SpiritDragon

That's excellent news. I wanted to thank you for updating the spreadsheet too. I see @anatess2 rocked week 6 with some successful behaviours as well. @NeuroTypical, @beefche, @zil I miss your updates. What happened to @carborendum? I can't tag him, and now I see his posts just say guest... has his profile been deleted? We'll miss you Carb, you were great to have around.

Exactly.

Sorry about that, I should have thought that through more carefully before sharing - I just found it out of place and unanticipated. Maybe my gaydar is exceptionally poor, but I felt like it was purely a surprise and entirely unnecessary, it was a frustrating ending to an otherwise fun show.

You may or may not care, but a Roku channel, Inc Family, is one of few places I know of to stream the Rankin Bass animated Hobbit film and it is only available on my Roku, but not my Firetv stick. I am admittedly a touch envious of the amount of free content I understand you get in the States, the Canadian free content is more limited, but still adds value to the Roku for sure.

Do yourself a favour and skip the last five minutes of the last episode of Voltron, you don't need to see Shiro kissing another man. Aside from that I hear you, I currently have Netflix and living scriptures together coming in at around $25.00 per month. I'm not a fan of having to pay that and have often considered cutting them entirely. Sure I'd miss having some shows, but it might also mean I just do other more productive things - what a shame that would be.

Increased fiber and water intake can help with that Okay - in all seriousness, I'm sorry to hear you're going through a rough patch, and I haven't personally shared the same challenges so I don't know exactly what you're going through. I can try to relate with other struggles I've had in my own life and I want to help. If it's okay with you I'll continue to offer suggestions that may be helpful, and when they're not you're welcome to disregard them. I can also forego giving suggestions and work on asking you for the solutions you have inside of you, but may need help coaxing out.

Perhaps if we take this approach:

Let me suggest that it's important for you to revisit your reason for doing all of this. Have you found your "why"? What is the default future of continuing on being dragged by the wagon? What is the future you want? Make it vivid - make it real. Put up pictures if you need to. Maybe you need pictures of an aunt or uncle who became so overweight they need a wheelchair, or maybe it's one who had a heart attack in their forties - you can put up a picture in a place you see with a crossed out circle around like a no smoking sign. Maybe keep one in you wallet and pull it out before eating, the other side can have your commitments written down. It's also helpful to have a picture of your dream self - not so much the ideal physique aspect, although that can be quite motivational for some, but a picture that encompasses health and vibrant energy to play with kids and grand kids, to have the get up and go to help out at service projects, to know if a natural disaster strikes your area you can put in a 16 hour day saving lives without much food... whatever it is that's meaningful to you. A new idea that I recently learned in a book on job satisfaction, but I think is applicable here, is to also measure your success against the impact it has on others. When you're doing well, take notice of your better moods and how that affects family, or how you have more energy for fun with family, perhaps how you are role modelling healthy habits to family, being a leader. When you fall short of where you'd like to be take notice of how other areas of life also seem to slide. More importantly, choose something that you can measure out of all of this and let that help you determine how effective you are being. It may be how often you get your kids to smile, or maybe even just how your efforts are helping Anatess to go for her walks. It's a little less clear exactly what this should be compared to tracking your progress on your own habits, but it should be something you have influence over because of daily decisions you make.

Typical @Vort - touchy feely, warm fuzzies and well self-embraced.

@anatess2 are you a Dragon Ball fan? I never realized Nappa would grow a beard if he went Super Saiyan

Welcome @Nordic saint May I ask what part of Scandinavia you call home? I have ancestry that goes back to Denmark, but branches into Sweden and Norway before coming to America 5-6 generations back and then into Canada in the last three generations.

Did your finger tips start to tingle from a medical condition? Or are you so far from acclimated to 70 degree weather that your body finds the ideal room temperature cold ? Well done with the 6K.

I remember living through a similar plow circumstance. I found that a metal garden shovel broke through nicely and allowed for clearance. It's definitely frustrating though.

How's the new plan going at this point?

I find this site to be a useful resource for getting a snapshot of what various supplements are good for. I feel sometimes they seem to be missing some important information, but they look to have creatine covered quite well. https://examine.com/supplements/creatine/ As for the safety aspect in particular they have this to say: So they give it a very safe review. One new thing I learned is that it may help cognition in the sleep deprived - I'm glad you gave me a reason to check in on this. I have young children and work a varied shift sometimes being out to 9:00 pm or later and often being up at 4:00 am to start early shifts... I may have to start taking some.

Happy to help.

Okay @NeuroTypical let my divulge what I can spout out about creatine off the top of my head. It's important to understand a little bit about basic bioenergetics to understand why supplementing may be useful. In the body creatine is bound to phosphate groups which can be broken off to quickly replenish energy stores. The primary energy currency in the body is ATP (Adonsine triphosphate) or an adenosine compound attached to three phosphates. The energy is liberated from the molecule by breaking a phosphate group off leaving ADP (Adenosine Diphosphate) and a lone phosphate. Creatine phosphate in our cells can quickly turn over phosphate that is energized ready to replenish ADP to ATP continuing to fuel high power output over short period of time. When supplementing with creatine monohydrate (the most common supplemental form) the creatine is capable of being taken up into the muscles allowing for larger stores of creatine phosphate leaving a greater reserve of fast-acting energy. This make creatine very useful for athletes that compete in short and explosive power events such as sprinting 100M or even powerlifting or Olympic lifting as some examples. Creatine also makes it easier to gain muscle weight because the increased energy storage in the muscles also brings on additional water into the muscles. Creatine can also be useful to recreational exercisers by giving them the ability to push a little harder to elicit greater training adaptations. I seem to recall that it also helps recovery so that more workouts are possible in the same amount of time - but I'd need to verify that, so don't quote me on it. Often times the dosing is recommended on a ramping up protocol starting with a teaspoon a day and building up to anywhere from 3-5 teaspoons a day over the course of around a month. After the ramping protocol is finished a person can lay off for a while and then ramp up again a month or two later. However, it is just as effective to take a teaspoon a day more consistently and skip the ramping stuff. It's more of bro-science and marketing hype to do it that way - at least that is what the evidence showed nearly a decade ago when I last delved into getting a grasp on the stuff. One cool finding though is that creatine may improve cognitive function, particularly in vegans as they are not getting the naturally occurring zoochemicals like creatine from eating flesh. Oh and is does seem like it may work better if taken with fruit juice or a fast acting sugar, as opposed to simply in water, but there again, it might not be enough of a difference to warrant the extra calories when weightloss is part of your goal. Creatine is generally part of a mass gaining supplement arsenal. It is one of the most extensively researched ergogenic aids, and really hasn't brought up any alarming safety data, so it is probably quite safe, but certainly not essential. Do you have some more specific questions about it that I might be able to help with?

I like this teamwork approach. I'm looking forward to seeing how it works within the online setting.

That's some great problem solving!

The best thing to do is prevention by easing into activity gradually enough. I recall a finding that omega 3 fatty acids taken on a regular basis could diminish DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness), but it was a pretty weak effect. I think similar findings have been made with antioxidant supplements such as vitamins E and C. The fact of the matter is exercise scientists don't even know what causes DOMS, it used to be thought that it was from lactic acid build-up, but that is now firmly proven not to be the case. The prevailing theory is it is caused by microtears in the muscle fibres which simply take time to heal. The biggest mystery with that theory is that tears should hurt immediately, so why don't we feel the pain for 8-12 hours after, sometimes peaking as much as 72 hours after exercise? Perhaps when we can figure out the cause of DOMS we can figure out a more effective treatment besides trying to prevent it. Anecdotally, there are those who swear by stretching, foam rolling, epsom salt baths, heat and cold, menthol rubs and so on. Personally, I kind of like a little DOMS, but not too much, and only time helps.

Absolutely, I thought I sent you a PM link - let me send it now (possibly again, possibly for the first time)... Sorry about that.

When I get home from work I'll have to give that a go. I'll look forward to this evening.

My correction for the opening paragraph: I'm firmly in the Elder Oaks fan club. I've seen the world point the finger of scorn at God's servants, but Nephi of old taught that the wicked would take the truth to be hard. I can't recall a thing he has said that I don't agree with, and if I could find one I suspect I'd need to repent and align my life with the word of God. Many times he has spoken where I felt he could say with Jacob, “Yea, it grieveth my soul and causeth me to shrink with shame before the presence of my Maker, that I must testify unto you concerning the wickedness of your hearts...Wherefore, it burdeneth my soul that I should be constrained, because of the strict commandment which I have received from God, to admonish you according to your crimes, to enlarge the wounds of those who are already wounded, instead of consoling and healing their wounds; and those who have not been wounded, instead of feasting upon the pleasing word of God have daggers placed to pierce their souls and wound their delicate minds. “ Although, I have never held these men to a perfect standard, I realize that when an Apostle of God speaks he does so from a place of love and concern for the welfare of souls. He is reaching out to save his brothers and sisters. The delivery may not be perfect and people may get offended, but the intent is good and the message is not wrong. I am in the Elder Oaks fan club!

It would be sad to see the two of you leave. But, I've had similar thoughts myself many times, so I get it.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1402378/ Sorry it's been a while - I've had a busy January pushing in to February. I thought this article might be of interest. METs are metabolic equivalents representing an increased work output by a factor of the given number - so 5 METs represents five times the work being done at rest, and 8 Mets represents doing 8 times the amount of work being done at rest, perhaps more accurately put using eight times the oxygen used at rest since this is how it's determined. This table shows that those who are capable of achieving more than 8 Mets are at the lowest risk of death from the causes listed. Thus fitness is protective against these conditions independent of other factors. Cool finding for heart disease - enough exercise may actually reverse plaque build up. Another stand out in regard to diabetes: By the numbers it appears that 2 1/2 hours of moderate physical activity is twice as effective as a leading drug - powerful stuff. Cancer too: Don't forget bone health: Keep in mind that physical activity is not only useful for prevention, but managing multiple conditions as well. The article gives great insights into some of the most notable findings.