u/Any-Percentage5369

Hi, I started my practice about 15 months ago. I’m consistent and do Pilates at home 2-3x per week. I am 40 years old and a trans man. I do mat at
Home with props and subscribe to Amanda Blauer subscription. There is a studio in my neighborhood with reformers and I do classes there from time to time. I’ve been noticing this recently; I would say that not only does pilates not get easier, it seems to be getting harder. Seriously, I did a 33 minute mat workout earlier and I tapped out and didn’t finish the remaining 3 minutes. Is this normal? I read that it’s because you engage deeper and deeper muscles as more time goes by.

Hi, my son will be 6.5 and we are looking to travel there over February break. We’ve done a few islands in the past few years (St. Vincent, Barbados, Cozumel, etc.). My son loves adventure and snorkeling. For instance, In Barbados, we took a tour of a cave. In St. Vincent, we hiked up a waterfall and went swimming in it. There also was an animal sanctuary in Barbados. Are there things like that in Anguilla? I feel like I think of “calm” when I think of the island which is great but wanted to see if there are other things to do besides beach and snorkeling.

Yes - you read that right.

Having Lidl in our neighborhood has meant that my family is eating so much better. The groceries at Lidl are about 1/4 less than they are elsewhere in our super expensive part of NYC. It has cut our grocery bill in 1/4. I go frequently and can fill up our cart with berries, all sorts of foods that elsewhere can be $9! At Lidl, they are $2 or $3. Lactaid milk is another example. In NYC, that is $10 for a gallon. I get the quart at Lidl and it’s $2.

My spouse and I have a kid, so often, we would be too tried to cook over the weekend. We would order seamless. A seamless bill with all the charges could easily be $200+ for the entire weekend. I began to buy quite a bit of Lidl’s “fakeaway food” for the weekend specifically. I am referring to their frozen food section that can easily be reheated. This includes things like their honey garlic chicken, their chicken taquitos, their fresh basked pizza (huge hit with my son), and last night, we had their summer lasagna. It’s all very good. Their frozen summer lasagna was $6.99, while a seamless bill could have been $69.99! I’ve definitely seen a huge difference in my savings since Lidl opened up.

I’ve gotten lots of good meal ideas using Lidl marinates, their chicken meatballs, etc. Their chocolate and cookie items are delicious! Their Greek yogurt is so affordable and keeps me full and happy.

A few things I’ve gotten over the months from the middle aisle include: pajamas, a seersucker bathing suit for $5.99, foam EVA sandals that are super comfortable for $4.99, crivit gray athletic shorts, etc. I’m blown away by the quality from Crivit and Esmara lines. I bought a laptop holder the other day there for $16.99 to use for my DJing. On Amazon, the same item is $40.

Who else is as passionate about Lidl as me?? Did it also improve your life when it came to your area?

Hi, has anyone gotten their hands on the kids backpack? My son is in need of one. I saw it in the ad but it hasn’t been put out yet at the Lidl by us. If you’ve gotten it, how is the quality? Thanks!

I love Liberty history. What stands out to me about this video is how she was so beyond her time with the 3 ball. Also, how she worked on her game. She said by the 4th year of having Spoon help her with defense, she was good enough to be placed on the other teams number 1 player. 4 years of hard work. This game is insane. We don’t give our players enough credit about what it takes to be successful.

I love Laney, she’s my favorite player. She has had numerous knee injuries and knee surgeries over the last few years (at least 2 each). She is not herself. JK has said that she means so much to the franchise, and they want her healthy. I believe him. Give it time. When she has played, she hasn’t been herself. She has missed opportunities, her shot is off. She needs to re-gain her confidence. It is hard to come back from injury and this takes time. Our fan base needs to be more patient.

What are your recommendations? I previously bought adidas court shoes and they were stiff and hurt my arches. Can you recommend some cushioned court shoes, particularly those that absorb shock well, particularly around the heel which is my problem area? Thank you!

I posted a similar post in the Reebok community but I also wanted to post here. I would love to see Reebok gain more attention for those of us in need of comfort shoes. Details below.

I saw in a YouTube video that the Reebok FloatZig are the most criminally underrated comfort shoe in a long time. On a whim, I bought them. And wow. Just wow. I have suffered with intractable heel pain for over 10 years. I have tried it all - fixing my gait, strengthening my posterior chain, shockwave, laser heat therapy, stretching, you name it, I’ve done it. I have been misdiagnosed and diagnosed several times over. I don’t really have PF, I have chronic heel bruising/bursitis. Insert plug for making sure you get a proper diagnosis and go to a good podiatrist. It’s been an exhausting journey. While my gait is improved, I’ve never really been able to get the inflammation down. Enter the FloatZig.

I’ve tried Hoka, Kuru, Keen WK line, pretty much every comfort shoe. They are all garbage. Hoka especially have tremendous stack height but it makes 0 difference to someone like me. My problem is one of impact. So I essentially just sink into the stack and have more pain and inflammation.

I’ve been wearing my Reebok FloatZigs for a week days. I can walk in the FloatZigs WITH NO PAIN. I think the FloatZigs work because they expand and absorb shock from back to front, not from top to bottom. A game changer. This has to do with the foam they use as well as the slots in the sole. That is my rudimentary take. If you google this, you will find that yes, this shoe is extremely absorbent and more absorbent than most.

I’ve only tried FloatZig 1 and wonder if I would like FloatZig 2 as much. I just ordered the Zig Symmetriis and am planning on trying more in the Zig line.

I would love to see the entire Zig line get more credit. And please, Reebok, keep making this sneaker!!! The sneaker also happens to look cool as well.

If you suffer from intractable heel pain and inflammation, give these a try.

Just going through a difficult time with my almost 6 year old. He has very mild ASD. Lately, it seems like everything to do with him involves him yelling, whining, or complaining. He breaks almost everything in our home and his toys. He takes everything apart (part of his ASD).

I took him to the ENT just now and gave him a space rover toy as his reward for him cooperating with the doctor and allowing the doctor to look in his ears. Within a minute of me giving it to him, he was screeching that the toy doesn’t work. There are always problems, always drama. He is so difficult sometimes.

I am really at my limit of dealing with him and am not handling it well. Sensory wise, the yelling and loud noises are a lot for me to deal with at times. I am pretty NT but I do not handle his noises well. No one talks about that parenting is so overstimulating. I really am finding that I am not empathetic toward him at the moment. Everything is a struggle recently.

Looking for support as well as advice.

Hi, I initially had top surgery in late December 2022 and had my revision last April 2025. The revision was to correct dog ears and some puckering in the middle. Dr. Golas did my initial surgery and then Dr. Cohen did my revision, as Dr. Golas moved out of state. Dr. Golas performed DI with nipple grafts. I’m located in NYC.

I’ve been very happy with both doctors and my insurance coverage. I’ve understood this whole time that no outcome is “perfect,” and each surgeon did their absolute best job operating on my body at that time. I do think it complicated things that I was pre-T during the first surgery, so I had some extra fat, skin, etc.

1 year post-revision, I have some slight loose skin on the right side that I’d like fixed. I just had my 1 year surgical follow up with Dr. Cohen. Dr. Cohen said that she can “tighten” up the scars more and it would mean removing the nipples on both sides. I was prepared for this outcome because she brought it up during my last meeting with her, maybe 6 months ago. I could tell when I asked her if building up my chest more would fix it, she did not sound hopeful. I am already doing Pilates 2-3x per week and I am in pretty good shape. After my last visit with Dr. Cohen 6 months ago, I contacted NYC medical tattooing and spoke to the artist (Jay) who was confident that she would do a good job on me.

I am definitely leaning towards getting the loose skin removed and getting medical tattooing if it means having the loose skin removed. That is more important to me than keeping my nipples. I also can’t feel my nipples which I feel like adds to me not caring about keeping them.

I just wanted to ask folks a few questions. Has anyone done nipple grafts just to end up getting their nipples removed? How did you feel afterwards? Is it odd to look down and not see a 3D nipple? Again, I am pretty sold on medical tattooing, I just want to hear from others experiences. And, has anyone else gone through this too?

I’m a trans man and for most of my life, I’ve had a toxic relationship with my body. Focusing too much on what I can’t do, my body will never do, never look like, etc. Pilates has caused a total shift for me. I love seeing results in terms of focusing what I CAN do and CAN accomplish. Every workout I do, I find some amazing new advancement. Like, wow, I can’t believe my hamstrings got so strong, etc. Or it’s a new move I can do. I posted in here a few months ago asking for rollover advice. Well, now, I can almost do a rollover.

I have a history of chronic pain and it’s made my pain so much better. I have a history of stiffness and my mobility is drastically improved. My muscle imbalances are completely gone now. The most noticeable differences is improvement in my posterior chain strength, hip strength, and of course, ab strength. My gait is the best it’s ever been. And thats saying something since I broke my leg in my teens.

I do have heel pain and I noticed in reformer class that calf raises are hard for me. So I’m working on that now. I’m really trying to do my own rehab and sticking to it. I feel like the magic of Pilates is that areas you need to work on are easily revealed and become apparent without a lot of mystery or guessing. I like that Pilates is so simplistic in this way in a world where exercise and health are increasingly viewed in overly complex ways.

I began my practice a little over a year ago when I ordered one of those mini boards. And I just began ordering more props. I now do reformer classes occasionally but mostly do mat at home with Move With Nicole or Amanda Blauer subscription service.

I sometimes do overdo it. I am trying to find that sweet spot and stick to a practice of 2-3x per week, just as Joe Pilates recommended. I am also trying to throw in some resistance band training and cardio.

Pilates is amazing. I feel like I found a movement that will keep me moving well for the rest of my life. And that I love this way of moving, this way of being.

My Mother is a Universe

My mother was a universe—
She was the stars, the sky.
Her heart for me was as big as the Milky Way,
And as small as the atoms, the molecules, The protons, and the electrons;
Each a universe in itself.

She was the vastness and the smallness: The scent of fresh laundry,
A warm baby blanket gently caressing my cheek,
A nap on her chest by Nanny’s pool.
Her heartbeat lulling me to sleep—
My total safe space.

She was meaningful conversations on long car rides.
“Don’t surround yourself with yourself,”
The classic rock song advised.
“Life is about relationships,” she would say,
“It’s all about family. I love being with my family.”
Through thousands of lunches and shopping trips,
Together, we were giddiness personified.

She was the constant, her devotion unmatched:
No sporting games, no school band concerts
Ever missed.
The sparkle in her eye for Dan and Jo,
Her laughter that lit up my heart.
Her pride in me was my sun.

“I love you a million,
billion
To infinity,”
Became my mantra as the cancer grew.
A love like the sky, countless as the stars, Making my heart expand like the cosmos.
“I have to complete the chemo for Micah and Sammy,” she vowed.
Her love, as wide as the ocean.

“If I don’t make it, tell my family I love them with every fiber of my being.”
Fibers as small as atoms,
Fibers as small as molecules,
Love as big as the Milky Way.
My tears streamed through those lonely days in late June,
And her quiet absence marks my life.

Then I realized—my mother is a universe.
My universe.
I hear her voice all the time,
Calling to me, advising me, cheering me on.
A Wheatley cheerleader both in life and in death.
The memories are a constant;
“May her memory be a blessing,” is a truth.
She is within me every day—in my voice, my mannerisms.
I hear her speaking through me.
Because my mother is my blessing,
my gratitude,
My everything.
My universe.