Restricting caloric intake by too much for weeks or months or years inhibits leptin secretion. In fact, drastic reductions in caloric intake reduce leptin levels, faster than could be explained by body fat losses (the same goes for overfeeding, which increase leptin levels faster than can be explained by body fat gain). This can make getting really lean really difficult – the leaner you get and the less you eat, the lower your leptin gets and the more your appetite increases. Anyone who’s dieted knows that sheer intellectual willpower cannot win out against the hormonal urge to eat. Hormones always win.

What is leptin? Leptin is a hormone that plays the role of ‘gatekeeper’ in metabolism; it monitors how much energy you’ve taken in much the way a doorman bouncer monitors the makeup of a club on a busy night.

diet leptin hormone

Though I can’t begin to understand the sacrifice their families have made, I am thankful that Master Cpl. Kristal Giesebrecht and Pte. Andrew Miller wore our flag while they worked on our behalf. Farewell.

What if a demon were to creep after you one night, in your loneliest loneliness, and say, ‘This life which you live must be lived by you once again and innumerable times more; and every pain and joy and thought and sigh must come again to you, all in the same sequence. The eternal hourglass will again and again be turned and you with it, dust of the dust!’ Would you throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse that demon? Or would you answer, ‘Never have I heard anything more divine’?

-Nietzsche

work-life balance

Here’re the memoirs of on Rome’s 5 Good Emperors, summarized as tightly as i can:

My grandfather Verus taught me to be candid and to control my temper. I thank the gods that my relatives and servants were almost all good persons, that my wife is deferential, affectionate and frugal, and that, when I came to philosophy I did not waste time in logic or reading. Put away your books and face the matter itself.

As for your body, value it no more than if you were just expiring; it is nothing but a little blood and bones. Your breath is but a little air pumped in and out. But the third part is your mind. Here make a stand.

Remember that you are a man and a Roman, and let your actions be done with dignity, gravity, humanity, freedom and justice; let every action be done as though it were your last. Have neither insincerity nor self-love. Pleasure and pain, riches and poverty – all these are common to the virtuous and the depraved, and therefore intrinsically neither good not evil.

Do not spend your thoughts upon other people, nor pry into the talk, fancies and projects of another, nor guess at what he is about, or why he is doing it. Let your choice run all one way, and be resolute for that which is best. And to this end be always provided with a few short, uncontested notions, to keep your understanding true. The whole world is but one commonwealth, for there is no other society in which mankind can be incorporated. Whatever is agreeable to You, O Universe, is so to me, too. Mankind are poor, transitory things; one day in life, and the next turned to ashes. Go straight forward, pursuing your own and the common interest. We ought to live with the gods. But let all be done out of mere love and kindness.

Reflect upon those who have made the most glorious figure or have met with the greatest misfortunes. Where are they all now? They are vanished like a little smoke.

marcus aurelius

Every 18 months for the last decade, the world has doubled the data it pushes to you.
Twice as much email, twice as many friend requests, twice as many sites to check, twice as many devices.
When does your mind lose the ability to keep up? Then what happens? Is it already happening?

Often and, i think with a different message in mind, the cast of MTV’s Jersey Shore say “Imma do me“.

That’s the answer to Seth’s question: focus on what’s important to you. Sure, there’s a crush of information and opportunity with it, but, i think we’re each best served by finishing, delivering, completing tasks, jobs, projects etc. It’s my job to be productive; being fully informed is a luxury. Said another way: it’s my job to be productive; it’s possible to be well enough informed to be effective at that job without attending to every piece of information available.

old spice advertising brilliance:

video editing wizardry:

two of the greatest triathlon performances, ever, happened on the same day:

Question: What is Twitter’s?

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That’s how Seneca said it, 2000 years before Roosevelt paraphrased him.  They’re both right.

There’s a marathon coming up in a couple of weeks. I’m entirely unprepared for it.

I do, however, have a crutch to lean on: experience. I know I can handle the distance and the pace we’re likely to run.

My running partner – whom I promised I would run as wingman to were he ever to step up to a marathon start line – has  no such crutch.

Consider: in training his longest runs have all been struggles towards the end, and have left him sore for days.  The race is 10km (or more!) longer than his longest training effort.  The weather will be warmer on race day; he’ll sweat more. The race is far from his home; he’ll not get to sleep in his own bed before it. The list of little uncertainties goes on and on and on.

Yet he’ll toe that line and, come hell or highwater, he’ll get to that finish line – it’s in his character to acknowledge the fear… and then to stomp on it with a grin.

THAT is why I’ll happily wingman him on the way – I want to be there with a front-row seat to see him stand on that start line and wonder… and then stand on that finish line and KNOW.