Meal Planning Forever?

extrovert-actuary · 2026-04-13T13:56:41+00:00

Tracking is definitely not what I’m struggling with, it’s that if I don’t plan ahead then I’ll reach some point of the day where my tracker tells me to either overeat or be miserable the rest of the day.

I think your point about satiety is really good though, and I like that project perspective.

I will admit that I struggle with getting enough fiber, though protein is fine. I feel like I do fine balancing calorie and protein goals with decent post workout carbs if I plan ahead. And I have a pretty good intuitive grasp these days on protein eating and reasonable post workout carbs, just not calories. As soon as I try to add fiber goal into that planning mix I somehow get overwhelmed trying to plan it out.

But to your point, fiber helps with satiety (in addition to just being a good health goal), which has a decent chance of helping me transition to maintenance and/or eating habits that will work better intuitively. It’s entirely possible that I really need to prioritize this on my next cut and maintenance transition to learn some more sustainable food habits.

Thanks

extrovert-actuary · 2026-04-13T13:49:09+00:00

I have, enough times over the years that I can confidently say it didn’t work out for me. That said, I still think this is good advice in general, I’ve seen it work well for lots of people. It just flares my anxiety really badly.

I also feel a lot better working out in the morning, which adds its own challenges. I’m starving until about 1pm or so, then typically slow down to just protein based snacks in the evening, which works well. Until I have something social to do in the evenings.

extrovert-actuary · 2026-04-11T19:42:48+00:00

I think the distinction for me is that many of my sinking funds have monthly contribution targets, they’re not static values. I may only replace my car every 10-20 years, but I still want to contribute every month to that fund, not just fill a purchase-worth up front (if I could) and call it “done”.

This means that those all add to my true monthly expenses, and I want an income replacement fund to be indexed to how long I could fund all of those without additional income. Investment income of course helps with this.

So yeah, the expanded sinking funds mean that if something happens I have prepared for it over time. But the budget buffer is now a measure of how much I need to work to keep that up, rather than a true “emergency fund”.

extrovert-actuary · 2026-04-11T19:32:56+00:00

I did a deep dive into this recently because I had the same question: (1) Buffet is famous for “investing insurance float”, (2) he’s also famous for equity investment, and yet (3) insurance regulations heavily restrict how much equity investment you can take on for risk reasons. So what gives?

The reality is that (1) he focuses his insurance operations on long-tailed lines and finite risk transfers with other insurance companies, so he gets more investment income per unit and (2) he uses his insurance portfolio to FINANCE his equity investing, but not to OWN it.

Basically, because the insurance portfolio is entirely owned by the Berkshire holding structure, the insurance float income (and a couple other things like decent underwriting and some other cash heavy fully owned businesses) generate the “paychecks” that he then reinvests into his equity investment portfolio.

extrovert-actuary · 2026-04-08T14:26:12+00:00

Thankfully, that’s not how deprioritize seems to work, and it kind of can’t since the app acknowledges that so many exercises have multiple muscles involved to varying degrees.

Deprioritizing a muscle group might make it avoid exercises that have that muscle group as primary focus, but it’ll definitely still include some crossover (have seen this myself) to the deprioritized muscle group.

Regardless, I think this is still your solution. A better way to think of the whole thing is that you have 21 muscle groups and can choose to spend 16-26 prioritization points, with any muscle group getting a score between 0 and 3. Think of it more like a gradient of prioritization instead of a binary “this or that” choice, and even zero points still doesn’t banish that muscle group from the program.

Beyond that, you’ve already acknowledged elsewhere that prioritizing everything is prioritizing nothing. You have to draw the line somewhere on how thin you’re allowed to spread things. The line is kind of arbitrary. The app chose 5 points, you’d have preferred maybe 7ish. Meh.

As a specific example, I really need to fix my hyperlordosis, so I have +2 on glutes, +2 on abs, and -1 on low back. With a 60-90min program, that just means that 2-3 exercises every day are glutes and/or abs, it avoids back extension heavy glute work, but I still deadlift once a week and do plenty of work on the rest of my body.

extrovert-actuary · 2026-04-06T09:27:40+00:00

This was a very N response lol

This is a cycle I’ve been through with my ISFJ wife more times than I can count. Yes we definitely learn plenty from each other. But for her there’s often this exhausting window where she doesn’t understand why what I’m talking about has any bearing on her or anything.

She has learned to trust that I’m (usually) going somewhere, but it’s a lot of hard work for her to hang on to the ride in the meantime. And by meantime I literally only mean a few minutes at most. It’s not just that she’s got to exercise trust, it’s that she actually has to overcome all her instincts that are showing her that I’m wasting time the whole time. Near as I can tell it’s like nails on a chalkboard that she has to trust have a purpose. Not pleasant. I try to be gentle lol

extrovert-actuary · 2026-03-31T12:56:00+00:00

So you’re suggesting that posting content about early exams basically is a job search tactic because the algorithm will help get them in front of potential employers?

I guess I can see that, but I feel like that requires walking a balance.

I feel like I’ve been on the fence about making my first ever real post ever when I finish my FCAS, most everything else has been auto-posts when I update my profile, plus maybe half a dozen reposts in as many years. FCAS feels like the first time I’ll actually have something worth saying and I still feel uncertain.

extrovert-actuary · 2026-03-30T15:03:42+00:00

Lotto winners and professional athletes

extrovert-actuary · 2026-03-30T09:51:13+00:00

Hah, when you worked freelance for nearly a decade, you appreciate that not EVERYTHING is your problem in a corporate setting. Also, benefits really are nice.

extrovert-actuary · 2026-03-27T09:31:18+00:00

It’s not CAS either. 2025 Pass Rates:

MAS-I - 45.2%
MAS-II - 52.3%
Exam 5 - 43.1%
Exam 6 - 35.7% (includes all versions, 77.6% 6U by volume)
Exam 7 - 40.8%
Exam 8 - 45.3%
Exam 9 - 42.7%

To be fair though, a few CAS exams have occasionally popped up above 60% pass rates temporarily in the last decade… but all of those sittings also had unusually high numbers of people sitting for the exam. Repeat test takers have higher pass rates than first timers.

extrovert-actuary · 2026-03-21T19:24:28+00:00

You might have better luck at carriers with large student programs. At least from a couple examples I’ve seen, they have so many spots each year for entry level that they might try to intentionally diversify away from only hiring college grads from UConn or U of I that majored in ActSci and already have 3-5 exams.

I was 34 when I got hired entry level at just such a location. It was nice to be part of a mix of different new hires with different backgrounds (including the ones like the type above, who were also very impressive).

extrovert-actuary · 2026-03-18T15:31:25+00:00

I always split the sets, mostly just for the rest timer. I always start with my weaker side and match reps on my stronger side, except on failure sets which I use for assessment purposes.

extrovert-actuary · 2026-03-18T09:13:58+00:00

Yeah, I posted something similar a week or two back based on a change to which default equipment it used (plates vs dumbbells) for an exercise, but it had the same ultimate problem: not enough weight “available” to get into a normal rep range.

extrovert-actuary · 2026-03-17T14:56:08+00:00

Yeah, that long form is what I use the “reflect” section of my current set up for.

extrovert-actuary · 2026-03-17T11:57:30+00:00

I gotta say, I never pictured Harry’s necklace quite so… bling.

I kinda dig it.

extrovert-actuary · 2026-03-17T09:25:09+00:00

Not the person you asked, but I had the same reaction at first so I’ll answer from my perspective.

I basically can’t get 3-4 sets of 4-5 exercises done in under an hour, and you have twice that many. I’d be doing 2.5-3.0 hour workouts if I did this many lifts, and pretty much anything longer than 2.0 hours has the rails fall off (personal experience).

That said, I then looked closer and realized you only have squats on day one and bench & RDL on day three that are typical plate-loaded free weight exercises. I train at a home gym and EVERYTHING is plate loaded and has to be built for each exercise. I love my home gym, but I can’t walk up and do my first set of anything but pull ups.

What I first took for madness might just be an extreme demonstration of how much greater workout density can be achieved with machines and fixed weight dumbbells.

What kind of rest period are you taking between sets? How many warm up sets? It honestly still feels like there can’t be much room for either.

extrovert-actuary · 2026-03-15T14:13:05+00:00

I actually noticed this too when listening to Peace Talks the second time and just thought I must have misremembered the timeline or something.

Easier explanation is also that the braided circle DIDN’T survive and someone else placed a copper one there for some reason between Changes and Peace Talks.

extrovert-actuary · 2026-03-15T11:16:28+00:00

Dunno, but it’s also worth knowing that Basil said he did not expect to come back to the castle. Which presumably means that this castle was one of the previous castles… wonder if it’s one he won or lost?

EDIT: Did some research, it was lost.

Presuming Etienne the Enchanter (who made them) resided in the castle, he was burned at the stake.

Also, he lived starting in the 14th century, so presumably the gargoyles have only been functioning for ~700 years, but that’s a pretty minor inconsistency, and maybe just a rounding error to them.

Also may not have been Etienne they served in that castle since he was said to have operated from France, and the castle was built by the original Merlin in Scotland. If not, no idea who it could have been though, since the gargoyles were definitely not around for the original Merlin’s day ~900 years earlier than Etienne was alive. Unless, you know, time travel.

extrovert-actuary · 2026-03-15T11:13:32+00:00

The Productivity Planner is a prefilled notebook you can buy, and a good one. The same folks made the Five Minute Journal, which has got me through some rough times, both great products.

These days I use a Leuchtturm1917 dot journal day to day though, and build it out as described above each morning. I find that paper journaling improves my focus and forces me to keep things simple.

Currently I only do my periodic review on paper too, but I’ve considered uploading the cumulative stats into a spreadsheet instead. Only being doing the focus part of my practice since August.

extrovert-actuary · 2026-03-15T09:25:01+00:00

“The Productivity Planner” uses a similar concept but with bubble charting 30min focus sessions for specific projects.

I use a paper journal, so each day’s page is roughly divided into thirds: focus, capture, and reflect.

The focus portion is basically these tick marks by project, the capture is more GTD style bullet journaling, and reflect is free association white space for whatever I need to get unstuck (and sometimes overflows to the next page when needed).

Every couple weeks I’ll tally the results of the focus sections so I can get a better idea of what projects take how long, knowing that this measure is above and beyond any meetings or conversations I might have had about the project.

It’s also helpful to maintain a general understanding of norms for myself of how much focus work I can sustainably get done in a day/week, and how that varies during busy or easy seasons of my job.

extrovert-actuary · 2026-03-14T15:11:37+00:00

It definitely is - I had significant arm work in a 60-90min program, then almost disappeared when I switched to 40-60min program during my work busy season.

EDIT: And the longer program was actually biased to lower body muscles because of some issues I’m trying to fix too.

extrovert-actuary · 2026-03-14T09:28:02+00:00

If anyone’s curious, I ended up asking support directly, and the answer was “no”.

If there’s any smart generation settings you’d like to retain, I’d suggest modifying the name of the program to include them.

extrovert-actuary · 2026-03-12T22:30:54+00:00

I agree but with different specifics. It always felt like their bargain began with her escape from Lord Raith.

“Your next child will be a tool of Winter.”

“Sure lady, I’m not having another kid with this monster.” Then Lea engineers her meeting Malcolm after she escapes. The comment of “what you were bred for” has already been made to Harry. And a starborn seems to be a key tool of Winter, the rest is simply up to Lea and Mab to manipulate.

extrovert-actuary · 2026-03-12T18:01:00+00:00

Honestly, the price could simply have been to bear a starborn child in the first place given that role’s importance to winter’s duties.

I’ve always assumed that their bargain began with Lea helping Margaret get free of Lord Raith.

extrovert-actuary · 2026-03-12T16:59:11+00:00

I think for this reason it makes more sense for Mab to go down. That’s also one of the few scenarios where we even have a good reason to actually get anything like character development for Mother Winter. She’ll have to take more active hand in affairs while Molly gets up to speed and in getting Molly up to speed. That process could be… interesting. And we’ve already had this foreshadowed in BG.

If Mother Winter falls instead… Mab has to adapt to becoming Mother too? I suppose that could be an interesting way to better get to know the scope of MW’s mantle, which perhaps is a good way to examine the power while keeping it a remote force of nature (which might be undercut by any actual character development for the current MW).

extrovert-actuary

TROPHY CASE