Treadmill Desk Part 1. I bought a Trek Desk (pictured above) for my home treadmill so that I can put in some mileage while working at home, blogging, or even just surfing the net.  I have had this for well over a year now and it was worth every penny.  My routine is to walk about 1 mile at a time at 2 mph at least two times per day.  This adds up to 2 miles or 4,000 steps, all while getting things done!  Here is my original post about the advantages of the Trek Desk.

Treadmill Desk Part 2. Unfortunately my work office could not accommodate a Trek Desk but I was able to squeeze in a treadmill.  (I recommend Craigslist.org for finding a reasonably priced treadmill.) Once the treadmill was installed, I found a $40 attachment on Amazon called the SurfShelf  that holds my laptop on the treadmill (see pic to the left).  I’ve been using this for a few weeks now and I love it.  I don’t have the surface area of my Trek Desk to put my mug, papers, and other desk items, but it’s the next best thing if space is an issue.

Foot wear. I now keep a pair of comfortable sneakers at the office not only for when I use my treadmill desk but also so I’m not deterred from walking across campus in dress shoes.  I never realized how much the wrong shoes could be a deterrent to walking around at work. I find that I’m much more mobile now that I have comfortable walking shoes that I can slip on at any time.

Snacks.  Hunger is the best sauce, as they say, and a diet destroyer. I make it a routine to have plenty of fruit around by bringing at least 2 pieces a day.  Fruit nips the munchies in the bud and prevents me from lurking around vending machines later in the day.  My other favorite snack there is 100 cal pack of almonds.  I only bring single servings—because if I bring snacks for the whole week, I eat 2-3 days of snacks in one day.  Single servings (instead of stocking up) prevents oversnacking.

Hydration. Hydration is key at work and a cup of decaf tea throughout the day is nice to nip cravings and relax me.  I keep a nice selection of decaf choices by my Keurig machine (an office must have) and drink several cups throughout the day.  This keeps the caffeine consumption down too.

Parking Lot Trek. Finally, I work on a campus with several buildings and parking lots. I used the Runkeeper app to measure the distance from various parking spots, with the very worst parking spot being about ½ mile walk to my office (see simulation below).  I take this spot (usually because it’s the best I can find!) a few days a week to add another mile (2000 steps!) to my day.

Can you work a lot and still be healthy?  I say YES! I love my work and while it certainly can be a source of stress, I found a career that I’m passionate about and sometimes it really is hard to pull away.  I don’t want it to kill me though.  By adding more activity into my day I have more energy, my productivity has increased, and I feel better knowing that I can pursue my passion without it costing me my health.

What can you do while planking!?  I would love to see!

“We want to market to cool, good-looking people. We don’t market to anyone other than that. In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids. Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.”

Essentially what he is saying to girls over size 10 is this—We don’t serve your kind.   What does that remind you of?  

I was invited to the NECN Morning Show to discuss this issue and put forth some advice to parents with children who might be interested in Abercrombie & Fitch clothing.  Check it out at this link here.

Bottom line?  We are all way too sexy to shop at a store with garbage values.   Thumbs down.

On the day we heard the news of Dr. Yancey’s passing, we decided to honor her on Twitter by tweeting instant recess breaks throughout our workdays.  It was amazing.  One tweeter pulled out her hula hoop, another took a dance break in her office, and others tweeted pictures of the scenery as they took a stroll outside at work.  Then things got really zany when @DrKateWolin, a cancer epidemiologist at Loyola University Chicago, added the word “shame” in front of her tweet whenever her instant recess involved silly outdated music or a funny physical activity. Several “shame’ #instantrecess tweets followed including that of #plankaday co-founder, Mike Bauman (@mbfgmike) who decided to do the Macarena in his office.  Post the video, Mike!

The next day we found ourselves wanting to continue and invite others to join.  Now I invite you to join!  Try to add #instantrecess to your day by picking any physical activity and doing it for even as little as 1 minute—could even be your #plankaday!  It will add to your active time each day and give you a little jolt of energy in the middle of the day.  And to make it even more fun, add a little shame!  Follow the #instantrecess hashtag to check out the fun and creative ways that people are adding a little movement to their day.  Thank you, Dr. Yancey. We will miss you but we will help keep your legacy alive.

Check out Dr. Yancey’s books and DVDs on Instant Recess.

It has been a long, unbelievable week.  The recovery period has only just begun.  I am inspired by runners from all over the world who are sporting their “Boston Strong” t-shirts.  I interpret this newly coined phrase to mean “we all stand together.”

PlankADay will be Boston Strong too!  We are going to reprise that Boston Marathon PlankAHour TOMORROW, Monday April 22, 2013 7am-7pm.  We will be doing one plank every hour.  Please join us!  Planks can be any duration you desire and feel free to throw in a few side planks or other plank variations to round out your day.  If you aren’t able to do the entire challenge, jump in for an hour or two or more to show your support.  Be sure to use the #plankanhour hashtag!  

The past week has brought us unspeakable tragedy but the stories of strength, inspiration, and support speak so much louder. In my last post, I recounted the moments of inspiration I observed as a spectator at the Boston Marathon.  So many moments of inspiration have followed. Consider dedicating each plank tomorrow to a moment or person that inspired you in the last week or just use the time as a moment of reflection.  We are Boston Strong.

Shortly upon arriving I spot Team Hoyt coming down the course.  What timing!  Team Hoyt is a famous father-and-son duo who has run well over 1,000 races.  Dick Hoyt’s son Rick was born a quadriplegic with cerebral palsy.  The Team Hoyt racing legacy started after their first 5 mile race when Rick said to his Dad, “When I’m running, it feels like I’m not handicapped.”  Dick has since pushed his son in his wheelchair through every race imaginable across the country including marathons and several Ironmans.  To see this vision of pure love and inspiration cruising past us was nothing short of overwhelming.  Oh what a man can do when he lets nothing stand in his way.

We were then excitedly searching for Tara Damiani, my good friend’s niece and FUdiet Real Life Biggest Loser.  She signed up for the Boston Marathon after losing 80 pounds through hard work and dedication.  Suddenly, there she was!  Tara, sailing down the course, all smiles.  She spotted us and stopped for a giant hug as we all screamed in excitement, our hats and sunglasses flying off of our heads.  Again, we found ourselves overwhelmed with inspiration.  Oh what a woman can do when she lets nothing stand in her way.

A little later at a water stop we found ourselves chatting with a man wearing a shirt that read, “Guide.”  Guides run with people who need assistance on the course.  He was running alongside a man with severe autism.  The runner with autism silently motioned his guide that it was time to get going and off they went.  Oh what a man can do when he lets nothing stand in his way.

We cheered on blind runners, elderly runners, runners with amputated limbs, wheelchair bound runners, runners of all shapes and sizes.  These people don’t know about excuses, they don’t know about quitting.  All they know is hope.

I hope that the events that followed on this day don’t dash the hopes of anyone who is brave enough to dream huge.  The heroes of this day are the runners who faced a task that most never will, the first responders to this unthinkable tragedy, and the city of Boston, it stands tall.

We’ll see you next year at the Boston Marathon, because oh what we can do when we let nothing stand in our way.

This post is dedicated to anyone that was harmed during the events of 4/15/13.

Pete routinely sabotages his progress and seems to also defend his tendency to do so. But why?  Read more here…

Social Support for Weight Loss:  Online Friends versus In Person Friends

Punchline:  We found that people who use Twitter to talk about their weight find their Twitter friends to be significantly more supportive, a better source of information, and more helpful than their Facebook friends, in person friends and family members when it comes to their weight loss journey.   Twitter may be a useful tool to garner social support for weight loss.  So consider tweeting the pounds off, folks!

Are Weight Loss Mobile Apps Evidence-Based?

Punchline:  Our paper is under review so I can’t say much as of yet except that MyNetDiaryPro (paid version) was the app that came out on top using our rating scheme.  Contact me if you would like to learn more about our findings.

Stay tuned for more research updates!  We just published findings from my large clinical trial on weight loss and depression and I will be writing about that study and what it means for you in the next week.

Like these videos?  They are courtesy of Robyn’s Nest Video Creations.  Check Robyn out for your video needs!

#PlankADay and #TwitterRoadRace are events that allow us to celebrate exercise, health, and social connection. If we make it fun, it will be something we want to do not something we have to do.  Please join us for upcoming events!  If you missed it this time, keep an eye on Doug Cassaro’s blog, “I run because…” for the next race.  Invite your friends and family too, our goal is to make healthy lifestyle go VIRAL.  We need YOU.

Many kudos to Robyn Bauman of Robyn’s Nest Video Creations for putting our event to music!

Don’t plank naked! Buy a #plankaday t-shirt here!

Still not planking?  Check out the #plankaday challenge!  Not on Twitter? Join us on Facebook!