Early Retirement Extreme Forums

jacob wrote:Coffee makes it [the WD] easier(*). Not sure whether coffee=cheating though.

(*) Caffeine stabilizes blood sugar.

That is helpful to know, I am considering trying the WD starting in January. It would solve multiple problems - having to pack a lunch each evening (super annoying, I'm not sure why), the afternoon crash, the small muffin top that I just can't seem to get rid of.

I might just try a minimal version at first and transition to full on later. Something like a banana at lunch or something.

cmonkey wrote:

jacob wrote:Coffee makes it [the WD] easier(*). Not sure whether coffee=cheating though.

(*) Caffeine stabilizes blood sugar.

That is helpful to know, I am considering trying the WD starting in January. It would solve multiple problems - having to pack a lunch each evening (super annoying, I'm not sure why), the afternoon crash, the small muffin top that I just can't seem to get rid of.

I might just try a minimal version at first and transition to full on later. Something like a banana at lunch or something.

I recommend reading the book. There is a misconception that the WD is "water fasting" all day, where you don't eat anything until evening. This is not at all what the Warrior Diet is. Eating fruit (among a few other things) during the day is part of the diet.

If I still had my copy of the book I would mail you it, but I sold it some time back.

Helpful to know, and that makes sense. Warriors would have found berries/nuts while hunting. How about oatmeal for breakfast? I have had the same amount in the same dish with different fruit/additions each day since starting work 5 years ago. I really enjoy that part of my day.

The only issue I foresee is coming down with a hunger headache. Every once in a while (every few months) I seem to develop a pretty good headache and the only thing I can attribute it too is not eating much for lunch. Maybe its completely unrelated but its the one thing that has kept me from trying.

Edit - looking up hunger headaches, it is indeed related to falling blood sugar levels. So some sort of ease into the WD instead of jumping in full steam might be best until my body stops releasing insulin in the afternoons.

IIRC, grains are generally avoided during the day. With that said, oatmeal would be superior to say white bread. I believe WD suggests trying to stick to fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, and certain lean proteins during the "undereating" phase.

There is an adjustment period when transitioning to the diet, which he discusses in the book. Everyone is different, but I would think such a headache would go away, especially when you follow the diet in strict form (IE, eat some fruit for lunch).

I get plenty hungry with my 18 mile round cycle to work so eat porridge in the morning, almonds fruit etc through the course of the day.

The important part is to avoid high GI (sugar) foods, at least until the evening. I would say porridge is OK without sugar/too much milk. It might not be true warrior diet but focus more on low glycemic index foods, that's the science behind it.

@Dave, which version did you read?

This is available at my library.

This is not, but is newer.

I read the newer version.

I just requested the older version, I'm sure it'll be helpful. No sense paying for a few additional notes. I'd like to start now, but I'm afraid being at my in-laws for Christmas would ruin any accomplishments I make. Lets just say they don't eat very healthy at all.

Just one question concerning the Elvish waybread - how do you mix it? I vastly prefer rye over wheat for minimalising staleness, but my hand mixer can't mix any dough with more than 10% rye.

I mix it with my hands in a bowl. If you don't have a bowl, make a pile of flour on a table or a plate that resembles a volcano and pour water down the middle and mix from there.

It just dawned on me you passed your second, one-year anniversary! Congrats.

We need updates! What have you been doing?

The first several months was spent decompressing and rearranging/minimizing the house/stuff, since I now have to look at it all day. I went through a long period where I bought almost nothing (outside of food). eBay is 8 months and counting. Amazon went 13+ months ... and if you don't count business-expenses, it's still counting. So overall, there's been a substantial net reduction in the amount of stuff in the house. About a handful of moving boxes.---I learned that I can just put it out back on a Sunday and some "scrap collector" will take it and probably resell it at a flea market.

I also managed to build and install a couple of window casings so the kitchen and the living room look nicer now. Still have to make and install the kitchen cabinets, but at least we got the kitchen painted in a less ghastly color.

In the past several months I've been working on a new writing/research project (no comments) which has essentially taken over my focus. I'm turning into a total hermit. My neighbors are beginning to inquire "where I've been?" (Answer: In my room with a stack of books. 27 books read in the past 3 months, 90% nonfiction).

Speaking of focus, I'm beginning to change my mind on home-ownership because all the maintenance takes away from what I consider more interesting projects.

I would enjoy reading another book written by you. Keep going

jacob wrote:27 books read in the past 3 months, 90% nonfiction).

2 books per week for 3 months, wow. Looking forward to the conclusion. You say no comments, but not even a hint?

Would you mind listing those 27 books you have read? And yes, I promise not to ask why you have read any of them (as that question is usually extremely annoying and the answer is "curiosity" anyway_.

The books would give away what he's writing about.

How about this: is the writing project a subject that us forum members are likely to enjoy reading? (assuming it's a medium that will be accessible)

Could you say your statement on your book on investment? Are yoy planning to write something on that topic? Thanks gor reply in advance

jacob wrote:Speaking of focus, I'm beginning to change my mind on home-ownership because all the maintenance takes away from what I consider more interesting projects.

So I've been thinking about this a lot lately, trying to work out how to include this in some total cost of home ownership metric (the "loss" of other projects, not the maintenance, that's easy). Probably too intangible to be accounted for, but this is one of the top reasons I can't wait to sell (well and significant profit, that's nice too).

jacob wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 27, 2016 12:03 pm

Speaking of focus, I'm beginning to change my mind on home-ownership because all the maintenance takes away from what I consider more interesting projects.

Major home renovations are a lot of work. I'm not the greatest mechanically inclined guy, I'm not very patient, I'm not very interested in spending months learning all the things needed to say completely remodel my kitchen (let alone all the tools needed), and I really hate spending my precious time wandering around giant home depot stores looking for some little special screw I need. I would just rather do something else with my time. So in the past I have hired this stuff out and it gets done 100X faster and a lot better then I could. But yeah, the labor costs suck.

One trick I found to getting work on your house done at a reasonable cost is getting to know local high volume house fix/flippers and trying to get referrals for good subcontractors from them. High volume house flippers have fixing houses down to a science, and their subs have been trained to do things very fast and cost effectively. Unfortunately right now subcontractors are in high demand and costs are labor costs are rising. In 2010 at depths of RE crash labor was plentiful and cheap.

We would all love an update to the journal Jacob!