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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   1487 thread views

Wellness Wednesday for October 15, 2025

The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:

  • Requests for advice and / or encouragement. On basically any topic and for any scale of problem.

  • Updates to let us know how you are doing. This provides valuable feedback on past advice / encouragement and will hopefully make people feel a little more motivated to follow through. If you want to be reminded to post your update, see the post titled 'update reminders', below.

  • Advice. This can be in response to a request for advice or just something that you think could be generally useful for many people here.

  • Encouragement. Probably best directed at specific users, but if you feel like just encouraging people in general I don't think anyone is going to object. I don't think I really need to say this, but just to be clear; encouragement should have a generally positive tone and not shame people (if people feel that shame might be an effective tool for motivating people, please discuss this so we can form a group consensus on how to use it rather than just trying it).

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I stumbled across this article of lifting advice on Substack.

This year I've been far less disciplined about going to the gym than I'd like, and have accordingly found that my progress on most of my key exercises has plateaued. I'm planning to follow the advice outlined in this article:

  1. Gym Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays (aim to do some cardio on off days)
  2. Each day, do five sets of any three exercises (pullup, deadlift, squat, bench press, overhead press), doing as many reps as possible before I have to stop.
  3. Increment each of the free weight exercises by 2.5kg each week.
  4. Increase protein intake.

I have, of course, built an Excel spreadsheet to track my progress and make sure I'm doing equal amounts of all five exercises. Keen to see if it'll pay off before the end of the year.

How's it going so far? I was searching "protein" because I'm lifting again and found this post again. I was looking ahead to Stronglifts 5x5 Intermediate, and it cuts out overhead press, which is my favorite lift. So maybe once I outgrow regular Stronglifts, I'll do something like what you're doing. 5 sets of 5 is fun enough.

Hmm, you seem to only have 5 exercises. Are you doing one of these exercises on both days?

The last few weeks, I've been doing strength training on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. On each day, I do three of the five exercises, for which I do five sets of as many reps as I can before I have to stop. I vary it so I only repeat one of the exercises on consecutive sessions, and after five sessions I've done an equal amount of all five exercises. For example:

  1. Monday: deadlift (1), squat (1), bench (1)
  2. Wednesday: pullup (1), squat (2), overhead (1)
  3. Friday: pullup (2), overhead (2), bench (2)
  4. Monday: deadlift (2), bench (3), overhead (3)
  5. Wednesday: pullup (3), squat (3), deadlift (3)

Every Monday I increment all the free weight exercises by 2.5 kg.

I'm making steady progress on my deadlifts, and can now do ten* reps of 152.5 kg without stopping (this website puts my 1RM at 203kg which would put me in the intermediate category for my age and mass – that being said, I've never actually lifted that much weight). Partly this is because I've started using lifting straps: I always found my grip strength was the limiting factor, and it's always the grip on my right hand which falters first, even though that's my dominant hand. I can do fifteen squats without stopping, although admittedly only 80kg (I gave up on squats probably two years ago and have only recently taken them up again). My current goal there is to squat my bodyweight at least ten times, which if I maintain this program I will achieve by January at the latest. I'm a bit frustrated to find that, while my reps and maximum weight are steadily increasing on these two exercises, when it comes to the bench press my maximum weight is increasing but not my reps: last week I could do ten reps at 70kg without stopping, but on Wednesday I could only do seven reps at 72.5kg. My pull-ups are shockingly poor, and with the overhead press I'm starting from literally nothing, having never done one before a month ago.

I think taking protein powder every day (immediately after working out, where possible) is improving my motivation: it doesn't feel like such a struggle to go to the gym before work as it used to.

*True at the time of writing, I did eleven this afternoon.

Haha, it's interesting that your squats are closer in weight to your bench press. The bench and deadlift are pretty impressive to me!

I'm glad you're making steady progress. I've only just started lifting again recently, so I'm making steady progress, too, but the weights are all pretty underwhelming. I squat 185 lbs yesterday, bench of 105 lbs, and barbell rows of 85 lbs. I've been jumping up 10 lbs each workout instead of 5 lbs on bench and squats, and usually barbell rows, too. I might reconsider that for bench later this week.

My main problem is deadlifts. They scare me too much, and they also put me at risk of passing out if I do too many at once. I've got them at the same weight as squats. The squats scare me a little, too. There is some kind of pain in my right hip on each squat that I'm not sure if I'm causing it with my form somehow or what.

Eating all the required protein is way more fun, though. Protein power + water actually tastes good to me. And obviously, I love eating chicken, and I love eating carbs that have some fat in them.

A long time ago I asked on this forum for deadlift advice, and someone linked this video which pointed out numerous things I was doing wrong: bending my knees too much etc. For deadlifting I wear a weightlifting belt and lifting straps. Yesterday my girlfriend pointed out that I may be leaning my head too far back at the top of the lift which could be hurting my shoulders.

With squats, I find the single most important thing is that the barbell should only move up and down: if it's moving forwards and backwards, you're doing something wrong. Maybe film yourself on your phone to make sure.

That deadlifting video was very helpful! I'll have to practice it some more. My hips were too low and I was lifting mainly with my legs; this video confirms that it's supposed to be legs and back, both. I was so paranoid about making my lower back feel anything.

Yes, "Face The Wall" squats helped me realize the form a little better. Your torso is supposed to go down. My problem with squats that I noticed the last couple times is that my right hip is getting pinched. Apparently it's called FAI. I will have to experiment at a lower weight with avoiding it. Taking a comically wide foot angle eliminates it, but I want to see if there's any other way.

Today I'm skipping the gym, though... I'm just gonna do kettlebell swings and kettlebell overhead press today.

You posted this in the week-old wellness thread, not the current one.

That aside, it appears to be a solid plan. I like a 4-day split with running on the other 3 days and yoga where I can fit it in (plus walking and hiking where applicable), but it does end up taking a lot of time.

This past week I discovered that my web browser time is finally dropping.

Here's what worked for me:

  • Remove unnecessary apps (email, maps) and disable notifications.
  • Install the "Lock me out" Android app and set it to block the browser on my phone during work hours (excepting lunch), sleep hours, and on weekends (5 min breaks allowed once an hour in case I need to reference an email, look up directions, or something).
  • Having a (fun) book to read on me at all times.
  • Having Anki on my home screen.

What used to happen was that I would be bored, open the browser on my phone, and get distracted. What happens now is that I get bored, try to access the web browser, get a "5 minute break?" prompt, decide I need to save the break for when I need it, and do Anki reviews instead. I'm finally making a dent in my old flashcard reviews, which I stopped doing religiously around the same time that I got a smartphone. When I get too tired for Anki reviews I will read the book.

The major disadvantage is that my plans are often revolving around getting internet access at key times in the day: I can no longer check email when I'm late on the on the way to work, etc.

Install the "Lock me out" Android app

Could you share the URL? I can't find it on the Google play store.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teqtic.lockmeout&hl=en-US&pli=1

My usage: I have it set to block all browsers / social media from 8:30 to 12:30 and from 14:00 to 17:00, then from 23:00 to 05:00 every night and all day on Saturday and Sunday. I think the free version of the app only allows four block rules. I am gradually increasing the restricted time as my habits improve.

When the Heroes of Olden Era was announced I was apprehensive and concerned, but when they announced that Paul Romero was in it, I got hope. But looking at the demo I was disappointed. I did not expect the return of kick ass ost to carry the game forevermore in the memories of the kid who really loved the game. But for the love of god, Kings Bounty games were way better than this stuff. Yes, I play HoMM3 for stronghold music and early rush behemoths with Crag Hack, sue me.

Somewhat tangential, but for those not aware HOMM3 has the impeccable fan made mod “Horn of the Abyss” that the playerbase has moved over to en-mass. Check it out if you’ve previously enjoyed the game!

What do you do if you don't find enough crystals by 117?

What I don't really like about Heroes 8 is its art direction. The graphics are not bad per se, but the devs made two mistakes:

  • they went too far in trying to harmonize the scale of the overworld map
  • they made the units too color-coded and gribbly

Heroes 3 had the color coding issue with some factions (Inferno was red all over), but they at least had very recognizable silhouettes.

I'm not sure what of any music that Romero actually has composed for the game. The music they've revealed, including the main theme has not been credited to any composer and if Romero composed it I would think they would be loud in their marketing about that.

Furthermore, of the music I've listened to only the menu theme sounds vaguely Romeroish.

I've been dealing lately with grief from the loss of my brother in law (back in December, 10 months already) to alcoholism. It's honestly been pretty hard and I wonder if it'll ever feel ok. Sometimes I'm angry at him for not making better choices. Sometimes I'm sad that we won't hang out any more. Sometimes I'm worried for my wife, for whom this is 10x harder than it is for me (he was her brother, after all). Mostly I just wish that we, his family, could have him back. Fuck alcoholism you guys. It is the worst thing I've ever seen someone go through, including fatal illnesses. I wish that he could've beaten it. :(

I'm sorry to hear about your loss. Roughly how old was he, if you don't mind my asking?

Thanks, and I don't mind. He was 38, which is one of the things I think makes it sting more. 38 isn't super young, but normally he should've had a lot of life still ahead of him.

Yeah, that's about as young as you can be without being middle-aged. Terribly sad.

I wasn’t as close to my brother-in-law as you seem to have been. But I can commiserate with you in your concern for your wife. My wife’s brother’s overdose messed her up pretty bad and even delayed our having kids by an appreciable amount of time.

I made this about me somehow, and I’m sorry. There’s nothing really I can say, and you knew that.

I hope you and your family can find peace. Ours is trying in part by memorializing him with various objects around the mother-in-law’s house.

Thank you. I know what you mean, when my brother in law died my wife was so despondent that she wouldn't even eat. I had to beg and cajole her just to get her to take a few bites of food. Thankfully she is well past the worst of it; she has moments where she feels sad but she is also able to enjoy life more days than not. And I guess in the grand scheme of things a year(ish) isn't so much time that you would expect everyone to be completely back to 100%. It'll just take more time for the wounds to heal, I guess.

I'm sorry to hear about your situation as well. Having had front row seats to watching an addict circle the drain... I wouldn't wish that upon anyone. I think there's something uniquely awful about seeing a good person get their brain hijacked by the addiction, because you know that the original person is in there somewhere, and you want to see them come back out again. Hopefully your wife doesn't blame herself; that is one of the things I have to keep trying to encourage my wife on. Reminding her that she did everything she could, and that she isn't at fault for the choices someone else made. Good luck to you and yours, man... I wish your family a speedy recovery.

In this edition of pissant goals I'm working towards, I'm taking my first step towards my long term plan of finishing a century ride on my bike. I haven't gone much farther than 20mi in a single ride before, so my plan is over the upcoming months to set goals of first a metric half century, then an imperial half century, then a metric century, then a full century.

This weekend I'm going to attempt a metric half, down at the Jersey shore. This was where I had previously done my eponymous five hour marathon to settle a bet, in the early or late off-season the shore is ideal for self-planned endurance events in that it is A) Empty, B) Pretty, C) mild weather-wise, D) Relevant flair there's a Wawa every so often that is open 24 hours a day I think there's seven on my intended 50km route, creating natural aid stations where I can get a drink or a Snickers or a band-aid rather than packing all that stuff in, E) It's easy to convince my wife to go there with me for a couple days, F) Navigation is easy as the barrier islands are very long and narrow with mostly grid-layouts, so as long as you know where the sun or the water is it's pretty much impossible to get lost, and finally for cycling it is F) flat. Worst case scenario and I crash or injure myself, I call my wife to come get me. Best case scenario, I call her to meet me at the end for our brunch reservation in Cape May.

It's funny, because I know that this is a truly irrelevant distance for anyone who is even a modestly serious cyclist, but it is also a reasonable challenge for me in that I haven't attempted a distance this long before. I'm excited to try something I've never done before, with what I find to be the right degree of planning and preparation, which is to say less than most people would recommend but enough that I think I can get it done safely. If I do ok on 35 miles, I might try to do a 50 mile next month, but after that I'll have to spend the winter working on getting faster. I've yet to really fail on endurance anywhere, but I struggle to keep any tempo over ~60 for very long, which limits my ability to climb and go very fast, and I think I'll need to sustain 18mph to credibly finish a century. Any slower than that and I don't think I'll be able to stay in the saddle long enough to finish. Then I'll target a metric century in early spring, and a full century in late spring, or if that doesn't work out this time next year. Or I might actually seek out a real event for a century ride.

I suppose I'll need a new username if I finish, but SevenHourCentury just doesn't sound right.

five hour marathon to settle a bet

What was the bet?

I had a climber friend who was super into endurance running, I was pretty into weightlifting, we were jawing back and forth about which one was harder/more impressive. His argument was that running a marathon was much harder because it took much longer and much more effort, one is destroyed after running a marathon where one is just fine after a 1rm. I argued that a big back squat was more impressive as if you can't squat 300lbs, you just can't squat 300lbs, where if I wanted to run a marathon today I could, it would just take a while, give me enough time and I can travel 26.2 miles on foot today no problem, but if you can't squat 300lbs in the morning you won't squat it in the evening either.*

So this bet formed where I would run a marathon, and then he would attempt a back squat at a weight set as a percentage of the world record equivalent to the percentage of my marathon speed relative to that world record.

He basically thought there was no fucking way I would ever finish a marathon without any training, so he was safe.

Ultimately I did finish the marathon, but he welched and started trying to argue about needing to do the squat as a percentage of the world record at his weight class, which I said was stupid because I didn't get the advantage of running a marathon at the 195lb record. Then that argument kind of ended the thing.

I would say that while I did finish 26.2 miles with no training and just guts, it sucked way worse than I thought it would. So we both kinda had a point.

*My argument ignores the option of breaking the 300lb object into smaller pieces, or needing to run the 26.2 miles per hour at a certain speed to avoid something catching you

Wouldn't your logic on the marathon suggest that I could just squat 50 lbs six times and call it 300? As with a very long walk, I am doing the same amouny of "work" with low weight and high reps.

I mean it depends on the hypothetical scenario, right? You can draw this beer debate up any number of ways. I should note that the argument started with the complaint, more true years ago than it is now, that every white collar office had at least one Marathon Guy who wouldn't shut up about his marathon running, while if one talked about one's squat one was considered a declasse meathead weirdo. My interlocutor argued that a marathon was something you bragged about because it was a real accomplishment that not everyone could do, where a big squat was easy.

If you're in the Big Bad John scenario where your path is blocked by a single large object and you can't break it apart, you need to be able to lift up the beam all at once, breaking it into pieces isn't an option.

Or if I'm rolling in BJJ with someone stronger than me but who has worse cardio, if I don't have sufficient strength to stop him from passing guard and submitting me before he runs out of gas, it doesn't matter how much better my cardio is because he wins before I can outlast him. I need enough strength to stay alive and wear him out so I can take advantage of his lack of conditioning.

To be fair, while I think I won the bet by default, my mind was changed by the end of it, and I'm pretty sure most of what I said leading into the bet was wrong. The actual experience of completing a marathon with no training pretty much disabused me of the notion that it was easy or just a casual thing. I was destroyed afterward, despite the slow speed, my feet and back were killing me afterward, it was days before I was walking normally.

Good luck.

If you don't already own a pair, I highly recommend a good set of cycling bib-shorts at those kinds of distances. Also possibly chamois cream.

Don't underestimate fueling. If you "hit the wall" at hour four of a five hour marathon you only have to survive one more hour. If you "bonk" on hour five of a seven hour century you have to survive for twice as long, and also be lucid enough not to get run over. People have been talking about 60+/-30 g/hour of carbs for such long efforts. The upper end is quite a disgusting amount of sugar to be eating if you are not used to it, so it does require training as well.

I really would like to become less high-strung. Talking to my roommate this morning it seems like we have opposite problems. I have no problem using willpower to actively engage in my desires, but I just can't seem to relax, ever. He can sleep for almost all day and is very chill, but can't seem to motivate himself to do anything that requires effort. Some things I'm thinking about trying.

1). A lot of my anxiety seems to come from open loops (i.e. procrastination). Maybe if I actually finish things I'll manage to decrease how stressed I feel.

2). The amount of open loops seem to come from an inability to say no to others or to my own marginal desires. Need to learn to focus on what counts.

3). Of course technology use doesn't help either. Aiming for less than an hour a day on my phone and seeing if that helps.

I would recommend a notebook for... well, everything. Minor tasks, major tasks, stray thoughts, something funny you saw, a culture war thought you had, a book/music recommendation you saw, something you're grateful for, something you need to order, anything. About an A5 size, but it depends on what you prefer (one that opens flat will be more useable than other kinds). Don't make a fetish of it like the bullet journal weirdos with 13 ink colors and all kinds of formatting. Just get it written down. Portion it off with some tabs for easier organization, but again, the important thing is writing it down.

I have a very good memory and rarely forget things, but find my stress level goes up the more things I'm carrying in my head. When I outsource it to a basic notebook I haul around, it makes life way easier. For example, during the week, I write down everything I want to do over the weekend, and then during the weekend I have my list to work on. Doing a long run turns into the satisfaction of the run itself plus crossing it off the list. Knowing I need to call my Grandma means I know to set time aside. On a weekday evening, I find it easier to avoid some post-work doomscrolling if I know the things I could be doing instead.

You can move from open loop to: put item on list>work on that item at planned time (or when free time pops up)>item finished>cross off item*>less stress. You'll also be able to see all the stuff on your list and balance that against what other people want or your marginal desires. It's powerful to look back at all the crap you've done during the year.

*It's very silly, but don't underestimate the value of getting to cross something off the list. It's almost as satisfying (if not moreso sometimes) than finishing the task itself.

I have a notebook, but need to get better at using it. Maybe something smaller that I can literally fit in my pocket would help me.

Have you tried to do time boxing? It has worked pretty well for me.

I have! The problem is calibrating what is an appropriate time box for a task, especially in lab where I'm not sure how long for example, dissections might take.

I meant more for your free time and all your projects. Relaxing more will probably leave you less high-strung at work as well.

My startup may or may not be falling apart. We've been completely out of money for a bit, and the last fund raise process is almost over with minimal results. We're only waiting to hear back from a few more funds. Darkly funny this all happened right after we signed multiple contracts worth tens of millions. Maybe healthcare just is a cursed industry.

I have an idea for another business. I'm pretty much out of money though. I guess some sort of part time or short term job is in order.

Been losing a lot of progress at the gym while dealing with this. I'm doing my best to damage control the decline.

this is insane, I may know you. We invested in a healthcare startup in Miami that's not doing too hot. Small world.

Maybe healthcare just is a cursed industry.

It absolutely is. So much regulatory burden. Razor thin profit margins that fall and rise with political winds. Failed disrupters (Google, Apple, Microsoft have all entered and left). Outright lies (Theranos).

The deck was stacked against you :/

Maybe healthcare just is a cursed industry.

Unfortunately, it is. High intrinsic costs, high legal costs, usually limited pool of customers. Afaik biomedical startups have the highest failure rates among all categories.

In July, I did my routine vitals checkup, and got some bad news. High glucose levels (110), high HA1C (5.7), abnormal lipids and liver function tests. Of these, the glucose part has been most worrying, since I have genetic predisposition to diabetes duer to family history, and that's not fun. I talked to the doctor and he said basically you can lose weight or we can give you a bunch of pills, your choice. So, I decided to take some measures to reduce my weight and sugar intake and see how much it can more the needle. What I have done:

  • I've been eating pretty cleanly already, but I excluded all added sugar products pretty much completely
  • I stopped all snacking, unless it's nuts, cheese or beef jerky, and only do those 1-2 times a day in small quantities
  • Stopped all sweets altogether (with rare occasional exceptions like birthday, etc.) including no sugary fruit
  • Stopped all high-carb foods - no bread, pasta, etc.
  • No alcohol (again, with rare exceptions like birthday or social occasion with friends - which came out no more than once a month)
  • Made an IF routine where I only eat anything between 10am and 8pm, outside of it I only drink water or tea
  • Exercise routine - at least 3 gym days (15 mins cardio, then 45 mins to an hour resistance training) plus 1hr martial arts 2 times a week
  • In addition to that, walk with the dog 45-1hr daily

This wasn't very hard to maintain - I am missing the sweets a bit, but otherwise I just needed to be a little more organized and regular with what I was already doing. Just required to keep in mind and reminding myself that I need to keep to the routine. It does include eating less varied diet than I used to and forgo some culinary pleasures, but it doesn't become intolerable (fortunately, my wife is a good cook and is very supportive).

This week, after 3 months of this routine, I got the new tests. The glucose is back into acceptable range, HA1C is 5.4 - well within normal range, liver function normal, lipids are still abnormal but much better than before. And I lost 20 pounds. I am happy with the result and plan to continue with the same regimen with another 3 months, and get my weight close to my ideal range (which requires losing another 10-15 pounds). After which I plan to slowly relax the routine and re-introduce some stuff like occasional bread or fruit and see if I can maintain the lower weight while allowing some more tricky items in - my wife is also a good baker, so some temptations are definitely there. So far I'm optimistic about this.

Congratulations! May you be an example for us all!

I do find it funny/trendy when people label "eating a late breakfast" as intermittent fasting.

For me, the important part wasn't the late breakfast - I did it all the time anyway - but the absence of late dinners and snacking. Looks like I got some substantial calories there without even realizing it. I am still not sure whether it's the timing aspect or the fact that snacking had been substantially reduced - because I now rarely feel hungry enough mid-day to snack. But it seems to be efficient and does not require constant attention and exercise of willpower like specialized diets and calorie counting I did before required - which I think was the main reason why I could never maintain them, attention is a limited resource, and I have a lot of better things to spend it on. With this, it's simple - if it's in the timeframe and I am hungry, I eat. If it's not, I don't. I don't bother with calorie counting or anything, and the foods that are in exclusion list just aren't in the house in most parts. If I go out occasionally, I may be tempted to eat something "bad", but that so far doesn't seem to happen frequently enough to matter.

Oh it's absolutely effective for calorie restriction without counting too much or overly punishing yourself in social situations ("I don't eat after 8pm" is an easier thing to explain than "I don't eat a long list of foods based on a logic you may or may not agree with").

I just find it amusing that "skip breakfast and avoid snacking late at night" is like grocery-store-checkout women's magazine tier advice, classic weightwatchers stuff. While "I do intermittent fasting on a strict schedule" is optimization bro Huberman-pilled advice.

I do find it funny/trendy when people label "eating a late breakfast" as intermittent fasting.

Why not? A late breakfast and an early dinner is the easiest form of IF.

Not to critique our Gungan friend, but 8pm isn't an early dinner.

Like, 10am-4pm would probably be the longest window that is really intermittent fasting, and it's more classically 12pm-4pm. Once it gets to 12pm-6pm you're just skipping breakfast and not snacking, any bigger window than that you're barely doing anything unusual.

An 8 hour feeding window is completely standard for IF and may even be superior from a lean mass gains perspective to a 4 hour window.

I've always thought the most common form of IF was 8 hours between the first and the last meal. 10am to 8pm is not really IF, but something like 11am to 7pm should qualify.

you need to understand which part really was / is providing the bulk of benefit.

in general, 5.7 Hb1Ac isn't worrying level. it just means that there is a tendency of insulin resistance. And since muscles are one of the major users of glucose, using them will reduce the resistance (muscles will be hungry for glucose).

  1. Continue the exercise routine (whichever you find sustainable). if there are 3 strength days, then add 2 endurance days (with some form of LSS) or plain walking (>30min), etc (dog walking is a great idea). This will keep your largest muscles (legs) in usage.
  2. continue IF, if you find it sustainable. but if you are doing proper strength training, then not of highest recommendation.

The thing is, my workouts if anything became less intense than I did for the last few years - more emphasis on the resistance training than cardio than before - not related to the weight loss effort, just a coincidence that I switched a month or so prior. But I tried to do diets before (keto, zone, etc.) and it never worked. I mean, if worked for a short while but I was miserable and couldn't sustain it. This regime I think I could sustain pretty much indefinitely if I needed to - though I probably will try to relax some of the limitations if I reach my weight target.

I know 5.7 Hb1Ac is not too bad, but it had been creeping up for a while (and other issues been popping out too) and given my genetics, I'd rather not play with fire here.

My point was the same: opt for something which is sustainable for long. in both exercise and diet styles. Consistency is the key.

You cannot control much of the genetic components. So work around it, in a relaxed manner (less cortisol prone way).

You identified the danger, and the things to (not) do to reduce the danger, and carried out the plan with discipline and got the results you wanted. You can be proud of this. Great work. :)

Made an IF routine where I only eat anything between 10am and 8pm, outside of it I only drink water or tea

When my a1c crept into the prediabetic range, sticking to an eating window of 9 to 5, at least 6 out of 7 days a week fixed me right up. Dropped my a1c by 0.5 after a year. I cut back on a lot of things by virtue of not fucking snacking at night, but didn't cut out alcohol, carbs or sugars entirely.

Speaking of, I should probably get my yearly scheduled soon, make sure things haven't relapsed.

I thought about doing 8/16 IF but that's quite hard to fit in my schedule. Looks like 10/14 is working OK for me so far, and it fits well, but if it becomes not enough I could try to go to 8/16.

Limiting my screen time is a somewhat futile endeavor since I work on a computer, but I do my best to limit phone time. To that end, I recently ordered a bunch of NYT crossword books for something to do with downtime when I don't want to read whatever novel I'm working on.

I've been reminded how much crosswords can drive me crazy. Incomprehensible themes and horrible perversions of the English language are pervasive. I don't mind extreme trivia or obscure words or having to learn the clues and words that seem to appear in every third puzzle, but puzzle authors trying to be cute or clever is annoying.

Crosswords aren’t bad, but if you want downtime games, Sudoku and other logic puzzles are less bound up in authors trying to be clever. Even word searches are fun.

This is part of why I strongly prefer handcrafts to puzzles. I've been enjoying learning to make wire wrapped tumbled stones. My husband is tumbling them, and I am wrapping them.

Yeah, this is why I never got into crosswords either. I think it's like blank poetry or leetcode - in theory there's a big space of possible puzzles, but in practice they're written to conform to very specific formats. Let me know if you find any crossword that isn't like that.

in theory there's a big space of possible puzzles, but in practice they're written to conform to very specific formats.

There are only so many ways to cram a bunch of words together and have them all be actual words. The bigger the grid and the smaller the dead space, the fewer options there are for the possible words. The infinite possibilities start to shrink rapidly.

Aside from that practical limitation, the audience for crossword puzzles apparently loves atrocious answers, so puzzles are written to please them. One I did had the clue "lived like a single man," and the answer was "batchedit." I had never heard that phrase, and it's awful (why does it have a "t" in there when "bachelor" doesn't have one???). I cannot imagine ever hearing someone I know use that phrase. Searching the phrase online, though, and puzzle fanatics can be found screaming in delight at how creative it is. So when puzzles are written to please balloonheads like those, it's no wonder so many puzzles have insufferable clues and answers.

Rex is unimpressed with BATCHED IT.

Ever looked at The Listener crossword in The Times? It makes a cryptic look like a child's word search.

I tried to find an example but I can only find pictures of finished puzzles without the clues. Looks like there are some follow-alongs on YouTube.

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This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

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Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


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