I'm pre-T, and plan to start before the end of the year.

I'm very estrogen-dominant. my subcutaneous fat has always measured over 30mm, even when I was struggling with anorexia. when my BMI was <19 and i was going to the gym 5× a week, the BIA setting on my scale was reading at >30%.

I'm now 7 years in remission. I was obese at one point due to an undiagnosed GI complication, but since that's been addressed, I'm gradually losing weight, my BMI is currently around 27, and I'm aiming for 22-23 (personal baseline). my current WHR is 0.76, and has been as low as 0.65.

my general goal is to just reduce my subcutaneous fat enough to have some modest muscle definition, while maintaining my WHR in the general neighborhood of 0.7. when I was in the height of my eating disorder, I had the unknown factor of being an egg. the only things I was ever satisfied with were my cheekbones and the slight beginnings of an Adam's apple.

I'm pretty diet-savvy, so I figure i would basically just alternate between dirty bulking on progesterone, lean bulking on topical T, and cutting on both.

I have a silly little story for this, to explain what I'm going for.

there's a tech death metal band by the name of Fallujah. in 2016, the year my partner and I got together, they put out an album called Dreamless. it has an interlude track called Fidelio, in which they sample Eyes Wide Shut (1999). he just thought it was a cool monologue, I was like, "no that can't not be from something," and we figured it out.

we decided to watch it together, I found a torrent, we got cozy with some angry apples... and... one of the very early scenes depicts the main character and his wife enjoying some cannabis together. Nicole Kidman acts stoned like she has never been, nor has ever seen anyone, only a little high. only extremely high. after a single hit. my partner, a seasoned stoner, decided that this movie must be thoroughly unwatchable. I vowed not to finish it until we watched it together, but I did get to the plot and assure him that it got better.

we finally watched it last night. after nearly 10 years. when it was over, he just said "no, what the fuck, I enjoyed that!"

I took one sip, went to break down a pack of chicken thighs, and forgot where I put it. and I don't even have the excuse of being drunk already! I know this isn't what this sub is really for, I'm just trying to not get drunk ants.

where are stupid places to put things down and forget about them?

weird combination, I know 😅 spayed female, 13, defanged and a little arthritic. recently saw the vet for some soft and bloody stool, but we got a round of Proviable KP and a bag Hill's Gastrointestinal Biome dry food, and the litter box is looking normal now.

her highest weight was 22 pounds, she was 19.3 last year, and is now 16.3 with a BCS around 7/9. her mobility, activity levels, and skin/fur condition have also all greatly improved in the 3 years since I've taken charge of her nutrition. the elevation in her thyroid is still subclinical, but it has been increasing, and that's enough for the vet to order T3/T4 labs. it's a little disheartening to think that the progress we've made might have just been because of her thyroid, but the vet said her muscle tone looks very good!

she currently gets 3 portions of ~45g Purina ProPlan canned food, 1 portion of 25g Purina One Plus High Protein dry food and the RX Hill's (currently 50/50, and an extra 5g of the Hill's if she finishes, since she lost much more weight than I expected), and an inconsistent quantity of Pro Plan dental treats (definitely never exceeding 10). ~118kcal wet food, 90-114kcal dry food, 0-20kcal treats. median total 230kcal.

we plan to fully transition to the Hill's for now, then switch to Purina One Sensitive Skin and Stomach since she also has a touch of dandruff, and add back some of the High Protein formula (aiming for 50/50, but I'll pull back if there are any litter box developments). she'll also be getting a weekly dose of Bene-Bac probiotic after the Proviable capsules are finished.

16 pounds is a major milestone, and in the event that we need to put her on methimazole, I want to make sure she continues to age gracefully. she has 2 bonus siblings that I've cared for since they were 2 months old. they're on a similar diet minus the Hill's, they'll be 11 this year, both on target for weight/BCS, and haven't aged a day in years.

I'll go first.

if you ask my mom, I started shoplifting when I was about 2, and I'm a certifiable kleptomaniac. she will recall 2 items, and this is absolutely enough to establish a pattern.

the first is some finger puppets from a toy store. reader, *I was in a stroller*. I put them on, she didn't notice, we left the store, and she let me keep them.

the second was a Winnie the Pooh wallet from Marshalls (or Kohls somewhere similar) when I was 5. it was on the ground, covered in floor grime. there was no price tag, and I couldn't find another like it that did have a tag, so I reasonably concluded that this was not the property of the store and I scored an awesome wallet (I could have been wrong but idk, i think that's pretty advanced reasoning for a 5-year-old). I held it in my hands as my baby girl pockets were insufficient, made no attempt to hide it but felt no need to bring attention to it since it wasn't a purchase, she didn't notice, we left the store, and she let me keep it.

didn't shoplift as a teenager, or pluck money from her purse, except when instructed to get lunch money. literally just little baby kid stuff, and mom kicking the responsibility for her parenting fumbles back to me. just "remember how you used to steal things *all the time?*" oh you mean those 2 isolated occasions when i removed things from a store as a child because my caregiver didn't notice i was holding them? I literally only remember one of them because I was *2 years old* for the other.

I live in (and got picked up from) a townhouse-style condo with communal parking.

the first thing the driver said after I settled in was "how much parking is there here?" I said I'm not sure about the total, but each house gets two spots. "oh, that's not enough." well, it's okay for a starter family. it gets tricky when there's roommates or teens who start driving, but we have great metro access, so we can typically get by with one car (I'm just pressed to get to a doctor's appointment on time). he said he has a BIG driveway, and a garage. but the garage is a gym. "make sure when you buy a house, you have a basement *and* a garage!"

he asked if we rent, I said we bought our unit, he griped about property taxes a bit, I said "at least it's not rent," and as soon as we hit the highway, he told me his address and insisted that I looked at his house. "we have a big deck! I moved from the next town over and sold my old house for a million dollars!" I said I'm looking forward to the payoff when my partner and I move, since there's ongoing metro expansion that's already appreciated the value. "when you buy a house, the basement has to be good! that way, you can rent it."

dude, I know how to shop for houses, I am a homeowner. and I have absolutely no interest in being a property manager. I'm just trying to go to the neurologist.