Posts made by Ganymede

@tnp

Where are you? Broccoli is definitely cheaper than chicken or pork here in the Midwest.

@ifrit said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

I read a really interesting series of articles recently that posited (with graphs!) that there may be a chemical component to obesity that is down to industrial processing introducing additional chemicals to our foodstuffs (one of the suggestions is lithium from lithium grease for example).

Chemical and genetic.

@macha said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

I have been pushed to interviewing for other jobs - I have an interview tomorrow for a job I would love, it pays more, it's more in line with things I'm interested in. If any of y'all have a thought to spare me tomorrow, please do. I'm desperate.

I'd give 'em tree-fiddy if they'd hire you.

Seriously, though, fuck your current place of work, and I hope you get this one.

@derp said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

If a person is 100 lbs overweight and goes on a super restrictive calorie deficit while working out well above the normal level we cheer them on because they must be making healthy decisions.

That's not why I cheer them on. I cheer them on because they made a conscious decision to lose weight, for whatever reasons they see fit. Maybe they are tired of looking the way they do; maybe a doctor recommended shedding some weight; and so on.

If a teenage girl does that we call it a dangerous behavior and admonish them to stop. Because we recognize that this is a dangerous, disorderly behavior, but only for people whose form we already approve of as a society.

If it isn't clear, I don't consider this to per se to be dangerous either. If a teenage girl is recommended by a health professional to lose weight, and she attempts to do so, I'll cheer her on.

I don't hear you denying that obesity is the cause of many health problems; I hear you saying that just because you're overweight doesn't mean you're unhealthy, and I agree. Similarly, you're suggesting that dieting to "look good" while dipping dangerously underweight is a bad thing, and I concur that being underweight has its own host of issues. I don't think we disagree on much, but it sounds like we are because I think we're talking in circles.

What I think you're getting at is what faraday said:

We have an incredibly judgey society that looks down on people with addictions, mental health disorders, etc. "If you were just a stronger person you could beat your <eating disorder / depression / ADHD / heroin addiction>..." is a common attitude that's appalling, untrue, and harmful. Sadly it spreads into the medical community as well, which is even more shameful since they of all people ought to freaking know better.

This, I agree with. But, like faraday, I would add:

Changing ingrained behaviors will always be super hard. A modest success rate means we (as a society) have more work to do, but it doesn't mean we should just give up and accept things as they are.

Which comes down to this: if others make choices related to their health, e.g., losing weight, quitting smoking, etc., I'm going to cheer them on whether they succeed or fail because they are at least buying into the idea of not giving up on a goal. It's not easy to do any of this. You say that the science is not yet certain on how to do this permanently and I agree; hell, I'll even go out on a limb and say that the reason why it is tough to lose weight through dieting is because the body gets wise to what you are doing and actively rebels. This makes sense to me because bodybuilders have to switch up their routines constantly because the body starts to get wise to avoid the constant injury and healing process that is required to bodybuild. And the body and mind are motherfuckers, which is why addiction sucks.

But, yeah, I'm not giving up losing these last ten pounds I want to because I want to.

@derp

I love you, man. You know I do. But like faraday, there has to be a middle ground. People I feel want to lose weight, and I think we need to support those people as I said.

@derp

Okay, let's talk about it.

Let's start with that first study. I almost feel as if you stopped reading at the abstract. Later on, it talks about the fact that patients who are able to maintain their losses long-term need to be studied further.

There are likely many factors that account for the ability of some patients to achieve and maintain large weight losses over the long term whereas others experience substantial weight regain. Unravelling the biological, psychosocial, educational, and environmental determinants of such individual variability will be an active area of obesity research for the foreseeable future.

There is also the recommendation that managing weight loss requires ongoing attention.

Long term behavioral changes and obesity management require ongoing attention. Even the highest quality short-term interventions are unlikely to yield continued positive outcomes without persisting intervention and support. Several studies show that ongoing interaction with healthcare providers or in group settings significantly improves weight maintenance and long-term outcomes, compared with treatments that end after a short period of time. The importance of long-term intervention has been codified in the obesity treatment guidelines, which state that weight loss interventions should include long term comprehensive weight loss maintenance programs that continue for at least 1 year.

Like, I don't think anyone said it was easy. I can attest that it isn't easy. But quitting smoking wasn't easy either, and I still fight that fucking addiction every damn day like a recovering heroin addict. The article contains a slew of strategies for maintaining weight loss.

And like my cigarette addiction -- I fucking want a cigarette right now -- I know that I will have to continue to fight. It is exhausting at times. And while no one strategy works for everyone -- I will say that over, and over, and tell people over and over that keto does not work for everyone -- and each strategy may require life-long maintenance, there is no doubt that obesity is linked to a lot of health problems and that avoiding it or getting away from that state of being is a good thing.

I realize that fat-shaming and dieting can cause psychological damage to those who cannot seem to lose the weight, but I refuse to believe this is a damned-if-you-do-or-don't situation. If anyone wants to lose weight, I'll cheer them on, and if they relapse I will still cheer them on because addictions, obesity, and cancer are all fucking monsters that aren't easy to beat but, dammit, I'm in your corner if you're going to give it a go.

@solstice said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

Citation? My dieting butt is genuinely curious to read this.

Probably to no one's surprise, I read Men's Health because Women's Health is mostly body-shaming nonsense.

In a recent article in Men's Health, they talked about a new diet which was essentially a calorie-dropping diet and debunked it as unsupported by data or now-embraced theories on how to best lose weight. They point out, rightfully, that if you drop your caloric count you are more likely to lose muscle than fat unless you are also working out fastidiously; and, even if you are exercising, not having the right nutrients in your body will lead to tissue destruction in a calorie-deficient environment.

What does that mean?

It means you have to be conscious of what you are eating rather than how much. Eating copious amounts of animal fat isn't good for you, but neither is eating none. General tips to follow are sticking to food that is: (1) unprocessed; (2) unpackaged; and (3) stereotypically "good for you." That means loading up on vegetables, decreasing meat, and staying away from "carb-heavy" foods.

It takes a long time too.

When I went keto over two years ago, I dropped a lot of weight quickly. That was water weight. I've kept it off because once you get to ketosis, you've cut out shit like sugary drinks, beer, and anything with added sugars. And once you cut out the added sugars, shit like stevia tastes great. It helps that I can't have dairy (lactose intolerance). But keto is unsustainable as a lifestyle diet choice, so I have transitioned to a "carb-avoidant" diet that minimizes sweet fruits (God, I miss grapes), pasta (God, I miss penne rigate), and bread (no sammies for me). But since moving away from keto, I've actually lost an additional 5-10 pounds, depending on the day (because water weight is annoying).

You can lose the weight! We can share stories about our difficulties and triumphs here. Because we're soooooo toxic.

@23quarius

You have my blessing to keep posting and to take commissions, if you want.

We're sooooo toxic.

@il-volpe said in Autism and The MU* Community:

My autistic perspective is basically that many NTs take honesty and clarity as offensive, and are thus themselves habitually unwilling to just fucking say it.

My non-autistic perspective is that people generally wish to avoid offending people, and therefore err on the side of caution.

As an NT, learning that I cannot be held responsible for the weakness or sensitivities of other NTs has been liberating. Now I err on the side of honesty and clarity, and am willing to fucking say things.

As a parent, I am attempting to make up for the sensitivity of my NT child at the same time, and finding that being honest and clear is not always the best strategy with a young woman who has difficult modulating her emotions.

I hope you can see the dilemma that people like me are sometimes placed in and why my active policing of what and how I say things makes me an opinionated powder keg.

@derp said in Dabbling, Mastery, Dunning–Kruger etc:

If you stalk your attorney after work and they look stressed as hell with a drink in their hand?

Those are probably the good ones.

Amusingly, this is how I picked up my weekend job. I was just standing around drinking, waiting for my turn in karaoke, when I started to clean up tables and helping the bar staff. Now I'm the bar-back / door-person.

Huh.

@rinel said in Dabbling, Mastery, Dunning–Kruger etc:

I have found that there are plenty of DK poster children in the profession. Imposter syndrome only affects people willing to consider that they might be wrong.

This is true. Very true.

Okay, so among good and reputable lawyers you can trust, imposter syndrome is more common.

@thhppbbbt said in Dabbling, Mastery, Dunning–Kruger etc:

I didn’t suspect you of struggling with it. Hence replying to Groth.

I understand that. I was simply adding to it.

@groth

These are excellent strategies, but I find them patronizing. I employ them with my daughter, but would not do so with an adult or online. This is because I try not to talk to people as if I consider them a child.

I also do not automatically go to “neuroatypical” when I converse with someone. That feels patronizing to me too. I am fairly sure I am neurotypical, and I recognize others are not, but I am not going to presume someone pressing me is neuroatypical. In my experience, such are actually pushy neurotypical assholes.

@thhppbbbt

I’m my profession, DK is not as much of an issue as impostor syndrome. Your positions are challenged constantly and exhaustively.

@groth said in Dabbling, Mastery, Dunning–Kruger etc:

So ultimately 'understanding code' is more of a spectrum of knowledge where ultimate mastery is impossible and you always have to continually learn new things.

I love cooking and baking and, based on your analogy, I have lost my will to try to learn to code.

Fucking mixers and ovens, fuckers.

@groth said in Dabbling, Mastery, Dunning–Kruger etc:

It's easy I think to underestimate what something involves but to me learning the basics of various crafts makes me appreciate their depths.

You'll forgive me if I choke on the irony if this is a genuine statement.

That said, I concur. I try not to judge how easy or hard something is based on my own ease or difficulty. I've learned to listen to others about their thoughts on a topic. I do not think, for instance, that I will ever fully understand how to code, but I do enjoy reading the topics in this forum about it.

@macha

I cannot be afraid to show anger.

That repressive shit led to two suicides in my family.

Nope. I get angry when I want and how I want.

@kestrel

You should check out a country where you have to pay for care and still get on a wait list to be seen if you don’t have the right insurer.

@too-old-for-this said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

I would agree, but they are doing much, MUCH more than simply 'making fun of' people.

I agree with you too, but unfortunately I am speaking of their mindset, not of reality.

It's really sad too because I know too many God-fearing men, women, and others who feel guilty about "losing touch with their religion."

@too-old-for-this said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

They hear 'we want equal rights' and all they can grasp is 'we want to do to you what you have been doing to us'.

I think actually that they hear you can't make fun of us any more and that makes them scared because without a scapegoat they have to face the fact that they are the reason they are so pathetic and miserable.