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This is an interesting post and I appreciate the approach. It bears repeating - analyze and adjust and averages over time rather than just focusing on a meal. I do best with a cycle approach of lower and higher calories days rather than X daily calories. My primary focus is heating a target like protein for the day.

I read the Ops question as not looking for "easier". The Op was asking about alternatives to an exercise that is causing pain. Pain is a message. You can ignore and just keep pushing till something gives out (an approach for some reason makes sense to some people until they are injured and seriously fucked up) or you can pause for a second and analyze (what am I doing wrong, can I correct it (yes, probably if you are motivated to do so), or are there ALTERNATIVES that can still give me results. What the OP choses to do, is up the him/her/gender neutral. A choice is not a cop-out. Waldo posted a great article challenging the dogma of the Squat as the only way. There is no "only way". Whatever way you can get a balanced workout and be consistent is your way and that's the only thing to be concerned about. I'm all for persistence and determination. However, is it really necessary to persist with an exercise that you don't need to do to get great results when there are viable alternatives? No.

Disagree that an alternative is an easy way out. A weighted vest pistol, a Bulgarian split squat, or a heavy KB goblet squat an EASIER way. I don't think so. Those exercises are challenging as hell. Everything doesn't work for every body. Exercises are tools, not commandments. Choose your tools wisely. There are many.

Britchenhauer I would also second bodyweight, the box, variation of plies (these can be extremely effective), single leg squats, and my fave the Kettlebell. I'm right there with you. Bar squats tore me up and yes I was working with a pretty decent trainer I was paying quite a bit of money to to check my form etc. I was making strength and ass gains (yay for those of us that like ass), BUT my shoulders and neck hurt. They were incredibly stiff. I started to get headaches. I will leg press occasionally, but I mostly switched to front squats, goblet squats with the Kettlebell (Kettlestack in my case), and body weight. I'm not making the mass gains I was (I'm good with that for now since I'm trying to cut), but things are still very toned and lifted back there and I don't hurt any more.

I don't have one at work, but I douse a stand up set-up for my primary hobby (sewing). It can take hours to make one garment and sitting down for all that time is not good. It gave me a lot of pain. I used a standing side board I bought from Ikea and then elevated the sewing machines with props. Works great, and made a sedentary hobby not so sedentary.

Great post Zima. Keep it simple and consistent. That's good advice whatever path you choose.

I really like the Kettlestack. Works with your existing weights and you only need one or two units. www.kettlestack.com I've had mine fore some years and it is in great shape. I think they have upgraded the design since I purchased it.

It looks really reasonable Sandymac and they have a large community over there for support. Sometimes you just need a different routine to get over the hump. If it wasn't so gym oriented, I'd try it!

Great link. That's my general everyday diet plan though I am currently abstaining from wheat and wheat based products. 80/20 is an easy and sensible way to incorporate some grains for those of us that are not grain sensitive.

The mamasweat and alignedandwell links originate from the same lady. The articles are great, and please note there not not only needs to be strengthening via squats, but also stretching. Deep squats work both. Elasticity is key- too loose or too tight is no good. Bellydancing is very nice for toning the pelvic floor. I'm also not a fan of putting excessive stress on the pelvic floor with too much harsh bearing down. Heavy lifting has a technique- it shouldn't involve bearing down like you are about to give birth to the point you wet yourself every time you lift.

Agreed Party Canon. I always advocate a woman should know her cycle and what is "normal" for her body right down to what she tastes like. I know some people find that gross, but it's YOUR body. If you are going to let other people poke around down there, you certainly shouldn't be shy about it. I really value my menstrual cycle as it provides me information almost daily about my current health status. I'll miss it when its gone, but then I won't have to worry about getting pregnant anymore and that's a pretty good trade off for me! Standard Days works really great for me, but my cycle is almost fanatically regular 26-28 days. I don't need to use the cyclebeads, but some women find them helpful. I also monitor cervical fluids as a back up to Standard Days.

Different strokes for different folks. As suggested try some eating plans and see what works for your unique body chemistry, lifestyle, climate you live in, and nutritional needs I lose weight easily and feel just great on rice, oats, and buck wheat ( other types of wheat are less my friend, but sparingly no problem there either). I gained weight and felt pretty nasty on Paleo and being a vegan. Too many fats whether that comes from nuts, seeds, coconut milk or grass fed meat gives me hives and causes breakouts. There's just something my liver does not like about processing a certain amount of fat regardless of source. So there you go, there are no right answers across the board for all people with perhaps the exception of eating less chemically processed crap and eat correct portions. If you listen to your body, you'll find the right balance unique to you. I think portions are really important whatever eating plan you choose. Also, if you have medical conditions or other sensitives honor those. Grains are certainly contraindicated for some people with digestive disorders or people on low residue diets, so having a check up might be a good start also.

I wouldn't recommend the sponge because its still full of spermicide. I hated it. I use Standard Days sometimes with my partner and that works great if your cycle is very regular (that's crucial). Personally, I love the female condom. When I was in a monogamous relationship I would use Standard Days, and when I was fertile, the female or male condom. You have to really be comfortable with yourself to use the female condom correctly, but once you do it's great in my opinion.

I think bodies are so diverse its hard to really capture everyone. I don't see myself in here. If that had a petite Jessice Bielesque physique that would be me. The closest they have is "top heavy" and that's not quite accurate since I'm not heavy. I have square shoulders and a good size but not super big bust, and lean hips and legs (I do have some booty though thank goodness lol!). I feel really good about my body when I'm shape, because it is very athletic looking. My legs are lean and defined and the width of my shoulders and bust make my waist appear much smaller than it actually is. However, I really wanted to be an hourglass so bad when I was younger because that what everybody promotes as the ideal. I even tried for a long time to gain weight to look more "hippy" but that's not the way I'm built. I'll never have a 24 inch waist because of the shape of my ribcage, but I do have a flat (for the most part ) stomach. It has affected my training at different times. I once had a personal trainer design a program for me that was heavy on lower body to build mass and very light on upper body because I didn't want bigger shoulders. Now I kind of feel like eff it. I just workout and let things do what they do. I do build up definition quickly in my quads and glutes, but not mass. I tend to lose weight quickly from my upper torso, but my breasts and stomach are also the first to put on fat if I'm out of shape. I had to eat a lot to build mass in my lower body when I was working with a trainer, but it just wasn't sustainable for me. I think it helps to have realistic fitness role models. A lot of the physiques I looked up to were bootylicious hourglasses. Now I look more towards Jessica Biel types because that's achievable given my genetics. She looks far more curvaceous than she is because of her shoulders and great butt.

Turtlerunner I didn't watch the whole vid, but I can say from personal experience and my past training as an eastern medicine practitioner the concept of movement to heal is very important. I got a back injury from deadlift with bad form + rear ended by a car. I could not even bend over with out falling. I knew I didn't break anything (quite important- nobody should be suggesting waving around a broken anything). I built my rehab program around applied liniments based on TCM herbals and essential oils, massage, acupuncture, performed cupping on the area, and I exercised my back EVERYDAY. I did very gentle range of motion exercises. I also did some really great exercises from a book called "Anatomy of Movement Exercises." That book was written by a ballet dancer and physiotherapist (Blandine Germaine) so all the exercises are very focused on strength/flexibilty combined. I did not do any external load bearing exercises on my back during that time. My back not only healed, it healed without any lingering pain or restriction. I did not RICE or take any pharmaceutical pain killers. This was almost 5 years ago and still no problems. I absolutely did not want my back to heal but be weak, and it wasn't. Tom Bisio's "A Tooth From the Tigers Mouth" is a great guide for healing injury from a TCM perspective. I won't completely make short bursts of ice application a villain. Cool compresses can be very soothing and sometimes when you are in pain, you need a little soothing.

Change is always scary Cinda. As one of my mentors put it, "many of the things we believe are us, are not us." Yeah, she's cryptic but basically change is disruptive to the things we have built up to believe make us who we are, but that's an incomplete and sometimes deceptive picture we hold of ourselves. It's like photography. A change in external light can make you look like a different person, so what do you really look like? Visit the "on being a skinny bitch" thread. Some of the members are discussing their feelings on weight loss and self perception. Hang in there. What you feel is natural and this is an opportunity to look deeply. Sorry to get all Yoda and shit, but I don't know how else to express it.

Interesting thread. My dad had the sauna suit and really its a trick that Ive seen a lot of male models and fitness figure models use before a photo shoot to dehydrate and look more cut. My brother played basketball in high school and he said the b-ball team hated sharing the locker room with the wrestlers on days when there was match because the bathroom was a nightmare of vomit and other fluids. The Op's original tip is not bad at all. If you are having trouble portioning, halving that portion can be helpful particularly if you are starting out very overweight and have trouble with satiety signals. It's the same concept of eat out at a restaurant and request a take out box upfront because the portions are going to be way larger than what you need to eat at one sitting. I can see it also being useful for cheat meals and cheat days. Enjoy what you want- just halve the portion and eat some extra salad or something. Some of the other things like starving- how is that different from fasting? A lot of people are on the modified fasting plan and exercising to cut body fat. Some people fast for an entire day, not just a set window . Everything old is new again.

Agreed Rilo. I think having some form of social media may be necessary for SOME functions. I have one for a business, and I only post business related info there. No personal stuff. That Facebook is also not linked to my personal email so I won't get populated with non-business related "friends." People I want to keep in touch with I do; otherwise Facebook is a voyeuristic time suck in most cases. I'd rather Skype you if you live far away, and I want to know how you are doing. I signed up for a Linkedin account once because everybody was saying how it was a great way to make professional contacts, and I was pretty pissed when a few people I had dated popped up in my projected network simply because they allowed Linkedin to use their personal email contacts.I no longer use my Linkedin account either. OP if you feel like you have to have one but don't want too much of the personal stuff posted and pseudo cyber intimacy, set up a different email and a new Facebook account just devoted to your role on the team and sports stuff. You can also get a twitter if your coach tweets. You can choose to follow who you want, when you want. If you are not tweeting stupid stuff, it won't matter who is following you. I find personal twitters to be the most ego-centric, boring bullshit ever. However, it can be great for keeping in touch in the same way text messages can (short and to the point).

The most seriously obese woman I know who managed to lose a significant amount of weight IS also the most looking down on other fat people person I know. However, to be honest she had some of those tendencies BEFORE, but losing weight magnified her assholery significantly. Some people who lose weight hate the former selves they see in other overweight people and they can be very hostile to that on an emotional level they may not fully acknowledge. Perhaps the weight loss gave her something else to feel superior about? I also felt like she was much more comfortable being vocal and disagreeable as a thinner woman than a fat woman (i.e. less invested in the the fat but really funny and "nice" person stereotype). Kind of like if you are pretty and a bitch you can be considered a diva! If you are not considered attractive and bitchy the words used are much more denigrating.

This was a REALLY valuable post. Estrogen not necessary! Thank you for sharing.

It was worth it for me, but really shop around if you have problem or dark skin. I didn't want to take chances on burns or hyperpigmentation, so I went to a Dermatology practice, had an evaluation by the physician, and had my laser removal done by nurses with 5-10 years experience. The Dr. also had to prescribe me a prep cream that I had to use for two week before the laser, because I have dark and sensitive skin. I have had no down time or scarring and I really credit that to the experience of the staff there.

Thank you for the accurate info Sartois! I was a part of a martial Tai Chi community for a long time and the real tai chi players are very strong and very good grapplers, joint lockers, and throwers. It is a real martial art, and push hands is essential to learn tai chi. Hands on corrections are required. Just going through the motions with the forms can still have some health benefits, but it's not the full context of what tai chi really is. Honestly, I feel that way about yoga too though I know that's an unpopular perspective. I can only speak from my own experience. Picking up yoga magazine and trying poses is not the same as attending a class with a really good, well-trained instructor, who can provide the subtle cues, imagery, and posture tweaks so you can really get in tune with the intention of the movements. I think once you have the foundation, you can practice on your own fine, but that initial mentoring is important to learn things correctly and avoid injury.

Lizifer I'm very scattered so doing line by line budgets don't usually work well for me. I also like to spend money on little stuff (like books, magazines, organic snacks, fripperies off etsy) that add up quickly. The best way for me to save money is just to have amnesty days where I commit to spending NO money. That's usually Monday,Wednesday, and Thursday. No quick trips to the store, no trips to the ATM, no eating out, nothing. Whatever I don't have, I just make do without for those 24 hours. That also freezes impulse buying and by the next day the urge to splurge is usually gone. This also forces me to plan ahead (make sure I have food, gas, pet stuff etc). By forcing myself to plan it also forces me to budget. I also overestimate everything I buy. So if something is 5.00$ I put in my ledger or whatever scrap of paper I'm using to keep track that month 6.00. By overestimating, I end up with extra money at the end of the month and I deposit that in my savings account. Also, I wouldn't recommend this but it works for me if you have trouble charging stuff. I have ONE credit card with a company that I despise (Bank of America). I use that BOA card for anything non-essential I purchase or pay online and that guarantees that I will pay that off early and in full each month because I refuse to pay finance charges to those thieves . I also think twice before using it, because I know I have to pay it off right away. It's crazy, but it works. I have a separate card with my credit union with a low interest rate for anything like a home repair that's expensive and will take me a few months to pay off. Re: Dinner Can you and your friends form a dinner collective and cook for each other a few times a month? My work buddies and I also do a version of this sometimes to make that whole lunch meeting thing less expensive. Another thing my friends and I've noticed is drinks and beverages are usually the biggest hikes on a restaurant bill. If you are not going out to drink, stick with water!

I have the Diva Cup. Love it. I don't like insertables at night so I use cloth menstrual pads at night and Diva by day. It's the best protection I've ever had. Wish I had knows about it in my 20s.

I think its more complicated than cortisol. As mentioned, posture and position of the pelvis and the health of the organs there (particularly for women) have a lot to do with flatnes of that area. A woman with really bad fibroids of the uterus can look poochy and pregnant. I have some problems with that blog post. I do come from a culture where bigger women are seen as attractive. That's good and yet that's also disastrous from a health perspective for my community. I used to work with diabetics and many would straight up tell me they didn't want to lose weight for fear their partners would find them less attractive even though they had the potential to reduce and/or get off their diabetes meds and thwart complications like nerve damage. Like anything, you have to have your priorities in order. Do I want to be attractive by someone else's standards or do I want to not have a stroke? I took some belly dance classes and that was great for me to learn appreciation for the many variations of female abs. One of the sexiest, most beautiful belly dancers I attended a seminar with was Lotus Niraja. She has a pooch and she is a professional at showing it and shaking it! Sadly enough I noticed the covers of her videos are airbrushed to make her stomach look much flatter than it is. Illusions sell, but the reality of her is so much more flattering and hot - pooch and all. Edit: At my thinnest (115 pounds) I still had a little tummy but that was cool. I didn't get a pooch until I got a desk job. After my mother asked me one day if I was pregnant because I looked like I was poking out down there I knew I had to do something quick. After about 2 months of doing exercises to correct my posture and strengthen my core, I'm back normal. I think you can make a lot of improvements in that area, but the general shape (convex/concave/flat) is likely genetic and due to the shape of the pelvis . I have a retroverted uterus also (tips back instead of forward).