A lot of my (mostly female) coworkers have done it. The ones that really thought it was helpful (and still eat that way) are over 45, and stuck to their guns with avoiding processed/junk foods/alcohol most of the time. These few had studied up on the hormone cascades and how fasting or types of foods can affect how women store or burn fat (we’re medicine nerds) so they were pretty focused on avoiding things that would defeat the goal. They also thought the biggest part of their success has been doing it with buddies.
They talk about it in my office so they aren’t potentially triggering others in the break room etc so I get to hear the discussions and debates
Thanks! But I love processed junk food lol. I can certainly do better though, and I do not drink. At this point I figure something is better than nothing and IF seems like a decent place to try. Simply cutting calories has to help, so it is worth a shot. I will probably start with 14/10 so that I am not hangry by lunchtime, but will make that first meal something small that I can have at my desk mid morning.
Disclaimer, I have no idea how this conforms to official IF stuff, this is just what works for me.
I don’t worry about hours, I just try to limit my calorie intake during times it bothers me less. For me, skipping breakfast isn’t a big deal if I’m busy doing other stuff. For my mom, she can skip dinner but breakfast is a must.
For times I get off my IF routine (I’m reluctant to even say IF because I don’t think of it that way) I do give myself more leeway when I’m getting back into it. I make sure I have lots of healthy snacks. At work I have yogurts, granola bars, apples, and cheese sticks. I’ve been working on eliminating candy from my desk lately, it’s too damn convenient. On a normal day I wake up at 5:30 and can usually make it till nine before I notice I’m hungry. I start the day with yogurt but it’s not convenient to me so I’m good at “I’ll go get that in a minute” and then like an hour later I still haven’t gotten it because I got distracted by other stuff. (This is why skipping breakfast works for me.) Usually it does take some discipline after that, I tell myself “Okay, I can eat, but in thirty minutes. I can wait thirty minutes.” Then I wait that long and maybe a little longer because I was working on [whatever] so why not wait another twenty minutes till it’s 11AM? Sometimes this is successful, sometimes it’s not. I also use this timeframe to check in with myself to see if I’m just small-h hungry or if I’m getting Hungry as a precursor to Hangry. Avoiding Hangry is important.
Ideally I have a yogurt at 11AM then I’ll have an apple and a cheese stick around 1PM and that tides me over till dinner at 5pm. On days I’m Hungry early I will have a granola bar with my yogurt. Sometimes I have carrots and hummus as a lunch substitute after going to the gym - I probably am not ‘fasting’ at that point, no idea what kind of calories I’m consuming then, but x amount of carrots/hummus is much less calories than x amount of donuts from the conference room or candy from my desk. It’s gotten to be the new normal for me and if I actually have to figure out what to have for lunch now it’s annoying and I’d rather just not eat/graze. Oh I also bring in five yogurts and 3-4 apples on Monday for a typical work week. Setting myself up to succeed and whatnot.
(US) If I have to pay quarterly self-employment taxes, but my husband has to pay yearly regular taxes, but we want to file jointly, how does that work? (First year married and first year paying self-employment taxes). @anomalily and others, halp!
Frankly, I always adjusted my withholdings, or had husband adjust his withholdings, so that we had paid enough tax over the course of the year that We’d covered our nearly covered both our obligations. That meant I didn’t have to do estimated taxes.
This is how taxes work in my household. I’m not an accountant or tax person so take this with a grain of salt but I estimate my annual taxes based on what I’ve brought in, and I try to pay that quarterly. This year with having a newborn I made significantly less than last year so I only paid 2 quarters. I just double checked my estimates the other day and with H’s W2 withholdings, I think we’ll be fine. I’d rather owe a few hundred in early February when we file than to give them way too much now only to get it back. As long as you’ve paid something in the year for taxes you’re fine.
Adjusting the W2 withholdings is also an option but that depends on how much you think you’ll make. In my situation my income is too variable and I didn’t want to lock up money by doing that only to have to wait to get it back as a refund.
ETA: I also have a separate account where I try to put 20-30% of each invoice. This is my tax/business savings account. It’s always way more than I owe and I pay quarterly taxes from that account and then either pay myself the remainder into my IRA or use it for business improvement expenses that I’ve put off due to cost or something.
I have made a bit over $3,000 in freelance this year. I’ve put $650 in a traditional IRA this year. Do I need to do the estimated quarterly taxes? Or can I just file with my husband and deal with it all then?
For $3k I’d just wait. My threshold is if the tax bill would be big enough that I’d have trouble paying it all at once, then I pay something. A friend of mine decided she didn’t care to worry about taxes for her LLC and then freaked out when she had a $13k tax bill. That’s what I’m trying to avoid.
There are also tax calculators you can google to get you in the rough neighborhood. Just make sure you do federal and state plus any local taxes you may have. I live in a part of a state that has a stupid way of taxing things so I always get hit with extras that make me angry that it isn’t more simple to figure out.
For a really rough comparison you can always compare the $ paid in taxes based on last years return and then see if your income this year is in the same neighborhood to see if you’ve paid enough as well.
My philosophy is that if I’ve made a good faith effort to pay something, they’re not going to come after me on January 1 and I’ll have time to square up by tax time.
ETA: just saw that you had a W2 job. Unless your withholdings for that were very dialed in, this will cover the $3k I’m fairly sure.
Did you move to a new state @bucketsofrain? If so, you will likely have to file returns in both states. I don’t know if any states also require quarterly estimated taxes - but it is worth a quick search to check.
$3K is probably not enough even on the state level to be an issue (and I live in a relatively high tax state), but I should be helpful to know for next year.
If your combined total income is less than $55K - you could probably get free tax prep via VITA (a free program collaboration of IRS and other non-profits, like United Way in my state).
Here is the recipe I cobbled together and have used with success a few times:
Combine 150g leaven, 375g bread flour, 190g water, and a half tablespoon of salt. Knead (I use a stand mixer). Bulk ferment for 2-3 hours.
Line a baking sheet with a silpat. Shape 6 balls and form into bagels. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat the oven to 500f while boiling a pot of water with one tablespoon of baking soda. Boil bagels for about a minute and place on a towel to cool a bit. Return to baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes.
Yay thanks! I’m going to get spouse started on this today so we can have delicious bagels tomorrow
@bucketsofrain, when we were in this situation (first year married, he had been paying quarterlies based on a fellowship and I had a W2 job in two states) my spouse just paid the quarterly estimates based on his income, and I kept up with regular W2 deductions based on mine. At the end of the year we had a refund. It wasn’t ideal from a process perspective, but it was the easiest thing for us to deal with at the time.
I will second the recommendation to look into VITA for getting your taxes prepared for free. The site I volunteer at opens in Feb and runs through April 15th, but you need to make an appointment.
I’ve done IF, but I don’t any longer because if the crazed strength training I do. My wife gave it a run but didn’t notice much difference between that and a traditional eating schedule.
You might hear about pairing IF with fasted state cardio. This works, but primarily if you’re supplementing with exogenous HGH and T4.
In the end, unless you’re getting exogenous hormone support, the best plan is the one that sucks the least for your personal comfort. Low carb works great for me, but it doesn’t help if you can’t stick with it (like my time in KC. I just couldn’t bring myself to eat like that day in and day out, so a modified approach got me moving in the right direction without week+ rage feasting)
What is a good recipe using basic kitchen staples to test out a Kitchenaid stand mixer?
The Kitchenaid hasn’t been used in a few years and has some duct tape around the neck/pin. I got it via BN and was told that it is fine but wobbles a little. I put it away and forgot about it. As part of my GYSD month, I’m fixing/using or decluttering stuff.
Anyway, it seems ok running through all the settings when empty. What should I make with it that will test it out without challenging it too much? I have typical baking ingredients around and don’t want to buy anything special.
Yeast bread (with kneading) or cake (high speed) would be more demanding.
Depending on what the issue is, I am told they are fairly simple (but, granted, this was from my BIL who is a professional engineer and inventor, lol) to repair depending on the part.
