I was thinking about this today while watching some old highlights. It feels like every single thing that used to be special, niche, or purely driven by the spirit of the game is being eyed up by someone with a spreadsheet. We used to have these legendary matchups that existed purely because of history and geography, but now it feels like the gatekeepers are looking for any excuse to move the party to a bigger stadium with more corporate boxes.
Don't get me wrong, I love seeing the sport grow globally, but there's a massive difference between expanding the fan base and just chasing the highest bidder. When you start moving historic, storied rivalries away from their natural homes just to tap into a new market, you lose that "soul" that makes the fans go crazy in the first place. It starts to feel less like a contest and more like a touring circus.
Once you break that seal and start treating every classic showdown as a mobile product, do you think the original magic ever actually comes back?
If you’re talking about the one from 2003, my bad 🙂 Maybe I should have actually brought her back from the dead 😁 But seriously, can I please ask you to just take me back there? I’m really curious about how the Zone diet actually affects the body overall—like, how much of an impact does it truly have on someone's health if they stick to it? Please 🙂
Please, just don't link this thread to anything over at the women's corner.
Why does everyone insist on treating the Zone like some trendy "weight loss diet"? Between digging through different articles, chatting with athletes, and everything I’ve picked up about nutrition and how the body actually functions, I finally went out and grabbed that famous Searle's book.
I’ve been mulling over the Zone for months now, and I think it’s finally time to dive in. 😁 I’m really not interested in the people looking to shed a quick five pounds using the Zone (you know, the crowd over at the women's corner); I want to talk to the people who actually live and breathe these principles. I mean the Zone as a lifestyle, not just the Zone as a temporary diet. I’ve only just started reading, and Sears talks about reaching that "zone" state like it's some kind of fountain of youth. 😁 I know he’s probably exaggerating a bit, but I also understand what that physiological state actually entails, and I truly believe it's possible to reach and maintain it most of the time.
Are there any Zonas out there? 🙂 I would love to hear about your actual experiences. 🙂
Sometimes you just have to wait out more than a month before things actually start moving. I mean, honestly? I think you've been overeating. Or rather, you *think* you’re eating the same amount, but you’re probably sneaking in way more than you realize. It’s so easy to let that happen when you’re burning a ton of energy. Just cut back by 500 calories and you’ll see progress 🙂
Alright, you caught me slipping, so I guess it’s my turn to step up and be the resident know-it-all for once. 😁
So, I was doing some math earlier—and honestly, my head is still spinning—but apparently, one pound of fat is roughly 3,500 calories. So if you're looking at something like two pounds, you're talking around 7,000 calories. It’s just... wow. It's actually kind of insane when you sit down and really think about the sheer volume of energy we're talking about. I guess it makes sense, but it's still pretty overwhelming to wrap your brain around. Look, if you actually want to see the scale move, you have to be aggressive about it. I mean, I guess the math is pretty simple: you need to be eating 1,000 calories less than your maintenance level every single day if you’re serious about losing weight. It’s not rocket science, but people love to overcomplicate it. You just have to hit that deficit. Period. One kilo a week... honestly, I don't know if that's even realistic or just one of those numbers people throw around to sound productive. I guess maybe it's possible if you're being super strict, but man, it feels like a lot to aim for consistently.. Look, here’s the deal: most women actually need about 2,000 calories just to function. So, if they want to lose weight, I guess they should be eating around 1,000 or maybe 1,500 calories, and then just go out and run off that extra 500. It’s pretty simple math, really. It’s really not that simple, you know? I mean, 1,000 calories is basically nothing—it's such a tiny amount of food. And then you're expected to go out and actually run on top of that? I guess it's just not realistic. A whole pound a week!!! If you just use a little bit of common sense, you can figure this out: anything that goes down through your digestive tract absolutely CANNOT be fat.
Honestly, I think anyone who actually falls for those "lose 5 pounds in 5 days" diet scams are just straight-up idiots. Sorry, but I said what I said.
Jerry Walker79 said:You aren't losing three pounds of fat; you're just flushing three pounds of water out of your system. To actually burn off three pounds of pure fat, you'd have to work your tail off at the gym!
Oh, please... I’ve managed to drop five pounds of pure fat over the last four months. And I’m not out here peddling those ridiculous seven-day crash diets or any of that nonsense. Besides, you just need to understand basic math to see how it works. 🙂
amberorca192 said:LSD stayed legal until the late 60s. The CIA used it heavily in their own testing (just use Google to find more 😉), and half of Pfizer was basically riding the wave after they discovered it. It was tested extensively on smart people—artists, psychiatrists, you name it—specifically because of how it shifts consciousness. That’s where "Delta" comes from, which is why it's such a staple in Goa trance music for inducing trances.
Anyone talking trash about this stuff without ever having tried LSD is just a total moron in my book. Even for anyone with an ounce of education or a psyche deeper than the trance you get at a Thompson's concert, it's easy to see the value.😉
I don't know about trance music, but I definitely know about the delta 😁 Supposedly, it was banned because the authorities realized just how dangerous it actually is. People were becoming—well, more awake. 🙂
Before anyone decides to crucify me for saying this, please remember that there are two sides to every coin. I'm not denying that drugs can be harmful, not at all (that's the dark side), but sometimes I really wonder why it's ACTUALLY prohibited.
amberorca192 said:I wasn't trying to contradict you, I just brought it up after you quoted him regarding whether LSD addiction or tolerance exists (it does, but it's temporary—meaning if I drop 200 micrograms of LSD right now, another 200 five hours later won't hit me the same way)🙂.
And sure, heroin addiction might not depend on intellectual capacity, but it's definitely true that smarter people can get pulled in harder simply because they’re more prone to experimenting.
But hey, what do I know? Maybe you've run into more cases like that than I have. 🙂 Everything I've observed around me actually supports my theory—honestly, the theory came from observing this in the first place. I don't have any direct experience with getting hooked on things, thank God, but I do know that after trying any drug, I eventually reached a point where I became much more interested in something else entirely. I don't regret it. If anything, I'm glad I know what's what. I'm glad I don't look at people on drug forums like they're idiots, and I don't feel this constant urge to lecture everyone about how harmful drugs are.🤣 Honestly, I don't see much difference between smoking a few joints and doing a line on a summer night. Though, for a long time now, I've preferred sticking to weed, but still...😁
amberorca192 said:I won't quote him directly... since he brought up LSD, it’s worth noting that when people talk about "getting hooked," there's actually zero tolerance built up with LSD (meaning you don't need five times the dose after five years to feel the same thing). Plus, it doesn't cause any kind of addiction whatsoever. Still, we're talking about the most potent psychoactive substance out there—and hey, it turns 64 this year (give or take five years from when it was first used).
Exactly. LSD has absolutely zero physical impact on the body like most other drugs do (you know, stuff that hits your nerves or cardiovascular system). It just pushes your consciousness down toward the delta frequency 🙂 (since we usually hang out in beta) If I remember correctly, it was perfectly legal for about 30 years.
amberorca192 said:It really does. There are people on this forum ten years younger than me whose first brush with drugs was LSD, and I actually suggested they take two tabs right away (my recommendation would have been three) because I know how people's minds work, and I figured their intelligence wouldn't let them get hurt... and that's exactly what happened. I got a message saying it wasn't even as big a deal as they thought it would be based on the hype.
There’s no crazier way to try to explain to someone what it’ll feel like to get high. First off, what happens is the placebo effect, where people start "experiencing" stuff just because of what they've heard. A classic example is coke, which in my opinion is the most pointless drug (unless it's high quality and taken IV 🙏), and it's easy to convince someone with zero experience (especially if they've been drinking) that they're snorting pure white powder when they're actually just inhaling some cheap trash they paid 400-$200 for.
Look, I was talking about addiction. Smart people get hooked and idiots get hooked. Being unable to control your own state of consciousness or failing to find an interest in life usually has nothing to do with how sharp your mind is.
lonelynx44 said:Saying 'I tried it once' is basically saying 'it's not for me'... edit: if someone tries it once, they're immediately labeled a junkie... bad wording, my bad... but my 'occasional' might be 2 or 3 days in a row (rarely), and other times it's nothing for months... whenever the mood strikes. Just saying it doesn't hit you with addiction instantly... to me, addiction is when someone takes something constantly, even if there are breaks, right?? Like, if someone gets trashed every year for, I don't know, Thanksgiving and Christmas, they aren't an alcoholic—I feel the same way about drugs (no matter how nasty they are). If nobody's looking for you for months at a time, then maybe you don't need to be looked for for the rest of your life... works for booze, cigarettes, and drugs... though I wouldn't know about gambling, since I don't actually know any gamblers... but hey, who knows... (just my thoughts, not facts)
And how much 'occasional' does it take to get hooked? Honestly, I have no clue, because everyone's different—body chemistry, mindset, whatever... some people get hooked after one go, while others can quit cold turkey even if they were using daily, or whateva... look at my old man, he smoked a pack or two a day, then just decided one day he was done, and he was done... didn't make him an addict. I think the most important thing before you mess with this stuff is knowing yourself—and I mean really knowing yourself... for example, I know I don't need to smoke weed all the time, which keeps me from being a 'junkie,' but I know myself well enough to know that if I tried something harder, like LSD or heroin, I'd probably get hooked... so it doesn't appeal to me at all. Which just goes to show I know myself (mostly) well enough...
good enough?!?!
So why on earth do you think you'd get addicted? Do you really think there isn't anything better in your life than those drugs? 😉
Personally, I've never messed with heroin, but I've been around most drugs. Fine. But definitely not enough to get a real rush. 👍
amberorca192 said:Look, people who have never even wanted drugs should be the ones giving advice. If someone decides to go down that path, a post on a forum isn't going to stop them, but you can at least suggest a way to handle it when the time comes. 🙂
Your other post is idiotic. If my friends had the kind of experience I have now fifteen years ago, and if they could have learned it from me back then, maybe—just maybe—they wouldn't be six feet under right now.
I'm not looking to push anyone toward drugs. Drugs aren't for everyone, even though anyone *can* use them. Just because anyone can train in MMA doesn't mean they'll become a Fedor Emelianenko or a Mirko Cro Cop. Similarly, some people can use drugs heavily for 15 years like I did and come out the other side feeling almost new. I won't pretend it didn't take a toll; my body is trashed from extreme use, but I got lucky with my genetics. My system handled it, and since I stayed active with sports while I was using (weird as that sounds), the training helped balance things out.
If I could judge someone before they ever tried anything, then maybe I could offer suggestions. But I'm definitely not an opponent of drugs, purely based on my own experience. If I were born again and given a choice, I'd do it all over again. I'm not an addict; I'm a drug lover. And to be a drug lover, you need a genetic predisposition. I know people who waited five or six years before touching heroin, yet they ended up having worse withdrawals than I ever did.
Everything I write on this forum is strictly for education. I'm 100% sure that 99% of the anonymous people here wouldn't dare write what I write. So, even if nobody gives a damn about what I have to say, I'll keep posting on this forum (I used to have a blog about it too). I'll always be here to help someone or share what I've been through.
I'm not against drugs, but I'm also not saying they're for everyone.
As long as drugs are strictly for recreational use—then it’s fine.
Is it absolutely good or bad? I honestly can't say. It might be a great way to blow off steam, it could expand your consciousness, or it could completely wreck you.
From what I've seen—it's usually the people who don't care about anything, the ones who don't find any actual fulfillment in most things they do, who end up getting messed up. It doesn't have anything to do with how smart or stupid someone is, or their IQ, or whatever...
mistyraven42 said:I was reading somewhere that you could drop three pounds just by eating a pound of cherries a day for three days straight. Is there any truth to that?
I mean, how are you supposed to weigh a pound less when you’ve got a whole pound of cherries sitting in your stomach and intestines? 🤣