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PaperclipPerfector  19d ago (text post)   1272 thread views

Wellness Wednesday for July 29, 2026

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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Tirzepatide, a potion of regeneration for me

On the recommendation of posters here at the Motte erwgv3g34 / solowingpixy to read this useful article, my health has shown great improvement only 3 weeks in.

After reading the Cremieux Recueil article, I immediately wanted to get some retatrutide. However, buying peptides directly, mixing it with bacteriostatic water, then injecting it seemed too daunting for me, a person completely unfamiliar to self-administered injections. I compromised by settling for compounded tirzepatide premixed vials, which is what I'm using now. Compared to the retail monthly price, I'm paying exactly 1.67% of the uninsured cash price at my current dosage, making it extremely affordable.

The benefits? I've lost about a pound per week with mild to moderate hunger suppression. My blood sugar feels more stable. I'm current taking a low dose of 2.0mg weekly, which is lower that the recommended starting dose of 2.5mg. I was concerned about side effects as a tested borderline type 2 diabetic, so I thought it was best to go low and slow. Personally, I feel no serious side effects - the only annoying thing is that my body is warmer at night - probably from increased metabolism.

The greatest, most unexpected benefit is that I think my skin is regenerating. Yes, you heard that right. I've long had skin tags in my armpit. Last month, before starting any tirzepatide, I grew a new annoying skin tag on my neck making it difficult to shave. My dad has the same issue with skin tags, and he warned me not to attempt cutting them off as from his personal experience they would bleed profusely and then grow back. My dad's dermatologist warned him from trying to remove any further skin tags.

Well guess what, the new neck skin tag fell off after the second dose of tirzepatide, and healed fully without a scar by the third week. I thought that might just be a coincidence with my tirzepatide dose, but I decided to keep a close watch on the skin tags in my armpit. There are two skin tags there that have been bothering me for at least 10 years.

I just took a shower one hour ago and I noticed a black ball in my armpit hair while washing, that I quickly recognized as dead, shed-off skin. I am ecstatic. The top skin tag in my armpit has shriveled up and left a tiny bump. The lower armpit skin tag remains, but it looks like it is getting both longer and thinner. If anyone told me that tirzepatide had a chance to remove skin tags, I would have taken it for this benefit alone.

Will report on my health in a few more weeks. For me, I don't see a need to get retatrutide now as tirzepatide already seems to be very effective and cheap.

Asking for a friend. Well, literally, asking for advice in helping out a friend, although I am being a bit loose on the details for privacy reasons.

I have a longstanding friend from childhood who is still part of my regular friend group. We play games regularly, and despite having scattered to the winds after high school, we still see each other a few times a year in person. The rest of us have gotten jobs and established ourselves, but this friend is probably best described as somewhat Bohemian in comparison. I know he's used alcohol (not unusual) and marijuana (I'm less familiar with, personally) off and on, but nothing too much harder to my knowledge.

There have been a couple of minor incidents in the last couple years that I've considered cause for concern. I know he's been checked into a hospital for mental health reasons (I haven't asked for specific details), and I've heard him make some comments that seem, at least from my perspective, somewhat paranoid: it's not impossible he rubs people the wrong way sometimes, but I don't think a bartender somewhere he's not a regular has it out for him.

Given my own (IMO quite fortunate) lack of experience with modern mental health care, what should I be doing as a friend to encourage positive outcomes here? This isn't an acute concern with a specific incident, just a recognition that I'm pretty far outside of my expertise here and I value my friends' long-term success and happiness.

I don't know what exact comments he's been making, but the example you give isn't worrying at all. Bar workers absolutely do take dislikes to people all the time, and maybe your friend was an annoying drunk one night. Now, "this bartender is out to get me" would be worrying, but complaining to your friends about a bartender who's probably complaining to his coworkers about you is normal, if petty.

One evening this week I drank 2 16oz bottles of regular sprite thinking it was sugar free version. Woke up the next day feeling like a train ran me over. Incredible how much of an impact something so minor has, genuinely felt sluggish the whole day.

I don’t think I’ll ever experience this kind of thing. At work I tend to drink between 3-8 bottles of Mountain Dew every day, and then drink additional soda outside of work. Never had a problem with it. No headaches, caffeine doesn’t seem to do anything for me at all.

All you gotta do is drop the habit for a few months, you'll definitely be able to feel it. I used to have consistently poor sleep for years and never fully felt like it was affecting me. Now, I've finally found a routine that works for me and I can feel the difference 1 night of poor sleep makes. You just get used to feeling shit everyday, it becomes the new normal pretty quick.

I guess it's a testament to how far food science has come if you weren't immediately aware that it wasn't sugar free.

I definitely tasted the sugar but didn't connect 2 and 2 together because I was already set on thinking that it was sugar free version in the moment. Only noticed the label when I was throwing the bottles away. Don't drink soda enough to realize the only noticeable difference is bottle cap color.

A large proportion of the population have a fairly limited sense of smell and taste. Most aren't even aware.

After moving to Japan and living several years, I returned to the US briefly and many foods that had once been part of my routine diet had become nearly unpalatably sweet. A full can of Cola at this point in my life is distastefully cloying. A Krispy Kreme doughnut and it's like I can feel my insulin levels cranking to 11. I think we get used to our diet like our surroundings. The way you drive down your childhood street after a decade away and suddenly notice everything, while when you lived there you drove through automatically without noticing anything or even feeling aware of the drive. Tastes must be similar. Probably.

Was it equally difficult to become acclimated to the heavy seafood diet over there?

Yes and no. I used to detect a fish taste in everything. I wasn't wrong -- bonito (katsuo) and dashi powder are ingredients in many, many unexpected foods. I did get used to this and barely notice it if at all now.

No in that I have never really liked fish and still don't eat it unless decorum demands it (i.e. I am at someone's home or there is a dinner somewhere out and I am a guest, etc.) I never choose fish if I have a choice. The less said about things like mentaiko and namako the better. As has been noticed before on this very board, yes it is a waste. Everyone I know likes Japanese food better than I do.

Zepbound Diaries: 36 Shots in Edition

Sex: Male
Age: 29
Height: 71.25"
Starting Weight: 278.0lbs
Goal Weight: 200lbs
Starting BMI: 38.8

Officially no longer obese! Not a ton to add to my previous edition other than the nausea, while it has subsided somewhat, is still ever-present. Occasionally I'll be chilling at my desk at home and be overtaken by a sudden need to vomit, which is unpleasant but fuck it. I'm officially 204.8lbs as of last Friday (my weigh-in days are Fridays) and I'm hoping to be around 203 in two days. We'll see. I passed out of Obese Class I into merely Overweight without even really noticing it. While acknowledging that BMI is not a truly useful measurement for the individual, it's still a pleasant milestone.

I look slimmer for certain, and feel significantly better, but I no longer feel like 200lbs is going to cut it for me. I still have a fairly noticeable paunch, and while I'm much more confident and in need of a new wardrobe, or at least some aggressive tailoring, (I put on a suit jacket the other day from when I was around 300lbs and felt like I was wearing a tent) I think 180 is a much more reasonable goal weight. Maybe 190 depending on how things shake out. I will note that 180 is still techncially "overweight" for my height, but being below 200lbs is essentially a foreign concept to me. When I originally started on Zepbound all the way back in November (has it really only been 8 months?) I said I wasn't sure what I wanted my ultimate goal weight to be. I certainly didn't think I'd have to be making any adjustments this soon, but talk about good problems to have.

I still have not noticed any appreciable sagging or loose skin, leading me to cross my fingers and knock on wood that such will continue until I hit a more reasonable weight. I would like to start building some more muscle and working on body comp, and have selected the Starting Strength program based on the /fit/ sticky recommendation. Yes really, 4chan. Why 4chan? Because the wiki is actually pretty useful and well written. I'm not at the point (I think) where tracking macros and worrying about protein intake is something to consider, but open to suggestions on that.

So to recap:

Sex: Male
Age: 29
Height: 71.25"
Starting Weight: 278.0lbs
Current Weight: 204.8lbs
Goal Weight: 200lbs 180lbs(?)
Starting BMI: 38.8
Current BMI: 28.6

Congrats on your achievement, this is great! We are almost the same height, and I've been hovering around 200-210 lbs for a while now, after going down from 230+, and I still feel like I probably need to go at least 10 down. I just did diet + IF, no meds though. It's not easy to keep consistent that way. I don't look "fat" but definitely have some noticeable extra around the belly. Note though if you start to seriously work out with weights, your muscle weight would go up, so it may make sense to start tracking body fat percentage and such, BMI won't really be a good tool I think. I think if you get to 180 while getting some muscle you'd be in an awesome shape, but probably 190 should be fine too.

Second the advice about getting a PT at least for start, to establish the form, especially if you haven't seriously exercised before. And use a tracking app (or just a spreadsheet, doesn't matter really), seeing how you can lift more than last year (no matter what the number is, just that it goes up) really helps keep the motivation going.

Good job! Keep it up!

Congrats. I would add, in addition to my other comment down below, that the best habit is to keep a diary of all your lifts. The gym habit gets harder the older you get and the more you have friends who want to go out, get a few drinks, family occasions, work nights, social pressures, etc. etc. etc. But with a diary it's really easy to measure your progress and keep motivated and know exactly what you need to do. I would even suggest going pencil and paper and leaving your phone in your locker -- your workouts will be much faster and higher-quality this way.

Oh, one other thing, if you're really serious, hire a PT for a few sessions. 4 or 5 spread out over a month, just someone to show you the form and check-in on your progress every week or so. Nothing super expensive. My parents did this for me when I started lifting and it gave me the confidence that I wasn't going to injure myself deadlifting or squatting. It was very useful for both practical reasons and for getting over the psychological barrier that I could be doing something wrong.

Appreciate it, and a PT might be a good idea. I do have some weightlifting experience but it has uh... been a while. So probably a good idea to make sure I'm not doing anything stupid. Alternatively I work with some people in pretty good shape so might see if I can just get one of them to join me for workouts for a bit.

Good work. I don't know, but I think if you don't have any sagging skin now, it's unlikely you'll have any in another 4 or 5 BMI lost.

I did Stronglifts earlier this year. My recommendation is to go ahead and try to follow the routine, but if at any point you get tired of it, feel free to switch to a different one, or forget about the gym and do weights at home. Whatever it takes to make the effort easiest for yourself.

Congrats! That's a tremendous accomplishment. I don't have much to add but will note that I've heard Starting Strength's recommended set/rep count (5x5) is off and fewer sets is better. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable can chime in.

I think it's best to just do the Starting Strength program. It's fine for beginners (and even intermediate lifters), and introducing changes encourages more changes. In fact, after ~12 years of lifting, I would say that getting really good at a few compound lifts is the best way to gain strength and muscle. Most other programs that exist are really a waste of time and are meant primarily to give fitfluencers something to sell you. The only change I would tell my younger self is to do regular kettlebell work to get that all-over toned fat-burning look that everyone really wants.

New Year's resolution check-in:

How goes it @self_made_human, @thejdizzler, @birb_cromble, @ThomasdelVasto and @falling-star?

The injured thumb mostly precluded anything intensive. But I've spent the week on the move, fucking around in Edinburgh and Glasgow till my new shoes gave me blisters.

  1. Work. Back from Europe. Excited and motivated to wrap up the end of my PhD. Job interview in Germany went well, and have another one here in Baltimore in two weeks. Will probably make a bigger post on wellness Wednesday in a few weeks about my decision to get your guys' advice.
  2. Fitness: Mileage was fairly low over the course of the trip (43,43,51). Hoping for 55 this week. Came back to a nice surprise: I've lost 5-7 pounds, which is about ~50% of all the weight I wanted to lose. Unfortunately I currently feel terrible because of the jet lag, but I'm sure I will recover soon. 11 weeks until Chicago.
  3. Intellectual stuff: reading Foundation for philosophy book club and enjoying it. Actually got a lot of Spanish practice on the trip, and thinking I should preemptively switch my L3 focus from Italian to German. Otherwise am starting a few economics books (Great Crash 1929, Pocket Picketty) which I am excited about, as this is an area of weakness for me.
  4. Finances: work covered most of my trip-related expenses. I also got an unexpected $2k from a student loan law suit, my salary got bumped by about $150/month, and I earned about $500 in interest/dividends from my investments. So actually ended up being an incredibly positive (35+% savings rate) month. Thinking about giving 10% of my net savings each month away (either in the form of paying for substack subscriptions or increasing the amount I donate to my income sharing club), so would also appreciate any thoughts on this.
  5. Dating. Nothing. In too much of a liminal space in terms of careers to dedicate much time to this now.
  6. Tarot. Will have a session this weekend!
  7. Socializing: Was very social my first few days in Germany. Haven't done anything since I got back, but hard to do so when I crash at about 7:30 pm.
  8. Screen time: 3 hours, but makes sense given travel!
  9. Meditation: 5 minutes 3x last week. Hoping for every day this week.

Came back to a nice surprise: I've lost 5-7 pounds, which is about ~50% of all the weight I wanted to lose

That's a surprisingly common refrain I've heard from people who have gone to Europe for a few weeks. I wonder if there's something about the food, or if something about the culture causes people to be more active.

I don't think the destination is the most relevant part. Going on vacation tends to make you lose weight by being more physically active.

I'm not entirely sure about that. Maybe it's a cultural thing, but a lot of people I know tend to eat their way through vacations. Mexico seems to be the worst for that, for some reason.

The food is really good, really cheap, and you drink soda instead of water.

That tracks. I can destroy some Mexican food.

And by Newton's third law...

Real talk - I got my laws mixed up and thought you were suggesting I'd shit my pants so hard I took off like a rocket.

I think it's a combination of smaller portion sizes, and walking about 25k steps/day. Walking is much more pleasant and feasible in Europe, so I tended to do it more than here.

Thinking about giving 10% of my net savings each month away (either in the form of paying for substack subscriptions or increasing the amount I donate to my income sharing club), so would also appreciate any thoughts on this.

You're more than welcome to become a paid subscriber to me if you like!

I think I will once your comp ends! Your posts are very high quality and I appreciate them a lot.

Spending is $3,091.81 less than the same day last year. The weather is still holding up the last big expense I have pending, which is frustrating for a couple of reasons.

I keep reminding myself even if I do end up behind where I was last year, it's not that bad. My expenses this year aren't discretionary like they were last year (mostly medical and home repairs), and even if they were, my personal savings rate is around 50% YTD if I go by the federal definition. Even if I don't hit my goal, I'm still seeing benefits.

Thanks for checking in!!! Things are going well, not doing porn and going to gym. Got some crazy life stuff going on but I'm excited.

As of this morning, I'm down 5kg from my starting weight. Good start after a bit over two weeks. I'm not finding it too challenging, aside from some brain fog.

How?

Previous discussion. Most days I only eat one meal, consisting of air-fried chicken breast, boiled broccoli and a large portion of brown rice.

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