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Stay Healthy as a Developer

Steffen Pedersen on June 02, 2019

This is a personal guide for staying healthy. It is by no means an official guide, and I am by no means an instructor or trained to teach in this f...
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𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐝𝐞 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐝

Great insight :)

I've actually found it easier for me to do intermittent fasting and OMAD (one meal a day) since becoming a full-time developer. I don't get the mid-afternoon slumps, I feel more alert throughout the day, and the hunger pangs go away quite quickly!

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Jon Deaves

I also do intermittent fasting though usually small meal/snack at lunch and a bigger dinner.

For me, the best part has been helping to prevent the snacking I would usually do when I get up and walk around as a break from my desk and helps stop me snacking in the evening.

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Mahendra Choudhary

intermittent fasting helped me too. After having a heavy lunch mid-afternoon slumps are scariest part of the day.I even coud'nt open my eyes . So instead eating lunch I started to took good breakfast and fruits .

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Mik Seljamaa 🇪🇪

I found it goes in about three days. Omad - me too!

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abtahi-tajwar

Different tastes of foods keep me motivated to code. :v :v

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Steffen Pedersen

That sounds a bit dangerous 😮 But it is great, if it works for you.

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𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐝𝐞 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐝

Oh it's not at all! I live quite a sedentary lifestyle, so it's not like I need to keep my calories up :) If you do some research on it, there are actually quite a lot of benefits to intermittent fasting.

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Steffen Pedersen

That makes sense! 😃

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Gergely Polonkai

Allow me to extend your list with two things.

Sleep

Sleep is pretty underrated these days. Everyone says like “if i go sleep now, i get out of the Flow and will be less productive”. Thatʼs plain BS. Get 7-9 hours of sleep a day and you will be more productive than ever. Plus, you will drink less coffee, which brings me to my next point:

Drink only water

Sounds harsh, i know. Whenever you feel thirsty, that means your body dried up about an hour ago. Drink a glass of water every hour or so. Get a reminder app so you donʼt forget it. Your daily water intake should be at or above 3 litres (about 0.8 US gallons). However, it doesnʼt mean you canʼt enjoy a soda, beer, or coffee every now and then. But all of these actually contribute to water loss.

And as a bonus tip, be barefoot whenever you can. A lot of problems in the ankles, knees, waist, and sometimes even in the back, are caused by shoes (including slippers) that have a slightly (or sometimes extremely, in case of many womenʼs shoes) higher heels. If your feet canʼt bear cold, wear socks, but no shoes nor slippers. I live in a small town and took it to the extreme: i usually walk to the market or to the kindergarten barefeet. You donʼt have to do that, do it only at home, or in the office.

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Adrian Sandu

If you have trouble keeping the discipline, I found a place that uses gamification to make the entire process more appealing to nerdy people. It's called Nerd Fitness. The free articles alone are worth checking the website, in my opinion. I paid for the Academy program, although I haven't really applied myself to the process. But that's my fault not the fault of the program.

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Steffen Pedersen

Thank you! That's a really great example 😀 I am definitely gonna check it out.

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Kyle-uk

A great amount of information in there, so thanks and givem the new year its something I would like to do more of once I am ready! Although it felt more like a gaining muscle post, you would certainly be healthier.

I would also have stressed the importance of regular eye tests, correct posture with an ergonomic set-up and exercises specifically for neck pain and back pain.

Then remebering to take reuglar breaks from you desk to move around and looking and things in the distance to give your eyes a break. Google remedies for tech neck and the 20-20-20 rule for eye strain.

3 years as a developer who works from home, and I struggled to work out because of the issues I have mentioned. If your suffering from neck and back issues or eye strain then you need to fix those before performing regular exercises using weights as that can lead to injury.

I appreciate that it's much easier to get away with these things when we are 18-30 but above that eveything your told and probably already know become much more important and we all really need to have a correctly set up working enviroment and stay fit.

Thanks again for your info, I really need to loose my belly and feel almost ready to workout again, having spent the last few months improving my neck / back and eye issues.

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De Metter Kenny • Edited

Great to see you are having results, but this is making me think there's something wrong with me :-)

I eat around 1800 kcal a day ( I track it ) , I run on the threadmill 2x a week, and I'm only managing to stay at a stable 90 kg, which is 20 kg above my normal weight ( if I overeat it will increase by around 0.5 to 1 kg the next day, though it also quickly returns back to that 90 kg a few days later)

I also eat a lot less frequently than you (just 3x a day , sometimes I skip breakfast, and occassionaly I try to eat only in the evening ), and I'm staying away from sugar as much as possible ( no bread, no potatoes/fries, no pasta)

I do drink a lot of coffee and sugar-free energy drinks, perhaps that's the culprit ? I'll try sticking to water and try to do more weight-lifting activities at the gym

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Mike Healy

Cardio is pretty ineffective for weight loss. The calorie burn is minimal, and sometimes just stimulates hunger.

Maybe try prioritizing protein in your meals, go for compound movement weight lifting (multi-joint) and make sure your sleep is good.

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Steffen Pedersen

Thank you! I have seen ATHLEAN-X a few times. I had trouble with my wrist on barbell curls. He had a great video on that.

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Rajakumar

This is wonderful, i hope this will inspire some folks, BTW i am starting my fitness journey from today!
"fitness is important factor for focusing on work!"

cheers! :)

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Steffen Pedersen

That sounds great! And it really does make you focus better at work! 😃

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Elias Bourgess

I actually am looking for new ways to get in better health, which I always seem to fail to do. This is a really nice article thank you!

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Steffen Pedersen

I have tried a million times before. This is actually the first time, I am seeing great results. What really makes the difference is the eating plan. I am still eating fast food some times. It doesn't have to be a dreadful experience.

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manuel

Thanks for sharing :)

I can recommend

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Steffen Pedersen

Great! Thank you 😃

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Steffen Pedersen • Edited

Thank you for your tips. My goal isn't to loose weight at this point, but maybe it will help others 😃

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Mike Healy

I'd watch more Athlean-X if he kept his shirt on more often.

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John Eric

That's a great topic ever read stay healthy

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alekdoktor

Junk food (mainly) pizza and energy drinks are sadly something I can't code without..

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technicallyty

Any vegan devs out there? I'm struggling to find the balance between making vegan meals, developing, going to college, and working out. Its tough!

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Mahendra Choudhary

Sitting job makes body week by every passing day and after 3 months of joining i am feeling the impact of sitting for 8-9 hours daily.