Reddit mentions: The best measuring tools & scales

We found 4,503 Reddit comments discussing the best measuring tools & scales. We ran sentiment analysis on each of these comments to determine how redditors feel about different products. We found 659 products and ranked them based on the amount of positive reactions they received. Here are the top 20.

13. Smart Weigh GEM20 High Precision Digital Milligram Scale 20 x 0.001g Reloading, Jewelry and Gems Scale

    Features:
  • MULTIFUNCTIONAL- Scale is able to weigh in various measurements, making it perfect for all your weighing needs! Weighs in g, oz., ct., ozt., dwt and gn. Whether you are weighing gold, powder, medication or anything for cooking this scale has the right measurements for you!
  • TARE FUNCTION- Scale comes with a tare function for items that are difficult to weigh and need to be placed in a container or on one of the weighing pans. Place your container or pan on the scale, press the tare function and then put your items in the container/pan.
  • ACCURATE- Utilizes high precision sensor system to get an accurate reading every time! This scale has a thousandth of a gram accuracy (0.001g) so it is extremely precise. This accuracy takes the guesswork out of measuring finer items, so you can just place the items on the scale and know that your reading is the most accurate it can be with this top of the line scale!
  • CALIBRATION WEIGHTS INCLUDED – Although your Smart Weigh scale will arrive calibrated, we have included two Smart Weigh 10g calibration weights. Should you notice any inaccuracies in your scale throughout your time using it, simply use these weights and follow the directions to re-calibrate it so you can continue to use your scale accurately!
  • CUSTOMER SATISFACTION – All Smart Weigh scales are individually tested and backed with a Two-Year Warranty
Smart Weigh GEM20 High Precision Digital Milligram Scale 20 x 0.001g Reloading, Jewelry and Gems Scale
Specs:
ColorSilver
Height1.3 inches
Length3.15 inches
Size1-Pack
Weight0.265625 Pounds
Width3.7 inches
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15. GreaterGoods Digital Food Kitchen Scale, Multifunction Scale Measures in Grams and Ounces (Ash Grey)

    Features:
  • A Smart Choice: Greater Goods classic kitchen scale is the perfect introduction to measuring your food for better cooking and portioning at home. A scale that does everything you need, does it well, with a little extra, looks great while it’s doing, and is priced right.
  • Fresh Features: All of the qualities you need and expect in a kitchen scale: readings down to the gram, an eleven pound capacity, four units of measurement, and an easy-to-clean, smooth surface.
  • Simple and Stylish: Never let a kitchen accessory cramp your style again. The simplistic, modern design of this scale fits right in with the decor of even the trendiest space. Looks good, and if you need to, it’s compact and easy to store.
  • True Support: Our friendly team in St. Louis are industry experts at-the-ready to assist you with any questions that might arise about your kitchen scale. We take pride in our work and want you to have a great experience from beginning to end.
  • Beyond A Purchase: Yes, we design and produce high functioning, slick looking kitchen scales, but we value the positive impact of a purchase, on a global level, as much as anything. That’s why we only partner with ethical factories and ensure a portion of every sale is given back to a charity that aligns with the nature of what you’ll be using. Learn more about how we give back in the short videos on the side tab!
GreaterGoods Digital Food Kitchen Scale, Multifunction Scale Measures in Grams and Ounces (Ash Grey)
Specs:
ColorAsh grey
Height0.55 Inches
Length8.1 Inches
Number of items1
Sizefull
Weight0.46875 Pounds
Width6.13 Inches
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16. Emopeak Stainless Steel Digital Kitchen Scale with LCD Display

AmazonBasics Batteries Included
Emopeak Stainless Steel Digital Kitchen Scale with LCD Display
Specs:
ColorGrey-01
Height1.4 Inches
Length8.7 Inches
Weight0.99 Pounds
Width7.2 Inches
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🎓 Reddit experts on measuring tools & scales

The comments and opinions expressed on this page are written exclusively by redditors. To provide you with the most relevant data, we sourced opinions from the most knowledgeable Reddit users based the total number of upvotes and downvotes received across comments on subreddits where measuring tools & scales are discussed. For your reference and for the sake of transparency, here are the specialists whose opinions mattered the most in our ranking.
Total score: 166
Number of comments: 25
Relevant subreddits: 2
Total score: 145
Number of comments: 43
Relevant subreddits: 3
Total score: 133
Number of comments: 14
Relevant subreddits: 1
Total score: 118
Number of comments: 35
Relevant subreddits: 2
Total score: 69
Number of comments: 18
Relevant subreddits: 2
Total score: 57
Number of comments: 20
Relevant subreddits: 2
Total score: 50
Number of comments: 17
Relevant subreddits: 2
Total score: 35
Number of comments: 20
Relevant subreddits: 1
Total score: 20
Number of comments: 14
Relevant subreddits: 1
Total score: 16
Number of comments: 16
Relevant subreddits: 2

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Top Reddit comments about Measuring Tools & Scales:

u/davedawg2000 · 2 pointsr/loseit

Hey friend,

Reading posts like yours always strikes a chord with me -- once upon a time, I was a 17 y/o male weighing in at at least 220 pounds. (I say "at least" because I didn't weigh myself for at least two years after I saw that number back in 2007, and it's entirely possible that I gained more and was too afraid to acknowledge it). Being overweight my entire life, I never thought it would be possible for me to be at a weight that bears any semblance to fitness, but I tip the scales around 145 nowadays :)

I came to the realization that the reason for my weight gain and constant tiredness over the years was from lack of portion control and all the refined carbs I was eating (despite getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep every night). I just want to share what I've learned from LoseIt over the last year:

Weight loss is 80% diet, 20% exercise. In short, you can't out-train crappy nutrition. Even if you hit the gym fairly regularly, your results will be stunted by what you are fueling your body with. Start taking control over what you eat -- lean meats, eggs, fish, legumes, and VEGGIES should take priority.

If you feel like you're starving yourself, then you're doing it wrong. Diet-wise, lean protein and fiber are your best friends. You'll stay full and be more satisfied than if you ate a bunch of carbs and starch. Lean meats, eggs, nuts, lentils, greek yogurt, quinoa and veggies are staples in my kitchen now. Whatever it is you're eating, though, start logging it all. You're much less likely to want to gorge on a double-cheeseburger or hot fudge sundae if you force yourself to log it and watch it blow up your calorie numbers for the day. MyFitnessPal (website/smartphone app) is a great tool that takes almost all of the guesswork out of food journaling. Of course, you need to tell it how much food you're eating, so I highly recommend making a small but worthwhile investment in a digital kitchen scale and use it in conjunction with a tool like MyFitnessPal in order to provide you with the most accurate results and insight into your personal calorie consumption :D

In the first couple of weeks, you may find it difficult to wean yourself off of certain unhealthy foods that you may have grown accustomed to. Here are a few simple substitutions that you might be able to make to your daily meals:

Breakfast - Instead of cereal, have two eggs and fill the rest of your plate with steamed vegetables. Sprinkle a bit of cheese and salsa over the whole thing. The healthy fats and proteins from the eggs and cheese, coupled with the fiber of the vegetables will keep you full and happy all morning.

Lunch - A better alternative to sandwiches is just to try taking what you would normally make a sandwich with and put it on a salad instead. A big spinach salad with turkey breast or tuna on it saves you a great deal of unnecessary carbs. When it doubt, wrap it in lettuce.

Dinner - Try switching up the traditional "meat & potatoes" meals. The meat can stay, but try giving mashed cauliflower a try. When made properly, it tastes just like the real thing :D

If you are constantly hungry, you may not be getting enough protein, fiber, or healthy fats to keep you satiated -- this ultimately causes that uncontrollable urge to snack. Make sure you're eating a fair amount of lean meats, leafy greens, nuts/legumes. Once you start filling your stomach with things that are satiating, you'll probably find that the urge to snack will subside considerably. In absence of that, try keeping some healthier snacks around the house if possible -- I buy 5-pound bags of baby carrots to munch on constantly :)

In terms of drinks, you should be limited to water, tea, black coffee, and milk. No soda -- even diet. If you're used to drinking soda or other sweet drinks and find that the sweetness is a difficult thing to give up, try cutting up some citrus fruits and putting letting them steep in a pitcher of ice water. The refreshing hint of sweetness is usually enough to satiate your cravings! It also helps you to meet your daily water intake goals, which should be at least 72 oz. per day -- it's very common for the body to misinterpret thirst as hunger. You'll also find that staying hydrated will give you more energy to work out / study, etc.

If you find that you want to make your own meals, nothing is easier than getting a pack of boneless/skinless chicken breasts and brushing them down with a little bit of olive oil and herbs/spices and throwing those bad boys in the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes. Serve with a heaping helping of frozen vegetables, and you've got yourself a cheap, filling, nutritious meal :D

> how I should go about starting to run when I have no experience,

There is a great program out there called "Couch-to-5K". It's geared specifically toward beginning runners with no experience who eventually want to work their way up to being able to complete a 5K without stopping. It's very specific, gradual, interval-based training that many Redditors enjoy (so much so that they've created a subreddit just for the program!) Check out [r/c25k](http://www.reddit.com/r/c25k]!

While running and other cardio is decent for getting fit, I would advocate strength/weights/resistance training as soon as you think you're comfortable with it. The extra muscle you'll build not only helps you look better, but it will burn more fat/calories as it sits on your frame.

I've been using the program outlined in the book The New Rules of Lifting. It gives you detailed instructions, pictures, and a 52-week workout schedule. I started noticing amazing progress in both strength and appearance after about 2 weeks, and just began the fifth phase in the series. I've never felt better!

To help monitor your progress, continue to take photos of yourself in various poses and states of undress every few weeks or so -- you'll be happy later that you have them for reference. Because you look at your body every day, it's often difficult to notice small, incremental change. Having the "before" photos handy will definitely allow you to more easily see the progress you're making down the line. I would recommend an official weigh-in once or twice a week. Make sure it's under the same circumstances (first thing in the morning, in the buff, after you've expelled any waste, before a shower, and before you eat/drink anything).

I'm so proud of you for acknowledging that you want to make change and taking the first steps towards making that happen. It doesn't get any easier as time goes on. I went through all of high school obese, and all of college overweight. I always thought I was a reasonably happy person, but after graduating college, losing weight and looking back on the last 6 years of my life, I realized how unhappy I actually was and how much happier I probably would have been. After losing the weight and starting to see my body take on a shape I thought it would never have, I have such incredible confidence, happiness, and exuberance for life that I never imagined possible. I have no doubts that you could easily experience similar results if you stick with it :D

Like I mentioned before, getting healthy should be more like a marathon rather than a sprint -- you're in this for the long haul.

Please keep in touch and don't hesitate to reach out to me if you need any more advice -- diet/exercise tips, meal ideas, a crying shoulder, you name it. I wish for nothing more than to see you succeed.

“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.”

~ Ernest Hemingway

So go forth and kick ass, friend :D

Cheers,

Dave

u/cokespraythrowaway · 1 pointr/cocaine

edit

Please be fucking careful. Don't be stupid. Take the time to accurately prepare your solution and to diligently track your usage. Don't use too much, be careful what you combine this with, and don't get careless. There are few drugs more susceptible to overuse than cocaine. I can personally say that switching to this method made me eventually get tired of coke, because once you can do it non stop all the time it loses it's appeal and you start to feel a bit like a junkie.

I would highly recommend keeping your solution strength as low as possible and limiting your use to no more than two days per week with at least 3-5 days between sessions, and taking a month or two off every once in a while is always a good idea. You'll spend way less money and will feel better physically, and you will be more able to maintain that sweet spot where you are feeling good but are still mentally sharp.


Typical nasal spray bottles seem to be designed to coat your entire nasal cavity with a widely dispersed mist, which means most of the solution ends up being absorbed by the nasal mucosa and having to travel through the blood vessels in your nasal cavity to the brain. Something that allows you to target (idealy) the olfactory epithelium and or the trigeminal nerves in the nasal cavity will allow faster delivery to the brain and reduced waste. This will also help to limit damage to the nasal mucosa by allowing you to use less solution while delivering more directly to the brain. See:

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasal_administration#Olfactory_transfer
  • http://www.fiercepharma.com/partnering/3m-takes-on-blood-brain-barrier-impel-neuropharma-nasal-drug-delivery-alliance

    Ideally you'd try to find something like Impel NeuroPharma's POD (Precision Olfactory Delivery) device, which is designed to target the spray more effectively to the nerve clusters in the upper nasal cavity. However, it seems to be nearly impossible to source one of these devices online. That being said, there do appear to be at least a couple available devices that might come closer to the POD than standard nasal spray devices:

  • https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0725DKD3S/
  • https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N9PPZH5/

    Note that you'll probably want something with a clear bottle, which makes it much easier to see how much solution is left in the bottle and allows you to spot any impurities in your product (cocaine should rapidly dissolve and leave the solution nearly completely clear, while many adulterants will take longer to dissolve or will not dissolve at all, leaving the solution cloudy with particulates at the bottom of the bottle.

    I haven't personally tested these devices so I can't say for sure if they are any more effective than a standard spray device, but it looks like they should give you greater control over the dispersion target. If anyone knows where to find one of the specialized delivery devices, please let me know.

    Once you have your nasal spray device, you'll probably want some way to consistently prepare your solution. A simple oral syringe will allow you to measure an exact amount of solvent (saline solution):

  • https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BM3MC40/

    Saline Solution:

  • https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IN5GENU/

    A digital milligram (.001g precision) scale will allow you to measure your solute (the powdered, water soluble drug) with reasonable (but not perfect) precision:

    Scale:

  • https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0012TDNAM/
  • https://www.amazon.com/B06W5VXN53/

    A funnel will make it easier to get everything into the bottle and is recommended:

  • https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MEFE7YO/
  • https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CUQ0ITO/
  • https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N2NYC1K/

    Once you have all the necessary supplies, unscrew the cap on your nasal spray device and put the funnel into the bottle mouth. Figure out your desired strength for your solution and then measure out the corresponding amount of saline solution and cocaine. The trick with this delivery method is figuring out the correct concentration for your solution depending on how strong you want each spray to be. I've found that 25mg/ml is perfectly sufficient, 50mg / ml is more than enough, and anything stronger is a bit of a waste. In fact, there seem to be diminishing returns anywhere past around 20mg/ml, and in many cases 15 or even 10 mg/ml seems to work just fine.

    First pour the cocaine into the funnel (you don't need to pulverize it), and then using your oral syringe squirt the saline solution onto the cocaine in the funnel where it will rapidly dissolve and fall into the bottle. You could mix the solution in the oral syringe or elsewhere, and you could add the saline solution before the cocaine, but then you'll either end up with wasted solution in another container or a funnel that still has some powdered cocaine on it. If you pour the cocaine straight from the scale into the funnel and then use the solution to wash it down, you should end up with very little wasted cocaine and a nearly clean funnel.

    I'd recommend to start with a weaker solution and try it out, you can always add more cocaine until you figure out the optimum concentration. If you decide to do this, replace the saline you've used each time you add more cocaine so you can accurately track the strength of your solution at each interval.

    At this point you're ready to screw the cap on and use the spray. I'd recommend one pump in each nostril - any more and you'll end up with wasted solution dripping down the back of your throat. However, you can limit waste by laying over the edge of a surface and tilting your head back so that gravity naturally draws the solution towards the olfactory epithelium. In this case two or three sprays per nostril seems to deliver a stronger dose with negligible waste. 30 seconds to one minute seems to be long enough to avoid excessive waste, and 15 seconds may in fact be long enough.

    I think that pretty much covers it. Be forewarned that this delivery method makes it much easier to redose, which would probably contribute to an increased risk of addiction and a tendency towards excessive and chronic use. Also, some have said that this method doesn't deliver the same powerful "kick" as snorting powder, which makes sense as you are using much less of the drug per spray than you would if you snorted a line. For an illustration, lay out what would be a typical line for your and weigh it with your scale. The spray devices listed above typically deliver 0.1ml of solution per spray, so if you have a solution with a concentration of 50mg/ml, then you're only getting 5mg of cocaine per spray, as opposed to something like 20mg for even a small line of powder. I haven't personally tried making a high strength solution, but you could try mixing your solution such that each .1ml spray delivers an amount of cocaine equivalent to a typical line of powder. This would also minimize the total number of sprays needed and the total volume of liquid you'd need to spray into your nose, perhaps limiting irritation.

    However, I've found that even though the absolute dosage is lower the efficacy is much greater, perhaps due to the added liquid facilitating easier absorption and almost certainly due to the decreased waste from powder dripping down your throat or being dispersed and carried elsewhere by the mucous in the nasal cavity.

    As a final note, even though the saline solution will moisturize your nose, I'd still recommend using the plain nasal spray to irrigate and clear your nose periodically or at least at the end of the night, as the solution is quite irritating (though of course much less so than dry powder).

    Good luck and be careful!
u/spyyked · 3 pointsr/Supplements

I'm a little late to this party and having read through some of the conversations already posted here, i've got a couple thoughts/ideas.

-my personal experience-

For me, to lose weight, I have to do all of the following: reduce my carb intake to ~50g per day, 30-40+ minutes of cardio every other day, and 3-4 days of heavy weight training per week. If I skip out on any one of these I'll stall out and just maintain. The scale put me at 13.7% body fat/49% lean muscle this morning just to give an idea of my physique.

-my thoughts-

You mention that you reduced your carbs but largely didn't calculate the rest of your daily intake. Considering weight control is, in a nutshell, calories in vs calories out - I have a few recommendations.

Figure your TDEE using an online tool, I like this one. Use this to help you calculate a deficit. It sounds like you're interested in super low carb so I'll echo other's recommendation of /r/keto. They're a pretty decent community and love to help out. After you've got some macros figured out, buy a food scale. Boom. $13 on amazon. Use this scale to actually measure your foods so you can actually know close to what your actual caloric intake is like.

Don't be afraid of dietary fats. It sounds like you might not have been getting enough during your cutting phase if you were left fatigued and lethargic. Dietary fats are critical components of many body processes as well as rich in energy. This could be a limiting factor in testosterone production as well as other hormones/chemicals/etc.

Why weight lifting is critical to losing fat. I'll keep it super simple, and it'll probably come off like common sense. When the body is faced with a caloric deficit, it has to get energy to function from somewhere. It typically won't rob the organs as a first line of defense. That leaves body fat and body muscle. The body knows that muscle is expensive to maintain and the proteins in it can be used to perform other bodily functions. If the body has no need for maintaining muscle mass it will consume the muscle mass as a priority. If you exercise with heavy weight lifting your body will produce hormones and chemicals that signal your metabolism that the muscle is critical for survival, get the energy from somewhere else...body fat.

Supplementation to help fat loss - People have been losing weight for years just by modifying their diet and exercise. There's no reason (assuming you are a typically functioning human) that you shouldn't be able to get as lean as you want without trying to artificially regulate your systems. There are some supplements that can help especially if you're deficient in some area but that should show up on blood tests. I would recommend putting supplementation out of your mind unless you get a blood test that clearly shows that you're deficient in something.

-what next?-

Consume less calories than your body needs but make sure to get enough protein and fat since they're the most important. Perform heavy weight training several days per week to keep your body in a mode that will prioritize keeping your muscle and using your body fat for energy. You don't have to be trying to get huge in the gym, just make sure you're not curling the 2.5lb dumbbells and calling it a day. Starting Strength is a great program for beginners that would probably fit your bill pretty nicely assuming you have access to a gym. Cardio is great exercise and can really boost your cardio-pulmonary health. Use cardio as a tool to drive up your TDEE and make your caloric deficit more efficient. I know you said you're more interested in looking at the mirror instead of the scale, and I 99% agree that this is the best measure of success. However, a scale that can measure your body fat% would be very useful in measuring progress. You might not see the .5% body fat loss but the scale will tell you. It might not be super accurate to an exact body fat % but after owning this one for a few months, I can say it does a good job of showing my ups and downs.

-as far as supplements go-

daily multi-vitamin - for obvious reasons

daily psyllium husk - start with 5g and that's probably enough. helps with appetite, makes bathroom time effortless, helps with digestion, and overall leaves you feeling good and fresh.

caffeine - dont overdo it but sometimes some caffeine or a preworkout can give you that boost of energy you need to get through something.

whey protein - if you physically have too much difficulty eating enough protein from food, this can be useful. it's not a magic muscle saving serum or anything...just another form of dietary protein.

u/Sheng_Gut · 3 pointsr/tea

No worries at all, I'm more than happy to help as much as I can. I'm super passionate about tea and love seeing new people want to try it out, especially gongfu!

Because you've expressed interest in having a full gongfu set up, below I'm going to give you a couple examples of starter-packs consisting of a tea table, gaiwan, pitcher, strainer, and tea cups (and a tea pet if you're really feeling like going all out).

Nearly everything I'm going to list below is from Yunnan Sourcing's US-based website, because that way you won't have to wait for China shipping. Although, don't get used to US shipping. The deeper you get into this hobby, the more you're going to be ordering from vendors who ship directly from China, which generally takes anywhere from 10-15 business days. It's best to accept that fact up front and just get used to it--honestly, now I don't even notice. It shows up when it shows up.

Okay, without further ado, here's the full gongfu package that I'd recommend for one person just getting into gongfu.

Tea Table: ~$45.00USD (US Shipping)
https://www.amazon.com/Tasteful-Bamboo-Gongfu-Table-Serving/dp/B00M3Y8LNY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503637708&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=gongfu+tea+tray&psc=1

Gaiwan + Teacup: $10.00USD (US Shipping)
http://www.yunnansourcing.us/store/index.php?id_product=1074&controller=product

Cha Hai (Glass Pitcher): $6.50USD (US Shipping)
http://www.yunnansourcing.us/store/index.php?id_product=86&controller=product

Strainer: $3.20USD (US Shipping)
http://www.yunnansourcing.us/store/index.php?id_product=89&controller=product

^That will have all the brewing utensils that you'd need to get started with gongfu (though some would argue you don't need the tea table, just use a cloth or a dish or something, but since you seem interested in the full package, that's what I'd go with...that's actually the table I use now!)

Now...when it comes to tea...

I'd first highly recommend picking up a scale (this one from Amazon is only $9.00USD and works really well: https://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-Scales-AWS-600-BLK-Nutrition/dp/B000O37TDO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503639369&sr=8-1&keywords=American+weigh+scale

As for strong sweet flavor that doesn't need sugar, I'd recommend starting with oolongs, which are typically very smooth, sweet, floral, and somewhat creamy.

Here are a couple of my personal favorites that are extremely budget-friendly, ship super fast, and are all from Eco-Cha.

Four Seasons Spring Oolong: https://eco-cha.com/collections/all-tea/products/four-seasons-spring-oolong-tea-1

Dong Ding Oolong: https://eco-cha.com/collections/all-tea/products/dong-ding-oolong-tea

Alishan High Mountain Oolong: https://eco-cha.com/collections/all-tea/products/alishan-high-mountain-oolong-tea

If you're feeling adventurous, then I'd definitely pick up some puerh as well. The Basics Puer Tea Sample Set from White2Tea is
one of the best introductions you can ask for. It's $39.99USD for 400g of solid tea (4x100g cakes of Spring, Autumn, Huangpian [large leaf], and 10-year-old tea), and it always comes with a free puerh pick, and ships anywhere in the world for free, which is super nice.


If you purchase everything I listed, you'd spend ~$130.00USD, which would set you up with a tea-set you would grow into, and enough tea to last you roughly 2 months, and that's assuming you drink 10g of tea every day, which is highly unlikely.

If you're on a super tight budget, then I'd recommend ditching the tea table and just getting the gaiwan+teacup, the scale, and the teas. Everything else isn't nearly as important, though if you have the money, it's certainly nice to have the full setup.

u/NikButter · 1 pointr/trees

Yo bro, I got you!

First Rolling Papers

Second thing for sure is Filters

Now you need a grinder and there's a lot of good ones out there, this is the one I went with a few years back and I still use it all of the time, plus it came with a pollen press but... It's a bit pricey!

I'm gonna give you the rest of my typical setup that are less used by others and just the "little things"

  • A hand needle or an long/avg size but THIN screw/nail (anything). This really is a must, what I use is this guy

  • I have an average sized RAW (hemp) tray, however I've noticed I keep using it less and less. You'll be fine without one just use a book or something but it's something to consider.
    *Get yourself a magnifying glass man. One of my all time favorite activities while I'm high with friends or even by myself is to just check out this dank skunk beautiful in front of me y'know? I went a step further and just recently bought a full on microscope.

  • This scale will be just fine give it a nice wipe every once n awhile and it will be fine.

  • HEMP WICK!! you'll want one it really is nice to have a kind of controlled flame. A typical bic lighter is actually making your trees too hot! You burnin away all of that deliciousness bro, gotta get a hemp wick. My preference is humboldt's hemp wick, they have been nothing but amazing for me constantly giving me random fun stuff for free and their product is solid.

  • Smell Proof Bags There's plenty of cheaper options that are probably just as good I just use these and haven't changed.

  • Check this Jar out! You want to be an ent, that's good, that's real good. This jar is the perfect representation of a proud and happy ent, just keep it filled!

    Alright so that's the basic shiznit my man. On a side note I'd recommend just giving vaporizers a try if you have the resources. I just recently made the switch to a PAX2 from a grav water pipe. Let me tell you the transition has been beautiful. Anyways, I hope this was helpful. Toke care, pal.
u/kaidomac · 8 pointsr/grilling

TL;DR warning

Are you willing to invest in some tools? Do you like Five Guys? (skinny burgers) The fastest burger procedure that I know of is Kenji's Ultra-Smash technique, which makes a pair of thin patties in no time. Takes about a minute per burger (two patties with cheese). Details here:

http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/03/the-food-lab-maximize-flavor-by-ultra-smashin.html

You can also do a regular smash burger, which is thicker (McDonalds-thin), but takes longer (~1.5 minutes per side, about 3 minutes total per burger):

http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2012/09/the-burger-lab-smashed-burgers-vs-smashing-burgers.html

The advantage of the ultra-smash is that it's super quick & you can toss a piece of cheese to melt between two patties, so you can pump out a ton of burgers in no time. You will need a few tools, namely:

  1. A metal cooking surface
  2. A hi-temp heat source
  3. A smashing tool
  4. A high-quality spatula
  5. A scraper (if doing ultra-smash)
  6. A cheap IR temp gun
  7. A cheap digital kitchen scale

    It's not rocket science, but getting a proper setup will let you have a workflow that makes cooking for a crowd a breeze. I have a big extended family, so I cook in bulk a lot, but I also use this for just my immediate family because it's so fast to get setup. There is an up-front investment required, but everything you'll buy will pretty much last forever, so it's worth it if you like to eat burgers!

    So the first two things you need are a metal cooking surface & a heat source that can pump out a lot of heat. I don't recommend a regular grill because they simply don't get hot enough; you need 600 to 700F to do this. You can either do a compact setup (a 2-burger surface with a single burner) or invest in a quality flat-top setup (more expensive, but lets you do more burgers at once). The ideal surface to do this on is a Baking Steel, which is very expensive. There are knockoffs for cheaper, but I like BS because they have a Griddle version with grooves to catch the grease:

    http://www.bakingsteel.com/

    You can also do it with cast iron. Lodge has a griddle for $25:

    http://www.amazon.com/Lodge-LDP3-Double-Reversible-Griddle/dp/B002CMLTXG

    If I'm just doing a single regular smash burger at a time, I use a 12" cast-iron pan. $28:

    http://www.amazon.com/Lodge-Cast-Iron-Skillet-L10SK3ASHH41B-12-Inch/dp/B00G2XGC88/

    If you do get into cast-iron, read up on this seasoning procedure (i.e. the way to keep it smooth & slippery without Teflon). It's a bit of a pain, but it's worth learning because anything you buy in cast-iron can be handed down to your kids because it lasts forever:

    http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/

    You will want a heavy smashing tool as well. I have this massive 2.5-pound cast-iron press. It fits inside the 12" pan above (but not the 10"). $13:

    http://www.amazon.com/Update-International-Heavy-Weight-Hamburger-Commercial/dp/B002LDDKZ6

    If you plan on doing ultra-smash burgers, you'll need a scraper. This is the one Kenji recommends, but you can probably find something locally: (Home Depot or Lowes)

    http://www.amazon.com/Plextool-Wall-Paper-Stripper/dp/B00AU6GQLQ/

    Anyway, getting back to the cooking part: you'll need a hi-temp burner. I like Bayou Burners, they sell them on Amazon. I have an SP10: ($50)

    http://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Classic-SP10-High-Pressure-Outdoor/dp/B000291GBQ

    I use that with my 12" cast-iron pan for when I'm just doing a few burgers for the family. 15 minutes = 5 burgers. You can also slap a flat surface like a cast-iron griddle or Baking Steel on that puppy. Also comes in a square version (not sure how the BTU's compare). I also have some KAB4 burners that I use with my Baking Steel, among other things. More expensive, but larger shell & burner: (more even heat over the cooking surface)

    http://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Classic-KAB4-Pressure-Cooker/dp/B0009JXYQY/

    For cooking more at a time, you can get a cooktop. Blackstone has a 36" cooktop available, but it doesn't get very hot (don't get me wrong, it's an awesome tool, but I've had trouble breaking 500F on mine, which means you're not cooking 1-minute burgers on it, plus the heating is kind of uneven, so you have to work in the hot spots for faster cook times). Also comes in a slightly smaller 28" version (but it's only like $50 less, so it makes more sense to get the full-sized version because you get so much more cooking area). The nice thing with this setup is that for $299 (or a bit less if you shop around at places like Cabela's), you can cook like 20 burgers at a time, it's absolutely insane! I make epic breakfasts on it. Plus it folds up for transport, which is really handy. We use it for all of our family events & holidays:

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DYN0438

    A better version is from Tejas Smokers. They make camping stove carts that have burners built-in & have griddles available separately. They get super hot, downside is the cost: you can easily spend $700 on a nice setup.

    https://tejassmokers.com/Camp-Stove-Carts/23

    Oh yeah, Blackstone did just come out with a compact outdoor griddle which can run off those little one-pound green tanks if you want. They go for around $99 ($79 if you have an Ace Hardware near you). I have not tried this, but it gets good reviews. I'd be curious to see what kind of temperatures it can achieve:

    http://www.amazon.com/Blackstone-Portable-Griddle-Outdoors-Camping/dp/B0195MZHBK

    So that's a basic introduction to the cooktops: you need some kind of decently-sized metal surface, a hi-temp burner, a smashing tool, and optionally (but recommended) a scraper. You will also want to get a strong, high-quality spatula. A good one is $32:

    http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/07/equipment-the-due-buoi-wide-spatula-my-new-fa.html

    Available here:

    http://www.duebuoi.it/x/uk_usd/catalog/p/spatulas~805-16x10.html

    If you opt for cast-iron, get an infrared temperature gun (doesn't work too well on shiny metal surfaces like steel tho). $17:

    http://www.amazon.com/Etekcity-Lasergrip-1080-Non-contact-Thermometer/dp/B00DMI632G/

    A cheap digital kitchen scale is useful too, for measuring out the proper amount of meat. $14:

    http://www.amazon.com/Ozeri-Digital-Kitchen-Capacity-Stylish/dp/B003E7AZQA/

    This collection of tools ensures that you have the proper workflow: a metal surface to cook on, the ability to bring the surface to a high temperature (and know what that temperature is for precise control), the ability to weigh your meat so you can pre-measure out what you need, the ability to smash the burger down, and also to properly scrape it off. Again, it's not rocket science, but if you have a wussy grill or a crappy surface or weak smashing/scraping tools, you're gonna have a bad time. You just need the right setup to pump burgers out fast!

    So on to prep. For ultra-smash, you do a pair of 2-ounce ground beef balls. In the tutorial above, they use a mix of meat for 25% fat. I just grab some regular 80/20 ground plus some salt & pepper. For regular smash burgers, do a single 4-ounce ball (optionally 5 ounces...useful if you have a big cooktop for a bunch of burgers at one time & are only doing a single patty per burger). The nice thing is, there's no special prep required for the meat, so you can make all of your burger balls ahead of time. If you have 10 people & are doing ultra-smash, let's say half of them get 2 burgers, so 15 burgers total, or thirty 2oz balls. If you have 20 people & are doing regular smash, again with half getting an extra burger, that's 30 burgers total or thirty 4 or 5oz balls. So that takes care of prep...adjust as needed. If you're feeding mostly dudes, you'll want to add more seconds (and thirds) to the equation.

    There are a variety of buns you can get. Crap buns will make for a crap burger. See if you can find potato buns or brioche buns. Those are pretty soft. Buns aren't overly hard to make, but I have yet to find a decent recipe that takes under 40 minutes, so I usually only doing fancy home-baked buns for my family rather than a crowd. Buying 5 or 10 pounds of ground beef & making smash balls out of them will take you all of ten minutes, but making buns can take forever. Here's a good recipe if you want to try it out tho:

    http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2009/07/light-brioche-burger-buns/

    Or this, if you wanna get crazy:

    http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/05/fresh-cemita-rolls-mexican-sandwich-burger-bun-bread-food-lab-recipe.html

    Or this one, nom nom nom:

    http://amazingribs.com/recipes/breads/brioche_hamburger_buns.html

    But eh, just hit up Sam's/Coscto/BJ's and buy some hamburger buns in bulk, problem solved. Or find a local bakery that has good rolls. There's a good shootout of buns here:

    http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2011/04/the-burger-lab-whats-the-best-bun-for-my-burger-taste-test.html

    (continued)
u/princesstelephone · 2 pointsr/keto

Welcome! This is a lot of info, but it's all stuff I wish someone would have told me before starting. I hope it helps you!

>How do I start?

Read this, this, and this. This beginner's guide by /u/nothingtoseehere28 is excellent. Make sure to familiarize yourself with everything on the sidebar -->

Then, calculate your macros.

Many people enter these in an app like My Fitness Pal, and then log all the food you eat throughout the day, trying to meet your goals. I use an app called CarbsControl which I like quite a bit.

My experience, and the folk wisdom around here, seems to be that it's crucial in the beginning to log everything you eat and not to guesstimate. I have this $15 food scale, which has been pretty invaluable in keeping track of what I eat.

After a few months of this level of tracking what goes in your body, you'll probably be able to gauge accurately enough to not have to worry about this step anymore. If you find you're plateauing or gaining weight again, start logging again.

Print out that google doc I linked to with all of the keto-friendly foods and their carb counts. Go through your cupboards, fridge, and pantry, and donate or toss anything that isn't on there. Highlight all of your favorite foods from the list, and make a grocery list.

My suggestion here would be to keep your list as simple as humanly possible, not worrying too much about cooking elaborate meals or doing any of the many amazing-looking substitute recipes people link to on here. For instance, my grocery list looks like this:

  • Eggs
  • Bacon
  • Coffee
  • Tea
  • Heavy Whipping Cream
  • Butter
  • Spinach
  • Romaine
  • Broccoli
  • Avocado
  • Tuna
  • Mayonnaise
  • Whatever cheese is on sale
  • Whatever meat is on sale

    And my breakfast is almost always: coffee with heavy whipping cream, an egg, 2 slices of bacon and some avocado. My lunch is almost always: tuna salad on spinach with cheese. And my dinner is almost always cooked meat with a vegetable.

    > What has helped you stay on track?

    The biggest thing for me was making it as easy as possible for myself. This is super personal and you might have to do keto for a bit before you figure it out. For me, it means:

  1. Never having anything in my house that's not on the diet. If non-keto food is in my house, I will TOTALLY eat it. It's so much simpler not to.

  2. Super, super simple meals that I eat pretty much daily. I don't have to think about recipes or groceries, and I don't have to constantly log new foods in CarbsControl or worry about macros or nutrients.

  3. Know your personal pitfalls and have an easy plan to avoid them. I love to snack late at night. That's no good! So my plan is to have something for every situation: if I just want to compulsively eat something, I have celery. If I'm craving something sweet, I drink my favorite tea with warm frothed HWC and some a sprinkle of erythritol. If it's not late at night and I want to snack, it's time for some bulletproof coffee. It's a filling fat bomb that gives you tons of energy.

    Other than keeping it as simple as possible, the other thing that keeps me on track is visiting this sub. The pictures and personal stories are always inspiring and you can get answers to almost any problem you're having.
    Good luck!
u/mikeTRON250LM · 1 pointr/Coffee

> I really want to learn to make good coffee at home so that my wife is happy to wake up in the morning. Plus, I'd like to save some money instead of going to Starbucks every morning. I don't personally like coffee (I wish I did. Closest I came to enjoying coffee was drinking a caramel brulée latte from Starbucks last Christmas) but I find the craft of it absolutely fascinating. And I'm really interested in learning to get my wife's perfect cup of coffee down to a science. (And if I learn to enjoy coffee, all the better)

So I started down this exact path about 8 or 9 years ago for my gal as well. I also had no interest in coffee but enjoyed the convergence of art & science.

Anyway the following is what I ended up with [and what I paid].

  • [$100 refurbished from the Baratza Store] Baratza Encore - Most people argue this is the best grinder for the money when the budget is tight
  • [$30] Aeropress - This is a great way to make a single cup of coffee
  • [$40 on sale] Bonavita BV382510V 1.7L Digital Variable Temperature Gooseneck Kettle - Awesome way to manage the temperature of the water for brewing
  • [$40 on sale] Hario V60 Drip Coffee Scale and Timer - very important to measure the weight of Water and Coffee PLUS extraction time


    You can be patient like I did and buy over time to get things on sale but after owning each item for multiple years now I can wholeheartedly recommend each component.

    All in a buddy was using a Keurig for the past few years and when it broke he reached out to me for the same thing. He bought everything but the scale (it was almost $70 when he was buying) and his wife is in LOVE with the setup. The neat thing is once you get the grinder and scale your options to multiple brewing methods opens up. Then with the water kettle you can then use it all for the Aeroporess, Kalita Wave, Chemex, V60, Clever Dripper (ETC) brewing methods.

    Anyway once you have good enough gear you can then start trying finding local roasters and different beans. We have tried a few local joints and just recently found a few beans roasted fresh that are substantially better than anything we were purchasing in grocery stores. Alternatively there are SO many online stores to try (and a biweekly friday thread on r/coffee for what beans people are currently trying).

    Compared to the $5+ a drink at starbucks we make great coffee at home for typically less than $1 a cup and it takes less than 5 minutes all in, including cleanup.
u/Banner_Free · 3 pointsr/Fitness

Background: I was in a similar situation last year, albeit a bit lighter. 5'6" 175lbs, 27 years old, hadn't exercised at all since a weight training class in high school. I'm now a regular solo gym-goer ... still nowhere near being a fitness expert, but I do know some things and I did go through the "noob" phase very recently.

Diet

I can't emphasize enough the importance of good eating habits. In your current situation, losing fat is a major priority, and therefore it is absolutely essential that you adjust your eating habits accordingly. All the exercise your body can handle (at least, in its current state) can't make up for eating at a major calorie surplus every day. (Anecdote: I once lost thirty pounds in four months by maintaining a calorie deficit, and no exercise beyond walking 1mi twice a day.)

Use a TDEE calculator to find out how many calories your body is using, and multiply that number by 0.8 to find out how many you should be eating. Some say subtract 500 instead; you can experiment a bit and figure out what works for you, but the important part is to settle into a healthy and sustainable calorie deficit.

It can be a huge, gigantic, unbelievable pain in the ass to count calories, estimate calories, and deny yourself treats because they have too many calories, but ultimately none of us can escape physics: To lose weight, calories-in must be less than calories-out. It definitely gets easier with time, as what are now strange and inconvenient methods become almost instinctive processes.

Keep a special eye out for liquid calories - it's okay to have some, but make sure they're counted! Coffee with cream and sugar, juice, and alcohol are the three big issues I've seen with people who claim to be counting calories perfectly, setting a healthy deficit, and still not losing weight. It also doesn't help that getting drunk makes it really easy to eat a lot of junk food.

If you don't cook, start cooking. If you do cook, start cooking healthy things with known calorie quantities. A simple $20 kitchen scale is incredibly helpful in putting together meals to target calorie goals.

Exercise

Hiring a personal trainer was incredibly helpful for me. If you can afford it, do it. If you can't afford it, ask if your gym offers any complimentary or discounted "intro" sessions. When I got back into the gym, I had no idea what to do, and I was afraid that whatever I might do, I would get get wrong. Having a professional helping me out made all the difference in getting me started and establishing the right habits. I used to have the same issues you did - not knowing what to do, not being confident that I could do it right, etc. - and I now work out three times a week on my own with full confidence that I'm "doing it right."

You should definitely decide on a routine and stick with it. The getting started section of the wiki has links to some good programs. I highly recommend either Starting Strength or Stronglifts 5x5. I'm doing SL5x5 now and I really enjoy both the simplicity and the results.

As for needing a spotter: Well, it's helpful, but it's not strictly necessary. Let's use SL as an example. It has five exercises: squat, deadlift, overhead press, bench press, row. If you can't make it through a rep of deadlift, row, or OHP, you can just put the weight back down. If you can't make it through a rep of squat, let the bar sit on the rack and crawl out from underneath. If you can't make it through a rep of bench press, considering the low weights you'll be starting with, just lower the bar to your chest, and roll it down and off your body. (I'm mostly parroting the SL5x5 site right now. It describes this all in much better detail.)

It's also worth noting that you'll be starting at very low weights and gradually increasing them. This will help you develop a sense of when to go for one more rep and how to recognize that your body can't handle another one.

As for your girlfriend's ability to spot you: You'd be surprised. Until you get up to really high weights, a spotter won't have to do a ton of work to help you through a rep you can't finish. Let's say you're trying to do a set of five bench presses at 100 lbs. You make it through four reps but are struggling with the fifth one. At that point, you're still probably capable of pressing something like 80-90 lbs, so she'll just have to help you with the last 10-20 lbs. And of course, if you need your spotter to help you finish a rep, that means the set is over.

Best of luck with your fitness journey, and please feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

u/MikeTheBlueCow · 7 pointsr/Coffee

That grinder will possibly give you issues with pour over. V60 is really picky too, and you will probably want a gooseneck kettle to use with it to make it much easier to get a good cup. The potential issue with that grinder (or similarly priced ones, which are all knock-offs of another hand grinder) is that it might give you a really inconsistent grind with a lot of fines, which could cause your pour over brew times to vary wildly and take far too long (ruining your coffee).

How much coffee do you want to make at once? If only one cup, here's what I recommend:

  • You can keep that grinder and instead of a pour over (which is pickier about grinder + kettle type), get something like an AeroPress ($30). Also, get a scale too, to weigh out your beans + water in order to get a consistently good cup, every time.

    If you want a larger amount of coffee (though you might find making your own coffee with fresh beans gives you more of a kick of caffeine than a cup from McD), then pour over is a good way to go, but will probably require more and better equipment in order for it to not suck. The V60 is the pickiest pour over about grind consistency. I don't make large batches, so maybe someone else can chime in with recommendations for devices that might handle a lower quality grind. But no matter what, a better grinder will improve both your ability to make pour over, and the taste of the coffee. If you want to stick with pour over, here's what I recommend for equipment in order for it to not be hard and get coffee that doesn't suck out of it:

  • Get the same scale I linked above. This is important for consistency; without weighing your coffee and water amount you can easily vary between making strong or weak coffee from day to day. It'll suck and be confusing. Scales are awesome and make everything easy.
  • Get a good-enough grinder, at the very least. When it comes to coffee, the best grinder you can afford is the way to go, it'll make your coffee taste better and with pour over you'll be able to be better at making your coffee. For me, bare minimum is the Baratza Encore. For the same price point but better grind, see if you can get a Feldgrind. Or pre-order the Aergrind for a great deal. A Lido or Helor are good options too.
  • A gooseneck kettle will be important too. V60 is very difficult without one if you want good coffee. Other pour overs you may be able to handle without needing a gooseneck, but it makes anything easier if you have the free cash flow. A good inexpensive one is the Hario Buono.

    And I would recommend going with white/bleached filters instead of the natural/brown ones. The nat/brown ones always have a strong paper taste you can't really get rid of.

u/dexhandle · 1 pointr/fitness30plus

I was in a similar place to you, I had been lifting, but just sort of doing stuff I learned in high school football. Uncontrolled diet. Then my wife and I started talking seriously about having a kid and I realize I needed to turn it around. Especially at 35, I'll be in my 50s when my son is a teenager, I need to be able to keep up with him.

Biggest thing: get your diet under control. Almost all contemporary studies show that exercise has almost no impact on your waistline. It's all about calories in (and calories out, but one hour of working out for me burns about 300 calories, which is about one slice of pizza from 7-11. It's way easier to not eat that slice of pizza).

I personally used MyFitnessPal, but any calorie tracker that has the food you eat regularly in its database will do. The app will guide you after you tell it the basics: how much you weight, how many pounds per week you want to move and your level of activity. I'd also recommend a food scale so you can actually portion out your food properly. I personally used an Etekcity, but honestly anything accurate will work.

After that, find an exercise routine you will do. Not the most efficient one. Not the one that supposed adds the most muscle mass or burns the most fat. The best exercise routine is the one you will actually do. If you find it too much of a chore and easy to talk yourself out of, you'll never do it. For me, it was heavy powerlifting. So I started really program lifting, not just going through some routines from a high school football coach that I half remember.

I started on Stronglifts 5x5, which I would recommend for any lifting beginner because it's only five exercises, less than hour a day only three days a week. The maker of the program has super in depth form guides and a ridiculously easy to use app to track your progress that automatically tells you what weight to use as you progress. That said, I wasn't that much of a novice, and wish I had found Greyskull LP a little earlier on. I switched to Greyskull after about six months on Stronglifts. I prefer Greyskull because there is less emphasis on leg routines and the AMAP sets are fun. But Greyskull dines't have a snazzy app or very detailed how to guides, so while it is a linear program designed for noob gains, if you're not at least a little proficient in lifting, it might be too difficult to figure out. I used the iOS app Strong and customized it for Greyskull because of the lack of official app.

Now I'm on 5-3-1, which I am really, really enjoying. But it is really slow, I wouldn't recommend it to beginners just because you can progress so fast as a noob lifter. A linear program like Greyskull or Stronglifts is better. I've heard good things about Starting Strength as well, but can't personally vouch for it.

I went from a 215 lbs guy at 5'8" with a body fat percentage I don't even want to think about to 165 lbs with calculated 1RMs in the 1,000 lbs club in a year and a half. The weight came off stupid fast with MyFitnessPal, I shed twenty pounds in two months no problem because I honestly didn't realize how much garbage I was shoveling into me. Now I'm tracking my protein intake and shedding more fat as I pack on the muscle, I'm down to 12% body fat and feel really good. My kid is only 14 months old right now, but he already walks over three miles a day and it feels good that I can keep up with him, bend down, pick him up, wrestle, and just play around. It's worth it.

You can do it. I have a career, I am the primary caretaker on my dude (because I work from home) and I still hit the gym four times a week and just keep using MyFitnessPal to track that protein. If I can do it, anyone can. Good luck!

u/TehoI · 2 pointsr/Coffee

I own a virtuoso and I love it. Grind quality for anything that isn't espresso is going to be about as good as anything that isn't $2700. The Lido is of course a great grinder, but I really think the no-effort aspect of the Virtuoso is underrated. I just made three cups of the same coffee in different ways - a side by side test is so much better than comparing days apart. I don't think I would have done that if I had to manually grind it out each time.

Pourover, V60 or Kalita are your best bet. Kalita is more forgiving but I think the V60 is more flexible once you get used it it. You should also look at getting an Aeropress - it is what got me used to stronger coffee and ultimately espresso.

Other gear, if you're doing pourover you need a gooseneck kettle. This one is great if you can swing it, otherwise any gooseneck will do. A scale like this one will be your best friend too.

EDIT: Disclaimer: I would not plan on using either of those grinders on espresso. The Lido is certainly more capable for that specific task, but ultimately you will want a grinder for espresso use only for two reasons:

1). Grind quality is SUPER important for espresso, and the Lido might get you to mid-range in that capacity. Plus adjustabilty is an issue here, so while the Virtuoso can grind to espresso fineness, it can not take small enough steps to get a truly great cup.

2). Switching from brew to espresso is a pain, and it will decrease the quality of your espresso. You need to "dial in" espresso, which is finding a very specific grind setting and recipe for a specific bean. Switching back and forth will completely disrupt that process on top of just being a pain.

Now, both grinders will be fantastic for brew and I would highly recommend both of them for that purpose. The above just something to be aware of.

u/doggexbay · 1 pointr/Cooking

> favorite

> easy

>really cheap

Sure. Both pho and ramen do require you to have some pantry essentials on hand, so there's an up-front cost involving a trip to the best Asian market you can access, but like any kitchen essential, once you have it it's there & you'll quickly learn what you burn through quickly and what sits on the shelf for months at a time. We're talking maybe $50 to be able to make a pretty endless supply of soups that generally cost ~$15 at a restaurant, so it's a good deal.

I prefer chicken pho (pho ga) because it tastes better to me than beef pho (pho bo), it's much easier and it's much cheaper. So it fits your bill.

For pho ga there are only two pantry items you really need:

  • fish sauce — something like this or this, NOT something like this or this. Those last two links are awful US supermarket brands

  • yellow rock sugar

    The recipe is pretty idiot-proof. Other than charring the onion and ginger until they're blackened—this is an essential step—and using enough rock sugar to give the broth some sweetness, the most important step is to blanch the chicken parts so your broth isn't cloudy. The steps for that are in the recipe.

    [Pho ga from Andrea Ngyuen.] (https://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2007/06/chicken_pho_noo.html) Andrea's The Pho Cookbook is very good, but a whole book on pho is a little redundant IMO (Mai Pham is another Vietnamese chef who wrote the outstanding Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table if you're interested in a more comprehensive book on Viet cuisine; her pho ga recipe is virtually identical to Andrea's).

    For ramen I don't prefer chicken over the traditional pork, and TBH there's a much wider, denser spectrum of ramen out there than there is of pho—but chicken will still be the easier and cheaper option, and it's still fucking good. I've actually had a pot of chicken ramen broth going on my stove since last night, so I'll share that recipe here.

    The pantry staples for ramen are more complicated, so I'll just list them and you can see what's available in your area and what you might want to order online. They are:

  • konbu (a variety of seaweed; thick, rectangular strips of kelp)

  • mirin (rice wine used for cooking)

  • sake (also rice wine, but generally served as a beverage)

  • white soy sauce

  • usukuchi soy sauce (a light soy sauce)

  • niboshi

  • katsuobushi

    That list might look intimidating. Don't let it be. Konbu, niboshi and katsuobushi are just dehydrated seafood & fish that will store in your pantry forever. Mirin and sake are just booze and the other two are just soy sauce. Easy.

    Now, ramen is a LOT more time-intensive than pho but don't let that scare you off. It takes 8–10 hours, but really only 1–2 of those are active depending on how fast you prep the ramen's seasoning ("tare"). Like I said, I put my chicken ramen (chicken paitan) on the stove last night before going to bed, and I'm just finishing off the last hour of it this morning while I type this. And after you soak the initial tare ingredients in the fridge—you can do that overnight while your broth simmers, too—then completing it only takes about 15 minutes. Comparatively, pho ga takes about two hours start to finish. But other than clock-watching, both of these recipes are so easy that any novice can tackle them.

    Both /r/pho and /r/ramen are a little circlejerk-y when it comes to just posting photos of bowls of soup (TBF I guess there's only so much you can actually say about either), but /r/ramen has a very good contributor/mod in /u/Ramen_Lord whose sidebar tour of ramen recipes will make homemade ramen feel very accessible to the American cook.

    Here is that entry for chicken paitan ramen, the thing that's going in my kitchen at this moment:. The recipe itself is in this comment.

    Enjoy, and feel free to ask any further questions! I do recommend buying an inexpensive kitchen scale as the one piece of equipment other than a pot, spoon and knife that you really want to have for soupmaking. Something less than $20 will do. Otherwise an immersion blender is a very, very handy tool to have around the house but it's in no way necessary. Have fun!
u/user_1729 · 5 pointsr/Coffee

My favorite thing about coffee as a "hobby" is that, like some have said, it's a hobby that isn't just a waste of money. Fresh beans are a huge 1st step, they really just have tons of flavors that change almost as you work through the bag, and sometimes I feel like the first sip of a french press is different than the middle, etc. For me the different methods I use just work better for different beans, I'm still figuring that out myself. I prefer to french press african beans, pour over on more typically "harsh" beans, and I'm still dialing in aeropress, but I feel like it takes a lot out of the coffee so it seems to work best if I'm like "hmm I'm not sure I like this bean", aeropress... oh nevermind it's great.

You could buy:

Good grinder ~$140

Scale $15

Kettle $25

And three interesting and different types of brewers:

Aeropress ~$30

V60 ~$20

French Press ~$20

That's all the gear for now, you're SET until you become a crazy coffee nut, but for me 90% of the coffee I make is in one of those 3 methods. I have a moka pot, and they're cool too. But that's $250 for gear, and you could probably save a bit with different grinder options but plan to drop the biggest amount of that.

Add in $20 for some high quality beans (S&W is great and their reddit discount is on this page somewhere) and you're around $270 to be brewing great coffee a few different ways. Now you have 4+ different coffees, 3 ways to make it, and the equipment to make sure you're doing it "right".

Okay that's a lot and I hate this "if you buy a cup of coffee a day" crap, but let's just say you drink work swill most of the time, but get a cup of coffee out 3x a week. At $3/cup maybe you tip a quarter each time, you pay off this stuff in 6 months and these things pretty much last forever.

The point is, yes, some of the costs of entry (specifically the grinder) can be a little daunting, and sometimes we get carried away, but overall, the cost of making great coffee at home is significantly less than going out. You're actually getting BETTER coffee too, trying different ways to make it, and enjoying yourself. Wow, okay rambling there. Good luck!

u/ogunther · 2 pointsr/Coffee

Well my other post is getting downvoted to oblivion for some reason so here's the main post from that thread:

As I mentioned in my previous post (here: http://www.reddit.com/r/Coffee/comments/214lbh/im_thinking_about_selling_my_extraunneeded_coffee/ ), I've recently upgraded both my kettle and my scale and since both are still in really good condition, I thought I'd offer them for sale at a decent price here on r/coffee.

I'd prefer they go to someone who wouldn't be able to afford purchasing these items new as a way to give back to the r/coffee community who have helped me so much on my coffee journey over the last few years. Obviously I have no way to verify so I'm going on the honor system here but if you're just looking for a good deal and trying to be frugal, please don't attempt to buy these from me. These are both great products and well worth their price new if you can afford them.

With that said, here's detail on the two items I'm selling:

Bonavita 1.0L Electric Kettle

  • Just under 2 years old - Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005YR0GDA
  • I paid $49.74 but it is currently listed at $59.99 - Asking $30


    American Weigh Scales AMW-SC-2KG Digital Pocket Scale

  • Less than 3 months old - Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001RF3XJ2
  • I paid $27.67 but it's currently listed at $16.99 - Asking $10

    Shipping within the US = $5 per item


    Some additional information:

    Photos: http://imgur.com/a/2mIRB

    Videos of both items showing that they are both in working order:

  • AWS - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQvyJqH65d8
  • Bonavita - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc-vKMv-ZrQ (please note the thermometer is not included)

    Notes:

  • The AWS scale includes the original box and all the items originally shipped with it. Does not include batteries (I use rechargeables, sorry) but it does have the AC plug which can be used in place of batteries.

  • The Bonavita scale does NOT include the original box or paperwork but does include an aftermarket silicone flow reducer (this can be easily removed if not wanted). It includes all the original hardware. There is some light scale in the bottom of the kettle (see photo above) but I've only ever used filtered water in the kettle so it shouldn't pose any issues.

  • Both items are in excellent working order and I have had no problems with either. With that said, caveat emptor! The kettle is 2 years old and I have no idea what their life expectancy is. Only guarantee is that items are as described and will be in working order upon arrival.

  • I replaced both items only because I found really good deals on upgrades to a Bonavita Variable Temp Kettle and a Bonavita Scale (both thanks to r/coffee!) otherwise I'd still happily be using these myself.

    Sale Info:

    Sale to be completed through Paypal and payment must be made before the items ship. As to picking the "winning" recipient(s); if you are interested in either/both of these items, please PM me which items you're interested in and what country you live in (commenting in this thread won't count). I'll use a RNG to pick both "winners" by the end of the week and update the post accordingly. If for any reason that person can't take possession of the item, I'll RNG another person. Hopefully that sounds fair to everyone. :)

    I've tried to answer all the questions I could think that you'd want to ask but if I missed anything please let me know and I'll answer as best I can. Thanks!
u/T_Mace · 2 pointsr/DIY_eJuice

Wow I'm sure you're hookah knowledge will come into play at some point. That's more than I got. At least you're familiar with identifying flavor profiles and knowing what ingredients compliment each other.

I have no past history of flavor mixing except some basic cooking skills. What's worse, I'm really only into tobacco flavors, at least for now. So ya, we all know bananas and strawberries go well together, throw in some pineapple or orange and you got a great smoothie. Transferred to ejuice logic that means you just gotta experiment with percentages. Not saying it's easy, but nevertheless, common knowledge lets us know what flavors might work. But tobacco? I mean, I've had some luck with 3 recipe mixes but I see these 7-10 ingredient recipes for tobacco on e-liquid.com and wonder how the f anyone could decide on what goes where lol.

Here's a tutorial for e-liquid calculator in case you buggered it.

For the VG/PG problem, check and check again that you're entering the correct values into the calculator. Also, your flavors are most likely PG base. On e-liquid calculator, PG is set by default for the flavors so that shouldn't be a problem. But if you're using a different calculator, it might be the reason. Your nic is also probably PG based.

But if you enter everything into the calculator properly this shouldn't be happening.

Also, do yourself a massive favor and start mixing by weight! It's FAR more accurate and has the added benefit of being way easier to clean up.

Here is the scale most mixers use. It's only 26 bucks! Will save you so much trouble in the long run.

And I think I linked this to you already, but when you're scale arrives, this tutorial will explain all. Very simple and quick and clean once you get the hang of it.

As far as I can tell, you won't need algebra thanks to our handy e-calculator. Although, math knowledge def won't hurt. If you're using a box mod of any kind and building your own coils, some math is advised. re: Ohms law and calculations for battery safety. I have lots of handy resources on that if you're in need :)

Another handy trick with mixing single flavor recipes to start.. Provided that they are all the same PG/VG ratio and same nic content, you can go ahead and combine the individual 'single flavor mixes' after they've steeped to further test how a combo might taste. That would give you a decent idea of how a 2 flavor recipe would taste. *Not sure if I wrote that thought clearly lol.

E-liquid recipe sharing is a big thing in the DIY community and it's f-ing amazing. When you browse e-liquid-recipes.com, be sure to sort by rating cuz those are recipes that several users have tried. So 5 or 4 star recipes are generally a safe bet I'm guessing.

Once you sign up to the site go to my page and follow me. I have no followers so I'll know it's you and follow you back :)

Def keep in touch. I can't wait to not be a noob lmao.

u/macbites · 2 pointsr/EatCheapAndHealthy

That's actually a really decent breakdown to hit. I would be eating the 3 servings of 4 ozs of chicken, or 100 grams to be even more specific (I recommend a Digital food Scale (this is the one I have). 100 grams of chicken breast contains 43 grams of protein, so 3-100 gram servings is an aggressive amount even.

Once at this level, focus on getting to the right amount of calories, and fat content. Eggs are a great way in a low-fat diet to be eating good fats, in each egg there are about 5 grams of fat, so 2-3 in the morning is a great way to start the day. Milk is also a great way to get good fats, and it's cheap, and both of the above items have enough protein to put you well over your protein goals.

What I would do is go to the grocery store and dollar general, and start writing down some prices and nutrition facts, it'll be a lot of work at first, but an excel file on your computer, or a google doc on your phone is a great tool for eating healthy and cheap. Stay away from the highly processed foods, even granola bars have tons of preservatives, and a list of ingredients that rival the constitution. Make your own if you want, it's super easy to do with some brown sugar and butter together in a pan and pouring over a sheet pan of almonds, pumpkin seeds (SUPER CHEAP), oats, dried cranberries or raisins, puffed millet (like rice crispies). Mix it together, and bake at 350 until it all hardens together, let cool and cut. It's super easy to make your own granola bars, and they won't have all the crud in them. The nuts will help you to reach your fat goals, some protein, and then the sugar and oats will help with carbs. (Can also use honey, agave, or just sugar and water together. The oats will release starch if using sugar and water which will help to bind it in the oven, but still don't use a lot of water, more sugar, just enough to make a light syrup)

Use the document you create to either meal prep, or organize your meals for the day/week or even month.

TBH I don't even monitor my protein intake anymore, because I definitely eat more than enough with the amount of chicken, my protein shakes, my homemade protein bars (1/2 cup protein powder [unflavored or flavored], 1/2 cup ground/blended oats, 1/4 cup milk, chocolate for coating it. Combine all the dry ingredients and then add the milk, it will be a thick texture, but don't add more milk, it needs to have a consistency to mold into bars, and I coat in a think coating of chocolate so that it all holds together. This makes about 4 bars and costs about 2.50 depending on how much the protein powder costs, and how much chocolate you coat it in) the nuts, eggs, broccoli, spinach, lentils or quinoa, peas, all of these things have significant amounts of protein. I only monitor my calorie intake, and then my fat intake, if those are on, I am typically over my protein goal slightly, and under in carbs, but I also have studied nutrition a lot, so eating cheap is both easier and harder because I want what I can't afford when I'm in the grocery store. Have the discipline, put in the work, and stick to your budget, and this'll be no problem for you. I hope some of these suggestions are helpful, I'll say eating on this budget doesn't mean a lot of variety, but just keep in mind the health benefits. You'll get really good at cooking chicken!



u/ResidualLimbs_ · 2 pointsr/researchchemicals

Yeah just look into the solution and make sure it's clear.

Also make sure you're measuring your weight of substance and how much solution you're gonna use. I recommend the AWS Gemini scale. It's not accurate at super low ranges (hence the need for volumetric solutions), so you weigh out how much you're gonna use before hand. I like to weigh the bag before (full) and after (making solution) to compare how accurate the measurement was (obviously both could be off but they're usually within +/- 5mg which isn't much at this scale. (no pun intended lol).

A cardstock type paper is really good for weighing the powder with a crease down the middle, or what I use: cheap chinese wax weigh papers because the powder doesnt stick to them at all, and they're cheap and disposable. pour the powder into the vial (don't spill!) (here's a list of a bunch of bottles, it's hard to find what you exactly need and they usually come in big packs). My bottles actually came with a little aluminum funnel which doesn't work too good cuz the powder gets stuck to it, so I just kinda crease the paper and pour it into the vial opening very slowly being sure not to spill. Do it over a piece of paper or something if y ou're worried about spilling, since you've already measured it you can just take that paper and pour the "spilled" product into the botttle.

I don't have the full set of these but one of these like this with one scoop end and one flat end is really useful for the flat end to get into corners of baggies and whatnot, so I'd recommend something like this as a a scoop:

My vials are 60ml but I like to have extra space to shake the solution (important) so I only put 50ml at once to leave room for shaking. So say for 10mg/ml of etiz I would do 500mg etiz + 50ml PG. (1ml = 10mg, personal preference). If I was doing flualp I would do 100mg flualp 50ml PG. (personal preference of 2mg/ml since I usually dose between 0.6mg (0.3ml) and like 1.8mg (0.9ml).

To measure the PG you're gonna either need a graduated cylinder or, what I use which is probably slightly less accurate but there of course is a small margin for error as long as you know about the concentration, I use a 10ml syringe to fill the vial. 5 10ml pumps = 50ml.

For dosing lots of people will tell you to count the drops and that "there are 20 drops in 1ml no matter what" which is completely untrue, the only way to know exactly how much you're taking is using oral syringes. They're super cheapa if you can stand to wait a month from china, but you get like 20 (which is kinda required because after a while the lines start to fade on them. each tick is a 0.1ml so a full syringe is 1ml so if you have a 10mg/ml solution a full syringe is 10mg of etizolam, so if you only need 2mg or something it cuts down on the amount of PG you have to ingest. Lots of sites that sell premade solutions overcharge insanely for how little work it is to make yourself, and on top of that give you weak ass solutions like 2mg/ml (of etiz) or 4mg/ml (not even divisible by 10 so it gets confusing trying to dose that!) which make you intake way more PG than necessary. (It is food safe but it's pretty gross and some people can have adverse reactions).

Anyways...

There's lots of threads out there about this too if you need a full on step by step guide just google "etizolam solution" (most common one, it's the same for every substance, you just might want different concentrations for different strengths of drug). I tend to try and make my solutions as potent as possible so I don't have to eat an unnecessary amount of PG, or spend as much time making solutions!

Good luck and sorry for being judgemental earlier, glad you're at least willing to learn and I'm sure your friend was okay, just blew my mind knowing how I reacted to .250mg of flualp with no tolerance, lol.

Also you caught me on a pretty stimmy day so enjoy the fully cited guide, I don't think I missed anything. I don't necessarily use or endorse any of the specific products I linked just used them as examples of things you'd need; except the AWS Gemini 20, which is a must if you're weighing powders.

Sorry for the stim rant but I hope I helped out. Edited to add 1ml syringe dosing information.

u/givemeyournews · 3 pointsr/Coffee

I think to best answer this request, we'll need a bit more info. Are you ok with a manual grinder, or do you prefer an electric grinder? Do you want a drip brewer or a pour over set up? Are you looking to get into espresso? And, what is your actual budget in your local currency?

And now for a guess at what might work for you...

A [Melitta Plastic Pour Over Dripper](https://www.amazon.com/Melitta-Ready-Single-Coffee-Brewer/dp/B0014CVEH6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527536804&sr=8-1&keywords=mellita) $5 to $6 (a lot of grocery stores carry these in stock)

A box of #2 Cone filters at your local grocery store $2

If you want an automatic drip brewer, and you are making smaller amounts for just you, the [Bonavita 5 cup](https://www.amazon.com/Bonavita-BV1500TS-Carafe-Coffee-Stainless/dp/B00SK5IXPQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1527537674&sr=8-4&keywords=bonavita+brewer) is wroth a look. it runs about $66. I have the 8 cup for the wife and I and we love it.

Filters can be purchased, again, at your local grocery store for about $2.

[Brewista SmartPour Kettle w. Thermometer](https://www.amazon.com/Brewista-Variable-Temperature-Kettle-BKV12S02NA/dp/B01CFBBUVY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527537033&sr=8-1&keywords=brewista%2Bsmart%2Bpour&th=1) $40. There are cheaper ones, but I personally have this one and have loved it.

[Scale](https://www.amazon.com/Jennings-CJ-4000-Compact-Digital-Adapter/dp/B004C3CAB8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527537139&sr=8-1&keywords=Jennings+CJ4000) This is a must. $30

[Bratza Encore](https://www.amazon.com/Baratza-Encore-Conical-Coffee-Grinder/dp/B007F183LK/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1527537371&sr=1-1-spons&keywords=baratza+encore&psc=1&smid=A302OQK4GZWXCC) Grinder is the default recommendation around here, and for good reason. It's high quality, and easily serviceable. New they run $139, but you can save $40 and pick up a [refurb](https://www.baratza.com/product/encore-refurb/) (still with the 1 year warrantee) for $99 direct from Baratza.

If you want a cheaper option, and don't mind a manual hand grinder, there are a few options, but the [Hario Skerton Pro](https://www.amazon.com/Hario-Skerton-Ceramic-Grinder-MMCS-2B/dp/B01MXJI90S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527537536&sr=8-1&keywords=hario+skerton+pro) is about the lowest cost / still decent quality grinders, grinder that most would recommend. It runs about $60, and personally, I'd spend the extra $30 on an Encore refurb.

Happy Mug Beans are a pretty great option. I really enjoy the Big Foot Espresso blend (despite it's name) as a pour over, and even like it in my drip brewer. The Inspirational Artist Blend is a great option too. But really just try them out and see what you like. Their bags (for 1lbs of whole beans) run $11 - $13

Hope that helps.

u/heimsins_konungr · 5 pointsr/DIY_eJuice

When I first got into DIY 2 years ago, my first goal was to craft a green tea recipe from scratch. I've probably put more study into green teas than any other type of flavor, but this was the verdict in the end:

  • FW Green Tea is pure garbage
  • FE Green Tea was decent, but had some strange off-notes
  • FLV Eisai Tea is perfection

    After a ton of experimentation, I came up with this recipe: Shinto

    If you're planning on creating a new green tea recipe, stay at or below 1% FLV Eisai Tea. It is very strong.

    --On your question when it comes to flavor retailers, one of the very best is bullcityflavors.com. They stock nearly everything and at very competitive prices. If you ever can't find a particular flavor you're looking for, there, check ecigexpress or the flavor manufacturer's own website.

    --On nicotine: the most cost-effective and simple to use mix is 100mg/ml nicotine in a 100% PG base. You'll find this mix on most nicotine retailer's sites. Nicotine does not mix well in VG, so you end up with a lot of hotspots if you get it in a VG base. The best nicotine comes from Carolina Xtracts, period. Second best is Liquid Nicotine Wholesalers.

    --Stop mixing your flavors at 10% or some arbitrary number, or you're going to end up with a lot of shitty mixes. Every flavor has a particular percentage that works best, either by itself or in a particular recipe. FW Blueberry, for example, is great at 6%, but if you put 6% FLV Eisai Tea in a bottle you would probably throw up.

    On that note, the greatest thing that changed everything about how I mixed was getting a scale. A huge amount of people on this sub are currently using this scale.

    The next best thing was finding the best recipe calculator available, which is EjuiceMeUp. Free, offline software that simply works.
u/dragonbubbles · 1 pointr/kratom

Hello and welcome! Please look through the Sub Guidelines, the Kratom 101, and this important Guide To Phrasing. Headshops definitely charge premium prices. I know you will be able to find better value here but your account is too new and does not have enough sub-related karma to make postings. You are welcome to join in any ongoing discussions. We look forward to getting to know you.

Thank you and please let us know if you have any other questions.

*****

In addition to that Daily Vendor List here is a list of [Current Sales and Discount Codes](https://www.reddit.com/r/kratom/comments/5q5n3t/deals_steals_0125_youll_feel_like_you_picked_a/


There are a handful of more popular quality vendors. All of the vendors on that sales posting are top rated trustworthy vendors. You can't go wrong with any of them. Canopy Botanicals is another great one they are just not having a sale right now so they are not listed in the deals posting. Most of those vendors sell samplers or smaller quantities like ounces. If you need more help picking out what is right for you, contact this guy and he will get you started by customizing a sampler with 5 different ounces for $25 including shipping.

As far as what would be closest to headshop "Maeng Da," that is hard to say. Products sold at headshops are often labeled with advertising in mind and the name of the product is not always an accurate descriptor of the actual product itself. With something called "Maeng Da" that doesn't even come into play yet since they is a very broad term that literally means "pimp grade" and has come to be attached to just about any strain a vendor wants to denote as kind of premium. There are countless 'Maeng Da" strains. Your best course of action is to try a handful of different strains and keep notes - dosages, effects, pros & cons, etc. If that sounds daunting, Krajournal is a very easy to use tool for doing so. (It is best to use a scale for measuring dosages). You can narrow things down from there.

Finding what works can take some time, patience, and trial and error but it can be worth it. Many times people starting out think that it is not 'working' at first. Some of that is about managing expectations.

There is a lot of good information here. Familiarize yourself with more of the content already here and narrow down strains based on what effects you are looking for. There is a section in the Kratom 101 that explains strains in general. Here are two other great things to read:

u/Yankee14 · 4 pointsr/Breadit

Just a few suggestions from someone who has been making bread regularly, twice week for almost a year to feed a family.

"....we've decided to bake our own bread as much as possible."

Awesome! If you plan on making bread more often, one of the main problems you might run into is inconsistent results (I definitely did). For example, you could use that recipe you've just posted to make bread every single week, and the bread will have different characteristics every single time. It might come out fine one week, and "dense inside and a little too crispy outside," the next. This isn't good. Why is it happening?

The problem with recipes like that which use measurements such as "6 1/2 cups of flour" is...you really can't be very accurate with volumetric measurements. It's simply unreliable. Imagine taking a measuring cup, gently spooning flour into it until it's exactly 1 cup. Then, imagine taking an identical measuring cup, but this time ramming it into the flour like most people do, as hard as you can, densely packing the flour into the cup until it's exactly 1 cup.

Which one has exactly one cup? There is no answer. It's a false question. If you took those two measuring cups and weighed them on a scale, the densely packed flour would weigh some arbitrary amount around twice as much as the cup with the lightly spooned flour. Imagine if you worked in a bakery and were supposed to scale up this recipe to "50 cups of flour" for a batch of dough. After the so called "50 cups", your ratio of water to flour would be off by an order of magnitude or more! Hopefully I've explained this well.

So what can you do to combat this problem? Stop using volumetric measurements, and measure by weight for the most important parts of the loaf: the flour and the water. Invest in a cheapo little kitchen scale. Here's the one I bought, and it works really well. You said you're trying to live frugally, so paying 20 to 25 dollars (or whatever kind of currency is used where you live) for a scale may not be a viable option. For me, a scale was one of the best investments I've ever made.

One more thing before I shut up about the scale; a scale can enable you to easily switch between different types of dough; you simply change the ratio of water to flour depending on what kind of bread you plan to make. In General: if you want to make, say, pretzels or bagels, you need a drier dough; a smaller ratio of water to flour. If you want to make a nice loaf of sandwich bread, like you're trying to do, you'd want a moderately wet dough; a middling ratio of water to flour. If you want a rustic artisan-style loaf, like a sourdough, you'd want a very wet dough; a high ratio of water to flour. If by chance you're still reading this horrendously long post (I'm very sorry about that), please just take a quick look at this video.

Finally, I'll quickly address your question of long term dough storage, such as freezing. I honestly don't know what happens to frozen dough, because I've personally never needed to do this--so I won't speak on it. However, I can attest to the benefits of slow fermentation inside the refrigerator. Dough kept in the refrigerator will be good up to around 2, maybe 3 days tops before you have to do something with it or risk over-proving the dough. You probably could still use it after that long, but you might do better to incorporate it into a new dough mixed in with fresh ingredients. Which brings me to my main point.

Dough--or in this case it may be more accurate to call it a preferment--kept in the refrigerator for 12 to 24 hours (or even sitting out on the counter for 6 to 8 hours) develops such a wonderful flavour! If you really get into breadmaking, you will no doubt experiment with bulk fermented dough, or dough that has been allowed to sit in (or out) of the refrigerator for extended periods of time. In short, I'll just say that many types of bread will greatly benefit from such a method. Benefits in ease of folding/kneading, as well as fragrance, taste, texture, and crust, and crumb structure in the finished loaf.

It is likely many people will disagree with this post, but it's what works for me. :/ Have fun!

u/alysli · 4 pointsr/askfatlogic

First, I'd like to invite you to join r/loseit, Reddit's weight-loss sub! You'll find a very supportive group of people there. We have a daily question thread there where literally any questions you have can be answered, and a fantastic beginner's guide linked in the sidebar that you should definitely read.

You don't need a gym right now, and in fact 80-90% of your weight loss will come from diet, not exercise. So your first step, I think, should be to create an account with MyFitnessPal (download the app or use their website) and begin logging every. single. thing. you eat or drink. Don't worry about weight loss, don't worry about meeting calorie goals, just log everything for a week so that you can get an idea of your baseline intake and begin to get used to logging (it's annoying at first. It quickly becomes second nature.).

Then, go to Sail Rabbit and enter your information (don't worry about the body fat percentage if you don't know it). I like Sail Rabbit because it has finer-grained levels of activity to choose from, with different levels of "sedentary" that you can pick to match what your lifestyle is like. You may want to then adjust your goals in MyFitnessPal to what Sail Rabbit calculates for you (though, MFP does pretty good on it's own once you plunk in how much you want to lose, so you can absolutely use their recommendations). I'd aim for a 1 or 1 1/4 lb loss per week. That should be a gentle enough reduction from your regular intake that with some smart decisions like buying lower calorie bread or replacing some starches with non-starchy vegetables you shouldn't feel like you're suddenly starving. Making sustainable choices should be your goal here; don't replace rice with cauliflower rice if you hate cauliflower and figure you'll go back to eating rice later, because that's not a sustainable lifestyle change for you (it wasn't for me. I do eat cauliflower rice, but I also eat regular rice, just in smaller quantities).

Now you'll have a calorie goal for each day, which you can sort of think of as a bank account. You'll have something like 1800 calories to "spend" each day on food and drink, and you can decide if you're going to do that or "save up" 100 calories Monday through Friday so that you can use that extra 500 on Saturday for an extra slice of pizza or whatever. If you want to make things easy on yourself and use pre-packaged things with set calories, go for it, just drink a lot of water because they're usually high in sodium. Consider purchasing a food scale (I use this one) so that you can be more accurate with your measurements of things, particularly when you're cooking and also prepackaged stuff (you'll see on nutritional labels that servings will be listed as something like "3/4 cup (54g)"; when you weigh your servings via grams, you'll have a better idea of how much you're eating and exactly how small something calorically-dense like a serving of peanut butter really is).

If you'd like to start exercising at home (It's what I do and it's actually personally done wonders for my anxiety levels. Remember, it's not for weight loss, it's for building strength and muscle, increasing cardio health, and giving you energy.), there are a million exercise videos on YouTube. I started with Leslie Sansone walking videos which are, admittedly, kinda cheesy, but also gentle for beginners. That channel has some of her entire videos available, from 1-mile to 3-mile walks. Jessica Smith also does walking videos and is a little less high-energy chatty than Leslie is. She even has a Fit in 15 series of 15 minute workouts (that link's to the first one) that focus on different body parts and a variety of different types of workouts, like barre, chair yoga, etc. If videos aren't your thing, Darebee has a bunch of free workouts and programs; this is their Foundation Light, which is for people recovering from injury, who have joint issues, or who are severely overweight. I'd recommend starting out trying to exercise at least 15 minutes a day twice a week and then increasing time and eventually days from there as you get used to it. I do NOT recommend throwing yourself all-in at a 5 or 6-day a week program because if you're like me, you'll either get hurt or burn out really quickly. Just because something is a "30-day challenge!" doesn't mean it has to be done in 30 consecutive days.

Whether you want to weigh yourself daily or weekly or monthly depends strongly on your personal feelings toward the scale and your weight. If you DO want to log it daily, I like the Happy Scale app. Get a tape measure and take measurements. Write them down so you can get giddy when you start to lose inches but don't see much movement in the scale (seriously, it happens and it's weird and annoying). If you can stand it, also take pictures in swimwear or underwear from the side, front, and back, so you have reference photos from your beginning. Yes, it feels awkward, but when you feel like you're not getting anywhere and compare later photos to your first ones so you can see the differences that have occurred, you'll be glad you did it.

Good luck! It's a lot of work, but it is so worth it!

u/segasean · 2 pointsr/Coffee

To answer your question, the strength of your coffee is mostly influenced by how much coffee you're using versus how much water. For a strong cup with your Keurig, go with the setting with the smallest amount of water. The Keurig is by no means the "best" method to make coffee, but it will make coffee. If you decide to get a manual brewer (French press, Aeropress, Kalita Wave, etc.) the brew time has some leeway, but I'd recommend just using more coffee than trying to push the recommended brew time too far. Coffee can/should be strong without being bitter, and keeping the water and coffee together too long will create bitterness.


What follows is everything you need to know about making great coffee. Warning, this may be overwhelming:

  1. Freshly ground coffee is going to taste better. Consider coffee like bread. A loaf left on the counter will get stale faster if you slice it up. Freshly roasted is better, but it might be more expensive/harder for you to find and you might not want to dive that deep yet.
  2. Conical burr grinders are better than blade grinders. The problem is that a decent automatic burr grinder is going to be ~$100 and that's a steep price for someone just getting into coffee. Many people will recommend the mini mill, Skerton, or something along those lines that is hand-crank. (Good non-name brand options: 1 and 2) Those are your best bet. Although I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, you can get an automatic blade grinder if you might have an issue with manual grinding/don't want to drop a lot of money. I will mention that darker roasts are easier to grind manually so there's less worry for your wrist. The problem with blade grinders is you get a bunch of differently sized bits, which makes it more difficult to get consistency and figure out a grind size/brew time you like.
  3. Each method of brewing calls for a differently sized grind. This is pretty important. If it's too small, you'll get a bitter cup. If it's too big, you'll get a sour cup. The same goes for brew time. Too long will make a bitter cup, and too short will make a sour cup. However, there's some leeway on both of these to your taste.
  4. There are a bunch of ways to make coffee that change how it tastes. Methods that involve filtering through paper make a cleaner cup, but you lose most of the oils in the coffee. Metal filters leave in these oils, but can also leave a lot of sediment/mud in the bottom of your cup. You might drink this if you drink that last sip, and it isn't really nice.
  5. Weighing your coffee is much more accurate if you want to make a consistent cup. A tablespoon of a darker roast might be 5 grams while a tablespoon of a lighter roast might be 7 grams.
  6. You'll need something to boil water in. If you have a kettle, great. If you don't, you can use a pan or you can buy a kettle. It doesn't need to be a fancy/expensive gooseneck-style one (1 and 2), but you might want one of those if you get into pourover methods.

    I would recommend a French press (1 2 3 4) or Aeropress for someone just getting into coffee. They're much more forgiving than pour-over methods, meaning you're less likely to make a bitter cup. They each have their own drawbacks, too. An Aeropress is easier to clean up, but can only make one cup at a time. A French press takes more time to clean, but can make about 3 cups at a time. (By cups I mean a standard 12-ounce mug.) Definitely get a grinder, too (see above). A scale (1 and 2) is optional but recommended. For beans, seek out a local roaster/coffee shop, but there are tons of online options available, too.

    Welcome to the wonderful (and sometimes crazy) world of coffee!
u/BenisNIXON · 2 pointsr/Coffee

The Wave is good. Other easy methods for beginners would be the Aeropress or the French Press.

More importantly I would find a local roaster from which to get fresh beans. Quality beans will be a huge difference in flavor for you regardless of brewing method (though drip maker is still not recommended over other methods mentioned). I know you said you are frugal, as am I, but I found myself drinking LESS coffee when I was spending more on quality not because it was more expensive but because the flavor was so much more intense and fulfilling. I savored it more and instead of drinking 1200mL of store bought drip I was enjoying 700mL of Chemex (similar pour over method) tremendously more.

If you are anything like me you will take your time to build your equipment and slowly buy more. I enjoyed doing it this way because I could move as my tastes evolved. As you mentioned, investing in a good burr grinder should probably be the most important thing. I think my Baratza Encore is worth its weight in gold. After that I slowly added more brewing methods and this Hario scale. The weighing of your water and coffee is so much simpler when it comes to make a consistently great cup of coffee.

I know this is a long reply and a list of stuff but it is three years worth of accumulation, mostly thanks to Amazon gift cards at Christmas time! Most importantly, just enjoy yourself and your coffee! If you like a method others don't or don't like weighing things then don't. Your taste is yours, enjoy it.

u/paingawd · 1 pointr/electronic_cigarette

I haven't tried Dewberry Cream or Strawberry Milk, but there are MYRIAD versions of fruit+cream DIY recipes out there, and most don't suck! (LOL!!)

Here's my recommendations for starting-The fact that you've got Amazon Prime helps in the shipping costs! First, head over to the DIY site of your choice. There's a TON of info over in the sidebar at /r/DIY_e_Juice! Here's the beginner's guide to get you started. If you'd like the TL;DR version, here it is:

  • Go to Amazon, buy these. SCALE, VG (I prefer to buy it by the gallon, but since you're first starting it's your choice), PG

  • While you're at Amazon, you might want to pick up some bottles. I really like LDPE bottles because they are easy for me to squeeze. If those are the kind you are used to, I recommend 510 Central Their bottles are sturdy, yet squeezable, hold up to multiple washes, available in sizes ranging from 10 ml to 120 ml and are Prime eligible. I really like their 60 ml-enough juice to get you through a few days, yet pocket or bag friendly. Smaller bottles are great for trying new recipes-I like 30 ml bottles for that. It gives you enough juice to decide whether you like it or not without leaving completely jonesing for more! If glass or PET bottles are more your speed, there should be some listed under the "Frequently Bought Together" slides of any of the above linked items.

  • While not absolutely necessary, I recommend getting two condiment style bottles for dispensing the VG and PG into whatever bottle style you choose. I actually bought mine at Michael's in their cake/candy decorating isle. They were cheaper there, and they're even less expensive at WalMart.

    Once you've gotten these items ordered, go have a look at some recipes either at /r/DIY_e_Juice, alltheflavors.com or e-liquid-recipes.com Here's a Unicorn Milk clone that seems right up your alley. find two or three more recipes that sound good and don't take a whole helluva lot of flavor concentrates, then order up the concentrates for those recipes only. It's tempting to buy a slew of concentrates that sound good. Some might be winners, some less so. The thing you don't want is a bunch of concentrates that you never do anything with!(This was the mistake I made-I now have a bunch of concentrates I don't use and are going bad) When you order concentrates, stick with the small bottles to start. This will allow you to make plenty of juice while you're getting your feet wet.

  • For getting concentrates, I really like Bull City Flavors, Nicotine River, and Ecig Express. I've used Gremlin DIY as well and they've got some great prices but their bottles tend to leak after a while. Don't get concentrates from Amazon, though! Some of the ones that are listed on the site aren't meant for vaping and it can be extremely difficult to discern what's what.

    Sorry it took so long to answer you-I think I've covered everything. If I haven't, shoot me a PM and I'll apologize profusely while covering whatever base I missed!
u/DonnieTobasco · 2 pointsr/recipes

What exactly do you mean by 'healthy?'

Is it about calorie reduction or getting more nutrients? Or both?

A very simple, tasty one is roasted cauliflower. Cauliflower really benefits from browning. Preferably roasting. Just wash and dry it (thoroughly), cut into equally sized pieces, whether it be bite size or "steaks," toss in olive oil, salt & pepper (and garlic if you want), spread evenly on a roasting pan, but don't crowd it too much, and roast in the oven on the middle rack or higher at about 425-450F until brown... even nearly black in a few places. It's so simple and delicious.

It makes a great soup too, just blend it with either veg or chicken stock and either some fresh parsley or thyme.

Another veg that does well with char is broccoli. Steam, blanch (heavily salt your blanching or steaming liquid) or microwave (if you must) the cut broccoli stalks until about half done, drain and dry. Toss in olive oil, salt, minced garlic and chili flakes and grill on very high heat or broil until slightly charred. You won't believe how good it is.

Some great books for veg dishes are:

Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi

Tender by Nigel Slater (this one has a great chocolate beet cake)

The Art Of Simple Food II by Alice Waters (So many simple, classic veg preparations in this one.)

--

Regarding Mac & Cheese, here is page from Modernist Cuisine at Home:

http://i.imgur.com/E4dd4lQ.jpg

It involves using Sodium Citrate. Calm down! Don't be afraid. It's a type of salt derived from citrus fruits. If you like to cook with cheese this stuff will be your best friend. The only issue is you don't need very much of it, so you will need an accurate scale that can handle very small weights, but they're not that expensive and it'll pay for itself quickly in the amount you'll likely save in cheese costs, because.....

What it does is it helps emulsify the fats and solids of cheese when it melts and it can be used with just about every type of cheese that can melt, so that means you can use it to emulsify multiple types of cheeses at the same time. Why this matters for you? If you're trying to reduce calories you can mix your favorite cheeses with some lower calorie cheeses (like drained cottage cheese) and still end up with a really creamy sauce without having to add cream or butter. This stuff doesn't make Pasta & Cheese "healthy" but it does help you reduce the caloric value of a cheese dish without sacrificing texture... in fact it improves it.

Check it out: http://youtu.be/gOLgLi5ZJOY

u/l1qu1ddr3ams · 3 pointsr/DIY_eJuice

Sourcing everything in your first order from the same vendor will save on shipping costs.

I don't know your budget, but I recommend getting the AWS-LB501 Digital Scale from Amazon, currently $35 USD. This way, you never have to touch pipettes, syringes, beakers, cylinders, etc. and just pour everything into the bottle you'll end up carrying the juice in. You can easily exceed $35 buying all that other mixing crap so just start off mixing by weight using the scale. Super easy.

Bottles: Get whatever size you like to buy in store. I like 30mL bottles but that's because I'm constantly switching flavors (which you might start doing too once you see how fun DIY is!). Having said that, I'd also recommend getting a set of 10mL "tester" bottles. This lets you try out recipes and experiment without wasting too much flavoring / nic / VG / PG.

Also as /u/chewymidget saidbuy flavorings for specific, well reviewed recipes instead of random flavorings. I didn't do this when I started out and regret it. This helps make the initial mixing experience more enjoyable since you'll be making good juice right off the bat.

Here's a quick list: ###


  • Digital scale
  • Assorted size bottles (10mL and something else like 30mL or 60mL, depending on preference)
  • I use condiment bottles for my VG/PG because honestly it's pretty damn difficult to pour from a half gallon bottle into a tiny 30mL bottle ;-)
  • 120mL of nicotine at 100mg/mL concentration suspended in PG (you can go smaller, 120mL will last you a while but I think it's a good starting size). I see no point to VG or mixed VG/PG nicotine. PG is what all your flavorings are suspended in.
  • 1 qt PG
  • Half gallon of VG (this is your biggest consumable so don't be afraid to get an entire gallon)
  • Enough flavorings to mix three recipes you find that appeal to you and are highly reviewed / rated by the community
  • Paper towel. Lots and lots of paper towel. Maybe even stock in whatever company sells Bounty
  • Masking tape or cheap mailing labels for your bottles

    I hope this helps out. Good luck and above all else, have fun with it!
u/crabman86 · 2 pointsr/MDMA

I would start with the sidebar links http://www.rollsafe.org/ and https://www.erowid.org as your primary source of reading. Now to your specific questions.

  1. I would recommend 100-125mg for you and 125-150mg for your bf. https://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-0-01g-Digital-Scale/dp/B0012LOQUQ/ref=sr_1_2?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1474001857&sr=1-2&keywords=milligram+scale is a common one most people use.

  2. I would just take it in a gel capsule, will take 30 - 60 mins for it to kick in depending on individual. I would recommend taking the pill inside the festival so you can time it with the sets you want to see. Nothing worse than taking it right before and getting stuck in security line for 1 hr and start coming up.

  3. Just have an open mind, words cannot describe the feeling and you will know what i mean after this weekend. A few notes below to help you on your first time.

    Eat a light lunch and skip dinner. Having a full stomach not only will mess with timing but could also make you not peak at all.

    Remember to drink water but ALSO REMEMBER TO PEE!! MDMA is a vascular constrictor and you won't know when you want/need to pee. So make sure you pee a few times if its a long festival. Use the buddy system as in you go in port-a-potty first he waits right outside then he goes and you wait.

    Its common to throw up or feel overwhelmed during the come up (30-60 mins after dropping), don't worry you will feel better after throwing up and still have a great roll.

    During the come up/peak some people like to move others like to sit, try different things to better understand how your own body reacts to it.

    *There is alot of advice on supplements the 3 key ones i recommend is magnesium pre (helps with jaw clenching) and 5-htp + green tea extract post to restore serotonin. Gum also helps so bring a back in, menthol cigs are amazing when your roll. (I only smoke when i roll)

    Have fun and enjoy, pm me if you have any specific questions.
u/skelezombie · 2 pointsr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

I've been working on eating healthier and working out since October, but more seriously since about Feb. I feel like I've already come a long way but I'm not content yet, I really want to build more muscle and get rid of a bit more fat. One thing I feel would make my life way easier is a food scale so I can better keep track of what I'm eating, or some resistance bands cause I think they'd really help round out my workouts.

Thanks for holding a contest and also good luck with your fitness journey! It's definitely fulfilling taking your health in your hands, it's not something you can just wish for and have happen, any changes you see are 100% from hard work and I think that's a super rewarding feeling.

I'm calling on u/MrA1Sauce because that's an amazing username and I'm obsessed with A1 sauce. It's 300x better than HP sauce, and I always make the same tacky joke when I see it in a restaurant. 'It's called A1 because it's the best. If it wasn't the best it'd be called B2 sauce'. My friends hate me for that joke, idgaf. A14lyfe.

u/elliottok · 0 pointsr/Coffee

Does your Silvia have a PID installed?

As far as gear goes, here are my recommendations:

Grinder: Baratza Vario - refurb if you can get it from Baratza's website.

Tamper: I like Clive Coffee's Tampers. They're around the same price as a Reg Barber, but I like the way they feel and look a lot more. Here's a link.

Knockbox: Rattleware has some good ones, but basically any knockbox will do.

Milk Pitcher: 12 oz. Rattleware for Capps and smaller drinks. If you're going to be making lattes, then you'll want a 20 oz. pitcher.

Beans: If you've got any good quality, local coffee shops in your area, then try their stuff. See what you like and what you don't. If there isn't much available locally, then there are plenty of online retailers. I've recently been buying from Sterling Coffee Roasters in Portland, OR because they offer free shipping and have great coffee. But like I said there are tons of choices for beans.

Scale: Definitely get a scale. Weighing each dose is probably the best way to pull consistent shots day after day. It's easy - just put portafilter on scale to zero before you grind into the portafilter. Then grind into portafilter and weigh when it looks close. I would start with 19 gram doses if I were you. I like this scale from AWS..

Get a thermometer - any good insta-read thermometer will do.

Get a stiff bristled brush for cleaning the group head, like this one.

Get some Cafiza for back flushing the group head every few weeks.

Get some Dezcal for descaling the boiler a couple of times per year.

Get a bottomless portafilter at some point.

You may want to look into purchasing one of the VST portafilter baskets. The ones that come with the Silvia are not very good.

Honestly, my real advice would be to take back the machine, get cash or store credit, and put that money towards a Breville Dual Boiler 920XL. The Breville comes with a 2 year warranty, and includes quality baskets, milk pitcher, tamper, and water filter. It's about double the price of the Silvia, but it has so many more features that it's more than worth it. I bought a Silvia as my first machine and it took me only a few months before I decided to upgrade. It's a fun little machine, but it's extremely outdated and way over priced for what you're getting.

u/Evictus · 14 pointsr/Fitness
I'm bulking, but it's been a pain in the ass. I've been upping my water intake recently to prevent cramps, so it was pretty hard to find my new maintenance.

At the start of my bulk a month ago (I was 5' 7", 141 lbs) I was eating 2100 calories a day. I wasn't gaining anything. I upped it to 2300 three weeks ago. I think I was on a very, very slow bulk, and it was irritating me because there was no change in the scale over the past week (I weight in every morning and I take a ttestof the results over two seven day periods, the result of which was a p-value of .61). I upped it to 2500 about 3 days ago and I'm hoping to see a change this week. Trying my best to slow bulk since I don't want to be a fatass (already went down that road before).

My diet is pretty static. Because I'm smaller, I don't have to stuff my face 24/7 like some taller bulkers. I don't eat breakfast (it irritates my stomach if I eat too early), but I usually bring a cooked meal to work every day. Bulking has left me pretty hungry, so I usually have to eat it a little early at like 10:30 (the composition of which varies, but usually it's 40g+ protein and around 700 - 800 calories, usually a meat with a grain like rice or pasta). I'm also obsessed with jolly ranchers so I snack on them through the day (usually around 6 total candies, which is like 140 calories).

For a snack, I'll usually eat some peanut butter + jelly (if I don't have bread, it actually tastes pretty good just to mix the two together and eat it off a knife). I'll also mix a Yoplait yogurt with a serving or two of fat free cottage cheese - don't knock it till you try it. I hate the taste of cottage cheese, but it just tastes like yogurt if you mix it so I can get a good source of milk protein.

For dinner, it's pretty much the same thing as lunch. I just eat to fit my macros, and if I have leftovers at the end of the day, I will snack on random things (chocolate, nuts [pecans, peanuts], whatever). For example, yesterday my calorie intake looked as such:

Food | Calories | Protein
--|:--|:--
Angel Hair Pasta | 300| 10
Chicken | 150 | 30
Canola | 80 | 0
Alfredo | 105 | 2
Yogurt | 90 | 5
Yogurt | 90 | 5
Cottage Cheese | 96.3 | 17
Cheese Stick | 60 | 6
Ground Beef | 450 | 45
Mozz. Cheese | 81.66 | 17.5
Rice | 275 | 6
Canola | 80 | 0
Chocolate Mangoes | 200 | 3
Pecans | 130 | 5
Peanut Butter | 200 | 7
Total | 2499 | 149.5

I track everything in excel for calories because I weigh my own food. I do not keep track of carbs and fats. I actually used to do leangains which I had a whole book of about 80 days of excel files for keeping rigorous track of fats carbs and protein for rest / workout, but I'm way too lazy to do that again. I have to use some hardcore math sometimes to figure out and estimate how much fat / water is lost through cooking things like ground beef using the original uncooked weight. I use this food scale, as I travel (I go to school in Indiana, work for the summer in MA / RI and live in WA) and it's easy to carry. On normal days, I also eat protein powder with whole milk, one or two scoops depending on my needs for the day.

I lift five times a week, TWFSSu. I chose this specifically because I knew it would fit my schedule for next semester (I have my engineering senior design project so it's going to be pretty hard to fit in workouts otherwise). I'm running the PHAT philosophy, and because I started back up with half beginniner-intermediate numbers for some of my lifts, I lift heavy on all days for the primary movers like bench, pendlay, squat, deadlift and OHP (which means no speedwork until I get out of linear progression). I do the standard hypertrophy work on F,S,Su after the primary movers, though.

u/goldfish18 · 3 pointsr/DIY_eJuice

I recommend not starting with a kit. There are many many posts on this topic in this sub, but I'll just give you a quick run down on what I did (or would do if I were to start today).

Grab this scale

Get bottles like these for test batches and these.

Find 3 - 5 recipes that are popular in this sub and order all the necessary flavors for those recipes. Order from either ecig express, gremlin, or bull city vapor (go to the verified vendor list in the sidebar for more info and coupon codes) because they sell flavors that are perfect for use with a scale. Visit the monthly recipe threads to find the popular ones and the ones you think you would like. Doing this will give you a pretty good number of flavors to work with in the future and it'll give you a better idea of what to buy next time you want more flavors.

I get my pg and vg from essential depot, but if you think a gallon or more of each is too much for your first order then just get some from amazon in smaller quantities.

Download this calculator.

That's pretty much all you'll need to start. I know it's not as convenient as ordering all from one site, but you will learn that in DIY you rarely ever are able to order everything you need from one single site.

Edit: Nicotine duh! I get the Nude Armor v2 from nude nicotine in 50vg/50pg 100mg/mL. I have not ordered nicotine from anywhere else and I've never had problems with nude nic. Their shipping might be a little slow, but the nicotine has been flawless. Feel free to check out nicotine from vapers tek, vape clarity, or carolina extract. They're all highly recommended round here.

u/K_Murphy · 12 pointsr/loseit

When I'm overwhelmed I find it best to break up a big task and do small things one at a time. These are a lot of valid questions, but some of them you might not need to worry about just yet. Maybe some steps like this will help:



  1. Have you read the Quick Start Guide and FAQs the AutoModerator commented? If not, do that first.




  2. Once done, figure out how you're going to count calories, because yes, it would be best to do that. Will you keep a pen and paper journal? Most of us use the MyFitnessPal app on our phones (also good on desktop), but there are other apps like LoseIt (not affiliated with this sub) that people like.




  3. Download that app/buy that special notebook and pen. When you set up your app, it will likely ask you how much weight you want to lose per week. If you want to jump ahead and put in 0.5-2 lbs per week that's up to you, but I wouldn't recommend it just yet; just say you want to maintain right now. By now you've read the Quick Start Guide and FAQs and you have an idea that to lose weight, the basic thing is to eat less calories than you burn. It'll be best if you count those calories.




  4. Buy a food scale to help you with this logging. It's so much easier than estimating; we often estimate wrongly and way too little.You need one that has a Tare function and can measure in imperial and metric. They're not expensive; something like this is just fine.




  5. No need to change your eating just yet. Just start logging everything that goes into your mouth. Don't forget sauces, cooking oils, drinks, etc. This will help you learn your app and give you an idea of what you are currently eating. It will also help you learn about logging, weighing food, etc. in general before you have to focus on any other major changes.




  6. After a week or two of this, then start slowly working your way down to your deficit amount. It's not recommended that women ever eat less than 1200 calories a day unless under doctor's orders, because that's usually the minimum needed to meet your nutritional needs (1500 for men). If you decide you want to eat at 1500 calories/day for now (just as an example), you can either jump straight in to that amount or start working your way down, cutting 100-200 calories per day at a time at a pace that you think is sustainable.



    You do not need to cut out things like fast food, chocolate, homemade meals, etc., cold turkey unless you really want to. I haven't, though. I still eat sushi, pizza, sub sandwiches, etc., just not nearly as often and most of the time I make it fit into my 1500 calorie/day budget. You just need to make sure you're logging everything accurately (most calorie apps have a recipe function that helps you with homemade food). And then most of the time you make it so that those foods do not put you over your calorie allotment for the day by making your other meals smaller, or something like that.



    Cheat days help some, hinder others. The thing you need to remember is that this is a process, there is sometimes experimentation. You can try cheat days or meals; if you find they're not working for you for some reason, don't have them as often or at all. There is not a deadline, so if something sets you back a little that's okay, you can just get back on track and adjust.



    Take a deep breath! You can do this! Post in the daily Q&A threads if you have any questions! And don't forget to celebrate your victories in the SV/NSV daily thread. We are here to help!
u/parkerflyguy · 10 pointsr/loseit

I've lost 140lbs This year, about 1/3 of my body weight, and there's no secret. Just hard work and discipline. But there are a few things that I personally could not have done without.

Calories in/calories out is KEY. Be vigilant and over estimate when you can't weigh or have to guess on a food input. I use MyFitnessPal to track calories in and a Fitbit to track calories out.

I started just walking my dog for about 30 minutes. I found as it got easier and enjoyable I worked my way up to running. I found that using my Fitbit to measure I would burn almost the same calories (under 200 calories difference) walking or running the same distance walking just takes longer. I went from barely being able to walk a quarter mile without my back hurting or having to rest to running a 5k every day.

My fitbit: https://www.fitbit.com/shop/blaze I love gadgets so of course it was a new toy for me but getting a more accurate count of the calories burned throughout the day is key. Plus, it's very motivational when i'm close to my goal for the day or a new record of steps or calories burned for the day.

Shoes: http://www.dsw.com/shoe/new+balance+410+v4+trail+running+shoe+-+mens?prodId=324685 super comfortable lets me run as long as my body will allow

headphones: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0132YHU0I/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Cheap, but they work AMAZING. I specifically chose this model so that they could not fall out while running.

phone case(?) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JF9DU4U/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I dont like the idea of an arm band. having something clunky on my arm would be distracting. This thing keeps my keys and phone snug to my body so nothing is shaking around. Again it's about minimizing distractions while running.

Food Scale: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004164SRA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Keeping an accurate calorie count is key and this battery operated scale is perfect. I like that it can handle up to 10lbs and is pretty accurate with smaller increments as well.

Meal prep: https://www.amazon.com/Glad-Food-Storage-Containers-Entree/dp/B0014D0SWW/ref=sr_1_cc_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1468187303&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=glad+containers These guys keep me on my diet. one day a week i make a ton of meals and these are the perfect size that they let me fill them and when im done eating I feel full. I eat all my meals at home and work, out of these to prevent me from over eating.

I use my slow cooker to cook my meat (usually chicken) and a rice cooker to cook a bunch of brown rice. My meals are usually 1 cup rice, 4oz chicken, an apple, and 3 oz carrots for lunch and dinner and a half cup of fiber one and 1 cup almond milk for breakfast. From there I just change the type of meat and fruits and veggies from week to week to keep from getting bored.

This sub also keeps me motivated!

Hope this helps! Good luck.

u/xx2000xx · 4 pointsr/electronic_cigarette

http://www.carolinaxtract.com/ - http://www.vaperstek.org/ - https://www.nudenicotine.com/

In that order because you never want to cut corners on nicotine ever. Everybody talks about the pepper taste but I've never had that because I went through those three. Nudenicotine actually will give you a free 15ml sample with $2 shpping.

With PG/VG they are 99% all the same so don't get trapped into any gimmicks or anything. Just get the Essential Depot's PG/VG from Amazon which is around $10 for a quart.

While you're there you might as well pick up some cotton which like PG/VG don't fall into all the BS because it's all pretty much the same. Get: https://www.amazon.com/ORGANIC-Cotton-Makeup-Puff-Medium/dp/B000TCD51A/

If you don't have Prime and need something to get the free shipping you might as well pick up the scale now: https://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-Scales-LB-501-Digital/dp/B005UGBG20/ -- Those 4 are what the majority of us use by a mile. Just pick up some pipettes and bottles and you are actually pretty much 100% set for DIY, it's that easy. By the time an average person rolls their coil and wicks their tank I could bust out a gallon or 3 of e-juice.

http://www.bullcityflavors.com/ - http://www.ecigexpress.com/ - http://gremlindiy.com/ - You're all set now.

I've been DIY for a year now and still have 1/4th of the VG and 3/4th of the PG left doing around a 65/35 VG/PG mix. The cotton is a different story however, that bag honestly will last about 7 years which is conservative and 10+ wouldn't shock me. It was probably my best purchace ever and it's so nice to never have to worry about cotton again so I can focus that energy on buying way way too many vaping hardware and supplies. My pantry is pretty much dedicated to vaping and I have to admit that I'm an addict.

It's a fun hobby coming from a background where I was building 386's as a kid so it's up my alley and it saved my life. I don't care care about the death part but more of my lungs hurting when I wake up, had no energy and killed any cardio to the point of running up stairs was an issue. The worst is the smell though, especially if you haven't been around it for a while. I let somebody smoke two in my apartment a few weeks ago in the open and not out the window. My F'N GOD, for the next 3 days I was spaying so much shit, washing every damn thing that was washable, to even scrubbing my walls because I couldn't even sleep waking up in the middle of the night with that distinct sweet horrible smell that lingers like crazy.

How they are legal compared to other things that actually will improve your health to the point where it will actually shrink cancer tumors in THC/CBD. Dextromethorphan and Ketamine which is the only thing known that helps with my rare intolerable disease. Tryptamine drugs like DMT that would instantly reshape how society thinks and acts being the best method for us to grow as a species which could take tens of thousands of years still and it should be our #1 goal in life to get the ball running in our little Century.

u/0x6d1e · 2 pointsr/Coffee

The French Press brewing method gives you a very full-bodied cup, but the trade-off is that the flavors "muddy" a bit rather than being clear and crisp.

Chemex is pretty much the polar opposite; as a pour-over method with a paper filter, it gives you a cup with a lot of clarity but fairly low body. The Hario V60/V90 and Melitta pour-overs are similar in many ways, but the filters have different characteristics and they don't typically come with a brewing vessel (you can brew straight into a cup, but then you can't really see what you're doing).

Aeropress is a bit in-between -- it's an immersion brewing method, just like the french press, but also uses a paper filter which reduces body but increases clarity. (If you get one, throw out the included directions. They're universally regarded as silly).

However, before you go about expanding your brewing gear horizons, make sure you have the basics:

  • A good-quality grinder. The most important place to spend money on high-quality gear. Getting a good, consistent grind at the grind size you need for each method is important. Check the sidebar and wiki here for details.

  • A way to temp your hot water. If you already have an electric or stove-top kettle, then buy a measuring cup or a steaming pitcher and a steaming thermometer that clips to it. You'll bring water to boil, then decant into the other vessel and wait until the temp is right before brewing. If you want to spend more for convenience, consider a temperature-controlled kettle. If you're buying a kettle, spend a bit more for gooseneck: it makes life much easier for almost every brewing method.

  • A scale. Measuring coffee by volume will net inconsistent results. A gram scale will help you control this easily, and they aren't expensive. I use this AWS scale and like it; but you don't have to even spend $20 if you don't want. Just make sure it'll measure 0.1g increments.

    These will help you get the best results out of any brew method you experiment with.
u/ID10-T · 2 pointsr/DIY_eJuice

Eventually you're going to want a scale like this one so you can mix by weight, which is so much easier than messing around with syringes, but that's factored into a usual start-up cost of around $100. If you're eager to hop into DIY and want to take advantage of a good Black Friday deal, you might want to look into this kit, as using the TODAY ONLY Coupon code "HOLIDAYS" will get you close to that $40, and you get free shipping as well. You can get Nicotine (I'd recommend the PG based), PG and VG bases, 10 60ml bottles, and 15 flavors that way, that will at least get you started. Later, again, you'll probably want to invest in a scale, and you'll want more empty bottles, maybe higher quality nicotine if you have any issues with the nicotine base there (I haven't tried it but I know it's not top-of-the-line), and of course, more flavors.

As for the first order flavors, your best bet is going to be looking for recipes that sound good to you and are well-reviewed and buying the stuff to make those. If you're pressed too pressed for time to do that today, at least check out this list of suggested first-order flavors. Also allow me to personally recommend TFA Strawberry Ripe, CAP Vanilla Custard V1, CAP Sugar Cookies V1, TFA Strawberry, TFA Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, TFA Bavarian Cream, TFA Vanilla Swirl, TFA Dragonfruit, FA Fuji, TFA Cheesecake Graham Crust, LA Banana Cream, TFA Marshmallow, and CAP Cinnamon Danish Swirl as the best I can do for versatile first-order flavors without knowing what you're interested in.

Obviously if we knew more about what you enjoy we could suggest some specific recipes or other flavors for you.

u/mlochr · 8 pointsr/Coffee

When buying new gear like this, I often find it worthwhile to buy the good stuff from the beginning. It'll cost more upfront, but in the long run you save money by not sinking it into gear that you're just going to upgrade away from. I know you're looking for a starter kit, so I'll outline some entry level stuff and then some recommended upgrades.

For a burr grinder, a decent entry level manual grinder is the Hario Skerton. One complaint with this is inconsistent coarse grind size, which is what you'll be using with a French Press. Orphan Espresso makes an upgrade kit that fixes this problem, but personally I feel that if you're going to spend $40 on the Skerton and $15 on the upgrade kit, you should just spend a few more bucks and get something like the Capresso Infinity. This grinder is going to be way more convenient, versatile, and consistent than the hand grinder. For one last option, there's the Baratza Encore. This is probably the best grinder you'd want for French Press, because anything better / more expensive would just be overkill as they're primarily aimed at espresso.

The Press itself isn't too important. Bodum is usually the recommended brand.

You'll also need a way to heat water. You could go with a stovetop kettle, but I think electric kettles are more convenient, and are roughly the same price anyway. You can get a pretty standard one for less than $25. But getting a gooseneck kettle is going to help control your pour better and ensure the coffee grounds are completely saturated. If you don't want to worry about getting the perfect temperature for brewing, a variable temperature kettle will take care of it for you.

Other than that, you might want a kitchen scale to get the right coffee-to-water ratio, and a thermometer to check your water temperature.

u/SusieSuze · 1 pointr/loseit

The troupe of food you eat is very important.
Get rid of all flour and sugar and processed products.

Eating only whole foods- mainly plant based is shown to be the best for health and weight loss. Beans make you feel full. The calorie counts on beans is inaccurate due to fibre making a lot of the bean undigestible- true calorie count is estimated to be 2/3rds that is shown.
High fibre foods encourage gut bacteria that helps you lose weight. It’s good to eat quality organic meat but eat it sparingly. We really are not made to eat a lot of animal meat and dairy is definitely not at all necessary or advisable.

Having a good kitchen food scale really helps. Buy this oxo one it is expensive but fantastic. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000WJMTNA

If you are still on Prozac you may no longer need it when you replace the dairy and bread calories with highly nutrient dense foods like more greens and veggies and beans. Studies are showing that gut bacteria have a huge influence on mood. Seratonin is produced by the kind that loves fibre. So eating high fibre food will increase the number of good ‘happy-making’ bacteria.
http://m.caltech.edu/news/microbes-help-produce-serotonin-gut-46495
It’s interesting to note that pharmaceuticals always have an effect on our microbiome. The very drug you take to feel better could be killing the awesome bacteria that naturally produces the seratonin that will make you feel better. Who would have imagined that the right food is actually the antidepressant we need!

u/mal1291 · 2 pointsr/Coffee

The answer to your question is really dependent on budget. A quick perusal through the sub will show you that the Aeropress is a popular option because it is one of the least expensive ways to get a solid cup of coffee.

If you have some cash to part with, it might be worth looking at setting yourself up with a pourover setup - I'd probably suggest the v60. You would need the v60, the hario buono, and you'd probably want a scale to weigh coffee (there are a LOT of options, many cheaper than what I've linked). You would also need to get a reasonably good grinder - check out the sidebar for a list of grinders. Yes, it's a lot of capital to get started, but the coffee is fantastic and the equipment is very durable. This equipment, properly cared for, could potentially outlast you in many cases.

There's also the standard drip coffee maker, but from my experience if you go that route you ought to just invest in the cheapest one. The quality coffee from most drip machines is pretty similar. A better question is what grinder to get - that will improve your brew quality across all methods. Again, sidebar has great advice, but a really popular grinder here is the[ Baratza Encore] (http://www.amazon.com/Baratza-Encore-Conical-Coffee-Grinder/dp/B00LW8122Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1459250167&sr=8-1&keywords=baratza+encore+coffee+grinder) which you can sometimes find on their refurb page for discounted prices.

No matter what you choose - good luck and happy caffienation

u/Mayron_Gainz · 2 pointsr/Fitness

Macros is short for macronutrients (micros are short for micronutrients).

Macronutrients are Protein, Fats, and Carbs.

Rule of thumb for protein intake is 0.8 to 1.2 grams per pound of bodyweight. Too much protein doesn't help as it just gets converted to glucose. Too little won't help with protein synthesis and preventing amino acid break down.

For fats, a male should be taking in at least 50g fat and I'd say up to 100g fat (not that more than 100g of fat is bad, but carbohydrates are better at sparing muscle and giving energy). Many bodily functions are based on fat, more specifically hormonal regulation, vitamin absorption (A, D, E, and K are fat soluble), nails/hair, and cell function.

Carbohydrates are the last macronutrient to be calculated in your diet. You add up the calories from the protein (multiply the amount of grams by 4) and fat (multiply by 9). Subtract that from your calorie goal (typically 2000-3000 for cutting).

Fiber is a subset of carbohydrate. So one gram of fiber is considered 1 gram of carbohydrates. Ensure you get enough fiber per day (not too much though), about 30g or so.

---

Supplementation is great for those in fitness, still good for those who just want optimal health.

A multivitamin is a supplement that has many minerals and vitamins. There are many multivitamins out there but many of them are not good as they do not have good sources for their minerals/vitamins. One example is vitamin B12; a very CHEAP but badly sourced version of it is cyanocobalamin. The better version (and readily used by the body) is methycobalamin, but it costs more to produce it in a multivitamin. Many multivitamins come with add-ons like join complexes, digestive complexes, stimulants, amino acids, etc.

Omega 3's, found in fish oil, help with cognitive function, inflamation, among other things. Optimal dosage is 2.25g to 3g of EPA+DHA per day. The information can be found here: http://examine.com/supplements/Fish+Oil/

Creatine is great to supplement. Optimal dosage is 3-5g/day (don't go above, you're wasting money). The information on it can be found here: http://examine.com/supplements/Creatine/

Beta alanine is similar to creatine in function, in relation to helping with endurance. Again, you only need 3-4g/day. The information on it can be found here: http://examine.com/supplements/Beta-Alanine/

As you see I'm linking a lot to examine.com. A few redditors from /r/supplements made the site, and you can search by supplement in the search box. It provides studies, summaries, and information on dosages.

A lot of retailers can rip you off in regards to pricing and dosage. I recommend getting any kind of supplement powdered (creatine, for example) online from websites that sell in bulk (truenutrition.com, for example) and then getting a milligram scale (found [here] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0012TDNAM/)) to measure the mass.

u/[deleted] · 1 pointr/loseit

Doesn't matter if you use teaspoons or cups. The only difference is how much of the rub mix you end up with. I usually use tablespoons and keep the leftovers in a small Rubbermaid container. It makes enough to last a few weeks.

Remove skin from the chicken and sprinkle on the spice mix and rub it in (be careful to wash your hands after touching raw chicken, salmonella is bad news). Cook the chicken at 350F in the oven, or on the grill, for 40-50 minutes (or when internal temperature is 165 degrees F -- do you have a meat thermometer?). If grilling, make sure you remove all the skin and cook the chicken on a sheet of aluminum foil. BBQ sauce goes great too, just be sure you track the calories -- it has lots of sugar.

I eat lots of other stuff too (and track everything in MFP), but this stuff is kind of the basic foundation I start from. Fish is great, especially if you live near the ocean. I like poached salmon. Sometimes I'll have steak. Sometimes I'll cut up the grilled chicken and put it on a salad, or I'll put canned tuna on the salad and use a creamy dressing instead of vinegary one.

The only hard rule is counting all the calories (if you don't have a digital kitchen scale already, go buy one now. This is really necessary). I think it's easier and healthier if I make the staples of my diet mostly meat, greens, berries, fruit, nuts and olives. I try to limit how much potatoes and bready and sugary stuff I eat, but anything's fair game as long as the calories are counted. Be careful with fatty foods -- it's really really easy to get a ton of calories without realizing it. Avoid anything deep fried. You would be amazed how many calories are in a thin layer of oil-soaked breading.

It's also easier to count calories if you make a bunch of meals at once and measure them out into single serving containers that you keep in the fridge. Might be worth buying some Rubbermaid containers while you're shopping for a kitchen scale.

I also like the recipes on foodnetwork.com -- experimenting with recipes is how you get better at cooking. If it doesn't turn out right, it's usually at least edible, and then next time try changing what you did a little until you get it right. Eventually you'll be good enough to confidently serve guests a home cooked meal.

One last thing: just remember that 500 calories a day = 1 pound per week. Once you're past the first couple weeks your progress will get steadier. If you're not on track to make your goal, eat less or move more.

u/quixotic120 · 2 pointsr/MolecularGastronomy

I was given this kit several years ago: http://www.amazon.com/Artistre-Molecular-Gastronomy-Experimental-Assortment/dp/B00OIC5KII . I greatly enjoyed it but some things aren't super useful to me and a customized kit would have been excellent

Suggestions:

a scale! http://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-0-01g-Digital-Scale/dp/B0012LOQUQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418959233&sr=8-1&keywords=american+weigh+scale is what I used to use, super cheap and mostly accurate (i suggest also buying a few calibration weights to make sure of that). If you want to spend a touch more get one with either a larger platform or a display that won't be covered but 0.01g resolution is really important. I use a lab scale now but I still have the AWS for when I'm traveling or for when I need a second scale. Most of these compounds are essentially useless without a scale though

anti static dishes are handy but not essential. However I love having them around http://www.amazon.com/Eagle-Thermoplastics-WB-158-100-Polystyrene-Anti-Static/dp/B00CQB5SFS/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1418959559&sr=8-4&keywords=anti+static+dish is an example, you can probably find cheaper (and could get away with less as you could wash with soap and water and be okay versus a lab that would just dispose them to avoid any chance of contamination)

2-4mL disposable pipettes are super cheap (think 5 bucks for 100+) and incredibly handy, especially for weighing small amounts of liquids and plating

as for additives and such; personally i would start with the easy yet dramatic results. N-Zorbit is just fun to use and gives really neat results quickly, sodium citrate for fancy cheese sauces, lecithin and xanthan gum to emulsify and thicken sauces, etc. It's hard to make other recommendations without knowing what he wants to do and what his interests are.

In terms of barbecue I don't use much, MSG for spice rubs if that counts and calcium silicate for an anti-caking agent when I make spice rubs in bulk. For sauces I sometimes use the modified starches to thicken; Ultratex because it's essentially flavorless or xanthan because it's effective in small amounts.

or just get a gift certificate for modernist pantry. they ship internationally and are very helpful. Willpowder also ships internationally but only to certain countries.



u/j1mdan1els · 2 pointsr/Coffee

OK ...

If you're going to get into "specialist" coffee (and I recommend doing so to any coffee lover), what's most important are the beans you get and grinding them well.

I don't know how common good roasters are in Ireland but I would suspect they're thin on the ground outside of Belfast and Dublin (maybe Derry and a few other towns). Still, Google is your friend there ... search away.

I always suggest that those getting into this scene get the best grinder they can for the money. Get a small commercial grinder and get it used. There's this one on Gumtree now. Needs a clean and a lid but you'll find nothing better for £200.

As for the machine - you don't need one. Not yet. Go spend £50 on a Chemex and a box of filters or a little less on a Clever, a Wave or similar. You see, this is a really addictive hobby and you have to be a little careful where you spend your money. If you decide that you really want a machine rather than brew manually then go for a Technivorm but expect to pay close to £300. Using a machine takes away a lot of the control you have with a pour over ... you're likely to taste the difference as your palate develops and you risk being disappointed in the machine, which then ends up gathering dust.

Which manual method you decide to use is entirely subjective. I love the Chemex and (after years of practice) can pull out different taste profiles from the same beans. Many others will agree but just as many will suggest the Hario V60, aeropress or (as a barista I often go to swears by) the Clever Dripper. To be honest, none of these are expensive ... so feel free to try them all.

On the other hand, if by "machine" you mean espresso ... then I strongly suggest you master your pour over first before diving into that particular rabbit hole.

Edit: a few "extras" you'll really find helpful (in order) are a good scale with timer - like this, search around though because this is half as much again as I paid for mine. Then a pouring (gooseneck) kettle, this allows an incredible amount of control when it comes to pouring the water over the grounds. Finally, a thermometer ... you can get away with timing your water ie. boil, remove from heat, wait 20 seconds and you should have the right temperature.

u/goatnapper · 3 pointsr/DIY_eJuice

First, watch this, then come back: How to make your own E-Liquid : Mixing by Weight - DIY Tutorial I hate youtube tutorials, and I still recommend this, so seriously, watch it.

Now, a warning. You can spend a tiny amount to start DIY, or you can just take the plunge and spend a good chunk, but be set for a while and the cost per ml drops even more.

So you'll need supplies. Other than nicotine and flavorings, Amazon works pretty well.

  • Pipettes For adding nicotine, everything else we'll put in squeeze bottles.
  • Scale
  • VG
  • PG

    I put my PG and VG into some squeeze bottles I found at wal-mart for $0.97. Makes dispensing them super easy (just like in the video). You can also find them on Amazon for slightly more, but Walmart is on the way to work, so I just stopped there.

    I put my flavors into dripper bottles, which I got from Heartland Vapes, but that only works if you want 100+. Free shipping is at $75, so I also threw flavors into my orders, since I'd need them anyway. Personally, I started with single flavor juices that I knew I'd like. I ordered a lot from MtBakerVapor, and most of their flavors are just single flavor FlavorWest (FW) stuff, so I grabbed them. I made those for a month, then I started buying more flavors (like my favorite, TFA Chai). Now I'm adding more flavors into my juices, judging on what I think would work well (it doesn't always). Start simple, then build on what you learn.

    Buy some nicotine from your preferred vendor, if you want nicotine in your juice.

    Then wait impatiently while USPS loses your package in San Diego, CA, during which you can download the calculator and experiment with it. The bottom calculator on the side bar is amazing. Now you're going, "Crap, I gotta weigh my liquids!". Well, not really. You can take the specific gravities off the manufacturer data sheets (sometimes there, sometimes right, don't trust the ones from FW), google them, or ask here and someone probably has them. Or, you can use the built-in weights for PG and VG, and then set your flavors to 1ml = 1g. It's close enough.

    Most of all, remember to have fun.

    Quick tip: Better not enough flavor than too much. Too much flavoring mutes the flavor, not enhances, and spearmint burns your lips when you add too much. You can always add more, you can't take away.
u/funchords · 5 pointsr/loseit

It sounds like a great plan!

> Advice from current college students as far as eating habits/ how to deal with the eating barriers that come with being a college student are especially appreciated!

How to estimate your food when you're eating at school ... https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/4wvryb/eating_in_the_cafeteriadining_hall_how_to_be/

> I'm also considering buying a food scale

Yes, absolutely. The Ozeri Pronto Digital Multifunction Kitchen and Food Scale, Elegant Black is $6.95 on Amazon right now and a little more at Walmart and that's a great price and it's /r/loseit's favorite scale.

> Any tips on how to fully utilize the loseit thread?

Read the sidebar. If you're on mobile, the sidebar might be called "subreddit info" or something. The Wiki here is fantastic. Check out the daily and weekly threads. Join the challenges. Note the daily stickies as they keep things interesting. Please upvote the most interesting posts and useful comments as they encourage the posters to keep posting.

> Also, is it customary to post a starting picture?

No. But take one so that you have something to compare with from time to time. Also take your starting measurements for the same reason. You can post your progress here when you have progress to post.

Welcome!

^♂54 ^5'11^^/179㎝ ^SW:298℔^^/135㎏ ^CW:181℔^^/82㎏ ^[3Y AMA], ^[1Y recap] ^MFP+Walks🚶Hikes🏃C25K+TOPS

u/AddictedToSpuds · 1 pointr/electronic_cigarette

Do yourself a favor and mix by weight. This is a popular scale. More startup cost but waaay more convenient than using syringes. That said you'll probably want a few syringes and pipettes on hand anyway just in case.

Don't just buy random flavors that sound good to you - they rarely turn out the way you'd think. Pick a few well-established recipes and buy specifically for those. Mustard Milk, 'Nana Cream Clone, and Honey Pearry Clone are a good place to start.

This is a pretty good beginner's guide that goes into recommending specific recipes. Here's another one that goes into a little more depth on popular recipes and efficient flavoring orders.

I like to use http://e-liquid-recipes.com/ for recipe calculation and storage. Plug and chug. I get my flavors from Bull City Vapor/Flavor. I get nicotine from Wizard labs. VG/PG from Essential Depot on Amazon, and bottles from Amazon too usually. There are lots of other options for all of these, it's just what I do.

Make sure to read the sidebar on /r/diy_ejuice. If (when) you have questions, search the sub first because it's probably been asked and answered many times before. There's also a weekly new mixer's thread if you can't find the answer or want more clarification on something. It can seem like an overwhelming amount of information sometimes but it'll get easier once you get your feet wet.

u/Angelsrflamabl · 9 pointsr/fatlogic

You are trying to save your own life right now. It will take a few dollars and a lot of dedication (maybe some tears)

http://www.amazon.com/EatSmart-Precision-Digital-Kitchen-Silver/dp/B001N07KUE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1405488024&sr=8-3&keywords=food+scale

that is the food scale i have (have maintained a 50 lbs weight loss for over a year now I am 5'10 165lbs M)

I use myfitnesspal http://www.myfitnesspal.com/

create your profile, put your life as sedentary. Do not EVER log what you do as your normal day as exercise. Dont eat back the calories. Myfitnesspal is great, but it overestimates workout calories (in my experience)

my stepdad has used myfitnesspal and lost about 30 lbs for over a year now. He has never been able to keep it down until i showed him that site. He does eat back the calories, but only on days he goes for his 4 mile walk. It usually nets him a dessert.

Throw away your condiments that have calories... become good friends with yellow mustard, horseradish, hot sauce and pepper. Become great friends with grilled chicken, broccoli, eggs and water. I swear condiments were my own personal "secret eaters" episode.

I drink a lot of water It helps me nix my cravings.

join /r/loseit the community is really nice, and helpful.

people who really love you want you to LIVE. Sometimes that means tough love.


edit: once the weight is off you set myfitnesspal to maintenance and then get some of your cake with steak... just now it will be 1 slice instead of teehee size.

u/HDE01 · 1 pointr/vegetarianketo

I can attest to the quality of QuidNYC's Ketogenic Soylent formula. I'm currently sipping on my own variation on his concoction. It's quite different from eating "real food", but it only takes a few days before your brain finally goes "Ok, this isn't that bad, I can do this no problem".

The major benefit of Soylent for the Ketogenic Diet is that it can be a little daunting for beginners to keep track of everything, so this is a great way to make sure you are getting the right amount of calories, protein, carbs, fats (not to mention all the micronutrients). You don't have to think about food at all. Just blend and drink and food is not a consideration.

Warning: Soylent is pretty boring unless you get the flavor right. Some might think of Soylent Keto as "training wheels". It helps get you through induction by making sure you have the right calories, macros, and as long as you have good levels of mag, potassium, and sodium, you should be able to get away with less low-carb flu symptoms. Eventually, I found myself wanting to eat real food again (avocados, eggs, salad, etc..) So, I find myself sometimes doing Soylent while I'm at work, and having a "real dinner", and eating solid food on the weekends. It's working out pretty well for me and made Keto a lot easier in the beginning.

Regarding the HUGE Initial Investment for ingredients:
I tend to go extreme and spent about $400 to get all the bulk items up front. I would NOT recommend this - Yes, you will save some money buying larger quantities, but there is a good chance you'll end up deciding that you don't like something, and will want to remove it from the formula. Then you're left with an expensive, worthless, 25lbs bag of coconut flour. I strongly recommend buying small quantities of each ingredient first. Once you've settled on your formula, then go ahead and do bulk purchases.

You'll need a food scale, preferably one that measures in 0.1g increments to measure the ingredients accurately. I tried 3 from Amazon before settling on this one (it was large enough to work with various containers, and seemed more accurate than others I tried):
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001RF3XJ2/ref=oh_details_o06_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

u/uRabbit · 5 pointsr/Coffee

AeroPress, for sure. Here is probably the cheapest setup you can do, and still get the best flavour/experience.

Aerobie AeroPress + Able DISK Fine - $40 (I strongly suggest the DISK Fine over paper filters, but the AeroPress does come with a bunch of filters.)

Pocket Scale - $7

Carafe - $7 (so you press straight into this, and measure yield, as most mugs will not fit on the scale; also great for serving two)

Hario Slim burr grinder - $34 (if you'd rather go electric, the Bodum Bistro burr is a great buy and can be had for $120 new or under $100 used/refurbished)

Bonavita Gooseneck kettle - $50 (You do not need a gooseneck for the AeroPress, but you do for any type of pour over, so why not?)

Good luck, and have fun! Give my video a gander to see how to prepare with the AeroPress. It is fun! Almost as fun as an espresso machine. Ha! Yeah, right! But definitely worth the small coin.

u/eric_lewis · 1 pointr/StackAdvice

Addressing your first question, before buying any of these nootropics, I researched thoroughly and have not experienced any tolerance issues myself because I took necessary precautions in order to prevent that from happening. The only substances I have heard of causing the build of tolerance are pramiracetam and phenylpiracetam, the latter more so than any other substance. But this information, I have found, is anecdotal and these noots affect people differently than others. I have heard of cases of tolerance of phenyl can build in 3-4 straight days and pram in 1-2 weeks. I only take phenyl when I know I will have a challenging day ahead i.e on exam days. I cycle pram with other racetams, taking it 2 times per week, give or take. As for cycling, I would not take more than 2-3 racetams in a day, as it is not necessary. I usually take aniracetam daily, and cycle pram, oxi, and piracetam. Once again, you will have to experiment with these and find the cycling schedule that is most effective for you, or not cycle at all.

As for the capsule issue, it is definitely not necessary to use capsules. I used to use just powder and that has worked fine; I usually just dissolved my stack in water (I now just make my own capsules, for convenience). Powder is also much cheaper per dose. I have also heard of dissolving the powder sublingually, but I have not tried it. But if you buy the powder, you will most definitely have to buy a 0.001g scale, and it must be accurate, as many doses of noots will be in the 10 mg range. I recommend the [Gemini-20 scale] (http://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-GEMINI-20-Portable-MilliGram/dp/B0012TDNAM). Semax comes in the form of a nasal spray, don't know if you are comfortable with that, just a forewarning, if you decide to research. As I said before, I make my own capsules, and fit my whole stack into one pill, which I find convenient. There is a kit which I use on powdercity.com, if you are interested, which explains everything about capsule making.

Definitely a good choice to research everything before buying and definitely don't trust just one report, even data. You're welcome and once again, good luck.

u/melanie13241 · 2 pointsr/Advice

First of all, your mother was wrong for doing that and it's really common in raisedbynarcissists homes, though I'm not sure that she is a narc...because this is only one small example and could be applicable to non-narcs. That being said, it's never too late to learn how to cook. I was in the same boat as you were and was really frustrated by youtube videos because they taught things from a perspective of already knowing cooking basics and I didn't even know that much.

I'd strongly recommend this cookbook because it teaches you the basics to the basics. It actually shows you how to cut veggies properly and what brands to buy based on testing and gives it's reasoning and logic as to why. The recipes are easy to follow with lots of pictures and clear instructions and always come out as restaurant quality (for the record, I got this book in December 2018 and 2019 was the first time I ever cooked in my life) and have been able to make quite a few showstopping recipes (I started out by setting aside one day to try a new recipe, for example, I would decide ahead of time what I was making each Sunday which was when I would cook from this book as I have a full-time job and a child). So it depends on you how much time you have but honestly, one recipe a week has taught me so much about cooking in general.

I can't express how good the food is. My fully British bf loves Indian food (has all his life, of course) and we made a Chicken Tikki Masala from this book..he told me he's had this made gourmet at his favorite restaurants and that there was no way it would turn out as well for us (we were cooking together and he was trying to convince me to deviate from the actual instructions) unless he added stuff. I stood firm and told him that he had to try it their way first and to just try it before trying to change it...it ended up being so good that both of us now have a new favorite Chicken Tikki Masala recipe lol.

I'd also recommend a small scale if you don't already have one because it makes it much easier to cook meats if you actually cut them down to the right size. For example, if it say's 6-8 ounce chicken breasts, I buy chicken breasts and cut off all of the fat until it's close to 6-8 (usually closer to 8.5 but close enough). Because then when the recipe says cook 4 minutes on each side, you can literally follow that exactly and it should come out perfectly every time. Hope that helps but please let me know if you have more questions/anything else that I can help with! I linked the one we use but it's up to you, of course.

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Cooking-Two-Cookbook-Everything/dp/1936493837/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=cooking+for+2&qid=1563201487&s=gateway&sr=8-3



https://www.amazon.com/Etekcity-Multifunction-Stainless-Batteries-Included/dp/B0113UZJE2/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=small+scale&qid=1563201838&s=gateway&sr=8-7

u/The-Exact-Opposite · 1 pointr/tea
  1. That's great. I know I can't leave them so long they cultivate bacteria or anything but was wondering if starting with cold leaves/tea ware would present any significant drawbacks. If waiting two hours is okay and considering how quickly they steep, it's a possible grandpa style replacement for work tea.

  2. Thanks that gives me a good idea to go on for now. I do intend to buy a scale. Looking on amazon and can't decide. This one seems like the best option of the ones I've found so far.

  3. Kind of raises some other questions. Am I really supposed to be drinking the tea from those tiny cups? I have been going straight from the pitcher (~4oz) and pouring straight into my tall teacups I had before (~8oz)

    Thanks for your help. I really appreciate it.
u/almostelm · 5 pointsr/loseit

It sounds like you're on the ball. The only thing I would recommend doing if you're really frustrated with the lack of progress would be to invest in a kitchen scale (this one is probably best for you in terms of your limited funds). You might be miscalculating how much you're eating which can be why you're stalled.

To calculate home cooked meals, I count the calories, by weight, of everything I put into a dish until I have the grand total for the whole thing. Then I divide the food into tupperware, by weight so everything is equal, and of course some for my plate for dinner that day. I take that grand total and divide it by the servings I've portioned out. It takes a little time, but usually the math is super easy as long as I have that grand total and number of equal serving sizes. I eat really well for two or three days on the leftovers, because I'll purposefully make extra and I know exactly how many calories are in each.

Honestly, just stay the course and if you're still not seeing results, consider getting the scale. It really helped me. Also, if you haven't already, take pictures of yourself and measurements. If you're not seeing the number on the scale go down, you may see results in the pictures or measurements! If you want you can friend me on MFP: Liluth. Good luck! I hope you start seeing results soon. It sounds like you're working really hard at it.

u/free_range_human · 2 pointsr/Fibromyalgia

Again, I cannot stress enough that I am not a doctor, nor a nutritionist! :) I can only speak from personal experience and, well, basic math.

In my personal experience, I think looking to "get in shape" by just doing one thing, is stabbing in the dark. I spent years making excuses for myself -- e.g. "I'm just naturally bigger." and "I am not a vain person, so I don't want to spend my efforts on things that focus on superficial beauty."

It's pretty simple though and I'm down 35 lbs since October. Count your calories and pay attention to every, single thing you put in your mouth -- you are what you eat (both literally and figuratively).

You'll see many people recommend My Fitness Pal and they are right in doing so. So many people say, "But, I'm on My Fitness Pal and I still haven't lost any weight!" You won't lose weight just by signing-up and logging-in to their website. :)

Count your calories, weigh your food. Here's the food scale I purchased:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003MSZBSI

I didn't take the approach of, "I have to only eat lettuce!" Nope, just start counting calories, regardless of what you eat. If you want to eat cheese pizza slices, fine, just count the calories.

This is when you'll quickly start to see just how much something like pizza consumes @ your daily caloric intake.

So before you try to run (no pun intended), try to walk first -- count your calories. If you put salad dressing on your salad -- even ranch -- just read the label, put a little dish on your food scale, and pour the actual serving size. i.e. don't just blindly pour.

As you do this, you'll start to actually see how much stuff you can/should eat -- i.e. you'll get better at portioning your food without having to be so methodical about it.

Again, I am not a doctor nor a nutritionist, just speaking from personal experience, after decades of blind eating. One footlong sub from Subway with chips and a drink...is an ENTIRE DAY'S calories. So, go ahead and eat that, but know you can't eat anything else that day.

The more you do this, the more you'll start to naturally lean toward foods and portions that work right with your daily caloric intake. I am a pizza, bread, pasta, cheese, and milk type of person, so I couldn't even fathom being satiated, let alone satisfied, by eating a salad with cheese and croutons and dressing and freshly-grilled chicken...but it was all mental, as most-everything is.

If I can do it, anyone can do it, I truly believe that.

Best of luck to you and if you ever have any questions or just need to bounce something off of a stranger, I'll do my best to help!

Edit: Also, not that you're trying to "lose weight," but I found by utilizing My Fitness Pal, I could not only see my caloric intake, but the amount of protein I was taking in each day, as well as sodium. So it's a fundamental difference @ what you eat and by simply scrutinizing it, it helps clear the path.

u/MsZombiePuncher · 2 pointsr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

From each list?

  • Miscellaneous list: High Waisted Pencil Skirt - I've recently discovered how much I love pencil skirts, and it want more. This looks perfect!

  • Books List: Battle Magic by Tamora Pierce - This is the newest book in her series, which I've been reading since I was 12. I still love the series, and am looking forward to continuing it!

  • Cooking List: A Digital Kitchen Scale with Pull Out Display - I've gotten into bread making and more serious baking, which starts to require weighting all your ingredients. I've had my eye on this one in particular because it's stainless steel, and the pull out display is great when your bowl is really big.

  • Tea List: This Tea Mug with Tea Strainer - I'm starting my first big girl job in May, and I'll definitely feel more comfortable there if I can drink my own loose leaf tea. And I love how sleek and easy this mug is, and it just looks so great too! I already have my eye on it being my work mug.

  • Craft List: Ginger Essential Oil - This one was difficult, because this is a multi-part thing. I want to make my own solid perfume, which means I have to get a carrier oil (Almost Oil), beeswax, and whatever I want to smell like. So far I'm thinking I want to smell like ginger, lemon and cloves. Or ginger, lemon, and basil. I plan to make a few different ones and see what I like best.


    This was fun! I never really thought about what my highest priority ones were.
u/WickedVaper · 2 pointsr/DIY_eJuice

Honestly it’s easy as fuck to do, especially one shots mixed by weight or mixing other people’s recipes. It gets tricky when you decide you want to mix your own custom flavor, but even after a while that gets pretty easy because you’ll get to know the flavors and what they’ll be good with, what they probably won’t go with, etc. It can be overwhelming at first but it gets easy.

If you need links for the nicotine I recommend I’ll PM it to you, you can get the scale I recommended right here

My biggest piece of advice for if/when you decide to create your own recipe though is to make sure you try the flavors solo mixed in a 15ml tester bottle with no nic at different flavoring percentages on an RDA that has good flavor to really get a better understanding of them before you mix them with other flavors.

I’ve been mixing for the last 3 years, it’s definitely a lot easier now than it was when I started, it could be pretty frustrating at times but now I can usually come up new recipes like it’s nothing at this point lol.

u/Sharkoon1 · 3 pointsr/Fitness

Ye we have a scale , at first i would use scale , but later you can pretty good eyeball stuff,so when im eating out i eyeball . But at home i pretty much put everything on a scale

http://www.amazon.com/Ozeri-Professional-Digital-Kitchen-Tempered/dp/B003MSZBSI/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1421004898&sr=8-3&keywords=kitchen+scale

got this one , its pretty good.

And in terms of bodycomposition if you want to gain muscle or lose fat its not important to eat 100% "clean"(but i do it for my health) , i have for myself set up a rule that i get atleast 500 g of grean veggies, good protein, 2 fruits and oats, then i put some stuff here and there into my diet.

After some time you will begin to mix stuff up, i like to use peanut butter in the morning with oats , bananas , milk and some vanilla whey for the flavour. Its pretty good. Cooking is a skill like lifting ;)

u/KrazyKracks · 1 pointr/kratom

Kratom can be a very beneficial tool if used responsibly. First, you'll want a gram scale like this https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000O37TDO/ref=pd_gwm_simh_0?pf_rd_p=eeda26e3-c818-411e-91c7-e824b2883986&pf_rd_s=blackjack-personal-2&pf_rd_t=Gateway&pf_rd_i=mobile&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=898VZ29JK7381FRKZA4Q&pd_rd_wg=8n6KV&pd_rd_r=898VZ29JK7381FRKZA4Q&pf_rd_r=898VZ29JK7381FRKZA4Q&pf_rd_p=eeda26e3-c818-411e-91c7-e824b2883986&pd_rd_w=7WJry&pd_rd_i=B000O37TDO . You should try a red, Bentuangie, gold of green strain. The different colors represent have different alkaloids, which give them different effects, to put it simply. As for vendors, herbal Rva, socal herbal remedies, Gaia ethnobotanicals are some of the most popular here. I recommend getting the Royal Bentuangie and whatever other strain from Herbal Rva, https://herbal-rva.com/?s=speciosa&post_type=product . It is the strain I recommend to people for relaxation / pain relief, as it works really well and is very popular. The side effects from Kratom are nausea, headaches and withdrawals (which are different for everybody). You'll get nauseas if you take too much, you'll get a headache if you don't drink a lot of water as Kratom dehydrates you similar to alcohol does. You can also eat some ginger like the candy Chimes or Gin Gins and they help with nausea. These are easy to avoid though, by finding the best dose that works for you. A good amount to start with is 2 grams, and if it doesn't work that well, then add a gram after a few hours have passed. Keep doing this until you find an amount that feels good and works for you. Something to remember though is that some strains of Kratom won't work and you won't feel them, while some will work great for you. I wrote a post on how I take my Kratom, and there are some more methods in the comments https://www.reddit.com/r/kratom/comments/6in8zl/the_easiest_most_effective_way_to_take_kratom/ .Hope this helps, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask

u/thefourthdr · 6 pointsr/electronic_cigarette

Tips.

  1. I don't recommend a kit, but that's just me.
  2. Mix by weight. Buy this scale https://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-Scales-LB-501-Digital/dp/B005UGBG20/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1474497797&sr=8-3&keywords=Digital+scale&refinements=p_89%3ADigital+Scale%7CAmerican+Weigh+Scales. The 500g one, not the others. You want 0.01g precision.
  3. Don't buy random flavors. Pick one or two juices over at http://e-liquid-recipes.com that sound good to you and have a good rating. Buy the flavors to make those.
  4. Buy your VG and PG here. https://www.amazon.com/Glycerin-Vegetable-Kosher-USP-Quart/dp/B004C7MTLA/ref=sr_1_2_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1474497923&sr=8-2&keywords=vegetable+glycerine and https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Depot-Propylene-Glycol-Quart/dp/B005F5OJG6/ref=pd_sim_121_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=D735R4MZTM0WJN6VZ840
  5. Get some pipettes. Plastic Transfer Pipettes 1ml, Graduated, Pack of 500 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005CD2I50/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_77W4xb3TT4MQX
  6. Get good nicotine. I like Carolina Xtracts and Nude Nicotine
  7. Read everthing here. https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY_eJuice/wiki/diy_beginners_guide
  8. Read the everything here. https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY_eJuice/comments/3lu9gx/nicotine_need_to_know_all_your_questions_answered/
  9. Read eveything here. https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY_eJuice/wiki/verified_vendors
  10. Watch this. https://youtu.be/EMEY5L46b18
  11. Wear protective gloves if you buy high percentage nicotine solution!
  12. Enjoy your freedom. You're right, it is fun to do. And easy. My wife calls it vaking :)
u/yokken · 3 pointsr/Coffee

You know, I really don't know where the ratio came from! I just read it in many places, including Sweet Maria's, SomethingAwful's coffee thread, Reddit, and probably some product pages or random tutorials/videos scattered throughout the web. It seems to be an ideal ratio that gives you just enough of the flavor without wasting beans or making it difficult to get a proper extraction, with the coffee ending up too sour as a result of too short a brew/too coarse grounds or too bitter, as a result of too long a brew/too fine grounds. Adding more grounds means you need a longer brew time, and from what I've experienced, most people's brew times revolve around the 1:16 ratio (or at least seem to work best for it). By all means, play with the ratio, but 1:16 should serve as a good starting point. I've brewed 1:14 ratio and 1:18 ratio and they both taste great. 1:14 has a real punch to it with something like the Aeropress, but can be hard to brew without a little sourness or bitterness, and 1:18 is sometimes a little watery/muted through something like a V60 or Chemex.

Get a scale like this one for under $20. Take notes when you start brewing, so you can keep a consistent grind size, water temp, grounds mass, and water mass. Water is 1g per mL so it's really easy to measure it out without a measuring cup - just throw the kettle on your scale, tare it, and fill the kettle! Take note of what time you stopped pouring (or how long until you ran out of water), and the time it finished draining. Aim for ~3min brew time on pourover, usually "blooming" for first 30sec, then finishing pour around 2min. Like I mentioned in the OP, the Aeropress brew takes about half that time. Once you make a really great cup, draw tons of circles and arrows and make sure you don't lose that recipe! You can put it into a text document on your computer of course. I have about 6 pages of notes, front and back, from when I was really into coffee and was brewing it every day or every other day. I don't need to mess with settings anymore because I've got my whole setup dialed in.

Edit: Sorry to whomever downvoted me... trying to help someone who said they just got into coffee.

u/MOISTEN_THE_TAINT · 1 pointr/Fitness

Step 1: count calories

Don't change a thing about your diet yet, just track. I use MyFitnessPal because it's easy. Haven't looked at alternatives yet.

Guesstimating is an anti patten, but you know what? It's honestly better than nothing at this point.

Personally I recommend leaving out steps any exercise sessions unless you're doing serious amounts of cardio.



Step 2: WAM (weigh and measure)
Cool, you've tracked for 2-4 weeks. Now, if you cook or meal prep , go on Amazon and buy a food scale. Learn what 4 ounces of chicken looks like. Learn what a tablespoon looks like. Your estimates from the past month will start being far more accurate.

FYI this is the food scale I use. No idea if it's the best, but it does the job: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004164SRA/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Step 3: Weigh and measure yourself
Once a week, same time of day and situation. I do It after I poop on Monday morning.

Weight is one measurement, I also recommend a caliper. Depending on your situation, lean muscle mass gain might nullify fat loss. Caliper doesn't lie. Relatively simple so long as you are consistent. Measure multiple areas (chest, iliac crest, arms, thighs).

I bought this caliper: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000G7YW74/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1



Step 4: Long haul
You're making a lifestyle change. This isn't "a diet", it's "your diet ". Diet meaning your day in, day out style of eating. Making one better decisions day could mean 500 calories a day. 500 * 7 = 3500, the calories in a pound of fat.

Make allowances

  • eat garbage if you want to. Make it fit your macros.
  • think weekly rather than daily, if you want to go out with coworkers and have some beers, swap out an item tomorrow for a lower calorie item. No big deal.
  • don't be a fucking Nazi. Enjoy life. Long term his is an equation you can balance. Gain 5 - 10 lbs during a Thanksgiving, account for it and realize it'll take 5-10 we is after the new year to lose.

    Sidebar, if your female, account for your cycle and water retention, and a slower rate of fat loss.





u/dubzors · 1 pointr/Coffee

First off, there are guides for this already which is why people are not responding. They are in the side bar and I linked them again here:

How To Coffee: A Primer

Coffee Gear Suggestions by Price

Now on to my own advice. I am also relatively new to coffee so my advice is based on researching how to get started over the last couple of months

Give us a budget, but under $100 puts you here:

  1. Grinder: The Hario Mini Mill ($27) is fairly highly recommended here
  2. Scale: American Weigh Scales SC-2KGA ($25). The AC-adapter version of a fairly popular scale here. It should work for a long time and work well for most types of brewing. The Jennings CJ4000 ($27) is also very popular and is worth a look. The difference is the Jennings responds way faster - which is useful for pour over - but is less precise (increments of .5 grams instead of .1 grams, though this is not as big of a deal)
  3. Brew device: Aeropress ($22), French Press ($25), or Pour Over (Melitta Cone or Beehouse) There is only one Aeropress version but there are lots of French Presses, I linked to a Bodum Chambord which is the favorite here. You can decide which one of these will work better for you based on the other responses on this thread or by searching in /r/Coffee.
  4. Cheap water thermometer or an electric kettle that can set temperatures. If you go with a Pour Over method you need a gooseneck kettle which sets you back another $35-65 depending on how nice. A lot of people go with the Bonavita Variable Temperature Digital Electric Gooseneck Kettle ($63).
  5. The coffee! Try to get freshly roasted (look for a "Roasted On" date instead of an expiry or packaged/binned on date) coffee. Try and buy stuff that is roasted less than 5 days ago and use it before 3 weeks from the roasted on date (some people say 2). You can try to find local roasters and coffee houses that sell fresh whole bean coffee using the /r/Coffee search or Yelp. Be careful with darkly roasted (ie French roast) coffee because a lot of the dark roasts at Grocery Stores and even shops (Starbucks) is considered over roasted and basically burnt. If you want suggestions for brands search /r/Coffee, though really popular and expensive stuff would be Intelligentsia and Stumptown.
u/christmasfine · 10 pointsr/DarkNetMarkets

It's fine, busts and CD's tend to happen because of frequent and regular large deliveries in or out, ie Supertrip's big ships of pills going through a Chicago postal processing center regularly, NOD's packages going out of the same postage center every day.

However, a lot of the shit you are buying is better bought clearnet or elsewhere.

The best scale for the value you can get is the AWS Gemini-20. It's a 20g scale that measures to the milligram (most say it's tolerance is around 3-5mg): http://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-GEMINI-20-Portable-MilliGram/dp/B0012TDNAM

Only $25. To get much more accurate you need to spend hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. Really, if you need much more accurate than this, you should spend thousands of dollars.

> 1 glass pipe for smoking DMT 0.03491245 BTC

Overpriced and risky, just get your pipe from the clearnet or from real world vendor. I mean smoking DMT is really straightforward, I'd just buy some piece of shit from the gas station, even a weed pipe and use ash or choreboy.

> es-light AGO White Dry Herb Vaporizer 0.09399505 BTC

Clearnet...

> $300+ Headset

Which headset are you getting? For that price range imo the best buy is the Phillips X1.

> iPhone 6 - 128 gb

er... okay.

> $2000+ laptop

why the fuck do you need a $2000 laptop? You can make a $300 desktop that would kill it in performance. You are better off buying a decent, cheap ~$500 laptop (and just replace the HDD with an SSD rather than buying one with an overpriced SSD - seriously, for general usage, SSD is the most important component nowadays), and then build a strong desktop for $500 for your gaming.

You literally only buy a $2000 laptop because you need to game or encode on the move... like you are away from home every day and have to play while away, like just a book or your smartphone can't keep you entertained. Doesn't make much sense at all to buy a $2000 laptop.

> $100+ Mouse

Which one? You really don't need an expensive mouse... What kind of hand grip do you have?

The Razer Deathadder is still to this day one of the best mice you can buy, and super cheap, if you are a palm gripper. If you are a claw gripper, I'd recommend the $50 Steelseries Spawn. Also, many people swear by the many high quality Logitech mice, which are around $50 or less.

I just don't see why you'd buy a $100+ mouse unless you are connoisseur of sorts and know what you are doing and specifically have used high quality ~$50 mice. Like, a $100+ mouse isn't nicer than a $50 mouse, it's usually just full of overmarketed bullshit that don't mean anything. It only takes about $40 to make a really nice mouse, that's why it's weird.

I mean if you really know your mice, and have used a Spawn or DA or other popular mice, then go for it, I just want to make sure you are making an informed decision here.

u/ZenOfPie · 3 pointsr/Baking

The Wilton chart is for 2" pans.

A 3" pan will hold more batter.

You want to fill a cake pan no more than 1/2 to 2/3 full, depending on how much the batter rises - I have a recipe for Red Velvet Cake that rises more than usual so I use a deeper pan or go up to a 9" pan when making a full recipe.

However 6" cake pans are perfect for making smaller cakes for one or two people so I use them much more often than my larger pans these days as there are only the 2 of us and neither of us have much of a sweet tooth.

a 6x3 pan has a total volume of 5.8 cups. So 1/2 to 2/3 of that is what you can safely bake in it - 2.9 cups to 3.9 cups of batter fills it.

an 8x2 pan has a usable volume of 3.5 c to 4.6 c

a 9x2 pan has a usable volume of 4.4 c to 5.9 cups

Most recipes are for 2 layers.

The easiest conversion for your smaller pans is to find a recipe intended for a 9x2 pan and make half of it - that will make enough for 2 layers using 6x3 pans.

Because recipes vary somewhat in the actual volume they make, you will probably need to experiment a few times. Using an 8x2 two layer recipe could give you just enough batter (if the yield is at the low end of the range for the pans) or a bit too much (if it yields at the high end). No big deal, just make some cupcakes as well and adjust accordingly next time you make the recipe. A little math will be involved is all.

I'm curious, is the book to which you refer one of the Small Batch Baking books? My experience with those was also negative. The problem, I believe, is not with the recipes per se but with the way they are measured. Cake batters are extremely susceptible to small changes in ingredient quantities. Even when making "normal" quantities of 2 8" or 9" layers, variations in ingredient quantities can easily "break" a recipe. And when measuring by volume, quantities ALWAYS vary.

I strongly recommend switching to by-weight measuring for baking, especially for cakes. There are at least 3 pretty good recipe books that give most or all measurements by weight.

The Cake Book

The Cake Bible

*Great Cakes

If you've had trouble with cakes, switch to by-weight measures. It's amazing how much difference it can make in your baking. It also makes dividing recipe quantities much easier. Scales are quite affordable.

I own the Polder KSC-310-28, currently on sale at Amazon for $21, a real deal since I paid a lot more for mine.

http://www.amazon.com/Polder-KSC-310-28-Digital-Glass-Silver/dp/B000G2OTM2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369835990&sr=8-1&keywords=Polder+KSC-310-28+Easy+Read+Digital+Glass+Top+Scale%2C+Silver

I also own the Escali P115C Primo, which is ok but I like the Polder better, plus atm it's more expensive (normally the Polder is the more expensive scale).

http://www.amazon.com/Escali-P115C-Digital-Multifunctional-Chrome/dp/B0007GAWRS/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1370129662&sr=1-1&keywords=Escali+P115C+Primo

Also many people swear by the My Weigh KD-8000 "Baker's Math" Scale. It's a bit pricier but it is pretty heavy duty - manages up to 17 lbs! You can get a power cord for it (though you can use batteries if you want to) - search on "Old Will Knott Scales" to find where you can get both the scale and the power cord (plus full details on the scale itself).

u/OfficerNelson · 5 pointsr/loseit

No issues at all with the post, it's just that the FAQ has a lot of tips for people getting started that you should read through.

Start out with MFP (it's free) and see what happens. It is stupidly simple to use and will track everything you need. A food scale is nice (this is the recommended one, $12) but it is really only particularly needed if you are dealing with bulk food. On that note - if you want to get into "cooking", try starting out with chicken. Get some bulk chicken (unbreaded) and you can just pop it in the oven for a while. If you get raw chicken, make sure you get a meat thermometer ($10-20). Chicken gives you tons of protein and it's really difficult to screw up. I've focused on it so far and it has worked really well - I'm a picky eater, at that.

Frankly, you can get a kick start with some microwave meals and go from there. They are easier to track calories on and are stupid simple to make. Just keep in mind, microwave meals can really start to add up in price. If you're truly limited to food banks, try pasta to get some variation from the traditional canned food - just be aware that pasta is loaded with carbs and has quite a few calories, so eat in moderation. You can usually find cans of tomato sauce and dried pasta - it's no Olive Garden, but it will do. You can try adding some garlic powder and onion powder to the sauce to pump up the flavor a bit.

You should also actually calculate out your TDEE here. MFP's formula overestimates if you are truly sedentary like you say. I would recommend 1.1 for your activity level. It'll probably spit out a number a few hundred less than your MFP goal - follow that instead (although your MFP number will get you there, just slower).

One benefit to just simply using MFP is realizing how calorie-intense your foods are. I used to have a bag of chips or some cookies half of the time whenever I was at the computer and I don't want to imagine how many calories I mindlessly snacked down. When you start actually metering your snacks, the shock kicks you into gear and you really do just avoid them.

And most importantly - find something interesting to do. Anything. If it's just walking around town, great. Hell, if it's just sitting outside and people-watching, go for it. Getting your mind focused on something you enjoy will distract you from eating. I've found myself at the end of the day having not eaten anything and not even noticed because I've been so engrossed in something. On top of that, a social net is really helpful as well - if you're comfortable with the idea, find people with similar interests nearby and just visit, even if it means zoning out on their couch playing video games. If you don't want to, that's fine too - /r/loseit is more than enough of a social net.

u/orange_ollie · 3 pointsr/loseit

Hi there! Congratulations on the birth of your kiddo :)

Take a look at the links the automod posted - they're very helpful and will give you the knowledge and tools to get started. You'll want to purchase a digital food scale like this, and download a calorie tracking app like MyFitnessPal or Lose It. Weight loss is mostly about cutting calories, but being active is wonderfully helpful not only for toning your body but also in making you feel better about yourself. Walking is a fantastic activity for new moms - that was exactly how I started getting back into exercise after having my daughter last year.

For healthy recipe inspiration, take a look at SkinnyTaste, Sprouted Kitchen, and OhSheGlows. You can import the recipes directly into your calorie app. There are many, many more low calorie/healthy cooking blogs to discover and explore. Find one or two you like and have fun cooking!

One important note: If you are breastfeeding, take a look at this article and talk to your lactation consultant/doctor before you start cutting calories. Restricting calories too much can lower your supply.

Good luck with the weight loss, the exercise, and the kiddo!

u/FrontpageWatch · 1 pointr/longtail

>I know we normally stick to discussing the actual act of cooking but I found a good deal on an Amazon best selling product so I thought it was worth sharing. There's a 50% discount on the #1 best selling cooking scale which drops the price from $15 to $7.5 You just need to use the promo code PRONTOME on checkout and make sure to buy from Moderna Housewares LLC on the "Other Sellers On Amazon" column for the code to work. Hope it helps a few of you save a little bit of money.
>
>https://www.amazon.com/Ozeri-Digital-Multifunction-Kitchen-Elegant/dp/B004164SRA

u/nudelete · 1 pointr/Nudelete

>I know we normally stick to discussing the actual act of cooking but I found a good deal on an Amazon best selling product so I thought it was worth sharing. There's a 50% discount on the #1 best selling cooking scale which drops the price from $15 to $7.5 You just need to use the promo code PRONTOME on checkout and make sure to buy from Moderna Housewares LLC on the "Other Sellers On Amazon" column for the code to work. Hope it helps a few of you save a little bit of money.
>
>https://www.amazon.com/Ozeri-Digital-Multifunction-Kitchen-Elegant/dp/B004164SRA

u/cache4gold · 2 pointsr/Coffee

So I was in a similar position to you at one point.

I found someone on a reddit community I frequented who sold me his Baratza Preciso for $100. It’s basically a retired version of the Virtuoso with micro adjustments on top of the regular macro. It’s served me very well. I had a friend who I got into coffee who just picked up an Encore and he’s delighted with it. For the bang for the buck it’s hard to go wrong with Baratza really in the sub $200 range. Especially considering you can find their refurbs which are updated (on Thursdays I think?) regularly and can get an encore for sub $100.

I find the Chemex to be far more forgiving than a V60. Some people say it’s expensive ($35ish) but considering you can get away with not using a gooseneck it’s cheaper in the long run in my opinion. If you don’t use a gooseneck with a V60, you’re going to have a bad time. V60s are finicky until you get a good feel for them. Don’t get me wrong, they can make a fantastic cup, but you have to put in the work. You can also look at the Kalita Wave which I think you can find the 185 on amazon for like $25 instead of $45 which is typical. It also takes funky filters that are hard to find (similar to v60).

As others have said the body is going to naturally be a little softer and more nuanced with a chemex. If you like big juicy Kenyans like me that may not be your preference, whereas if you like more floral, delicate Ethiopians then you’re golden. As time has gone on I’ve learned to appreciate my chemex more. It’s easy to dial in and brew correctly. Very forgiving of pour and what not and the body issue (less oils from the thicker filter) is more or less non-existent now that I have a little more developed palate (although I’m far from a connoisseur or q-grade taster).

Also a scale is super important if you aren’t using one. It’s ridiculous how easy it is to think you’re measuring correctly and you are totally off without a scale.

TL;DR Buy an encore or virtuoso and a chemex if you don’t have a gooseneck. Maybe a Kalita Wave if body is a huge deal for you. Get the V60 if you’re obsessive compulsive and want to really nerd out and probably brew shittily extracted coffee until you get it down. Any extra money invest in a good kettle and SCALE.

Cheap ass Shopping List:

u/stormhunter1 · 2 pointsr/Fitness

Dude, seriously, wall of text.

That said, your problem isn't just working out or eating right or portion control.

It seems your problem is the LACK of a REALISTIC PLAN. Warrior fasting? Not drinking water because you are afraid of water weight? 1000 calorie days? If you continue to do these things, you will end up in a fucking hospital. I may sound a bit dramatic, but I am dead SERIOUS.

If you really want to lose weight, it starts in the kitchen.

You also stated that if you miss a day, you start over, both of these things are kinda part of the problem. I was similar to you in that aspect, I kept trying to do p90X/P90, and I had those days where I couldn't drag myself to workout, and started over, furthest I got was 2 weeks, frustrating isn't it?

So then, that said, lets make a plan, a simple one. Everything I am going to tell you is listed in the FAQ on the right-hand side of the subreddit, to make referencing easier.

  • First: We need to approximate your TDEE, thats your Total Daily Energy Expenditure, here is a calculator for ya. It is very simple, just enter the relevant info.
  • Step 2: Take the number you got for maintenance, and subtract 500 calories from it, or just use the number listed for fat loss. From now on, you can eat how you like, but you cannot go over that number, if you are having trouble counting calories, use myfitnesspal, a food scale, and google.
  • Step 3: Incorporate a workout routine, making it a habit isn't easy, so you DO NOT want/need to workout everyday. Otherwise you will burn yourself out unnecessarily. I am doing Starting Strength, which requires me to workout 3 times a week, every other day.
  • NOTE: I DO NOT workout on the in between days, as the rest days are too important towards making any real progress. If you do not like the gym, there are body-weight exercises (such as: calisthenics, yoga, pushups, sit ups, etc) as an option
  • Step 4: DOCUMENT EVERYTHING. You don't need anything fancy, get a $1-2 notebook and a pen. Make separate sections for your nutrition/diet needs and your workout progress. Writing that shit down helps a lot as it tends to help reinforce what you are doing and what you did, since you are trying to lose weight.
  • Step 5: You also want to note down your weight on a daily basis, make sure you do this at the same time everyday, most people tend to do so in the morning, around wake-up time.
  • Step 6: Repeat Steps 3-4. Repeat step 1-2 every few weeks with your updated information from your notebook.

    SPECIAL NOTE: You should be getting most of your nutrition from your food, seeing as how you can actually cook, this should be a walk in the park. You can still take a multi to balance things out though. Protein powder can help too. The only things I see as unnecessary are the fat burners and the creatine, as I know little on fat burners, and creatine helps increase water weight.

    FINAL NOTE: If you are looking for motivation and encouragement, check out /r/getmotivated, print out some of that shit and stick it on your walls, put up some nike just do it posters. Talk to your GF, get her to help you stay on track. As for your friends, I don't know them, so I will say nothing, but I will say this, you have to put your health first, you only get one body, and you are in a position to take better care of it before any permanent damage sets in.

    OP, good luck, I really hope you read this, and as for others here, feel free to correct me.
u/zayelhawa · 10 pointsr/Baking

Here are some of my favorite tools:

  • Mini measuring cups/beakers - I love these! No more spilled/wasted vanilla extract.
  • Instant-read thermometer - I use this to check on the temperature of my dough/ingredients and even to confirm things are done baking.
  • Maybe you already have these, but if not, I use my kitchen scale and oven thermometer all the time.
  • Bakeware rack - This keeps my baking sheets and smaller pans better organized and more easily accessible than just stacking them on top of each other.
  • Marble slab - keeps pie/pastry dough cold as you roll it out (I keep mine in the fridge so it's always ready).
  • Pastry strips for making sure pie (or rolled-out cookie) dough is rolled out to an even thickness. Pastry cloth/sleeve for keeping dough from sticking.
  • Cookie scoops - for drop cookies, muffins, cupcakes, and really anything that needs to be portioned out evenly (including non-baking stuff like meatballs). Whenever I use these, I'm always really grateful for them. Mine are Zeroll dishers I got from King Arthur Flour, but Webstaurant Store has them for cheaper, and Oxo has a line of cookie scoops too.
  • If you make layer cakes, you may already have a turntable, but if not, this one is really good. I also like this cake lifter.
  • Of course, there's also stand mixers. Super-helpful for things like whipping egg whites for meringues/souffles/angel food cake, creaming butter and sugar, and kneading bread dough. If you ask for a stand mixer, the KitchenAid Pro has a stronger motor than the Artisan. I have the Artisan, and it's worked fine for me for several years, but if I could go back, I'd go with the Pro instead. An extra bowl is very handy as well.
u/KevinStoley · 2 pointsr/Fitness

The upfront cost can be a little high depending if you just get the bare essentials or if you wanna go all out and get a ton of flavors to experiment with.

If you start small and get just the essentials, you'll probably spend between $75-100. Once you get going it really starts to pay off, the long run savings are huge.

I used to spend between $30-50/month on e liquid and I've been making my own for about 10 months now and I initially spent about $150 on supplies when I started, but I got a few unneeded items and way too many flavors, I haven't even tried about 1/2 of the flavors I bought yet. I've probably saved at least $400-500 in those 10 months of making my own.

If you do try it, I recommend mixing by weight, it's super easy and you can get a good proper scale for it online for like 25-30 bucks. Other than that you really just need Nicotine, vegetable glycerin (and propylene glycol depending on your ratio preference), flavorings, and bottles.

Find some popular well reviewed recipes and buy the flavorings needed for those to save yourself the trouble of having to experiment on your own which can be very tedious.

edit: and I'm still using the same supplies I bought about 10 months ago, haven't had to reorder anything yet.

The /r/DIY_eJuice subreddit has tons of good info and links that is a lot more helpful and informative. Heres a few good links to check out:

https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY_eJuice/wiki/diy_beginners_guide

https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY_eJuice/wiki/index

https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY_eJuice/comments/2iq3km/botboy141_guide_to_mixing_by_weight/

u/ZayZay48 · 3 pointsr/Drugs

It is best to learn about a substance before you put it in your body. You've come to the right place! Drugs can be used safely and responsibly when you educate yourself and learn how to properly use them. Websites, such as this forum and www.erowid.org are great places to start.

In the case of MDMA, here is it's erowid page:

https://www.erowid.org/chemicals/mdma/mdma.shtml

Use that page to learn about proper dosing, being safe while rolling, and what to expect from the drug.

As a quick overview, don't do MDMA more than once every 1.5-2 months, ideally three. It is neurotoxic and doing it more often than that has been proven to cause brain (serotonin receptor) damage. For your first time, assuming you don't have cut MDMA, which I'll get to, 100-125mg will probably get you to a nice place your first time back to the substance. Yes, wrapping it up in toilet paper (aka 'parachuting') is a good way of consuming MDMA, although you may have to split up your dose depending on how much you can swallow at once, no big deal. Stay hydrated during the experience(try to consume electrolyte drinks like gatorade), and watch out for clenching teeth! Have something like gum or mints on hand. Trust me, waking up the next day after taking a stimulant and having your entire mouth and teeth badly ache because of teeth grinding absolutely sucks.

If you want to go the extra mile, and don't mind spending a few extra dollars at a supplement store, then refer to this guide to further minimize risks: http://www.reddit.com/r/DrugNerds/comments/15m9sf/mdma_supplementation

After you have done all of that, buy a test kit.

It is always crucial to know what you are putting in your body. Even if you trust your friends, mistakes happen and there are combinations and other substances, which are also white/off-white powders or crystals that when taken in the 100-125mg range, are often deadly.

You can never be too sure about this kind of thing. Test kits have saved and continue to save many lives.

If you're in the US, here is a link to a reliable, popular test kit: http://www.dancesafe.org/product/marquis-reagent-testing-kit/

As long as it tests as MDMA, it doesn't matter if it's a crystal or powder, although if it is a crystal(s), crush it up before swallowing it. It goes down easier that way.

One more word of advice, which is not absolutely crucial when dealing with MDMA , but is still HIGHLY reccommended. (especially if you are planning on experimenting with more potent substances in the future) You should consider buying an accurate milligram scale. Eyeballing doses is never really that accurate, and using a milligram scale to know exactly how much you are taking is a smart thing to do. It's especially harder to eyeball with more potent drugs, where a few mg makes the difference between having a light headspace and having full-blown, earth shattering ego death experience.

EDIT: Forgot the damn scale link! http://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-GEMINI-20-Portable-MilliGram/dp/B0012TDNAM
That's a reliable scale that me, along with many other people here reccommend. And it's only like $30 with shipping.

Finally, enjoy the experience! Don't be nervous, know it's a safe and highly regarded substance. You will have an amazing experience!

Have a good day!

I really do like stimulants :p

EDIT: Something to add. You asked about buying it in the thread title, if you're in North America, MDMA generally goes for $20-$45 (maybe $55 in some states) per gram, and not much more than $10-$15 a point (100mg). Don't pay much more than that, as you're probably getting ripped off unless it's some lab-tested, very pure, probably darknet sourced MDMA



u/verdouxkai · 1 pointr/loseit

Such a wonderful and sweet story, I hope you post again when it happens! I love the idea that u/TSDAdam mentioned! I think that would be perfect! Otherwise, my husband went to Jared's when he bought my ring. He sat down with their sales manager and described my personality to her. I don't know what all he said, but apparently the 2nd ring she showed him was "the one" and it really was, I love it! We've bought a few additional pieces from them since then, so as far as where to buy when you're ready, I can't recommend them enough.

As for weight loss tips, definitely recommend MyFitnessPal for logging, and purchasing a food scale. It is definitely an eye opener to how much you're eating versus how much you think you might be eating!

Best of luck! Can't wait to see you post again!

u/Rewind2013 · 1 pointr/loseit

How many calories are you eating? If you're not tracking, it would be a good idea to start because it's one of the best ways to make sure you're getting in enough food and still staying at a deficit. I think it sounds like you're eating too little.

For breakfast I'd add in something that has protein. This will help you last through the morning. Try hard boiled eggs, a cereal that has protein (cheerios has basically none), or some greek yogurt with a bit of fruit.

For lunch, pack a sandwich or a roll (low calorie tortilla, sliced lunch meat, small amount of condiments, some lettuce/tomato), a small serving of nuts (almonds or whatever kind you like), and a serving of fruit and/or veg. 1 granola bar is not enough to keep a growing male to get through the day. You should absolutely be eating lunch if at all possible. No wonder you're hungry.

Do you have a food scale? You can get cheap ones on Amazon. I use this one and it has always served me well. When I can't find a food's nutrition from a label I use the USDA Food Database. It's not perfect, but it's a decent way to get an estimate. It lists them in grams so that I can measure them with my food scale. For example, if this is the type of rice I eat, or am estimating with because I can't find my brand I would weigh out 48g of dry rice and count that as a serving. Most foods are weighed dry or uncooked. If you're not sure, count it as dry, but check the label first because some of them say whether it's dry or prepared.

To be less hungry, yes incorporate protein into your diet. Make sure that you're eating at the very least 1500 calories per day. As a growing male you should probably eat at least 1700-1800. If you give us your height/weight we can help you figure out a target calorie goal per day. Try out MFP to track your calories.

I use Under Armour shoes when working out and Salomon shoes for work (on my feet a lot). They have plenty of support and are comfortable for me. I'd look through reviews and make sure to get a shoe that is classified as distance/running.

If you don't want to stay there for an hour and a half and don't want to run, could you try a /r/bodyweightfitness routine at home?

If you do run, work up to it slowly. Start with alternating small amounts of running between larger periods of walking. Check out Couch to 5K. A lot of our members have had good success with it.

u/Doneeb · 1 pointr/Coffee

Hario Skerton (25) + Aeropress (30) is a great place to start if you don't want to spend money. Spend the rest on good beans.

If you want to spend more grab a cheap scale or a Hario with a built in timer. Replace the Skerton with a Capresso Infinity grinder (70-80). Neither of these are perfect, the scale is laggy and the retention on the Infinity is pretty terrible, but they're both a great place to start when you're on a budget; especially when combined with an Aeropress which is one of the more forgiving/versatile brewing methods. Right now my Lido E is out of commission, I'm back to an Infinity+Aeropress for the time being and there are worse things in the world.

If you want to do pourover, you'll have to invest in a gooseneck and definitely need a scale. A v60 is pretty cheap, but it also takes quite a bit of time/practice to consistently produce good results, so this might be something you look into down the road if you're still interested. A good grinder is also going to be much more important with pourover than with an Aeropress so you'll need something like scale+gooseneck+Infinity+v60 to get started here, which is going to bring costs up.

Whatever you end up doing, enjoy.

u/GhotiOuttaDHMO · 3 pointsr/DIY_eJuice

It's not so much that they're "for 50/50 pgvg blends with high nicotine" as it is they include a bit of everything you'd need with the idea that you'll reorder only what you go through as needed instead of simply buying another starter kit - basically if you're hardly using any PG or nicotine but use a lot of VG, just order more VG by itself when you start running low!

If you just want to buy the products individually, that's fine, too, and will get you farther IMO. Here's what I'd recommend for a high VG-mixer:

100mg/mL nicotine base in VG: once you get it, dilute it down to ~25mg/mL and break it up into smaller glass bottles, storing all but the one you're currently using in the freezer. 250mL of this base will last you 2+ years if you're vaping 10mL of 3mg/mL a day, so this is about the cheapest way to go for you! Personally I'd recommend Nude Nicotine's, and if you're a first-time customer you can order a 15mL sampler of their nic base for basically the price of shipping ($2) to see if you like it.

USP Vegetable Glycerin, >99.7%: a gallon can be had for under $40 if you know where to look. Can be had off Amazon, I can personally attest to the one sold by DudaDiesel as having no negative affect on flavor but if you want something basically guaranteed to be good hit up Nude Nicotine for this as well.

USP Propylene Glycol, 99.9% can be had for about the same price but I'd get a smaller amount - if you don't have a sensitivity you might want to use a tiny bit to help carry flavors better, but you can skip this if you like.

Flavors: I would not recommend tons of TFA flavors but a variety of theirs, Capella, FA and others just to see what's out there. Hit up Bull City Vapor and eCigExpress for some good deals on smaller quantities of these.

Miscellaneous supplies: this will depend entirely on how you want to mix. I prefer and recommend mixing by weight, and at that rate I'd recommend a scale like this one, but many people for whatever reason get started mixing by volume with syringes. Either way you'll need bottles and labels, and you'll want to keep a notebook or some other method of tracking what recipes you've tried, how much you actually used vs. how much you meant to use, et cetera.

Hope this helps!

u/adamjackson1984 · 3 pointsr/Coffee

Totally! I love talking about gear.

Grinders:

  • Bodum Bistro (on the way out, needs new Burrs, but I really like it for course french press brews)
  • Mazzer Mini (probably the only coffee thing I have bought new...a splurge but my espresso has benefited immensely)
  • Baratza Virtuoso - Probably the best all around grinder. Can do course and fine grinds, has a timer, no-static grounds catcher. I like it a lot.
  • Porlex JP-30 Stainless Steel Coffee Grinder - My hand grinder, it's ceramic and does a consistently good pour-over grind..the only issue is it gets very hot when grinding and when grinding you want the beans to suffer no heat at all. It could be because I have to hold it with my hand when grinding and I'm transferring heat + the friction of the burrs? I really don't know how to improve it but I've started using this only on trips when I have to have a grinder and can't tote around my Baratza.

    Scale - Hario Drip Scale w/ Timer - It's black, measures to the tenth of a gram, the first one I bought is slow and it struggles to keep up with measuring my water grams...then I bought another a year later and it's much faster so I'd say if you get one that seems sluggish / slow, return it it's like they added a new CPU or something later in the life of the machine.

    Aeropress sometimes....it's the fastest way to make coffee with really easy clean-up. For the event I'm just gonna brew 2 batches on everything except espresso (since I don't want to tote that thing in the office). I hope it turns people on to better coffee.
u/Internal1 · 3 pointsr/MDMA

A few excellent resources:

https://rollsafe.org/ - this website contains pretty much everything you need to know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4fK7Tg2a4Q - psychedsubstance on MDMA

​

A few rules of thumb:

1 Test your stuff (even if it you trust your friend). Many "ecstasy" is cut with adulterants which is what causes most of the problems and its bad name in media. If you can, try to get crystal as a pill is harder to measure and has more chance of being cut with something. You can get test kits at https://testkitplus.com/product/mdma-test-kit or https://azarius.net/smartshop/drug-testing-kits/purity/ez-test-for-mdma-purity/

2. Get a milligram scale if you can. You can find these on amazon (the Gemini series is excellent) https://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-GEMINI-20-Portable-MilliGram/dp/B0012TDNAM

3. Start with a dose (in mg) of 1.5 times your body weight in kg. This is a safe dose with maximum effects and is highly unlikely to cause any problems. For most people the right dosage is in between 90-150mg. After a certain point you have reached maximum euphoria and taking more MDMA will increase the risk of adverse effects, or brain damaging. With doses of 1.5mg/kg you really don't have to worry about damaging your brain.

4. If you wish to do it again, try to stick to a 3 month interval. This is to allow your brain to replenish its happiness reserves. It's wise to stick to this.

5. Supplements are advisable, though not 100% necessary. Some ginger extract and magnesium are nice to make the roll more comfortable (for nausea and jaw clenching respectively). Antioxidants reduce neurotoxicity. Full list of supplements at https://rollsafe.org/mdma-supplements/.

6. Even if you get very thirsty, don't drink too much water. 2 glasses of water every hour is a good rule of thumb.

7. Things to enjoy the roll:

good company (ideally people who you care a lot about and don't mind spilling your life story to)

music (make a playlist beforehand, any music will sound absolutely amazing, so make sure you have a playlist of at least 5 hours. you don't wanna be operating electronics on MD, that's a waste of a roll, trust me I speak from experience haha)

menthol (vicks inhaler)

blankets

nitrous oxide (though perhaps not for your first time if you are rather inexperienced)

u/Bittums · 1 pointr/Canadian_ecigarette

As far as I know you can rebuild them, but it may be tricky for a person new to rebuilding. What ecig are you using? The easiest rebuildable tank I have used is the Griffin. It's wide open and super easy to build on (wish I'd had it to start!), but if you're using a smaller ecig, it will look a bit odd ;) Depending on what you are using now, you might need to get a new ecig and tank - and honestly the Nautilus is really a good tank. If you're happy, stick with it - the Griffin's fantastic, but if you need to buy a new ecig as well, then it'll be a long time before you start saving money through rebuilding.

For mixing by weight you really need a scale that goes down to 001g and that can be plugged in - having it switch off while mixing would be terrible and you need it to go low down when mixing smaller batches (for trials). I bought this one and I love it. Mixing by weight is a lot simpler and less time consuming then using volume - especially if you use VG, that stuff is thick. This calculator will show both volume and weight. By volume you measure each out by ml in a syringe (normally) and add it the bottle. By weight the bottle is on the scale and after you drip the correct weight in, you press "tar" and then just add the next ingredient by weight. Less clean up too as no syringes to try and get perfectly clean. It has a higher entry cost - so that's up to you. I just prefer it, but I did start off by volume.

One hint for DIY - shake. Shake everything. Shake it when you put the ingredients out, shake them before you add them to your mix, shake after you are done. Shake everything all the time (flavours and nic can settle so things don't work out as expected).

u/project_twenty5oh1 · -2 pointsr/electronic_cigarette

This is what you first replied to in this comment chain:

> So we're already at 50-70 dollars for one recipe (with some non-recurring costs like a scale), plus the research time, plus the fact you might not like a recipe, so back to the drawing board, order more flavors, more needles, spend more time figuring out if you might like it, mixing it and try it.
> I never said it wasn't a worthy endeavor, I'm saying that "not pictured" are a lot of extra costs, and whatever you value your time at.

This is what you first replied to. Let me break this down for you since you're telling me I'm "making things up."

50-70 dollars includes:

Nicotine - $16 at wizard labs for 120ml/100mg

Enough flavors for a few recipes you want to start with if you plan well, or one recipe if you find one you really like which is sufficiently complex: Let's be generous and say you order 10 8ml sample sizes from TFA for an average of $1.75 each - $17.50

We're bundling shipping here, so it's $6 for that.

Total Wizard Labs: $39 plus tax if applicable - flavors and nic covered

VG/PG: Amazon - 1L VG for about $12 prime - Let's be generous here and say we're going max VG, so no added PG.

Scale .01g resolution: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005UGBG20?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage - $25

Now, we can cheap out and go with a pack of 100 pipettes for $6 prime or we can get some needles with different gauge tips (to be more precise) as well for maybe another $10-15 - let's cheap out and just get pipettes

Total amazon: $42 prime shipped - scale, vg, dispensing implements covered

Now we're going to cheap out again and re-use bottles we have laying around, hopefully they're glass and not plastic because good luck really getting flavor out of HDPE or LDPE or even PET after it's been sitting there for a long time.

Grand total, BARE MINIMUM: $82

Non-recurring cost: the scale, at $24

Everything else will need to be replaced eventually, and the process of discovering what you like can be expensive, and frustrating. I can't tell you how many posts I've read from people who can't make anything they like. Using TFA flavors, if you like every single thing you can make with the materials listed above at an average of 10% flavoring (low end for TFA IMO) you can make 800ml of 3mg before you run out of flavor (and nearly out of VG) - this assumes no mistakes mixing and all flavors use the exact same amount per flavor, which is to say that some flavors will require 8% of one flavor and only 2% of another so the grand total will probably be lower because of the flavors. This is a decent amount, but if you don't like any of the flavors you made, or you can't vape them constantly, or they need time to steep, you need to get new flavors to try. Now you need more VG, more flavors, more pipettes, maybe more bottles, maybe storage space for all your stuff so you buy some plastic bins, eventually more nic, so on and so on.

The point is, it's not as inexpensive as people make it out to be, especially to find something that works for you. You can get 500ml from companies like Oasis Vapes for like 40 bucks on a tuesday right now.

DIY is involved. Very involved. OP is at the point where they are buying flavors in bulk. Their cost per 30ml has probably gone down to about 2 bucks, or at the HIGH wholesale level, maybe less, maybe $1/30ml depending on their recipes, meaning they're putting up BIG amounts of money upfront to get those sorts of rates. OP has gone far in their DIY journey.

That's not to say it's always that way for everyone. Some people in this thread have mentioned they tend to mix one flavor, reuse bottles, and really spend as little as they have to to get the job done. I have a friend who makes two recipes and that's all he ever does. Yeah, it doesn't cost much.

Regardless. I'm not making shit up. This is my experience with it. I've spent a lot of time evangelizing the merits of value of DIY. I still do. This thread, and the OP, is misleading. I, and many others in this thread, are simply balancing out the impression that the OP might give to people who see it and think "Oh, how easy and cheap!" and just dive in.

u/raffiki77 · 7 pointsr/Coffee

Hi there and welcome to r/Coffee! So based on what you've told me I think your most cost effective option right now to make great coffee would be to master your roommate's French Press instead of spending money on a new brewing method. I'm assuming you have a kettle to boil your water in and a smart phone with a timer so all you need to buy is a digital scale, which costs $15 on Amazon [digital scale] (https://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-Scales-AMW-SC-2KG-Digital/dp/B001RF3XJ2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468429307&sr=8-1&keywords=American+Weigh+SC%E2%80%932KG).
 
Next I would find a local coffee roaster or coffee house that sells 1/2 lb or 12 oz bags of coffee instead of the 1 lb bags they sell at Starbucks. The reason I'm recommending the smaller amount is because you're going to ask them to grind the coffee beans for a French Press and you don't want to bring home a 1 lb bag of pre-ground coffee beans because it's going to go bad quickly. If you want to grind your own coffee beans be prepared to spend $100+ on a good burr grinder. As for the type of coffee to buy, you can always ask the barista for recommendations.
 
So once you've got everything you need it's time to measure your dosage. I personally like a 1:17 coffee to water ratio but most people here like their coffee stronger so feel free to adjust according to taste. So based on my ratio, if you measure 25 grams of ground coffee beans you would need to use 425 ml of water (1 ml = 1 gram). Put the FP on the scale and tare the scale. Put 25 g ground coffee in the FP and tare the scale again. Start the stop watch on your phone and pour your water off boil until about 1/3 of the French Press is full. Let the coffee bloom for about 30 seconds, stir the slurry, then pour in the remainder of the water til your scale reads 425 g. Put the lid on the French Press but don't plunge just yet. After 4 minutes you can plunge gently and serve your coffee.
 
Now from what I've read about the French Press some people say blooming isn't necessary but I haven't use mine enough to experiment and come up with my own conclusion so feel free to skip that part and just pour in the entire water. However, you do need to stir the mixture in to get all of the beans wet so don't skip that part.
 
Good luck with your coffee journey and I hope you're able to make great tasting coffee on your own!

u/tangface · 6 pointsr/MealPrepSundayRecipes

I’d start with the most important kitchen tool if your aim is to meal prep for weight loss: the kitchen scale. This is the most important tool you’ll need if you’re going to count calories in each item you’ll be eating. As a recommendation, I’ve use this one for over 18 months and it’s going strong even though I’ve dropped it a couple of time from a few feet, the Ozeri Kitchen scale: https://www.amazon.com/Ozeri-ZK14-S-Digital-Multifunction-Kitchen/dp/B004164SRA/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?keywords=kitchen%2Bscale&qid=1572956808&sr=8-4&th=1&psc=1. The only downside to this scale is that if you have a super large bowl on top, it might be a bit hard to see the weighting screen. But it’s not too big of a deal.

The second most important tool is knowing how much calories are in a food item. Lots of people use an app called My Fitness Pal. You can find it on both the Apple App Store and in Google Play Store. They have a really large database filled with food items and their basic nutritional facts.

An alternative to the app is the FoodData Central US gov site here: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/. It’s a bit more manual than My Fitness Pal, but I prefer this site over the app because I can definitively know that search for both chicken thighs with skin on, bone on, all 3, or just the thighs as skinless and boneless.

To know how much calories you should be reducing, I would check out Jordan Syatt’ YT video “How Many Calories Should I Eat to Lose Fat”: https://youtu.be/7YwoqxaxMbQ. He has other great videos like, “How to Make Weight Loss Sustainable”: https://youtu.be/fixSEmNb_3.

When you first start out going in a calorie deficit, I would take it easy the first month or two. You’ll need to let your body get used to the calorie reduction. Every week only reduce by a 100 calories or so until you hit your target calorie deficit number. If you go all in immediately, you’re not going to be a happy camper at all.

For actual meal prep recipes, I like to use Budget Btyes site: https://www.budgetbytes.com/. There’s a larger variety of recipes to choose from, majority of them are beginner cooking friendly, the list of ingredients are easy to find and reasonable (long a super long list of things to buy), and relatively quick to make (depending on how quick you can cook).

The only downside to this site is that, like most recipe authors in the US, it’s not always 100% clear to someone starting to cook from recipes if the food item is supposed to be in dry goods measuring cups or in liquid measuring cups. I personally prefer to use the metric system for recipes because doing everything by weight or volume in grams or milliliters is more precise. It also makes calorie counting go by faster.

I know it’s a lot to take in and looks extremely time consuming, but ease yourself into it. It’s going to be a bit of a trial to get into the groove of counting calories and getting used to what food items works for you/doesn’t work. Go slow, take it week by week, and remember that you got this. Welcome to meal prepping!!

(I’ll come back and format this better soon; on mobile right now.)

u/Konryou · 1 pointr/AskReddit

Just to add to warwatch who had most of what was on my list:

  • bathroom floor mats
  • measuring cup (this kind and this kind; Pyrex is good for the former but any old set will do for the latter)
  • dish brush (like here, way better than a sponge)
  • whisk
  • tongs
  • tupperware containers
  • grater
  • coasters
  • ramekins
  • meat thermometer (I got this one about 4 months ago and it's been pretty good; no more "is this what cooked pork/chicken/meat looks like?")
  • silicone spatula
  • pot holders, oven mitts
  • Various sizes of wall hooks. Useful for hanging things on the wall that would otherwise be leaning or on top of something (broom, mop, linter, hair dryer, depending on your cabinets you can even hang pot lids on the walls of the cabinets)
  • paper towel holder
  • shower/bath organizer - depending on how you are set up, you can use a shower caddy to hold most of your things; my showerhead and the pipe leading to it from the wall is angled in a way so that isn't possible but I've had this for about 1.5 years and it has been great.
  • if you have a cabinet in the bathroom, something like these small drawers may be useful for organization.

    Some of this depends on how much cooking you are planning to do, but it's all pretty essential in my experience.
u/LecherousLumberjack · 2 pointsr/DIY_eJuice

You're very welcome! I will say, out of all the commercial juice I've tried, BDV is among the best. They are really accurate and inoffensive juices, I find. And I think you're right that the asterisks are NicRiv's popular flavors (or frequently ordered, or something) but most of those flavors need to be supported by others to really shine. Oh and most of the flavors on my WCIM list are strawberry too so don't feel bad about that. There's just a ton of them and it really sucks as a non-taster.



> I need to find some popular flavors that I like. I enjoy tangy and sharp fruit flavors or dense sweet/fruit with tobacco flavors. Not a big cream or vanilla guy. Custard leaves a nasty aftertaste on my tongue. Anyway, find those flavors. Order some new flavoring and add the sweetener.



Exactly! Unfortunately, we have pretty dissimilar tastes as I love cream, vanilla, custard, bakery stuff. I don't do tangy or sharp often and I've never tried any tobaccos so I can't be too much help but there are a couple I know of you might like:

Prickly Victory

Bare Necessities

Apple Raspberry Cordial

Water Malone

Hawaiian POG Remix



These are just some of the highly rated ones on my list because I can't actually think of anything off the top of my head.



I mix by weight and highly recommend everyone mix that way. It's just so much more simple, accurate, mess-free, and quick that it's hard to make an argument for mixing by volume. I worked at a gelato factory for about a year (before I even started vaping), and they have to add liquid flavoring (very similar to what we use but not safe to vape) after pasteurizing the rest of the ingredients. They told me when they first started up, they were mixing by volume until they had a guy from another "frozen treat" company come in as a consultant and showed them how to convert their recipes to mix by weight and they never looked back. You just turn the scale on, put an empty bottle on it, tare, first ingredient, tare, second, tare, third, tare, etc. till you've added everything then cap it and you're done! As long as you're scale can do 0.01g and up to like 500g iirc. This is the most recommended one so if yours does that then you're golden.

u/menschmaschine5 · 2 pointsr/Coffee

Oh, and don't forget the electric kettle. Any will do, you don't need a fancy gooseneck one for these methods (they're helpful for freehand pour-over methods like the v-60 and Chemex).

Some kind of instant-read thermometer and a kitchen scale like [this] (http://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-SC-2KG-Digital-Pocket/dp/B001RF3XJ2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375817673&sr=8-1&keywords=american+weigh+2kg) will help you dial in your process and ultimately make better coffee, but aren't completely necessary.

But yes, I second either aeropress or clever dripper. They're both quick and easy methods which can make great coffee, and easy to clean (the latter is especially important for a dorm).

u/RedPanda5150 · 1 pointr/TeamFawn

I use a Primo Escali scale. I've had it for 5 or 6 years now (purchased it for following European recipes, and have repurposed it for food tracking more recently). It's held up great, no fuss, and the batteries last a really long time. I do think I paid a lot less than the $30 it is currently listed for on Amazon though.

Don't know anything about a Bullet Journal. A lot of people here use MyFitnessPal - personally, I prefer SparkPeople (lets you set a calorie range rather than a single daily target, easy to save favorite foods and groups of foods, easy to enter your own recipes, syncs with Fitbit, but has some social media and advertising aspects integrated with it that can be off-putting).

My boyfriend is on his own for food making choices, so I'm no help to you there! lol

And as for food containers, I prefer glass to plastic for its ability to be microwaved without staining or leaching. Wide mouth 2 cup mason jars work really well for soups/stews/chili, and since they are designed to be airtight they don't leak at all. And they are cheap! You do have to remove the lid to microwave, though.

For larger meals (salads, meat and veggie leftovers, etc) Pyrex and Rubbermaid sell glass containers with plastic lids in a wide variety of sizes and shapes. They're a bit more expensive than the canning jars but glass holds up well so it's worth the investment, IMHO.

Good luck!

u/supersciteach · 3 pointsr/weddingplanning

Most of our gifts were replacements or upgrades of things we already owned. A really cheap and awesome gift we got was this stainless steel scraper, which makes it so much easier to transfer food from a cutting board to a pot/pan. We also got a matching set of this luggage belt with a TSA lock--I actually gifted one to my husband years ago, but we used this as an opportunity to replace his now worn-down belt. We also replaced our kitchen scale with this Amazon Basics one, which works really well. Another Amazon Basics item we received was this paper shredder, which is a kickass workhorse of a machine.
One of the first gifts we got was a Corelle dish set that I LOVE--it's so much lighter and more durable than the stoneware set we were using. We also replaced our silverware set with an Oneida set that we both picked out, which was a very sweet and meaningful experience. We already have a nice Oneida silverware set, but it belonged to my husband's late mother, and he wanted to retire it so it wouldn't take any more wear & tear.
Those are all gifts that were my hands-down favorite things we received. We were also able to buy two expensive items off our registry thanks to Amazon's completion discount. We purchased a Sonos soundbar and a Miele vacuum that were absolutely worth every penny we spent on them!

u/Britasianninja · 2 pointsr/Coffee

Hey, so I was in the exact same situation as you - I moved to Manhattan, but couldn't justify paying $3+ dollars for a cup of decent coffee (especially considering I would regularly drink more than 1 cup).

I should probably preface this with: In the end, I'm probably not saving much more money (especially short-term), since I just spent the money I might have saved on more coffee equipment (and somehow I keep ending up with more...). But now I have incredible coffee at home, and it's a fun hobby to tinker with, so I have no regrets there.

  • As previously mentioned, pick up a decent entry-level burr grinder - The Hario Mini is ~$35, though you get a Skerton Pro for ~$55. Grinding your own beans immediately pre-brew produces significantly better results than buying pre-ground, and allows you to control and fine-tune the grind level. (I upgraded to a Lido 3 in December, and while love it, at $200 it's hardly a budget saver).

  • Buy some beans online. I would highly recommend S&W Roasting. You can pick up a sample pack for ~$20 with shipping, and while it's advertised as 1lb of coffee, I received closer to 2.5lbs the first time I ordered (they seriously pad their packages). All their coffee is phenomenal, plus they seem like really nice guys, so they have my business. Alternatively, Happy Mug sells bags @ $11/lb with $3 shipping, so it comes out to $14/lb.

  • Pick up a cheap scale - making coffee with reliable measurements and not by estimation produces dependable, replicable results. The same is true of baking and making cocktails. I have a basic AMW-SC-2KG, which currently runs ~$22.

  • Find a decent online guide, and practice with it.

    Hope this helps!

    [edit] formatting
u/I_FUCK_UP_RECIPES · 14 pointsr/AskMen

Fuck dem kids who say they can't help you. If I can't help you it's because you're not willing to do what I say.

PHYSICAL

  • You're balding? Shave your head. Completely. Wax it. Embrace it, and free yourself from the toilet bowl.
  • Join www.myfitnesspal.com and tell it you are sedentary, then enter ALL exercise manually. Set it to lose 2lb/week and DO NOT EAT MORE THAN YOUR DAILY ALLOWANCE.
  • Buy this and use it to weigh everything before eating and logging it: http://www.amazon.com/EatSmart-Precision-Digital-Kitchen-Silver/dp/B001N07KUE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1404304637&sr=8-2&keywords=digital+food+scale
  • Join a gym. Download this app: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/stronglifts-5x5-workout/id488580022?mt=8
    Follow its routine consistently.
  • Go to a big and tall store, and ask for help. A lot of help. Get clothes that fit you and are flattering now. In six months, go again, and get new clothes. Look at yourself in your old clothes, then in your new.

    FINANCIAL

  • Separate your debts into categories, based on the interest rate. Pay the highest first.
  • Downsize your apartment. I don't care how small it already is. Go smaller. Sell the shit that has upkeep which you don't need. Get your lifestyle down to a level where you can apply a sizable portion of your income to your humongous debts. Be sure enough is left that you have some joy in life. Focus on that.
  • Get a roommate. This helps you socially, too.

    SOCIAL

  • When at that gym I told you to join, go up to the biggest guy there. Tell him you want to change your life. Tell him you are there to learn to do the lifts in your routine safely. Ask him to teach you. He might be a jackass. If so, go to the second biggest guy there. This is an exercise in mental conditioning about meeting scary new people (and a way to ensure you do the physical stuff right), not just a way to make friends. You WILL find someone who is willing to help. When he's done teaching you, thank him.
  • Get that roommate. Advertise yourself as a nice person who is looking to make more friends. You'll meet people who are like you. You're NOT alone.
  • Go on meetup.com, and join groups that do things that interest you. Attend events. Don't be bitter at those events. Drinking and socialization often follows them and you'll get invited if you are pleasant.


    JOB

  • Accept that for the forseeable future you do need to work this job that you hate. Accept that most people hate their job. Make the most of it.
  • Volunteer for tasks outside your hated 'area of specialty' that don't sound totally awful. My wife is a technical writer who is about to be made proposal manager because she volunteered to work proposals when someone left. She did it for a long time. Then she became the expert. Now she's getting the job, and it's much more in line with what she wants.
  • Attend training courses offered by your employer to build skillsets that actually do appeal to you. As well as the boring ones that don't--the social ones called 'Leading BLAH BLAH BLAH' and 'Time Management'. These will give you ideas for improving your life that I haven't thought of because I'm not a professional.
  • Talk to your boss. Tell him you'd like to get more education in a different area from your specialty in support of these tasks you've been volunteering to do. Find out what your company can/will pay for. Take 100% of that money and educate yourself.
  • Stop focusing on that dream of owning your own business and start focusing on the dream of doing things that give you some satisfaction.



    If you do all this you won't have time to masturbate to porn all night like I know you are doing right now. It'll be worth it.

    I didn't include a dating category because if you do all of this you're going to meet a woman eventually. It won't be immediate; it might not be until you are 200lb lighter. But you will eventually meet someone who appreciates your drive to improve yourself.

    You might be 30 before this pays off in ways that you consider valuable right now, but by the time you're 27.5, you'll be appreciating how it has changed you.
u/Disco_Tempo · 1 pointr/BeardedDragons

In that case, it seems like he has a really good appetite and may just not be storing much fat, yet (which is normal). A couple things I would do is get a small scale and a tape measure, just to track if he's growing, and just record the numbers in a note on your phone or simple Excel spreadsheet, along with how much he's eating, so you don't have to rely on your memory to spot any trends if he never grows or starts losing weight.

The scale I use is this one, currently $8.50 on Amazon, and a flexible tape measure like this, currently $4.85. I also second making sure he doesn't have intestinal parasites, which is something I would do even if he wasn't showing any symptoms, as infections like coccidia are extremely common and easy to spread within clutches. (Most vet clinics in my area will do a fecal test for under $20).

All that said, there's nothing from your post which would make me think there's something wrong with your dragon. Tracking the babies for the first couple of months is just something I do for peace of mind.

Good luck!

Edit: Here's an article about determining if your bearded dragon is underweight (though the method mostly applies to adults), as well as some tips for getting them to gain some weight. "2 Surefire Ways To Make a Bearded Dragon Gain Weight And Fatten Them Up"

u/MarkdownShadowBot · 2 pointsr/ShadowBan

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u/xhayatox · 1 pointr/loseit

>1). Sorry there's no way for anyone to know that. However on your frame 5 pounds will be more noticeable than on mine.

Thank you very much. I understand. I suppose I'll just try to lose the 5lb first and see how I look, and if I feel it's not enough, then I'll try to lose a few additional pounds to get the desired look. But I'm thinking 5lb may be sufficient like you said considering my frame.

>2). Yup. 1 pound of fat is theoretically 3500 calories. You're understanding perfectly.

3500 calories= 1lb. Great. Easy to remember!

>3). Myfitnesspal. It's an app for your phone or webpage either way you wanna go. You can keep a running log of everything. Built in bar code scanner and a massive user driven database. The most accurate way is to weigh everything you eat. Weigh the eggs, butter and milk and record.

The app you mentioned sounds good. I've actually used it in the past just to see how it works and it was very useful, so I'm going to download it tonight. Thanks for that.

>4). Whenever you want to weigh. You weigh what you weigh at any given moment. But I think the answer you're looking for is.... As soon as you wake up and pee but before you eat or drink anything. Weigh daily... Weigh weekly... Weigh whenever, but it's most helpful to do it at a controlled time and environment.

Weighing in the morning does seem like the best since you are waking up refreshed and no food is in your system so I'll try that :P.

And lastly, you mentioned weighing food. Is that an easy thing to do and does it actually give you an accurate estimate? That sounds like a very useful tool. Would this be a good scale to start with?

u/SomethingNicer · 1 pointr/Soap

Hi! Welcome!

Well you probably don't need cold process AND melt and pour samplers. If you're a hands on kinda person (like me), you're gonna love cold process soap making, and (IMO) melt and pour almost feels like cheating at that point :).

You didn't mention equipment, so I'll go over that

  1. you'll need a stainless (preferably) pot with high enough sides to not splash. Something like this although you could probably go smaller (depending on how large of batches you want to make. I prefer my pots on the large side because it gives me more room to be sloppy when I mix.

  2. Pick up a hand mixer like this. This isn't 100% necessary, but sooooo worth it. I picked mine up at a flea market for 5 bucks. Check goodwill or salvation army. Having one of these turns 30-40 minutes of stirring into 3 minutes of blending.

  3. For cold process, pick yourself up a couple of good wine and beer thermometers. These are nice because they measure in 2 degree increments. You can use any other food thermometer, this is just my preference.

  4. Make sure you go to the grocery and pick up some good thick gloves and some safety goggles. Lye is an amazing chemical, but can burn the hell out of you if you're not careful. better safe than sorry.

  5. When you get ready to pour your soap into the mold, you're gonna want to have it lined with some freezer paper. Don't use wax paper. If you use wax paper, you're gonna have a bad time.

  6. It is very important to pick up a scale. Everything in soap-making is measured in weight, not volume. I'll repeat that, EVERYTHING IS MEASURED IN WEIGHT. If you find a scaled that weighs in lbs and oz, you'll have to a lot fewer conversions in your head.


    That being said, don't let that list scare you, like I said, I picked up most of my gear from thrift stores and flea markets. Soap making is fascinating and well worth the effort. Enjoy!
u/rubermnkey · 1 pointr/ejuice

if you grab a scale the lb-501 is probably the most popular, but people pick up the little dealer scales too. you just want to make sure it has .01 g accuracy and the ability to stay on without an auto-shutoff. people like to throw their VG and PG in condiment bottles you can get at the dollar store. transfer the nic into a brown glass bottle with an eyedropper, just use an old ejuice bottle you probably have laying around and leave it in the fridge, makes things a little easier. elr has tons of recipes and a good calculator plus lets you keep notes. defintely check out the other sub, people can even help you refine a recipe or help figure out clone recipes. here's a clip demoing by volume vs by weight, good luck man

u/_ethylphenidate · 3 pointsr/askdrugs

Insufflation isn't that common, but sometimes I like to indulge myself in that psychedelic rush.

For a proper dose, the answer is yes, you absolutely need a scale, the Gemini 20 is a common choice, but it should be mentioned that this scale is not very accurate under 20mg. However, you can maximize accuracy by waiting a few moments after the scale turns on for it to "warm up," and then placing the 10g calibration weight on the scale. If it doesn't read 10.000g exactly, turn the scale off and try again. If it has a stable reading of 10.000g (+-1mg is also acceptable, provided the number is doesn't keep changing), then you can place the weighing dish on top of the calibration weight and record the scale's measurement. Add your desired substance, subtracting the final number from the one you already recorded to determine the mass of substance you are about to consume.

Another note: when I say the scale isn't accurate under 20mg, that means if you put the weighing dish on the scale, zero it, and then add your substance, you won't get an accurate measurement unless you are above this number. However, the scale can accurately determine the difference between 13.721g and 13.722g in ideal conditions. Ideal conditions mean you're not breathing on the scale, you aren't touching or leaning on the surface that the scale is resting on, it even means that you should turn off any fans or air vents in the room. Personally, I still notice small fluctuations of 0.002g or so, though I'm sure that there's a factor I'm missing. But 2mg doesn't really matter with this chem. If you're working with something that is active at this dosage, you shouldn't even be using a scale anyways, you should use volumetric dosing

u/pencilbagger · 4 pointsr/electronic_cigarette

I diy too, I get my flavors from either bull city or gremlin diy, the bottles under 120 are dropper bottles so they're nice for mixing by weight.

nicotine from nude nicotine, their time from order to ship is rather long, about 4-7 days for both orders I placed. You can get a 15ml sample for a few bucks from them, which is enough to make 500ml at 3mg. I recommend a small dropper bottle for nic if mixing by weight, and keeping it in the freezer when not in use. I've heard vaperstek and carolina xtract nicotine are also good quality, and there are cheaper options but I've had a pretty bad experience with liquid barn so I spent a little more on nic. Some nicotine vendors have their own line of flavors as well, I wouldn't recommend getting them because they're usually hit or miss and aren't really used in any recipes you will see posted in various places.

I don't recommend full vg nic, especially for a first timer. It's hard to work with and needs to be shaken VERY well because nicotine will separate from vg more easily, leading to pockets of higher nicotine. A 50/50 or 100% pg nic base won't add much to the end product at 100mg if mixing to 3mg, 1.5% and 3% pg respectively.

I split my nic into 60ml glass bottles with normal caps that I got from bull city, and top it off with this inert gas spray to displace the oxygen since 100mg will oxidize pretty fast.

For vg and pg, I just get essential depot pg and vg from amazon, 1 liter bottles of each are around $12 with prime shipping. I use large hdpe squeeze bottles from liquid barn for dispensing pg and vg, but any large squeeze bottles that are air tight when sealed will work fine.

I use this scale to mix by weight, but any scale with .01g resolution that is fairly accurate can be used. Mixing by weight is easier for smaller batches, and you don't have to deal with syringes and other measuring equipment.

e liquid recipes will give you both weight and volume measurements when you input a recipe, I enter recipes on my pc and bring it up on my phone for mixing since I usually mix in the kitchen.

There's tons of great information on the sidebar on the DIY ejuice subreddit including a mix by weight tutorial, just make sure you read before posting anything that isn't covered there. The up front investment for DIY can be high, especially when buying a scale, but it's way cheaper than even budget ejuice companies in the long run.

u/judioverde · 1 pointr/Coffee

For a cheap, easy set up at home, you could get a french press. Getting freshly roasted coffee is pretty important, so look up if there are any roasters near you. Grinding at home with a burr grinder is ideal, but if you aren't ready for that yet you can have them ground for you. Ground coffee gets stale much quicker tham whole beans. You also do not need to get the coffee super course ground like a lot of people say, it can be just a little coarser than your normal store bought preground coffee. Look up the James Hoffman French Press technique, it truly works. I usually like a 1:14 ratio of coffee to water. So for one person, 20 grams of coffee to 280 grams of water. I think medium roast coffee works well with a French press. That being said I prefer to use a V60 for my coffee making. A Melitta or Aeropress would be good options for someone starting out. Also would recommend getting a cheap scale like this

u/LosinW8nFeelinGr8 · 1 pointr/LifeProTips
  • Workout..Like they say start small, look at at home work outs if you don't like the gym. I find that paying for a gym membership makes me want to go more because I don't want to waste my money.

  • Diet..Track what you eat! I highly recommend the My Fitness Pal site and app. It makes it super easy to track and has a huge database to add food from and you can input your own recipes. When you make an account it can tell you all about how many calories you should eat per day to lose weight 1-2 pounds per week without even exercising. You can add friends which are great for encouragement along the way.

    If you were to join I recommend not changing your diet and just seeing how many calories you normally eat. It's crazy when we sit down and add it up. Then go from their, see what isn't necessary and try and cut it out. Look into meal planning and prepping. Also, a food scale is super handy because what you might think is a serving could easily be double than what it actually is and only about $14.

    Basically just cutting 500 calories per day from what you normally eat should help you with losing 1 pound per week, because 3,500 calories = 1 pound and losing weight is as easy as 'calories in' < 'calories out'

    Lastly, feel free to join us at r/LoseIt where you can find a plethora of motivation and ideas as well as plenty other subreddits that focus on different aspects of losing weight(:
u/nsa_7878 · 2 pointsr/loseit

Ha, I'm definitely not upset! I'm mostly just concerned, I'm just sensing you feel frustrated maybe a little bit like we're all fucking with you with this bruh, just create a calorie deficit mantra we keep repeating.

You're right that cooking at home can be as elaborate or as simple as you want it to be. You might start out just trying to recreate your favorite restaurant dishes at home. Just making something at home can often be lower calorie, restaurants add a lot of sneaky stuff in there. Their stuff has to be shelf stable for X number of months, so it needs a preservative (like salt), so then they add sugar to counteract the extra salt so it tastes right, etc.

I agree that permanent change would be grim if you assume you'll be hungry and hating everything you eat. If that was the case I wouldn't be doing it and neither would anyone else! You should enjoy everything you eat (I do) and shouldn't feel hungry (I don't).

Is there anything else you're resistant to? Many people balk at the idea of counting calories in the beginning, so it would not surprise me in the least if you were anxious about that. It can take a little bit to get the hang of it, but once you're in the groove, you realize the magic of this approach - you can eat ANYTHING you want! No special diets, IF, keto, paleo, vegan, etc. Forget it all. You can lose weight eating only foods you enjoy, provided they fit in your calorie goals for the day. I ate homemade double chocolate chip muffins all week! One per day, as my afternoon snack, and I still lost a 1/2 pound ... because I didn't go over my calorie goal. Most of us use an app to track our calories (MyFitnessPal is a popular option) and I strongly recommend purchasing a food scale, it makes tracking a bajillion times easier.

This is a video of someone tracking her calories, it's a great real-world example of using the food scale. It's what my day usually looks like minus the commentary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOAfP857Q3o

This is my food scale, there are so many options, just pick your favorite one:

https://www.amazon.com/Ozeri-Professional-Digital-Kitchen-Tempered/dp/B003MSZBSI/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1K3ZDJUOW6HYG&keywords=ozeri+food+scale&qid=1557364020&s=gateway&sprefix=ozeri+food+scale%2Caps%2C156&sr=8-5

u/Certeis · 8 pointsr/Drugs

Let me start of with the legality of MXE. It seems that you are planning to buy it for consumption. You have to know that all research chemicals are strictly not for human consumption and only to be used in research environments with proper handling and care. They should NOT be consumed. If used in research and you are not administering MXE to an animal, you should be fine.

You can double check a trustworthy site by checking to see if it's a Safe or Scam. Google helps as well.
An acceptable price can range from $25 a gram to $50 a gram, depending on where you purchase it from (Domestic vendors generally are a bit pricier for the convenience).
Shipping shouldn't be an issue if it's domestic, if you are receiving it internationally there is always a chance for customs to open your package, deem it unsuitable for your purposes and send you a love letter. This does not happen too often though, but it's a risk.
Anonymity can be used by using Tor, if you really feel you do not want your actions traced back to you. PGP encryption for any email messages help with that as well. Generally though, make sure if you are purchasing your chemical on Paypal or something, DO NOT leave a message in the notes. Many vendors have been barred from Paypal due to dumb cunts putting "thanks for dat shit to git me high lgeally ;))" or other messages which reveal to Paypal what they are selling. Just don't.

Nothing else, MXE is a great RC to work with and I wish you the best of luck in your research. In regards to the mg scales, although I don't necessarily want to coerc you into buying a mg scale online, offline they are expensive. Headshops will carry them if you are lucky, and if they do they will be marked up. http://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-Gemini-20-Portable-Milligram/dp/B0012TDNAM This is an amazing scale for the price, does everything it should.

u/GoAwayWay · 1 pointr/loseit

My food scale was about $12 or so on Amazon. I originally got it for home brewing and now it serves double duty. And definitely take measurements...sometimes when the scale isn't moving, or the number unexpectedly goes up, the measuring tape is a huge sanity saver.


Eating clean is awesome and a huge part of the battle for a lot of people, but ultimately, calories still matter. I love cooking too, and it's definitely been fun to get creative. I've found that if I do the bulk of my cooking on two nights per week, it makes lunches really easy. I can weigh and portion things out into containers and get it over and done with.


Measuring things, just like putting them into MFP, might take an extra minute or two each day, but I'm nearly 3 months in and it's just habit now.

u/dweezil22 · 1 pointr/Fitness

If you want to use that approach, this sub heartily recommends http://www.myfitnesspal.com/. It has a smartphone app and a website you can use to enter all your foods. I've been using it for about 3 weeks so far, and it's great. It will help you set a goal for calories and divide it up by protein/fat/carbs etc.

Once you start tracking that, the calorie differences in things will blow your mind. For example, the other night my wife made this beef stew. I had small bowl of that and it was 286 calories, it felt like a good meal and had 32 grams of protein.

During the meal I drank 2 Coors lights, they were 204 calories (and 1g protein, who knew?) and certainly didn't feel as filling as the hearty bowl of stew.

After dinner I had 4 mini kit kat's b/c we have our damn Halloween candy sitting out, they were 280 calories. They CERTAINLY weren't more filling than the stew, or even the beers.

So out of 688 calories, less than half was that stew, and that stew pretty much offered 10x the nutritional benefit of the other garbage I consumed.

Slightly related, I've been pre-making and freezing this Chicken Chili for months now and quite enjoy it. Not only is it healthy, easy and tasty, it only uses canned ingredients so it's also easy to stock up for and pretty damn cheap. A $50 slow cooker and a $15 digital scale will be invaluable tools for you if you go this route.

Edit: While I'm going over diet highlights, for me a protein shake is another easy/lazy way to get a pretty filling and healthy snack in. Lots of people have their favorite, mine is this. It seems to be marketed mainly to women, but it tastes delicious either way when mixed with low fat milk. The $35 seems a bit pricey, but it works out to about $1 a serving which isn't too bad. If price is an issue there are definitely other cheaper brands that are fine. I tried protein shakes years ago and hated them. I probably wasn't mixing them well. One or two of these $7 mixer cups solves that problem easily. Getting two is nice so you don't have to religiously clean a used one.

u/howlrose · 6 pointsr/keto

The FAQ is everything. Read it over, read it again and then reference it when you have a question. If the answer can't be found in the FAQ, don't hesitate to ask here. This board is incredibly supportive and so many people here really know their stuff.

Basics: first things first, calculate your macros. Give this a shot: https://keto-calculator.ankerl.com

Set your lifestyle to sedentary unless you're some type of hardcore athlete. And set your net carbs to 20. The calculator will help you figure out the rest.

Once you have your macros set, make a plan to keep your electrolytes up. You need 5,000mg of sodium, at least 1,000mg of potassium and 300-500mg of magnesium. Look up a recipe for keto-aid and make that several times a day. Don't count on meeting those requirements with food alone.

There are some recommendations for food logging apps at the bottom of the FAQ. Try a few out and see which one you like the best. Most track macros and electrolytes to make keeping on top of things fairly easy.

You're going to want a food scale if you have an ambitious goal like 70lbs in a year. This one is great and on the cheaper end: https://www.amazon.com/Ozeri-ZK14-S-Digital-Multifunction-Kitchen/dp/B004164SRA/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1537670514&sr=8-4&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=food+scale

Read the new posts on this sub and the newbie thread when you have time. If you can learn from the questions that others have, youll prevent problems before they start.

Other than that, just relax, have fun and keep learning. Almost every recipe has a keto version or can be adapted to keto. Stick with foods you like and that fit your macros at first. Over time, youll start branching out and adding more foods/recipes to your list.

u/72690 · 1 pointr/kratom

Hello! Welcome and thanks for coming out of the shadows! My first thought when reading this is that you might need a different vendor. In the 3 vendors I've tried, only 1 sent me 4 AWESOME strains, 1 vendor had 2/6 good strains and another was 3/4. So I literally have sample bags of Kratom that does nothing for me. It's unfortunate but true, you'll have to shop around a little to find what works best and doesn't have any undesirable effects.

Stay hydrated. Get this scale when you can but for now just be vigilant with those packed and leveled, not heaped, measuring teaspoons.

Try potentiating your Kratom. Mix it in grapefruit juice and drink it. Might make a difference. Do you ever experience low blood sugar? Kratom suppresses appetite for some, not all. Maybe by the time you're coming down, your blood sugar is getting low. Maybe you'd be the type of person to benefit from a snack 30 minutes - 1 hour in, or even better, a snack when you feel like it's wearing off.

Ideally you should get energy and a mood lift, so I'm confused about your effects. Also, have you ever taken any other drugs before? Do you have anything to compare this experience to?

u/thewhitestmexican12 · 2 pointsr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

I love baking and cooking, it really is what makes me feel better. I know this is weird, but after a long day at work, I like to home and feed my bf and his mom. They love my cooking and its just awesome. It makes my life make sense sometimes, and I can get lost in thought. Specially when I just don't wanna think I like to do something I've never made before, or that takes a lot of work.

I would love this kitchen scale because it would help me improve my baking a lot!!

u/Profeshed · 1 pointr/proED

Yes and THIS ONE is my FAVORITE 🌺💕💕💕

https://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-AWS-100-Digital-Resolution/dp/B0012LOQUQ

It’s tiny, extremely accurate, and tares back to zero super quickly (unlike almost every other scale I’ve tried).

And the best part is that it’s only $10 :)

https://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-AWS-100-Digital-Resolution/dp/B0012LOQUQ

u/BomNomNom · 1 pointr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

Happy birthday! hope you have a wonderful day! a gift day at that!

I would love love LOVE to have This to help me portion out specific ingredients when it comes to my job at the bakery or when I'm trying to eat healthier and portion my meals!

u/metrons · 1 pointr/DMT

One hit. I've checked the chamber every time after going on an adventure and it's completely empty. This is what I love so much about this vaporizer, it's one hit every time.

It sounds like you're not measuring this?

I did a butt load of research months ago on a proper scale for this exact purpose and I found countless people were using this. This is what I purchased and it seems to work fantastic.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0012TDNAM/ref=ppx_yo_mob_b_old_o0_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I've done 50 mg a few times and the trips lasted roughly seven or eight minutes. it's noticeably longer, I can definitely tell the trip is much longer on that dose. I'm just guessing here oh, I do think you absolutely need to measure the stuff out, you certainly don't want to waste anything. It's definitely worth the investment.

I'm personally still unclear what a breakthrough is. I've had moments where I briefly forgot about my family, my possessions... That only lasted maybe 15 or so seconds, almost as if I had to use all my brain power to recall. If you have any information on that, I would love to know.

I would personally like to go on more spice adventures but I've been having so much fun with LSD recently, I like the variety! I hope this is helpful, if you ever want to message anyting DM me! I'm always looking to make new friends who are into this incredible, incredible substances.

Cheers

u/dopnyc · 1 pointr/Pizza

This is the scale I use.

https://www.amazon.com/Kitchen-Scale-Bakers-KD8000-Weight/dp/B00VEKX35Y

Pros: 8 kilogram capacity. the quantity settles quite quickly on it's final amount (some kind of internal stabilization). I can use very wide cookie sheets and still see the readout. Precise (to a gram). Can be calibrated. All the units I would ever need.

Cons: Boot sequence could be 4 seconds. It's big, and it's kind of ugly.

Overall, I really like this scale. I came from a scale that was similar to the AMIR and I would frequently see the error code because I maxed out the weight, I couldn't use most of my pans, because they were too wide, and while the fraction of a second that it took to settle on a weight didn't drive me nuts at the time, it absolutely would drive me nuts now.

I never had .1g accuracy, but if it came down to .1g accuracy vs. greater than 5KG capacity (which, I believe it does), then I need the 5+KG capacity more.

As you can see, my ratings are based on pretty personal needs. You might be able to function within 3KG. You also might need that .1g. I purchased this for lighter ingredients:

https://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-GEMINI-20-Portable-MilliGram/dp/B0012TDNAM

but I don't find myself using it. My pizza recipe is large enough (three 17" pies) that 1g accuracy is perfectly fine for oil, sugar and salt, and I'm more comfortable using teaspoons for yeast.

Now, I did get the 8000 for $32 off of ebay, and I've gone back and looked for that price since, and I haven't found it. I don't ever plan on using the functions that the 8000 gives me over the 7000 (other than perhaps the weight), but the 7000 was/is about $40 as well. $32 for the 8000 was a pretty easy decision, but, for $40... I don't know.

I think 3KG might catch up to you in terms of capacity. I spent a lot of time looking through the $10 5.5KG/1g accuracy scales and, I'm not going to lie, I couldn't find a single scale that stood out. That was a big driving factor for the 8000.

u/loven329 · 2 pointsr/Drugs

Hahaha bunk police is about reagent testing. Its more for powders and pills. Actually I don't know if you can reagent test shrooms but my first thought would be probably not. Honestly I've always just trusted my shrooms were psilocybin and they've always been psychedelic (at different potencies). As far as scales go for something like shrooms you probably won't weigh out less than a gram. something like this would be more than fine.

Good Luck, my first mushroom trip was way fucking intense, I'd definitely recommend less than an 1/8th for your first time.

u/greggers89 · 1 pointr/Coffee

Any kettle will do. Most people go for stuff with more steel because they don't want hot water sitting with plastic, but that's up to you.

Most french presses are very similar well. In fact, I find most immersion techniques (where you steep the coffee in the water) come out very similar. I personally prefer this porcelain brewer from Bonavita. You steep the coffee for ~3 mins, then open the valve on the bottom and let it drip into a cup. Cleanup is just tossing the filter and rinsing, which I think you'll find much less of a hassle than french press.

No matter what you get, one of the most important pieces is a scale. This one from Jennings is great. The french press can be a great way to let you make different batch sizes, but only if you keep your ratios consistent. That is one of the best advantages of french press, because a lot of pourovers only work well for a certain batch size.

u/VaporInABottle · 30 pointsr/electronic_cigarette

Thank you for posting this. I think they've assumed their users already know how to use it.

If I were a winner (which I am, actually, but do know what I'm doing) I would make some test batches with 0 nicotine, using the drop method. It's not even close to 100% accurate, but with what they're sending you, it's enough to get a feel for if you like DIY or not.

Mix up some 0 nicotine juice with what they send you. If you like it, order more. At that point, you'll want to invest in some actual equipment because by drops is inaccurate, but acceptable so long as you aren't using nicotine.

https://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-Scales-LB-501-Digital/dp/B005UGBG20/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1482206345&sr=8-4&keywords=american+weigh+scale is a great scale for small scale users. I remember it being much cheaper when I started than what I've linked, so maybe you can find it cheaper somewhere else, but that scale is what you need.

These are good pipettes for measuring with your new scale: https://www.amazon.com/Disposable-Plastic-Graduated-Transfer-Pipettes/dp/B00W4QJNYW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482206554&sr=8-1&keywords=disposable+pipette

You can, as OP said, measure by volume, using syringes, but it's messy. It's hard to convince someone who hasn't tried mixing by weight to actually invest in the equipment, but trust me, if you're even somewhat interested in DIY, you want to do it by weight, not volume.

Also, really visit the forum OP linked. I never posted much there at all but I promise you VIAB wouldn't be around without the knowledge from that forum. Read, read and read some more.

u/beanalicious1 · 2 pointsr/keto

Yes, definitely definitely DEFINITELY need to get a milligram scale. They are cheap. I use one similar to this http://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-GEMINI-20-Portable-MilliGram/dp/B0012TDNAM/

I'm especially certain it was the yohimbine if you couldn't measure it correctly. It is very strong stuff. You felt awesome with the first 2 shakes (success!) and I'm thinking there was just enough yohimbine, or it wasn't mixed thoroughly enough, that you got enough in your system to tip you over. When I've had too much in the past, I definitely get the feelings you've described. Also, really spacey.

It is weird to have so many bags of powders, and having to use such a fine resolution scale lol. Definitely feels a bit dark webby.

This is guaranteed to break a plateau. Mathematically, it has the perfect ratio of macros for keto weight loss, and has a calorie deficit. It will work for you, guaranteed. Just bring down the yohimbine by 1 or 2 mg. Let me know, I'm interested to see if that's the culprit

u/Excuses__excuses · 1 pointr/loseit

Kann45's advice is pretty solid so in addition:

From what it looks like, your carb intake is high relative to your protein and fat. I struggle to keep them all in check as well. I suggest going to the supermarket and staying away from anything pre-made. Buy ingredients rather than meals; this way, you get to control how much salt/fat is in your food. MFP has a "My Recipe" section that will break down calories per serving as long as you punch in ingredients. I know we all have to eat out sometimes, but if you bagged a lunch, you wouldn't be at the mercy of all the extra crap a company mashes into their food.

Try to bag a lunch, bring deli meats and cheese, but not bread. You'll be able to get a lot more meat in and you'll be satisfied longer.

To help you stay on track with MFP, buy a digital food scale. Nothing crazy, but enough to measure what exactly, for example, does 300 grams of cherries looks like?

I always have a bit of no-cal sweetener in my bag or at my desk incase of a craving, but if you need the cola taste, Coke Zero is better than the regular stuff.

Up your water consumption to about 8 cups a day. I don't know what you do from day to day, but a big glass of ice water on hand helps me say no to all the snacky foods I might eat in place of it. I'm really happy that you're taking these steps to get healthier. Any more questions, ask away!

u/Felixiium · 1 pointr/Coffee

A pour-over setup works best with a kettle, unless you have really fine motor control skills, so like others said, a Hario hand grinder (~$30), a scale ($~20), and a Clever Coffee Dripper or an Aeropress.
A clever is like a French press in that you put ground coffee in, wait a few minutes, but it's also like a pour-over in that once you put it on top of a cup, the valve at the bottom opens and everything goes through the paper filter. Incredibly forgiving.
Have a look
Aeropress is fine too, since you only drink 1-2 cups.

For the scale, I use this AWS 2kg - compact and updates fast. Survived a couple explosions of water and coffee as well.

I've seen a pianist pour a thinner stream of water than what comes out of a $100+ Takahiro kettle using just a ordinary tea kettle with a huge spout.

u/Tussthethief · 1 pointr/MDMA

Buy a scale. PLEASE BUY A SCALE.

http://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-GEMINI-20-Portable-MilliGram/dp/B0012TDNAM

this scale is close to perfect. As close as you can get to accuracy for this price. It'll be off at most by .01 which lets you accurately dose a point within 100-110 mg's. (A point being exactly 100mg's. So at most with this scale you'd be getting approximately 110mg's.) YMMV

I wouldn't use OJ as its acidic and will increase your stomach acidity and decrease absorbtion. Take one or two TUM's or Rolaids or whatever you happen to have available 30 minutes prior to use. This will decrease stomach acidity and increase absorption.

WHITE (this is important) Grapefruit juice the day before will also increase absorbtion as it inhibits the CYP3A4 enzyme and (without going into too much science) will increase bioavailability which means you get a little more bang for your buck. This should be done the day before so your stomach is not too acidic. Again, TUMS are great for preventing acidity. Whole black peppercorn will also help with bioavailability.

If you're too lazy to buy a scale, licking the tip of your finger and dipping in MDMA is USUALLY close to a point.

I SAY USUALLY BECAUSE THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO WAY TO KNOW WITHOUT GETTING A SCALE DUE TO THE FACT MDMA COMES IN SO MANY DIFFERENT CONSISTENCIES.

You could be taking anywhere from 2 points to a half point with this method. No way of knowing without using a scale at least once on this particular batch.

Gel caps are cheap also, and they are a much more efficient way of ingesting MDMA. A small pack will last you a lifetime.

Anywho if you have any more questions feel free to ask. I'll do my best to answer.

I'm a firm believer in supplements, and as such, swear by /u/misteryouaresodumb 's MDMA supplementation guide.

It is the most accurate guide to date that I have been able to find.

http://www.reddit.com/r/DrugNerds/comments/15m9sf/mdma_supplementation

Good luck!

u/chrisbair · 1 pointr/soylent

directed at /u/QuantumCatBox but I'm going to 'reply' to this comment to keep things in the same thread.

> weight loss

I've found lately that I get better results with 2000 calories of people chow (DIY soylent) then I get with 1500 calories of soylent and allowing myself to eat other stuff. If you can stick with a lower calorie recipe then you'll have even better results but if you're anything like me (and sounds like you are =) you may want to try that. I created a low cal version of People Chow (maybe even the one you referenced, I be faymous!) in order to have it be 3 500 calorie meals and did that for a few months but my weight loss plateaued and I even gained 2 pounds over the last 3 months because I was letting myself eat stuff at dinner and ended up exceeding 2000 calories often (and likely exceeding 3000 some days). So I'm back on mostly just people chow, 4 meals a day, and anything extra I eat I'm doing that same amount extra on the elliptical (which takes forever and is highly inefficient - 30 minutes for a stupid slice of pizza).

> accessories

You might have already seen it but peoples like you are exactly why I made http://www.thebairs.net/2014/06/mixing-up-soylent-ingredients-for-7-days-at-a-time/ I'm using roughly the same stuff /u/SparklingLimeade mentioned and much of it is stuff you find around the house except the scale that I got from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002SC3LLS/ and the cheese puffs containers I got from Sams Club.

> serving size

Here's another one for you http://www.thebairs.net/2014/07/mixing-up-a-meal-of-diy-soylent-video/ it all may seem daunting at first but it's really not

> startup costs

If you are looking at my recipe(s) then one caveat: I've looked for the least expensive per gram ingredients, that generally means buying major quantities like a $100 bag of protein. Like Sparkling said, there are smaller bags/bottles of many of the things. Hard Rhino sells a 500g bag of whey protein isolate that would last 9 days with most recipes.

One other option is that many of the more popular recipes do have people selling pre-mixed "weeks". I'm really not trying to be a shill (because I do sell my own recipe pre-mixed) but when I started out I wanted a way to see if it would work for me without all the startup costs and wish the option would have been available then. /u/axcho sells a bunch of variants on his site and I've got several permutations on mine. Both of us publish our recipes so you can make them yourself if you want though.

u/AtlasAirborne · 1 pointr/tea

I'd caution against getting a 60ml unless you're sure you want one - a 60ml nominal gaiwan is gonna produce 30-40ml of tea per steep, basically one tiny (eggcup-sized) cup. The can also lose heat faster than is desirable for teas that work well with boiling water. 90-120ml would be my recommendation, and you can stack 3-4 steeps to get your 8oz.

If you decide you want a scale, this is the one that basically everyone has. You can go the 100g if you want more resolution, but the 600g allows you to weigh directly into heavier brewing vessels, and measure the amount of water you pour in if desired (which can be useful in some circumstances). The 1kg isn't as accurate as is desirable, imho.

Oh, one other thing I forgot; water matters. That's not to say you have to use bottled water for tea, but if you have a filter or dispenser in addition to tap water, it's good to try each with whatever kind of teas you like and see which works best. It's crazy how much the mineral profile of the water can affect the way the tea extracts, tastes and feels.

Good luck!

u/nootri · 1 pointr/Supplements

I tend to do around 60-80g of protein. This lands me around 1.2g/kg of protein. I might bump it up toward 100g if I really want to up my protein at around 1.7g/kg. If I recall, muscle gains tend to be maxed out for naturally trained athletes around 1.875g/kg. at the upper limits of intensity and volume (for me, ~110g of protein.) Ymmv.

Beyond this level of protein intake, you do run into some toxicity concerns (just ammonia for example, is a neurotoxin... and you run into more potential metabolic toxins / problematic issues the more you ingest -- like homocysteine, which is a causative factor in vascular dysfunction, etc.) But, if you find a particularly high protein intake is more satiating and helpful for your goals, then the pros probably outweigh the theoretical cons. I would think that something like a hearty stew with lots of meat would provide more satiation than a fast-digesting powder if you're looking to increase protein intake at a caloric deficit.

If you really want to dial in your protein intake, this was a cool video with an interesting tip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4zUQ3Pwj68

Maybe investigate calorie+macro cycling to view your deficit on a weekly average (which allows for "cheat day" wiggle room to naturally balance out some of your hormones.) Figure out some highly-satiating meals that work with your goals -- eg. stews + soups full of fiber + vegetables are the shit. Ideally, you can allow for higher post-workout calories and carbohydrates while targeting lower non-workout day calories and carbohydrates. In the past, this worked great for me... might not be optimal for others.

Vitamin C seems pretty easy to get -- you take a bell pepper, cut that in half... and just that little bit of fruit (~25 calories) provides two days worth of vitamin C... before you've eaten anything else. That said, I often supplement some vitamin C. For vitamin D, check blood serum levels first, then supplement, then re-test to hit optimal levels. I suppose if you're concerned with vitamin intake and you're not eating much food, you could do something like a two-a-day multi. Magnesium is often a safe bet, if you're thinking you're low on nutrients while eating at a deficit... it's hard to fit meaningful quantities into a multivitamin and food isn't usually concentrated with the mineral. Other minerals might be worth investigating, but it's more dependent on your dietary intake.

This guy has a great outline, if you really want to hit the vitamins hardcore, one at a time:
http://perfecthealthdiet.com/recommended-supplements/

You might invest in something like this guy:
http://www.amazon.com/Jennings-CJ4000-4000g-Digital-Scale/dp/B004C3CAB8

I get a surprising amount of use out of that thing (awesome for making coffee.)

Maybe look into ashwaganda, that stuff tends to balance me out, particularly at a caloric deficit (via lower cortisol?) Along this train of thought, I believe phosphatidylserine is also effective at lowering cortisol. Green tea is often associated with insulin sensitivity and increased lipid oxidation, where you could start up a matcha tea habit. Ymmv. /random-thoughts.

u/beanbaird · 2 pointsr/1200isplenty

You said you live at home, so you can't control all the food; that's fine. You can still do it, it'll just take some more willpower!

I echo everyone on meal planning. Every Sunday I make my lunches for the week (black bean soup this week), and I usually have the same breakfast (overnight oats) everyday (except this week I made a loaf of lemon blueberry poppyseed oat bread, yum!). Invest in a food scale (you can get a great one for under $30; here's mine) and take an hour or two on the weekends to plan meals. This way you don't have to worry about overeating or what your days are going to be like. This should help stop the anxious fasting. You do all the work at once and then have breakfast/lunch everyday ready for you.

As for snacks, do you get a say in what snacks are "yours?" I freaking love potato chips and would get a bag every week. Once i started getting more serious about making a change, I started getting the reduced fat kind. Then I tried pop chips. Now I don't eat so many chips at all, and I have reduced my snacking. Just gradually make healthier choices until it's not too hard to say, "I don't need chips today." I also keep cookie dough in the freezer, the kind that are individual cookies? So if i want a cookie i have to wait about thirty minutes for the oven to preheat and the cookies to cook. This also saves me from just reaching in the pantry.

I've got plenty of gluten free recipes if you are interested! My husband isn't gluten free, but he doesn't complain. Most of my recipes just use regular ingredients so it's not like you miss gluten. Also I prefer recipes with lots of protein to keep me full longer.

Lemon Poppyseed Oat Bread (8 slices) Adapted by reducing honey to 3 tbsp, Poppyseeds to 2 tbsp, used 2% Fage greek yogurt, and added 1.5 pints of blueberries. (237 kcal, 35.3 Carbs, 6.1 Fat, 11 Protein)

Overnight Oats
I was using Bob's Red Mill Muesli, but now I'm making my own blend with oats, pepitas, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries, and coconut. You can tailor it to what you like! Mix together and let sit overnight; I usually eat it with diced apples.
1/4 cup Muesli (or your own mix)
80 ml Coconut/almond milk (I use Califia Farms)
60 grams Fage 2% Greek Yogurt
1/2 tbsp ground Cinnamon
1 tsp chia seeds
(278 kcal, 27 Carbs, 11 Fat, 19 Protein)

Here's the soup I have in the slow cooker now! (5 servings)
I used chicken broth instead of veggie broth, so it's not vegan. I'm still debating about cooking some lean ground turkey to add in, but i'll decide after it's done! (305 kcal, 65.5 carbs, 2.1 Fat, 21.7 Protein)


Hope these help a bit!

*Edited links

u/ThisWontFrontPage · 1 pointr/Drugs

Please make sure to weigh your lines and know what you are getting. Just because somebody says it is MDMA, doesn't mean it is. I don't care if you order it from overseas, test it. The same goes for LSD, make sure that you are getting LSD (if that is your intended buy) and not a research chem. Testing kits are expensive but consider how expensive your life is as well before using. Here is a good scale for lines. Here is a good testing kit for LSD Stay safe guys. I enjoy reading stories here and sometimes providing my own but please, stay safe.

u/youaintnoEuthyphro · 4 pointsr/fermentation

As /u/dirtmonger mentioned, you should invest in a scale. I have the cj4000 model and I really like it, I use it for everything from coffee to baking to cocktails and fermenting.

Second, are you using filtered water? Your response to /u/MrMurgatroyd where you mentioned things not fermenting or just rotting made me think that perhaps your issue is chloride/chloramine. It doesn't take a lot of contamination to throw off the lacto-fermentation.

My third thought is the quality of your produce. This is a relatively controversial opinion, but in my experience (and that of big name fermentation folks like Sandor Katz) home grown and organic (read: not walmart organic) produce tends to yield better results. The persistent pesticides present on conventional produce, or even the industrially administered USDA allowed organic pesticides/herbicides, can really mess with your ferment. I've had the best luck using local produce from CSA's and farmers markets. Yes, you're paying a bit of premium, but it seems less likely to fail to ferment and you're supporting local farmers and often times they're growing heirloom varietals that are important for genetic diversity in an increasingly industrial monoculture.

Best of luck, try and remember that even experienced fermenters have failures with some regularity. It's not an exact science.

u/ohnotom · 1 pointr/Fitness

If your seasoning is mainly herbs and maybe lemon juice? Virtually zero calories. Don't bother counting it. For example, My Fitness Pal suggests that 1 tablespoon of Paprika is 19 calories. That's a lot of paprika, not a lot of calories. If you are marinating a meat in some sort of yogurt/creamy/nutty sauce and you cook most of the sauce with the meat? Definitely add it, or at least an approximation of it.

Generally for oil, I use canola / vegetable oil. It doesn't have cholesterol like butter, less saturated fats, and can go to higher temperatures than olive oil without burning (this is the big one for me). I use olive oil and butter (or half butter half canola oil) for times where want to contribute some flavor- this isn't often, but I usually use butter for eggs, etc.

This scale on amazon says it will measure up to 11 lbs. That is probably more than you will ever measure on it, unless you like to measure entire thanksgiving turkeys. As I said, my preferred method of weighing things is putting my plate on the scale, hitting the ZERO/TARE button (it sets the weight of the plate as the "new" zero), and just measuring the food as I put it on the plate. Super easy, super quick, definitely worth it.

u/akilleez · 1 pointr/AskReddit

Grinder

I actually bought that grinder...works well. Better than my old one for sure.

Badass Grinder

Not sure if this one is any good but its pretty sweet looking and its got a good rating.

Scale

I can't find the actual scale I bought from amazon but this one looks pretty good for about the same price.

u/coop34 · 2 pointsr/DIY_eJuice

I don't usually push a kit, but this one looks ok for a new mixer. Optional: scale, but highly recommended.

Pick your flavors for tried and true recipes like Strap-On or one of it's many variants.

God Milk

Blue Voodoo clone hat is an oldie goldie for that profile (I haven't created a better one).

If you like the hobby,I recommend resupplying nic from either Nude(slow but worth it) or Carolina (expensive but fast). PG/VG from Essential Depot, concentrates and empty bottles from Bull City Flavors.

The sidebar on this subreddit is chock full of helpful advice too, be sure to check that.

Welcome!

u/alexbeal · 1 pointr/Breadit

You could make a sourdough starter. It'll take about 1-2 weeks so hopefully if you start now it'll be ready once you need it. You can follow these directions: https://www.theperfectloaf.com/7-easy-steps-making-incredible-sourdough-starter-scratch/ That starter has a higher percentage of water than FWSY's, but you can just switch to the feeding method in the book once the starter becomes active.

You could also make sure you have all the supplies necessary. At a minimum you'll want:

u/thrownfish · 2 pointsr/Drugs
  • Capsule machine - any size depending on what you want the cap size to be.
  • Mortar and pestle - used to pulverize MDMA
  • Micro funnel - cut the tip of the spout off with scissors and leave about 1/4" spout.
  • Milligram scale - calibrate and weigh out MDMA amount per cap
  • Small metal spatulas - really useful for scooping MDMA


    These are just the tools that I use, you don't have to use them but it makes the job easier.

    Process:

  1. Fill capsule machine with empty caps. This one holds 50 shells. Put the tops in a bowl or glass to keep them from getting misplaced.
  2. Place the shortened funnel in the first cap that you want to fill
  3. Pulverize MDMA. It doesn't have to be perfectly smooth, but the less chunky the easier it is to weigh out.
  4. Put a plate under the pestle, scale, and capsule machine to catch any accidental spills that might occur.
  5. Using the spatulas, transfer a small amount of MDMA that has been pulverized to the scale. Add or remove MDMA as necessary till you get the weight that you want each cap.
  6. Transfer the weighed amount of MDMA and pour it into the funnel, hopefully filling the cap with MDMA. The funnel spout sometimes clogs,just use the spatula to clear the clog.
  7. Repeat these steps until you've filled all the caps you need to make.
  8. After you have filled all the caps you are going to make, use the shell halves to seal the caps.

    With this setup, I can cap over 100 caps an hour, each one weighed out to the same weight. Using #1 caps each ends up about 1/2 full, filled with .1-.15g of MDMA.
u/SeattleStudent4 · 1 pointr/Coffee

Are you looking for convenience and the ability to make a lot of coffee at once, or do you want to get the best cup of coffee you can for the money, even it's just one cup at a time and you have to do a little work?

If it's the former, then a basic coffee machine is your only option based on your budget. If it's the latter, then I think an Aeropress is the way to go. I'd recommend it over a pourover cone + filters (like the Melitta or V60) because it's going to be easier to consistently produce a good cup of coffee without a scale and gooseneck kettle.

You could also get a French Press which isn't much work, but a scale would be a good idea. Fortunately you have room for both in your budget. For example:

https://www.amazon.com/Bodum-Brazil-French-Press-Coffee/dp/B000KEM4TQ/ref=sr_1_8?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1543210385&sr=1-8&keywords=french+press

https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Kitchen-Scale-Food-Multifunction/dp/B01JTDG084/ref=sr_1_5?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1543210468&sr=1-5&keywords=kitchen+scale

$25 total, and you don't really need to invest in anything else. A coffee grinder would be ideal, but that won't work with your budget.
EDIT: On second thought, I think this is your best bet!


You also have to consider how much you're willing to spend on coffee. Freshly-roasted beans are going to be a lot more expensive than something like Folger's; anywhere from $8-9/lb at the cheapest to $20+/lb. If your budget doesn't allow for that then I don't think it makes a lot of sense to go the pourover/French Press/Aeropress route, as they won't enhance low quality coffee very much.

u/alittlebitmental · 7 pointsr/microdosing

This reply is longer than I wanted, but I do have some experience in this area. Hopefully this will help you come up with a workable plan.

First of all, microdosing might help you see the harm that the adderall is doing to you, and may even help you with the motivation. But, to succeed, you'll still need a plan and a certain level of self-discipline.

 

Although, I have never taken adderall, I have managed to get myself off of addictive medication (benzos, various psychiatric meds etc) a number of times in the past. Many of these meds had horrendous side effects, even if you skipped just even 1 or 2 doses. The best approach, in my opinion, is to taper off of them slowly. This requires discipline, a plan of action, and a continual review as to how you are feeling. Tapering slowly minimizes the side effects and gives you the best chance of remaining functional during the process.

 

You can google the best way to taper off of adderrall, but here's an example of how I got myself off of Duloxetine. Note that Duloxetine is known to have really bad withdrawals, and the company even got sued because they understated just how bad they were. I started this process when I was taking 120mg a day.


  • Week 1: reduce dosage to 90 mg

  • Week 2: reduce to 60 mg. Then...

  • 2 days at 30 mg

  • 2 days at 15 mg

  • 2 days at 7.5 mg

  • 2 days at 3.75 mg

    Note that the capsules I was prescribed came in a minimum dosage of 30 mg. Once I got to this point, I had to open the capsules and calculate the number of balls inside each one. I did this using a set of reasonably accurate scales. I worked out that each 30 mg capsule contained 320 balls. So when I got down to 3.75 mg, I was counting out 40 balls for my daily dosage. I then reduced this as follows:

  • 1 day at 30 balls

  • 1 day at 20 balls

  • 1 day at 10 balls

  • 1 day at 5 balls

  • 1 day at 2 balls

  • 1 day at 1 ball

    This approach worked well for me, and I although I still experienced some withdrawal effects, I felt that they were manageable. These side effects lasted for about 4-8 weeks, but lessened each week.

    A couple of points to note about tapering:

  1. It's worth doing this under the supervision of a doctor, but bear in mind that some doctors don't give the best advice in this area. For example, my shrink wanted me to taper off the Duloxetine much faster. However, I already knew from my research that many people had experienced unbearable side effects using the schedule he suggested. I decided to slow it down, knowing that I could go back to my doctor if things got too bad. Do your own research to find out what tapering strategies have worked for others, and the side effects they experienced.

  2. Only change one thing at a time, e.g. don't try and taper off of two different substances at the same time. If you experience issues, you want a clear idea as to what is causing them. So, keep smoking the weed - you can taper off of that later.

  3. Monitor how you feel on a daily basis. If the side effects get too bad, then it's a good indication that you are going too fast. In this case, you should revert to your previous dose until you feel normal(ish) again, and then resume your taper at a slower pace.

  4. You might want to get a set of decent scales, a tablet cutter and some empty gel capsules (all available on amazon). This is so that you can measure out smaller doses when you want to go below one tablet.

  5. If you are going to start microdosing, then either start it a few weeks before you do the taper, or wait until you've been off the adderrall for a while (see point 2).

     

    Let me know if you have any questions, but good luck with it anyway.
u/BleuXShadoW · 2 pointsr/electronic_cigarette

Honestly, you should have him give diy a try or even try it yourself! What he's wanting should be super easy to replicate and he could even tweak it to his liking. The start up costs should be fairly minimal (should be under $50) since you would only be buying a single flavor, a cheap scale and the other components (vg/pg/nic). This is the flavoring to use (wintergreen by flavor west) and visit /r/diy_ejuice to do some sidebar reading. A 30ml bottle of flavoring should make around 400-800ml depending on what % flavoring he likes it at. I would recommend starting low on the flavoring (1-2%) and working your way up from there. It may seem like a lot of work, but it really isn't. Once you learn the ways then it becomes quite fun and also it's nice to experiment vape your own creations 😄

u/Elafacwen · 3 pointsr/loseit

Hello! I, too, am a female in my early 20's, have always been a fat kid, and came from a family who didn't give a shit about fitness and food. My heaviest weight was over 270lbs, and I have lost a total of 62 pounds since October by simply counting calories. That's all that is really too it.

  1. Join MyFitnessPal It is free and wonderful, and add me as a friend! My Reddit name is the same as my username.

  2. Buy a food scale on Amazon. This is the one I use.

  3. Dig out your measuring cups and spoons.

  4. Start out by MEASURING EVERYTHING you would normally eat using said food scale and measuring spoons. LOG EVERYTHING in MyFitnessPal. This will give you an idea of how many calories you are consuming with your typical food choices and serving size.

  5. Experience second reality check.

  6. Change.

    Start slow, make gradual changes, and stick with it. Once you have a set calorie goal (myfitnesspal will help you with that) you will realize that your current food choices are no longer keeping you satiated and under your calorie goal, and you will soon learn that healthy foods will keep you going longer and keep you under your calorie limit. And allow yourself one cheat day a week!

    Expect hunger pains and cravings for the first few weeks as you start to settle into your new, healthy routine. Once you get actual good food into your system and cut out all the junk, these cravings will diminish. However, be aware that once you eat 'junk food', you will find yourself craving it for a few days afterwards.


    A few awesome things:

    Water-Drink a lot. Coffee (watch the cream serving size and sugar!) helps control hunger when you are starting to shrink your stomach.

    Veggies-Steamed or raw, have them EVERYDAY.

    Non-Processed foods-learn to cook!

    Eggs-Awesome source of protein to keep you going.

    Lean Cuisine Dinners-With a steamed veggie on the side, perfect for a busy or lazy day.

    Don't buy trigger foods-Those bag of chips look good? How about all of those cookie choices? DON'T BUY THEM. If it isn't in the house, you are not going to cheat or binge on it.


    FIND WHAT WORKS FOR YOU! Experiment, change things up. What works for one person won't always fit the next person.
u/Kaidavis · 5 pointsr/leangains

Howdy OP,

Welcome to /r/leangains! Congratulations on taking control of your health. I have a few questions and a few bits of feedback for you:

Questions

  • How much do you want to weigh? How much weight do you want to lose?

    Feedback

    To lose 1lb, you need to 'burn' 3,500 calories. The easiest way to do that? Eat at a caloric deficit and, over a week, run a ~3,500 - 4,000 calorie deficit.

    What's that look like? Let's say your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is ~2,000 calories. That means in a week you'll consumer (2,000 * 7 =) ~14,000 calories. If you want to lose 1lb/week, you'll need to run a 3,500 calorie deficit in a week. That means eating 10,500 calories in a week or 1,500 calories/day.

    That's a 'cut' (or a 'diet'). What can you do to succeed in your cut?

  • Identify a specific goal that you're working towards. We all want abs, but a specific, quantifiable goal like 'Weigh 175lbs' or 'Have 11% Body Fat' is easily attainable. 'Soft' or 'fuzzy' goals like 'Look sexy' are wonderful to identify, but are crap for setting a goal.

    So? What's your specific, quantifiable goal?

  • Calculate your Total Daily Energy Expenditure using this calculator. Note: Set the exercise level as 'No Exercise (Desk Job)

  • What gets measured gets managed - so start measuring your caloric intake. Use the app 'My Fitness Pal' to log your calories. Buy a simple digital kitchen scale to weigh your food. Log everything you eat.

  • Eat at a weekly deficit! Log your weight every 2-3 days. Keep at it for ~4 weeks and check in on your progress. If you've lost ~4lbs, you're on target! If you're losing less than expected, adjust your daily calories down by ~50-100.

    Good luck!
u/whiffypants · 1 pointr/kratom

A loosely filled level teaspoon is ~ 2g, a tightly packed level teaspoon is ~ 3g. Hope this helps... but yeah, get a scale.

I love this one that I got off Amazon; it can take a small regular weight bowl without damage, the platform is big enough to use (about 2" square), and the lid folds all the way back and lies flat so that it doesn't interfere with what you're doing. I used calibrating weights to test it when it arrived and found it was perfectly accurate already. Best of all it's $9.95 with Prime shipping, if you're signed up for Prime.

And that's not the only one; there are plenty of good sub-gram scales out there, usually cheap (<$20). No reason not to have a scale if you've tried kratom and feel like you'll be kratoming for a while.

u/budude2 · 6 pointsr/baylor

Oh oh I love coffee! Some cool products to check out on the cheap:

Hario Mini Mill Slim Hand Coffee Grinder: It's a hand crank grinder, but it's a burr grinder so it produces a more consistent grind which in turn produces a better cup of coffee.

Chemex 3-Cup Classic Glass Coffee Maker: Not as cheap as the french press, but since it uses a paper filter so there isn't as much sediment in the cup. I find that I prefer it over the french press.

Bodum Brazil 8-Cup French Press Coffee Maker: Classic french press.

Optional:

Etekcity Digital Kitchen Scale: Scales are helpful in getting a consistent cup every time. You can measure out the water and coffee and dial in the perfect ratio.

Also check out Pinewood Roaster's coffee. I think they're on Franklin and 11th in the same building as Alpha Omega. Grab a bag of Ethiopian Beriti and enjoy!

u/BoiseCoffee · 1 pointr/Coffee

Head over here if you want more responses!

  1. I'm going to reccomend two types of coffee brewing equipment to you: the Aeropress ($26) and the Chemex (6 cup for $41.50). To start out, I'd get a hand grinder like the Hario Mini Mill($25). So there you go, get the Aeropress and the Mini Mill and you're barely over $50. There are tons of Aeropress brew methods out there, so I'll plug my own blog here. I use 18g of ground coffee. You can use any standard kitchen scale that is accurate to the tenth decimal place to measure out your beans, but this one seems to be a popular pick.
  2. The longer you leave your ground coffee laying around, the less delicious it will taste. If I'm going to spend money on quality beans, I want to make sure I get the best possible cup out of them. This means grinding right before I brew.
  3. For the Aeropress method I have listed above, you'll be making one cup at a time. If you want to brew multiple cups at once, you'll want to pick up the Chemex.

    For beans, please support your local coffee shop or roaster rather than buying Caribou or Starbucks. A lot of folks work their butts off selecting and roasting the best possible beans, and it's really special to be a part of that process as the consumer in my opinion. I do understand that it can be hard if you're from a town with limited options.

    I know this can all be a bit confusing if you're used to brewing pots of coffee at a time. If you have any other questions, hit me up!

u/jamievlong · 2 pointsr/Coffee

Get this scale: https://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-Scales-AMW-SC-2KG-Digital/dp/B001RF3XJ2/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1495752221&sr=8-5&keywords=American+weigh+scale

Not only does this make it WAY easier when you're trying to figure out how much water to add to coffee, its also accurate.

Easy + Accurate = Yay.

Couple of things:

  1. Tablespoon to oz is really an outdated and not that accurate way to measure out your coffee and water and if you want to be consistent and really figure how you like your coffee to taste, a scale is your best option.

  2. This means you can making as many cups or as little cups of coffee as you like regardless of how many ounces your French Press is. You no longer have to eyeball how much water you add or fill it up to the top.

    If you end up getting a scale, its easy. Use a brew ratio like 1:15(1 gram of coffee to 15 grams of water). So for about a cup, use 20:300. If you want to make 2 cups, double it(40:600). If you want to make 3 cups, triple it(60:900).

    Also, check out this video on brewing a French Press: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQqpAyh16R4

    I hope this helps!
u/ZeOppositeOfProgress · 4 pointsr/Coffee

I don't really understand your question: you want a hot cold brew? You want a cold brew but want it warmer than it currently is?

If you're looking for a solid cold brew, I have the 1000ml Hario Cold Brew pot and this recipe is golden:

Pour 108g of coffee into the filter then place the filter in the pot. Pour filtered water through this filter until it reaches about a quarter inch from the top. Let it sit for 12-18 hours in the fridge. Remove the filter and discard the coffee. You now have a good concentrated base for iced coffee.

I plop a square ice cube in a glass, pour the concentrate and filtered water into the glass at a ratio of 1:1. I drink mine black but if you add cream/milk/flavoring, then change up your water with a whatever mix you want. Add sugar in at the end. Since this is cold, I recommend syrups over crystal sugar as you may find the crystal sugar settling at the bottom.

Been doing this for a year and have settled on this recipe being my fav. Good luck!

u/SubjectiveVerity · 5 pointsr/Type1Diabetes

As a person with a newly diagnosed kid, I can agree that everything is super overwhelming in the beginning and help from friends is welcome. The thing we needed most was the space to learn about our new life, and someone to just talk to about everything. Seems contradictory, but I would reach out with no expectations and wait to hear back.

In terms of more tangible things, you could pitch in to hire a temporary cleaning service, even if only once during the 1st couple weeks. or help buy some of the items they will need such as a quality digital food scale, Frio insuling cooling case, or books. The two books I've found to be the most helpful are Think Like a Pancreas, and Sugar Surfing.

Also the JuiceBox Podcast is really wonderful, and I highly recommend it.

u/acedelgado · 7 pointsr/electronic_cigarette

I'm a fan of Bull City Flavors- http://www.bullcityflavors.com/
They have pretty much every flavor from all of the major companies, plus pg and vg for a fair price. Also have a 6% discount code - VU6.



You'll also need some nicotine from either Nude Nicotine or Vape Clarity. I like getting it in 100% VG to help cut down on VG usage.


You'll also need a scale accurate to .01 gram - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005UGBG20/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Mixing beakers - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AU6Y6X6/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

PET bottles - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Plastic-Squeezable-Dropper-Bottles-5-10-20-30-50ml-Liquid-Juice-E-Eye-PET-USA-/182439458891?var=&hash=item2a7a3d384b:m:mzrhDE22jYZfB8vMJhsQZiA

And very importantly, a milk frother that will mix your juice in under 30 seconds and save your sanity vs trying the shake method- https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0158P72L6/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&th=1


Then go find yourself some juice recipes that look tasty to you- http://e-liquid-recipes.com/
And install the "ejuice me up" program to do all of the calculations for you-
http://ejuice.breaktru.com/



And you'll need the weights from this thread to put into the ejuice me up settings- https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY_eJuice/comments/2iq3km/botboy141_guide_to_mixing_by_weight/

This is also a great starting point to read how to mix by weight. Or if you're a visual person here's a fan-freaking-tastic guide on it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RdboUVCROs


So yeah, you're looking at a $100-150 investment to start off with, depending on how many flavors you order. But then the juice is a few cents per ML instead of like, a dollar+. Most of your cost from then on will be replacement bottles and VG and flavoring.

u/SilentThunderer · 3 pointsr/keto

Eggs,
butter,
bacon,
Almonds (no sugar added to the seasoning if their not plain),
any plain meat at all,
any plain fish at all,
plenty of no sugar added seasonings like seasoned salt, garlic powder, onion powder
garlic (I like the pre-minced in evoo in squeeze bottles),
real cheese shredded or otherwise (if it says "processed" then that's not real cheese),
those pre-wrapped individual Mozzerella or cheddar sticks make great snacks when you feel the urge to graze,
Salad fixings (make sure to include spinach for the potassium)
For tomatoes for your salad, I prefer Roma tomatoes because they are perfectly pre-portioned to have an entire tomato with your salad
Newman's Own salad dressing - There's are Caesar and Creamy Caesar varieties that have 1 carb per 2Tbsp
If you are having trouble giving up pasta, try spaghetti squash - super good!
buy a food scale like this one and record everything you eat in My Fitness Pal

Also, make sure you get some Morton's Lite salt, zero calorie drink mix and magnesium citrate to make yourself some ketorade to help avoid the keto flu. Magnesium citrate's in the pharmacy area and it's dirt cheap, and you only use very little. Simple ketorade recipe is something like 1 20-32oz bottle of water with 1/4tsp of Morton's Lite Salt, 1tsp-1Tbsp of Magnesium Citrate and some zero calorie drink mix add-in like a packet or a couple squirts of 0-cal Mio

u/plaitedlight · 1 pointr/Breadit

Creating a sourdough starter requires tossing out discard at each feeding, its just how it is. Once its going and active, there are ways to use or not have discard. But for just getting started, its just waste. Compost it if you can.

Get a scale. Cheap is ok. (I've been using this one, its adequate.) If you are super careful and consistent about how you scoop flour you might get ok results w/ volume. But sourdough can be frustrating at first regardless; don't make it harder for yourself. (I would weigh out generic AP flour before I would try to scoop expensive name brand bread flours. YMMV.)

Type of flour does matter. At least some whole grains are preferable for creating new starter. That said, it is totally possible to do it with AP flour as long as its unbleached. It will probably take longer, though, so if you can get a small amount of whole wheat or rye (bulk bins are good for this). You can absolutely bake good sourdough bread with unbleached AP flour, generally anything ~11% protein. King Arthur AP is 11.7%, Gold Medal 10.5% (As I understand it the Bread Bakers Guild calls Bread flour 11.5%-11.8%, so I personally don't bother with higher protein flour for most things.)

Recipe to make a new starter from King Arthur Flour. Not the only right way, but a good straightforward one.

Recipe for sourdough bread. I really like the 123 Sourdough as a place to start.

Good luck!

u/uterusdweller · 5 pointsr/researchchemicals
  1. 2-fdck should be fairly safe to eyeball.
  2. You don't need to spend a ton to get a pretty damn good scale that will last you a long time. The Gemini-20 is the most recommended scale. I have it myself and it's quite good. Everything you would need for $28 from amazon. Free shipping and comes in like a day (see below). If you want to get into RC dissos (or RC anything for that matter), you're definitely going to need a good scale. I promise you you will not regret it.

    https://www.amazon.com/American-Precision-Digital-Milligram-GEMINI-20/dp/B0012TDNAM?psc=1&SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duckduckgo-fpas-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B0012TDNAM
u/jceplo · 3 pointsr/Coffee

You also need a scale and excitement to learn!

SCALE: This scale is somewhat of an industry standard. If you spend more, you won't get much more. If you spend less, you may regret it!

EXCITEMENT TO LEARN: You seem prepared to make great coffee! That's awesome! I think you'll soon realize that is doesn't take much insight to start making better coffee than your local starbucks or even some local third wave shops (good coffee shops). But you also need to be ready to realize when you haven't made the best cup and use it as an opportunity to improve!

This hobby is so much fun. You're going to have an absolute blast!

u/ribfeast · 1 pointr/Coffee

Package Contents:

  • Pitcher: Rattleware Steaming Pitcher ($18) Having something with a spout helps pour cleanly into the Aeropress in addition to being a good heating vessel.
  • Water Heater: Norpro water heater ($11) The time to get enough water to temp is a little longer than the grind time on the hand grinder.
  • Grinder: Cozyna Grinder ($20): Less than half the price of the Porlex option. I figured if it breaks I can get another one or upgrade to the Porlex.
  • Brewing: Aeropress ($35)
  • Filter: Able Aeropress Metal Filter ($13)

    Optional:

  • Scale: American Weigh Scale AWS-600-BLK ($10) Just don't get it wet. This could easily fit in the pouch, but by now I've been able to eyeball the bean/water volume required for a particular weight.
  • Thermometer: Thermapen ($79, refurbished): This was not purchased specifically for this kit. But it's a great thermometer to have in your kitchen anyway! At $10, a simple drink thermometer [like this one](Taylor Precision Products Classic Line Hot Beverage Thermometer for Coffee or Tea https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001U1XRA8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_L9b3xbTDWY3MS) would be perfect.
  • Mug: Ultimo Coffee Camping Mug ($12): Any small mug will do. Ultimo Coffee is one of my favorite local roasters so I'll be traveling with a piece of home wherever I go
  • Silicone mat (~$15) About the size of a mouse pad. Lets me not worry about putting hot/wet/messy things on the hotel or Air B&B desk.
  • Bag: S.A.W. Pouch (~$11) designed to hold 6 standard 30 round magazines for automatic weapons... or coffee gear. Got it at my local army surplus store.
u/raptoricus · 16 pointsr/askgaybros

You're worried that you don't have a right to care about what he eats, but this is a potentially-long-haul relationship, right? You do have a vested and legit interest in him staying healthy so you two can live a long, healthy, and active life together.

You go to the gym, right? Or go for runs? Just invite him to work out with you (doesn't have to be every one of your workouts, but at least reasonably often). Also, start counting calories together using MyFitnessPal and a food scale (I use this one). You don't even have to nag him about his daily goals - if he sees he's regularly ingesting 3500 calories, that'll spur him to action, at least to cut out whatever junk food he's eating.

Approaching health and fitness as a thing you do together is going to make it easier for you guys to keep each other accountable without coming across as nagging. Good luck!

u/tr1ppn · 2 pointsr/loseit

MFP also has a website, in addition to the app. I like the app for the pie graph of what I ate today, the site for, well, everything else. For each their own.

I had an ankle surgery, so I TOTALLY get "hurts to run". Can you walk at least? If so, go with that. The body is an amazing thing. My ankle was a total mess, but the more I moved it and worked the muscles in the area to make up for the lack of ligament, it wasn't so bad. Might be something to try once you've taken off some weight.

I don't have a kitchen scale right now because poor, but I found this one on Amazon and put it in my wishlist. It's $25 and has a 5* review.

Swimming is an EXCELLENT exercise to do since it works everything. I am an EXTREMELY poor swimmer (childhood trauma), but I know plenty of people who were in the best shape of their lives because of it.

If you're looking for recipes, check out /r/fitmeals. I've found some pretty tasty things there. Otherwise just poke around on the google, or recipe websites. They usually have good things listed. Most spices/seasonings have no-low calories, so flavoring isn't an issue. The cooking method can be, though.

It sounds to me like you're taking a serious look at yourself and want to change. This is WONDERFUL. There's such a huge mental portion of losing weight that being in the wrong mindset can ruin everything.

Take it one step at a time. Today's lunch was 700 calories. Tomorrow you can aim for 350. Drink a lot of water. It will help you feel full/reduce cravings.

It's going to be REALLY tough for the first few days/weeks. It's well worth it though. I'm about a month in of being serious about my weight, and it's just second nature at this point.

Check out the MFP friends thread for some support, and feel free to message me here or on MFP (I'm tr1ppn_ because some jerk stole my regular username).

u/apkonte · 1 pointr/vaporents

I'm gonna take this in steps so I don't go way off topic and get confusing.

>I put all my ABV in a bag its usually mostly brown but there is still some green is that ok?

That's perfectly fine. As long as it isn't burned, the level of extraction you want is entirely up to you. Some people vape until it's nearly black, others vape until it's a golden brown and everything in between.

>can anyways recommend a good scale for measuring the ABV content?

http://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-0-01g-Digital-Scale/dp/B0012LOQUQ/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1462369951&sr=8-11&keywords=scale

>my first quest is about dosing being im brand new to this and never ingested cannabis what dosing should i start with?

That's an impossible question to answer. ABV obviously isn't as potent as unvaped herb so you will need to eat a pretty decent amount but exactly how much depends on so many factors it's impossible to really give you a straight answer. My recommendation: Pick a day (or a few days) where you have nothing to do and start experimenting. I don't like the whole put em in a pill method. Make yourself some firecrackers or a pb&j sandwich or something.

>Have any of you ever had an issue with smoking or vaping cannabis and finding out your allergic to it?

That's never happened to me but there are people that are allergic to water so I wouldn't be surprised if people are allergic to cannabis. If you think that's the case I'd take it easy with the vaping until you're sure nothing will happen to you. Some people have very mild allergy symptoms so they act as if they aren't even allergic while others have very severe reactions. Until you're sure it isn't the latter just be careful.

u/esroberts · 2 pointsr/Coffee

Both AP and chemex are great methods for great coffee. I have both plus a french press. I use the AP daily because it's the quickest and hard to screw up. I suggest the inverted AP method (google around for videos). The only downside is that you can only brew one cup at a time, and it's not a huge cup at that. Which is part of the reason i bought a chemex, so i could make larger batches for groups of people. I usually reserve the weekends for chemex since it's more involved. It took me several tries before i learned what techniques work well. In terms of which is better, the chemex makes the smoothest cup. I also find the ritual of brewing with the chemex soothing and challenging at the same time.

Equipment-wise you'll need a good scale for both. I use a Jennings CJ 4000 (http://www.amazon.com/Jennings-CJ4000-4000g-Digital-Scale/dp/B004C3CAB8) and am happy with it. Only downside is the 0.5g resolution but I've never noticed it to be a noticeable problem in terms of brew taste/strength. If you go the chemex route you'll also need a gooseneck kettle to ensure precision when pouring. I use the bonavita electric with variable temp (http://www.amazon.com/Bonavita-Variable-Temperature-Electric-Gooseneck/dp/B005YR0F40) and I love it, especially for the convenience and price.

So, my recommendation would be to try/get both as they are each suited best for different situations. I'm a fan of having options and am always evaluating other gadgets to add to the collection as i consider it to be a hobby of sorts.

u/psychoamine · 2 pointsr/researchchemicals

You can get a good scale for about 20 dollars. Make sure to have you scale on a level surface(you can buy one of those levels with the bubble in it for like 3 dollars) and make sure to calibrate your scale before every use. Also keep your scale clean and make sure you keep it somewhere where it won't be dropped or anything.

Here's a good scale

Here's a cheap reliable level

Here's a nice little scooping tool for your powders

Stay safe my friend!

u/moonerdooder · 2 pointsr/DIY_eJuice

It really is, I'll be getting a scale eventually for personal use, it's just easier, but I'll be using syringes for now. Graduated cylinders for vg and pg will be OK for now though. If you plan on selling definitely look into mixing by weight for consistency.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005UGBG20/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I've seen this be recommended a few times on this subreddit, it's cheap and does the job apparently.

https://godofsteam.wordpress.com/2014/08/14/getting-started-diy-101-mixing-your-own-eliquid/

Here is a good diy guide, there's a part to mixing by weight as well. I haven't read that part yet but judging from the quality of the first part it's probably a good read.

Have fun on your diy journey! I know I will.

u/at_zack · 1 pointr/MDMA

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0012TDNAM?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

.001mg scale for less than $30.

https://bunkpolice.com/collections/apollo-packages/products/cosmos-pro-level-spot-kit-package

I just purchased this kit a few days ago and it's the best I've ever seen. It has almost every reagent you'll ever need, as well nice color charts for every reagent. It's on the pricey side, but I feel you can't put a price on safety.

I also highly recomend you get a robadope reagent kit. It's the only way to test for PMA, PMMA, which is the shit that kills people, and it's also the easiest method in my opinion to test for MDA and amphetamine. However only a few reagent sellers stock them.

Also check out r/reagenttesting.

u/JakeWasAlreadyTaken · 1 pointr/Fitness

Have used mesomorph and really liked it, but since I'm pretty frugal I now go for just the pure stuff. I picked it up at nutrivitashop.com and got a milligram scale (SUPER IMPORTANT), and I've never paid so little for such a great pre-workout before. The one downside is the time. It takes a lot of patience measuring out ingredients, especially because you can't just plop down some powder and you have to be careful not to put too much. For the money, you might just find it's worth paying a bit extra for mesomorph and getting the ease of a scoop. If I had any left, I liked to vary between choices like whether I wanted mesomorph or my stuff.

My go-to formula is

  1. 200-300mg caffeine
  2. 30-50mg DMAA
  3. 3200-4000mg beta alanine

    Mesomorph has all of those ingredients in basically those dosages, with extra stuff too tho
u/yanmar091 · 1 pointr/DIY_eJuice

Wow going at it whole hog I see, Ha, I'm the same way. I see on your list a lot of syringes, my suggestion would be to mix by weight, so much easier and much more accurate. You will sooner or later anyway...here's a link to one that most on this forum use https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005UGBG20/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

When it comes to flavors I'd suggest buying for Recipes that you'd like to mix and just buy those flavors, that way they will get used at least once. I made the mistake of buying dozens of flavors I thought I'd use, 5 years later a number I've never opened and need to throw out. Let me know what flavor profiles you like and I'd be happy to point you in the right direction. Quite a few flavors are strong so a 10ml bottle will last a long time. Also the best calculator in my opinion is one made by a guy over on ECF....a bit of a curve to get to speed on it but once you do it's great. I probably have 300 recipes on it with notes ect....here's the link http://diyjuicecalculator.com/

I love that thing and have it backed up on 3 drives!

u/tylerthepup · 3 pointsr/1200isplenty

This is one amazing. I’m weird and have tried 5 different food scales and this one is by far my favorite.
It’s $50 but it can hold up to 11 lbs which is wonderful because you can put huge pots on it and just add whatever by zeroing it out. I’ve weighed a weeks worth of food up to 4000 grams at once before (not including the pot). All the other ones I’ve tried max out at 5 lbs which really doesn’t hold much, if you’re trying to zero a heavy pot and food.

You can also pull the screen out so you can read the the display under large plates. The scale part is also detachable so you can wash it easily. Runs on batteries. I’ve been using this one every day since January and haven’t needed to change them yet.

I highly highly recommend it.

OXO Good Grips Stainless Steel Food Scale with Pull-Out Display, 11-Pound https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000WJMTNA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_1Wj7CbVGK0XZZ

u/UgotSprucked · 6 pointsr/kratom

ProTip ™ : Buy a small digital scale. Amazon has excellent options. I bought this one and it's totes awesomes. https://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-Scales-AWS-600-BLK-Nutrition/dp/B000O37TDO/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1536284257&sr=8-4&keywords=small+digital+scale

It helps keep your dosing accurate and consistent.

I used to not weigh my doses....I would just "measure" by size of scoop I was taking with my spoon....totally unreliable and inaccurate way of measuring dosage. I would get upset when I wasn't getting consistent results/got the wobbles when the day before I took the "same amount" and it didn't make me sick etc...

Scale is a game changer, dude.

ALSO: Less is more (to a certain extent): Find your effective dosage range, and try to stay in that range.

Mine is 6.5-8.8 grams per/dose. No more, no less. I took me a long time to figure this range out...lots of vomiting from taking too much....and a lot of disappointment/being a sad panda because my silly leaf powder wasn't helping.

This helps keep your tolerance at bay, adhering to a dosage range...as long as you're not dosing excessively (frequency wise). This is just my personal experience, however. Your mileage may vary. Your mileage might actually be kilometers. That's ok too. Just be mindful of your dosing, keep a little log book to record dosage, effects, duration, symptoms relieved etc. I did that for a while and it helped me figure out dosage, as well as the vendors I choose to purchase from (don't worry I'm not gonna name names, I'm cool man, I'm cool....), and preferred strain color (kinda...they're pretty much the same tbh...except some Red veins are waaaay more sleepy than any white, green, yellow etc.)

Alright done ranting.

Welcome to the family!

*everybody high fives awkwardly* :)

u/SpecialAgent_00420 · 2 pointsr/trees

It very well could be. The density of weed depends on a lot of things, mostly how dry it is. Less dense weed may look like more but be 3.5 grams, just as more dense weed can look like less. My advice is to invest in a scale like this one. $11, durable, goes to the .01 gram, and closes to protect the sensitive weighing surface. I like to weigh when I buy (before smoking any) to be sure I got what I paid for, no matter how much I trust a dealer, and you can also keep track of your usage more efficiently.

u/ellankyy · 2 pointsr/Homebrewing

I started brewing at all grain 1 gallon Brew In A Bag. I do 1 gallon because I love the process of brewing, its not any easier or shorter than doing 5 gallons but I don't brew to drink. I like the fact that I can make something good and be content with that and the process that came with it.

I currently use this: https://www.amazon.com/Brewers-Best-Gallon-Equipment-Kit/dp/B00CD7CY1G

Pro tips: You will need at least a 3-4 gallon kettle to mash and boil in. Use a "fine mesh" bag to do BIAB big enough to fit around your kettle. Get at least 2 more gallon jug fermenters along with rubber stoppers because the screw caps for the jug fermenter are questionable. Don't forget a funnel to transfer your wort to your 1 gallon fermenter. Get a small digital scale like this one to help with weighing hops, priming sugar, sanitizer, etc.. and lastly buy/make a wort chiller... Trust me from experience that doing ice baths to chill are absolutely the worst. And last but not least you will need BeerSmith... when you brew at such a small scale every little detail matters so get the aid in calculations from the software so that you just worry about your process.

Bonus: Get a digital thermometer, refractometer, and temperature controller for fermentation. Also, if you use any type of software to create your recipes always assume at least 60% efficiency with BIAB. One way to help your efficiency is squeeze the hell out of the bag (assuming you have appropriate gloves), double crush your grains at the local home brew shop, and stir good while you mash in. And lastly take the time to watch this video to get you an idea of what BIAB is.

u/l3ret · 2 pointsr/Coffee

Here's the thing..

Gooseneck kettle will last you forever and it is an absolute staple if you're going to invest in this hobby/truly enjoy this ritual.

I like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Hario-VKB-120HSVV60-Buono-Pouring-Kettle/dp/B000IGOXLS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501770513&sr=8-1&keywords=hario+gooseneck+kettle

I also would recommend a scale that can weigh out by the .1 gram (or even more fine). Also a timer is important.

I like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Hario-Coffee-Drip-Scale-Timer/dp/B009GPJMOU/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1501770540&sr=1-1&keywords=hario+food+scale

Kalita wave is very forgiving, great to learn on, and makes a wonderful cup of coffee. I use Kalita Wave each morning and Chemex on weekends.

Kalita Wave: https://www.amazon.com/Kalita-05033-Wave-185-Drippers/dp/B000X1AM0Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1501770620&sr=1-1&keywords=kalita+wave

Kalita Wave Filters: https://www.amazon.com/Kalita-22199-Filters-White-Japan/dp/B00BJBOITS/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1501770637&sr=1-1&keywords=kalita+wave+filters

Good luck buddy!

u/Oldvaporuser · 2 pointsr/DIY_eJuice

Yes a scale will make things much easier. I use the juice calculator off of the sidebar (its the last one on the list) and once I got all my flavors in it and my recipes made it is a marvel that I can make consistent juice every time I make it. I have begun to know when I need to tweak a recipe and how to do it so it suits my needs. The learning curve is quite strong in a very short time but you do level out and start to find what you are looking for.

You might want to invest in some pipettes. I use the 3ml ones a lot. I purchase the 100 per package and they last a long time. If some of the bottles you are using have small openings then you might want to consider getting the 1ml pipettes for those. I get mine off of Amazon but you need to be careful and make sure you order from a vendor located in the US as some of the suppliers are from China and take a long time to get them to you. They are quite cheap in price. I think for 100 3ml pipettes I paid about $4. I also purchased my scale from Amazon and strongly suggest you consider the American Weigh Scales LB-501 Digital Kitchen Scale. You can get it [here] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005UGBG20?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00) for $21.52.

You were smart to start with a single flavor juice that you liked. That is what I've done. I have 6 basic flavors I like and they are all one or two flavor juices. Since then I have branched out to some 4-5 flavor juices and they so far have come out great except for one that was awful but I was able to fix it.

I understand about your clothes and stuff smelling of smoke when her dad visits. I live with two other roommates in a house we rent and both of them smoke. They go out into the garage to smoke but when they come in from out there I can smell the stench. I have the back bedroom for my room and the garage is on the complete other side of the house but I can still smell the smoke even though I keep my door closed most of the time.