@the_black_jew, right, not all of them have one. Ys with one can be located via their website:

https://www.ymca.org/find-your-y?distance=175&type=branch&facilities[]=75

About 16 years ago when my spine collapsed and I was relearning how to walk, I joined the Y down the street from me to use their pool as part of my rehabilitation and they had a climbing gym that they had recently built. I’m not sure if they still do this but at the time, the Y gave a discount on membership fees for those who were disabled and low income.

@gg12, have you explored what it is exactly that you fear most about dying?

I’ve witnessed a lot of death, some in tragic ways, have felt passings even when not physically with the dying, felt the fear that they were experiencing, the loss of breath, i.e., the breath of life, the release of all anxiety and pain until there was nothing left but an indescribable peace, received confirmation that they are still very much “alive” and well, and have cheated death a few times myself, and I can say with surety that I’m far less afraid of dying than I am of not having lived, like really lived. It helps that I receive confirmation from those no longer embodied that we continue to exist outside of these human meat suits we wear for a brief time, but my belief still requires some faith in this current world. A book you might find helpful in easing your fear of death is Dying to Be Me by Anita Moorjani. She had a near death experience and miraculous recovery from end stage cancer. And to answer your last question, I was raised Catholic but I’m spiritual, not religious.

@pondfountain, my pleasure. In my experience, diet is quite individual, but the majority of people I’ve communicated with do best long-term on a diet abundant in all three macros. For me, a mix of all three macros from lighter, easy to digest foods pre and post workout help with not only my performance but also my recovery and overall health so fruit, eggs, shellfish (scallops and crab), bean curd, young coconut and coconut fat make up the bulk of my diet. Again, it’s quite individual but contrary to the current diet boogeyman—combining carbs and fat—I’m very healthy and lean.

@winters said in peating mental state vs environment:

Peating represents youth, playfulness, and pleasure… as successful peaters will know, your mindset shifts as your metabolic state is affected. Is it a good idea if the current situation is not ideal? As in you cannot properly enjoy yourself for whatever reason (work, rejection, etc.) Or should it be reserved for leisure and relaxation?

Having resiliency/mental fortitude and joy that comes from within, not from external sources, which can be so fleeting and makes us a slave to circumstance, is ideal, in my opinion and experience. Like so many people, I’ve experienced a lot of tragedy in my life that would have killed me had I not had within me this inextinguishable joy, the kind of joy where I can sit in an empty room and not want to be anywhere but there in that moment, I’m so happy for life and my existence.

For toning without too much cardio, I like barre work (ballet), rock climbing and swimming. I’ve also been contemplating doing martial arts. If you live in the US, the YMCA has a climbing gym and pools that can be utilized regardless of weather conditions.

Merry Christmas!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzEX3QMuVPM

@GRay, I’m not sure about over conversion, but do you know at what temperature the current pregnenolone you’re using is processed at? Ray said that pregnenolone becomes estrogenic when processed beyond a certain temperature and that he stopped recommending it because he was unaware of a source that was processed at a low temp. I’ve tried finding one that is low-temp processed, but so far have had no luck. I want to see if it works as well as progesterone for pain relief, but without the gnarly symptoms I get supplementing progesterone.

Apples and pears are fairly cheap here and make delicious cider, however, bananas are the cheapest, calorie dense fruit and are quite versatile—I make nice cream, flourless pancakes and Bananas Foster with them. I just make sure that they’re extra ripe, i.e., spotty before eating so that they digest well. This is bare minimum ripeness, for me:

@BeamsOfEnergy said in Share the T4 & T3 doses that you feel best at:

@Jennifer where do you get your thyroid?

Armour is only available here via prescription so I get it through my doctor, but I’ve also had good results with IdeaLabs’ TyroMax.

@RPadmirateur said in Share the T4 & T3 doses that you feel best at:

@Jennifer Did you say in one of your posts that you needed to reach the right amount of thyroid before Progest-E or another progesterone worked for you? If so, what were the results of taking Progest-E/ natural progesterone when you did not have enough thyroid on board/ what symptoms did it create?

Ray wrote in his Progesterone Summaries article that “using thyroid will usually reduce the amount of progesterone needed. Occasionally, a woman won't feel any effect even from 100 mg. of progesterone; I think this indicates that they need to use thyroid and diet, to normalize their estrogen, prolactin, and cortisol.” but progesterone supplementation never worked out well for me regardless of my thyroid dose. I’ve never had high estrogen, prolactin and cortisol levels but by the time I was in my early 30s, I had only had a handful of periods since I first started menstruating at 14 so my practitioner at the time started me on a natural progesterone cream and not long after I switched to Progest-E and began bleeding heavily for upwards of 10 days every two weeks and experienced heightened arousal—just the sight of a man and I was overstimulated—and this continues to be my experience with it, even while at a proper thyroid dose. It was great for relieving the pain from my spine collapsing and the anxiety and night terrors I had after my mum died—she suffocated to death in my arms from a pulmonary embolism—but I have my diet so dialed in that I have a good estrogen/progesterone ratio and pretty ideal periods (28 day cycle, no symptoms whatsoever, not even mood changes, and minimal bleeding for a couple of days) without supplementing it.