BTW

Welcome to Midland. You may have already figured this out, but starting April 22nd Delta is going to be operating non stop flights to AUS 3x per day. This is a very exciting development for those of us who have languished in getting to Austin in a timely fashion from Midland. The non-stop to Vegas is clutch as well and it usually pretty rowdy on Friday afternoons. I'm part of the Texas Exes here, so shoot me a PM if you want and I'll make sure you get included on any gettogethers for game watching etc.

I ended up cutting off the fast Saturday for dinner after 6 full days. I was down 11.5 lbs overall and after eating normally for a couple of days I'm still down 6lbs from where I was when I started. All in all it was an interesting experience, but not one I'm in a hurry to repeat. The one thing I can say is that it really did help me get used to feeling hungry all the time. So far it has been much easier to tell myself "Okay that's enough food" and just stop eating before I arrive at feeling "Full". I have 10 more lbs of real weight I'm trying to shed and if I can pace at a pound a week, I should be there by the first of April.

I crossed the halfway mark on the fast this morning. Everything I've heard and read says the cravings and discomfort is supposed to peak between day 2 and 3. Being in day 4, I can say that while it's still not 'easy' today has been way better than yesterday which was better than Tuesday which was absolutely miserable. I've also cut out caffeine today (I was allowing myself black coffee and unsweet tea for the first 3 days) and I've gone to strictly water. Surprisingly, I haven't had any headaches yet today. I've decided this is the hardest thing I've ever tried health-wise. Prior to this, that distinction was held by the marathon I ran in 2010 ... this is harder. This morning I was down 9 lbs since Sunday night, but I recognize that probably 2/3 of that is water that will come right back once I start eating again. I'm hoping for 6-7 lbs of actual weight loss by the end of this, but I guess we'll see.

It's been a few years since I've done a sustained fast and maybe I'm just getting older, but I don't remember it sucking this bad. I'm just under 48 hours and I have felt hungry for probably 75% of my waking hours today. I seem to remember the hunger as being pretty strong for short stints and then more or less fading away. If my resolve wanes, I'll prob go with Troph's suggestion and try to eat minimally.

I have not participated in this thread in the past, but I'm jumping in for this year. I saw my largest number ever on the scale last week and it has my attention. I've never been a big guy, but I need to drop a solid 20lbs from that number to get back to my desired weight. I'm doing dry (damp) January as well. Meaning I had one preplanned drinking day last Saturday and I'll be ending the month with a trip to Cabo where I'll allow myself to moderately imbibe. The more notable thing is I started a 7 day water fast after dinner last night. I've done 3 day fasts in the past, but his will be my longest to date by more than double. I'm not doing it simply for the fat loss part of it, but more for the autophagy and metabolic reset it purportedly provides. Coming off the fast, I'll be implementing my simple three rule eating plan: 1) No processed sugar 2) no flour 3) nothing deep fried. I will strictly adhere to this until my weight goal is met, then I'll allow myself occasional consumption of those, in moderation of course. Lastly, I'm going to ramp up my workouts as well. Last fall I averaged one 45 minute cardio session and a one hour trainer led lifting session per week. Over this month I'll double that to 2x cardio per week and 2x weight training. I'm looking forward to comparing notes and cheering each other on as we kick 2024 off the right way together.

Just stumbling across this thread, but here is one from here in Midland last week: https://www.mrt.com/news/crime/article/former-midland-youth-pastor-charged-child-18460557.php Apparently the dude got on Skype and asked for a "mother/son" live feed. And when it came on, he turned on his camera and could be seen beating his meat to the feed.

Does anyone know how to steam fox when out of country? YouTube TV is cock-blocking me as it seems to be able to tell my location despite my being connected to a Dallas based VPN Please PM as I’m hoping not to derail this game thread.

Went to see Tyler Childers in Santa Barbara last month. The show was great, it was my first time seeing him and he's just so impressive live. He chose not to play his biggest song, which is always annoying, but it was still well worth it. If you haven't been, the Santa Barbara Bowl FUCKS! I will be monitoring their schedule going forward and going back anytime someone I want to see is playing there.

Anyone participating in a Calcutta? (or maybe I should be asking in the gambling forum)

I should ask my Piedra buddies if they would like to buy me lunch this week

Headed west for this show at the end of the month: It has been a long time coming because I was supposed to see him + Sturgill in late march of 2020 and the show got canceled

I wore my American Aquarium t-shirt the T-swift concert I mentioned two posts above yours. I'm an investor in a music publishing company that has a current deal with BJ. He really is a gifted song writer.

Attended the 3/24 show in Vegas with the fam. She played Allegiant stadium and was on stage for just over 3 hours, only taking 1-2 minutes breaks for wardrobe changes. I'm not much of a Swifty, but it was pretty entertaining. Apparently Marcus Mumford came on and did a song with her the next night, I'm bummed because I would have enjoyed seeing that.

I really wish I had started keeping track of GS's crude price forecasts vs the actual outcome over the years. I believe a handsome sum could have been made by trading the opposite of what they predict. I don't know how bad they've been, but I'd wager it's worse than a coin flip.

Crested Butte, I picked it up in late 2020 right before the COVID effect on real estate pricing up there really kicked in. I'd like to say I knew what I was doing, but it was dumb luck.