Priority 1: Health

Where are you and where are you going?
Humanofearth
Posts: 188
Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2021 3:32 am

Re: Priority 1: Health

Post by Humanofearth »

Feel very over travel, settled into a city I haven't lived in but passed probably more than any other city for the long term.

Great health focus here, nice kitchen, great view. Haven't ever been this happy. Beyond psychological, money becomes immaterial past a certain point relative to expenses. ie-40x isn't THAT different than 3000x expenses once you've bumped expenses up to their useful limit.

@White_Belt

I have changed my thinking. I now think you were right about calories being too low.

I started tracking kcal with the free Myfitnesspal and a slight but consistent deficit is much more easy to maintain. No more 3000-5000kcal days now that I'm keeping around 2069 kcal daily with 2500 expected burned.

Weights are going great. Really seems I've done a very slow recomp since I started lifting. Body weight about same but composition improved as a result of weight lifting. Much better physique than fasting focused. Progress is the goal of life.

Humanofearth
Posts: 188
Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2021 3:32 am

Re: Priority 1: Health

Post by Humanofearth »

Calories around 1500 the past 2 weeks. Getting called ripped by friends now.

Deloading a bit on weights by lowering volume, doing 1 set per movement, 1-2 movements per body part, mostly 1 with a pr intention. About 10-12 sets per workout. Something like a set of compound chest, shoulder, triceps, isolation on 1 of the former 3, traps, rombs, lats, biceps, quads, hams, compound leg, adductor or calves or glutes. Switch push, pull, leg order and rep ranges each workout with a 3 day rotation. Making records. Rack pulled 110kg per side for 10 reps, so 240kg total at 72kg weight. Deadlifted 65kg per side today for reps without back pain. Feels nice.

Fasting once a week.

Love is going amazing.

Living in the center of my city with a stunning view, life is quite like a dream. Work is good. Atrocious investment year. Sitting it out in btc & eth with enough fiat in local and usd and stables for a couple years till the next halving, around when much of the federal debt will start rolling over into the new high interest rates and printing must intensify to satisfy the debts.

Working more cause I got depressed not working. And my smv plummets when I’m lazy.

Stopped smoking and wasting time on computer as my goals for this year. Working, working out, and loving are the healthier alternatives.

Experienced intense pain recently. Deception is shattering at times, but it’s good it happened. To see what’s true and learn more about our nature. Trust my gut and move quickly is the lesson. And stay clear.

Hope everyone else is having a wonderful year.

OutOfTheBlue
Posts: 295
Joined: Thu Mar 03, 2022 9:59 am

Re: Priority 1: Health

Post by OutOfTheBlue »

Humanofearth wrote:
Tue Jan 03, 2023 3:24 am
Deception is shattering at times, but it’s good it happened.
Great update! Happy things are going so well for you.

What do you mean by that phrase though?

Humanofearth
Posts: 188
Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2021 3:32 am

Re: Priority 1: Health

Post by Humanofearth »

I was in an situation where someone claimed to be loyal while having a sugar daddy and multiple fwbs to a degree I felt disgust because it was so contrary to what I was told. They attempted destroying my relationship with someone who was loyal to me but prior honesty prevented lasting damage.

I learned to filter more strongly for a healthy family. To listen to my gut feeling. To see smaller evidence more clearly. To embrace reality exactly as it is and choose psychologically healthier people. To ignore words more and trust actions. To focus much more on self improvement to not have to deal with such actions. I realized someone trying to guilt me is probably running circles around me in whatever they are attacking me for. I realized some people will actively attempt to destroy my life even while doing things much worse. I realized honesty helps but it doesn’t improve others as much as it saves time by filtering out the incompatible. And I learned to ignore my heart for my gut. To appreciate loyalty so much more. To create space and be professional to the point of minimizing attack surface if I ever choose to engage with such people.

OutOfTheBlue
Posts: 295
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Re: Priority 1: Health

Post by OutOfTheBlue »

Thank you for sharing this. It's painful to face betrayal and vengeful action from someone you had placed trust in, and discover them under completely different light. But it's great to see you've taken all the right conclusions from this experience and moved on in a big way.

This can happen anywhere, especially in love relationships, but cultural differences can also obfuscate some things and make them harder to assess.

My time here has somewhat forced me to revise my attitude vs honesty, truthfulness and sincerity, but at the same time double down on it, although I now tend to take more into consideration how it can affect others.

Reminds me of a Greek song lyrics: "Truth, not lies, is a place where your can hide/find refuge".

Humanofearth
Posts: 188
Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2021 3:32 am

Re: Priority 1: Health

Post by Humanofearth »

In my journey to become healthy, I partook in many ice baths. My record is 33 minutes 33 seconds. In this time, I got sick several times. I saw people sneeze or cough near the ice and ice is for preserving viruses and bacteria while extreme heat kills. I enjoy contrasting thermal extremes but I do not think crowded/public ice baths are the solution so I will focus on sauna and cold showers to weakly imitate some thermal training at least.

I am currently sick for probably the 4th or 5th time from this situation. Enough is enough.

Salathor
Posts: 394
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Location: California, USA

Re: Priority 1: Health

Post by Salathor »

Humanofearth wrote:
Tue Jan 10, 2023 4:51 am
I am currently sick for probably the 4th or 5th time from this situation. Enough is enough.
Some of your sickness may be related to the effects of smoking on your immune system, too (I saw you said you're trying to quit--good job!). That seems like a lot of illnesses for an otherwise healthy young man, even being around folks who are sick.

jacob
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Re: Priority 1: Health

Post by jacob »

Humanofearth wrote:
Tue Jan 10, 2023 4:51 am
I saw people sneeze or cough near the ice and ice is for preserving viruses and bacteria while extreme heat kills.
Technically, bacteria thrive in hot and humid conditions whereas vira like cold and dry. And vice versa.

Humanofearth
Posts: 188
Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2021 3:32 am

Re: Priority 1: Health

Post by Humanofearth »

@Salathor
I’m happy to report I have stopped smoking since the 30th of December. I have also stopped using the laptop for extended periods of time if not work related for this time, so I won’t binge on any media for hours. The most is a silly ~22 minute animated show. I’m intending to spend this year focused on working, building health, and connecting to people rather than mindless consumption (especially where AI is profiting off my attention), atrophy/laziness, and isolating.

This may be why I didn’t lose my voice this time and my throat seems to be healing.

@Jacob
That is interesting. I thought heat was a common method of sterilizing. I didn’t think this was specific to viruses but I could be wrong, as I have been wrong many many times in my life, and will continue to be wrong as I keep learning.

jacob
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Re: Priority 1: Health

Post by jacob »

Humanofearth wrote:
Wed Jan 11, 2023 4:52 am
@Jacob
That is interesting. I thought heat was a common method of sterilizing. I didn’t think this was specific to viruses but I could be wrong, as I have been wrong many many times in my life, and will continue to be wrong as I keep learning.
Well, yes, [most] bacteria die in boiling temperatures, but they really like, say 37C and 100% humidity, such as, for example, Florida or the human body.

Humanofearth
Posts: 188
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Re: Priority 1: Health

Post by Humanofearth »

jacob wrote:
Wed Jan 11, 2023 9:19 am
Well, yes, [most] bacteria die in boiling temperatures, but they really like, say 37C and 100% humidity, such as, for example, Florida or the human body.
I stand corrected. You’re right. Heat kills bacteria, but at a temperature that would be lethal to me as well.

I’ll enjoy a bit of dry sauna once I’ve healed fully.

I notice my health came back much more quickly when I decreased the priority of work, lowered stress, and slept like a bear in hibernation. Lights off at 7pm, just soft lights below eye level, normally asleep around 8pm-9pm and keep resting until 7-8am. I used to awaken around 4-5am but that has hindered recovery.

Back to gym workouts ever 2-3 days with personal records each time. A bit more fatigued and more rest pause then usual but making good progress. Notice hunger is up but calories steady around 1800 and definition still improving.

Dave
Posts: 545
Joined: Fri Dec 19, 2014 1:42 pm

Re: Priority 1: Health

Post by Dave »

I wanted to pop in and say I'm enjoying your journal and can relate to the priorities of health and connecting with others!

There seems to be a connecting factor between your post last May -
Humanofearth wrote:
Sun May 22, 2022 12:05 am
Cutting sets down to 10-12/workout from 14-16. Feeling tired and stressful events. Wasn’t enjoying it and dreading the workouts. Now, feels nice.
and your most recent post on health -
Humanofearth wrote:
Wed Jan 18, 2023 11:03 pm
I notice my health came back much more quickly when I decreased the priority of work, lowered stress, and slept like a bear in hibernation. Lights off at 7pm, just soft lights below eye level, normally asleep around 8pm-9pm and keep resting until 7-8am. I used to awaken around 4-5am but that has hindered recovery.
A lot of our health and biological systems operate (super reductionistically) on the stimulus/stress -> recovery cycle. Health, or progress in some area, is about managing that relationship. The degree of stimulus/stress can vary, as can the amount of recovery, but the relationship between the two is what matters. It's an iterative process to find a nice balance between the two. And the two sides of the equation vary over time as lifestyle factors on one side or the other vary (perhaps time, and desire to train on one side vs. sleep, diet, and stress on the other) and thus require adjustment of the other to find a workable balance.

Your comments resonated with me as I've been thinking about the same thing over the past year as I experiment with workout programming. Some years back I had too little workout volume to stimulate the gains I was going for, whereas I think for parts of last year I had too much. I recently cut volume on the latest variation of my workout program and I'm curious to see if it allows for more PRs and progress!

You mentioned rest pause in your last comment...I'm curious, do you do straight sets for your compounds and then rest pause on isolations? I've been doing that lately and really enjoy it.

Humanofearth
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Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2021 3:32 am

Re: Priority 1: Health

Post by Humanofearth »

@Dave

Good observations, I agree with most of them in my own experimentation. To me, this is all experimentation with a long term intention of improving health. My life has radically improved as I’ve focused on health and wealth and relationship are more fulfilling as I put more energy into them now but this has the effect of reducing recovery capacity for more weight training.

I was doing 4-5 days a week with Push Pull Legs for most of 2022 and saw my best growth in hypertrophy but it wore me down and now, the full body split allows me to keep progressing with a lower volume as I’ve taken cutting weight and work more seriously in 2023.

On rest pause, I do it as needed to reach my goal of a new for most exercises but typically for compound at this moment as most of my sets are compound machine lifts. I hardly touch dumbbells or barbells except for as added weight on something like a rack chin.

Dave
Posts: 545
Joined: Fri Dec 19, 2014 1:42 pm

Re: Priority 1: Health

Post by Dave »

Right on, I relate to that.

Nice, sounds like a good setup!

I switched to a chest/shoulder/tri and back/bi/legs/core split, 3 sessions per week total (so 1.5x per muscle group per week) with total weekly volume per muscle group somewhere 7-14 rather than 10-20, BUT much higher intensity via reverse pyramid straight sets (ideally close to failure) on compounds and rest pause sets to failure on isolation moves.

It's early into this cycle, but so far the extra rest is really allowing me to come into each session with high energy and the ability to hit PRs. The principle behind this approach is solid, my only concern is that volume is in some cases a bit lower than the 10-20 sets/week standard guidelines, but we'll see!

Humanofearth
Posts: 188
Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2021 3:32 am

Re: Priority 1: Health

Post by Humanofearth »

In the sauna now. Reading other people’s experiences has made me reflect on how far I’ve come emotionally in this time. Changing my body has changed my life. Some rules I’ve found useful:

1) Do my best every day, do not waste time consuming what doesn’t add value or skills.
2) I am very often wrong, this is great because it means I can improve, the market and experiments decide what’s useful/best, listen to it.
3) Trust my gut, not my heart.
4) Routine and improve every day.
5) My current life is the result of my past choices, focus on making life easier for future HumanofEarth.
6) Count calories, track workouts, track trades, journal, I don’t have time to waste, there is more action I need to take and reflection than I have time for.
7) Live alone but near love/family, never isolated
8) Money is worth less than many other things, especially family and health
9) There is no way to predict my life if I had made other decisions in the past, set up my environment for making my future actions conducive to my goals but don’t regret the past, the good in my life now is also related to the past actions I took
10) Save hard hard when young, experiment, do not follow others blindly but do my best to maximize my experiences. It will always be a regret that I shrugged off counting calories and interacting directly with 1 dollar of bitcoin back when I heard of it. It’s okay, I have enough. Do my best now and keep learning because there’s even bigger mistakes I’m making now that far outweighs the monetary and health costs that I can learn.

Humanofearth
Posts: 188
Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2021 3:32 am

Re: Priority 1: Health

Post by Humanofearth »

Calories at 3000 the past week. Too high. A lot of water weight. Was a break from my normal diet. Now planning around 1700 for the coming month but going for ~2200 this week to see if it’s maintenance and shed some water weight.

1700 most weeks last month and got shredded but was hard to keep up as was going on too many dates.

Weight down to 71.1 at the bottom fasted, now around 74 in morning but with some water weight from more carbs.

Focused mostly on enough protein. Was focusing on enough fat for hormones and carbs around workout but notice some blueberries or fruit before workout is enough and dating or some Wagyu a few times a week gives me enough fat to not worry about it on the lower calorie days.

Health still priority 1. Want to see that 10/8 pack and what the limits of my physique are.

zbigi
Posts: 978
Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2020 2:04 pm

Re: Priority 1: Health

Post by zbigi »

Humanofearth wrote:
Sun Feb 05, 2023 7:36 am
Health still priority 1. Want to see that 10/8 pack and what the limits of my physique are.
Is the second supposed to be following for the first? Because "seeing the limits of the body" does not sound particularly healthy. See athletes, who test their bodies to their limits, and who have lots of health problems in result.

Dave
Posts: 545
Joined: Fri Dec 19, 2014 1:42 pm

Re: Priority 1: Health

Post by Dave »

Humanofearth wrote:
Fri Feb 03, 2023 7:59 pm
It will always be a regret that I shrugged off counting calories...
Would you expand on this?

I'm guessing you mean that you used to be resistant to spending the effort to track calories, and as a result spent a lot of time not achieving your body composition goals, and once you started you were much more successful. But I'm curious if you would elaborate.

Humanofearth
Posts: 188
Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2021 3:32 am

Re: Priority 1: Health

Post by Humanofearth »

@Dave
You’re right. I used to resist counting calories and instead intermittent fasted, keto, potato diet, vegan, too many to count. Cutting sugar lead to a drop in weight. Long broth fasts were what caused most of the fat loss. Then, I began counting and I realized what foods were higher calorie than expected because I eat so much (mangos, egg yolks, carrots) and others that were much lower (popcorn, gelatin, cabbage, egg whites). This allowed me to count calories with lower calorie density foods so I feel full while still eating in a deficit. It’s still difficult with cravings but at least I feel full and satisfy my desire to consume lots of volume with a little chicken breast and cabbage, lots of popcorn, and lots of gelatin. It helped me realize I ate way too much protein at one point and cut down the chicken breast because it’s easy for me to overeat even that.

@zbigi
The limits of abs depend on the human and how the bands of connective tissues around the abs display themselves. I get my blood work tested annually and nearly everything is perfect. I’m happy if it makes some uncomfortable because it challenges others to workout and clean their diets so they can be healthier.

IlliniDave
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Re: Priority 1: Health

Post by IlliniDave »

This is my first time dipping into this journal. Congrats on the sustained progress, something that consistently eludes me. You're also the first person I recall who reports sustained success with calorie counting. Maybe it's because I'm approaching old man territory that makes me find IF (restricted daily eating window rather than > 24 hr non-eating periods) the most effective approach. I'm sure when I get into the swing of it I'm running a caloric deficit, but have no idea how much. My appetite plunges when I severely curb insulin-spiking carbs. My problem is once I spend 6-9 months with a better-tuned nutrition regimen and my weight gets to where I want it, I slack off. Hopefully this go around I'll do a better job maintaining a good steady-state. It gets tedious starting every year with 30-40 lbs to lose. Anyway, congrats again and good luck.

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