Target is around 125 g per day. That number comes from preserving 138 lb of lean mass at 55, resistance training, eating primarily plant-based, in a caloric deficit. All five of those independently argue for the high end. Actual intake: roughly 100 g. So I have been in a deficit for months, training, and underfeeding the one tissue the entire program exists to protect. Not a mystery. Not a plateau. An input I did not run. What I changed this week: three feedings of 40 g instead of grazing. Alternate Ascent Whey, Soy and pea isolate doing the heavy lifting. Logged it daily. Seven days in. Averaged 130 g. No conclusion yet. Posting the log, not the result.

I got to the top of that climb around 50 and found out it was a ridge, not a summit. The credential was real. The identity was a costume. That's not a midlife crisis. It's a false summit, and almost every high performer hits one. Meanwhile AI is quietly rewriting what credentialed work is even worth. Second Peak is where I'm building the second half in public. Body, mind, relationships, work. Systems that actually run, not frameworks nobody executes.

I do a fair amount of writing for others and enjoy the freedom it gives me and steady income. My gap is mindset. I have a few ideas for fiction but worry that the payoff at the end will not justify the time it took to create for myself.

Absorbing several pay cuts with consulting clients due to "AI efficiency" implementations across my largest consulting client. That said, those doing the work are bearing the financial price. The consumer on the receiving end of their services continues to pay the same or higher rates due to 'inflation'.

Digging through Indeed and Upwork for potential new roles is so tedious. Has anyone build a tool to simplify this process?