As work is about to begin, I need to think about how I am allocating every minute of my day in the morning. Margins matter.

06:30 – Wake up

07:30 – Go for the run?

08:30 – Work at home, get ready?

09:30 – WORK

< during day > deep focus sessions

17:19 –

Things and their times

• 5k will take me about an hour end to end. I like morning running.

I have been thinking about writing about this for a while.

I like strong flavors. I like black coffee. Single malt whiskeys. Super flavorful berries. Eating limes with the skin. Etc. etc etc.

On the other hand, I cant even tell I am eating bread because it has no flavor.

For me, food regulation happens in the mouth. I need to feel the flavor and texture in my mouth.

American food is so flavorless man. It is insane. Even the oranges here are so bland.

So my goal will be to SEEK FLAVOR

I want to increase my mileage for the month of September.

Let’s shoot for 9 miles? That is 3 5ks.

The body will adapt. Force it to adapt.

I am currently at 154 miles.

I have 4 months. So that is 12 miles a month.

This is EASILY doable. Let’s get to 200 miles.

And here we are. Look at the recent blog posts and you will see that I have fallen off the wagon. Gone is the confidence perhaps.

Fuck. Man, I hate taking time off from this shit because it is hard to get back onto the wagon. I can’t blame many things anymore. But, this is a learning experience. Now I know this for next year.

Doing some data analysis

My weight has started to go up. Compare it to the previous year. Huh. Interesting.

So, whats going on here? Am I eating too much? Am I moving too little? Am I sleeping not enough?

Let’s dig in.

Summary:

• Deep sleep and REM sleep are FUCKED lately. WOW
• I have LESS move calories than last year!

CALORIES (WEEKLY NUMBERS)

This year has been “okay”. Not a big difference from last year. But it is more consistent. Notice how in the early part of the year, I was eating less. So, I think I know my maintenance numbers. And I know how to trigger the reduction. Definitely control this dial.

MOVE CALORIES (WEEKLY NUMBERS)

This is SHOCKING to me. My move calories are LOWER this year than they were last. Wow! This is pretty crazy to me. Of course, the NET CALORIES will be impacted because of this. Let’s keep an eye on this buddy.

GENERAL

This is good

SLEEP!!

My deep sleep as COLLAPSED

Summary:

• Tracking weight is more important than tracking food
• Maintaining routine in the summer
• Lower the activation energy for activity, workout, run, etc.
• Don’t let work get in the way — sleep well
• Keep the NEAT up

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Why is loosing weight so difficult?

I know it can be done. I have done it a bit. I have seen other people do it. I generally have some idea about how they did it. So then, why is it so hard for me to achieve my goals here?

To be honest, it’s hard for everyone. That’s why you see those studies and those youtube videos that talk about how hard it is.

Some mistakes I made:

• Stopped tracking weight. BAD IDEA. Btw, I kept tracking my food. So this shows the incremental benefit of tracking food vs. weight.
• I let loose a bit with alcohol.
• I experienced a lot of routine disrupting situations, which fucked with food and workouts:
  • Summer heat: Holy shit, this has been insane. I used to ENJOY going for a run, but it has been hard to do that in the summer.
  • Parents came, travel: This I don’t think was too bad of an issue.
  • Activation energy went up too much. Combination of persistent situations and also the heat, etc.
  • Work stress got insane too.

Also, I think some things may have happened in my body too:

• Adaptation, lower BMR.
• Muscle over fat

So, I know what happened. Thats the annoying thing. I know all this shit. I also called this out. So, let me simplify things somehow.

The Protocol:

• Sleep because you loose weight when asleep
• NEAT movement beacuse those overpower any exercise
• Small calorie deficit, so that your body doesn’t freak out
• Muscles so that you can raise your BMR
• Cardio so that you can keep a healthy heart
• Refeed every few weeks, so that your body doesn’t get too used to stuff
• Focus on 12k steps: listen to podcasts and books.

• Think about fat loss not weight loss
• Starving vs. Fasting
• Sleep is when you actually lose fat
• Cardio: Fat loss is about muscle
• You don’t need sugar, live in balance.
• Homeostasis
• Over training, you will get fat.
• Muscles only grow when you are recovering.

Richa Prasad

• Calorie counting? Exercising?
• Frantic exercise. Slashed calories.
• Diabetic? Sugar?
• I think this is an issue: hyper insulinima?
• Life long HEALTH
• Don’t PANIC
• Body adapts: If you don’t eat, the body will fuck it up by slowing the metabolism

• Increased the calories!
• Moderate calorie deficit
• Strategic Refeeding
• Muscle burns more calories

• SLEEP!!!! how important. Fuck it.
• No coffee?
• Consistent WAKE UP TIME not necessarily SLEEP TIME

• SLEEP DEPRIVATION IS IMPORTANT

• NEAT movement is a MACHINE

Flow state

What to do when you are NOT working

ALLOSTATIC LOAD

Allostatic load is the cumulative effect of chronic stress on mental and physical health. It refers to the “wear and tear” on the body that life events and environmental stressors create. Allostatic load involves the interaction of different physiological systems at varying degrees of activity

You need to clean up this load

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How to regularly clear this load?

• Athlete: Majority of the time training, few hours of competition
• Think of NFL season, right?
• But “knowledge worker” has to work so much more regularly
• Energy Management

• Exertion and Recovery

1. Raise the ceiling

Oscilate your Exertion and Recovery. Muscle building happens during RECOVERY

Relaxation vs. Recovery.

Relaxation doesnt FLUSH OUT THE TOXINS

PARASYMPATHETIC stuff to recovery. vs. Sympathetic

Stimulate the PARASYMPATHETIC nervous system

• Breadth work, deep breathing.
• Meditation ish style stuff
• Cold therapy

Active recovery protocol?

It’s part of the work.

Stack the day with PSNS.

Build out a recovery and vacation schedule.

Training is probably key. I like that word.

Took him 5 years to shave off an hour.

• Weekly mileage
• Fueling strategy

• Nutrition
  • Salt Pills!!!??
  • Glu gels?
  • spring energy? my normal glu stuff

800 repeat / 1 mile repeats

• Mileage is IMPORTANT!
• Half marathons, 18 miles, etc.

I did my second 10k in 1 week today. It was fucking hard. I hate running in the summer.

I almost fainted towards the end. I had a bit of starry vision.

but I am happy I am running. Just gotta keep moving. Nothing else matters.

The goal is to keep reducing the weight. That’s it.