturally as you get better at
it.

Don't over think it.

------
fsloth
I use an activity bracelet to record my activity and sleep level. I generally
forget to exercise unless something pushes me and the meter on my wrist is a
comfortably non-judgemental reminder. I try to avoid commuting to work by car
and prefer bus and bike. Commuting by bus adds quite a few steps and I can
skip a few bus stops and walk instead.

I don't go to the gym, but have taken a habit of doing push ups, body-weight
rows and farmers walks and those seem to bulk me good enough.

I hated push ups, until I realized I can do them in ladders. 1, then 2, then
3... up to max, and down again.

------
DiThi
Keto diet (/r/keto is a great resource), and 30-60 min exercise several days
of the week (usually playing VR with a friend). When I can't exercise for some
reason, I lift my stand up desk.

------
crikli
Don’t overthink diet. Avoid these three things: obvious sugars (soda), fried
foods, and bread.

Try to do 100 push-ups and 200 squats a day. I do 10 push-ups and 20 squats
every time I check my email.

Simple = maintainable.

------
dschep
Commute pretty much anyway but door-to-door driving. Bike, walk, walk to
transit, bike to transit, etc. Just that small amount makes a huge difference
since you do it every single day.

------
neverminder
I do all of it. Get up at 5:30, take a cold shower, meditate, hit the gym (3
days lifting, 2 days cardio, weekend off). Strict diet - counting calories,
macro nutrients, supplements, always analyzing, improving, observing,
researching. Balanced sleep routine. No bad habits like smoking, drinking,
taking recreation drugs. I also play acoustic guitar, apparently it can add up
to 7 points to your IQ and is generally a positive influence on overall
wellbeing. Routine and discipline is the key.

------
osullivj
Exercise: run twice a week. Do weights. Diet: mostly vegan/vegetarian. Two
meals a day - lunch & dinner, no breakfast. Zero dairy - no milk, butter or
cheese. Zero refined sugar - no cakes, biscuits, chocolate. Never buy anything
> 5% sugars. No fruit juice. No "white" carbs - only brown bread and basmati
rice. Alcohol: wine & beer only, no spirits. Tobacco: I'm a social smoker.
Drum rolling tobacco only, never touch Marlboro or other processed ready
rolled.

------
foepys
The most important thing is to have a routine. Without a routine a lot of
people make excuses for not working out or eating right. Some sources say that
after about two weeks a routine becomes a habit. My advise is to just keep
doing what you are doing until it doesn't feel like a chore.

If it still feels like a chore after a few weeks, try to switch things up with
another workout schedule (e.g. after work instead of before work) or other
healthy food. Maybe try another sport.

------
pat_space
Here are a few of the things I do to counteract my desk job. I live in Denver.

-Workout before work (5 days a week, switching programs/routines every 1-3 months)

-Bike to work

-Standing desk with balance board

-Lacrosse ball and theraband at my desk for stretching

-Eat well, mostly Paleo, but not super strict. No soda.

-Intermittent fasting (~8pm to 12pm)

-"Fun" exercise after work(skateboarding, basketball, yoga)

-Work from home 1-2 days a week and move around as much as possible those days.

I've found this works for me but ymmv. I've also been active most of my life.

~~~
weavie
Are you able to focus on your work whilst standing on the balance board? It
looks like a great idea if it could work.

~~~
pat_space
@weavie Great question. It depends on the work I am doing. I take all of my
calls and virtual meeting standing on/off the board. I also create most of my
status reports and do JIRA board reviews standing. However, for deep
investigation, deployments, requirements writing, and other tasks that require
deep focus I sit, either on a barstool or a medicine ball.

------
k4ch0w
Something I can answer! Finally. Yay.

You are off to a great start. 5X5 is a great beginner program and imo the best
way to get your beginner gains. There is also another closely related routine
called Ice cream fitness which some people prefer. Eventually, you will want
to taper off this once you get the beginner gains. I'd recommend getting a
trainer for a 1-3 months to get your forms down, if you can afford it.

If you are just starting to get healthy, counting calories can be a bit much.
You don't want to overload yourself when building a new habit like working out
consistently. I'd just follow some simple principles.

Avoid sugars such as Soda, Coffee with syrups, candy and the like.

Avoid alcohol completely if possible. I still enjoy beers socially, humans are
weirded out if you don't drink with them. However, I never drink alone.

Always eat before going shopping, this will prevent you from buying extra
goodies you might not necessarily need. The easiest way to not eat bad food is
to never buy it at the store. If you know it's in your house, you will eat it.

Try to eat outside of your house less. You don't know how the food is being
prepared, how much oil, salt, sugar, etc. is in the food. You can't always
avoid this but having a high ratio of eating out vs. at home helps.

Some additional random things

It's a process and you shouldn't don't compare yourself to anyone other than
who you used to be.

No one at the gym is looking at you. They are so busy in their own routine.

You should find a playlist that amps you up on your way to the gym. You want
to train your brain and body to be ready to f __k things up when you step
through those doors.

If you are severely overweight, everyone that is really fit in the gym is
rooting for you. We know the struggle, and we know how hard it is to make a
change for your health. If you think people are laughing at you, it's in your
head. Again, people are into their own routines.

If you see a big guy at the gym, don't be afraid to ask him for some advice.
They may look scary, but I promise they are just regular people and are
usually weirdly friendly.

Muscles don't grow unless you overload them. If muscle is the goal, your going
to need to push yourself.

------
ChrisRR
Outside the office I swim 3 times a week for an hour fairly fast (for me) with
no more than 5 minutes rest throughout. Otherwise I'm fairly lethargic the
other 4 days.

In the office I make sure I get up and have a walk at least once an hour,
either to get a drink, use the toilet or just have a wander round. It makes
sure I don't spend too long slouching, dozing off and makes me take my eyes
off the screen.

------
invokestatic
I run 4-7 miles every day in the spring, summer, and fall, and around 5 miles
in the winter when weather is permitting. I target about 2,000 kcals per day.
Skipping breakfast helps, though I wake up pretty late. I have a pretty good
diet though probably half of what I eat is raw or cooked vegetables and fruits
and nuts.

While all exercise is beneficial, I prefer cardiovascular exercise to stay
healthy.

------
sputknick
5x5 is good for strength, I've done it a few times over the years. My go-to
routine over the past 8 years has been a HIIT kettlebell routine. I do 30
seconds on 30 seconds off. Swings, clean and press, mid-pulls, snatch, plank,
Turkish getup. I do all of that twice. It takes 20 minutes. Good strength and
cardio at the same time. Also I eat Paleo, except when I eat pizza.

------
cesidio
I run every other day, this is the best advice I can give. I run in a park and
do some exercises too. Spending some time in the open air has improved my mood
considerably. I guess that what is most unhealthy about our current modern
life is not only sitting for too long, but not breathing outside fresh air.

Also follow the simple rule: 'eat food, not too much, mostly plants'

------
lukasm
I cook my own meals so I can keep the right balance of nutrition e.g. 525kcal,
45g protein, 55g carbs (no sugar a lot of fiber), 18g fat.

12-14 hours of fasting e.g 22:00 - 12:00

I switched from strength exercises to BJJ. It's more fun.

Very limited sugar intake e.g. I eat a banana and a handful of berries per
week.

I need do more sauna. I also need more running and weightlifting to improve
BJJ performance.

------
bsenftner
1) Standing desk, 2) daily cardio to a hard sweat, 3) no boxed food or fast
food; wife and I cook healthy lunches for the week 4) no alcohol.

Note: formerly muscle bound as a teen, a serious injury put an end to heavy
weights. But my cardio workouts seem to maintain my bulk, so that's nice.

I'm 53, quite fit, actually look like a QB: slim and buff at the same time.

------
elysian_eunoia
I see it as equal parts mental and physical.

You've taken action which is half the mental battle. The rest is goals and
discipline. Setting goals for myself helps me keep interested in running and
working out. In any aspect of life, I find that having no goals means having
no direction.

"Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines practiced every day.
Discipline is the bridge between goals and success." -Jim Rohn

Physically speaking, I'm no expert, and am always open to new ideas, but am
happy to tell you what I've benefited from thus far.

I've recently taken a real liking to the alkaline-rich diet. It's straight
forward: less acids, more alkaline. There are plenty of resources online to
better sort those out. I've experienced numerous benefits from letting this
influence my eating; feeling more awake, clearer thinking, and being
_completely_ free of heartburn. [http://www.doctoroz.com/article/alkaline-
food-plan](http://www.doctoroz.com/article/alkaline-food-plan)
[https://draxe.com/alkaline-diet/](https://draxe.com/alkaline-diet/)
[https://www.webmd.com/diet/a-z/alkaline-
diets](https://www.webmd.com/diet/a-z/alkaline-diets)

Growing/fermenting your own kefir I feel must be mentioned. It is basically
the superfood of superfoods and you only have to buy a small amount once to
yield an unlimited supply. You can't buy the grains in stores, but you can
easily order it online (ebay, etc.) or find someone on craigslist like I did.
Kefir drinks are available in stores but it severely lacks the full probiotic
benefits kefir offers and is a waste of money given the alternative approach
of making it yourself for free. The variety of benefits are almost too good to
be true; the person I bought it from emailed me these sources, which have much
more information: [https://goo.gl/HQf2n9](https://goo.gl/HQf2n9)
[https://imgur.com/a/flFRk](https://imgur.com/a/flFRk)

Meditation also has endless benefits mentally and physically but is something
I am trying to get into more.

Hope I helped, even if just a little bit. Again, I'm no health expert but I'm
happy to share the knowledge/experience I do have!

------
ransom1538
Stop eating so much. Make it difficult to eat. Walk or shop in order to eat -
no fast food. Hunger is 'ok'.

------
jgrodziski
Three pillars:

\- Physical Activity: Using Freeletics app for bodyweight training in
alternance with running in the morning. Use my bike whenever I can for
transport. Practice Systema martial art when I'm in Paris (try to practice
Systema breathing also, I suggest the book from Vladimir Vasiliev "Let every
breath"). Take a cold shower after training for boosting energy levels. Try to
meditate 10 mn in the morning before my workout.

\- Good Sleep: Use Sleep Cycle app, try to have at least 7,5 hour of sleep (a
multiple of a 1h30 cycle for me), try to detect your "sleep train" (for me
it's 22h30 in the evening, usually I go to bed at midnight and wake up at
7:30).

\- Good diet: vegetarian, lots of leguminous and oleaginous for proteins,
green leaf (made 1 to 1,5L of green smoothies in the morning) a salad in the
evening. Avoid sugar and carbs (or only some rice from time to time). Take
some vitamins supplements and amino acid for sports. Drink green tea through
the day and coffee (though I try to reduce...), also try to reduce my alcohol
consumption (or only the week-end). Don't count any calories...

------
ecesena
Run avg 1mi/day, typically 5mi one/twice per week.

Play capoeira on avg 1-2 times/week, 2h classes.

------
medymed
Work 70-80+ hours/week in medical residency, short on time and healthiness
willpower, so I made an arduino based gaming workout

[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mtdYdAD8HDc](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mtdYdAD8HDc)

------
scalatohaskell
I lift. After a while (overcoming critical amount of knowledge), I actually
started to greatly enjoy it. Always looking to go to gym! Now I'm not super
big or anything, but I have decent amount of muscle and am decently cut, and
feel very good.

------
owebmaster
I've been doing OMAD (one meal a day) the last 4 months. Great results in
health, aesthetics, energy and a lot of extra time that I usually don't know
what to do with so I'm starting one more side project.

------
maxxxxx
30 minutes dog walk in the morning. 45 minutes yoga asana, 30 minutes
meditation. Once per week a 10+ miles hike. I mainly cook for us and avoid
restaurants or processed food. Wish I could get rid of the car commute.

------
juancn
I do functional training and use any chance I get to do sports with friends
(dirty races, soccer games, whatever). Just move as much as you can, as often
as you can with as much variety as possible.

------
togusa2017
One thing that has helped me along with lifting weights is eating dinner
early. Breakfast at 9, lunch at 12 and dinner at 5-6 and before I sleep milk
or something and also floss.

------
dsiegel2275
Exercise is good - but eating healthy is paramount.

A great resource on eating healthy is Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food".
Read the book or watch the documentary film version.

------
lionix
Every day I walk to work and back home. It takes about 20 km per day. Also I
go to gym 3 times a week, also I like bicycle and various active games like
ping pong, volleyball.

------
segmondy
Happiness. Be happy and be content in all that you do and experience. Mental
health is the start of physical health.

------
amriksohata
Just don't eat added sugar products or fried food, you'll drop stones...
Literally

------
mycat
Eat when you feel hungry.

Stop before you feel full.

------
marsrover
I fast 12 hours every night. It's not a lot but it has had noticeable effects
on me.

------
dominotw
Don't count calories , weight ect. Just use a full sized mirror.

------
solatic
Nothing, no single diet or single exercise program, works best for everybody.
The only things that are really in common are:

1) Be motivated to change your lifestyle. A lot of people are motivated to be
healthier (I mean, who isn't?), but not a lot of people are motivated to make
deep, fundamental changes to the way they live. Quick recommendations like "no
sodas" can give you something to feel good about, but only adopting one or two
of these recommendations is unlikely to cause a meaningful difference. If you
are motivated then you can develop new habits, and if you develop new habits
then you can develop new healthy habits which will keep you healthy.

2) Stop being sedentary. That doesn't mean stop sitting, or getting up and
doing push-ups every hour. That also doesn't mean you should quit your job
where you sit at a desk and program all day. It means that you need to be
engaged in some kind of physical activity that is both personally enjoyable,
stringent enough to make you sweat, and that you can commit to doing on a
regular (not daily, but not only on the weekends either) basis. Very few of us
have hours and hours of free time available to us every week where we sit
around bored with nothing to do - part of the lifestyle change is examining
where you are spending your time and making a conscious decision to prioritize
yourself and your health above whatever else was taking up your time before.

3) Don't conflate weight with health (unless you are severely underweight or
obese, in which case your weight actually does impact your health). Adopting a
healthy lifestyle may or may not cause your weight to change, depending on the
changes you commit to making, and in any case if the changes you commit to
making are healthy changes, then the rate of weight change will be slow. If
you are making lifestyle changes to improve your weight and not your health,
then you are likely to slack off when you get to a weight that you feel better
about and regress. If you have issues with your body image, you're better off
discussing those issues with a therapist first, before adopting drastic
lifestyle changes - the classic dangerous (albeit extreme) example revolves
around people who develop eating disorders in an attempt to be "healthy".

4) Adopt a healthy diet. This means different things for different people -
different people have different physiology with different activity levels and
different energy needs, not to mention that different people find different
foods tasty, different foods cost different amounts of money in different
places if they are available at all, and different people have different
circumstances which dictate how much food they can prepare at home. You should
ideally consult an experienced, registered dietitian who can help you make the
healthy choices which are right for you instead of trying to make choices
about your diet on the basis of diet or recipe books written for the mass-
market by authors living in different personal circumstances than you.

------
Ingon
## Diet/nutrition is my biggest focus, as I believe that what we eat is what
we are made of ultimately.

1\. Minimize all processed food. I always find that processed food has too
many things which are not food. If I need something processed, I prefer making
it at home, as I know exactly what I've put. (mayo or bread for example)

2\. Minimize carbs. I believe carb rich foods doesn't have any sustenance, so
they should be avoided. This has been relatively easy for me as I don't like
things like potato, rice and bread anyways. This also includes fruits for the
most part, eating some only when bought locally and are in season. As for
deserts, they are reserved only for big celebrations and only if home-made.

3\. Minimize bad fats. Most vegetable fats are bad for us and are far too easy
to turn into trans-fat, so I try to avoid most of them. The fats which I use
are evoo for salads and avocado oil for cooking.

4\. Avoid restaurants. Because most of the restaurants are focused on making
money (of course), but this focus means that they are trying to present the
cheapest ingredients in the most palatable way, which in turn means they reach
for sugar far too often.

5\. No snaking. That should be obvious, but I don't wanna stay in high-insulin
mode all the time.

6\. Maximize salad. A basic leafy greens salad is one of the most
nutritionally dense and good thing you can have, so I have one with every
single meal.

7\. Maximize good fats. Butter is one of the perfect foods in the world, so is
an avocado. Eggs play an important role too. Pork belly and fatty-rich cuts
are also there. I don't focus on eating much meat though.

8\. Fat-free is never good, so I always go full fat. This is mostly about
diary, but I also avoid chicken/turkey cuts, as its too lean and I don't focus
on protein.

9\. Work on gut health. A lot of things happen in there and have a profound
effect on the rest of us. I prefer raw products where possible, and some which
target the gut directly. For example, I have some raw kimchi as part of most
meals, use raw cheese when available, and I try to not overcook things.

10\. Home-made bone broth. This is something new I'm still experimenting with,
but I'm trying to have some broth made and then use it as a basis for other
meals (or on its own)

11\. Fasting. Recently started experimenting with different fasting protocols,
which allowed me to move past the weight plateau which I was in. It was
awkward at the beginning, but now I can go without eating for extended periods
without any worry or thoughts about food.

12\. Do not count calories. For one, I think this is based on reductionist
science, but also I just suck at it.

## Physical activity

I'm in process of transitioning from running heavy program (4-6 hours of
running per week) to strength heavy program, something like starting strength,
strong lifts, or calisthenics. Haven't quite figured that out for now, but for
the time being I'm just focused on about an hour of walking per day.

------
Kagerjay
I have a home gym / treadmill desk setup at home. I also don't own a dedicated
power-rack yet or olympic bar and I've found I can get by fine just using an
ironmaster-superbench with dip bar and pullup station. I walk at 1.6mph on my
treadmill desk while playing rocket league as a pre-warmup before working out,
because I don't take preworkout or caffeine.

I don't like going to the gym since everytime I want to use the power-rack
after work its usually occupied and it throws my workout schedule out of
tempo.

I tried following 5x5 stronglifts / greyskull program but it wasn't to my
liking.

I follow reddits r/bodyweightfitness program recommended routine.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommend...](https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommended_routine).
I follow it verbatim. Its essentially a fullbody workout & callisthetics. I
like this since its easy-to-remember, has clear progressions laid out, and has
a big emphasis on warmup and equal emphasis on skillwork.

Each workout takes ~1.5 hours of time. 20 minutes to do skillwork (handstands,
dip holds) & warmup to prevent injuries. 1 Hour to actually do the workout. 10
Minutes to do post-recovery via muscle massage.

I workout 2-3 days of the week. It only takes ~4 hours on average of working
out/ week and I see a lot of results for the small amount of time I spend.
Normally I'll watch TV inbetween sets.

I did lots of research of what supplements to take and how I want to take
them.

\- Creatine \- Whey Protein \- Fish oil tablets

The 3 above supplements are well established and researched for muscular
growth, with no long term side effects. Creatine made a big difference when I
stagnated on muscle progression. You can opt to take other supplements like
multivitamins, Vitamin D if you live up north, ZMA for increased recovery,
etc.

I usually can't bother to remember when to actually take supplements, so I
have the following routine, when I wake up and only after post workout

\- PROTEIN SHAKE (20 oz shaker bottle) = 30g Protein Powder + 5g Creatine
(2.5g for postworkout) + 50% SoyMilk (Silk Vanilla Brand) + 50% Water + 2 fish
oil tablets in morning. It tastes good, healthy, requires no absolutely no
effort, and soymilk has a shelf-life of 2 months. I normally prep this in <1
minutes, then get dressed while downing my shake so I can spread out 20 oz of
liquid over a longer span of time. I normally use 50% soymilk and 50% water as
a mix because the shake needs to taste good enough (soymilk), while at the
same time soluble enough for protein powder (water). This also hits 3 of 8
glasses of water requirements I need / day.

Whenever I workout, I don't use an app, count calories, or anything like that.
Its far too much effort to keep track of. I keep a simple moleskin notebook. I
write down what weight rating I get for evey set. I write specific notes on
whether my form was good or not. I add any notes about how I felt that day
(was I sick, was I on vacation for some time, did I sleep well the night
before, etc?).

