Sensationally moderate

On Thursday this past week I went to my regular blood donation place to do a plasma donation. I go roughly every two weeks and am getting to know the nurses and staff there. It takes time because they have their own varied schedules and so I don't always see the same people on my Thursday evening visits with them. My next scheduled donation is on December 22 and I plan on buying some chocolates to bring as a Christmas gift to the nurses and other staff there.

On Friday evening I went to book group; I hadn't gone in a few months. The book we read was 'At the Water's Edge' by Sara Gruen. I quite enjoyed reading the book, but with respect to discussion it did not generate much. In past book groups I had prepared questions that I thought of while reading and I forgot to do this for this book. I will try harder on the next book. It was nice to see all of my book group friends again, though there were three or four missing. Also, the only other guy in the group wasn't there, so I was the lone male.

On Saturday morning I met with Luke whom I met in our Discord Kurzgesagt group, I had to awaken early to catch the 6h56 211 bus to get to the Peel base of Mount Royal for 8am. I had published this event in the group but only Luke replied. We had a nice walk/talk, though it was about -10c and windy. He works in IT support at the MUHC and has an a-hole of a manager so his intention in 2023 is to look for another job. As we were leaving the mountain on our way back to the metro he asked me to join him for breakfast, and then offered again and that he would pay. I was torn as I had over eaten the previous night and wasn't at all hungry, but could see that this would be helpful to him. I still ended up refusing and perhaps this wasn't the best decision.

A few weeks ago, perhaps last month, my manager sent out a poll to ask which night would work for us to get together and that ended up being Saturday night (last night). Unfortunately not all of my team (10 of us) were available, however, seven us did show up. To get there was a long commute:

I took an earlier than was absolutely necessary 211 bus because I was going to unfamiliar places. I knew at Bonaventure station where the South Shore bus terminal was as I had passed it many times, but I had never ventured into it. It turns out there is a south and north bus terminal and the 45 bus I was to take was in the north one. The 45 bus is a terminal to terminal, going from Bonaventure to Panama and had departures every 10 minutes. I skipped one because the 132 bus I was to take was only departing Panama terminal some 35 minutes later. Fortunately at the Panama terminal there was a heated indoor area to wait. Also fortunately, if ever we were to do this again the REM will be open with an REM stop more or less adjacent to that restaurant.

I am already usually socially awkward outside of one-on-one interactions, but this event had the bonus of a language/cultural barrier, with four of us Francophone Quebecois, two of us Francophone Algerians and then me, the lone Anglo. As much as I had a difficult time with this, I wouldn't skip a subsequent equally difficult work event because our manager was one of the attendees and so through conversation I got to learn some things about our department and the future of it.

I found out that most likely sometime next year, we will be closing down our incoming phone line; our customers are already being advised that email communication will get higher priority and eventually the phone line will be close altogether, to match my employer's global support policy. We as tech support can always call a customer if the problem/question they have is complex; but the reverse will no longer be true. I am pretty pleased about this.

About having met my coworkers in person for the first time, I have determined that it is both a blessing and a curse that this job is 100% WFH. It is a blessing that I do not need to be put in that awkward cultural difference situation every hour of every day of every week by having to go to work, but a curse that by not doing that I don't have the opportunity to learn and get better at these situations.

The last thing about meeting my coworkers in person that I'll mention is that our team is made up all of men except for one pretty, charming, young (~26yo) woman who was present at this event. I feel safe to say, as it is doubtful she or anyone from my work would ever come to this blog, or this post, that having her present provided eye candy which made what otherwise was a somewhat dreadful experience slightly more palatable.

On the walk from the restaurant to the 90 bus that took me and only one other passenger from the Chevrier parking station into the city I caught my first view of the Orion constellation. I was happy to see it but did not try to photograph it as it was cold and windy and I know that for this kind of photo I would need a tripod to hold the mobile device steady.

Today is Sunday and I went to church this morning, as I do every Sunday morning. The best part of this experience for me is that for the half hour before mass begins, I am a greeter at the entrance of the church with another volunteer, and the two of us have become friends getting this weekly reliable interaction. The rest of the day for me is to be a lazy oaf and watch NFL.

Tomorrow is off of work for me, I'm taking my last vacation day of 2022. I've got an appointment at 11AM with Maria at Montreal Nuru Massage. I've been meeting with her once a month, missing one or two months, for a year now, so even though this is a transactional relationship, it has been nice for us to get to know each other. Following that I'm going to see the movie 'Devotion'.

To terminate this post, I've been watching a show on Disney+ called Limitless with Chris Hemsworth. One of the recent episodes I watched was all about fasting and that reminded me that I have done this in the past with moderate success. Doing this is all in the hopes that processes such as autophagy and ketosis take place within me, with the idea that these processes help to provide me a healthier longer life. So, after the Pulled Pork Poutine I had at 3 Brasseurs last night, I've decided to fast for some indeterminate amount of time. Chris (and a longevity doctor with him) did four days on the episode I watched. I'm not certain I'll go for four days, but at least 24 hours and probably more.

hearing and vision, say and see what?

Last night I went to a seminar titled 'Lifestyle Choices for Healthy Aging' that was hosted at Concordia University of which I am an alumni.

There were two researchers who each individually presented the results of their ongoing research on how it relates to the topic, and then a moderator came in and the three of them sat down and had a discussion. Following that, there was a period where the audience could ask questions.

Nathalie's research was what effect hearing loss, and to a lesser extent vision loss, affect cognition in our older age. The evidence shows that hearing loss is a significant risk factor with respect to the development of dementia. The way it was explained was that with hearing loss, a person will interact socially less and less as the hearing ability reduces, and this lowering of social interaction is known as one of the key risk factors leading to dementia. She mentioned that there is no evidence to show that hearing aids will make a difference because the people who get hearing aids generally do other positive things that also lowers their risks and so to parcel out the specific impact that hearing aids have has not yet been done. It seems to me, though, that it is a logical link and so I will definitely keep this in mind for the future; if I ever find myself noticeably having trouble hearing people and what they say, I am to get my hearing checked. At one point during the discussion, Nathalie mentioned that another aspect of a lifestyle choice for healthy aging was to continue to have a Growth Mindset throughout the older years; not to resign oneself to 'this is how it is and how it will be for the rest of my life'.

Claudine's research was what effects vascular health have on aging. The risk factors that can lead to vascular disease are almost identical with the risk factors that Nathalie listed at the beginning of her presentation, the common things that aging related research talks about - diet, exercise, sleep, diabetes, obesity and a few others. She said that everyone has at least one risk factor working against them. She mentioned that through all of the known research that has been done, there is still not an understanding of what exactly exercise actually does to the brain; it is just known that there is a correlation between exercise and good cognition. She said that it seems that cardiovascular exercise, on its own, has the greatest and most profound effect on lowering the risk of vascular disease, but that, oddly, performing strength exercise has only a moderate effect, and combining strength and aerobic exercise doesn't have the same effect as the aerobic exercise done on its own. Claudine also mentioned that it didn't really matter what exercise people did, nor, that it is ever too late to begin, though, people who only start exercising later in life (60-70-80) will have a smaller positive impact compared to someone who started earlier (30-40). Finally, she mentioned that there is quite a big difference between men and women with respect to vascular disease and how it plays out in people, both respect to sex (our physiology) and gender (our cultural or social roles).

My summaries above account for both their presentation and what came out of the moderator questions. When the audience questions started, a large proportion of them were general age related questions that had hardly anything to do with the research topics these two people spent their time talking about; so they were ill-equipped to answer them, but did their best just the same.

After the session there was a cocktail hour for people to mull about and discuss what had just been delivered. I always have a hard time with this, not knowing anyone, but I did manage to accost this couple who seemed younger than me, and together the three of us were younger than many of the attendees. We chatted for perhaps eleven minutes, talking about the presentation, the researchers, our own reading of age related materials; there was a fairly good balance of both of them asking questions and me asking questions and providing answers too. I didn't get their names, but the woman of the relationship probably took about 60% of the conversation space with 20% each for the guy and I.

So, here is what I am already doing that I hope will help with aging healthy in my later years:
Exercising regularly
Intermittent fasting
Ensuring I get good quality and quantity of sleep
Eat healthy some of the time

Here is what more I need to do:
Eat healthy all of the time
Improve or expand my social interaction
Later on if my hearing or my vision begins to noticeably degrade, do not hesitate to do something about it.

That about wraps up the rap

1. Today is my first day in a new role within my company.
2. Last night the KC Chiefs won the Superbowl, 31-20, against the SF 49ers.
3. I printed out the tickets (train and event) for my trip to Dordrecht next week
4. I put a note in my calendar exactly 30 hours before my flight departure, as that is when KLM says I can check-in, hopefully checking in early like this will give me a better selection of seats from which to choose. I'm aiming for a window seat as close to the front as possible.
5. I saw the movie 'The Rhythm Section' on Saturday. I'm going to see 1917 today. I may go to see 'Birds of Prey' later in the month of February.
6. I had a nap yesterday.
7. I've started the 5:2 fasting again; normally I do Mondays and Thursdays for fasting, so I last ate at 18:34 yesterday and I do not expect to eat any sooner than 18:35 this evening. I am drinking water, however.
8. Not everything that you've read above is true, well, unless it isn't.

What came after Mesopotamia?

It isn't every Thursday that has in it, a bowl of petunias.

I should know.

Today marks the last day of swim classes for my girls; they will receive a simple version of a report card indicating what level they should register into in a subsequent session.

My plan is to run three circuits of my neighbourhood Spartan Race training run this evening; this time I will also test the consumption of a protein bar. I bought three different kinds to see if one is superior to the others and I will do three separate training runs before the actual race. The plan is to cut the bar into thirds; at the start of the first circuit, eat a third, at the start of the second circuit, eat a third and at the start of the third circuit, eat the last third.

With respect to intermittent fasting, I have taken this up again, having fasted this past Monday, and I am doing so again today. Monday and Thursday have often worked best for me. On Monday the day flew by and I hardly had a hunger pang. Today already it seems will be more challenging.

Yesterday I gave blood.

I would say all of my readings are in good shape.

I will not be going to Mexico tomorrow.

when cryogenics becomes relevant

I have never vacationed in Serbia. I expect I would have language problems there.

I have never painted my toe nails. I do not figure to be doing this any time soon.

I climbed a tree yesterday.

Today I am fasting by not having eaten since 14h30 yesterday and not eating again until supper time this evening. I am drinking water through this time, however.

I have never had to tie a tourniquet on someone. I consider myself fortunate that I have never been put in a position where I have had to.

There you have it, five additional things about me.

stealth foghorns, unite!

The permanency of a temporary sign postage requires almost exactly zero cornucopias to erupt from my little sister's pet tarantula's mom's left earlobe. I should know.

I plan on starting, again, an exercise routine tomorrow so long as I get a sufficient amount of sleep tonight. In order for this to happen, I am hoping to get to bed prior to 22h. As I type this sentence, that is a little over three hours from now. The exercise routine I have is entirely made up of body-weight exercises. This includes different types of push ups, squats, pull ups, chin ups, forwards and backwards lunges, leg raises and a few other things. I tried this same routine for about five consecutive weeks seven months ago and found I enjoyed doing it. We shall see if I can keep the discipline to keep doing it for a longer period this time.

There are a very large number of inexistential duiker antelopes playing hide-and-go-seek tag in my right armpit. The ostrich that planted a terrarium there decided to go on a vacation to Malibu. The terrarium got washed away the most recent time I was disinfected after having left the clean room used to perform scab tests on alien toe fungus.

In terms of the Minimalist Game that my family has taken on, out of 500 total items I am to rid the house of by the end of the month, I am at 48. Other of my family members have more and one has less. So far it has been fairly easy, however, as the date value of the days gets higher, it becomes more difficult to locate that number of things.

I hope that this month, already almost one third over, has passed in a way such that you have not stubbed any of your toes.

Tomorrow I plan on returning to the intermittent fasting that I had taken up a while ago. I had let it slide for a few weeks but I feel it is time to get back to it. This means skipping breakfast and lunch tomorrow and having only a light supper. Thursday, I repeat the procedure.

Now it is a little less than three hours before I hope to go to sleep.

As for fasting, it sure is slow

Last week I started up again the intermittent fasting that I read about back in April of '15. Today too, then, is a Fast day so I have not eaten anything yet since about 19h yesterday and the current time is 13h26 (as I end this sentence). The plan is to eat a light meal at around 18h tonight so it will almost have been 24 hours of not eating.

Yesterday I raked an additional 10 more bags of leaves, another nice round number, so my leaf bag count is up to 50 now.

Yesterday's bag count: 10 bags.
This season's bag count: 50 bags.

We're getting close to the end of the season, I may only have another 8-10 more.

The Spartan Races for next year have mostly been announced, there are only two more that took place last year that are as yet to be announced for this year. I am hoping to do four or five of them and to see if there are others, here at my work place, who would join me. It is likely that for one of them we would rent an AirBNB home close to the event as it is sufficiently far away that driving there and back again on race day would potentially be too much. It is possible that a second one of them we would do the same. I plan on organizing a meeting to discuss this sometime in the next three weeks to see what others think of the plan.

Together forever a newt and a barnacle

The city has approved the roof renovation plans that my company is going to do in the building we are located. We occupy the north half of the fifth and sixth floors of the building and by next summer we'll have space on the roof of this eleven storey structure. I am hoping that the roof part will include a four season section so that even in the winter we can go up there.

It would also be great if there was a bathroom and a small kitchen area with a sink and microwave. With all of this it would make the place very multi functional. Most likely it will be wired for our company's WiFi to allow people to have meetings and work up there.

My own job won't allow me to work up there much as in my support department I need to be near the phone in case someone calls for support. Most of our customers don't do that, unless it is a real emergency; they log their help requests either by email or by the web interface of our ticketing system.

On days that I fast (Mondays and Thursdays) I often get cold, so having the space up there on warm summer days will give me a chance to thaw out.

rainbow unicorn pancreas

A staple remover is just to the left of my left arm that is attached to the wrist that connects the left hand which is being used to type this sentence along with the right hand.

To the right of my right arm is the mouse which I do not use as I type sentences. On my lap, a cat.

Tomorrow I go to see a doctor about a twitch I have beneath my left eye that has persisted now for six days. Tomorrow evening my cat goes for his annual checkup.

I have just registered for the summer family camp that we go to most summers. This year is special as my wife will not be coming, except perhaps for an evening or two - her job at the moment has become extremely demanding, but only for a finite time.

The first day of camp coincides with a Spartan Race I have signed up to participate in, so likely I will leave the kids at home with the wife, go do the race, then come home and pack up the kids and the van and head over to camp. This will put us up at camp later than we would normally be for this week of camp, but I'm really excited (a little bit more than I am about anything) to participate in this Spartan Race. It is a 'Sprint' distance, so only about 5KM, but there are twenty or so obstacles.

I did a pretty good job of not eating today, except for a grill cheese sandwich I ate at dinner time and the can of Coca-Cola I am just about finishing now.

when rice goes on strike

On a beautiful sunny day when the temperature doesn't rise above 4C, there is something to be said for weather appropriate garments.

I am still eating very little on Mondays and Thursdays, usually opting for a light (or not so light) evening meal I refer to as supper. This represents a 24 hour fast, since I would not have eaten since the previous supper. It used to be that I would manage a 36 hour fast by not eating that supper and waiting until breakfast the next morning, but I haven't managed to do this in quite a few months.

There is a taxi stand that I can see out the window of where I sit at work, if I stand up so as to look down to street level. Usually there are between four and eight taxis queued. I do not know the rate at which the front most taxi becomes occupied as I have not been able to spend any significant amount of time watching to see how often and how quickly people climb into the taxi at the front. I've seen it happen a few times as it is coincidental that when I get up to check on them, someone is getting in at that exact moment. Then the front taxi takes off and the others behind all move forward.

With respect to Uber, this taxi queue just outside my building is more convenient in terms of transport because there is always a taxi there, just waiting. The only draw back is that taxis cost more than Uber does. I make use of a taxi perhaps 0.3 times per year and do not have an Uber account.

the meritocratic council voted unanimously

The couch lizard made of sludge and slush slouched like a sled sliding sideways. It would be arrogant to know even if the least important of the facts not mentioned would bring about a change in the decision making process.

In sporting events over the weekend, certain teams won while others did not. In addition, in sports played by individuals rather than teams, some individuals won while others lost. There wasn't one game or match where I was rooting for one side or the other. Mostly, in any of the sporting events I watched, I was looking to see exciting plays.

Today is a Fast day - I have not eaten breakfast and have no plans on eating lunch. My goal is to also not eat supper or any snack and not eat anything until breakfast time tomorrow morning. I may or may not succeed at this plan. I am hoping that both ketosis and autophagy take place, though I have no way of knowing if either will.

The regulations used against the pious made wavelengths stretch about four percent longer than their normal length. This really had little impact and so the regulations ended up being ignored. That's the way it goes when a laundry list of isotopes is planted like an orchard.

For someone to say, "I'm kicking myself" seems to me to be a rather troubling thing to say. For sure, speaking figuratively, it resonates with the situations self explained. Taken literally, however, one would question this, or compare it so self-immolation. I should know.

That a left-brained decision was used in the application to receive a grant issued by a man named 'Grant' would bake a multi-layered chocolate and banana cream cake likens a symbolic sponge to a wallowing toe nail clipping.

Okay.

The last time the team baked a

Yes, the holidays that end 2015 have come to an end.

There were zero casualties in my family, extended family and my framily. All participants pulled through into the new year.

On this, my 15,539th day, I'm not planning on eating anything as I gained six pounds over the holidays. This is a continuation of the Fast 5.2 diet that my father-in-law introduced to me in April of last year. Mondays and Thursdays my plan is to continue to have a reduced diet.

My wife and I have been talking about getting a wine fridge. I found this one:

...but at 4200$ it is rather out of our price range.

I found that the Huawei mobile device and smart watch are both available to be purchased in Canada though previously I had found that they were only available to be purchased in the US.

It is really the watch I want, but the mobile device I currently have is not compatible with it. So if I don't get the Huawei mobile phone, I would get one with my current mobile provider.

Anyhow, in two more days it will be Wednesday.

train tracks up my nose

So the kids are now all out of school. Next week we begin the routine of bringing them to the house of a friend of ours whose teenage daughter we are paying to take care of them through the summer. On June 30th G-Bot will start a two week summer school course to improve his study skills. This was not required, but we felt that he could benefit by this.

July 3rd the kids and I are going to the lake front property of a friend of ours. He doesn't have a house there, but does have a camper, so we camp it out for the weekend.

Today is a day of intermittent fasting, I last ate at 20h00 last night, so the plan is to not eat until 8h00 tomorrow morning, drinking only water during this time. This has been going well for me, though I haven't always stuck to the plan and on some fasting days, ended up eating a normal supper. No matter, since I started this routine I've lost eight pounds and have not regained any of them. I'd like to lose two more and then if I can stabilize at that weight I'd be at my desired weight.

communal ant farms

We did not end up going to Burlington on the way to Enosborg Falls as we delayed our departure by an hour or so to give more time for V-8 to recuperate. It turns out that Thursday night into Friday morning she vomited a number of times and that continued into Friday and the last time was in the night Friday to Saturday. V-8 during all of this time was in a pretty foul mood. While no one is especially good to be around when they aren't feeling well, six-year-olds do not make it any easier.

Overall, though, we had a great time; the weather worked out and the house was lovely. I'll post a more detailed review in the coming days.

Today it is back to the whirlwind that is my existence. If you'll recall we had water damage in our house last summer.

Piano movers came today to move the piano from one room in our house to another as the room it was in is having the floor refinished.

Insurance company workers have come today to our house to remove the contents of the room that they are paying for to refinish the floor. Late last week we emptied the contents of two other rooms whose floors will be refinished that we are paying for.

Those same insurance company workers will be emptying our basement of its contents so that a carpet company can then redo the floor there where they will lay down some plywood directly on the cement floor, and then apply carpeting to the plywood.

Finally, the insurance workers will replace everything back where it was, and the piano movers will come back to put the piano back.

During the time that the floor is getting sanded and varnished, we will not be living in our house as the dust and more specifically the toxicity of the varnish is too much at time of application for non-equipped residents to bare. During this time we (including Leo) will be living in a nearby hotel that we picked because it includes breakfast. If we're smart about it, we may be able to scheme kids lunches from the breakfast.

So while this past weekend I did get to relax, it wasn't really enough to recharge.

As we were still on our MLW vacation yesterday, I decided to change my intermittent fasting day to be today, so all I have for eating today is a tuna sandwich.

ketosis and autophagy

I've been reading a bit more about the intermittent fasting I am doing. By not eating for an extended period, both ketosis and autophagy come into play.

Ketosis is when the body stops using energy from sugar in the body as it is all used up, and instead, uses fat as an energy source.
Autophagy is where damaged cells get degraded and then recycled leaving behind only the healthy ones.

Of course, these explanations are very simple and superficial, but in essence this is what fasting is doing to me and to those of us who do this. My primary reason is the autophagy whereas for most people doing the FastDiet are doing it for the ketosis.

I've read about some who purchase ketostix which are strips that you pee on and 15 seconds later you find out if your body is in the ketosis phase or not. I don't know that I am so keen to know.

consciousness reeks like

Sadly, the Canadiens didn't have the oomph last night to knock out the Senators. Game five is on Friday, but we (my wife and I) have plans to go out to dinner with a friend and her family to celebrate her (the friend's) birthday. We are going to Casa de Mateo, a Mexican restaurant that on Friday and Saturday nights has a Mariachi band that wanders through the restaurant.

If the game goes into overtime, it is possible that we'll be able to catch the end of the game at a nearby bar.

Today is another Fast day on my intermittent fasting plan. I just have a simple turkey sandwich I'll eat at 12h30 and that's it for food consumption today.

underwater boxing as a sewing needle

There is an excessive amount of construction going on in the neighbourhood of where I work. Perhaps tomorrow I will go on a photo safari to show you what I mean.

Yesterday's fast was easier than last week's. Already it looks to be getting easier.

As you may know from past years, we (my family and two others) rent a large house over May Long Weekend (this year, it is May 16,17,18) together. We collectively take Friday off of work, leave home Friday morning, drive to the place and along the way, make a few stops for food or to see touristy things in the neighbourhood of the house or on the way and then we arrive.

This year we are staying here:
http://www.vrbo.com/385491

So we arrive Friday late afternoon or evening, depending on what we've done, and then we have all day Saturday, Sunday and then on Monday we leave sometime during the day. Some of us are keen to get out and about to see what there is to see while others are content to stay in the house we've rented just to have a time of calm that acts as a punctuation mark to our busy lives.

Since this year's house has a very large property, this opens up a few options for things we haven't done before. For example, I can bring my kite; my son can acquire some rocket supplies to bring with us, we can go for long country-side walks without leaving the property, and so on.

Anyhow, I hope if you have eaten cucumbers in the last sixteen years, that when you did, it was good.

barking up the wrong shrub

Wearing solid coloured shirts is the least offensive thing a person can do in a plaid factory.

Today is my second Fast day in the 5.2 plan; my last meal was at 18h30 yesterday, I had two hard boiled eggs and some lettuce and a few cherry tomatoes for lunch today at 12h30 and my next meal is breakfast tomorrow morning at 6h30. So far so good.

It is 21C outside today, and sunny. Very much like an early summer day, though it is still spring.

Given this weather it was no surprise that many of the people in my office today were wearing short sleeves.

I think Clinton would make a fine president. What I find curious is I am not hearing in the media here anything about a Republican contender. The sad part is most likely she'd have to deal with a partisan congress with a majority against her. My awareness of the American political system is really quite peripheral, however; I don't know exactly how it all works.

Here in Canada it is a fairly simple system.
A political party elects a leader, that leader then leads the party.
A general election is had where the country is divided up roughly by population/area and each division is called a riding.
In your riding you choose among the members of the various political parties that are representing their parties in your riding.
The votes are counted and using the 'First-past-the-post' method a winner is determined for the riding.
The number of ridings that are won is tabulated and the party with the highest number wins the election; the leader of that party becoming the Prime Minister.
If the winning party has won more than half the seats in Parliament (where the elected members go) that party forms a majority.

There's a little more to it, but that's about it in a nutshell.

Wearing plaid coloured shirts is the most offensive thing a person can do in a solid colour factory.

500 cal day one

To get a starting point I weighed 150.0 lbs this morning and my scale told me I have 15.9% body fat. We'll see how this intermittent fasting goes over the next few weeks to change these things. I should also have measured my waist but in the morning I didn't have the time to get what I needed to do that.

I made a simple turkey sandwich and prepared some strawberries that adds up to about 340 calories; this will be my lunch. I do not know what else I will eat today, but the simplest thing would be to not eat anything else as then I don't have to give it any thought.

The great thing about the 5:2 diet is that tomorrow I get to eat whatever I want and don't need to pay attention.

fishing upstream in her wrist band

My father-in-law has tried a number of diets throughout his life as he is obese and has always wanted to get his weight down. The latest one he is trying is called intermittent fasting where on Mondays and Thursdays he is to eat a vastly reduced diet, 500 cals or less and then eat normally all of the other days.

I have been doing some reading about this and have found that this kind of diet has also (in addition to losing weight) been shown to help postpone the onset of Alzheimers which is something that seems to run in my family.

So, to buoy the effort my father-in-law is doing to help him lose weight, I am thinking of joining him on Mondays and Thursdays to eat 500 cals or less. This coming Thursday will be my first day.

I will post here reviews about how it is going to see how sustainable it is as a habit.