u/EngineerTheFunk

CrossFit x 2 per week, strength/physique training x 3 per week - M-F. I run a 5k every Saturday going for time. 10k+ steps everyday. Sunday I chill except my walk.

No doubt. White people didn’t invent slavery. We were the first ones to make it illegal however.

Mauritania didn’t outlaw it until 1981. Niger not until 2003. Give me a break with this shit. USA has been slave free for generations.

Bro, there are tons of BIG dudes in the gyms I’ve been to. I’m not talking super strong or jacked. I’m talking genuinely heavyset guys. You’ll absolutely be a lil bitch when you first start (no offense), but you’ll build muscle pretty quickly, just like any other newbie.

The difference is that you’ll probably get strong AF pretty fast and end up lifting circles around dudes like me who spend years trying to stay lean. I’m 6’2” and weigh maybe 180 on a good day. I’m tiny. My squat, bench, and deadlift numbers are laughable compared to what some bigger guys can move, even though I LOOK pretty muscular thanks to staying lean and having definition.

You’ve got a lot of potential to become seriously strong. You might be an overweight guy for a while, but that doesn’t mean you can’t build muscle and make huge progress along the way. And if you eventually get lean? You’ll probably have some incredible calves. Guys who’ve carried extra weight for years often develop great calves because they’ve basically been doing weighted calf raises every time they walk.

Start small. Walk 10k steps a day. Clean up your diet. Cut out soda and start reducing the sugary junk. Get into the gym and lift whatever you can, then keep showing up consistently. You don’t need to transform your entire life overnight.

You’ll be amazed at how much you can change in a year if you stick with it. And the benefits go way beyond how you look or your dating life. Your confidence, energy, health, and general quality of life can all improve dramatically.

Just get started, mate. You don't have to be in shape to go to the gym. Getting in shape is the reason you go.

Start at the gym and the health food section of your grocery store. I'd recommend classes versus just going and fucking off at a regular gym - think Crossfit, Hyrox, F45, or other functional fitness with a group setting. Tons of girls there - some so fit you can bounce a quarter off their ass, others who probably have a body shape more similar to yours. It's win-win. You get in shape and will be surrounded by women. Very easy to talk to them - "hey, can you please spot me?", "do you mind if I borrow that 5lb plate?", "am I doing this right?". Plenty of romances get started in those places.

We are really content but also DINKs. I’m not sure I’d be doing it the same with kids. I hadn’t noticed this was a leanfire sub actually. Me and the wife landed in Australia a few weeks ago and it’s been pushing new subs my direction. We are more standard fire or even fatfire with our thinking and habits.

The leanfire crew is a bit too hardcore for us. I like to eat out occasionally, travel, have some fun along the way, etc. There’s plenty of paths to early retirement. I personally didn’t want to squeeze all the life out of my 20s and 30s. To each their own though.

Good luck! Hope to see you killing time at the beach near us one day soon.

Well, to your points above, during our heavy savings phase, I skipped a close friend's wedding in Bali (I'm American, so that's a pretty major financial commitment), skipped tons of concerts, and have been car-free for the past three years.

BUT, I'm 43, my wife is in her mid-30s, and we're on track to essentially retire in less than two years by scaling back to 10 hours or less per week at the business we started.

Over the past four years, we've also traveled to 25+ countries as so-called digital nomads. We've taken at least 6–7 weeks off every year, which, by American standards, is incredible. We've also gotten really into fitness and are in the best shape of our lives.

Would Bali have been nice? Absolutely. Do I miss concerts and going out to bars? Sure. Is having a car pretty rad? You bet.

But those trade-offs helped put us in the position we're in today. And it's not like we've spent the last several years sitting at home miserable, waiting for retirement to start. We've built a life we genuinely enjoy now, while making choices that will give us significantly more freedom in the near future.

I think it was Dave Ramsey who said something along the lines of, "Live like nobody else now so you can live like nobody else later."

That's basically where we are. We've spent several years saving aggressively and being intentional about our spending, and we're approaching the other side of that equation. The goal was never to deprive ourselves of life. It was to build a life we love while buying back our time.

So much stupidity. I guess I get it from a 17 year old. I was also stupid at that age and WAY too into the girl I was seeing then. This is an important life lesson. Don't be Captain Save a Hoe.

Haha, I get what you mean, mate. I think FIRE gets misunderstood as cutting every possible expense and sacrificing your quality of life today to enjoy life later. The way I’ve always understood it is almost the opposite: cut the expenses that don’t meaningfully contribute to your happiness, build a life you genuinely love and could happily live indefinitely, and then save and invest aggressively to make that life sustainable without needing to work forever.

It’s not about putting a cap on life fulfillment. It’s about being intentional with your money and figuring out what actually makes you happy, rather than spending out of habit or social expectations.

I agree that investing in yourself and building a business can be fantastic ways to accelerate financial independence, especially if you have a valuable skill or craft. But I don’t think FIRE and entrepreneurship are mutually exclusive, either. Ultimately, the goal is to buy back your time and have the freedom to spend it however you want. The whole point is to build a life you don’t need to retire from, while having the financial freedom to walk away from work whenever you choose.

It isn’t random. These are rioters. Those are riot police. There’s one secret to not getting beat by the riot police… don’t riot.

I sincerely doubt it. Only ~20% of Australia can trace their roots back to convicts. Many more people came here looking for gold or immigrated for other various reasons

Looked like the tramped chick got to lick it first. Sucks to suck.

Easy way to not get run over by horses is not fuck with police but hey, you do you.

100%. I used to imagine retirement there. No longer. They really let themselves go to absolute shit.

They deserved to get their asses kicked. What a couple of idiots.

I won't be surprised. The Democrats seem willing to do almost anything to win - except run reasonable candidates or champion policies that actually appeal to working people. Don't get me wrong - the Democrats are miles better than the Republicans. However, most of them are also dogshit and will do nothing to help the American people.

The playbook for winning in a landslide isn't complicated. Tax the everloving fuck out of the mega rich and corporations, and use that money to invest in people. Free college. Universal healthcare. Better public transit. A real investment in the next generation.

Get money out of politics. Overturn Citizens United, crack down on dark money, and bring back meaningful truth-in-broadcasting rules. Hold politicians accountable for breaking the law, regardless of party, and make it clear that nobody is above the law. Impose age limits and term limits on Congress. End presidential pardons or at the very least, reform them so they can't be abused to protect political allies and cronies.

Give people something to believe in. Build a country our children can actually be proud of instead of one that feels increasingly defined by corruption, political dysfunction, violence, and a justice system that seems to operate by a different set of rules for the powerful.

It is not difficult to run on making people's lives better and holding the powerful accountable. The demand for that kind of leadership is overwhelming. Someone just needs to have the guts to deliver it. I am absolutely certain that it will not be the current Democrats but man would it be nice.

On my 20th we had an all college girl topless wrestling match in a kiddie pool full of lube with like 500 college kids there. It was a pyramid tournament with a $500 cash prize. These ladies went crazy. I miss Milwaukee.

Sociology professor. Had good rapport as I was an older student. She was a Marxist. I hit her with a boss level pickup line.

“Are you the bourgeois, because you are causing an uprising in my lower class”.

After that I banged her and some of her friends for several years. As I matured I didn’t want to deal with her kids who were just a few years younger than me. It’s complicated to give the don’t drink talk to a kid 5 years younger… I had to cut it short. She was fun but I’m not cut out to be a step dad.

A garage band from Seattle.

Eating healthy and staying active.

Well, things in my life are amazing. When I was younger I was a complete fuck up. I now own my own business, have an amazing wife, and am very close to retiring (43m). I’ve traveled the world and had tons of fun. I expect to be done working within 2 years. This year was the year that pushed my business over the edge to where I’m comfortable stepping back.

She let me hit it (college).

43 years. Edited comment. Thanks - I’ve been drinking. Haha

Absolutely incredible. One of the best years of my 43 years circling this star.

Sure, sure. Every election worldwide is now basically 50/50. Seems plausible.

I got caught on a trail inSoCal getting head for my gf. It was two men who came upon us in the trail. I was terrified they would be upset. Instead one of them said “hey bra, don’t worry. I’d be doing the same thing if I had a chance!”. Super cool.