Other/Mixed How far is "too far" OR A thread about Overthinking Things

[wespom9]

Part of this stems from the coffee/mtor thread, but also from a discussion with my wife. It started with me talking about how I would consider wearing a CGM for a few months, to see how my body responded to different foods in terms of glucose spikes. I'm perfectly healthy, but knowing that there's evidence about how limiting major glucose spikes can help prevent/delay diabetes, wearing one for a while to help me learn what my body does could be helpful in helping my nutrition. That was my view. Her view was "why in the hell would you do that? you work out almost every day, eat well 95% of the time, have 5% body fat (note: that's a little bit of an exaggeration) and have no issues with blood work?"

How do you personally draw the line between "thinking too much" vs "80/20, who cares about the rest"
Feel free to extend this to exercise programming, other aspects of nutrition, autophagy ftw, etc.

 

[offwidth]

Life fast, die young, leave a good looking corpse....

 

[Eyetic]

Being Diabetic t1 myself for me using a CGM for at least 2 months has been mindblowing, its incredible how the body reacts to different inputs that, under my humble opinion, were not a big deal.

One example is Coffee and caffeine on its own, results that when I take two cups of coffee my bloodsugar spikes up like crazy, caffeine triggers my adrenaline secretion which gives my liver the input to release all the damn stores I have of glycogen...(i'm not scientist but thats how more or less work! xD) so i ended up without having breakfast with 200 bg lvls during the morning just because I did have two cups of it. A normal person would release insulin and thats it, no big deal, for a diabetic is a whole mess instead.

There are some other effects like effect of cinnamon, vinegar, or the effect of strengh excersises which gives lil peaks of BG vs HIIT which gave me huge peaks up , so I started to do strenght followed by lil cardio or HIIT and then cardio.

Its interesting, I dont know if you will take that much advantage from it as I did, but its not a huge cost to try some Freestyle libre sensors for a time.

 

[Kettlebelephant]

How do you personally draw the line between "thinking too much" vs "80/20, who cares about the rest"

Constant battle against "thinking too much" for me, but it's gotten better over the years.
In my opinion you're overthinking something when you don't fall into the "extreme"-part of something.
To give a relatable example...
There are many, many people around the world who lift weights to get stronger, but only a little fraction are professional or almost professional powerlifters, weightlifters or strongman. Those few professionals therefore are the "extreme". They can worry about super tiny details that might give them that slight edge. Any of those other many, many lifters who think about the same small details are overthinking in my eyes.
@wespom9 you for example think about something that you shouldn't need to be thinking about. Like you're wife said, you look good, perform well, feel good and have good health. You can't be categorized as "extreme".

Life fast, die young, leave a good looking corpse....

You're not living fast enough then

 

[North Coast Miller]

If you have an underlying medical condition where you would expect a high likelihood of trouble then maybe it makes sense.

I've been keeping on with a range of joint problems that were all VERY scary and dismaying when initially cropped up, now I just ignore them. They do serve as a reminder that this heap of junk is NOT going to run forever and chance plays a larger role in our overall fit and function than many of us would like to admit.

If my body cannot run within spec for a fairly normal diet/lifestyle, or survive long enough to get a medical intervention when things head South, then so be it. I'm honestly more worried about living too long instead of dying "early".

 

[Oscar]

Overthinking things is a lot of fun. I would do that just for the fun of learning how your body behaves. You can do it for a few months, learn a lot from it, and then move on.

 

[ali]

Overthinking is preferable to underthinking.

 

[Timmer C]

Overthinking in situations where it is counterproductive to do so is like trying to practice the high jump as slowly as possible.

 

[LukeV]

If you're on this forum and posting regularly but have not won Mr Olympia or a medal in Olympic or Power lifting then chances are you are overthinking stuff. The answers to everything, except how to win, are simple. It's only winning that's complex. But there is nothing wrong with being an overthinker.

 

[Anna C]

If you're on this forum and posting regularly but have not won Mr Olympia or a medal in Olympic or Power lifting then chances are you are overthinking stuff. The answers to everything, except how to win, are simple. It's only winning that's complex. But there is nothing wrong with being an overthinker.

Yep, forums are where the Overthinkers gather. Be proud.

I tend to overthink things until I get a handle on understanding the mechanisms behind the methods. Then I set it aside. For example, I've been obsessive about HRMs at times. Now I rarely wear one except for cardio. I monitored HRV for a while. Once I learned the patterns and lessons about it, I stopped doing that. Wearing a CGM could be like that - I'd learn a lot, then if there wasn't any trouble, I'd probably stop.

Learning about kidney disease last year through the donation process cured a lot of my overthinking tendencies. There are so many people in the world getting by with severe health challenges. When someone can live and cope with 10% kidney function, why worry about optimizing 95% to 98%? It just doesn't matter. Many things are like that, health-wise. If you're good, you really are fine. You probably are with glucose, as your wife says.

So there's a little pro and con on both sides.

 

[ShawnM]

Yep, forums are where the Overthinkers gather. Be proud.

I tend to overthink things until I get a handle on understanding the mechanisms behind the methods. Then I set it aside. For example, I've been obsessive about HRMs at times. Now I rarely wear one except for cardio. I monitored HRV for a while. Once I learned the patterns and lessons about it, I stopped doing that. Wearing a CGM could be like that - I'd learn a lot, then if there wasn't any trouble, I'd probably stop.

Learning about kidney disease last year through the donation process cured a lot of my overthinking tendencies. There are so many people in the world getting by with severe health challenges. When someone can live and cope with 10% kidney function, why worry about optimizing 95% to 98%? It just doesn't matter. Many things are like that, health-wise. If you're good, you really are fine. You probably are with glucose, as your wife says.

So there's a little pro and con on both sides.

Well said!

 

[wespom9]

Interesting responses everyone. I didn't mean to insinuate that overthinking is necessarily bad. In all of our hobbies I'm sure many of us overthink thing; our chosen venue (among others I'm sure) is strength and health.

Temporary overthinking (as @Anna C describes) seems to be to have much upside. Diving deep presents a learning opportunity that can later be applied with greater simplicity.

As I typed this response, a phrase came to mind of Bruce Lee.

1. A punch is just a punch
2. A punch is no longer a punch
3. A punch is just a punch

 

[Steve Freides]

Her view was "why in the hell would you do that?

I'm with your wife on this one.

-S-

 

[Steve Freides]

"thinking too much"

There is no such thing as thinking too much, and the phrase, by itself, also smacks of anti-intellectualism.

I take this phrase to mean "thinking in place of facing some other issue" - if that's not you, then you're not thinking too much. If, OTOH, wanting to monitor your blood glucose for no reason your wife can see is, upon deeper reflection, an indication of your concerns about aging and mortality or something else, then you don't need to think less, just about a different subject.

Just my opinion, your mileage may vary.

-S-

 

[Bauer]

I think it is good to experiment and go down the rabbit hole, as long as it is in some way fun to do it. Otherwise I try to remind myself that very simple rules (that might come from your grandma) will probably give 80% or even more of your desired results:

- Eat your veggies
- Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much. (Michael Polan)
- Go outside and move
- Take time to rest
- Brush and floss your teeth
- Lift weights and back off when fatigue sets in
- Little and often over the long haul
- 80% of success is showing up. (Woody Allen)
- It feels good to feel good. (Tim Anderson)

And then there is the great paradox: Letting go of the desire for optimization (and still showing up) might actually one the most beneficial things you can do. It is a bit Zazen like. You get results -- but only when you stop doing it for the results.

One important thing to consider is: Is my thinking fear-based and what would I gain if I let it go? If it is not fear-based, but more curiosity-based, I think there is no need to stop "overthinking".

 

[Timmer C]

There is no such thing as thinking too much, and the phrase, by itself, also smacks of anti-intellectualism.

While I understand your point and recognize its validity, I also recognize that thinking too much can also sometimes be anti-intellectual. Having known some obsessive-compulsive people, for example, I recognize that they can think and think and think on things that aren’t worth thinking about. Having known someone years ago who thought of himself as a 5000 year old Druid, I recognize that one can think and think and think on things that have a dubious premise. Neither of these extreme examples are meant to contradict your point, but just to put boundaries on your point. Thinking can be good, it can be very good, but it can be even better when one recognizes that their own overthinking can sometimes go astray.

 

[Steve Freides]

While I understand your point and recognize its validity, I also recognize that thinking too much can also sometimes be anti-intellectual. Having known some obsessive-compulsive people, for example, I recognize that they can think and think and think on things that aren’t worth thinking about.

@Timmer C, yes, but then their problem isn't really thinking too much, it's being obsessive-compulsive.

Neither of these extreme examples are meant to contradict your point, but just to put boundaries on your point.

OK.

-S-

 

[Bauer]

There is no such thing as thinking too much

Well, I guess you could feel so when throwing a free throw or making love...

And paralysis by analysis is a thing, especially in science circles and overe here in Germany. For example in one of the scientific research projects of my colleagues they have a hard time applying and testing things because they are trying to find and integrate every theory on the field whatsoever. When we work with US american colleagues it is usually refreshing to be met with a "sounds great, let's do it" attitude. But of course there are benefits and trade offs both to being "overthinking/cautious" and to "just doing it". The former is for example great for engineering or philosophy and the latter for actually enjoying life and being quick to react.

Long story short: Context matters

 

[offwidth]

A Fox was boasting to a Cat of its clever devices for escaping their mutual enemies; the dogs. “I have a whole bag of tricks,” he said, “which contains a hundred ways of escaping my enemies, perhaps one day I will share some of them with you”

“Alas, I have only one,” said the Cat; “but I can generally manage with that.” Just at that moment they heard the cry of a pack of hounds coming towards them, and the Cat immediately ran up a tree and hid herself in the branches.

“This is my plan,” said the Cat. “What are you going to do?”

The Fox thought first of one way, then of another, and while he was debating the hounds came nearer and nearer, and at last the Fox in his confusion was caught up by the hounds and soon killed by the huntsmen. Miss Puss, who had been looking on, said: “Better one safe way than a hundred on which you cannot reckon.”

 

[North Coast Miller]

Context matters. There's a big difference between a deep dive on a directly applicable fitness/health topic, and monitoring your blood glucose on the assertion that an otherwise active and healthy person needs to worry about glucose spikes.

If you are a fitness professional and need this knowledge to treat clients (which is by no means guaranteed useful) then by all means jump right in.

Otherwise IIRC there is just as much evidence that repeated instances of low blood sugar are just as bad or worse for long term health than spiking, esp if you predominantly eat a whole food diet.