No Celery Please

So word on the adjustable sit / stand thingy for my desk is no.

Well… or… I have to have a letter from the doctor stating that I need it for medical purposes.

Which…  I do not.

I am not trying to get them to make an accommodation for a disability.  I’m not injured and in need of help.

I just want to spend a few hours every day standing up!

Just getting my butt out of the chair for four out of my 9ish work hours has increased my average “calorie per minute” burn from 1.1 to 1.28. (Yes, I know this because I have a monitor and I am a data geek!)

OK, sure, in a single day, that’s doesn’t mean much…  If I spend 600 minutes at work, that’s only about a 100 extra calories in a day.

But… hey now… that’s 500 in a week.  That’s ONE WHOLE PIECE OF CAKE EVERY WEEK that I am burning JUST BY STANDING UP!

I’m not jogging in place, I’m not doing jumping jacks… merely standing up at my desk as I go about my general typing, mousing, etc. etc.

As I build up my endurance, I could perhaps reach 5 or 6 hours of standing each day.  I COULD HAVE ICE CREAM!!!

But the company (and, admittedly, for good reasons*) does not see fit to spend the $600 on an appliance that will allow me the luxury of simply pushing a lever or something to raise my work area.

So.. in the interest of not doing myself a back injury  by staring down at my screen while I stand…  I have acquired for myself…

A SECOND BOX!!

So now I have the box that I pick up and put on my desk to raise my keyboard and mouse.

And I have another box that I leave on my desk behind the monitor that I place the monitor on so it’s at eye level.

Small issue – I think I strained my shoulder just a teeny bit today lifting the monitor up… It’s a flat screen, but still, those are not incredibly light.

I’ll make sure to lift it with better form tomorrow.

The boxes, BTW, look absolutely hideous   But they are accomplishing the goal!

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* I do not blame the facilities folks for this at all.  If they get me special furniture, then they would have to get EVERYONE special furniture.  I understand corporate life.  If I get a Dr. note, then it’s a reasonable accommodation.  If I just “Want” something, well…  that’s a slippery slope, my friend, with a couple thousand “wanters” on the campus who I am sure would all like their special thing.

Sigh – I wish I could be peeved about this, but I’m just too darn understanding

Having conceived of this brilliant plan to mix standing up at my desk in with the sitting down portions of my day, I did not realize it would be yet another training endeavor…

Seriously, how hard can it be to stand up for a couple of hours here and there?

Well…. harder than one might think.

No matter what kind of physical shape I am in, it never translates from one activity to another.

I can be doing great at the derby, and the climbing… but when it warms up and I get back on my bike, it will totally kick my butt.

I’ll have to admit, though, I kinda thought I would be in shape to just be able to stand.

But it appears that this, too, is something that needs to be worked in to…

So I guess I’ll deal with being stiff and sore in a few new places for a while until my body gets the idea that work is no longer 100% sedentary.

That which does not kill me will (quite literally in the case of my lower back) make me stronger!

So I think I have finally found the calorie level that’s going to allow me to maintain and maybe build a little muscle as well.

Muscle would be nice.

I would like to be stronger than I am.

I think that previously I was unable to build muscle because anything I put in my body just burned for fuel.

Now that I think I am getting enough food-fuel, I can start laying down some muscle fiber…  which will, eventually, in turn, boost my metabolism, so I’ll be keeping a careful eye on things.

This appears to have turned into a diet blog, which is lame, but eating and food take up so much of my brain right now, it’s all I’ve got.

Well, besides Derby, and Climbing and Yoga.  But there’s only so many times one can post – “Derby is Fun!”  before it gets a bit monotonous.