u/Greg1994

I am 5’9 155lbs. I like the way I look because I look lean with some muscle definition from working out in the past, but I didn’t lose this weight purposely. I kind of lost it just but not eating as much as I used too. However I like being this lean, but I’d also like to add some more muscle to my frame. Nutritionally how would I go about this? Calorie deficit, maintenance calories, or slight calorie surplus? Also, progressive overload on compound lifts, or more hypertrophy focused workouts? Any advice is much appreciated!

32 year old male here and have been addicted to cocaine for almost a year now, weekly using. I’m at the point where if I don’t use it for an extended period I’ll wind up “crashing” and sleep for days. People have noticed weight loss and I feel like my life kind of revolves around it at this point. I still go to work and get simple things done but it’s taken over my life.

I want to quit, go to the gym, be healthy and live life without this stuff. I never did hard drugs before. This was something that started out as a few bumps during a night out drinking, and has festered into calling my dealer 2-3 times a week, even doing it alone just watching TV. I can’t go to inpatient rehab as I have a job I can’t leave, but I know I need help.

Anybody else go through something similar, specifically with cocaine? It’s such an expensive drug, and such a fleeting high I understand why people get hooked on it. You never really achieve a high because you’re always chasing that next bump, which never satisfies anyway. Any advice is much appreciated. I know what can happen to me if I keep going down this road, I know I can die, and that’s why I’m reaching out to you guys.

2017 Dodge Ram 1500 v6 with 78,000 miles on it. This car has given me nothing but trouble. Thankfully never got into an accident with it, but mechanically things have gone wrong in the 3 years I have owned it. The car has been overheating, and my mechanic is diagnosing it as coolant leaking into the engine. The gasket is probably blown. It would take me $4-5k to repair it, and I owe $8k on the car. I am in a terrible position and just dont know what to do. I dont have nor would I put $5k into this car.

I am wondering if I went to a dealer how much would they even value it as? I have heard of people just not saying anything about issues like that when they go into the dealer and they wind up getting a decent offer. I have also heard that even if you tell the dealer, they still might give you a decent price, fix the car, and then sell it for more. I dont know. I am just in need of some guidance here. I dont know my way out of this situation. Its my familys only car as I am newly married with a 1 year old daughter. I refuse to drive this thing anymore because I know all I am doing is further damaging it. I would take any advice possible. Thank you

Dodge Ram 2017 1500 v6, 78k miles. Financed it used 3 years ago. Nothing but problems. Put 10k down, been paying it off monthly since then. Owe 8k on it at this point. Mechanics telling me theirs coolant leaking into the engine, which is consistent with my truck overheating. He said I’m looking at at least 4k because they have to take the engine apart/out to see where the leaks coming from. Theirs no way I can even get 8k if I tried to just get the car off my hands. And I can’t pay 4k at the moment, nor would I want to put 4k into a car I owe only 8k on. It’s my only car. I guess I’m taking Ubers everywhere from now on?

32 years old. Die hard fan. Watched them every season and lived and died by the day depending if they won or lost. I haven’t watched a full single game since the third game of the season, which was only justified after they proceeded to go on that crazy losing streak. I don’t think I ever went a full summer without watching a single game, even during really bad years where we had no big names and were running out minor league lineups. Theirs something about this team I just personally do not like. Theirs no cohesion or any fire in them. I guess we should all consider ourselves lucky they put us out of our misery early instead of eventually breaking our hearts down the road

The last two days I’ve had blood in my stool. Not brownish blood but red blood. I also drink as well. I’m 32 years old. I’m terrified of what is going on. I know I need to go to the hospital. What is happening?

This car has caused me nothing but issues. It’s a 2017 Ram 1500 V6 engine with 75,000 miles. Financed it used about 3 years ago. Issue that started all of this was the car was overheating. Added coolant since it was low, car was normal for about 2 weeks then started happening again. Engine continues or sounds like it’s still on after I shut car off for about 5 seconds. Originally thought it could be a heat sensor issue which would’ve been minor. Mechanic called me today and told me I’m looking at a big issue. $3,000+ since they are going to have to basically take the engine out and see what’s going on. Not a car guy so could use any help/input/advice you have. Can’t even sell the car at this point because I still owe $10k on it. Nightmare

Currently at a job that is the most micromanaged place I’ve ever worked at. Madison Ave, NYC, high end medical practice and I work administration at the front desk. Deal with some of the richest people in the United States as patients. Manager messaging me all day about updates on tasks, having to step on egg shells in the office all day in case I miss a single detail on literally anything, forgetting to close my desk drawer that’s 5 inches open, watched from cameras and then called in because “i looked at my phone too often” when im sitting there all day never looking at my phone because im dealing with patients, phone calls, emails, filing, etc. having to put the folder on the doctors desk EXACTLY the correct way at a certain angle and position, the list goes on.

I get wanting to run a practice a certain way, especially with high end clientele. But if I have to feel like I’m being tortured at work and everything I do is looked at and criticized under a microscope, I don’t care what you pay me!!! I’m leaving for a job closer to home in Queens, NY where I can drive to work in 15 minutes and get home to spend time with my wife and daughter. I’m done taking the train, getting up at 5am everyday, being miserable and acting like I’m not. I’m taking a $10/hr loss in comparison with my old job. But my mental health, physical health, and family come first. I hope and pray I’ll never experience that level of micromanaging again. Thank you for letting me go off! Goodnight

I am 32 years old. Have a wife and 10 month old daughter. No one knows about my addiction and I hide it well. I either use alone or with one of my best friends I grew up with since we were kids. The last few months have been full blown addiction. Nose all bloody, blowing out disgusting stuff. I stay up till 1-2am when I have to get up at 5am. Sneaking out of the house to drive and pick up a bag or two.

It’s the same routine everyday. I get off the train from work from Manhattan to Queens NY. I get in my car. I call my dealer and meet up with him. Then go to the deli and buy a tall boy 24oz beer. Go home. Watch tv and play with my daughter, while also going into the bathroom and sniffing lines.

I can’t look at myself anymore. I don’t know who I am. I never did any hard drugs. It started out as a few lines on a random weekend out drinking, and now I sit here worried about if I’m going to run out and how many bags I have left. I’ve lost weight. I don’t eat as much. All I care about are those hits. And it never satisfies. I’m up doing it just to do it. If I am “lucky” I’ll get a buzz for 5 minutes then it’s gone.

The thing is, I don’t enjoy doing it without alcohol. It’s like peanut butter and jelly. I struggled with mental illness in my early 20s but turned things around thanks to medication and therapy. My life was heading in a good direction, and now I feel like I can’t control myself. When I do run out, or attempt to quit, I absolutely CRASH. I slept one weekend almost 36 hours, and told my wife I was sick.

I just don’t know how to really “get there” guys. I know quitting is tough, and I am aware of the impending extreme fatigue that occurs when you stop, which is part of the reason I tend to avoid quitting. I want so bad deep down inside to go back to how life used to be, but I also think of the rush this stuff gives me. I don’t want to live like this anymore, being a closet coke head father. Thank you for letting me vent. I guess I just need a few answers to questions I just can’t seem to understand how to navigate:

1. Do I quit on a Friday so I can crash during the weekend? I know if I quit on a Monday I won’t be able to keep my eyes open at work.

2. What did you guys do to keep your mind off things for those initial few weeks of sobriety? I want to go to the gym but I am scared I’ll have a heart attack with the amount of cocaine I’ve done and alcohol I’ve drank the last 6 months.

3. If you can’t go to rehab, and don’t want family finding out, what’s the best way to quit on your own?

4. How do I break the after work routine of getting cocaine, buying a beer, and going home? That urge and rush when I get off the train and I am close to my dealer overwhelms me.

I need all the help I can get. Thank you to anyone who leaves a response.

Starting my journey and I just want to know from people who were daily cocaine users and have since gotten sober, what did you do those first few weeks off of it? What helped you the most to get through those daily urges when all your brain wants is another bag? I’m ready to let go…

(32M) I am getting comments from both people that see me often and people that haven’t seen me in a little while that “I look like I’ve lost weight”. Probably the most noticeable sign of drug use physically. I have a high metabolism and am naturally skinny but I did put on some muscle throughout the years before I stopped going to the gym. That’s all gone. I’ve dropped 10-15 lbs in 6 months, but like I said you can see it on my face almost.

This to me is the turning point I need. I cannot let myself go. I can’t turn into this person that I’m envisioning if I continue. I’ve been using daily for 6-8 months and started about a year ago. But this weight loss has me so insecure in myself. I don’t want to wear short sleeve shirts. I feel my body deteriorating. All this for some white powder. It’s hard to look in the mirror.

(32M). Got a well paying job in a dental office in Manhattan doing administrative work in January. The only other men that work there is the head doctor who owns the practice, who I have known my whole life and is a family friend, and a few techs who work on making dentures crowns and maxxiofacial appliances in the lab. Everyone else is female from administration to managers and dental assistants. I work at a front desk with two other women, and I sit right in the middle. We are an extremely high end dental office, and the vast majority of our patients are millionaire and billionaire New Yorkers. Hence we aren’t your average dental/prosthodontic office. We are expected to cater to wealthy individuals and we need to reflect that in our behavior. I am fine with that. I understand the job.

However, my administrative manager, who sits next to me at front desk, is the most passive aggressive, conniving woman I have ever met. I have worked in other offices with females before, and never have I met someone like this. Instead of teaching me the ways of the office, she’s constantly watching what I do, is over my shoulder, and the minute I make a mistake on anything, she’s there to point it out in a nasty way. She’s done it in front of patients too.

I went into this job with no preconceived notion of who anyone but the doctor was. What I’ve learned in the last 6 months is that everyone in the office can’t stand her and her attitude and knows what I’m dealing with. The issue is I have to sit next to her and be “taught by her 8 hours a day”. Nobody else does. The kicker here is that she’s been at that office for 10 years and from what I can see the head office manager and doctor see her as valuable because she knows the ins and outs of the office and the patients very well. I get that. But I came into this job wanting to start a career in this field, to learn and to have a positive energy going into every day so I can become better at what I do. Instead I’m constantly berated with what I do wrong, never acknowledged for what I do right, and am talked down to like I’m a child. I’m 32 years old with a wife and 9 month old daughter.

I wake get up at 5am every day to go to work. I get home about 6pm. I’m so defeated by the time I leave and so frustrated I can’t wait to get out. And it’s all because of this one person who I have no choice but to deal with. I’ve hesitantly talked to the head doctor and office manager, and although they understand what I’m saying, it seems like they just side with her because she’s been there so long. The office is extremely micromanaged to the point where they can watch us from cameras at all times to see what we’re doing.

I’ve finally given up, even though I really wanted this to work. I was offered and was paid a good salary, the most I’ve ever made. But at the end of the day I’m miserable. I go home exhausted and angry. At this point money means nothing to me if I mentally can’t stand the environment I work in. I’m so happy I made this decision and have been offered a job 15 minutes away from my house by car. Thank you for letting me vent!