Alex  Chernavsky

Taking metformin (Glucophage) may have made me slightly smarter. Metformin lowers blood glucose and is used to treat diabetes. I found that metformin reduced my reaction time, a metric correlated with cognitive ability. self-experiments.org/metformin-as-c…

Five years'-worth of fitness data (from an Apple Watch) analyzed with the help of Claude Code: self-experiments.org/five-years-of-…

Taking metformin (Glucophage) may have made me slightly smarter. Metformin lowers blood glucose and is used to treat diabetes. I found that metformin reduced my reaction time, a metric correlated with cognitive ability. self-experiments.org/metformin-as-c…

@Thermobolic What you are doing sounds similar to the Shangri-La diet as developed by the late psychologist Seth Roberts. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shang…

Yesterday, my first 4 meals were 2 tbsp (30g) coconut oil and 85-90g dates. 500 kcal each meal, eaten at (6,9,12,3). 30g fat and 67g carb each. Zero protein until dinner. Felt awesome this way. Tons of energy all day. Never hungry. Going to duplicate today.

@oscredwin @eshear @liminal_warmth I had a consistent procedure for weighing myself. I did it every morning after getting out of bed and after urinating.

@eshear @liminal_warmth the wide range on some of the weeks makes it look like water and irregular data collection, eg some days going to the bathroom before using the scale, some days after. That makes the gentle slope look more like an artifact.

I’m increasingly convinced we understand almost nothing about nutrition

@LimaPrieto @mold_time @exfatloss Have you seen Krinn's results (another n=1 study)? Do you have an opinion on her weight loss?

@chernavsky @mold_time @exfatloss 4 pounds delta over 8 months? No significance. Literally drinking 2 extra glasses of water could do this. For now, we defer to the n>>1 studies

Results of my n=1 study on potassium supplementation and weight loss. potassium-weight-loss.org

@geometrywarrior @mold_time @exfatloss My description makes it sound worse than it actually was. The symptoms were mild and lasted at most a couple of hours.

@chernavsky @mold_time @exfatloss I respect your perseverance😳 "I would feel slightly weak and lightheaded even before I finished the bottle of “kaliated” Gatorade. I also would get a runny nose, and I experienced burning when I urinated. Also, the KCl solution tasted pretty awful."

@Timothy02483682 @mold_time @exfatloss Perhaps, but I obviously didn't know the outcome going into the trial. And the side effects were fairly mild (maybe it wasn't clear from the write-up). It's all in the name of (personal) science!

@chernavsky @mold_time @exfatloss This seems like a very small change for the cost of a rather unpleasant experience.

@exfatloss Damn, Martin Shkreli, the infamous "pharma bro", is throwing shade at me! I'm not worthy.

lol the timelines are collapsing that guy from TV/jail is trolling my weight loss fam

@raymondedwards @DeryaTR_ @mold_time @exfatloss No, my goal was to keep it cheap and simple.

@arram @mold_time @exfatloss No, I was trying to keep it cheap and simple. But good idea for others to pursue.

@chernavsky @mold_time @exfatloss Did you consider doing dexa scans to find out where the weight came from?

@DeryaTR_ @mold_time @exfatloss My KCl intake was constant over two months. So you're saying that the diuretic effect had a gradual onset, followed by another gradual diminishment?

@chernavsky @mold_time @exfatloss This is likely mostly water loss, due to diuretic effect of potassium intake.

@beast_pixels @mold_time @krinndnz Someone who knows more about stats than I do can see if the weight loss is significant. My data is available for download.

we love it! very cool n=1 experiment from @chernavsky trying potassium for weight loss similar to @krinndnz , with supportive results

@exfatloss @mold_time Yeah, that was a bit unusual. But I've been tracking my weight daily for over 20 years, and it sometimes does weird jumps with no obvious explanation.

@chernavsky @mold_time Also that rise/drop is really remarkable.🤔Sunburn? Strenuous workout? Slight cold? Probably water weight, but still.

Results of my "Half Tato" diet experiment (spoiler: I didn't lose any weight) half-tato.com

@SarahAvraham1 @mold_time There's a Facebook page for people interested in discussing topics related to Seth's work: facebook.com/groups/SethRob…

ok at some point we need to put together a study to systematically collect all the "I lost weight on a vacation" data points

@SarahAvraham1 @mold_time On his old blog, Seth posted a news story about a group of people who opened an ice cream parlor that featured very unusual flavors. The article said that the owners lost weight at first but then ended up gaining weight.

@mold_time You might recall that this travel induced weightloss phenomenon was the genesis of Seth Roberts' gustatory set-point theory and Shangri-La Diet. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shang…

@mold_time The late psychologist Seth Roberts wrote about losing weight during a trip to France. He attributed it to the unfamiliar taste of French sodas. He explained the theory of it in his book, "The Shangri-La Diet".

@evandawson RG&E told me that when a customer submits an implausible meter read, it takes MONTHS for the utility to investigate it and resolve the issue.

Hey ROC: I want to know how your experience with RG&E has been. Are the bills accurate? Are they easy to work with? Yes I’m serious.