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All, I've been engaged in an off-forum Q&A dialog with a CR friend, and I figured some of you other crazies might appreciate reading about (and hopefully commenting on / criticizing) some of the details of my current diet & exercise regime, as well as tips & my motivation for them. If not, feel free it skip this post! I've only included my sided conversation, but I think from my answers it is pretty clear what the questions were. Feel free to ask for clarification on anything that's unclear. Regarding eating once per day. It's very hard, especially when just starting out on this regime, to eat once per day in the afternoon. It takes a lot of willpower. So I recommend, and always try myself, to wait a couple / few hours after waking before I eat, but then eat in the morning rather than waiting until afternoon, and definitely never try to grocery shop on a (very) empty stomach! For large scale chopped veggie storage, I use glass containers because I'm a bit paranoid about leeching from plastics. The glass jar I use is from Anchor Hocking. Turns out it is only 2gal. Here is a link. I believe both Target and Walmart have them as well, although I'm not sure about in-store availability. I chop my "chunky" veggies once per week, and store them in this glass jar, all mixed up, between layers of paper towels to absorb moisture and keep them fresh. I chop my "leafy green" veggies at the same time, throughly spin-dry them using salad spinner, and then store them in another containing between layers of paper towels to preserve freshness. Both go into my fridge, which I temperature control to maintain a very steady 34degF. Vegetable prep takes me just over one hour per week, but after many years I've got it down to an art/science. It used to take me about 2 hours. I find meditation and practices that cultivate mindfulness are helpful for fostering one's self-discipline. Other than that, I don't have much specific advice on that topic. I used to cook for my family when we were 4 rather than 3 . But now that it is just the three of us, and my daughter has an extremely busy schedule, my wife and daughter's eating schedule is pretty irregular. So they cook for themselves. I also found it hard to cook for them. Not because I was particularly tempted by the food I was making for them (although on occasion that too was the case), but more that I was conflicted by the opposing goals of cooking as healthy meals as possible for them, but also meals they would enjoy, and not waste by not eating. When practicing CR for a while, I've found you become extremely averse to wasting anything, but especially food. Plus I'm an ethical vegan. Both kids are (were) vegetarian, and my wife eats mostly vegetarian. But they enjoy quite a bit of dairy, which I had trouble buying/cooking for them for ethical reasons. Regarding exercise, I'll enumerate everything I do in a day, in order: [Get up at 2:45am - yes I'm kind of a early riser ] 4min - straight arm planking 2min - 100 body weight squats 10min - "10 minute abs" workout - Originally from YouTube video of that name, but after doing it several thousand times, I've got it memorized. . Video embedded at bottom. Warning - this will really hurt anyone not used to doing an ab workout, but her accent is strangely compelling... 20min - Jogging on treadmill at 4mph and 15% incline (very steep). 1.07miles, 200 kcal 120min - Stationary road bike. Modest intensity. HR around 95bpm. My Resting HR is about 45bpm. [breakfast - 1.5 hours] 10min - One mile run outdoors. Moderate pace . usually with my dog. 20min - Resistance training. 4day split to work all body parts on successive days, but giving each enough time to recover. Little rest between sets to keep it mildly aerobic. Pretty light weights. Pull-ups, pushups, light squats, triceps extensions, curls, shrugs, etc. All the standard exercises. Using dumbbells and body weight. 4min straight arm planking 2min - 100 body weight squats 2min - Ab Slide machine. Quite a good Ab exerciser 90min - Stationary road bike again. [Time now around 10:30am - Shower & 6min inversion therapy (to decompress spine and stretch back) & 20min power nap] [Puttering around for a while, light food prep, errands etc - 1-2 hours] 10min - One mile run outdoors. With dog. ~240min - pedalling at my bike desk while reading, surfing web, posting to CR forums [Off and on throughout afternoon evening - spend time with wife and daughter, especially when they eat dinner] 30min - brisk walk with my wife (and dog) [8:00pm - bedtime. 8:15 sound asleep] So in total I run for about 40min, do resistance training / calisthenics for about 45min, walk 30-45min, and then pedal for about 7h per day. On an average day, my Fitbit tells me I log about 45K steps (or step equivalents, including bike pedal revolutions), and about 23 miles. All of it at home, by myself (except if you count the mile walk with my wife and jogging with my dog ). I don't enjoy the hassle of working out with others at a gym. I don't seem to need the motivation of having other people around to exercise with. What motivates me to such extreme exercise? Hmmm... A few ideas: I like to eat, and to stay slim. Extreme exercise let's me do both. I'm exploring the possibility of getting CR benefits while eating lots of calories, but burning them off via lots of exercise and cold exposure. It makes me feel good. I like the endorphins, opiates, whatever makes exercise feel good. With my stationary bike and bike desk, I'm able to do other things while pedaling, like composing this message! I like being different from other people. I like pushing myself to extremes, to see what's possible. Pushing the envelope of human possibliity. I think exercising one's abilities and strengths is why we are here, and what makes life meaningful and significant. My biggest strength is probably self-discipline / conscientiousness. Exercising discipline strengthens the will. As Nietzsche said in Twilight of the Idols, "From life's school of war, what does not kill me makes me stronger." He was a big proponent of hormesis before it became fashionable. I hope being very different from others, and sharing my results, will enable people (like you!) to learn from my experiences and experiments, and figure out what might work best for them. Regarding sleep. I sleep for 6.5 hours per day (8:15pm - 2:45am) + a 20min power nap. Lately I've been sleeping like a baby, without my former problem of early waking (unless you count 2:45am as early ). I hope this is helpful. --Dean

CR practitioners eat a lot of produce, and it can get kinda expensive. But I've found much of the cost can be defrayed if you grow your own food. Here is a couple photos of my summer garden. Things are growing well. (Click for larger images) As you can see, I've got hoops (made from PVC pipes) and nets over the raised beds to protect the plants from deer, which are ubiquitous here in Western Pennsylvania. FYI, the beds are both 8' long by 4' across. This list of plants in these two beds include: Kale (curly & dino) Mustard Greens Broccoli Arugula Leaf Lettuce (green and red) Endive Red Swiss Chard Nasturtium Red-veined Sorrel Basil (sweet, cinnamon, lemon) Sage Curly Parsley Lemon Balm Oregano Lemon Thyme Rosemary Stevia Alpine Strawberries Eggplant Not shown in these photos: Tomatoes (cherry, black russian, yellow pear) Tomatillos Lemon Cucumbers Onions (red & yellow) Garlic Acorn Squash - spontaneously growing in my compost pile! Cantaloupe - spontaneously growing in my compost pile! Most of these were grown from seeds, so cost me almost nothing. Between harvesting & watering, I spend about 30min every other day tending my garden. Coupled with the 3oz/day of sprouts and microgreens I grow indoors year-round, the harvest from these two beds provides about a pound (450g) of fresh organic leafy greens per day from late-June through October, saving hundreds of dollars over the season. Plus all the savings from the 'solid' vegetables/fruits listed at the bottom. The plants I've listed are the one's I've found through trial and error to grown the best and produce the most in this part of the country. All of them (except for squash, cantaloupe, onions, garlic & eggplant) can be harvested a few leaves / fruits at a time over the entire season, so I don't get overwhelmed by more than I can eat of any one item, and I can harvest a little bit from each of them every other day to maximize freshness and variety. Does anyone else have a garden or gardening tips they care to share, or any questions about my gardening practice? --Dean

All, The software that supports these forums has many capabilities that are obscure and not easily discovered. This thread is intended as a clearinghouse for useful technical tips for getting the most from these forums. I'll kick it off with a few links and brief descriptions in this post. In the future, I, and hopefully others, will add new tips and tricks as we discover them. Important: many of the tips and tricks described in this thread require you to have an account on these forums and be logged in. Please create an account even if you want to remain anonymous, so you can take advantage of these tips, as well as project a consistent identity as a member of the forums. If you have any new tips, or have a link to tips that have already been posted on these forums, please post it below! OIr if you want to know how to do something, ask it below. Don't worry, I'll manage things to keep the thread organized. Thanks, --Dean Useful Forum Tips and Tricks: How to discover threads related to the post you are reading - Link See a list of all new posts since your last visit, i.e. the "New Content" page - Link How to mark all posts as read from the "New Content" page - Link How to jump directly to the newest post in a thread - Link How to recover accidentally lost drafts of posts - Link How to easily grab the URL for linking to a post - Link How to add a photo to a post - Link Read the very helpful Help facilities for the forum software - Link