Aquarii

I second this! Something to keep in mind as you make the swap is satiety. 8oz of 90% lean ground beef is about 400 cals, but over 40g of protein. 8oz of black beans may be half the calories, at 200 calories, but it is also only about 14g of protein. Since proteins and fats tend to be more satiating than carbs, you probably will want to bump up the ounces you are eating for a serving. You don’t need to try and match the protein content in meat (to get the same amount of protein from vegetarian sources as you do from meat usually requires eat more calories than you would have to when eating meat), but it usually will require that you eat more volume to get the amount of protein you need. That doesn’t mean you have to eat a whole bunch of beans. As mentioned above, there are lots of other vegetarian protein sources you can add so you don’t get bored.

You could also check out the DASH diet, which has been tested and approved as a diet that lowers blood pressure. It is commonly prescribed as a lifestyle option for reducing blood pressure. I learned about it when I was studying for my personal training certification. There are tons of resources about it and what foods are a part of it online.

Approach to blood pressure depends a lot on the person. My dad was diagnosed with high blood pressure and then diabetes. Had to go on meds for both, but also went on a low sodium diet (for the hypertension (high blood pressure)) and low carb (for the diabetes and because he prefers that style of diet for weightloss). Last I talked to him about it, his numbers were so improved for both things they were talking about reducing or removing some of the meds. If your doctor wants you on meds for high blood pressure, I would recommend that you consider taking them even if you don’t want to. You can taper off them as your diet/weight improves, but blood pressure that is too high, especially if it is as high as you mentioned above, for extended periods of time can do serious damage to your heart and brain. So using medication to temporarily bring it down while you figure out lifestyle options to reduce or eliminate the need for medication is an option to consider.

This is where the biggest difference between power lifters and body builders starts to show through. Though people think that the higher weight you lift, the bigger the muscle, that isn’t actually true. That is why you can have wiry guys who are way stronger than they look. Muscle size has a lot to do with reps, and a lot of people lifting purely for physique tend to do lower weight, higher rep, and focus more on accessory muscles than functional strength. People who lift for strength and power tend to focus on functional strength, and do low rep, high weight to focus on building more strength and power, not just size. It is why you can have bodybuilders who are HUGE, but a power lifter with way less mass will blow them out of the water.

As a suggestion, if the conversation around you is distracting, ask your supervisor if you are allowed to use headphones while at your desk. The past three places I worked are fine with headphones when you are at your desk provided you are getting your work done. Remember that you are new at your job and allowed to ask lots of questions. If you have questions about training, test results, access to materials, etc, it is perfectly ok to ask your supervisor or one of your coworkers. One of the benefits of being new is that you can ask completely off the wall questions and it is seen as normal because you are new. Plus, asking questions from your coworkers can act as an ice breaker to meeting some of the people you work with. Also, that software system hurts my soul. My job is basically to customize and automate our information management systems to be as user friendly, easy to navigate, and efficient as possible. I would take one look at your system and just want to start fixing everything, lol

^^This. Unskilled labor gets paid for physically working hard. Skilled labor gets paid for their eduction, experience, and unique skill. I mean, you have to work for years at a notably higher salary to just break even with an unskilled labor salary if you had to pay for 5-7 years of education and missed wages because you could not work as much due to being in school. People think doctors make a ton, but when you factor in them paying over $100k per year for an AFFORDABLE med school for a minimum of 4 years, not to mention their undergrad and their inability to work during those years in med school, plus 3-5 years of residency where they are not paid much, AND all the interest on their student loans because who has +400k lying around for med school, it takes them a number of years AFTER they finish residency (so 11-15 years post-high school) to break even with how much an unskilled laborer is making who is able to start just after (or even before) high school and probably promote to management before the first person has even finished med school. For awhile after graduation, your higher salary is just recomping the cost and time of getting the educational requirements for the job.

The list of things I have been told by people who are really into dreaming or lucid dreaming that can have very disturbing results in your dreams: 1. Looking down while walking 2. Looking at your hands 3. Asking a stranger for the time 4. Looking in mirrors

It is often called calorie cycling or zig-zagging. It is a fairly common approach for training in a deficit (and some use if regardless of being in a deficit or not, if can be used for maintenance or bulking as well) so you have extra energy on your workout days. So, if eating more on training days and less on rest days works for you, I would say go for it. You are still in a net deficit overall, so you should be fine in terms of weight loss. I don’t personally use the approach much because I tend to be pretty hungry on my rest days, but that might have something to do with the fact that I train in the evenings.

I can relate. Whenever I get into a lifting routine, I get so hungry. And then I suddenly don’t know how much to eat anymore aside from…more than I was because otherwise I am gonna go crazy.

If you are going to "lose" an ID, I would highly recommend not doing it until you have worked there for awhile. While loosing an ID is not the end of the world, it does not look good. It can come off as disorganized, irresponsible, and a potential threat to the security of sensitive credentials and information if you have not established trust and rapport with your organization. Additionally, they likely have your photo in their system now, so if you lost your ID, they would just print a new one using the existing photo.

Six???

Hey everyone! It has been a few challenges. I was going to do a challenge last round, but then I had a bunch of social commitments with work and family, and then I got covid, and it has taken like 2.5 weeks to feel relatively normal since getting covid...so...here we are. My focus this challenge is to focus on mental recovery and slowly building my stamina and strength back up. On the mental side, my psyche feels like it is in tatters. I need to take more breaks, set aside distractions for a few minutes to reflect, make sure I am working on building focus and time management skills so I am creating enough time for fun and play and things that help recharge me. On the physical side...I was just starting to work on building back into a workout routine after an injury and finishing up the semester knocked me out, and then covid just wrecked me. I barely left bed for days and it has been 2.5 weeks and my cough and cold symptoms are just now ALMOST gone. I feel like my energy levels are almost back to normal, but my stamina and strength took a hit. So, I am going to start slow and go from there. My goals for the challenge: [STR/DEX/CON] Get in Movement daily - this can be walks, workouts, stretching, whatever. It can be an hour even just five minutes, duration does not matter. It is just about showing up and moving. [INT] Read 2 books [WIS] Meditate 5 min per day [CHA] Practice a musical instrument 4x per week (options are guitar, bass, piano, or music production suite)

Probably for one of the following reasons: 1. Because it is a fashion trend right now and she is into fitness fashion. 2. It is what makes her feel good about herself and comfortable while she works out. 3. When things are bare or skin tight, it is must easier to check your own form in a mirror, helping you to activate the muscle groups you are targeting. 4. The tightness gives you something to create a focal point on because it gives you some physical feedback on location. Actually thinking about and feeling your muscle, which is made easiest by something pressing against it as a focal point, has been shown in research to significantly improve strength and power in the muscle, because it creates more enervation in the muscle than not. You can also grab your butt when activating your glutes, but tight shorts are probably gonna feel a little less awkward than grabbing your rear or having someone else do it. Now, for this to be the actual reason, she has to have a pretty decent knowledge of exercise physiology to do it on purpose. 5. She wants to show off what she had worked her ass off to get. In general, I would say it is for the same reasons guys wear muscle shirts or no shirts in the gym - it makes them feel good about the way they look, which boosts their confidence for a better work out, it makes it easier to watch their form, and it is popular right now, which helps them fit in with others, which naturally build report.

I also want to point out the fact that, as evidenced from all you have been working on over the last few years, you have had to put a lot of time caring for yourself. Caring for your mental well-being in school and coping with grief, caring for your health and relationship with food, caring about your creativity and other things that you were forced to suppress. Sometimes you have to take time to focus inwardly, and that can impact how much energy you can turn outward towards caring for others. That is no crime, I know it is cliche, but "you have to put on your own oxygen mask first." Please, cut yourself some slack. You have dealt with a lot, and there is only some much energy a person has at one time. Not having that extra energy in your reserves while you have been working on everything else is not a failure. It is simply prioritizing.

I entirely agree that caring is an action - and something that has to be done consistently and built, not just something you wake up feeling. I am going to preface this with: I am in no way implying this is what is going on with you, simply my experience with struggling to care. As you know from years of knowing me, caring about people is...not always my strong suit. Showing I care is even more outside of my wheelhouse. But, I have learned some things about myself regarding caring for others over the years. I use to not care about anyone, not love anyone. I thought I could not possibly ever do it. But eventually I realized it wasn't a "couldn't" problem, it was a "wouldn't" problem. When I was truly honest with myself, it was not that I was incapable of loving and caring, it was that I was so scared of caring that I convinced myself I simply couldn't, as an out for even trying. I was afraid of getting hurt again. I was afraid of pouring my time into building relationships with people that wouldn't last. I was afraid of caring about someone who would hurt me and not being able to walk away. I found that I could care - I just didn't want to, I was just afraid to. And when I accepted that and started working on it, started taking action steps towards caring, building relationships, and overcoming those fears, I was able to start building relationships again. I will never be able to care with the innocence and naivety that I once had. It is a more mature kind of caring - one aware of death, aware of loss, aware that my time with people is temporary, and aware that some people need to be removed from my life. But in many ways it is a much richer kind of love and care, because instead of placing my focus on the future with these people, I place it on the time I have now with them. I would challenge you to get to the root of why you really feel that you cannot care. Because if I have learned anything, "cannot" is a mask for what lies beneath.

I find searching for jobs depressing, applying for jobs depressing, waiting to hear if I get an interview depressing, getting an interview anxiety provoking, waiting to hear if I get a second round interview anxiety provoking, waiting to hear if I get a third round interview anxiety provoking, and starting at the new job anxiety provoking. But being offered a position after one interview is the biggest red flag ever for a company and you should run, so I have to commit to the whole process. I swear that like 80% or more of the reason people stay so long in jobs they abhor is just how much the whole searching for a new job process generally just sucks. I certainly stayed at wrong jobs for me too long because of that. I think last time I was looking for a new position I was on applying to at least a few jobs almost every day for a month or two and it was such a grind. You will get there though. It just takes time, but eventually you find something.

I second @Tanktimus the Encourager, especially since each issue has different treatments and/or diet changes. For example, even if it were to be heart related, it could be dehydration or hypertension affecting blood pressure, high or low blood sugar having downstream effects, or high cholesterol, which all four have different diet medications that can be immensely helpful but that are at best unhelpful and overly restrictive and pointless and at worst unhealthy for people who don’t have the condition. And that is just for heart issues, much less when you consider it could be many other things that are not cardiac related. So seeing a doctor asap, even if it is just to have them tell you it was a panic attack and physically you are fine, is something I would highly recommend, even if you plan on correcting it primarily through diet and lifestyle. For your food charts - you only need psyllium husk if you don’t get enough fiber. Your body cannot digest it, it isn’t for any kind of nutrition. It is literally just fiber. Considering the veggies you eat and the beans you are adding in, you probably already get over your recommended value, so adding more could just become…uncomfortable (I speak from personal experience, mistakes were made, lol). That is more a recommendation for the average American, who stats show only gets like half their daily value or something like that. And for salmon - that is for getting omega 3. Taking an omega 3 supplement or getting a lot more flaxseed and walnuts in your diet will do just as well for that particular benefit if you don’t like salmon. You can ask your nutritionist about the specific amounts would be right for you.

Hope things start looking up on the job front. I like your goals, simple but well defined.

Well, I can't say I have been terribly great with sticking to this challenge so far, but haven't been horrible with it either, despite my complete lack of posting. [STR]: Aim for light workouts 2x per week (optional as injury allows) I am working out 1-2x a week. Sometimes feel a little soreness or stiffness in the injured area, but for the most part, the workouts seem to be helping. Also, my strength is now actually more than it was prior to the injury, so that is awesome. It probably has a lot to do with a much closer focus on my form, more than adequate rest periods between workouts (usually 3-7 days), and increasing the amount I am eating (gotta get those gains, amiright?) [DEX]: Stretch/yoga at least 3x per week Kinda been sucking at this. Probably only stretching 2ish times per week if that, though I do a brief warm-up stretch between my workouts as well. I really need to put more focus on stretching and flexibility for my overall range of motion and joint health. [CON]: 50,000steps/week during weeks in office, 30,000steps/week when wfh I have been ok-ish with this one. Some weeks I hit is, some weeks I have been 7-10k short. But generally have been keeping my general movement up. [INT]: Stay on top of work and MBA homework and don't die I am at least fully on track with this one. I finished up one of my accelerated courses last week and am starting a new one this week. I am halfway through a full-term course, which is going well. [CHA]: Practice guitar/bass for at least 5min/5x per week I managed to do like two days of this one and promptly forget about the goal entirely, lol. I need to learn to create more priority around things outside of work, school, and working out.

If it is any consolation: I am one year into my fourth full-time job since I started working full time 4 years ago. I absolutely love the work that I do now, the people I work with, and the organization I work for. The three jobs before that, I felt were not right for me. They were in two other fields. My current field and the two prior were also not what I studied in college. Prior to starting work full time, I worked 9 part-time jobs, for a total of 13 different jobs in the last 10 years since turning 18. I had nearly given up on the idea that I could enjoy work and that their was a *right* field for me, until this current job. But after years of trying different things, I finally found it. My husband also went through multiple career changes before landing on the one that he felt was the right path for him. Meanwhile my sister knew what she wanted to do her senior year of high school, went to college for it, and is still enjoying it 4 years since she graduated. Some people know what they want from the start, and some just take longer to figure out what they want. And sometimes you have to just keep trying different things, making mistakes, and learning until you get there.

The name of the game here is consistency over duration. If it is five minutes of stretching, it counts as a session. If the workout is only 10 minutes long and I don't even break a sweat, it still counts. The goal is to get back into the groove of showing up after having to take weeks off. I know I am going to have some mental resistance because I won't be able to do some of the stuff I could a month and a half ago. I did a light workout last week, and I am definitely weaker and have a lot less endurance. But, that is ok. I can't change the past, and I cannot change the fact that I had to prioritize recovery over arbitrary strength goals. I can only control how I will move forward, and wallowing in frustration at my limitations is just a waste of time and energy. So, show up, do the thing, call it a win. Even if it sucks. Even if it is weak. Even if I only have 5 minutes.

No, not that kind of axe. This kind of axe: Yes, this is going to be a do-over for my last challenge, because basically I got hexed and: 1) I dislocated a rib in my upper back and could not even take a full breath without a world of pain, which meant I spent most of my none-work hours laying on a heating pad. 2) It took 3 WEEKS of chiropractic work to get said rib back into place because apparently my spine curves in ways it is not supposed to. 3) My hormones lost their shit, probably due to the sudden drop to zero in physical activity for three weeks. 4) Minor depressive episode, probably triggered by all of the above. 5) A close relative of Aries passed away. So, we are going to try this again. Mostly as an excuse to use that pic again 🤣 I am going to work on slowwwwwly incorporating some training back into my routine (the injury happened five-ish weeks ago), but this is gonna be a DEX and CON heavy challenge in terms of fitness. Goals: [STR]: Aim for light workouts 2x per week (optional as injury allows) [DEX]: Stretch/yoga at least 3x per week [CON]: 50,000steps/week during weeks in office, 30,000steps/week when wfh [INT]: Stay on top of work and MBA homework and don't die [CHA]: Practice guitar/bass for at least 5min/5x per week

I don't know if this would be of any interest to you, so feel free to ignore it, but you reminded me that during my personal training course, we studied a variety of best practices for working with people who have a chronic illness, and I believe I remember covering POTS. You might be able to find a personal trainer who is specialized in working with people with chronic illness to help you develop a training plan. If that is not an option, a hospital here in the States created an 8-month tiered cardio and weight training program specifically for people with POTS, outlined in this document: https://www.dysautonomiainternational.org/pdf/CHOP_Modified_Dallas_POTS_Exercise_Program.pdf

In other, less painful news... I have started my first D&D campaign!! We have only done two sessions so far, but I'm having a total blast with it. Makes me wonder why I didn't start years ago, haha. Also, this week is the start of my next MBA semester. I am still in the foundational courses (required for those without a business undergrad degree), but so far I am enjoying it. It is Finance and Accounting this semester. I think I am going to enjoy finance, but I am still a bit on the fence about accounting. We shall see.

I am glad I am not the only one struggling to keep my thread alive 😉