Raincloak

I had to shell out $600 to the IRS last week. And now I feel an irresistible urge to go shopping.

Fruit is mostly water and sugar. Probably not the most effective breakfast if you are trying to fast, because you might get an insulin crash after eating just fruit on an empty stomach. Some people who do intermittent fasting like to have coffee with oil (fat) in it for breakfast.

Your food choices look fine, though you might be eating more protein than you need. How's your exercise? if you're not doing intense workouts like your "jacked" friend from the gym, you may not need to eat like him. You are taking in a lot of calories, especially from fats, which is generally fine on a paleo diet. If you didn't measure all that cooking oil, peanut butter and dressing, you might be eating even more than 2500 kcal. But if you want to lose weight, there's still a question of input vs output. Many people lose weight when they switch to paleo because their extra calories were coming from sugar and starch, and paleo cuts most of those. But if you eat the same amount of calories as before, you're not likely to lose weight even if your source changes from carbs to fats. Try walking 30 mins a day or starting a basic workout routine, and start keeping track of what you eat and how much. And be patient. You are only a few days in, so it's too early to tell how this is going to work long term.

If you're trying to lose weight, you will experience hunger sometimes. That's normal, especially if you are obese and have a history of "yo-yo dieting" (way up, way down, way up again). Your body is used to eating a lot and it doesn't want to stop. Additionally, if you are cutting grain and starch, as you will on a paleo diet, you may experience more hungry feelings than usual until your body adjusts to a lower carb intake. WIth that said.... given your health history, if your ravenous feeling doesn't go away after a few days of paleo, then I would consult a doctor if I were you. You might have a hormone imbalance or some other health issue that causes extreme hunger.

Are you eating enough fat? It's not one of the Big 3 Macros for no reason. When you don't get enough fat in your diet, you can get cranky and hungry even if you have plenty of proteins. You mention eating cheese, nuts and eggs, and those normally come with fat in them... but if you're getting fat free cheeses and skinless chicken, you might be short on dietary fat. Just a thought.

I'd consider a small notebook or planner with multiple pages if I were you. You can get one at any drugstore, dollar store or office supply store. Tracking long term could help you spot useful patterns, and if you're going to write things down anyway, might as well do it in a way that doesn't disappear every time you do your laundry. for instance, you might discover you crave certain foods at different times of month, or that you aren't eating at the right time to fuel your workouts, or you discovered a dish that makes you feel just great... this is info worth keeping.

What are you using for your food log? An app or a pocket notebook would be good choices.

You'll have to ask your doctor, but it is likely to be a lot like menopause, only all at once. Is there a reason you can't have HRT? You might actually find it easier to lose weight if your pain goes away, but if I were you, I would start slow with post surgery workouts, like walking. Maybe swimming or very easy yoga. Ask the doc and/or physical therapist(s) for advice. You can lose a lot of weight just walking, so there's no need to risk additional injuries by overdoing it.

You haven't said what you weigh, so I don't know if you really are obese, but if you need to lose weight I would target your portion size. You are eating plenty of protein, carbs, fat, and fiber, so it doesn't look like your are short on any of your macros. Your dinners are especially high in starch, with all that rice, pasta and potatoes. Try adding more vegetables and limiting yourself to a small handful of starches. at breakfast, have just one slice of toast instead of two. You are also getting dense calories (fats) from avocado, eggs, coconut milk, seeds and meat, so if you want to reduce calories, consider reducing the amount you eat of those. But don't eliminate them altogether, you do need some fat in your diet. Just eat smaller amounts. Serve yourself a modest portion (try a smaller plate, if you want to help trick your brain), and when the plate is empty, you're done. Do not get seconds. I notice in another thread you mentioned starting Crossfit. Crossfit is extremely demanding and it may be hard to do it while you are on a calorie deficit. (At the very least, you may see the scale go up temporarily while your water retention increases: your body takes on extra fluid after intense workouts to assist with repairing damaged tissues.)

Pollen is high in protein, but if you're eating teeny capsules of it, that won't make much difference to your diet macros. (The bees that live on it are tiny compared to you.) Before you buy it, you should ask yourself specifically what you expect the pollen to do to you, and how likely is it to give you the result you want. Bear in mind pollen is not a FDA approved therapy for any health condition. Further keep in mind that since there's no FDA oversight, you will not have any guarantee about the purity or effectiveness of what you're buying. They could be putting literally anything in the bottles you purchase. Chalk, sugar, bone meal, ephedrine, titanium dioxide, you name it. Most additives will do nothing. But some will make you sick or kill you. If you want to buy supplements, investigate the merchant thoroughly, and don't believe any wild claims that their stuff will cure everything.

Reputedly, pesticides and drugs fed to animals are concentrated in fatty tissues, so some paleo nerds recommend organic animal fats. (eg butter, lard). You might also google "dirty dozen" for a list of the most heavily sprayed fruits and veggies, and buy those in organic form or skip them. The more you can forage or grow yourself, the better. Wild food is usually better than farmed. But on the paleo diet, what you eat is more important than how it's made. If you avoid grains, legumes and processed plant oils*, avoid sugars**, and eat plenty of veggies and whole animal foods, you are doing it right. Organic/wild is secondary. * Processed = from a seed that is a grain or is not properly food. Cottonseed, rapeseed, safflower, corn oils are bad. Olive oil, coconut oil, cacao butter, sustainable palm oils are fine. ** some paleo nerds claim cane/beet sugar and fructose corn syrup are bad but other sugars like honey, maple syrup, dates are okay. Truth is, it's all just sugar carbs, they are all bad in large amounts so use them very scarcely. Some people find the taste of sugar addictive, and for them total avoidance works best.

Stop lifting. Go directly to doctor. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. Small hernias can turn into big hernias which require surgery. You really don't want spine surgery. In case no one told you, a likely reason your leg has problems is because the nerves in your leg connect to your spinal cord. If your spine gets injured, as with herniated discs, you can get numbness, pain, tingling, weakness and paralysis (all signs of nerve problems) in your lower body. Your spine is the ONLY route by which your brain controls your legs. Damage the spine too much, and the legs could quit working. Maybe permanently. No more lifting until your doctor gives the green light. Don't whine. You said yourself you were just starting a foundation program, so it's not like you can't live without lifting. Ask the doc for advice on what exercises you can safely do till your hernias heal. Maybe swimming or such.

You should probably see a therapist and/or doctor about that phobia. It's not likely to go away by itself, and hiding just makes it worse. It also makes it real hard to date, go out with friends or get a job, all of which you'll probably want to do at some point. Dried rice is a lot cheaper than microwave or boil in bag. Why not get a rice cooker, and then have as much brown rice as you want for $0.10 / cup? Add a scoop of beans (which are likewise uber cheap) and you have a nearly complete meal, all that's missing is the greens. PS. You also need to sleep more. Six hours a night is not enough and it's hurting your health and your psyche. Human growth hormone is mostly produced when sleeping, so if you expect to gain weight, that means you have to sleep. You will probably do better in school, too.

Possibly no one bothered answering the question "is there a cheaper blender" is because you could easily answer that yourself with a browser.... Blenders generally run $20 - $400. More expensive blenders are more powerful, but whether you "need" one really depends on what you're doing with it. I find a food processor far more useful for prepping veggies, personally. But I also don't believe in drinking my food, unless I've just been to the dentist. If you really, really want to make a lot of smoothies forever, get a Vitamix. They work. But if you're not accustomed to eating vegetables, you should probably work on that before buying a $400 blender.

Hard to tell since you have posted few measurements, but a couple issues I can see: - your lunch is about 600-700 calories - if by 'veggie straws' you mean those crispy salty snacks that are like chips, those are, well, basically chips - no idea what you're eating for dinner, that could be the problem depending what it is - not a lot of fiber or greens

What exactly are you eating? You may be taking in more calories than you think. You could also try upping your exercise, since you've discovered pedaling a bike at low speed doesn't burn a lot. Either ride faster, ride some hills, or start doing something else that makes you break a sweat.

You are not likely to get decent (let alone good) wireless buds/phones for under $20. You can have tolerable wired buds for $20, decent ones for $50, and good ones for $100. If you want wireless, add another $30. I tried a $7 pair of wireless earbuds from a supermarket rack a few months ago. Worst $7 I spent all year, couldn't even use the shitty things for phone calls. I like Wirecutter's recs, they test things good and actually talk about stuff like chargers and comfort fit. I'm planning to order a wireless set from their list when I get my next Amazon treat. they have many different lists, earbuds under $50, headsets, you name it.... here's one. https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-wireless-exercise-headphones/

Wrong again, I'm afraid. There are no reliable studies showing alkalized water is effective for weight loss. Hence the lack of FDA approval. But you are clearly determined to buy the snake oil, so feel free. Like I said, let us know how that works out for you.

http://kangenwateralkalinewater.com/fda/fda-disclaimer/ I think this says even more.

Sure dude... You can use crystals and snake oil to lose weight too, let us know how that works out for you. By the way, low pH numbers are for acids and high numbers are for alkalines. If you skipped high school chemistry, you might want to ask yourself whether it's a good idea to drink fluids you cannot correctly identify. And if you missed high school biology, I will point out that acids and bases neutralize each other, and your stomach is full of hydrochloric acid... so if you swallow an alkaline chemical, guess what happens?

what they said. Everyone has different feet so needs different shoes. Go to one of those stores where the staff all look like greyhounds and they watch you run in the shoes and they can show you four different ways to lace them (yes really), and they have a good return policy. Try on least three pairs. Such shoes are pricey (expect to pay $100+) but your feet are worth it. Workout clothes can be as cheap as you're comfy with, but if you're taking up running, don't be cheap with the shoes.

pancakes using shop tools... lol, whatever gets the man cooking. Seems like a lotta trouble for a frisbee (the originl toys were just empty pie tins), but I guess you could always use it for a trivet.

You wasted your money. Pure water has a pH of 7.0. If you wanted alkaline water you could add baking soda to your water. Of course, it will taste bad and do absolutely nothing for your weight, but if you really want alkaline water, that's what I'd suggest. Lye and bleach are more alkaline, but drinking those would kill you.

Take a breath. Your weight is normal. Let me repeat that: your weight is normal. It is not too high, nor too low. Okay? So mellow out. I am about the same size as you, and it is a perfect size to be. If you're going to get all obsessed, please find something else to obsess about. Better yet, talk to your doc, because you already have a mental health problem (for which I hope you are on stabilizing meds) and you might need your care regimen adjusted. Nothing you have said indicates a problem with your metabolism. You were sick and starved, and now that you are eating normally, you have gained and reached a normal weight. It's nothing to worry about. You definitely should not cut calories right now. Keep eating, and exercising, wait a couple weeks and weigh yourself again, see what's new. Your weight does change a little bit based on random stuff like hormone cycles and what you've eaten and done recently, even how much sleep you've had. So don't fuss over a few lbs up or down, focus on long term trends.

Black pepper on all things. Smoked salt on things that are not already salted/smoked. Sprinkle of nutritional yeast or furikake if you feel hipster. A dribble of honey, chutney or jam, or dried fruit bits. Truffle oil. The aforememtioned balsamic vinegar. All things pickled. (Fermenting at home is surpisingly easy, or just blanch veggies and soak in vinegar till it tastes picklish.) Roasted elephant garlic (possibly NSFW). Smidge of greek yogurt. Butter. I don't actually buy a lot of fancy condiments, I prefer to use "plain" condiments and dress things up as I go. for example, who needs $6 garlic honey mustard when you have garlic powder, honey, and regular $2 mustard? If you didn't already know, with sandwiches you want a bit of complement and contrast. eg, if you have bland pork, it goes nice with a sweet and an acid, so put fruit chutney or pickles on. If you have salty pastrami, give it something refreshing, like cabbage shreds, and something sharp like hot mustard. If you have rich peanut butter, add salt and something crunchy (like cucumber slices). This contrast is what really makes a sandwich great.