The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:
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Requests for advice and / or encouragement. On basically any topic and for any scale of problem.
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Advice. This can be in response to a request for advice or just something that you think could be generally useful for many people here.
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I'm just about finished with a bulk phase and now doing a cut phase. That is, dieting.
My problem with dieting is that the person who decides to begin the diet., me, can be overruled by the future me through non-compliance. I cannot make decisions that bind my future self.
If I get a DEXA scan done, and weigh myself, and have blood test and take BP measurements, that puts me into a mode to really focus on my health. The problem is after a few months of it the dread sets in and I avoid weighing myself. Or I stop logging my calories. Some time has gone by and I don't want to see my BP anymore.
Biomarkers are great for me for motivation, but they rely on me to get them done, and sometimes I run out of motivation to have them done.
One idea I had writing this: when I get my DEXA scan done, immediately schedule the next one for 3 months out. There's probably not much health utility to getting them done so frequently, but I imagine it would be super annoying to pay for one and see fat gain. Looming persistent motivator.
Anything else along these lines? I could imagine a boutique health app leveraging similar persistent motivator things like this.
Alternatively, can I create a personal psycho-social environment that puts extreme pressure on me to strive for low body fat? You know, like what the Japanese have going for them.
I commented scolding you for exposing yourself to an unnecessary and repeated dose of ionizing radiation, but it turns out it's not that bad. About the equivalent of a single high altitude flight really.
Depending on how strongly that motivates you to lose weight, it might even be worth it, but goodness knows you're the first person I've seen who does it electively to motivate themselves to diet.
Write a post-dated check to an organization you loathe for a sum large enough to sting. Give that check to someone you trust. If you don't weight 'x' with 'y' bodyfat on Jan 1 2025, they mail the check. This is a semi famous commitment device. YMMV.
But when it comes to diet, its really up to you and your habits. There is no end to dieting until your habits keep you at a healthy weight. You might be tempted to crash diet at the end following the above, but its an interesting idea.
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If you're skinny-fat it's actually extremely helpful. For years I had people telling me, including health care workers, that my high BMI was probably an over-estimate. I finally got a DEXA done and it revealed my BF% was actually much higher than I thought; my BMI was actually under-estimating.
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The key is to give yourself some mild body dysmorphia around the major problem area. I don’t have “abs” in the six pack sense, but I have a flat stomach and I’m extremely sensitive to noticing even a slight increase in fat, which happens maybe two or three times a year, whereupon I channel the resulting self hatred to immediately cut my food intake by ~40% for a few days and quickly return to baseline. This has kept me skinny for a long time with minimal discomfort.
It seems to me the classic gym bulking/cutting regime makes things more difficult because you really have to suffer through a pretty substantial weight loss at calorie deficit for a long time a couple times a year. Better to avoid gaining the fat at all if you can.
Yeah.
I was as high as 260 at my worst following SAD with no exercise, 190 at my best through extremely rigorous dieting and exercise. My dysmorphia kicks in at 220 but that's still too high. I think the reason is I start to see it in my face when I reach 220, and that triggers disgust. Ideally I would have earlier "I'd better fucking deal with this" signals.
Perhaps an opt-in fat shaming subreddit? :thinking:
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pants get tighter, number on scale go up = time to lose. no need for such frequent scans.
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My understanding is that DEXA scans aren't really that reliable and that headline bf levels are not very useful. Personally I just go by how tight my lifting belt is. Unless you're very obese fluctuations in your body fat should be apparent.
And it seems like fixating on the scan right now is hurting more than it helps. You're unable to start cutting now because if you lost weight now, it would go unmeasured.
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