Well, here goes another weight loss attempt. I'm looking increasingly like Homer Simpson, and getting tired of it. Maybe a semi-public declaration of intent will help.

A friend sold me on intermittent fasting a few years ago, quite easily. "You don't have to buy stuff, cook stuff, clean stuff, learn any new habits, or make any significant efforts beyond just learning to tolerate hunger a bit longer than usual - a little 'mindfulness' goes a long way with that, and that is worth cultivating anyway." That was his pitch, more or less.

In practice, though, I found myself meeting him only halfway... I could skip breakfast every day and get by on a couple cups of coffee instead; that part wasn't too challenging. But around lunch and especially dinner, my self-control tended to lapse a little too often. Over the long run, a yo-yo effect took place with my weight, depending on whether I could muster some temporary enthusiasm for exercise, and/or commit (again, temporarily) to logging my calorie intake, healthful dieting ("Eat food, not too much, mostly plants"), etc.

Anywho, let's see if I can manage two full days of fasting (or very, very low-calorie consumption), and maybe adopt this as a weekly practice - in a way, a more passive and sedentary version of the "weekend warrior" thing.

Here's an article on this, for anyone who happens to be curious - https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/48-hour-fasting

I'm also looking a little bit like Homer Simpson recently, after successfully losing weight at the start of 2023. I've found I can lose weight in parts, but will always put it back on. It's likely due to a mixture of self-control, self-loathing, and food addiction coagulating into one big mess.

I've heard that intermittent fasting is very good for the body. I personally couldn't do it as I'd also tend to lapse during the day, but I literally can't thanks to my shift work. My best bet is to just make better choices with meals and try not to be so addicted to chocolate.

Good luck Defenestrated. I'm sure you'll be able to do it. I've found that losing weight is like quitting smoking - sometimes it takes several attempts to make it work.

I hate getting too excited and buying something on bandcamp only for it to turn out to be pretty boring and one dimensional and not up my alley at all after a few listens. It's not really even about the few dollars, it just makes me feel duped into liking something stupid.

I was reading about intermittent fasting today. Seems like it's not as effective as TRE (time-restricted eating).

Think I'm going to try TRE. Could you manage eating in a 10 hour window and fasting for 14 with your shift work?


https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-20/ ... /101936140

Only problem is, I love my late night eating. Even if I manage to avoid eating after dinner, I'll wake and raid the cupboards during the night semi-conscious.

I could manage it but it would take some insane willpower. I think I need to start slow, back to square one for the 100th time. So at this point TRE might not be the right way to go for me. I also love late night eating, so I understand your pain. I just think the best thing to do is eat a little bit healthier and exercise a little bit more, and that will go a long way.

Thanks, MikeyC!

It'd be premature to celebrate, but I'm feeling pretty all right at the moment. I'm 3/4 through my first two-day "fast" (I did allow myself some forgivable infractions in the form of low-calorie beverages). It actually feels pretty decent - nice not to spend the weekend with the usual self-inflicted bloat, haha. Cravings haven't been bothering me quite as much as I expected, though I did end up having some food dreams last night.

Motivation is a weird thing. I've been through a few weight-loss cycles, shedding several pounds only to gain them all back (and then some). What I've come to think is, choosing a program (and then narrowing it down to some specific version of that program) is not one-size-fits-all... It's a kind of a trial-and-error "life hack" sort of thing, where you aren't trying to suppress and revamp your will so much as cater to your own idiosyncrasies. (Like, I described in the last post how intermittent fasting appeals to the deeply lazy side of my personality, which might make it more sustainable than a vigorous exercise routine.) I figure if you find your thing, then you won't really have to fight the urge to bail every step of the way; the best thing is to eventually stumble into a self-reinforcing groove, so that you genuinely want to keep going, and don't really have to stifle any voices inside saying "This sucks, this sucks, quit now..."

I sympathize, that’s rough, man. I’m a devoted dog owner, one of them is pushing 10 and I can’t picture the day I will have to say farewell. Maybe I will look like a wackadoodle for saying this, but except for a few close friends, I’d rather hang out with dogs and cats. At least, in their case I know they won’t stab me in the back.

Yeah, even just reading about other people losing their cats gets me misty eyed. It's so fucking tough, man.

I'm sorry but this had me laughing out loud.......yes, so much so that I typed the words laugh out loud hahaha.
Not sure why though.
Meh.

Yep, let me capitalize on that and let you know my dog of 16 years.....had to be put to sleep in 2019 and it's fukking insanely and shitty sad....even today & I can't imagine having another dog as a best friend. If and when, that days comes where I want another dog friend the name will be the same lol.
As to cats.......meh, I have been feeding an outdoor feral one that comes but I hate the cat I live with :/

This doesn't really deserve its own thread, but to make a short story long: I recently booked 70k Tons of Metal and am planning a sick Miami/Florida vacation, which is DESPERATELY NEEDED, and I'm super-excited. I want a kickass metal beach towel to bring with me. So I'm shopping around looking for beach towels and think "Surely, Black Sabbath has beach towels for sale on their website!" (They do) So I get to the website and discover that Black Sabbath was a three piece band! That's right, they never had a drummer. Not a single. Fucking. Picture of Bill. They aren't even an active band anymore! This is some Stalin bullshit. Unofficially, Sabbath is still my favorite band, but officially? CUT. I'm still getting a beach towel tho.

It's been just 3 years but I eventually translated (rather hastily and poorly but better than Google Translate) that article about Jeff Hanneman I wrote back in 2013. Some people wanted to read it:
https://vics-dungeon.blogspot.com/2023/ ... riffs.html

Bump. Not seeing this thread on the Tavern's first page is weird.

You're not wrong.

Also, something I'm curious, did Spooky step down? It's weird not seeing him as a mod now.

Are you still doing this?

Well I've been piddling around the forums looking for something to jump in on and here I am lol.

Take it from me, some random guy, that those fad diets like intermittent fasting or other forms of restrictive eating suck and generally lead to failure. The reason is because restricting your eating makes you more likely to roller coaster.
I recommend this instead - 2-3 square meals a day with your calories, macros, and meals pre-planned. For me at least, this keeps me feeling not really hungry most of the time and is easy to stick to. Example, I do a sandwich and tomato soup for lunch and then a "burrito bowl" for dinner. For breakfast I'm too lazy to get up early enough so it's something like a protein shake and some coffee. I'm hitting about 2000-2300 cals a day if I can stay disciplined enough (not getting fast food).

Well, sort of. I didn't last long on "hard mode," and have been experimenting with a slower but more manageable pace. I have managed a handful of 24-hour fasts, but have yet to repeat my first and only successful 48-hour one, and the last couple weeks I was in too much of a funk mental health-wise to do it at all... Haven't completely undone my initial accomplishment, though - down about five pounds.

edit: Sorry, this post was in response to Bronze Age's above. (Actually didn't see the one from kmidst - must've needed a couple posts approved as a new user.)

How much exercise do you get? Diet is extremely important, but if you aren't getting adequate exercise you're only limiting yourself

I can believe that. And thanks for the tip re. meal-planning.

The most success I've had with weight loss and fitness in general was with calorie-counting and/or a combination of regular aerobic exercise and (largely) plant-based dieting.

As far as exercise, I have some home equipment (stationary bike, weights), which I use pretty irregularly, TBH... I generally have to overcome the dread of getting started, even if it's something as basic as taking a walk. But once I'm mid-workout, I "remember" that it's actually kind of invigorating and satisfying.

I'm actually having that roller coaster experience with exercising, one week going crazy with it, the next lying on the couch. And I don't see why that same reasoning wouldn't apply as well - it's just as painful as fasting and for me, when I do it I eat more than when I'm being sedentary so it rarely pays off.

If you're trying to shed some pounds: try Capoeira and breakin' too.

It's not healthy if one's stressing about need to exercise. I sometimes have that feeling that I need to go out for a walk, but my brain otherwise feels lazy of heck. A lot of it depends about how well I've slept, how much and what I've eaten, but I do not care about weather too much (if it's raining heavily, I am not going for a hike).

But when I've taken a few hundred steps, I notice how fun and stress-relieving it is. I rather walk in nature than anywhere else. I mean, I can to a drive to nature if I get bored with routes close to home (gladly some nature paths, too).

A lot of it is mind games! If one's eaten heavily or is tired, I suggest taking easy and thinking doing exercise next day. Something like having ache in lower back it's easy to decide to go for a walk, really, no matter if tired or not.

I know this is a dumb question but humm… Do you.. do you guys use a mat to play your vinyls or you put them directly on the platter? I’ve been looking on internet for the answer but it seems like there is not a definitive one. Will it damage my records if I don’t use one or should I buy one before playing further records? It kind of irritates me to be clueless about it and they don’t even talk about this in the instructions booklet of my turntable. I’m new to this so I’m begging you, vinyl elitists, don’t be too harsh on me.

There should be a rubber "disc" on the plastic/metal thingy.

Yeah, so I've heard but apparently there isn't one.

Then buy one asap, your records will take damage otherwise.

I don't know man, my dad's turntable always had this wool-like mat in it. It sure protects the records; I wouldn't be comfortable with my sensitive record's grooves touching bare metal.

I’m still puzzled by this. There is no mat on mine and there is nothing about it in the booklet. There are like three small rubber pieces on the platter which I’ve heard are supposed to protect the record but how true that is, I have no clue. I bought one in rubber: too large. I’ve made one in cork DIY, too thick. So at this point I don’t know anymore.

I think we need pictures. How can the mat be too large?

I’ll try to send a picture sometime soon. The thing is that I think (perhaps erroneously) that most platters are 12 inches so that’s the size of the mat that I bought. It was also one of the first results on Amazon and it said « universal » so like a total idiot, I thought it would fit but obviously, it doesn’t. Then I made one out of cork after reading on Google for a bit. This time, too thick. It would probably work but the record is rubbing against the dust cover when it is fully opened, so basically, I’m back to step one and doesn’t listen to any record.

I just returned from a basically two year hiatus from this site. Some of you may remember me as ksevile, depending on how long you've been around.
I remember Spooky and I messaging back and forth and I remember thinking man what a contributor just like Diamhea.

Then after coming back and going to user rankings and seeing how much he's contributed I was like what...? I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It's like Diamhea on steroids. RIP man! I remember him reaching out to me on more than one occasion for help in the report queue. I couldn't keep up with him.

.

I work for a cesspool of a company. Seriously. People come up to me in the supermarket were I work without a brain amongst them. One woman comes in almost every week literally asking the same question every time. And her son or whatever comes up to me a minute or so later and asks the same question the old hag asked. Asking about shoe polish in a store which sells mainly food items and prescription drugs.

I hope that's the worst you'll have to deal with working in customer service. People with cognitive disabilities, dementia, etc. also need to use the supermarket sometimes, and they sometimes need to rely on the help of the staff working there to direct them.

Why is James Hetfield attending a Judas Priest concert news? Why am I seeing this shit everywhere? Who is this content for, and why does anyone care what Hetfield does away from Metallica?

We're living in some pretty goofy times when I have to PM myself embeded Youtube videos on this forum in order to actually be able to watch them without disabling adblocker.

If you're using ublock origin just purge all cases and update. Removes the block until Youtube updates it. Rinse and repeat whenever they do.

Yeah Ublock Origin still works most of the time. Sometimes YouTube gets the jump on it and gives you the popup, but if that happens it's really easy to disable the blocker for that site until it updates.

Speaking of extensions for YouTube, SponsorBlock is one of the best extensions I've ever used. It's super personalized with its settings, right now I have it so whenever there's a sponsored section in a video, it automatically skips and gives me a notification sound. It shows where the highlight in the video is too (where the video actually starts or where the important thing happens). But you can also have it skip or highlight anything from self promotion to subscriber begging of you want. It's awesome, combined with Ublock Origin it makes YouTube super neat to use.

If SLAYER wrote 'BEAT IT'.

I can't believe I've gotten to this point, but I'm actually beginning to seriously consider going back on dating apps for a bit, give it an honest shot. It's been years since I even attempted some sort of OLD endeavor. From what I hear, it's extremely hit and miss. I'm not expecting much if I do decide to pull the trigger. But I've also read lots of horror stories and it's making reconsider all the same.

I figure I've got nothing to lose, especially since my expectations are so low they're underground next to undiscovered dinosaur bones...