site banner
PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   1264 thread views

Wellness Wednesday for December 3, 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).

3
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

I'm getting back into Kendo after a long absence. Anyone else here practice? Any big changes in the last fifteen or so years to the best practices or equipment that I should be aware of?

Zepbound Diary: 4 Injections In Edition

It didn't seem like there was much appetite for a weekly post on me repeatedly saying "I'm not as hungry anymore" which is pretty understandable. All the same, I figured I'd post the occasional update in here instead, just for my own personal use really. All that said, I'm very pleased to report that I currently (as of about 3 minutes ago) weigh 266.0lbs on the dot. That's a loss of 12lbs in the last 3 weeks. I just used my last 2.5mg pen, and I should be upgrading to 5.0mg next week, which I'm very excited for. Today's injection site was my stomach, and it stung like a sonofabitch. Not excruciating, but definitely unpleasant. I rated it a 4/10 on the app I use, mentally setting the benchmark of 1 as "I can feel discomfort" and 10 as "I am incapacitated by the pain."

At the beginning I was very worried I'd be one of the small number of people for whom this drug had minimal or no effect, or I'd somehow just continue stuffing my face and literally out-eat the drug. Fortunately, this seems damn near impossible for me. I had four chicken strips for lunch today, and even though it was the last day of a cycle, on the lowest dose, I was completely full after eating them.

Not being fat suddenly seems like a realistically achievable goal for the first time in my adult life.

One issue I have when I solve math problems is that I've found that I have two threads going on at once. There's my primary thinking thread where I'm writing the problem out and evaluating it, but there's also another thread going on where I'm "voicing" the numbers and symbols in my head. Like it's just background babble. The problem is I frequently voice the wrong number or symbol and it confuses me into writing the wrong thing down.

I make so many stupid mistakes this way. I can't make it stop. The more I stress about it, the more I concentrate really hard on the problem, the worse it gets.

It's a genuine defect in cognition, IMO.

I kind of thought everyone struggled with this. And that this is what they mean when they say they hate math, but I had a professor point out that he saw I suffered unusually from stupid mistakes like this. It's not common but it's also not rare. He thought the fact that I wrote so big on my scrap paper to try to avoid getting confused was a tell-tale sign.

This isn't holding back my career or anything, but I did start doing mathacademy.com recently for fun and find I'm struggling in this way again.

Anyone know what I'm talking about?

I have not encountered this in the wild before, but it seems plausible as a sort of dyslexia for math.

The bad news is you probably are just slightly wired "wrong." The good news is depending on your age and profession you can probably get by just fine with some combination of compensation and correction. Sort of like how you can have the yips and be unable to throw to first and still be a starting pitcher in the MLB. And with the right training Lester even somehow got over his yips. It seems like you sort of have math yips and write the wrong thing down.

I'm not sure this has been studied thoroughly at all so take this all with a hefty grain of salt, but I do have a couple of suggestions.

The first, is based on the anecdote "It’s as Simple as One, Two, Three…" in the Feynman book What Do You Care What Other People Think? The brief summary is you can count and do another thing at the same time by using "different ways of thinking." For example counting visually so you can use your vocalization to simultaneously talk to someone, or counting using sub-vocalization and visualizing numbers or objects to calculate something else. If you are having problems with accuracy using sub-vocalization test trying to do problems focusing on only using:

  • sub-vocalization
  • visualizing the mathematical operations
  • visualizing the corresponding physical system¹

If one of those has appreciably better accuracy start from there, and slowly add back in the other methods.

Which leads to the second piece of advice, slow down. If there's no time pressure it's fine to spend the time to do all three until your mental models reach consensus. As they say, perfect practice makes perfect. It sounds like you are not in school anymore. Either way, slow down to a pace where you can work with 100% accuracy when practicing. Progressively push this pace, but speed should come naturally with familiarity. In a school situation it's a problem of trading off accuracy and speed on an exam to maximize expected score. Fortunately, this isn't really a common thing that comes up IRL. For computer programing for example, working at 1/2 the rate in lines of code per minute but introducing no bugs is 1000x better than working twice as fast but introducing inscrutable bugs.

¹ Assuming undergraduate level applied math where there is usually a physical analog. RIP if you you're tying to do n-dimensional analytic geometry or some shit.

No.

Then again, I learned the bulk of my math in the 90's. The focus was on endless repetition, to the point where it's practically muscle memory, and not a conscious process at all. This went for basic arithmetic, but also linear algebra, geometry, trigonometry (I'll never forget SOH-CAH-TOA). It applied far less to calculus because there was so much to cover, and far less repetition.

I remember in college I had a Chinese professor who'd had drilled into him how to mentally calculate square roots to 3 decimal places through relentless repetition. We were all amazed the first time we saw him do it, but he demurred heavily.

So I did a 24 hourish fast after Thanksgiving.

I've been doing interval eating, or intermittent fasting for about 2 years now. I try as best I can to get all my eating into a 6-8 hour window at least 5 days out of a week. Basically ever since my doctor looked at my a1c and saw I was just over the line of being prediabetic. Ever since I started the practice, my bloodwork has come back flawless, minus my stubborn LDL. Hopefully that's just from eating 4-6 eggs a day since my wife bought about 20 chickens in the spring. Cut my egg consumption in half. Fingers crossed.

Anyways, the 24 hour fast went pretty OK. I finished my last piece of pie around 6 PM on Thanksgiving day, and then managed to hold off until just after 5 PM the next day to gorge myself on Thanksgiving leftovers. It was a fascinating experience and barely difficult at all.

One thing I think I've realized with the IF is that my metabolism was fucked before. I'd just snack whenever I was a little bit hungry, cause why not I work out? And then I'd wake up in the morning absolutely ravenous and barely able to function until I'd slammed down 3 eggs, a bagel and some yogurt with a pot of black coffee for a chaser. And frankly my energy level throughout the day was bonkers, with that much talked about 2-3 PM slump. Since changing over to IF my energy level has been much more consistent, I don't really get hangry anymore, and my cravings have fallen off a cliff.

What got me thinking about all this is youtube suggested a random video about Ozempic, and it's basically describing many of the same positive side effects. So I'm sitting here thinking, is it really as simple as just not stuffing your fat face every waking moment? Are people so willpower depleted it requires a drug to stop eating?

I think I'm going to do more 24 hour fasts. Maybe once a month for now, and I'll probably go breakfast to breakfast instead of dinner to dinner. That way I can sleep through the worst of it. Or so I believe.

Can I get more specifics about your IF practice? Wondering if this will help me lose weight without experiencing cravings

Sure. My goal is at least Sunday through Thursday sticking to an 8 hour eating window. I have a pretty hearty breakfast, a light lunch, and a large dinner, often with a protein shake if I've been working out. The protein shake seems to go the farthest in terms of nipping cravings in the bud, although starting out there really isn't any getting around them. Took a few weeks for my body to adapt to me not shoving carbs in my face every waking moment.

My goal is to only have one cheat day a week where I snack late or drink whiskey. Sometimes it turns into two. Occasionally three if it's just be an insanely stressful week and for whatever reason no other vice is available. Sometimes I really let myself go those nights, but I guess my body has adapted because now I'm not even slightly hungry until noon or later the next day when I pull a stunt like that.

As far as "without experiencing cravings", I mean, that's going to be subjective. I think IF enormously down regulates how intense and commanding those cravings can be. But I wouldn't say I'm 100% without them either. I think there is a significant biological component to that, but I'm no doctor and for all I know it's just habit and willpower.

But like I said, according to my last physical, my weight hasn't budged. Still about 210# on a 6' frame. But my bloodwork has enormously improved, my energy levels are more consistent, and I haven't lost muscle. Even hit some pretty nice personal bests.

Not sure what sort of specifics you are looking for. Feel free to ask.

Guess I’m curious about the timing. When are you eating these meals?

I have breakfast around 9:30 or so, dinner at 5:00 most often, and lunch around 12:30 or 1:00.

I try as best I can to get all my eating into a 6-8 hour window at least 5 days out of a week.

How do you maintain your weight while doing this? I'm not able to do lunches currently, so I'm having to get everything in at breakfast and dinner, and my weight is dropping. There's only so much I can practically eat, even with drinking lots of whole milk, since I don't like a heavy evening meal.

How do you maintain your weight while doing this?

Easy! I probably still eat too much, and I'm in my 40's. I tend to have a giant breakfast, a light lunch (often leftovers) and then a giant dinner. If I've been working out that week, I have two scoops of protein powder also.

I don't think I've lost a pound doing this, which honestly is a little frustrating, but I haven't been counting calories, so I don't know what else I was expecting. Oh well.

November goals went okay: girl said no, but everything else went well.

December goals

  1. Make space for weekly strength and mobility exercises. Have a five minute stretch routinue in the morning and a 6 minute core routine that I do three times a week. Goal is to get core up to 5x a week and increase the length to 12 minutes (1 hour total) and make room for about 10 minutes of stretching throughout the day. May look for little strengthening activities I can do during work too on breaks.

  2. Getting things done has made me realize that I often don’t prioritize what’s actually important, but rather what I can do quickly to check off the to-do list. Need to work on making a note of the priority of certain things so I actually do them with higher frequency

  3. No more sports nutrition. Not only is it expensive, but it’s probably not healthy. I can fuel long runs and workouts with stuff like watermelon juice and homemade baby food. Save gels for races when it matters.

Not only is it expensive

No kidding. Even buying bulk and when they're on sale, e-gels from Crank Sports are now over $2 each.

I can fuel long runs and workouts with stuff like watermelon juice and homemade baby food

I've been really liking diluted maple syrup with a little salt for this purpose, if you're interested in branching out.

This is a good idea to add to the watermelon juice. I've been finding the watermelon juice to be well too watery. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised: it's in the name.

I'm looking for advice in terms of experience, literature, etc on switching careers due to an unsustainable lack of work-life balance (WLB) in my current job.

Overview and background of my current job:

  • Role: I work as an engineer at a cutthroat manufacturing company and am responsible for multiple machines' performances and operability, i.e., if they aren't working properly then I'm responsible for fixing it. The industry and factory I'm at are notoriously difficult for WLB (which can be seen by the amount of divorcees, overweight, and unhappy people).
  • Hours: I'm technically on call 24/7/365 except when on PTO and generally answer a text or call on weekends. Sometimes things are bad and I work 70-hour weeks, other times things are good and I only work 40-hour weeks.
  • Stress: I get stressed easily because some problems are not easily solvable and there are very few people at the company who can help. It's basically just me, three technicians spread across the week, and another engineer at a different site who have the expertise and knowledge. I'm often on edge scared that something will break or my week or weekend free time will be ruined because of work. My romantic relationship is strained because of the recent craziness in my job.
  • Support/help: I don't get much support from my boss or other engineers. We have a new hire in the group who I was hoping would take over some of my machines, but my boss is positioning him elsewhere despite me making it clear that I'm burnt out and overwhelmed.
  • Pay: My salary is $100k with a yearly bonus of 10-20%, dependent on company performance
  • Fulfillment: I am very fulfilled with my job when the stress is low. I get a lot of autonomy, work on cutting edge tech and interesting projects, and work with very smart people.

Questions for my fellow Mottizens:

  • General thoughts on my situation and career?
  • Have you ever taken a large pay cut for better WLB? Was it worth it?
  • Is working fully remote worth it? I enjoy traveling and remote work seems extremely attractive for visiting family and friends in other cities on a regular basis.
  • The job market appears to be atrocious right now. While I would definitely wait to quit my current role until I had an offer secured, would it be better to weather out the storm in case of layoffs happening soon after I joined another company?

The job market I think is very dependent on industry. I seem to remember that you work as an engineer at a chip-fab? If this is the case, now actually might be a good time to switch jobs because I'm not sure how long the AI boom is going to last. If not, I agree with your last bullet point.

I also wonder about your financial situation. If you have a lot saved, it may be worth it for you to preemptively quit before you get burned out more. Unemployment and/or a placeholder part time job can probably tide you over for a year or two until you find a better position.

What does your communication with your boss look like? Does he/she realize you're on the edge of quitting? This might make a difference in terms of you getting the support you need.

Fully remote is worth a lot. I was able to switch via COVID and I never want to go back.

I've taken minor pay cuts for WLB + actual enjoyment of work, but never a major one (like -25%) one. Always felt worth it, and I made up for the cuts with additional job hopping and career growth. Missed out on one potentially giant payday though.

I think you know what the best path forward is - keep plugging away at your current job, but keep the hunt going on the side. If a new job sounds great, take it. Companies that are hiring are typically less likely to lay you off right away (though yes, it does happen).

Life Status: We're so Back

A while ago I posted that my startup failed. To cut a really long story short, everyone we talked to said no to fundraising. One of my partners went on a longshot campaign to change one specific investor's mind. Against all common sense and expectations it worked. The old dream is back from the dead.

Soon I'll be in San Fransisco for another accelerator. Feels like going to college twice tbh. Down to meet up with any motte bros. Would love advice, lore, suggestions on things to do and places to go. I'll be there for a few months.

I posted earlier about my plan to get a gf via lifting and getting involved in the rave scene. I had a buddy that heard my plan and decided to do it with me, hitting pretty much the same gym days and events. He recently got a girl. I'm taking it as validation that this is a good plan and I just need to stick with it.

I've barely gained any weight, but my body is looking much more defined. I don't feel dissapointed anymore when I look in the mirror. There was a party where all the guys ended up competing doing stuff like pullups, wrestling, etc. I put in a good showing and it felt like all those gym hours were worthwhile.

Advice time:

My squat's stalled around 240 lbs. I've been getting pain in my lower back. I think it's due to me arching it to avoid bending forward. I've tried consciously trying to not, but it hasn't worked. Any tips/tricks/exercises?

Thinking of doing a short run of testosterone while in San Fran to increase my body mass. The idea would be a one time intervention rather that a lifetime thing. Any experiences, thoughts, guidance?

Help. My ass and thighs are getting too powerful and I can't fit into 90% of my jeans anymore. What do?

There was a party where all the guys ended up competing doing stuff like pullups, wrestling, etc.

If your intent is a gf, I have some bad news for you about that party.

My ass and thighs are getting too powerful and I can't fit into 90% of my jeans anymore. What do?

Time to buy new jeans. Either buy oversized and have the waist tailored or buy jeans with some stretch (Barbell or the like).

Congrats bud, that's awesome. And you should definitely buy new jeans.

Also if you're open to help on the sales/marketing front, I might be interested if I like your startup idea. Shoot me a DM if you want.

In the winter months it gets dark here no later than 4:30. My girlfriend was feeling the pinch of seasonal affective disorder more than I was, so we bought a sun lamp. It's about the size of an iPad and sits on your desk.

I cannot believe how effective it is: the impact is (if you'll pardon the pun) night and day. I try to sit in front of it for as little as half an hour (longer if possible) and it makes a huge difference to my mood, energy levels and focus. Well worth the expense if you find yourself feeling run down in winter. Will update with the specific model tomorrow morning.

This is the one we ordered.

Do you sit in front of it in the evening or in the morning?

Generally in the morning.

Yes! I just got two super bright lights and wow they are effective. The energy level and focus is immediately obvious.

This is a good article on it: https://meaningness.com/sad-light-led-lux

So I’m waking up in the middle of the night at 3:30 am again. This is happening almost every night now, and I’m starting to get quite frustrated, as it takes an hour plus to get back to sleep and has significantly reduced my restfulness, leaving me tired and stressed for the next day. I have a couple thoughts on how to maybe tackle this.

  1. Eat more food, but eat most it earlier in the day. This waking up might be hunger related, suggesting I’m maybe under fueling.

  2. Reduce screen time across the board, but cut it out completely for an hour on either side of bed.

  3. Try and reduce stress throughout my day overall. This means lowering expectations for myself, but also actually doing all the work I set out to do.

Any other ideas?

CBTI 101 says "allow yourself fewer hours of sleep until you sleep through the night, then incrementally allow more sleep." This is about as scientifically backed as anything in the soft sciences.

Less importantly, wake up at a consistent time (i.e. decrease sleep via staying up later, so as to have a consistent wake time).

Concretely, get in bed at 11pm, wake up at 7am. If you aren't happy with the sleep quality, 11:15-7. Repeat even if you're getting down to way less sleep than you'd like. Avoid naps.

Free app implementing the idea: https://mobile.va.gov/app/cbt-i-coach

You could try a magnesium supplement shortly before bed. Don't overdo it though, maybe twice a week at most.

I hope this isn't an obvious suggestion but have you tried cutting out caffeine? I once went a month without drinking any caffeinated beverages: the first week was a challenge, but after that I felt no less alert and focused during the day, and slept like a baby through the night.

Avoid drinking anything an hour before bed, just in case you feel the urge to pee during the night.

I don't drink caffeine at all. It makes me shake. I'll try the other two!

Are you getting anywhere close to enough sunlight? I frequently have the same problem at this time of year and it gets worse when it's overcast.

This could be it. I do run in the morning but otherwise I am trapped at work all day.

THC gummies before bed, the Indica ones.

Wear socks and put the temperature quite low! You could also experiment with weighted blankets, I've heard good things.

Lower temperatures make sleep easier, but wouldn't temperatures drop later in the night? Unless he's got his A/C on a timer.

All those things should help.

Also: read the book I recommended to you the last time you worried about your sleep on the forum. This is Natto. It will likely help you. It helped me a lot.

Just bought! Will report back with results.

You might also consider adjusting the temperature at night in your bedroom if it isn't already in the 60°-65° F range. It sounds cold (and it is, so you'll need plenty of blankets) but since I've done this I wake up less frequently during the night, fall back asleep more quickly when I do wake up and have all but cured my early-morning insomnia. I don't have any high-quality sources for this. I just picked it up from a random youtube video.

I think I finally figured out deadlifts. I just wasn't bracing my core. Now there's basically no lower back stress. Glad I figured that out before I put too much more weight on the barbell...

Yesterday, I decided to walk at an incline on the treadmill while I self-consciously consumed Japanese comprehensible input, targeting a 150 BPM. About an hour and 15 minutes in, I hit "the wall" that I usually feel when exerting myself more while running: everything felt more difficult, I started having to exhale using my mouth despite my BPM remaining the same, and I kept looking at how much time I had left on the videos I had selected. I had thought I was indefatigable while walking, but evidently not. Is there utility in training walking for a long time like that? And is there utility in persisting past "the wall"? Is "the wall" just glycogen depletion, or something else?

I had thought I was indefatigable while walking, but evidently not. Is there utility in training walking for a long time like that?

If you want to be able to walk for a long time, for sure. I do think there is an intensity of endurance exercise low enough that we can reasonably ask whether it's doing anything (though e.g. Ed Coyle's papers on exercise resistance suggest that the answer is probably still "yes, it is doing something", and, less robustly, a wide variety of anecdotal experience agrees), but walking on an incline with an HR of 150bpm is almost certainly quite a bit above that minimum for you.

And is there utility in persisting past "the wall"? Is "the wall" just glycogen depletion, or something else?

I'm not here to police anyone's idiolect, but I don't think this is what people typically call "hitting the wall" (for instance, mile ~22 of a competitive marathon.). In addition to the other suggestions, if you were indoors and didn't have a bigass fan or two pointed directly at you, I suspect heat was playing a role.

The wall is glycogen depletion. Either a fueling issue or an ability to burn fat issue. You shouldn’t be hitting the wall that early if you are eating normally which suggest to me that you are probably going too hard (150 bpm could be a threshold effort) or are heavily glycolytic.

I just did some more reading. Dehydration might have had something to do with it. I didn't bring my water, but I'll definitely remember it next time. Thanks for the answer. But what about my other question? Do you ever train past "the wall"?

Edit: huh, seems like most people describe "the wall" as being more severe, like your legs give out or something. That wasn't how it was for me, it just felt slightly more difficult to continue. I think I just need to train more

Sometimes pros will train carb depleted but usually that’s easy running. It’s pretty bad to train past the wall because it increases recovery time significantly, meaning you get less training in in a week.

If you can afford it, I would recommend a vo2 Max test or lactate test. I can help you analyze it if you do it. This will tell you what your substrate utilization actually is at various intensities.

I think I asked this question here a couple of years ago, but at the time I didn't act on the information I received and I can't find the thread now.

I'm looking for good loungewear/use-at-home pants (for men) without synthetics/microplastics. They need to be comfy. And the price should match the quality/longevity of the item. If the price is high, fine, but I want value for money. Bonus points if it doesn't make you look like a huge slob if you wear them for a quick trip to the nearest store.

Lucky makes some 100% cotton jeans. I forget which series I have, but they are soft enough to be comfortable around the house (but not as soft as premium jeans with some elastane, which you wish to avoid) and tough enough to be more durable and long-lasting than premium jeans (but not tough enough to survive a bunch of hard outdoors work). They certainly look good enough to make trips to stores or dinner.

I don't think I want to be wearing jeans most of the time at home. Maybe sometimes. It's best if the loungewear can also be used for my exercise. Exercise clothes are like 100% synthetic. It sucks.

I think I asked this question here a couple of years ago

I think I answered this question before. Both of these are good quality, made in USA, I've owned the products for a while with no issues.

Los Angeles Apparel makes a lot of good stuff. These are my preferred casual pants. They get stretch from the weave rather than from spandex. They also make good thick sweatpants, if anything they are too thick to be comfortable in some cases.

Alternatively, American Giant makes superlatively good, if comparatively overpriced sweatpants.

I'll keep an eye out for those LAA pants when they come back in stock. Thanks!

https://losangelesapparel.net/collections/men-pants/products/1205wgd-mens-heavy-jersey-wide-garment-dyed-casual-pant?option_values=3315598426291%2C3093875130547&variant=44710916817075

I think these are the same thing but looser, they appear to have discontinued the one I have.

What is this place?

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.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


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.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats