What you've done today - There will be no dawn for Men

[majestic]

5 hours ago, BruceVC said:

Do you get paid overtime for this, most overtime work I use to do in JHB on projects or SLA I  never use to get paid overtime but I could take time off which was beneficial and advantageous 

 

Yes and no. All my overtime is in theory paid by a monthly lump sum. It's a net win for me if I don't exceed the amount of time this pays, obviously. It's usually somewhat spot on. Any overtime I can also use as comp time if needed, and we have flexible working hours.

There are exceptions, like during heavy crunch time, which we do get special overtime payments for. Weekend work pays double per hour. It's a decent setup that gives the managers enough of an incentive to make sure there are no extended crunch times. They still happen, of course, and last year was particularily bad, but it could be a lot worse.  

It used to be different, but then many of the better employees started to leave for greener pastures. 

Edited July 21, 2021 by majestic

[Malcador]

I should be working late to catch up, but well can't make myself care that much.  And in any case have a lot of family stuff to do.  Doesn't stop people sending me emails at 11 pm and expecting an answer.  Apparently because one guy leaves his laptop on and connected 24/7, everyone else must do the same

[Amentep]

1 hour ago, Malcador said:

I should be working late to catch up, but well can't make myself care that much.  And in any case have a lot of family stuff to do.  Doesn't stop people sending me emails at 11 pm and expecting an answer.  Apparently because one guy leaves his laptop on and connected 24/7, everyone else must do the same

I get emails from the public asking why my staff haven't processed a request they sent on Saturday and its now on Sunday, a day later.

Our offices are only open M-F.

[Raithe]

My father has been having that batch of medical check-ups the last couple of weeks, diagnosis finally coming back that it's bowel cancer. Looks like a lot of serious conversations to be had going forward.

Coming out of pandemic lockdown, the start of the jobhunt after a month's chill down from contract end, and now this to stir in the pot.

[Gfted1]

Condolences. Is it very far advanced?

[BruceVC]

18 minutes ago, Raithe said:

My father has been having that batch of medical check-ups the last couple of weeks, diagnosis finally coming back that it's bowel cancer. Looks like a lot of serious conversations to be had going forward.

Coming out of pandemic lockdown, the start of the jobhunt after a month's chill down from contract end, and now this to stir in the pot.

Sorry to hear Raithe, my thoughts are with you and your family 

[Raithe]

16 minutes ago, Gfted1 said:

Condolences. Is it very far advanced?

Apparently he's had it awhile, they still have to do further tests to figure it out. However the specialist referred to it as "complicated", so, eh, who knows what state it's in just yet.

[Hurlshort]

Sorry to hear that Raithe.

[LadyCrimson]

I tried for the first time not taking insulin this morning at all (I've still been skipping the evening shot, btw).  Ate a large-ish round of food. 45 minutes later, blood sugar reading was no different than what it has been after a meal *with* insulin, for ages now (goes up 50-80pts).  So ... hmm. 

There might be something to this keto/two meals/don't eat for 16 hours in a row stuff after all.  At least for me.  A lot of brain fog has lifted already, I feel less draggy. Was already on pretty low-carb so it's not simply that I think. Not hungry at all, mental/physical munchie urges have largely gone away. This is interesting.

[Bartimaeus]

For most of my life, I've had low blood sugar problems, where I could literally just about pass out or even temporarily lose my vision because of it if I wasn't paying enough attention - when I started having gut health problems a few years back and consequently cut out all breads and the worst of most simple carbs/sugars, suddenly I didn't have low blood sugar pretty much ever anymore - it only happens once every few months now, it's way less severe, and it's usually the result of me eating stupidly for a day or two. Dietary changes can be pretty wack. Interestingly, I've even also managed to put on a little more weight, which is probably a good thing because I used to be borderline unhealthily skinny. A seemingly weird result from eating more healthy, but given how sickly I was for a while there, it probably makes sense.

Edited July 21, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[Gfted1]

Gut health is ridiculously important. Probiotics are your friends. I ingest them daily. 

[majestic]

First, @Raithe I'm also very sorry to read this, and all the best to your father.

1 hour ago, LadyCrimson said:

There might be something to this keto/two meals/don't eat for 16 hours in a row stuff after all.  At least for me.  A lot of brain fog has lifted already, I feel less draggy. Was already on pretty low-carb so it's not simply that I think. Not hungry at all, mental/physical munchie urges have largely gone away. This is interesting.

That was pretty much my experience as well, however, I've never been at the point where I had to inject insulin. I'm still taking my medication, but I am fairly certain that I don't need it. I get the same blood sugar levels if I leave it out, however, as it's not designed to lower blood sugar but simply stabilize it by retarding my body's ability to store carbs for later use I still take it regularily. It works as  potential buffer for the days where I don't really feel like sticking to my dietary regimen*.

Which brings me to the next point. It does work really well, and it kicks off with this nice sense of euphoria that you're currently experiencing. I'm not trying to rain on your parade there, but that feeling levels out eventually. The need to just stuff everything in your face you run across just might come back. It did for me. However, chances are that it won't nearly be as problematic as before, but it's something you might want to take into consideration regardless (I deal with it mostly by physically seperating myself from food sources, which was a lot harder to do during the lockdonws).

*By that I mostly mean watching calories for dinner, which is my second meal. I can't for the life of me eat anything after getting up, so it's lunch and dinner, with the occassional smallish snack in the form of berries, an apple or something like that in between. Although I try to avoid high sugar fruit when possible, so it's not a lot of apples or bananas. On a day I don't feel like it, I'm still sticking to the intermittant 8:16 fasting regimen, I'll just either exceed my set limit of not eating any more than 400 kcal for dinner mostly (or exclusively, at times) in the form of proteins or just drop the healthy snack thing in lieu of stuffing my face with ice cream or my usual go-to sugar source of gummibears.

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

A seemingly weird result from eating more healthy, but given how sickly I was for a while there, it probably makes sense.

You cut out the source of your chronic inflammation of your small intestine which prevented the normal absorption of nutrients. Getting to a healthy weight and stabilizing blood sugar kind of comes with that, so nah, that's not a seemingly weird result of eating more healthy, but a perfectly normal and logical one. Eating healthy just means something entirely different for you than for most people, and that sucks.  

Rhetoric caveat:

Spoiler

Unless I remember wrong and you don't have celiac disease, but I don't think I do. You posted about that a while ago. I mean, years ago, in an earlier incarnation of this thread, but hey... just shows I'm not kidding when I said I retain things far too easily and far too long in the anime thread.

 

8 minutes ago, Gfted1 said:

Gut health is ridiculously important. Probiotics are your friends. I ingest them daily.

's mostly hokum, as your stomach acid readily kills the bacteria present in any "probiotic" food, and you're left with what's mostly too expensive yoghurt and not enough bacteria that survive to make any real difference. There's one thing consuming yoghurt (or any other supplements containing the usual lactobacillus bacteria) can help you with, and that's preventing or easing side effects of having to take antibiotics - and for that eating your good old regular yoghurt usually does the trick too (and is cheaper). Seems sort of logical too, what little of the bacteria survive being broken apart in aggressive acid can make more of a difference if you kill large swathes of your gut flora along with whatever disease you have in your body.

If you want to improve your gut flora, there's only one efficent way to do that, and that's getting a fecal microbiota transplant, and yes, that's exactly what it sounds like.

[Gfted1]

20 Billion CFU supplement a day keeps the doctor away. And I poop like a horse.

[Keyrock]

@RaitheI'm sorry to hear about your dad. Stay strong.

[LadyCrimson]

@majestic I don't think I'd call it euphoria.  It's just ... once I even noticed it ... interesting. I've always had long periods where I'll hardly eat anything, or only one meal a day, no snacking etc.  I've never found going 12-16+ hours without eating stressful physically (lack of hunger pangs most of the time).  To me a "fast" is defined as at least 24 hrs.    That boredom eating problem cropped up a lot tho, in short phases.  Lately I'm still bored, but food isn't entertainment anymore, is all, therefore it's just not crossing my mind because it's no longer a boredom solution. It's not that I don't still think pizza or ice cream sounds/tastes good. I'm sure I'll have a slice, or a couple street tacos, or a few BBQ (sugar...) ribs, now and then.

I'm not really aiming for hardcore "ketosis" and I don't particularly watch calories, outside of taking my lack of activity into account (2000 a day would be way more than I need - I'm more like 1500 or lower); my weight is fine.

Oh and as far as "ice cream" goes - a while back I found Arctic Zero, Purely Chocolate, non-dairy.  50 cal., 0  fat, 8 net carbs per 83g (about 2/3 cup). I keep a couple in the freezer and over a month or so just have a few tablespoons right after a meal sometimes. It's not Haagen Daz or real ice cream, but it's actually pretty good tasting - that said it does freeze like a brick so I just nuke the pint for 20 seconds.  It's kept me from desiring anything else sugary for a long time now tho, at any rate.

Edited July 22, 2021 by LadyCrimson

[Hurlshort]

I'm a big fan of the 12-hour fast idea. I've been doing it for 2 years and I've had less issues. It isn't a hard fast for me though, I have a protein shake in the morning. I have had issues consuming enough calories, so that is needed.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

When I tried fasting I was just way too hungry and would eat more at lunch than when I didn't. Gained some pounds doing that and was less happy. These days I like to have some protein for breakfast either an hour after waking up or after some exercise. It works well enough I guess.

I'm also going job hunting soon. I'm getting paid well enough but the hours and the work itself are exhausting and after over a year of trying to take covid precautions only to have maskless dip****s breathe less than a foot away from me because "covid's not real/a big deal" I'm just done.

[LadyCrimson]

1 hour ago, Hurlsnot said:

I have had issues consuming enough calories, so that is needed.

Yeah, from the sound of it, your general activity level would need a lot more calories, or at least periodically, which could be hard to get into a single meal without feeling overstuffed for several hours or something.

I remember one time trying that "lemon/pepper/honey drink" fast. Hubby thought he was dyin' after 20 hours (felt weak/fainter) and after 24 he quit. I lasted closer to 48. Since there was still a few calories in that drink, I didn't feel weak/faint or anything like that at all, just wanted to eat solid food. Not to mention, that drink didn't taste all that great.

[Gorth]

10 hours ago, Raithe said:

My father has been having that batch of medical check-ups the last couple of weeks, diagnosis finally coming back that it's bowel cancer. Looks like a lot of serious conversations to be had going forward.

Coming out of pandemic lockdown, the start of the jobhunt after a month's chill down from contract end, and now this to stir in the pot.

Sorry to hear that Raithe. All the best wishes to you and your family

 

Regarding blood sugar levels, I sometimes have a bad conscience and feel like I'm squandering some precious gifts when it comes to health. Spent most of my 30's and early 40's being at times outright obese, living off junk food and cappuccino's. Only then did I get tired of always feeling tired and got my act together (now looking presentable in the bathroom mirror again). Despite decades of abusing my body, the latest blood tests showed the numbers of a healthy 30 year old. Whatever kills me some day is unlikely to be diabetes or cholesterol. Never mind lots of other things tried, hard at times, and failed. This cat is currently on its 10th+ life

It will probably be something silly like a lightning strike or a tile falling off a roof in the city

Which reminds me, I really should get officially registered as an organ donor and get a will done one of these days. Things you sometimes forget when you feel immortal... which usually last until you get very surprised.

 

[Azdeus]

@RaitheI'm sorry to hear about your father.

 

I tried doing the exercises I got from my physical therapist yesterday and they're a massive pain in the arse. I'm supposed to lift my arms straight out to the side to about the height of my shoulder with some rubber band and it's impossible to do, it's just way to much pain. The only thing I can actually do without much problem is rowing and walking, rowing aint so bad, but I can't for the life of me stand walking, way to much **** that starts to pop into my head that I don't want there when I'm trying to keep walking.

 

[BruceVC]

10 hours ago, Gfted1 said:

Gut health is ridiculously important. Probiotics are your friends. I ingest them daily. 

You right about the important of your stomach working properly. And one of simple but effective things to help with this is a diet of bran. I generally have All-Bran Flakes for breakfast, with yoghurt  ( also excellent for your gut) and a banana 4-5 days out of the week and I reserve the weekend for cooked breakfasts or more unhealthy breakfasts

 

15 minutes ago, Azdeus said:

@RaitheI'm sorry to hear about your father.

 

I tried doing the exercises I got from my physical therapist yesterday and they're a massive pain in the arse. I'm supposed to lift my arms straight out to the side to about the height of my shoulder with some rubber band and it's impossible to do, it's just way to much pain. The only thing I can actually do without much problem is rowing and walking, rowing aint so bad, but I can't for the life of me stand walking, way to much **** that starts to pop into my head that I don't want there when I'm trying to keep walking.

 

I wouldnt be too worried about trying to exercise if things are painful, dont do things that are painful because that is your body telling you that you are not  healed

Focus on what doesnt hurt and build your body strength like that. Rowing is excellent therapy and will strengthen your back and legs but you must continue to walk even if you find it boring or unsettling because its a cardio exercise that makes and keeps you fit and wont put much strain on your body as opposed to jogging which is really good training but you can unintentionally hurt yourself with problems like torn muscles or knee problems from long distance running 

So whatever you decide to do please dont stop walking as its an effective form of cardio and will help you with your recovery 

[Azdeus]

43 minutes ago, BruceVC said:

I wouldnt be too worried about trying to exercise if things are painful, dont do things that are painful because that is your body telling you that you are not  healed

Focus on what doesnt hurt and build your body strength like that. Rowing is excellent therapy and will strengthen your back and legs but you must continue to walk even if you find it boring or unsettling because its a cardio exercise that makes and keeps you fit and wont put much strain on your body as opposed to jogging which is really good training but you can unintentionally hurt yourself with problems like torn muscles or knee problems from long distance running 

So whatever you decide to do please dont stop walking as its an effective form of cardio and will help you with your recovery 

Well, I was told to keep working and stuff like that, so either she didn't understand the words coming out of my mouth or she's under pressure from the government to not put anyone on sickleave under any circumstances.

Jogging is really not an option, like ever, I can skate, ice or inlines, or skii but I've never actually jogged or ran my entire life Walking is definetly not for me though, that one is most definetly off the table.

[Azdeus]

Also ättestupet right next to the walking path is too much of a temptation

[majestic]

If I were a Bond villain and had a button to make the world go away I'd probably press it right now.

[Azdeus]

2 minutes ago, majestic said:

If I were a Bond villain and had a button to make the world go away I'd probably press it right now.

Humanity is slamming that button hard though, so it'll fix itself soonish