IT Workers Are Getting Fatter

buzzardsbay writes "While technologies such as virtualization, multi-threading, and blade servers have made the data center leaner, those who work there are getting... well... not leaner. According to a new study by CareerBuilder.com, 34 percent of IT workers say they have gained more than ten pounds in their current jobs. And 16 percent say they've gained at least twice that. The culprits seem to be the stressful-yet-sedentary nature of tech work coupled with our famously poor eating habits. According to the survey, some 41 percent of IT workers eat out for lunch twice or more per week, making portion and calorie control difficult. Eleven percent buy their lunch out of a vending machine at least once a week."

Not just IT workers

[Lord Grey]

From TFA:

... IT workers [in the United States] can take heart in another CareerBuilder finding: They are less chubby than financial services and government workers. Fifty-three percent of financial workers said they have gained weight at their current jobs, while the number for government workers is 52 percent.

I guess if you're a sysadmin for the Internal Revenue Service then you're really screwed.

Re:Not just IT workers

[russotto]

I guess if you're a sysadmin for the Internal Revenue Service then you're really screwed.

No, you're just fat. All those people who call you "tubby"? THEY are screwed. FEAR [e-mail]!

Only PC is getting fat...

[Aardpig]

...Mac is still skinny. He better watch out; PC may get peckish, and eat him.

Even more?

[gmuslera]

What next? to have their own gravity field too?

Re:Eating out

[TheRealMindChild]

Actually, I have found that just smoking more crack on the days that I eat McDonalds solves the problem~

Actually

[dunezone]

My friend started working IT at the local hospital about 3 months ago. Just moved into his new house.
This was the contents of his fridge and pantry:

Bologna
Beer
Hot dogs
Chocolate Syrup (three of these)
Two cartons of ice cream (only two, yet three chocolate syrup bottles)
Three Jack's frozen pizzas
Four containers of butter, and one box of sticked butter.
Bucket of fried chicken
Two pizzas from some pizza joint
The Pantry:
No bread just hot dog buns
Three containers of peanut butter
At least a pound to a pound a half of sugar

I'm missing a few items, but its all about time. He just didn't have enough time to think about what hes eating. Hes on call most of the time and instead of buying healthier solutions he chose quickly made and heavily preserved foods.

I have built in weights

[EmbeddedJanitor]

around my belly mainly.

No it's is IT workers because

[infonography]

it's part of the stereotype. If your a fatso (me). You will be most likely to get the job. Wearing glasses helps. Evil Spock beard is better, best not to look like Pitr from User Friendly, go for Sid http://www.userfriendly.org/cartoons/sid/ [userfriendly.org] but extra weight helps.

Re:Maybe if they went vegan they wouldn't be so fa

[nbowman]

because if the food sucks, you are less likely to overeat?

Re:Eating out

[Anonymous Coward]

OR you could move about occasionally at work. I know that I don't *have* to sit and stare at my happy little green on black terminal all day- though I sometimes do. Little stuff like kicking your legs (Pretend that someone cares, you are alone in that dark room and you know it) can help lots. I personally have a set of 15lb dumbbells under the desk. Good for passing time, or threatening that damned mail room guy who vehemently claims that I slow down his machines on purpose. Despite his nice habit of subconsciously closing out ads as they open.

Anger in the workplace has done nothing but good for my health. Sitting there shaking in rage at the Pointy-hairs burns calories like no other! The same can be said about the ten minutes of heart pounding after I am 'surprise' visited by my uppers.

Sometimes I wish that I had a bowflex down here just to toy with them. Make them think that I actually DO have time to work out. Even better would be the questions as to how it GOT there in the first place. Piece by piece, just like I learned from MASH.

Oh, and working out. Moving around. Sex. Eat whatever you want, just move about some more to compensate!

Solo

[Straterra]

(insert fat, deep laugh) Just because I'm unafraid of thermal detonators, collaborate with bounty hunters, have a small rat-like thingy, gammorean guards and a passion for live, frozen wall ornaments does NOT make me fat!


PS, Where's my money Solo?

One very workable solution...

[heretic108]

...would be to have a treadmill or cross-trainer in every cubicle. The harder the worker exercises, the higher the priority his/her processes are given.

"Hey, Joe, you're covered in sweat!"

"Yeah, I know, those KDE apps take ages to compile!"

Re:Only PC is getting fat...

[Anonymous Coward]

Wouldn't be the first time. A while back, Windows XP got really hungry on his way to the store and he ate the resident hobo, Windows ME. He got really sick afterwards, went into a coma, and once he woke up, he ran away and changed his name. We now call him Windows Vista.

Re:One very workable solution...

[Tarison]

What, your job doesn't already feel like a treadmill?

Re:Not just IT workers

[Architect_sasyr]

I don't fear [e-mail] as much as I fear [e-mail]........

Re:Even more?

[nomadic]

Um, hate to break this to you, but everyone already has a gravity field.

Not me, I'm made of photons.

cube size

[gbh1935]

but have the cubes grown in proportion to the programmers?

Re:Actually

[Anne_Nonymous]

Start the hot dogs. I'll be over with a half-rack of PBR in 20 minutes.

Re:Not just IT workers

[Leebert]

Now how about that!


lsherida@skynet:~$ host -t ANY bofh.irs.gov
bofh.irs.gov mail is handled by 5 MX-RELAY1.treas.gov.
bofh.irs.gov mail is handled by 10 mx-relay24.treas.gov.


I myself am the proud owner of bofh.nccs.nasa.gov. :)

Re:Get out more

[Kangburra]

Amicroe always pop a few little chocolates in the box whenever we order ram from them.

So that's why everyone has 64Gb workstation? ;-)

Re:If you work from home

[Anonymous Coward]

Walking around a museum or city park is still walking and you might find a new friend or more.

Yeah, but the only kind of friends you're likely to meet are the ones who like walking around a museum or city park... and I hate those people!

One of those two examples I could understand, but

[patio11]

... Seven of Nine? I guess its true, there are all sorts of weirdoes on the Internet...

Re:Eating out

[Gordonjcp]

Like I said before "eating nutritiously won't make you loose(sic) weight."

Yup. After reading a leaflet about "Five a Day" [dh.gov.uk] I started eating a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables and drinking lots of water at work, instead of chocolate and crisps and fizzy drinks, and I gained a lot of weight. I mean, I felt great - I had loads of energy, never felt hungry, and I looked and felt generally healthier - great. Shame about gaining about gaining so much weight.

Of course it wasn't until a couple of weeks later while we were out shopping that my girlfriend pointed out that it's meant to be five *portions* of fresh fruit and vegetables per day, not five *kilos*...

Re:Not just IT workers

[sammy baby]

And nobody modded up a "Bastard Operator From Hell" joke?

This is supposed to be news for nerds. Come on. What next? Will we start ignoring naked petrified Natalee Portman?

<oblig>
In Soviet Russia, naked petrified Natalie Portman ignores YOU!
</oblig>

There, happy?

Re:Not just IT workers

[megaditto]

Im 165 and have been in IT for 15years. No problems here.

Pounds, kilos, IQ points, or millimeters?

Re:Eating out

[Anonymous Coward]

We've secretly replaced his coffee with Folgers Crystal Meth. Let's see if he notices...