Perhaps you could take the energy you apply to becoming a better engineer and apply it to something unrelated that gives you variety in life and indirectly benefits your job, since it is your passion. For instance, you could set a lofty fitness goal and spend the years it may take figuring out how to get there. It would give you something else to enjoy, and improving your health would probably improve your productivity at work, too. Also, improving your health and fitness can unlock new opportunities for things you could do, so you may find new hobbies that you never would have considered before. It's also possible you could meet people outside of your line of work if you're exercising in a social setting like a spin class, etc.

Good luck finding your right balance!

"I treat 99% of studies with a grain of salt"

now with microplastics! :P (sorry, i couldn't help myself)

Keto can be very effective if done right. The best resource on the web for it that I know of is https://www.dietdoctor.com. I'd recommend looking at that to see if perhaps you were doing something wrong with keto first. Good luck!

The answer is no for me as well, but my bigger concerns are:

1. What is the chip made of? I don't want some manufactured object with plastics etc in my body.

2. What if a better chip comes out later? Or what if you leave the company that chipped you? Even if you can have it removed, you're committing to having a scar, right?

I'm trying to be as healthy as I possibly can be. I do this with a ketogenic diet, fasting, jumping rope, stretching, and trying to get enough sleep. I also take a lot of vitamins. I did it by evaluating them one at a time.

But at some point, maybe it's too much. So I'm taking the idea of "email bankruptcy" and starting a "supplement bankrupty." So, at some point this year, I'm going to stop taking everything, see how I feel, and then reintroduce supplements again one at a time. I don't know if this is a good idea or not yet, but hopefully it's helpful, so I thought it was worth saying here.

What are you taking? I cycle keto, do IF (with 3-5 day fasts a few times per year), lift heavy, etc. I've greatly reduced my vitamins to just vitamin D and a probiotic. It's really nice not throwing back a ton of pills throughout the day. In their place, I focus on eating more green vegetables, I take a greens drink, and Udo's oil (omegas) and drink a ton of BCAAs throughout the day. Feel much better than when I had 15 different pills.

Happy to talk about this outside of here! <my-hn-handle>@gmail.com

I would expect them not to stack and that you're probably better off just sticking with fasting instead of seeking a shortcut.

It seems that a keto diet/lifestyle does this in a far more enjoyable way than restricting calories to such a low level. Mixing in restricting to zero calories (aka fasting) also helps. Either way I'm so happy to see people start to attack this problem with smarter food choices.

Here's one thing I've done to increase exercise in my life: I keep a jump rope in the trunk of my car, and I have a self-imposed rule that it costs 100 jumps to get into the car. I drive a few times per day, so that adds up to many small workouts!

If that wouldn't result in me embarrassing myself in the Target/Costco/supermarket/work parking lot multiple times per week, I would actually be really interested in that approach.

I had the same concern and decided to do it anyway. Here's what happened:

- At work, a few coworkers saw me jumping and now it's something we do every afternoon as a way to break the day up and get some fresh air.

- In parking lots, people walking by me will usually compliment me and sometimes that turns into a nice conversation.

So after a few good experiences with it, all of my social anxiety about it melted away.

(edit: formatting)

Why in the world do you care what some rando in a parking lot thinks about you?

Because I've been socially and culturally conditioned to, and no matter how much I can rationally justify that what other people think doesn't matter (which isn't entirely true), that doesn't mean I can emotionally accept that without angst.

Put another way, it's not rational to ignore how you think you will respond to social pressure just because you think you shouldn't respond that way to the pressure. The human mind is not so simple as that.

To be fair, if you can rationally justify the behavior, the feelings will disappear overtime. I used to be embarrassed working out in playgrounds. After doing it for a few years, I have 0 embarrassment. People also respond more positively than you initially imagine, on average.

Those fools? You'll be dancing on their graves.

I totally understand. I know it's irrational to care what others think, but I still do. That said, people are positive about it to me.

Think about it: if you were at Costco and saw some random person jumping rope by a car, what would you think of that person? Would it be anything bad?

Well, given how busy my Costco generally is, and how hard it is to maneuver with the people pushing large carts through the parking lot, my thoughts would be mixed. Initially it might be along the lines of "hmm, there are places less likely to get in people's way to do that..." For a less busy parking lot, it would probably be much more positive.

That said, I'm encouraged by the positive responses you say you've gotten. Maybe I'll give this a try.

Yeah that seems like a prohibitively high apparent social cost.

Front load your jumping jacks, do 200 jumping jacks before driving to Costco.

Or just park in the way way back.

Though I think one of the takeaways of this study and others is that frequent small breaks/exercise sessions are better than few big ones.

That's awesome! I love how so many people in this thread have their little hacks and tricks to get workouts in.

Eat no sugars, no grains, and lots of fat. Also as far as veggies go, avoid potatoes and corn. Avoiding alcohol is best, but if you must drink, go for no-carb options like hard liquor. That's about the shortest version of it I can come up with :)

There is a massive amount of info supporting ketogenic diets and fasting. I'd recommend you look into the Keto Talk and Fasting Talk podcasts and read Jimmy Moore's books: Keto Clarity and the Complete Guide to Fasting. Also, congrats on your progress and keep it up! I dropped over 60 pounds (started at 215 lbs, now at 152 and very lean) doing what you're doing.

But ceejayoz's advice is good advice... always do your own research!