Julia Winter

I figured it was time to post an update on my intermittent fasting journey. I can't remember the last time I did this, so to briefly recap: in 2018 I got plantar fasciosis and couldn't run/walk/hike and I gained a lot of weight, going from size 12 to size 14 and then at the end of the year I was going to have to buy size 16. 1/1/2019 I started with OMAD and effortlessly dropped the weight. It worked beautifully until 3/15/20 or so (when COVID shut everything down). Then I slowly regained all the weight (but stayed in my size 14 pants, so some of it was muscle) despite continuing to eat one meal a day.

I spent time being frustrated, and then in the summer of 2023 I stopped doing the same thing every day. I eat all the meals on Sunday, no full meal on Monday (I tend to have a "fasting mimicking" meal that is less than 400 calories, like kimchi and some hummus), one meal on Tuesday, fasting mimicking on Wednesday, one meal Thursday, one meal Friday, two meals Saturday. That is harder but did stop the weight gain.

I started lifting weights and I think that helped quite a bit. I am now taking "BodyPump" group weight lifiting to music classes two days a week at 24Hr Fitness. I'm going to yoga twice a week as well. The BodyPump is great, I recommend it highly. I've been doing that for a few months and I've been able to increase the weights that I put on the bar. The class is hugely diverse in age, size, race, body type and I find that inspiring.

I've done a 9 day fast, I lost weight but gained it back. In August I did a 7 day "fasting mimicking" thing prior to colonoscopy. So, I did the micromeal every night, like just blueberries or kimchi or watermelon and that time I lost a few pounds and kept them off, like, it reset my baseline weight (my starting point in 2019 is now my goal weight, that and staying in my current wardrobe with size 14 pants). So I'm telling myself I'm going to do that again, but we still have duck from Thanksgiving and I want the duck ravioli my kid is making tonight so I'll see when I can do it!!

I guess TLDR - OMAD works really well, but maybe not forever. You can never go wrong with resistance training.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg0344

County-level insecticide use and infant mortality due to internal causes both increased after the emergence of white-nose syndrome, whereas farms’ crop revenue decreased. This study provides an example of how biodiversity loss affects human well-being and presents observational methods for quantifying those costs.  

It makes sense, but it's good to see it in a respected science journal.

Question: why does the sign up page say "earn up to 40%" when I know there are opportunities to earn 50% or maybe even more?

(This page: https://permies.com/forums/affiliate/list#console so I guess it's only a sign up page if you aren't yet signed up. Maybe the terms have improved?)

If Paul were to set up an event around Thanksgiving, what sorts of things would inspire you to travel to Montana for it?

-cooking a turkey in the rocket oven
-learning about rocket mass heaters, when the weather is chilly
-? building a RMH??
-making a feast that is better than organic
-just enjoying the libraries (OMG have you seen all the books out at Wheaton Labs - not just the library, Allerton Abbey has quite the library)
-learning to knit, to quilt, to make rag rugs
-setting up the authentic Mongolian yurt (it's ready for cold weather) for . . . (I'd say yoga)
-learning to make and enjoy polydough
-organizing supplies
-your idea here: please offer up your ideas!

Ironically, a few friends of mine with big Twitter followings retweeted my Twitter thread talking about your offer just this morning. (I'm closing in on 10K followers but these guys have 33K, 14K, 16K)

Here's an image of it being built:

Here is a kind of sad image of the kiln:

Tapping the hive mind here: Paul is looking for an image of a rockety device created by Ernie many years ago (2015?) in the berm shed at Wheaton Labs. The only image he can find is when it was looking a little forlorn, with a piece of wood leaning on it. He found images of it being built, but nothing of it when it was new (finished, but new).

Oh look, it's a podcast by Sheri Menelli who was posting here on this thread years ago!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiIxiOktSEk

This is a fascinating project and I hope it gets off the ground, or onto the ground, more like!



I'm listening and it seems the key technique is to feed the cattle while they are bunched together, so that the ground is evenly covered with dung that's been flattened by their hooves and "watered" with their urine. The ground has to be totally covered - not cow patties scattered with bare dry sand inbetween - for the moisture to be retained underneath that layer of cow poop.

He's been doing this for years, so when he sees the ground is covered properly (apparently too much won't work) then he moves the cattle to new bare ground. I don't think he plants any seeds, I think this technique is waking up seeds that are already sleeping in the soil.