First Mate Davy

These sound like great goals. I can relate to one's mental state getting wonky during stressful times o_O Do you like to do anything specifically instead of alcohol on dry days? When I initially started drinking less often, I'd sometimes make tea or seltzer flavored with a little juice to still have the "special drinks" feeling.

I don't tell MyFitnessPal about my exercise (I don't really do cardio so it'd be hard to calculate anyway), and when I search for foods and there's multiple entries I check to make sure I'm not using an unusually low one. This isn't really scientific at all but for me it seems to work to keep numbers from getting inflated.

Holy heck, I hadn't realized that vegetable-vegetables could have more protein than legumes. And corn, that's a surprise too. Thanks for the tip. I've been beanless for a couple days and I'm still having the 3AM gas. I'm headed out to buy a camping pad or something so my husband doesn't have to suffer.

I started doing the challenge midway through the planning week - I knew what I want to do, so why wait? I'm count from Tuesday because that's when I started thinking about and meeting the calorie goal. Fat loss: ✔️ I met my calorie goal. I'm still figuring out how to eat enough protein on fewer calories - I think I'll need to either use protein powder and bars (which I've been doing a little bit) or eat meat and eggs more often while I'm restricting calories. Work out: ✔️ The 17th was a bit of a mess. I forgot how much my adjustable dumbbell weighs unloaded and undercounted all the weights by 5. I didn't get to do as much as I'd wanted because I tried to squat too heavy, my leg started hurting, and I got scared and stopped doing leg movements. On the 19th I established a baseline for most of the basic lifts, with weights correctly recorded. Farmer's carry is me bringing the dumbbells to the place I work out and back to the car again (not all that far) but I figured I might as well track it. Goblet squat is done with a dumbbell too. I quit deadlift early after realizing my form was awful and I didn't think I could get it right with only dumbbells and no mirror; I will look into alternative exercises. This was a lot for me to do on one day, I might split upper/lower body if I'm pressed for time. Make snacks: ✔️ I tried to make something with protein powder, oats, PB and water using the microwave and the boat's insanely powerful water heater. Attempt 1 tasted pretty good with just hot water, kind of like a no bake cookie, but was turned into rubber in the microwave. I threw it out. Attempt 2 was inedible-to-me because I added water and oatmeal first, with too much water, and the slimyness was just too much to handle. This still counts as a success per the rules of the challenge, because I'm grading on effort (because that's what I can control). Cut hair: ✅ This is not a haircut week. Measurements My Fitness Pal graph shows some weight decrease, probably partly water weight. I only measured with the tape measure once, so I don't have a graph. Difficulties Eating mostly beans Tuesday - Thursday made me feel great and provided some good plant-based protein, but also had me eating >100 grams/day of fiber which really messed with my digestion. I pretty much stopped eating beans to let my guts recover, and once the problem stops I'll resume 1-2 bean meals/day like before and scale up from there. I also got a couple medications to try to fix it with. This has created a weird situation where I need to avoid fiber to some extent. I've been eating more apples, PB and protein bars, but I'm hoping one of my snack attempts will help with this on the long run. Future plans I bought a cabbage today, so I can try to become someone who can cook cabbage. I'm going to revisit the "Irish stew" recipe I used to make, but without meat and with an actual leaf vegetable (the cabbage) this time. There's probably going to be a lot left, so I can experiment with baking, grilling, eating raw, etc.

Thanks for the warning about quest bars. I used to eat them pretty often without issues, but given my current situation I should be careful. I'm planning to cut back on beans, especially at dinner time, and then slowly scale back up I think. Aside from the gas I was feeling pretty good. (The problem is it tends to come in the middle of the night, and our bedroom is a really small space, so if I'm gassy one or the other of us doesn't get any sleep.) I've thought a bit about different protien sources, but did come up with much besides seitan that seemed like a good fit. I'm hesitant about tofu because I have trouble eating gooey foods (strong dislike of certain textures, and don't seem to be able to learn to like them), but I definitely should check the fiber content of soy snacks and such. Dairy maybe but I'm a little lactose intolerant. I'll think about adding "breakfast for dinner" with scrambled eggs, or something like that, to the rotation. I might just have to eat a little more meat for a while. I think I'm okay with that if it's a short term thing.

She's a Catalina 36 mkII - so 36 feet long, maybe about 300 square feet inside, though it's hard to compare boats against more rectangular dwellings in terms of space. Two bedrooms that are almost entirely bed (one is used as storage), a galley and a head (bathroom). There's a sitting area in the middle with a couple fold-down tables. It's unusual for boats this size to have anything other than one big table, and the little one really came in handy with the captain and I both working from home. HRT is basically second puberty, so I wanted to take it slow in hopes of avoiding feeling like a moody teen again. So far I feel totally fine but I have so much acne

I just ordered some wheat gluten to make seitan with. That might be a good low-fiber protein source.

Thanks for the reminder about protein, Defining. I'm definitely not getting as much as I probably should. If I can't figure out some way to eat protein powder that I don't hate, I should probably get quest bars or something like that while I'm eating a deficit. (I'd switched to cheaper bars from Aldi, but they're chocolate covered and that might be too much simple carbohydrate for me.) I'll google hormonal adaptations; I'm signed up for the next challenge run with a goal of <1650 cal/day, but if that's going to mess up my metabolism I'll add a break week or something. I don't have a blender, but chewing is definitely a thing I can do.

Are you going to post your weekly drawings here? I'd love to see them. (Drawing was my main hobby for a while, but I've also had it fall by the wayside lately.) I'm impressed that you're surviving that much work O_o props

Ahoy, Yeti! Boat life is pretty great for us. We haven't traveled yet for various reasons (shore-based jobs, needing repairs, etc) , but even day trips are fun, and it's nice to know we could move our home elsewhere if we ever had to. What I enjoy the most is living in a well-designed space and being close to nature. For me the smallness of the space really depends on who's here - with just me and the Captain it's great, but the time we hired a sailing instructor to give us some lessons on an overnight trip was pretty rough. (Though to be fair, it really didn't help that he kept acting like doing dishes was my favorite thing.) Thanks for your support. From my perspective, the difficulty just went down, lol. (Like from insane to expert, but it's something.) My doctor wants to get me up to normal testosterone levels for a guy my age eventually, but we're increasing the amount slowly over time. I've got a pretty weak starting point, but I'm really excited about the potential to make quicker progress than last time.

Oatmeal cake is a neat approach. I think my problem is I'm not wild about the texture of cooked oatmeal or of protein shakes. But the dry oatmeal/PB/protein mixture with a tiny bit of hot water was pretty good before I microwaved it (and turned it into rubber cake), definitely better than attempt 2 where I added water to the oatmeal first to cook it. So I might reattempt the pb/oatmeal/protien "no bake cookie" again sometime. And thanks for the luck, Harriet!

I've been eating beans once or twice a day for a while, but I guess adding beans for breakfast and cutting calories at the same time was too much. I had an apple and peanut butter for breakfast instead today (it was a cup of chickpeas before) and so far I'm not getting sugar crashes. I'll probably have more rice and root vegetables and less beans for a while, too. Thanks for suggesting the yoga pose. It's pretty funny to me that that exists, but I'm ready to try anything

I just looked up warrior dash. That is such a cool goal.

Your lifestyle goal is a great idea. I've never heard of eating like a bear before - neat concept.

I love the theme. Hope all goes well.

Hi, everyone. I've known about this site for a couple years, and it was a big help with my first concerted effort to lose weight back in 2018. I apparently created an account back then, but this is my first time posting on the forums. Avatar is the only Fandom I was really "in", so I'm pretty happy to see it come back. I'm also watching Deep Space Nine for the first time, and it's definitely my favorite Star Trek so far. I don't get time to game much but I really like the lore of the Elder Scrolls series and I'm working on a story set during the Alessian rebellion. I'm also in a battletech forum RP, though I'm pretty new to that setting. Employment-wise I'm a software engineer, currently working from home due to Covid. I live on a sailboat with my husband, which has been a great home for us. It does limit my home exercise options some - I don't have any indoor open space and equipment storage is limited. Right now my trunk is the pandemic pantry and dumbbell storage. Being by the water does mean great scenery for walks, and we're in Virginia so outdoor exercise works well when it's not raining. I'm a trans man, and that informs a lot of my fitness goals lately. About a month ago I started taking medication that increased my testosterone from female-typical levels to somewhere between male and female, and I recently discovered that I can do more incline push-ups in a row than before even though I hadn't practiced in a while. That was really exciting to see - a concrete sign that my body is better at building muscle now. I want to focus more on fitness to help that process along. Feel free to ask me questions about being transgender if you're curious. Especially as relates to hormone replacement therapy and fitness, since some of my goals are about that. Main Quest Look more masculine. I am so, so tired of getting called m'am. Both gaining muscle and losing fat will help with this. Fat distribution is one of the main ways that sex hormones affect a person's appearance, so loosing the fat I gained before taking testosterone will help me look like a regular guy sooner. Gaining muscle, especially in my shoulders, will make my proportions look more normal. Get stronger. Partly because being weaker than most other guys is frustrating, partly because being able to do pull-ups and climb monkey bars again (haven't since childhood) would be really satisfying. Reduce stress. I've been working on this for a while and I don't see many obvious wins left, but through diet tinkering I've noticed that worrying about getting hungry is a minor stressor that I can probably improve. Starting point I'm 5'6 and in my late 20s. I weigh a little under 180lbs now. (I went from 200 to 165 in 2018/2019 but gained some back.) My job is sedentary, my diet was decent but not good enough. I can do 14 incline push-ups on the dock box on a good day. When I worked out with dumbbells yesterday, I could goblet squat 15 pounds for 15 reps, then hurt myself trying to do 25 pounds. (It's probably minor but I could tell something was wrong so I stopped.) I can overhead press 10 pounds in each hand for 10 reps, or 15 pounds per hand for two reps. Diet-wise, I'm sort of low-pressure flexitarian. I don't use much meat in my cooking, but I'm happy to eat it in food that others make. The captain (my husband) likes grilling meat and fish, so I usually have some at least a couple times a week. Until recently my snacks and breakfast foods included things like pretzels, popcorn and chocolate, but in the past few days I've avoided those foods and I feel better without them. (Specifically, I'm way less likely to get shaky, anxious or hangry when I'm hungry.) Sub-Quests Reduce fat Eat 1650 or fewer calories every day I started this diet a couple days ago. So far what's worked is waiting til 10:30 to have breakfast (because in the early morning I am infinitely hungry whether I eat or not), avoiding simple carbs, and eating lots of beans. I'll adjust my approach if necessary. Get stronger and gain muscle Work out with resistance exercises for 20+ minutes at least two times per week My main challenge right now is getting in the habit of working out at all. (Since moving here in November, all I've done is occasional push-ups.) From past experience, once I've done 20 minutes I'll usually go for 30 or 40. Reduce stress about food At least 5 attempts to make a healthy snack Specifically, to make my current diet sustainable I need something that scratches the chocolate itch without giving me the NEED FOOD NOW feeling a few hours later. Bonus points if it's convenient and/or high in protein. My first attempt (chocolate protein powder oatmeal) was so awful I couldn't eat it, so I think this may take a few tries. Bonus non-fitness goal Cut my hair every two weeks I'm bad at remembering and making time for this sort of thing, and I'd like to be better about not getting shaggy. I also hope this will help with not getting mistaken for a lady.

I realized I should add, I'm pretty sure the preparation of my legumes isn't the issue. I soak everything except lentils, then throw out the soaking water and cook in fresh. Some of the beans were canned but 3/4 I cooked myself.

This is an embarrassing first post, but here goes I'm not formally vegetarian, but I usually have 4-5 meatless days/week. I'm posting here because the problem is happening on meatless days and I'd rather not resort to meat to solve it. Until recently my meatless days still included substantial junk food like pretzels, crackers and popcorn. A few days ago I looked at my macros and decided to eat beans and chickpeas for breakfast and snacks (in addition to beans with rice, potato, sweet potato or corn for lunch and dinner most days), to try to increase my protein. Finally, that shaky-hungry feeling went away and I found I could eat a bigger calorie defect without suffering or being unable to focus. I suspect the lack of simple carbs helped. Only now I'm so, so gassy at night. I'm eating 1200-1700 calories/day with about 90-120 grams of fiber, and Google tells me this is too much and can cause the problem I'm having. Google says exercise and water HELP. I'm drinking lots of water, and I've had this problem on a day when I lifted weights and a day when I was gardening. Is there some specific type of exercise I should be doing to help with the problem? If I just need to eat less fiber, what are some low fiber foods without simple carbs that I could try? If my gut just needs to adjust, how long will it take?

I've gotten so much better with that since my husband started tracking calories with me - he's snacking on tomatoes now, so I steal some. And got some raw-edible peas. And we're cooking with squash more, too. I want to start growing spinach at my desk so I can be like Popeye.

Thanks! I guess the thing to do is try them all to find some I don't hate. (Like the recommendation on vegetables)

I'm a transgender man, and one of my goals is to change my body shape to look more masculine. I have big hip bones, so my best bet is to make my upper body thicker so I look proportionate. I'm not following a specific program yet. I've been doing all lot of overhead presses and rows to build up my shoulders. I use dumbbells, often one side at a time in hopes of improving core strength. I've also been doing farmers carries, and using the machine where you pull down on a hanging bar connected to a stack of weights. I can sort-of squat. I've been holding off on deadlifts so far because I can't get the form right (probably bad leg flexibility) and I'm worried about making my anterior pelvic tilt worse. What exercises should I add to make my waist and/or chest look thicker? Is doing all my lifts one-sided a good approach? I'm mostly looking for lifting-type exercises - I really really don't enjoy most bodyweight exercise that I've tried.