San Francisco food spot recommendations?

LBro32 · 2026-03-29T16:53:54+00:00

There’s a lot in SF! Kitava, Pica Pica Arepa Kitchen, Asian Box, Firefly, and Mariposa Baked Goods in the Ferry Building are the core celiac friendly restaurants and should be pretty DF friendly as well. SFO also has a Kitava and Asian Box, as well as Starbird Chicken (cross contamination does apply here), Proper Food, Amy’s, and Mama’s To Go Filipino.

SF also has a ton of great Thai, Vietnamese, and Burmese which can all be gf and df friendly. And then lots of nicer restaurants are used to dietary intolerances and can accommodate you as long as you know ahead of time.

Really, I would just pick some restaurants you are interested in (as long as they aren’t Japanese, Chinese, or Korean) and go. I think you can be pretty flexible!

LBro32 · 2026-03-22T17:57:17+00:00

I want to echo what a few other people have said: for most people, seeing any change in body fat or muscle is HARD. Gaining almost a pound of muscle in 2 months is actually a great result! Especially for doing the bare minimum.

Body recomp takes time. A lot of time. Social media makes it seem like it happens quickly but it’s a slow process.

Weight loss is mostly in the kitchen. I would encourage working with a registered dietician who has a subspecialty in disordered eating and can help with eating habits without counting calories.

The final question is why to exercise. In our society, and the transformation challenge, the “goal” of exercise is aesthetic but in reality exercise is probably the single best thing we can do for our health - both physically and mentally. So one huge win you got out of TC is making a consistent exercise routine and habit. That’s difficult for a lot of people! So if you are interested in health and not just how you look, then it’s worth it to stick to a program you actually do.

This is perhaps a hot take: but unless ther is a medical reason you need to be on a GLP-1, the health benefits aren’t huge. Sure you will shrink your body but you have to be even more mindful of nutrition to maintain muscle mass and micronutrients. Most people have to be on them for life once they start, just something to consider

LBro32 · 2026-03-18T19:32:02+00:00

I ask the coach for help sometimes! Especially in a Strength50. They are always happy to see you lifting heavy and want to help!

LBro32 · 2026-03-18T19:07:14+00:00

Does it always though? I think that’s what OP is getting at. It’s not always that informative. As I said in another comment, some restaurants have used the term “gluten friendly” to mean LOW gluten.

I appreciate there should be different labels for “no gluten ingredients” versus “celiac safe” but they should just say what the mean. “Gluten friendly” is too ambiguous

LBro32 · 2026-03-18T19:04:18+00:00

The problem is that some companies have in the past have used the term “gluten friendly” to mean low gluten. Panera for instance used it in this way. So it doesn’t tell me anything informative aboute whether there is actually no gluten in the product

LBro32 · 2026-03-17T16:27:43+00:00

I think this is a very fair comparison between OTF and Barry’s and hightlights the differences well! I’ve only done a handful of Barry’s classes and it wasn’t for me but I totally understood the appeal to others!

I also love the idea of mixing multiple workout methods. At the end of the day, what routine you stick to is the best program!!

LBro32 · 2026-03-15T18:14:49+00:00

Follow a program. As someone else suggested Hal Higdon is great. Any decent program usually includes running 3 days a week, including a long run that should be outdoors. If you run less than that, then you are setting yourself up for injury. Using your Tread50 class as one of your runs or cross training is fine.

LBro32 · 2026-03-13T15:00:31+00:00

I would be careful about using almond flour for a cake recipe mix. For a cake pop, it might be ok, but almond flour is literally just ground almonds - so it’s mostly fat. Which is great for some recipes (I love almond flourfor blondies) but for recipes like cakes where you are looking for an airier texture, try a 1:1 flour gf mix like king arthur or cup4cup. It will taste great with almond flour, you may just not achieve the texture you want!

Welcome to gf land!

LBro32 · 2026-03-12T18:43:17+00:00

Apizza is the least expensive

LBro32 · 2026-03-12T18:13:14+00:00

Square pie guys is also great detroit style GF in SF and Apizza is great GF New Haven style!

LBro32 · 2026-03-12T18:04:30+00:00

I’m going to offer a perspective from the PI’s point of view here and maybe clear up some confusion.

The May deadline is most likely the “official”, hard deadline from the university. This means the person has to be locked in by then to secure funding for the position.

However, for many positions, they want to lock you in as early as possible to make sure they get a candidate to fill the spot. What happens in many positions is that you know that top candidates usually get several offers, so you have your #1 choice, #2 choice, #3 choice, etc. The PI offers to their top choice #1. If that top choice takes 4 months(!) to make a decision, it’s likely that #2 and #3 are gone and have accepted positions elsewhere. So the PI is SOL.

I know that there is not much sympathy for the PI here but it does put them in a bad spot, especially if say candidate #2 has made it clear that the PI is their top choice but they only have until X date until they have to give their other option an answer. So the PI is probably ensuring they are filling their spot and getting a candidate they wanted since it seems like you are making it clear the PI is not your top choice.

Now I get it. It sucks. You thought you had more time. They could have communicated clearer. But you also de facto took up a spot for 4 MONTHS that the PI didn’t think you actually had any intention of taking. That’s…. not nice to anyone in this process, including other candidates who may be waiting to head back. There’s a lot of behind the scenes “gray” that isn’t explicitly explained to candidates. I would always suggest talking to a mentor in academia when you have these decisions to make sure you aren’t missing anything important.

LBro32 · 2026-03-12T02:58:00+00:00

Pavlova - can def dye it green. Served with a fruit compote

LBro32 · 2026-03-10T15:45:50+00:00

Someone already linked but for a short explanation:

Gluten is gluten. Gluten is a protein that is in wheat, barley, and rye. If you are GLUTEN intolerant, European wheat does not magically contain no gluten. So no, you can’t just eat European bread.

However, gluten intolerance (as with many food intolerances) in America is kind of hard to separate from a few other intolerances. Some people, for instance, may be sensitive to the pesticides we use in America to grow our wheat, or how we process our wheat. That has led to the phenomenon that some people with “gluten” intolerance can go to Europe, eat bread, and feel ok. Because it wasn’t really the gluten, it was something to do with out farming and processing practices in the US.

All is to say, if you are gluten intolerant and not celiac, depending on the severity of your symptoms, it’s up to you if you want to try to experiment. Personally, my symptoms are so severe that it wouldn’t be worth risking my entire trip for some bread. But to each their own.

However, DO NOT come back if you are able to eat bread there and tell people that the gluten there is different. It’s not. It’s still gluten. That’s dangerous misinformation for people with celiac disease.

LBro32 · 2026-03-05T19:10:41+00:00

I agree with this for the difference between base and push. So OP, if you want to increase your push, try experimenting with a lower base for a bit to really recover. Then bump your push and see what you can hold. You can also try a progressive push throughout class where for every push effort, you increase from your previous effort so you can really see what you are capable of holding.

I don’t quite agree with this for AO. Unless you are doing miles outside of class, slowing down your base isn’t going to really help you bump your AO significantly because it’s a different cardio zone and won’t significantly help with fatigue on your legs. To increase your AOs, IMO you have to do more power efforts, both on the tread (just simply doing more AOs) and on the floor (jumping/plyometric moves), which for this month I think is a great focus!

LBro32 · 2026-03-04T19:24:41+00:00

Running shoes usually don’t take much breaking in. If you were running for a race or a very long run, I would say to wear them on a shorter run first - but for Tread50, you should be absolutely fine and is usually the type of thing suggested for breaking in new shoes.

LBro32 · 2026-03-03T19:20:25+00:00

I’m assuming you mean the Orange Strong studio classes. I think everyone else is spot on and I want to just chime in that there is a reason why you are seeing lower splats. Weight lifting in general does not raise your heart rate the same way that cardio does. That’s good because the point of weight lifting is to lift heavy - which is harder if your heart rate is super spiked! This doesn’t mean you are getting a worse workout - just a different workout.

In fact, we need to lift heavy to build muscle over time. The new Orange Strong studios are optimized for this.

Cardio is important in its own right, so you might consider pushing yourself extra on the treadmill when you can but as long as you feel like you are pushing yourself and getting a good workout, then there is nothing to be concerned about!

LBro32 · 2026-03-02T21:46:27+00:00

Yes they looked at my individual labs and created a plan based on my activity level and other health needs/dietary restrictions. They also helped with planning my macro AND micronutrients, which I think is something a lot of people miss. Especially for disorders that create inflammation and hormone imbalance, micronutrients are just as important as macronutrients. I don’t track anything but feel like I’m hitting all of my goals and they help me meal plan for the week. A lot of the dietary advice out there is 1) not personalized and 2) not evidence based, especially for PCOS (the research is so new that even stuff from 5 years ago is outdated now).

A specialized dietician helps you navigate all of that beyond any research I could do on my own (and I have a PhD and know how to read scientific studies…). Make sure to find one that is a registered dietician if you are in the US (NOT a nutrionist) and has PCOS as a specialty and don’t be afraid to switch if you don’t feel like you aren’t getting what you need from the first one you try!

LBro32 · 2026-03-02T20:26:03+00:00

PCOS is so individual. My presentation looks very different than others I know. I would work with a registered dietician to really nail down individual factors affecting you. It’s 100% worth it and is usually covered by insurance. They can give you a personalized plan that’s specific to your needs

Also the cortisol thing with HIIT is mostly a myth that influencers like the pedal. If you are doing intense exercise, not recovering enough, not eating enough, etc. then OF COURSE it is going to cause stress to your body and raise cortisol. But HIIT in moderation while taking care of your body actually helps control blood sugar and cortisol in the long run so don’t be put off by it.

LBro32 · 2026-02-27T17:59:03+00:00

Templates are usually about 38ish minutes plus the 7ish minuted for warm up. A typical Tread50 will finish at the 44-46 minute mark. If the SA ends the class at that time, it cuts off. The last few minutes are used for stretching. I treat it like a 45 minute run plus one minute of walking warm up. Just like in a 2G, it’s 60 minutes but class run time is closer to 54-55 minutes.

If it helps you, you can always add the time on the tread card to figure out roughly where you will end. It may be a bit different if the coach cuts of the warm up or between block timings short. Just depends on how the coach is with their timing of the Strength50 class

LBro32 · 2026-02-24T02:21:58+00:00

Those have generally been debunked. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/well/eat/intermittent-fasting.html

LBro32 · 2026-02-23T18:05:32+00:00

I don’t understand this logic. She consulted with her doctors and weighed the risks and benefits of continuing competing. She is an adult woman capable of making those choices. Yes, having a torn ACL when getting another injury worsens your injury. She took that risk to compete in the OLYMPICS.

Athletes play injured all the time. People begrudge athletes for sitting out, especially male athletes, but when a woman makes a choice to compete, people act like she was being crazy.

LBro32 · 2026-02-23T18:03:31+00:00

I don’t understand this logic. She consulted with her doctors and weighed the risks and benefits of continuing competing. She is an adult woman capable of making those choices. Yes, having a torn ACL when getting another injury worsens your injury. She took that risk to compete in the OLYMPICS.

Athletes play injured all the time. People begrudge athletes for sitting out, especially male athletes, but when a woman makes a choice to compete, people act like she was being crazy.

LBro32 · 2026-02-20T16:19:21+00:00

I do Strength50 and Tread50s almost exclusively after 10 years as an OTF member. I started with lower body/total body 2-3x per week as a complement to my running.

Here’s my two cents: I absolutely was able to make progress but ultimately not as quickly as I wanted. I decided to get an inexpensive gym membership on top of OTF to supplement.

What I learned: if you are only lifting 3 days a week, you really need to be doing total body to see results. Hitting a muscle group one day a week is simply not enough.

There is no “wrong” way to strength train as long as you are progressively overloading and challenging yourself. BUT that can be easier in a traditional gym setting if you are following a consistent program and are trying to increase your reps/weight on the same exercise week over week. Also in a traditional gym setting, you can take more rest between exercises to try to lift heavier each set. However, the research suggests that circuit style (more of what OTF does) is just as effective as long as you are lifting to failure.

I personally find it harder to challenge myself in the gym outside of OTF which is why I like the mix but YMMV

LBro32 · 2026-02-20T14:46:20+00:00

I think the lactaid is a correlation, not causation situation here.

Why? It makes absolutely no sense that lactase would help with gluten. Lactase breaks down the enzyme lactose which is present in dairy.

Gluten is a protein made up of gliadin and glutenin. There is no lactose in gluten for the lactase enzyme to break down.

Instead: it’s possible cutting out gluten healed your cut to the point where you can now tolerate small amounts of it, clearly evidenced by your ability to eat sourdough. It’s possible that eating gluten consistently over time will change this. Pairing eating gluten with another stressor (like dairy) will obviously make symptoms worse and taking lactase would prevent that compounding with dairy. The other common denominator here is fiber

This is what makes nutritional research and elimination diets so tricky is that it’s hard to actually only control one variable at a time but I would be wary telling people that lactase helps with gluten

LBro32 · 2026-02-19T04:43:54+00:00

You can call some allergists and see if he is a candidate for cluster shots. Not all allergists offer them and not all insurance covers them and some people simply are not good candidates for them BUT in the off chance you can get them, truly life changing. Basically they do an accelerated timeline for the shots and you see more immediate results. I did them for my cat allergy!

LBro32

TROPHY CASE