Notes on weight, life, and medicine

As a lawyer, I quickly learned a hard truth: it is incredibly difficult to be entirely honest when you are working for someone else. Also, when you’re in the middle of training, it’s a great way to endanger your eventual credentialing. It is even harder when you have strong, evidence-informed opinions on a systemic issue, but you lack the specific credentials required to be taken seriously as an expert.

So this has been a slow start to the year in terms of fasting and weight loss progress. I didn’t get much fasting in from the 20 day fast in late October-Early November 2016. My weight went to 236 by the end of the 20 day fast. My weight went as high as 260 I believe after the 20 day fast before settling in around 253 unfasted. My weight right before the 20 day was 263, but that was about 7 pounds lower than most of the unfasted weights I was getting so I was happy with the progress from the 20 day fast. I expected the large weight gain almost back to where I started before dribbling back down from the previous 20 day fast.

Misguided Medicine by Dr. Colin Champ has one of the most informative introductions I’ve ever read. That’s frequently a deprecation of the value of the remainder of the book, but the books very solid as well.

Earlier this week I was nursing a limp wrist that was impairing my productivity and workout routine with three days left until I judge at the Memphis in May barbecue fest, and having just taken a day off that I really wanted to be fasting because a relative guilted me into eating with Grandmother on Mother’s day, I started contemplating what gets me derailed when fasting. I also decided to just try again next week. I also started thinking about how I can stay on track with behavioral hacks.

THE HUNGRY BRAIN: OUTSMARTING THE INSTINCTS THAT MAKE US OVEREAT by Stephen J Guyenet, Ph. D.

I did my first interview about the fasting and weight loss. It’s a newer podcast called Twelve Minute Conversations by Engel Jones. Engels has a rich Caribbean voice that makes for a really interesting and laidback interview style. It’s a unique podcast that has short interviews with interesting people doing four hour work week type stuff mainly. Lots of coaches and entrepreneurs, but a wide variety. I listened to a really good one by a vocal coach.

I remember going to a slim nutrition student in law school who thought she understood the struggles of major weight due to her own 15 or so pound weight loss. Unlike that incident you can tell Sylvia Tara has legitimately struggled with her weight throughout her life.

I’m not a big fan of self-improvement style goals for myself personally, but I do find most self-improvement material to have an implicit (sometimes explicit) theme that “If it doesn’t work for you, then there’s something wrong with you.”

It’s always a good idea to get a feel for the perspective where information is coming from. I’ve learned the hard way that just because something works for one person, it may not work for someone else. “If I could do it anyone can,” sounds great but is not helpful or accurate at the end of the day. This is my history with weight before I found fasting.

Above is a video of a 20 day Fung fast /16 day water fast I did in late October/early November of 2016. It was the second 20 day fast I did. The previous being about six months before.

When I started fasting for weight loss I was unaware of any large scale success stories other than that of legendary hero of fasting Angus Barbieri, (AKA “The Mad Scottsman”). After I did my initial fast I gradually found a few more, but there are not many out there and aside from Barbieri none seem to be documented in the medical literature in a helpful way. Finding them can be fairly difficult so I decided a resources article was in order.

Having done almost everything over the years and only finding real success with fasting, it would seem natural to recommend fasting first.

Dieting is suppose to be about strict rules and careful tracking. I’ve tried that before and it didn’t work. I do try to eat mindfully. Here are some guidelines, you could call them rules that I follow when I’m not fasting. Really I’ve followed these the past ten years at least in an attempt to slow down the weight gain.

If you read the papers you will notice that they will either specify that you must file an answer or show up to court on a certain day. You answer by filing a written document that indicates generally your response to the allegations in the papers. Some small claims courts will have expedited procedures that don’t require written responses.

A knock comes at your door. You get up. You find a slouchy somewhat unkempt man at your door. You crack the door to ask what’s up while taking care not to undo the chain. He says your name. You dimly reply, “Yeah, That’s me.” He shoves an envelope through your door and mumbles something about service. You go back to the sofa. You open the envelope and see a bunch of officious looking papers with a bunch of legal terms. Your heart starts racing. This is bad.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Fasting | Prudently

I regularly hire helpers for tasks for my online businesses off upwork or other online sources. It’s good to think of issues that might occur before you try something, so I thought it might be of help to read. I typed this up after an aggravating incident, so it might be too snarky to give to an assistant, unless they’re a new hire and you want to keep them on their toes.

People love discussing asset protection. It’s one of those things that make you feel good about your accomplishments in life in that you have something worth protecting. This makes Asset Protection prone to being filled with flim-flam men and “experts” looking to sell you overpriced strategies that aren’t nearly as fool proof as advertised. Being familiar with what I consider the basic fundamental strategies can make navigating the area much simpler and avoid getting taken. Be sure you are familiar with what happens when you can’t pay your debts.

I’m starting this blog prudently. The basic theme is to discuss useful topics with the aim of avoiding stock advice that fits in most but not all situations or to avoid dumbing it down.