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.