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PaperclipPerfector  5mo ago (text post)   2333 thread views

Wellness Wednesday for November 15, 2023

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'm about 20-25% body fat and really need to lose some weight. I love all kinds of unhealthy food and crave them often. I just started intermittent fasting again.

Does The Motte have any tips to share for successfully making permanent diet changes? Psychological/mental advice is especially welcome.

How do you calculate body fat as a layman, I’ve never been sure how people are so certain without those high level tools like water displacement / hydrostatic weighing etc.

Skinfold measurements at a few sites get you pretty close with the right formula. May need a friend to help you take them though.

Smart scales. They are wildly inaccurate, but you don't need super high precision if you're not a bodybuilder.

You caught me, I actually don't know my precise percentage. I Googled "body fat percentage comparison" and looked at a few charts, then looked in the mirror and eyeballed it. Actually measuring to get a more precise percentage seems like a hassle and like it wouldn't actually be terribly useful information.

My experience is that those pictures are kinda dumb and bf% can have a lot of different appearances based on age, genetics, bodily condition, etc. So take it with a big grain of salt.

In any case i think screye's post is very good. Ill add that for me, its about focusing on protein. I dont elimate fats or carbs, because fats are needed and i personally get miserable on no carbs, but i only make meals that prioritize meat. This keeps me full and happy on fewer calories. I have an instant pot (which i adore and recommend) that i make meaty stews in. Ill eat this with just enough carbohydrate to make me feel good. Nice thing about this approach is you can control the carb input depending on your goals and tolerances.

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