You are a good brother. I hope my siblings respond so kindly when I come out.

There are ways to get games that don't involve money, or so I've heard. I find it weird for any art to be gated behind money, anyway.

Isn't it funny how something being undiagnosed can be so rough? Like, not knowing what it is makes it untouchable. But the minute you have a name for something, the brain can start attaching attributes that become handles. Suddenly this thing untouchable plasma becomes a manageable, manipulable object.

Yes and no. I'm sure you've heard the calories-in-calories-out thing, and its a little more complex than that. Before I continue, any large weight-loss is best done with a doctor's guidance.

I want to start by saying most people have tried dieting/exercising and found they lost a few pounds, stopped losing weight, then regained it and got discouraged. This happens a lot. Let's look over a few details: When one starts dieting, they'll quickly see a lower number on the scale simply because less mass is in their digestive tract. Exercise (depending on the activity) can see a gain in muscle mass or blood volume. People usually underestimate their caloric intake and over estimate their expenditure.

This cycle is really common. In some cases the regimen was working and they got discouraged by a scale. In other cases, the regimen simply put them and their normal maintenance calories because they were over-budget before starting.

The solution to this conundrum is simple: stick with it. If your progress halts, cut some more calories from your diet and proceed. Don't worry too much about the scale, focus more on how you feel. Monitor that your activity level doesn't decrease and calorie intake doesn't increase.

Something really very helpful is to write down each caloric value before you eat. Every single thing, even the 5 calories of oil in a cup of black coffee. Add it up and keep track each day.

Yo thank you so much for the research link, I love reading this kinda stuff!

A common mistake is that people go too easy on themselves. While burnout is very real, I've found it more likely that people under-exert themselves. Soreness is normal and natural, so long as its not in your joints.

Magnesium comrade. Exercise depletes magnesium, which is necessary for sleep and relaxing muscles. Sunflower seeds or cashews are good sources of magnesium, but be sure to account for their caloric value. You can also get Magnesium Glycinate for relatively cheap.

The best time of day to work out is whenever you have time. Don't stress too much about when you work out. Personally, I workout in the evenings or at night.

That's a pretty rough diet. Your calories are mostly coming from carbohydrates, which isn't great. Assuming you're not vegan and your main concern is budget, while chicken can go a long way if you put the effort into it. The broth can be stored and made into soups. The meat itself is a complete protein, meaning you'll get all the amino acids you need. Chicken soup has a good spread of micronutrients.

I kinda hate myself for saying this, but dollar-to-pound your most efficient source of B-vitamins will be beef. I would advise against eating it every day,

I'm curious what you're making with just tomato, onion, and noodles. I'm also curious what kind of oil you're using, because that makes a surprising difference.

This is so wonderful to hear, I'm moved to the verge of tears. Thank you for sharing, it means a lot to me.

I mean in excess. A caloric deficit is necessary for weightloss, but to this degree may be unhealthy. If I'm at the point where I need exogenous N-Acetyl-Cysteine I'm likely pushing myself a bit farther than one should.

Doctors suck shit, never had a good one in my life. I don't know you well enough to help, but I do know myself well enough to share an experience that may help you.

I was in a real bad, suicidal place a couple months ago. Bad things happened. I started disassociating pretty severely. That had been a theme of my life since forever, but this time the lights were on with no one home. I started listening to We Will Always Love You by The Avalanches, nonstop. Listened to it 20 times a week, the whole album. Something in there was resonating with me. After a couple weeks and some research on the sample sources, I realized the album is about suicide. wew. But that's not all the album is about.

Long before any of this, for all my life, something had felt off. Wrong. This life didn't feel like mine, it never did. I would later realize, a month ago, what I was experiencing was gender dysphoria. What a nasty thing, living so deep inside me that it took nearly 3 decades to identify. I would think things like... "I hope I can be reincarnated into a girl," or, "It feels wrong when I'm treated like a man." But I always pushed these thoughts back down and some impossible wish best forgotten. I had even internalized the phrase "trans women are women" to a degree that "trans women" couldn't include me because I wasn't "women."

Just over a month ago I was listening to Hammond Song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA-U5H4VoX8), with the context of its use in We Will Always Love You. Hammond Song takes on an entirely different meaning when you are thinking about suicide. I was talking to my best friend. She said, with little prompt, "You would be a beautiful woman." It clicked into place. The thought I had left unfinished for decades finished in that moment. The lyrics in the song said, "throwing yourself away... not even trying?" This is the moment I realized I'm trans. Since then, I've become genuinely happy. Not sure I ever felt this before.

I tell you this to convey: You too may have some unfinished thought in your mind, likely something you've unwittingly refused to acknowledge. It may not even be possible for your to realize on your own. Something that helped me was a game called Disco Elysium; It has a way of breaking down your mind into manageable parts. Played sincerely, I came to better understand how my own mind works. I hope what I said here helps. If you need to talk, you know where to find me.

Yes, but definitely not at the same pace. The body can be stingy about adding muscle, because it knows simply having muscle is calorically expensive. Ultra-high endurance athletes are typically quite skinny. You'll definitely benefit from increased reps, but not necessarily as muscle size.

I always appreciate advice. I agree it can be easy to injure yourself lifting something like a box, particularly with the risk of the box breaking. I kinda wrote that assuming the poster has 0 access or funds to equipment. But the second worst thing a person can do is delay exercise for years because they keep planning to get equipment, or the act of acquiring equipment becomes the psychological fulfillment.

Its real hard to find reliable information on that subject, much of it boils down to bro-science. Like, on one hand I have a friend who is a power-lifter and isn't close to looking jacked, he looks average. However, the results I've seen for muscle size usually comes from added weight. I suspect there's some goldilocks range between the two, but I would love to see some research on that.

If its between adding more reps and nothing, definitely add more reps. But if you can add more weight, that would be better. Sorry I don't have anything more conclusive on this.

It depends. First, you certainly don't NEED one, but they CAN help. Protein is a complex thing, anyone saying otherwise is lying or ignorant. You certainly need a "complete" protein source, meaning it has all the Amino Acids your body requires. You could just add chicken/eggs/soybeans to your diet and get mostly the same effect. Whey protein is technically more "bio-available" meaning your body can use it more efficiently. Its not a huge difference. You can also by pure Whey as a baking ingredient for a lot cheaper.

If you mean prework-outs, that gets even iffier. Some are just sugar, which you likely don't want. Some have vasodialators like Arginine or its superior brother Citrulline. These convert into Nitric Oxide in your body, which causes blood vessels to expand and get more blood to muscles. Some have Beta-Alanine which works but may make you unbearably itchy. The best prework-outs are coffee or beet juice. Beets for their vasodilation. Coffee not just for the caffeine, but coffee specifically reduces muscle soreness. Seriously, drink it before/after exercise, it helps a ton. While we're on the subject, Magnesium Glycinate can help with recovery a lot. (Magnesium Oxide does nothing but it is a laxative, lmao)

Get a box, fill it with stuff. Lift it. No fucking joke, this builds core strength. Refresh yourself on lifting technique before starting, so you don't fuck up your back. Do this several times, then take a 40 second break, then do it some more. Get tired, sore.

My job requires me to lift 50 lb boxes for hours at a time. Started last month and I'm in better shape than ever.

Any particular muscles you wanna work on?

As an example of how knowledgeable I am: I've been cutting fat and gaining muscle through diet and exercise, and recently found my weight loss slowed and I started getting runny noses and sneezing. I know this was due to low glutathione resulting from too much exertion. Basically the oxidization from exercise was outpacing my liver's ability to make glutathione. So I started taking N-Acetyl-Cysteine, the protein precursor to glutathione. I feel much better and the weightloss has resumed.

Yes this means I'm not eating enough calories, no I won't change that, no you should not undereat. Undereating causes your body to scavenge proteins from both your skeletal muscles and organ muscles, including your heart.

Yeah, and it kinda gets worse the more you know. Like, your pancreas is home to a very very complex organ called the Islets of Langerhans (which is 1% of the Pancreas' mass but uses 10% of its blood supply) and this is the only thing in your body that can process sugar. Any damage to this organ cannot be repaired, ever. Of course, fucking sugar of all things damages the Islets of Langerhans.

Been working out to King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard for years. Started with Nonagon Infinity until I could cardio through the whole album. Then I added Murder of The Universe.

Sugar causes protein cross-linking. In other words, it makes the structures in your body fucking collapse.

You only have one body, and time is trying to take that away from you. Fuck anyone who says to be humble. Make your body look how you want, make it look good, love how it looks, and enjoy showing others your pride.

Accidentally called a few coworkers "comrade" in an anti-union workplace.