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PaperclipPerfector  11d ago (text post)   1257 thread views

Wellness Wednesday for August 26, 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:

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You know, I think people really undersell how much stepping on a dirty rusty nail sticking out of a board in the woods sucks.

First there is the moment of panic after the first moments of pain. You just pray what you felt was "pressure" as Dentist might say, and that the skin isn't broken. You rip off your shoe and sock and your heart sinks into your colon when you see blood. Actually kind of a lot of blood.

So off to the ER for a tetatnus booster and antibiotics to fight the infection you are 100% going to get. ER doesn't want to at first because some illegal probably used your social and the system thinks you got like 8 different shots, including a tetanus booster back in April. They acquiesce, but it's fucking weird. Waste a whole ass Sunday you had to catch up on the honey-do list that grows and embitters faster than you can keep up.

You don't sleep at all because the infection is setting in and throbbing all night long. Monday afternoon all your toes are swollen and red. You are two doses into your antibiotic course. Apparently you give it 48 to 72 hours to see how it goes.

And that's the story so far. Really do not recommend it.

Happened to me once but didn't get infected. Never had an injury go bad when barefoot walking either. Got lucky so far I guess.

Get well soon!

Shit craic pal. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Relatu

EDIT: lol just found this. I have no idea what was going on. Maybe I fell asleep mid post.

Due to my father's illness, most of my available time has been spent traveling to and from his home. As a result, I've absolutely been eating like shit for several months, and it's starting to catch up to me.

Do you have any recommendations for gas station/convenience store/hospital cafeteria food that might be less bad? I try to meal prep and pack ahead, but it's not something I can do all the time.

Depending on your route, you can stop at a grocery store and get a ready-to-eat meal in not too much more time than fast food. My go-to was half a giant sandwich and a bottle of pop. It was healthier, more filling, and less expensive than a burger (and I know I'm setting the bar low).

Do you have any recommendations for gas station/convenience store/hospital cafeteria food that might be less bad?

I'm guessing the bad here means lots of high energy convenience food plus very little opportunity to do the exercise necessary to mitigate the badness.

Not to sound very cliche and I feel like a ditto head even mentioning it but try minimizing simple carb intake. They're high energy and not very satiating so they can promote weight gain, but they also spike your blood sugar and if you're not working hard it leads to insulin resistance. If a Big Mac is your only option try removing the bun kind of stuff.

Sorry to hear about your father's illness. If you don't have the opportunity to eat well, to avoid deficiencies I'd at least recommend supplementing Vitamin D3, Vitamin K2, Magnesium, Vitamin C and maybe a B Complex. Vitamin D might not be necessary if it's summertime where you live and you get enough sunshine. These should help with the effects of stress.

Some basic nutritious foods you could try if you don't have much time would be microwaved baked potatoes (wash and poke a few holes in each side of a large potato and cook for about 8 minutes depending on how large the potato actually is), canned sardines or mackerel (I find the ones that come canned in tomato sauce pretty tasty), canned oysters once a week for zinc, bananas and coconut water for potassium, hardboiled eggs that you can make once and eat throughout the week.

Not sure if they have them at convenience stores or gas stations but salads with olive oil and vinegar could make for a quick nutritious meal. You might be able to find a place that does take out salads near you.

Hope this helps.

If you can tolerate the taste and texture, and are price-insensitive, I maintain that Huel Black isn't a bad option. I find a brand-name BlenderBottle works better than the one they "give you" with your first order. A real blender or stick blender better than either, but not as on-the-go friendly. You probably want to chew something at some point, and I wouldn't recommend it being your primary "food" for enjoyment of eating. But if you don't have time, it can sustain you essentially indefinitely, as far as I can tell.

It looks like huel black isn't too expensive compared to gas station food, and I could probably keep it in my car.

What separates it from standard protein powder? The fiber?

I could probably keep it in my car.

Yeah, that's the con-ops I had in mind. Unfortunately, it looks like the single-serve pack is out of stock, but the big bags keep fine if they are dry. Shaker bottles are sufficiently cheap that you can keep a couple of spares with the powder. DO NOT let a used shaker fester for prolonged periods in the car after use.

What separates it

Technically, it's a meal substitute rather than a protein supplement. Again, not really endorsed, but it's nutritionally complete enough that you can probably survive on it indefinitely without a critical nutritional deficiency showing up. Do not do this if you are not used to the fiber load. If you are using it as intended, as an on-the-go replacement/desperation food, I think the Black Edition macros are slightly preferable for feeling "healthy." Original is marginally cheaper and tastes better, but the macros are not amazing if you are already eating a bunch of carb/fat-heavy convenience foods.

Go for less processed foods. Rule of thumb: Shorter expiration dates (when comparing within a category). Fresh fruits, plain cashews and other nuts if you don't have allergies, whole eggs, chickpea snacks, unsweetened beverages, greek yoghurt, protein shakes, peanut butter on whole grain things. Avoid eating too much dried fruits (they're often packed with sugar through processing, and in any case, bad for digestion in large amounts).

I think meal prepping is probably a waste of time, a lot of the time. Why not just buy mixed nuts (or cashews or almonds or whichever one you prefer) and your favorite fruit? Harder to get easy vegetables, but nuts and fruits are healthy enough and pretty easy. You could do edamame for protein, or protein bars, or the occasional rotisserie chicken.

Do you have any recommendations for gas station/convenience store/hospital cafeteria food that might be less bad? I try to meal prep and pack ahead, but it's not something I can do all the time.

Might depend on region, but sandwiches could be your best bet (if you're in Wawa territory, hoagies are the way to go)? Meat, bread, vegetables; or tuna salad? Try and go for light on the mayo/sauce? Or maybe some of the superfood smoothies as a grab & go?

That's not a bad idea. There are a lot of Wawas and Wawa competitors on my route.

My biggest issue is I walk inside and grab the first food-shaped-object that I see.

I saw some bro science post on X a few days ago making some grandiose claims about how sprinting had excellent health benefits, building musculature and something something increasing testosterone. I stopped scrolling and realized that I probably haven't done an all-out sprint in over a decade. Jogging, trail running, weights, calisthenics, I do all of the above on the regular, but then I figured that sustained cardio at 80% capacity is probably very different from running full-throttle until you have no energy left. Alright, you got me, we'll switch things up and try sprinting this week for the heck of it.

After a moderate warm-up, I did a couple sets of sprints. I didn't have a stopwatch so I can't say how long I lasted, but I would be surprised if it was longer than 20 seconds each run. After I got up to full speed, my arms and legs felt like they were on autopilot trying to get me to go as fast as I could. Like long-distance running, I felt like my attention was focused on monitoring my body to prevent it from injury than the act of running itself.

The next day, I was surprised to feel a mild but pleasant soreness all over in my body that I had never felt before. I hope to do more of these soon. For those with the mobility to do so, I'd recommend incorporating it into your workouts.

You can absolutely hurt yourself sprinting in a way that you can't from distance running. My running club definitely sees an uptick in injuries during track work cycles. Be sure to build in plenty of rest and don't escalate too quickly.

Lots of running training literature encourages "strides", which are a lot like what you're describing. I'm not sure I'd start with 20 seconds, but it's within the range. Often they encourage only going, say, 95% of all-out to minimize injury risk.

Sprints are incredibly good workouts but not a good starting point for sedentary people just restarting exercising, like me. They are strenuous enough to cause injury to unhealthy people, unlike a slow jog or brisk walk. Back when I did them it was sprint 15 seconds at 90% of maximum ability then rest 45 seconds at a 10% walk, for 5 consecutive sets.

New Year's resolution check-in:

  • Went to the gym three times last week and again yesterday evening. There's obviously something wrong with my squat form: the last two times I did squats, my lower back gave me hell that night. Last night was no exception, and it's still quite stiff this morning. Will have to drop down to a lower weight to correct my form. I can deadlift 1.82x my bodyweight, squat 1.33x and bench press 0.77x.
  • Have not consumed any pornography since waking up on January 1st.

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

Why not take a break from legs and focus on some bro circuits for a few weeks? Much better for aesthetics and your bench press numbers could use some work.

I think I'll probably have to do that until I'm recovered.

The last two times I did squats, my lower back gave me hell that night.

Do you use a belt? Don't forget the third rule of strength training:

  • If something hurts from what you are doing, don't question your form; hold your body together with bits of supportive equipment.

I see @ratherblather already suggested hack squats. Belt squats can also be good, especially if you have back pain. As long as you can find one where the range of motion is not ass.

Yes, I use a belt. Maybe it's too loose for me.

Could be, or you're not breathing "under it" enough. Or you're wearing it too low and it's acting like a hinge. Or it's a mobility problem, and you have excessive butt wink in the hole. Hard to say without looking at it in person.

I hate to endorse it because I think the term is poorly defined, but training "core" really can help your squat and deadlift. I know the force curve is backward, and some people hate it, but I like the reverse hyper. GHD or Roman chair isn't bad. Dragon flags and hanging leg raises are my preferred options for the other side.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm wondering if maybe the belt is too loose and it's not providing enough support. I think I should probably ask one of the personal trainers for advice.

A week that's oscillated between manageable and hellish. I'm bone tired and it's only a Wednesday. No exercise that isn't my glutes getting a hell of a workout.

There's very cheery signage by the hospital stairs stating: "taking the stairs is free exercise!". When I've gone up and down multiple levels half a dozen times in a day, I've never been more motivated to engage in vandalism.

The good news is that I've gone from unbearably stressed to only mildly stressed but very harassed and put upon. I've been stuck late multiple days to clean up other people's messes, and my juniors have sometimes overenthusiastically multiplied our workload. I have refrained from yelling at them, I've just sighed bitterly and cast a mildly disappointed glance before telling them what they should have done. The fact that all of us ended up stuck over an hour late to fix things was all the punishment anyone needed.

On a meta note I am impressed that we are continuing to do these nearly 8 months into the year!

  1. Work: Quantifying images this week which I find to be extremely tedious. Accepted the position to start in May, so have a firm deadline to graduate, which is nice.
  2. Fitness. Another week another 63 miles. Weight is dropping slight (at 166 again) which is good. Feeling prepared for the marathon. Hours: 8.1 running, 1 swimming.
  3. Intellectual stuff: Started reading Lenin, finished Feast and two of my Spanish books. Hoping to get one more good blog post in this month. Spanish Immersion hours last week: 6.** Blog posts this month**: 2
  4. Finances: No ZIM divvy, but will definitely be below 4k for this month. Beginning to house hunt in Baltimore. Monthly spending so far: 3657.
  5. Dating. Second date sunday, have a third date coming up with the same girl on Thursday at my house! Really want to completely quit porn and masturbation and I think this potential relationship is giving the motivation to actually do so.
  6. Tarot. Discussed my old roommates romantic life, and how I should wrap up my PhD.
  7. Socializing: Long run with my friend Jeff on saturday, potluck later that day, and helping new roommate move in last week.
  8. Screen time: 1.9 hours. Too much scrolling.
  9. Meditation: 5 minutes 3x last week. Would like to make this more of a priority.

Sorry if you answered this already but what's your deadlift progression like? I'm at 1.6x body weight and had to really fight to get it off the ground for the last workout. I do 3 sets of 5, once a week. Should I back off to 85% and climb back up? Should I add a high rep lower weight workout mid week?

I used to do a fixed number of reps, but now I just do five sets and rep til failure each time. (There have absolutely been days where I couldn't do all five sets.) My progress has been much faster using this method. I only do five strength training exercises (deadlift, bench press, squat, overhead press, pullup) and aim to do three each time I go to the gym, meaning I should be doing each of those exercises twice a week.

There's no point deloading and doing the same thing again. You need to do more to push past a plateau, whether that's more reps and sets at lower weight, more accessory work, or more sets at higher weight. Periodization is the typical approach once trainees can't increase the weight every workout.

Out of curiosity, does your gym have a hack squat machine? I know they get some flack because they're less of a "compound" lift, but they are substantially more gentle on the back from my experience.

My old gym did, but I don't think my current gym does.

Spending is $1,806.68 lower than the same day last year. I had to visit the urgent care yesterday and that put a dent in my savings.

Some urgent care needs can be treated very cheaply with telemedicine, but only if you have a sporadic need that you are aware of so you can explain it to the physician. Like a course of antibiotics for a UTI. This is good cost savings when you have a high deductible health plan paired with an HSA.

Unfortunately this was a brand new and extremely weird issue, so I had to show up in person for X-rays.

My condolences. New issues + X-rays is probably stressful even if only benign things show up.

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