I want to first address my no meat experiment. It did not result in the expected improvements that I was hoping for. My weight has not changed, my mood has stayed stable and my energy levels have also remained largely unchanged. Funny enough, I strongly felt the difference in calories between carbs (4cal/g) and fats (9cal/g). A few hours after each meal I ended up snacking - something I previously didn't feel the need to do. Lucky for me my parents decided to rid their cupboards of excessive quarantine provisions that I was quick to haul into my tine apartment like a starved hamster. That being said, I'm not about to embark on a carnivore diet. I will still be avoiding pork, eating beef with moderation, and primarily feasting on birds and fish.
Another experiment that was a definite failure was the floor desk. Although the idea was (still is) super appealing, sitting on the floor just isn't comfortable enough for prolonged periods of time. During the 6 hours of class that I have on Wednesday, I often turned off my camera to that I could lean back, stretch my sore lower backs. Sometimes my ass hurt so much that I had to change locations. Overall, I would say that the floor desk made me less productive since I was avoiding sitting at it as much as I could. Another problem with the floor desk was the amount of hair that was being gathered on the camping mat that I was sitting on. I seem to be shedding like a husky at the end of winter.
Now I'm experimenting with a standing desk, although if the last few days are any indication of how I feel about it, I should really just dismantle the whole thing and sit at the kitchen table. The way I arranged the standing desk is probably not ideal - when I feel the need to sit, the bar stools are just too low. The whole thing looks quite ugly too. I have put together a "table" with some boards and the whole thing rests on my window sill and a book shelf - see for yourself the ghetto-gopnik PhD student setup.
