Who does tedious computer work? How do you not eat all the time?

[katilac]

Some of the computer work I do at home is quite tedious. It requires thought but, dang, it's . . . tedious. Every time I click the send button and wait a mere second for the confirmation, I want to stick something in my mouth, lol. Yes, I eat when bored, bad habit. I've tried listening to music and chewing gum, but I'm hoping others have more brilliant ideas. 

[AK_Mom4]

I keep a drink within hands reach all the time.  Also, I bought myself an expensive (for me) keyboard that I refuse to touch without washing my hands after eating.  Total investment - $95 (Contigo coffee cup plus fancy keyboard), but it helped me eliminate the Snacking While Working habit.

[Junie]

I have the same problem.

I do keep a water bottle on my desk.  It definitely helps to stay hydrated.

Right now I have a can of potato chips and some Easter candy on my desk.  These are not good choices.  

I have had some success with carrot sticks and grapes.  I can snack and eat as much as I want of those without adding hundreds of calories.

[katilac]

3 minutes ago, AK_Mom4 said:

I keep a drink within hands reach all the time.  Also, I bought myself an expensive (for me) keyboard that I refuse to touch without washing my hands after eating.  Total investment - $95 (Contigo coffee cup plus fancy keyboard), but it helped me eliminate the Snacking While Working habit.

 

I do always keep a Yeti tumbler close and I definitely get my water in, I guess that's a plus! Sadly, I'm a computer slob and my keyboard is disgusting. Also on my laptop, so I can't get a new one. 

Snacking While Working 😄

1 minute ago, happysmileylady said:

I was a call center rep for about 5 years.  And there's a lot of tedium involved in that sort of work, especially being "chained" to your desk.  It's not like you can get up and walk around to relieve boredom.  

Some things call center reps do.

*read magazines.  It's hard to read a real book, but magazine articles are generally short enough that between calls you can still catch it.

*color.  I think the whole adult coloring books thing began in the warehouses of call centers.  In the five years I was there, I saw more coloring books than I ever did teaching lol

*menu planning.  This was my personal selection of choice.  Feeds that food while bored thing, while not actually eating lol.  Plus, it can be done in snippets and starts.

*Run a budget.   For the week.  For the day.  For the month.  For a special event.  Whatever.  Math problems are helpful and budgeting involves simple math.  Paying bills, especially online non negotiable stuff like the electric bill and such.  

*Speaking of math problems-Sudoku (which I never played but others did) or crossword puzzles or word searches, etc.

*If you coupon, cut coupons.  Nothing like two tedious tasks combined! lol

 

Ooh, coloring, that might work. I already have a stack of books and colored pencils and I like it.

I do fit in some short reading, and I can even do some walking around, but I think I need more variety in my distractions. Apparently I'm very easily bored. 

Menu planning is a thought for sure. I'm home so I can even pop into the kitchen and check ingredients. 

Budgets are too close to what I'm already doing. Soduko and puzzles might work, and they can stack up with the coloring books. 

I haven't cut coupons in a long time but this may be the time to start again. 

 

[katilac]

4 minutes ago, Junie said:

 I have had some success with carrot sticks and grapes.  I can snack and eat as much as I want of those without adding hundreds of calories.

 

When I leave for work, I do pretty well because I choose what to pack. But when I'm home, there are always some bad choices. And I discover them all. 

[fairfarmhand]

Hot tea

[SKL]

I sip coffee a lot.

If I have to wait more than a couple seconds for something to happen on the computer, I get up and go do something.

If I'm on a conference call where I'm listening but not really doing anything, I open jigzone.com and do puzzles.

I often keep a can of nuts nearby - I figure that is not a bad thing to eat off and on.  But I'm usually far from most kinds of food.  Though sometimes I get weak and bring contraband into my work area.  My kids' holiday candy for instance ....

[katilac]

23 minutes ago, fairfarmhand said:

Hot tea

 

I wish I liked tea. It's like wine, with all the cool packaging and fun choices, but I just don't like either of them. 

[katilac]

1 minute ago, SKL said:

 I often keep a can of nuts nearby - I figure that is not a bad thing to eat off and on.  But I'm usually far from most kinds of food. 

 

I do eat nuts, but way too many of them. There's rarely anything quite as junky as potato chips and candy in the house anymore, but it turns out that one really can't eat cheese and nuts and multi-grain bread nonstop either 🤣

I'm literally five steps from my kitchen 🙄

[Laura Corin]

Water, tea, raw veggies. I get my five a day easily by 3pm and average more like eight a day overall. Radio documentaries or music, depending on the task.

Edited May 7, 2019 by Laura Corin

[marbel]

I work in a call center.  My colleagues and I are always eating. Lots of people order food in so there are almost always delicious smells around.  Garlic fries, oh my.  I mostly do online chat, so I could eat almost nonstop. I bring cut up cucumbers and radishes. (I hate carrots and celery is too loud.)  Hot or iced coffee and water on my day shifts, hot decaf tea and water on my nights (though drinking a lot can be problematic as it can be hard to leave for the restroom).  A mix of almonds and dark chocolate chips helps with sweets craving.  It's a struggle 

I do also bring a notebook and write down menu plans. We are not supposed to have phones, books, or magazines out, and not supposed to use our desktops for non-work-related pursuits, but sometimes I will read or browse recipe sites.  I can go an hour between calls/chats on night shift so I have to do something not to go insane.  

[Arcadia]

12 hours ago, katilac said:

I'm literally five steps from my kitchen 🙄

 

I ate more than five apples when I was sitting next to the fridge while studying for my high school exams. My mom was amused. The kitchen trash can was next to the fridge so I was just throwing apple cores and reaching for the next apple without thinking.

When I did tedious computer work, I ended up drinking cups of coffee and lost weight. It was so tedious that I needed strong coffee to not make mistakes because I was bored. 

[shawthorne44]

WTM!   Seriously.   My work is writing some of a program and then clicking run to test.   It can take 10 seconds to 5 minutes.  So, I have another website open in the background while waiting.   Sometimes I have to wait more than 5 minutes, but then I'll open up another project.  I also listen to podcasts.  I need something that I can zone out of and into, so audiobooks don't work. 

[katilac]

5 hours ago, Arcadia said:

When I did tedious computer work, I ended up drinking cups of coffee and lost weight. It was so tedious that I needed strong coffee to not make mistakes because I was bored. 

I puffy heart love coffee. I work on this afternoons/evenings but somewhere else in the morning, so it may have to be decaf. 

13 hours ago, Laura Corin said:

Water, tea, raw veggies. I get my five a day easily by 3pm and average more like eight a day overall. Radio documentaries or music, depending on the task.

I probably just need to break down and buy a prepared veggie tray each week, it would be worth it.

5 hours ago, marbel said:

  (though drinking a lot can be problematic as it can be hard to leave for the restroom).  A mix of almonds and dark chocolate chips helps with sweets craving.  It's a struggle 

I do also bring a notebook and write down menu plans. We are not supposed to have phones, books, or magazines out, and not supposed to use our desktops for non-work-related pursuits, but sometimes I will read or browse recipe sites.  I can go an hour between calls/chats on night shift so I have to do something not to go insane.  

I do have the luxury of unlimited bathroom breaks and the ability to have whatever I want out, like coloring books or whatever. You're the second one to mention meal plans, that really is a good idea. And I realized that being 5 steps from the fridge means it's easy to grab food, but equally easy to grab some food that needs to be tossed or wipe down a shelf 😄

#lazy I guess. I think I need a list of mini-tasks sitting in front of me, and I can make little checkmarks and feel accomplished.

3 hours ago, Seasider too said:

At home I have a small rebounder for breaks, but I have actually been considering one of these gadgets for the office. (The ones linked are $$$ but I would probably look into less expensive versions). 

<snip>

Truthfully, the best way I avoid eating no-nos while working at home is to simply not have it in the house. That was super hard for many years, but it’s getting easier since there are now fewer of us living under this roof. 

I thought I would do more yoga and stuff, but I haven't. Maybe I'll add it to my task list. 

I don't eat all that much bad stuff, really, but I can eat pretty continuously. Even when eating filling items. It's a gift. 

2 hours ago, shawthorne44 said:

WTM!    

Umm . . . I'm totally not doing that right now.

[katilac]

I thought of another one! I can keep Khan Academy open in another window and work the occasional quick problem (i'm trying to get my computational speed back so I'm doing some simple stuff). Also having shows I've already watched playing in Spanish. dd and I are currently doing Supernatural and that's fairly hysterical - Sam and Dean's voices are pitched way too high 😂

Maybe do some Spanish copywork as well. Bilingual or even some Spanglish is a bit plus in the job market around here. Also Arabic, but I'm not going there. 

[Arcadia]

DS14 does pen twirling/spinning. There are contests for that but DS14 isn’t interested in contest.

[katilac]

11 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

DS14 does pen twirling/spinning. There are contests for that but DS14 isn’t interested in contest.

 

I'd probably poke an eye out but something that keeps the fingers busy is a good idea. I've given up embroidery/needlework bc my eyesight is so not awesome, but if I were just doing a few stitches at a time . . . hmm. I actually own metal jacks so it might be fun to practice that and impress the little kids in my family. Maybe some fidgets and Silly Putty, etc. 

The problem with snatches of reading and watching is that I am very adept at eating while doing those, lol.