Water Fast: Day 2 of 3

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Water Fast: Day 2 of 3

After 37 hours on this water fast, I finally felt hunger pangs, but it was only after smelling some cooking and baking within my apartment building. Once the smell was gone, so went the hunger pangs, so I’ve gone nearly 43 hours without feeling true hunger. Clearly, I have a few calories that are tiding me over!

I had to go out and about today, but I returned home quickly. I felt fatigued and napped quite a bit of the day away. I thought more about food today than I did yesterday and it’s been revealing to watch my thoughts.

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Water Fast: Day 1 of 3

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Water Fast: Day 1 of 3
  • 84+ oz water
  • 0 oz or grams or pounds food
  • A minor headache since noon
  • No hunger pangs yet

I embarked on this water fast because I knew that last one would happen: I’m curious to see how many days until I feel hunger.

Granted, today I’ve felt a few cravings: a cinnamon roll from Espresso Bueno, a ham and cheese croissant from Capitol Grounds, and homemade chex mix that a friend posted to Facebook, but any impulse I’ve had has been to use food just to do something. That’s not hunger or nutrition: that’s using food as a social activity or to alleviate boredom.

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Experiments with a standing desk

Posted by On Filed under Doing Business Differently, Health 1 Comment
Experiments with a standing desk

For the past seven months, I’ve been on my feet at a standing desk.

It all started when I started at Vermont Tech. My office was previously used by a vastly different department, so I somehow had three desks and three filing cabinets, all of which were empty and didn’t serve my paperless work style. I realized I could start from scratch in designing the space – and it is a gorgeous space.

I’ve heard, for the past few years, that sitting all day is killing us desk jockeys. In 2011, NPR reported that “…researchers are beginning to suspect that even if you engage in regular exercise daily, it may not be enough to counteract the effects of too much sitting during the rest of the day.”

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Review: Simple Fitness Habit Week 1

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Review: Simple Fitness Habit Week 1

What if dietary and fitness habits were truly simple? To find out if that’s possible, I signed up for Simple Fitness Habit from Leo Babauta of ZenHabits.

Simple Fitness Habit is a self-paced course. I signed up for the Gold level so that I’d get four months of access to articles, accountability forums, tracking forms, and several bonuses like the Marathon Roadmap and Scott Dinsmore’s Live of Your Passions ebooks. I’m especially looking forward to Dinsmore’s ebook, as well as the Kettlebell Barbell Hybrid Program and monthly expert webinars.

The program is made up of three modules:

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Food Stamp Challenge: Day 7, Finances and Reflections

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Food Stamp Challenge: Day 7, Finances and Reflections

Alright, I’m crunching the numbers on this Food Stamp Challenge, called 3SquaresVT in Vermont. As a single person, I’d be eligible for food stamps if I made 185% of the poverty level, which is $1,723/month gross. I may then be eligible for up to $38/week in benefits. That would be $152/month for groceries. Here’s how it would work for my personal finances:

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Food Stamp Challenge: Mid-Week Check-In

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Food Stamp Challenge: Mid-Week Check-In

This Food Stamp Challenge, called 3SquaresVT here in Vermont, to live on $38/week of food was not at all easy. I blew it in so many ways.

Day 4 (Wednesday) was a relative good day. I ate half an apple for breakfast, with coffee, cream and sugar. I ate the beans, rice and veggies that I’d prepared in advance for lunch. I skipped snacks and sodas at work, and then had sesame tofu for dinner.

Unfortunately, I had a coffee pot malfunction in the morning and lost a lot of coffee. I looked at the bag of grounds and looked at what was left in the pot of coffee. I decided I couldn’t really waste the coffee, so I filtered the grounds out of the pot and drank what I could.

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Food Stamp Challenge: Days 1-3

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Food Stamp Challenge: Days 1-3

This Food Stamp Challenge, called 3SquaresVT in Vermont, has been an unique experience.

Here’s a check-in from the first few days on the Challenge:

Day 1 (Sunday) was pretty easy, considering that I (unwisely) blew money on a coffee shop visit, did the grocery shopping for the week, and then enjoyed beans and rice for dinner (actually, one of my favorite meals).

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