u/Mondonodo

So, like, my big problem is basically just Doing Stuff. I struggle to do stuff that’s not eating, sleeping, scrolling, or that doesn't have an obvious monetary or social reward. It's a wonder I made it through college--I think I was scared of disappointing my parents. But yeah. Once the novelty rubs off, my solo hobbies (calligraphy/drawing, language learning) or working out, and also chores literally feel like pulling teeth.

I am in therapy, and I've been sitting here thinking about my therapy homework and what I should be doing and how badly I'm messing up by not doing it. But it's like, how do I make myself want it? I know, logically, that my life will be better if I work on these things. That I will be prouder of myself, that I won't have to get down on myself, that I will be the person I want to be and achieve all the things I want to achieve, if I can just Do Things. I realize I function better with structure, but I also can't really trust myself to adhere to it?

And it sucks because it starts to feel like I'm making it all up. I, honestly, can get myself to do things, sometimes. I even have weeks where things go pretty good. I got back into working out a few months ago (definitely not my first go-round with that...), I got up to 15 pounds on my arm exercises, and was seeing good size and strength gains. But recently, it's been like pulling teeth again. Sometimes, I'll go for hours of staring at a task, trying to find the thing that will relax the Struggle Factor enough for me to be willing to start it. I've fucked up weeks at a time because I'll lose sleep over easy tasks, and being sleep-deprived only makes it harder for me to do stuff. It's a vicious cycle.

And even when the fixes are reasonable, they just...don't always happen. My therapist suggested I just do 5 minutes of stuff hard tasks. It sounds so easy, and yet there are so many days I haven't even tried to take 5 minutes to clean the house. And on the days I have tried, I haven't even gotten any real work done. Or the other day, I literally wasted half a morning, swearing up and down I was going to work out. I eventually mustered up the willpower to do 5 minutes, and afterwards I felt like shit because it was literally just 5 minutes.

And I guess I'm kind of at a loss. My impulse lately has just been to stop pushing and see if something will light a fire under my ass organically. But that's a copout, right? I feel so chickenshit doing that. But, then, do I really have it in me to fight this stupid battle of wills every day? But at the same time...what kind of person am I if I stop bothering?

I am in therapy (mostly for time management/consistency with my goals, my skin picking issues, and self-esteem stuff), but I don't have a specific diagnosis.

I struggle with planning and consistently doing stuff. Working out and decluttering, as well as certain chores are where this really comes out, but honestly it comes out with my therapy homework too, which tracks, since it's not supposed to be easy.

Part of me wants to be, like, sympathetic to my struggles and not push too hard--I have a penchant for really digging my heels in and getting "stuck" on tasks; I've stared at dirty dishes or sat on a workout mat in my workout clothes for hours, and usually this is accompanied by a lot of negative self-talk and often other coping mechanisms I'd prefer to avoid (skin picking, stress eating, lots of scrolling), so sometimes I have an easier time getting things done if I just escape the spiral and try again later.

But at the same time, how do I expect to get better, with my mental health or stuff like my fitness goals if I'm not doing anything? I hate sitting in that "oh my god just DO SOMETHING" milieu, but at the same time, if I'm not trying, what's the point?

Vague question, I know. I've just been having a...weird couple of months, and especially a questionable last few days. I'm not sure how to frame it, though. To be honest, my knee-jerk reaction is that I'm struggling a little. Not in danger or really off the deep end, but...I don't feel too hot. I'm not being my best self, not exactly solving my problems, I find myself stressed or just kind of unmotivated or off my game a lot.

I am in therapy, but I feel like I'm going in circles--I'll talk about a problem, we'll brainstorm a solution that sounds totally reasonable and kinda seems to work, but then I don't do it consistently, so the problem persists. And I'm kind of at a point with myself where I have to ask if there's actually "something wrong", if I'm actually struggling, because I have the tools and am just...not using them? I think I want to be better and feel better, but how can I really want that if I'm not actually consistently putting forth the effort?

I'm also not really sure what, if anything, is going on with me--I don't have a diagnosis and am honestly scared to ask. But either way, I feel like, with the help available to me, I should just be able to consistently do what I need to do to feel better. And really, I'm not sure if me not doing that is, like, a symptom of me struggling, or if I just need to buck up and find a way to be more consistent.

My dandruff and hair pulling/skin picking has all been so bad that I just wanted a fresh start, so I'd had this appointment booked for weeks as a "goal". I had a good week of not picking, but eventually the habit won out and I had, like, two really bad episodes right before my appointment, which was supposed to be tomorrow. I sent pictures to my stylist because I was so embarrassed of being potentially turned away in person, and she very professionally and politely suggested I reschedule.

I'm kind of crushed. I think I've also been having some hair thinning issues (going to a derm soon to figure out if it's the picking/pulling, the dandruff/sebderm, or something else), so I really wanted a pro to help me style it. But at this point, I honestly think I might just lop off the bulk of it (I have locs) so that I can wash and take care of it easier, and then hopefully I can have her shape and style whatever is left once I get my scalp health and picking under better control.

Would love some good vibes because I feel so embarrassed and gross rn :(

For context, I have 4c hair that's been in locs for the past 9ish months, and for about a year and a half, I've had some dandruff issues. Trying to control the dandruff while properly washing and drying my locs has been a real pain, so I made an appointment to cut them that'll be in two days. I don't have a lot of new growth/hair that hasn't locked yet, so my plan was to pretty much have a low taper fade.

I also have a tendency towards skin picking/dermatillomania. I can usually keep it under control, but the dandruff has basically been a 24/7 trigger, and I sometimes pick so hard that I draw blood. I had been doing really well keeping it under control the past few weeks in preparation for this appointment, but this weekend I had some really bad picking episodes and I'm back to square one. It's really not pretty--there are lots of really red and irritated spots and even a spot or two that bleed just from touching them. I still technically have two days to help it heal, but I don't want to waste both of our time if my scalp isn't healthy enough to work with once I get in the chair.

I feel bad for my stylist because we had a phone consultation and I booked this appointment a few weeks out just to probably cancel two days beforehand, but I just don't know if it's gonna heal up enough to be workable, and I'm honestly embarrassed about someone seeing my scalp like this. So my main question is: I should cancel, right?

Secondary question: would it be a bad idea for me to just lop off the locs at home so that I can wash my scalp more often (to reduce the dandruff and hopefully the urge to pick as well), and then just have my stylist, well, style whatever hair is left?

TL;DR: bad dandruff, can't stop picking scalp which is now bleeding and inflamed, want haircut. should I cancel? should I cut off the bulk of my hair myself and come back once scalp is better?

For context, I work out at home with dumbbells. I do resistance training 3x a week, with the goal of overall health (building, but mostly maintaining muscle mass to try and prevent stuff like back pain and make everyday life easier), and also just generally getting stronger. Most weeks, for 2 of the non resistance days, I play basketball, and for the other 2 I'll walk a mile or 2 (hoping to get back into running, but my form always feels weird and I'm scared of injury lol). Here's my split:

Day 1: Upper Body (Currently doing these with 15lbs per hand. I'm barely getting to 8 reps for most of these exercises right now).

2x8:

Bicep Curl

Skull Crusher

Shoulder Press

Dumbbell Rows

Chest Press

Hammer Curl

Tricep Kickbacks

Wide Grip Shoulder Press

Dumbbell Flies

Underhand Front Raises

Day 2: Core

I honestly don't like doing core exercises that much, so I just go to youtube and do 20 minutes worth of follow-along core videos lol. I can link the ones I normally do if that would help. I do want to create my own core plan eventually, but I only really like planks, leg raises, russian twists and maybe in-and-outs and I figure I'd get bored trying to get enough reps in off of those alone.

Day 3: Lower Body. I'm currently doing these with 30lbs (and a medium resistance. band for the clamshells). I know I could probably go heavier here but I want to try and get my joints acclimated as slowly as possible since a lot of my joint aches and pains live in my lower body.

3x8:

Calf raises

Tib raises

Clamshells

Dumbell deadlift

Squat

So there it is. Two questions: One, will this routine (along with increasing the weight once I can do 10 good reps) be enough to help me maintain and gain strength? And two, should I be doing more for my lower body? I was thinking about adding glute bridges to get a little more glute activation in (for function's sake), and lunges to see if I can get a little more quad growth (for vanity's sake lol).

I've been seeing it a lot lately, and it's super frustrating, especially on subreddits like this where people reach out for genuine support. So here's what I've noticed:

​

1. The "default" AI voice:

​

Get good at recognizing this, because many don't deviate from it at all. You'll get a lot of "that's not X; that's Y", and often some terms that seem like they're straight from Silicon Valley--stuff like "A stacks with B to output C" or "this is a force multiplier for that".

​

2. the "Slangy" AI voice:

​

Some will have them get a little more creative and type in all lowercase and using text acronyms, or "modern" internet humor. However, the general sentiment and phrasing is often similar to the "default" voice, and the most recognizable ones do it very formulaically. So you'll see stuff like "tbh that's not just anger, that's loneliness imo". Some will use less or no punctuation, but won't change anything else anout the phrasing, so it ends up actually making the sentence harder to parse. Something like "fr its not about how much you weigh your confidence is key".

​

3. Behavior:

​

a) Check their post history, and you see a lot of comments phrased in the same or similar way, that's a big red flag. So if you see "bro wanted to make friends and instead created total chaos fr", "dude was late to the party and pretended like everyone else was lowkey early tbh", and "sis was acting like everyone else was overreacting when she was the one who dropped the ball imo"

​

b) Look at what subs they're in--subs that are text-heavy and tend to have longer posts are the most frequent ones I see AI comments on. This sub, offmychest, AITA-type subs, vent subs, etc are all common ones I see them on. This isn't a dig at the mods in any way--I think it's just easier for AI (or at least low-effort bots/accounts) to come up with "worthwhile"/coherent responses to longer text vs. shorter text or images.

​

c) see if the account responds to the responses to their comments, or if they respond to other comments on the posts--a lot of these bots will do their own first-level comments, but don't often create second-level or lower responses. This isn't foolproof, but especially for lower effort bots, can help you make a decision about whether it's a bot.

​

So yeah! I hope this helps bring awareness to the issue and help someone ID a bot--I see a lot of people upvoting or responding to bot comments without seeming to realize who they're talking to. I also want to say that there are probably bots that are already able to sound more natural than those that are still following these patterns, but there are definitely many that still do.

​

Hi team! I believe I'm having sebderm issues (I have a derm appt next month to hopefully confirm) which are only exacerbated by having skin picking issues. The result of both of these is a scalp that is super sensitive and irritated. Even when it's not actively flaking or bleeding, I see lots of pink shiny spots. I do try to wash every other day, first with a sezia-safe and then with an antifungal shampoo, but I think the frequent washing might not be helping the irritation, which in turn only increases my urge to scratch and pick. I do use MCT oil after every wash, and I put a thin layer of vaseline on the really irritated spots.

​

If it were anywhere else on my skin, I'd think to just put a bandaid on it and let it heal, but I can't really do that with my head lol.

Hey y'all! I've had a funky jaw joint since probably high school? So for well over a decade. It really hurt, but my opening is limited--I can get it to just barely three fingers if I really strain. I can open more, but it requires me to almost shift my jaw joint "forward" in a way that doesn't feel stable.

This is also painless, but when I do it, usually my right side jaw joint (and sometimes my left side joint) have to kinda "pop" back into place, and it can feel like they're going to misalign or not pop back in correctly.

​

Sometimes (like every few months) when I'm asleep, I do feel like I might be misaligned or something because I'll kinda half-wake up to myself making sure my jaw is back in place.

​

Anyway, I'd love any advice, similar stories or tips (or encouragment! I have a dentist appointment today and I'm so nervous my jaw joint is going to act up or dislocate or something...). Thanks!!

I need to clean my room, I need to do my core workout (I hate core workouts 🥲), I want to go to the park and practice my layups, my pea plant needs trellising, I should cook a healthy meal, the bathroom needs cleaning...and I just want to sit and bed rot. The only thing I'm honestly accomplishing right now is resisting the urge to doordash McDonalds.

The last few weeks of work were crazy but now that things have slowed down, I thought I'd bounce back. I thought I'd just catch up on sleep and be set to live my best life, but I'm mentally exhausted. These last few weeks I felt like I was at my limit, but now that the pressure is off and my day is less structured, I'm struggling to find the motivation to do even the basics that I was doing like meal prepping. I'm falling into bad habits and I feel like I barely even have the energy to stop myself.

It's been rough. I'm worried I'm frying my brain. I want to eat better to lose weight, and fix my screen time issue, but instead I feel like I'm neurotic about my calories and I keep overeating on impulse to deal with the stress. I'm doomscrolling and I feel like it's cooking my attention span. I don't really know what's going on in my head anymore.

I'm trying to work on myself--counting calories to lose weight, stop picking at my skin, cut back on my screen time. It hasn't been easy, and I've been falling short a lot lately. A lot of the wisdom I'm seeing is just about knowing one setback isn't going to hurt your progress, but I feel like lately it's been more setbacks than progress.

I'm trying to keep going, but it's getting hard not to beat myself up and just quit. I started therapy and it's helping me recognize the patterns, but I haven't been able to actually break them yet, which is even more frustrating. I'm trying to give myself grace, but how much grace can you give yourself, y'know?

ugh. and it's crazy because I really felt like I had a good start today. I cleaned my room a little bit--I put on a podcast and cleaned for that amount of time. I didn't push it and do more even though I thought i could. I walked to the pharmacy + supermarket to get my steps in. I mopped and did laundry. I purposefully didn't do EVERYTHING I wanted to do--I didn't wash my hair, clean the bathroom, or work in the garden today because I knew if I tried to tackle everything, I'd burn out.

And yet, I stillllllllll lost it. I'd been doing so good at not picking my scalp, I was finally thinking I could do a deep clean of my hair + scalp since the raw parts were starting to heal over, but I somehow started the picking cycle and couldn't stop myself. Luckily things had been able to heal a little, so I don't think there's as much damage as there could have been.

The eating was bad too. I'm really trying to count calories, which was fine in-office since I basically could only eat what I packed for lunch. But now that work has slowed down and we're actually remote for the next few months, I'm struggling hardddd. And I thought things were going to be easier since we're not even in-person right now!!! But all the food is right there and I'm really struggling to stop myself from eating it. I've caught myself literally taking out food, then realizing what I'm doing and putting it back in the package. What little discipline I do have is reaching its limit.

I ran out of calories by like 6pm, and something about knowing "I shouldn't eat anymore" just flips a switch in my brain that makes me want to inhale EVERYTHING. When I went to the store, I bought raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries because I like to put them in my cottage cheese, and instead, I inhaled all of them in like 20 minutes. Fucking ridiculous. That was like $8 worth of berries and they're just gone. I don't even think it's worth going to buy more because I'll just do the same thing again. Then I ate two cheese sticks, finished off a bag of beef jerky, and had two tortillas filled with shredded cheese, mayo, and mustard. I wish I at least had the decency to eat, like, good stuff, y'know? It also doesn't help that for whatever reason, doing the dishes and putting them away flips my brain into "do nothing but definitely panic" mode, and since I'm already in the kitchen, my first reaction is just to eat to handle the stress.

And then there was the screentime. Double digits, man. It's gotta be frying my brain. But at this point, it might be the least of the other evils I have going on.

I don't really get why, either. My therapist asked me to think about when I might be feeling "unsafe" or just, like, not centered whenever stuff like this starts to creep up on me. But it's weird because it's not big things that jump out at me. It's, like, background stresses. I'm tired. A sinkful of dishes. Seeing that I ate too much and only have 200 calories left, knowing that eating that snack earlier was a mistake. Knowing that I didn't watch that show I put on at all, that I should have put my phone down an hour ago. I think it's that the gap between my current self and my best self freaks me out and makes me want to just double down and be worse because it's easier than trying to be better.

Woof. I did some good stuff today. But I couldn't sustain it.

I feel like I'm close but just under for so many disorders. I struggle with some things associated with OCD (skin picking, health anxiety/symptom checking), some things associated with ADHD (time management, executive function), family and friends often comment that I'm anxious, one friend (well meaning lol) even asked me one day what my diagnosis was...but, like, there is none.

I don't actually want more symptoms just to "prove" I have OCD or ADHD or anxiety, don't get me wrong. I know these disorders are *hell*. I just feel like I'm in this weird limbo--I *should* have a brain that works normally. There's nothing in my brain chemistry that suggests I would struggle to start doing the dishes or keeping my room organized or doing some of my hobbies. There's nothing in my brain that means I can't help but pick my skin until it bleeds, or ruminate over symptoms for days. So why is it happening?

I'm in therapy now, and I think it's helping. But I'm still scared to bring this up because I feel like if I do, it'll be the nail in the coffin. I'll bring it up, she'll tell me there's nothing wrong with me, and I'll just have to sit there knowing that whatever is wrong with me is 100% my fault.

I know, logically, that that's not true. I know everyone has their struggles, I know that no brain works the same, and that I didn't choose the struggles that I have even if it's my job to work through them. But it is so hard to shake the feeling that since I'm not diagnosed with anything, I should just be able to do the things I expect myself to do. I don't think I expect anything crazy out of myself, but I so often fall short that I guess the problem is either me or my expectations.

I don't know. It sounds insane when I write it all out. I think I'm tired, which isn't helping this feeling either.

I'm 5'7, female, highest recent weight 175, currently ~163lbs, goal weight is ~158. Current calorie target to lose half a pound per week is 1880. Mostly looking to get to and maintain a healthy BMI, my doctor has never mentioned losing weight but my blood pressure tends high and an "inflammation marker" blood test came back elevated so I'm trying to get to a better baseline. I know it's not a ton to lose, which makes this even more frustrating, because if people are pushing through to lose 100s of lbs this way, why is it so hard for me to drop like 15?

Anyway, I had been tracking consistently for like 3 weeks, but eventually at the end of last week it kinda wore me down. I was constantly feeling negative about how many calories I had already eaten, how many I'd burned through exercise, how many I'd have left, if I was hitting macros, when I should let myself be hungry and when I should actually eat. I'd also struggle to pace myself and would sometimes go hungry much of the morning and then basically eat 500 calories of ice cream at the end of the day to not be wayyy under deficit, or I'd eat more consistently throughout the day but then feel stressed and unsatisfied when I'd only have 5-600 left for dinner. It's just been a lot of brainpower devoted to food and what I could and couldn't have, and it kind of has become a stressor of its own. I stopped tracking this weekend to try and reset but I'm already dreading starting up again on Monday.

The hunger wasn't *fun* but previously I could usually push through it, especially at work when I had plenty of stuff to do anyway. Now though, work is slowing down for the season and we're actually going remote for several weeks, so I really don't know how I'm going to be able to stay consistent without basically wearing myself thin again. Plus a lot of the work tasks I have assigned to me (and some of the things I want to commit to doing around the house) are kind of boring and/or stressful, so I fear I'm not going to be able to white-knuckle it through the boredom and stress eating when I'm at home and all the food is Just There.

I'm really trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle but it definitely isn't easy, and I'd love tips on how people keep their heads in the game, especially since I know this is for the long haul.

I typically have been just meal prepping the lunches I bring to work and figuring out dinner as I go. But I'm trying to lose weight and eat a little healthier, and I think the key is going to be meal prepping dinner. In an ideal world, I'd be batch cooking and freezing, but I live with my parents on a smaller house. Freezer space is very tight and I basically only keep 1-2 "emergency" meals in there because anything else requires freezer tetris. Fridge space is a little better, but my parents are big costco shoppers and my dad also meal preps, so I don't really forsee fitting 5 extra meals in the fridge.

Right now my game plan is to prep a carb like rice/quinoa for the week and keep it in the fridge, and then rotate proteins (egg, tofu, TVP, lentils, sardines/canned fish), but I'm kind of at a loss for produce. I might try leaning more on canned stuff, but I'm worried about the sodium if I'm doing that every day.

I'm also considering buying a mini fridge to store meals, but again we're limited on space, and I'm kinda cheap so I'd like to see if there are viable workarounds before I take that route.

Thanks!

i'm starting to think tracking calories is too much for me. I know one mistake won't make me gain, but things just keep popping up and the end result is just that I'm eating too much. I know it's about long-term habits, but how can I get to the long-term habits when I can't keep up with the short term ones.

It just sucks. I really tried to eat right today too, but all it took was running low on sleep, a hard workout and a sink full of dishes (that I'm currently stull staring at 🥲) to push me to overeat. It's so embarrassing, and the craziest part is that I'm still fighting the desire to snack and eat after I just overate. I don't even even want to log it even though I know I should.

So I'm working on improving my diet, mostly to lose weight. One big thing has been actually paying attention to my hunger cues since I tend to boredom/stress eat. I also struggle with eating past fullness (I loooooove taking one more bite and am rarely "too full" to eat), so now I try to wait for my stomach to growl or other hunger signals before I eat, or just wait until a set tome to est

Problem is, it's kind of making it hard to eat enough at times. I'll be putting off stress/boredom eating at work, trying to stop myself from eating and eating and eating even when I'm full during the day, but then by the evening I won't feel super hungry but also won't be at my calorie minimums. I always eat enough to get up to 1200, usually I can get to 1300-1400, but sometimes getting to my goal calories (right now it's like 1880) would mean eating past fullness.

It's tough too because staying at 1300-1400 consistently isn't sustainable for me yet--I start to get kinda weird about food (eating super fast, scraping my plate for every bite, making dumb decisions about food), so I know it's best for me to eat more, but I'm worried I'm not going to make progress with respect to eating more mindfully/developing healthy habits if I keep ignorning my fullness cues.

Or in the mornings at work, there are times where I'll get a little hungry, so I'll have an apple or a cheese stick. But then at lunch I'm not really hungry. I usually eat, but then I again am eating past fullness, so I just get kinda worried that I'm making things harder for myself.

Any insight or advice?

I used to love art as a kid. I used to go to a weekly art class and I had so much fun doing the little projects the teachers encouraged us to do. At home, I would fill notebooks with random drawings for hours. I remember in like fifth grade, I got really into canned food labels and was designing my own lmao. When I was older, I got into lettering and calligraphy for a while and I enjoyed it.

Now though, I just...don't have that same spark. I think part of it is that I lost my patience--when I first started lettering, it looked awful but I could see the improvement so I wanted to keep going. Now I'll try it, and it doesn't look *bad* but it doesn't look great either and I just get frustrated and stop. That, and stamina. I'll get into something for like two weeks and then just...run out of ideas. Late last year I came up with a premise for a little comic strip, but I could only think of like three ideas I thought were funny. I even carry around a mini sketchbook with me to try and ~capture~ anything that strikes me, but it has like 2 shitty attempts at perspective drawings and after that it mostly just has grocery lists in it.

I want to be creative again, but how?

So I DIY'd my locs about 6 months ago. They locked nicely, but even though they're not long at all (max 1.5 inches) and haven't dropped yet, the roots don't seem to be doing well. I've had to combine most of my locs for feeling too thin/flimsy, and even then I still have locs where the density is so low that I can stick my finger through them at the root. My edges are naturally thinner, and those locs have roots I can literally see through.

I have no qualms with big chopping, but I'd like to have an unbiased idea of if this is within the realm of normal/fixable. I do have a dermatologist appointment and a consultation with a loctitian coming up, but she offers repair services and I don't want to fool myself into wasting time and money looking like Cynthia from the Rugrats if it doesn't really make sense for the health of my hair and scalp yknow?

Thanks in advance!

It just feels like my whole body has come to hate athleticism. Which sucks, because I generally enjoy it! I don't need to be the best or super fast, but just generally improve and have fun and make friends.

On Sunday I went to play a little pickup and then did a 30 minute walk on the way back home as a cooldown...and felt like I'd been hit by a truck the next day. My fucking PELVIS hurt. My knees were ok, thankfully, I guess the strength training I've been doing has been helping, but it literally felt like the two halves of my pelvis were trying to get a divorce.

I've only been playing basketball for like 3 months, and I started jogging like 2 months ago. Usually just once a week, like 1-1.5 miles, just to be less winded for basketball. I went to 2.25 miles two weeks ago, call it runner's high, wanting the challenge...and it felt like my goddamn knees were going to explode. I wasn't even going for an ego time--I was running at my easy pace of 12:00 per mile. My knees recovered ok, but my hip has been twinge-ing ever since and I've been too scared to do more jogging for fear of aggravating it (or injuring something else?).

I forced myself to do a core workout yesterday (idk why but I've been really hating core lately), and I think that plus basketball earlier in the week managed to somehow do something that made my hips and glute seize up. I was damn near hobbling around at work until I could duck into the bathroom and stretch out my glute--I didn't even think my glute was the problem, but the internet suggested a glute stretch and it worked.

I'm just so frustrated. I was getting really excited about the progress I was making--I wanted to do a 5k in a few months, maybe a 3v3 basketball tournament this summer too, and I was even thinking about getting a bike. But it all just feels pointless if I'm just going to be in pain and injured all the time. I try not to focus more on how I feel and what I can do, since I can start to spiral when I focus on looks...but what do I do when I'm in pain, can't seem to do what I want to do, AND still have a muffin top :(

I dunno. Maybe I am too heavy? My BMI is 26--overweight, but not *that* high (or so I thought 🥲) but maybe it's high enough that I just need to resign myself to low impact stuff. I'm gonna keep trying--eating better, new running shoes, probably with insoles (and some for the basketball shoes), keeping up with strength training, and seeing if I can get a referral to PT. But if those don't work...I'm already getting sad about a future just forcing myself to do youtube workouts every night, and I worry I'm just gonna stop working out at all.