Most of us men work harder at our jobs than on our bodies—Men's Health editors included. Which is why, despite our image, not a single one of us walks around the office with his shirt unbuttoned while a wind machine exposes his abs. (Well, there was that one guy, but we got rid of him.)
We stay reasonably fit with weekly basketball games, some lunchtime runs or bike rides, and lifting in the company gym when we can. But we're regular guys who just as often get home too late to even think about hitting the gym. And though our cafeteria serves healthy food, we've also been known to polish off the kids' shakes and fries, because it's easier than cleaning them off the car upholstery.
Which is how we arrived at this story. We asked some of the men on staff how they reconcile work and working out. Turns out everyone had an excuse, including long work hours, longer commutes, family commitments, and 467 irresistible cable channels. Then we grilled exercise, nutrition, and weight-loss experts for their fat-melting tips. None of that hide-the-remote-so-you're-forced-to-get-up-to-change-the-channel stuff. The result: fast and easy solutions to the real-world weight-loss problems most men battle.
NO TIME FOR EXERCISE
The 10-minute fix: Develop a backup workout. When your gym time is unexpectedly cut to about 10 minutes, try 100s—rack up 100 repetitions of each of three exercises by doing one move after another without rest. "Just get through each with good form," says Scott Rankin, C.S.C.S. Rankin suggests doing as many repetitions on the lat-pulldown machine as you can (using about 70 percent of your maximum), then doing pushups until your form breaks. Next, do as many crunches as you can. Repeat the trio until you've completed 100 reps of each exercise.
The 15-minute fix: Invest in TiVo. Skipping commercials will save the average TV viewer enough time to squeeze in 15 minutes of strength training three times a week.
The 20-minute fix: Go hands-free. You know the rails on elliptical machines and treadmills? Ignore them. "Leaning on the rails removes a percentage of your weight from the workout, causing you to burn up to 30 percent fewer calories," says fitness researcher Wayne Westcott, Ph.D. What's more, propping yourself up means the smaller stabilizing muscles don't need to do their job of maintaining balance, which burns additional calories.
The 25-minute fix: Mix cardio with weights. "If you have under 30 minutes, the key is to keep moving," says Adam Ernster, C.S.C.S., a Beverly Hillsâ€Ã‚“based personal trainer. Try doing two resistance exercises back-to-back, followed immediately by 60 seconds of intense cardio, such as running on a treadmill that's set at a high incline, hitting a heavy bag, or jumping rope. Rest no more than 30 seconds, then do another set of resistance exercises and cardio, Ernster says. And don't forget proper form throughout the set. Here's a sample routine.
Dumbbell squat-press (12 to 15 repetitions)
Swiss-ball crunch (15 to 20 repetitions)
VersaClimber (60 seconds)
Rest 15 to 30 seconds.
Pullup (10 to 15 repetitions)
Pushup (10 to 15 repetitions)
Jump rope (60 seconds)
Repeat each exercise set three times.
The 30-minute fix: Take a stroller. Buy a jogging stroller and put a kid in it. Congratulations—you now have an exercise device that helps burn more calories than running. Texas A&M University researchers studied a group of people running at the same intensity for 30 minutes with and without a stroller. When the group ran while pushing a stroller (which held a 25-pound weight plate), their heart rates were 10 beats per minute higher than when they ran stroller-free. "The father can remain (or become) active and at the same time spend time with his child," says John Smith, Ph.D., lead author of the study. Bonus: You'll score points with your wife by taking the toddler out of her hair. She'll thank you later. Go tojoggingstroller.com.
NO TIME FOR BREAKFAST
Fix #1: Redecorate. "Move the fruit bowl to a handy place so you can grab a piece or two on your way out the door," says Donald Hensrud, M.D., director of the Mayo Clinic Executive Health Program and editor-in-chief of Mayo Clinic's Healthy Weight for Everybody. Grab an apple, pear, banana, or some other fruit you can eat while driving. Shove an orange in your briefcase; it's your antidote to the afternoon slump.
Fix #2: Relocate. No time to make a bowl of filling, high-fiber oatmeal at home? That's okay. Have your breakfast at work instead. Quaker Express oatmeal comes in its own cup and takes only a shot of water and 30 seconds in the microwave to be ready to eat—and there's no cleanup.
Fix #3: Pop a multivitamin. Open bottle, swallow pill. It takes 5 seconds, and the benefits will go a long way toward making sure your weight loss sticks. A low-calorie diet may not provide enough B vitamins, which are necessary to draw energy from food, says Tim Ziegenfuss, Ph.D., an exercise scientist at Pinnacle Institute of Health and Human Performance. Popping a multivitamin every day will help keep your energy levels up, ensuring that eating less doesn't sabotage your efforts to exercise more.
TOO MUCH COFFEE, COLA, JUICE . . .
The fix: solve your drinking problem. Liquid calories sneak up on most dieters. Buy a 32-ounce Nalgene bottle, keep it full of water, and drink it down at least twice a day. If you feed your caffeine habit with regular infusions of 20-ounce colas, making the water switch will save you upwards of 400 calories a day—that's 42 pounds in a year. What's more, fluid balance is crucial when you're exercising on a calorie-restricted diet, says Robert McMurray, Ph.D., a professor of sports nutrition at the University of North Carolina. You're burning protein along with fat, which increases your body's need for water.
FALLING BACK ON FAST FOOD
Fix #1: Cook less, eat more often. You think choosing the drive-thru saves time, but with minimal planning (and some Tupperware), you can get much better food, much faster. "Put in the effort up front," Dr. Hensrud says. "It will save you time later." On Sunday, plan your meals for the week, go grocery shopping, and start cooking. Cook a week's worth of brown rice, then divide it into individual servings. Dish out the servings into five containers and grab one a day to eat with lunch. Other easy cook-ahead items:
Salmon fillets. Cook three extra, wrap them in plastic wrap, and store them in the fridge. Eat them cold or make salmon salad (one chopped fillet minus skin, a scant tablespoon of low-fat mayo or Dijonnaise,
a tablespoon or two of sliced green onions, and a handful of halved grapes).
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Cook three extra. Chop one and add it to a salad, or slice it into strips and wrap it in a whole-wheat tortilla with lettuce, tomato, onion, two slices of turkey bacon, and a smear of guacamole.
Turkey bacon. Cook 10 to 12 extra strips and add them to sandwiches or salads for extra protein, or just grab a couple of strips for a snack.
Fix #2: buy a rotisserie chicken. Pick one up in the grocery store's deli section instead of a burger and fries from your local grease merchant. Once you peel off the skin, the chicken is a terrific low-fat source of lean protein. It can feed one man for 3 or 4 meals or a family of four for a single meal. And dismembering it will help you practice your bird-carving skills, should you be called up for duty on Thanksgiving.
Fix #3: Turn to page 74 ("Short-Order Cook," in Malegrams). You could throw together that Beef and Blue Cheese Salad for dinner in only 15 minutes.
THAT IRRESISTIBLE RESTAURANT MENU
Fix #1: Start with a salad. No exceptions. Skip the bacon bits and croutons (but you knew that), and ask for oil and vinegar or the house vinaigrette. You don't need to completely eliminate taste, either. "To me, a small amount of healthy fat and calories is worth it," Dr. Hensrud says. Eating nutritious, low-calorie vegetables, even if they're sprinkled with a little cheese, beats filling up on the free bread.
Fix #2: Eat the fish. Lean protein helps you feel full. Fish is an excellent source, and it may go a step further in helping you fight fat. Earlier this year, preliminary research at the University of Navarra, Spain, found that the eicosapentaenoic acid (you don't have to pronounce it, just eat it) found in fish like wild salmon, mackerel, and cod can stimulate the release of leptin, a hormone that's been linked to appetite control and the regulation of fat storage.
Fix #3: Go vegetarian, sort of. Every time you order pasta, automatically ask for a side of the vegetable of the day and dump it into the pasta dish. "Vegetables are free food, dietwise," Dr. Hensrud says, "and by eating more vegetables and less pasta, you shift the calorie count around in your favor." Add some wilted spinach or other greens to spaghetti or lasagna; drop steamed squash or broccoli into that fettuccine Alfredo you couldn't resist ordering. You really should resist cream-based sauces, though. Opt for the tomato sauce for all its cancer-fighting lycopene.
AN OVERDOSE OF TELEVISION
The fix: Floor it. Just lie or sit on the floor instead of the sofa. Same time, same channel, more calories burned. "When you fall into that couch, you're just gone, but when you're sitting on the floor, you keep moving a little bit," says Charles Staley, C.S.C.S., a Phoenix-based strength coach. "You start in one position, then shift to another, then another." That kind of mini motion counts toward your total daily calorie burn, and it adds up: Earlier this year, Mayo Clinic researchers found that fidgety people burn up to 300 extra calories per day. And when you're on the floor, you're more likely to do a few crunches or pushups.
Stick to Business
Rules for taking your fitness plan on the road
"When a businessman leaves town, he leaves many of his reasons for moral and ethical behavior," says Marty Tuley, a Kansas-based personal trainer and the author of Get off Your Ass: The Definitive Guide to Losing Weight, Eating Healthy, and Living Longer for Real People. "You can eat too much, drink too much, or have too many lap dances on the road—simply because you can." We can't help if you have a stripper problem, but we can supply some road-tested weight-control strategies.
Avoid bad food ahead of time. Pack a sandwich, fruit, and nuts for the trip. They're healthy (and infinitely more palatable) alternatives to most airline snacks. Throw in some whole-grain cereal for the next morning and skip the pastry-laden continental breakfast bar. Restock for the return trip. "Buy fresh or dried fruit and trail mix," says Men's Health advisor David Katz, M.D., M.P.H., director of prevention research at Yale University and author of The Way to Eat. "These are easy to find in every airport."
Make do—even if there's no gym. Use your body weight. Every other morning, do four sets of as many pushups as you can with 60 seconds of rest after each set, followed by four sets of as many body-weight squats as you can do (go all the way down, until the fronts of your thighs are parallel to the floor) with 60 seconds' rest between sets, Tuley says. Follow this up with a brisk 20-minute walk.
Pack wisely. There's no need to pack three T-shirts and pairs of shorts for your workouts. Just reuse your workout clothes for a couple of days. Then, when it's time to pack, treat them like toxic waste. "Use both of the plastic laundry bags available in every hotel closet, double wrap, and stuff the bundle in a suitable corner of your garment bag," Dr. Katz says. By cutting down on clothes, you might have extra space in your luggage for a resistance band you can use in your room. We like the J.C. Travel Band from performbetter.com.
Manage your expense-account meals. Eat a healthy mini meal, like a bowl of soup from room service, before you go out to meet clients. Then, while your colleagues are busy letting the foie gras fall where it may, you'll be free to seal the deal and earn the rewards. "You can be more charming and effective if your mouth is not constantly full of food," says Dr. Katz.
