How do you distract yourself when you have food cravings? Or when you eat to 80% and want to wait before feeling "more full"?

Like, I sometimes crave beyond meat and maybe if I drink a bunch of almond milk or eat a bunch of veggies I SOMETIMES can get rid of it but sometimes can’t.

I find a glass of water quite helpful.

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I take ginkgo biloba.

Why in the world do you want to limit your calorie intake? At 45kg you desperately need to put on some muscle mass.

Here’s another article that you’ll no doubt dismiss / ignore:

It’s completely bizarre to me that someone would put this much thought into diet and medications yet not have the motivation to do two strength sessions per week.

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Restricting calories and taking rapamycin is a recipe for mtorc2 suppression with all the nastiness that comes with that…

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The benefits of CR are widely discussed in studies. And a while back a study was posted that suggested CR may have additional benefits when combined with Rapa. Osteoporosis is something to keep in mind, but there are studies indicating CR could in fact preserve muscle function with ageing.
But yes, exercising while practising CR is important, obviously. Not sure if AlexKChen doesn’t exercise? I am very low in weight also, and no matter how often I tried strength training: it is just not my thing so I don’t manage to keep up with it. But I do quite a bit of other forms of exercise.

Alex, you have surely read Dean’s post at the CRSociety. A study was posted there a while ago that suggested mild CR + a lot of exercise, would have similar benefits to more severe CR. (With the additional benefit of increased VO2 max). Time is an issue - something I’m running into myself also - but have you considered taking that approach? There are simple ways to try to stay in motion most of the day, as was also discussed. His biomarkers looked great, from what he posted.

As to suppressing appetite: coffee, lots of it, when I start my day. After 3-5 hours I usually add in a cocoa drink made out of cocoa powder + hot water. After a few hours I add in some seeds/nuts to curb potential food cravings, and still keep BG-levels lowish. At the time I was still rail thin, I started my limited eating window with a smoothie with lots of veggies + berries. (But I assume you don’t want to do that as it may spike BG-levels). It was an easy/quick meal and I never had to deal with hunger though when I did that. I believe you are already doing this, but eating lots of veggies (low in cals, filling), is an easy way to curb cravings. Admittedly I started to eat too many seeds/nuts, but eating a vegan diet consisting of only whole foods, still helps to keep my weight low. I’m not as low in weight as I used to be, but definitely still what people here tend to call “very thin”. (~42kg)

As to distracting yourself: doing things that require your full attention, basically up to the extent that you hardly notice that hours have passed while you were busy. Being outdoors a lot can also help.

I just got semaglutide in the mail. I’ll try that. Semaglutide may be extremely cost-effective if it reduces food costs by $10-15/day. Over the past week I’ve successfully eaten nothing but nut milks, salsa, fruit, and veggies.

Exercise simply isn’t super-sustainable for me and doesn’t do much for my mood (I’m intrinsically very high neuroticism) - I have a strong intellectual need to be reading/doing something intellectual or networky ALL THE TIME [plus I don’t have the energy levels to do it every day - maybe if I had a personal gym] so semaglutide is easier. In any case, in the future it’ll be very easy to get follistatin (or myostatin inhibitors) to prevent muscle/bone wasting. Yes I do run to pt A to pt B when I can. But realistically, appetite suppressants are best.

I’m too sad and tired for it most of the time - LIKE ELIEZER YUDKOWSKY - I’m naturally thin and slow-aging and I have lots of other creative ways to suppress appetite. Fuck the exercise moralfags.

There’s simply no excuse not to exercise. It’s just laziness plain and simple.

Keep looking for a drug to replace it… you’re not going to find one.

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Two new things that help reduce food cravings and lower appetite:

And while this talks about alcohol, I suspect that eating behaviors can also frequently stimulate dopamine…

I finally took 14mg semaglutide yesterday. It didn’t curb my appetite that much yesterday. But today, it really curbed it.

Maybe splitting the pill affects it? I’ll see tomorrow

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I have to do injectable. The pill doesn’t work.

Nicotine and drinking water help

"There’s simply no excuse not to exercise. It’s just laziness plain and simple.

Keep looking for a drug to replace it… you’re not going to find one."

Let’s just say… exercise does not slow core rate of aging down

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I’ve been thinking about GLP-1s as a way to help me increase my fasts (my multi day ones and my 16-18 / 8-6 daily ones to perhaps OMAD) and/or increase my extent of CR.

Alex, what is your perspective on GLP-1 meds increasing insulin levels? Have you measured that in yourself?

I’m a worried that that may offset the longevity effect of this class of drugs in generally healthy/lean people?

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It worked well for me at the start but stopped working after a while. Might try mounjaro instead. Just becarerful using GLP-1s (ozempic etc) It made me lose 10kg+ however I lost lots of muscle rather than just fat as I was barely eating and i didnt eat enough protein + exercise. So if you do take ozempic make sure to up your protein and weight training, otherwise majority of the weight will be from muscle as well.

Right now I’m on vyvanse, its a stimulant (amfetamine) used for ADHD and binge eating. I tend to binge alot so vyanase helps stop those cravings, I binge less and can control my urges. Had to see a psychiatrist to get the meds, regular GP doctors probably cant prescribe it without you seeing a specialist first as people can abuse it.

If your food cravings are more binge driven, i do recommend vyvanse as it suppresses appetite. Just have to do lots of tests before you get on it. Such as ECG, blood pressure , blood tests etc as it can cause sudden death in people with heart issues/blood pressure issues as one of its main side effect is increasing resting heart rate + blood pressure.