Random Raves Fifty-one: Anticipation of Joy!

[MaryKB]

I wish could feel comfortable like that.

I'm so sorry to hear that would make you feel uncomfortable I find it feels really nice, and there's just something so cozy about it.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

My legs and feet get cold if they're not covered up.

 

[MaryKB]

That's too bad

 

[Takhisis]

Maybe that's the reason behind your fire-worship, aimee.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

My legs and feet get cold if they're not covered up.

It could be 30C in July and my feet still feel cold. But that's a circulation issue that goes along with a couple of the medical conditions I'm living with. The rest of me wants to go stand in a sprinkler.

 

[JohannaK]

I'm so sorry to hear that would make you feel uncomfortable I find it feels really nice, and there's just something so cozy about it.

Why would you be sorry, though?

That's entirely on me.

 

[warpus]

These days I'm down to 162 pounds or so. In part thanks to, yes, the pandemic. Let me explain

About 3 years ago I would consistently weigh in at about 190-200 pounds. My "ideal" weight was 190, because that's as low as I ever saw it go that I could remember.. over 15+ years my weight fluctuated in between 190 and 210 or so. At one point I was consistently weighing in at 210 or even higher. Just to give you an idea of what I used to weigh

All the training I did for my hikes in Peru (2012) and Nepal (2017) did .. not much to my weight. Even so, I was including a 2 times a week sweaty cardio workout into my routine from then on.. it's good for your health and it makes you feel better.

My cut out soda/pop from my diet, and to a degree reduced other carb intake a bit.. although I still eat plenty of that stuff.. My weight slowly dropped over time and sort of stabilized at 185 or so.

A year before the great pandemic, I introduced intermittent fasting and noticed that over time this brought my weight down to an average of about 170-180. I was going to the gym 2 times a week and doing a 20 min intense cardio workout each time. I was eating out 2-3 times a week, including occasional fast food. This is what I basically assumed my new "ideal" weight would be. It just didn't seem to go any lower.

Then the pandemic hit and I stopped going to the gym.. in about March. I tried to go on walks, but I'm going on like 1 walk a month on average. I get zero physical activity. This is not good at all for my health, and I am trying to fix this, but my point is.. I assumed my weight would shoot back up. I prepared myself mentally for this.

My weight dropped and my new normal is in the 160-165 range. And I've actually seen it drop below 160

At first I was like.. what the H???? But there's another thing the pandemic did, aside from messing with my gym membership. It made me completely stop eating out, buying snacks at convenience stores, and more or less eating processed foods. 95% of the food I ate came in a box in the form of fresh ingredients. When the pandemic hit I subscribed to "one of those" services where you pick recipes online every week, and then a box with all the ingredients shows up on your front door, with a 1 page neatly printed set of instructions even a moron could follow.

So for months I've been cooking all my meals, and even though I'm getting zero physical exercise, my weight is basically around the 160 mark. Lately I've been snacking more and it's at like 163. I'm in heaven. I remember when I used to weigh 210, and it's not like that's obese or anything, but.. I remember thinking "what the hell do I have to do to lose weight? I do all these pushups, play tennis, and it never wants to go down"

I should have altered my diet.. if that was even possible back then. I could have cut out pop/soda for sure. It's all about the diet, man. That's what I've learned.

Unless I have some weird disease and I'm just losing weight slowly over time as some worm inside eats me from the inside out? Yeah, that is also a possibility. But for now I am going to assume that if you want to lose weight, you got to eat better. Cut out sugars and processed foods. Bring more balance into your diet. You don't have to be strict about it even, I'm a filthy casual when it comes to this stuff.

If you're wondering how the intermittent fasting helped, it basically means that you eat 14% less food. However, that's not the main benefit, because you might start wondering: "Wouldn't you eat more food when you're not fasting, to compensate?". The answer to that question is actually the opposite. You eat even less food. Since I started intermittent fasting I've noticed that my portion sizes have decreased, I feel satisfied after eating less, and I can do a much better job controlling cravings. It's like the stomach used to rule over me and now I'm fighting back and sort of ruling over it. The reason for this is (I think) because I fast for 24 hours every week. The first time you do that your body and mind conspire to murder you. They will do anything it takes to get you to eat. Your stomach will make annoying sounds, you will not feel comfortable, your stomach might feel like it's in discomfort, your brain will be feeding you non-stop ads about juicy sirloin hamburgers, and you basically have to sit there and ignore all that noise and give your body and mind the middle finger as you stay focused on some task that does not involve eating. The second week you do that they try again with like 90% of the same force, and you fight through it and get through it.. Third week it's down to about 50%, and after that for me it was easy to not eat for 24 hours, the stomach discomforts stopped, and my brain and body accepted defeat, or just learned that no, i am not going to DIE when I haven't eaten 17 hamburgers in the last hour. Sit the hell down and get a hold of yourself

I guess this turned into a bit of a rant, but I am genuinely happy about my weight (and cooking is a great hobby to have, I find it great for my mental health, you sorta get in the zone and be choppin broccoli or mixing some noodles or whatever)

 

[The_J]

Intermittent fasting actually does have an effect, see https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmra1905136 .

I don't want to ruin your rave, but don't forget that you probably lost weight in the form of muscles (not sure if that matters to you though).

 

[Synobun]

Intermittent fasting is great if you have cravings and pangs that can be reasonably controlled.

It's actively harmful when you have a binge eating disorder, though. The signal Warpus mentions that gets better outright doesn't when you're a binge eater; it instead progressively gets worse.

 

[warpus]

These are the benefits from that link The_J posted:

Evidence is accumulating that eating in a 6-hour period and fasting for 18 hours can trigger a metabolic switch from glucose-based to ketone-based energy, with increased stress resistance, increased longevity, and a decreased incidence of diseases, including cancer and obesity.

Yeah, I probably lost some muscle mass in my power thighs and legs that I've built up over the years, and probably elsewhere. I have been trying to occasionally use that pull up bar thing I installed in my walk-in closet door frame. I also considered buying a stationary bike and putting that in my bedroom. Real cycling isn't great here, although there are some routes, there isn't much nearby. So I do know I need to do something. Maybe I just need to go on more walks.

If you have any sort of eating disorder I would def seek the opinion of a medical professional before beginning any sort of intermittent fasting experiment. The first couple weeks were def not easy for me, so I can't imagine how this would affect with an eating disorder.

 

[MaryKB]

I suffer from body dysmorphia. Most days, my flaws jump out at me and slap me in the face. I look in the mirror and all I see is how my eyebrows, nose, and chin are all too big. How my left eye is larger than my right eye, and how I have unsightly spots on my skin. How my boobs are too small, and my arms are too fat. How my neck is too short and thick, and how my hair just won't cooperate. The list goes on and on. I have trouble getting out of it: I use makeup, clothing, jewelry, etc, but it only brings me so far.

Some days however, I look in the mirror and am stunned by how pretty I seem to be. My eyes seem to shine, my skin looks like it's glowing, and my proportions all seem just right. These are the days I take my selfies.

Today is one of the good days. I feel so incredibly cute right now, even unshowered and in my pajamas still with no makeup on. This feeling also really helps me get into @hobbsyoyo's "flow," self-esteem can really do so much.

 

[JohannaK]

I get that feel

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Rave: I have Ritz sandwiches!

 

[Sommerswerd]

These days I'm down to 162 pounds or so. In part thanks to, yes, the pandemic. Let me explain

About 3 years ago I would consistently weigh in at about 190-200 pounds. My "ideal" weight was 190, because that's as low as I ever saw it go that I could remember.. over 15+ years my weight fluctuated in between 190 and 210 or so. At one point I was consistently weighing in at 210 or even higher. Just to give you an idea of what I used to weigh

All the training I did for my hikes in Peru (2012) and Nepal (2017) did .. not much to my weight. Even so, I was including a 2 times a week sweaty cardio workout into my routine from then on.. it's good for your health and it makes you feel better.

My cut out soda/pop from my diet, and to a degree reduced other carb intake a bit.. although I still eat plenty of that stuff.. My weight slowly dropped over time and sort of stabilized at 185 or so.

A year before the great pandemic, I introduced intermittent fasting and noticed that over time this brought my weight down to an average of about 170-180. I was going to the gym 2 times a week and doing a 20 min intense cardio workout each time. I was eating out 2-3 times a week, including occasional fast food. This is what I basically assumed my new "ideal" weight would be. It just didn't seem to go any lower.

Then the pandemic hit and I stopped going to the gym.. in about March. I tried to go on walks, but I'm going on like 1 walk a month on average. I get zero physical activity. This is not good at all for my health, and I am trying to fix this, but my point is.. I assumed my weight would shoot back up. I prepared myself mentally for this.

My weight dropped and my new normal is in the 160-165 range. And I've actually seen it drop below 160

At first I was like.. what the H???? But there's another thing the pandemic did, aside from messing with my gym membership. It made me completely stop eating out, buying snacks at convenience stores, and more or less eating processed foods. 95% of the food I ate came in a box in the form of fresh ingredients. When the pandemic hit I subscribed to "one of those" services where you pick recipes online every week, and then a box with all the ingredients shows up on your front door, with a 1 page neatly printed set of instructions even a moron could follow.

So for months I've been cooking all my meals, and even though I'm getting zero physical exercise, my weight is basically around the 160 mark. Lately I've been snacking more and it's at like 163. I'm in heaven. I remember when I used to weigh 210, and it's not like that's obese or anything, but.. I remember thinking "what the hell do I have to do to lose weight? I do all these pushups, play tennis, and it never wants to go down"

I should have altered my diet.. if that was even possible back then. I could have cut out pop/soda for sure. It's all about the diet, man. That's what I've learned.

Unless I have some weird disease and I'm just losing weight slowly over time as some worm inside eats me from the inside out? Yeah, that is also a possibility. But for now I am going to assume that if you want to lose weight, you got to eat better. Cut out sugars and processed foods. Bring more balance into your diet. You don't have to be strict about it even, I'm a filthy casual when it comes to this stuff.

If you're wondering how the intermittent fasting helped, it basically means that you eat 14% less food. However, that's not the main benefit, because you might start wondering: "Wouldn't you eat more food when you're not fasting, to compensate?". The answer to that question is actually the opposite. You eat even less food. Since I started intermittent fasting I've noticed that my portion sizes have decreased, I feel satisfied after eating less, and I can do a much better job controlling cravings. It's like the stomach used to rule over me and now I'm fighting back and sort of ruling over it. The reason for this is (I think) because I fast for 24 hours every week. The first time you do that your body and mind conspire to murder you. They will do anything it takes to get you to eat. Your stomach will make annoying sounds, you will not feel comfortable, your stomach might feel like it's in discomfort, your brain will be feeding you non-stop ads about juicy sirloin hamburgers, and you basically have to sit there and ignore all that noise and give your body and mind the middle finger as you stay focused on some task that does not involve eating. The second week you do that they try again with like 90% of the same force, and you fight through it and get through it.. Third week it's down to about 50%, and after that for me it was easy to not eat for 24 hours, the stomach discomforts stopped, and my brain and body accepted defeat, or just learned that no, i am not going to DIE when I haven't eaten 17 hamburgers in the last hour. Sit the hell down and get a hold of yourself

I guess this turned into a bit of a rant, but I am genuinely happy about my weight (and cooking is a great hobby to have, I find it great for my mental health, you sorta get in the zone and be choppin broccoli or mixing some noodles or whatever)

I'm happy for you warpus. I will admit that I had a similar experience due to the pandemic. I dropped about 20-25 lbs, just based on diet. I was working 100% remotely, not leaving the house and cooking all meals with delivered groceries. But I didn't want to over eat and gain a ton of pandemic-weight, so I stopped eating anything other than dinner. I would have a huge dinner, but only dinner. No breakfast, no lunch, no snacks, just dinner. I even continued drinking alcohol. No exercise whatsoever, just 1 cooked meal a day and I dropped 20-25 lbs in 2 months.

Now I'm sure it was the change in diet, because now that I am back at work, I eat a small lunch occasionally, or grab a fast-food breakfast occasionally... or get takeout occasionally and just that change has seen me gain back almost 10 lbs... even when I did a bunch of takeout for my "staycation" in July, I kept losing weight, so it wasn't even the takeout, its the multiple meals a day... so I am determined to go back to the 1 meal a day thing and go back to cooking most meals. It was clearly the difference maker.

 

[warpus]

Thanks man! Happy for your weight loss too!

I know some people who do the "1 meal a day" thing. Supposedly it's another sort of intermittent fasting approach that's supposed to have health benefits, but I never looked into it. It seems too much for me - it essentially means you fast for 24 hours every day, right? With occasional small meals or snacks in between

 

[Sommerswerd]

Thanks man! Happy for your weight loss too!

I know some people who do the "1 meal a day" thing. Supposedly it's another sort of intermittent fasting approach that's supposed to have health benefits, but I never looked into it. It seems too much for me - it essentially means you fast for 24 hours every day, right? With occasional small meals or snacks in between

Thanks!

Yes I've heard of folks doing this, but I was pretty strict about not even having any small snack or anything. I'd have an unsweetened Iced tea in the morning and nothing else all day until dinner. I got used to it pretty quickly and after a while I didn't even feel that hungry all day. Even now, if I eat anything for breakfast or lunch, I feel way less hungry at dinner time. Sometimes not hungry at all. But I still want to go back to 1 meal a day because that was the only way I was seeing consistent weight loss. I've developed heart issues that I want to keep my weight down to minimize.

 

[Farm Boy]

I have my suspicions about the several-meals-with-light-snacks and one-big-meal eating plan, at least in myself, having a lot to do with level of physical activity during the day. If I don't do much at all(most days) I tend to eat a little less if I skip the extra meals and just eat one. If I'm pretty busy most of the day, working on my feet, walking around, climbing/lifting whatnot and I don't eat until dinner? I usually eat way the hell too much.

 

[Sommerswerd]

I was eating a huge dinner regardless during corona-isolation, weight just kept going down.

 

[JohannaK]

That's interesting. I do breakfast, lunch, dinner, and occasionally a mid-morning and a mid-afternoon snack, and I also lost weight during lockdown, though I had started losing weight earlier. Not much, about 5kg steadily over the last year.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I've lost some weight too, but mostly that's because I get full a lot easier since I was hospitalized earlier this year.