Things that bring a smile to your face

[chasfh]

On 3/7/2025 at 6:44 PM, MichiganCardinal said:

I’ve battled weight my whole life, lots of yo-yoing. It was psychological hell in the latter part of 2024, where I was stuck in this vicious mental cycle where I wanted so badly to lose weight but couldn’t get past the mental block of thinking it was just too much and I was incapable.

Finally, October 18, 2024, I started calorie counting. I can’t tell you why that date, I just took the step. I didn’t tell anyone, not even my girlfriend of two years, for a month.

I joined a local CrossFit gym in December, and it absolutely Kicked. My. Ass. But I kept going back.

I was 312.4 on 10/18. As of this morning I’m 260.6. Down 51.8 pounds. I’m not sure my end goal, but I do think saying I lost 100 pounds would be cool.

I’ve told a few people. Thought I would share here. 🙂 

Counting calories is the best way to lose weight because you kind of treat it like money. You establish a goal, which acts like a bank, and you feel as though you can’t go into debt by going over your calorie count. I felt like that, any way.

I also weigh everything I eat at home on a gram scale before I eat it. I don’t trust my eyes to help me moderate. 

[MichiganCardinal]

4 hours ago, chasfh said:

Counting calories is the best way to lose weight because you kind of treat it like money. You establish a goal, which acts like a bank, and you feel as though you can’t go into debt by going over your calorie count. I felt like that, any way.

I also weigh everything I eat at home on a gram scale before I eat it. I don’t trust my eyes to help me moderate. 

It's counterintuitive, but I've found I can still have some fast food (Wendy's and Taco Bell in particular), as long as I'm still tracking. Those are actually easier than the mom and pop places that don't tell you calories because then I'm just guessing (and probably poorly).

I do Home Chef for most dinners though, which in the same way tells me how many calories I'm taking in.

[chasfh]

10 hours ago, MichiganCardinal said:

It's counterintuitive, but I've found I can still have some fast food (Wendy's and Taco Bell in particular), as long as I'm still tracking. Those are actually easier than the mom and pop places that don't tell you calories because then I'm just guessing (and probably poorly).

I do Home Chef for most dinners though, which in the same way tells me how many calories I'm taking in.

No matter how much weight you have to lose, you should always allow yourself one cheat day per week in which you get to eat what you want and don’t count the calories. It’s a great carrot to make getting hit by the stick more palatable—it’s good for your mental state. Of course, this works only if you are religious the other six days of the week. If you backslide a second day, that will blow everything up.

[oblong]

[chasfh]

In case you're not hip to Celsius—18° C = 65° F. 

 

[Tiger337]

On 3/7/2024 at 10:26 AM, oblong said:

They are, of course, hoping that someone will pass by so they can talk to them.  

[oblong]

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

In case you're not hip to Celsius—18° C = 65° F. 

 

For temps you just “double it and add 30” to convert.  

[gehringer_2]

6 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

They are, of course, hoping that someone will pass by so they can talk to them.  

LOL - my grandfather (about 1000mi east of italian), always  sprayed down his driveway on summer days!

[oblong]

6 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

LOL - my grandfather (about 1000mi east of italian), always  sprayed down his driveway on summer days!

I always take a day off in may and early October to just putz around yard. Move stuff around. Nothing that productive really. Just an excuse to be outside, cheaper than golf, and it makes me feel accomplished. Now I understand what my dad was doing. 

[Tigeraholic1]

Beautiful 

 

[gehringer_2]

26 minutes ago, Tigeraholic1 said:

Beautiful 

 

Love the story of the The Righteous Brothers on this tune. First, the two of them flipped a coin over which of them would solo Unchained Melody. Imagine if Bobby Hatfield had lost!  Then in the session Hatfield wanted to do another take, thought he could do better, Bill Medley told him - "No, you can't"

[Tigeraholic1]

 

[chasfh]

On 4/11/2025 at 6:31 PM, Tigeraholic1 said:

 

We started feeding one feral cat on our backyard deck maybe about three years ago, then a second one showed up just a few weeks later, and it was the two of them for a while, for a couple years, actually. We would wake up in the morning, go to the back door, lift the shade, and there would be the one cat sitting, waiting, then propping itself on the ledge to peer inside while we fixed their breakfast. It was hella cute.

Anyhow, probably a couple months in, they left a big rat at the bottom of the stairs leading from the deck to the rest of the backyard. Then, maybe a month or so later, another one. This time they were sitting off to the side to watch us pick up the rat and, and I guess, start eating it. I think when they saw me take the rat into the garage and emerge ten seconds later without it, they figured out we were ungrateful philistines who just don’t appreciate a good rat, and so we never got another gift again.

Sadly, we found one of them dead on the property, and a few months later, the other one went away and never came back. We miss them. It was a neat little routine for a short while.

[CMRivdogs]

Three years ago I bought a pot of Lilies for my wife (and our patio). They were lovely and went dormant in the Fall. I put the lilies, pot and all in the garage and basically forgot about them until Spring. There were some green shoots. About this time the bloomed again, bigger than the ear before

Last year they lost the battle with a rabbit. I figured they were done, we got two seasons out of an inexpensive plant from the local Tractor Supply Company. They ended up back in the garage until a few weeks ago. So far no rabbits

Edited May 19 by CMRivdogs

[IdahoBert]

On 3/16/2025 at 4:03 PM, chasfh said:

Counting calories is the best way to lose weight because you kind of treat it like money. You establish a goal, which acts like a bank, and you feel as though you can’t go into debt by going over your calorie count. I felt like that, any way.

I also weigh everything I eat at home on a gram scale before I eat it. I don’t trust my eyes to help me moderate. 

I lost 25 pounds going on three years ago - have kept it off - and it was almost entirely due to eating less, which is something people don’t want to hear but it’s true. It’s made a huge difference. I don’t tire as quickly and at age 73 mobility and not tiring quickly is a big deal.

I walked 1.9 miles today and that’s 186 cal burned but if I eat 1800 cal a day - which totally works for me because I’m thoughtful about what it is - instead of 2500 cal that’s 700 cal and that’s where all the weight loss really comes from. I never eat anything after 7 PM.

The ease with which I have been able to lose weight numerous times is also due to the fact that I’m a man and I don’t have the body of a woman whose ancestors survived the Ice Age by holding onto fat and we’re able to bear children. 

[gehringer_2]

2 hours ago, IdahoBert said:

I never eat anything after 7 PM.

this is one thing that works for me, when I stick to it, which is not often enough.

[oblong]

you can't outrun a bad diet

 

[IdahoBert]

Perhaps because Google has tracked my involvement in this discussion, it pushed this ad to me today about losing weight by walking. The present weight of the person under consideration is 287 pounds and they want to get down to 147 pounds by walking. It just goes to show you how unintelligent artificial intelligence can get if it’s not programmed to even try. I of course, circled the critical data and added the result    

[gehringer_2]

2 hours ago, IdahoBert said:

t just goes to show you how unintelligent artificial intelligence can get if it’s not programmed to even try. I of course, circled the critical data and added the result   

 

I was amused to notice that there a disclaimer under Google's AI Overviews. I don't know if it's new or if I just never noticed it, but right at the very bottom now you now get:

"AI responses may include mistakes."

 

 

[IdahoBert]

18 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

I was amused to notice that there a disclaimer under Google's AI Overviews. I don't know if it's new or if I just never noticed it, but right at the very bottom now you now get:

"AI responses may include mistakes."

 

 

I’ve noticed that, I’ve heard people say that they want mistakes because it means you keep drilling down and are exposed to more ads, and thus they generate more revenue. 

[oblong]

[gehringer_2]

4 minutes ago, oblong said:

that's no blanket, that's an afghan.

[CMRivdogs]

3 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

that's no blanket, that's an afghan.

And for some reason every household in America had a person who crocheted it. Same colors and everything 

Edited June 7 by CMRivdogs

[oblong]

Yep.  We had it. Still might. I am going to ask my mom tomorrow. This was what that generation did instead of doom scrolling on their phones. 

[CMRivdogs]

27 minutes ago, oblong said:

Yep.  We had it. Still might. I am going to ask my mom tomorrow. This was what that generation did instead of doom scrolling on their phones. 

It was a couple of generations before pocket computers. Back when people still talked to each other.