u/rushinthegame

I have been trying to get a softer, more feminine complexion lately, but I keep hyper-fixating in the bathroom mirror and driving myself crazy. Some days I think my skin looks super smooth and glowy, and then ten minutes later under different lighting I feel like my texture and dark spots are a complete disaster.

I literally stripped my entire skincare routine down to a simple five-minute daily thing to avoid destroying my barrier: just a gentle Cetaphil cleanser, a basic moisturizer, and an invisible weightless sunscreen (using Aveeno SPF 30 right now because I read that sun exposure is the absolute fastest way to get premature wrinkles and ruin your skin texture).

But because skincare takes months to actually show visible results, I could not tell if my simple routine was actually doing anything or if I was just hallucinating changes.

To stop myself from constantly obsessing in the mirror, I started using this app called skintale to track my face weekly. It is a free skin analysis app that does all the processing locally on your phone so your photos stay private. You take a selfie once a week and the AI scores your skin across metrics like hydration, texture, and dark spots. Seeing my hydration and texture scores objectively improve on a graph over the last month was the only thing that kept me from throwing out my routine and buying fifty random tiktok products.

How do you guys deal with tracking your skin progress without getting obsessive? Do you take progress photos in the exact same lighting, or does anyone else use tracking tools like this? I just really need to know if I am the only one hyper-fixating lol.

I see so many skincare routines online recommending facial scrubs, dermaplaning, and vitamin c serums to get flawless skin. Seriously, if you are on accutane, do not do any of that. You will literally shred your skin barrier and end up with bleeding chemical burns.

When I started my course, I had to strip my entire routine down to under three minutes of pure basics. Just a super gentle cleanser, a thick moisturizer, and an SPF. No scrubs, no razor dermaplaning, no vitamin c, nothing.

The hardest part about accutane is the purging phase. During my second month, my face looked like a total warzone. I was constantly obsessing in the bathroom mirror under different lighting, trying to figure out if my acne was actually clearing up or if I was just permanently scarring my face. The anxiety was driving me crazy.

To keep myself sane and get actual objective data, I started using this app called skintale to track my progress. It is a free skin analysis app that does all the processing locally on your phone, so your photos and data stay private. I take a selfie once a week and the AI scores my skin across metrics like acne, hydration, and dark spots.

Watching my acne score and hydration levels actually improve on a graph week over week even when my face felt dry and the mirror made me want to quit was the only thing that kept me motivated to finish my course.

Seriously, keep your routine under three minutes, throw out the scrubs and actives, and track your progress objectively so you don't lose your mind during the purge phase.

Getting down to 12 percent body fat is the classic goal for a lot of lifters. It is the sweet spot where your six-pack actually pops, you get some vascularity, but you can still eat like a normal human and maintain it.

But according to DEXA scan data of over 9000 American men, less than 1 percent actually reach or maintain this level. Your body is incredibly smart, and if you cut too fast or do not have a proper plan, you either lose a ton of muscle or your metabolism fights back so hard that you end up regaining everything you lost.

Here is a comprehensive breakdown of the science behind reaching and maintaining a lean physique, based on the work of sports scientists and coaches like Mike Israetel, Layne Norton, Eric Trexler, Eric Helms, and Lauren Conlin.

Lifting to protect your muscle

The biggest trap during a cut is losing muscle. If you just starve yourself without lifting properly, Dr. Mike Israetel points out that up to half of your weight loss can come from muscle rather than fat. Not only does this make you look skinny-fat, but losing muscle triggers a safety mechanism in your body that spikes your hunger signals.

To prevent this, you need to lift. But you do not need as much volume as you think. A recent study showed that doing just two short full body workouts a week (totaling about 6 hard sets per muscle group weekly) was enough to prevent muscle loss during a diet. For chest, that is literally just three sets of bench and three sets of flies a week. Advanced lifters might want to do 6 to 10 sets to be safe, but you do not need to murder yourself with 20-set chest days.

In fact, massive high-volume workouts are incredibly hard to recover from in a deficit. Israetel recommends hitting each muscle group slightly more frequently (2 to 3 times a week) but with shorter, higher-quality sessions. Also, do not be afraid to use slightly higher rep ranges as you get deeper into a cut. As you lose fat, putting more weight on the bar becomes less realistic, but your relative endurance goes up. Adding a rep here and there to conserve muscle is much more achievable than chasing heavy singles.

Setting up the diet

For the nutritional side, Dr. Layne Norton emphasizes that consistency and adherence are everything. You do not need to eat perfectly clean all the time to lose fat. In fact, studies show that people eating a high-sucrose diet lost the exact same amount of fat as those on a low-sugar diet when calories and macros were identical.

To start: First, set your protein. Aim for roughly 1.8 to 2.8 grams per kilogram of body weight (about 0.8 to 1.2 grams per pound). If you are in a deficit, your body will burn some protein for fuel, so staying on the higher end protects your muscle. Second, split your remaining calories between carbs and fats based on what you actually enjoy. If you prefer savory foods, go higher fat. If you like sweet things and starches, go higher carb. Third, estimate your starting calories by multiplying your body weight in pounds by 10 to 13. Use the lower end if you are sedentary or over 200 pounds, and the higher end if you are highly active.

The metabolic adaptation trap

After about 4 to 6 weeks of dieting, fat loss usually slows down. Dr. Eric Trexler explains that this is not a motivation issue; it is your metabolism fighting back. For every 5 percent drop in body weight, your resting metabolism can slow down by 100 to 200 calories. Your body does this by downregulating non-exercise activity, meaning you subconsciously fidget less, stand less, and sit with different posture to conserve energy.

To beat this, you have to track your daily weight averages. If your fat loss stalls for two consecutive weeks, drop your calories by about 100 per day. I ended up using bodybit app to handle this part automatically, since it calculates your weekly averages and adjusts your calorie targets when it senses your metabolism adapting, which kept me from stalling.

But do not try to lose more than 5 to 7 percent of your total body weight in a single diet cycle (usually 12 to 16 weeks). If you go too far, your hunger hormones will redline, leading to midnight kitchen raids where you eat half a dozen donuts and ruin months of work. Take a 2 to 3 week maintenance break, or switch to a lean bulk before trying to cut again.

The truth about cardio

A lot of people think they can just run their way into a deficit. Dr. Eric Helms warns against this because of the constrained energy model. If you burn 300 calories on a treadmill, your body will subconsciously make you lazier and less active the rest of the day to compensate, meaning your net burn might only be 150 calories.

Instead, use cardio for health and appetite regulation. The sweet spot for general activity is 7000 to 9000 steps per day. Going below 5000 steps actually decouples your appetite signals, making it harder for your body to regulate hunger. Aim to get your baseline steps in first. Only increase cardio or steps when dropping calories further becomes unsustainable.

The psychology of the cut

Finally, coach Lauren Conlin highlights the mental traps that ruin diets. First, stop starving yourself all day before a big dinner out. Going into a social dinner starved triggers massive overeating, excessive drinking, and a vicious guilt cycle the next day where you try to overcompensate with extra cardio. Just eat normally during the day, enjoy your dinner, own the decision, and move on. Second, accept that a little bit of hunger is just a normal part of the process. Obsessively trying to hack your hunger actually magnifies it in your mind.

The absolute hardest part of a body recomp is tracking your progress.

Because you are losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time, your total body weight might not change at all. You could stay at 180 pounds for months while your body composition completely changes. If you only track your weight on a scale, you will think nothing is working and give up.

To track this properly, you need to monitor three things:

For food: Track your daily protein and calorie goals using a basic calorie log.

For lifting: Keep a detailed training log to ensure your strength and volume are actually going up week over week.

For tracking physical changes: Forget the scale and track your measurements and visual changes. Using bodybit to track my V-taper and symmetry from photos was a lifesaver for me because the scale is a liar when you are swapping fat for muscle. It kept me from getting discouraged and quitting when my weight stood still.

Ultimately, cut slow, lift heavy, get your steps in, and focus on the visual changes rather than stressing over the scale.

A lot of people think cats are completely untrainable and will just ignore you forever. That is actually a myth. Training your cat is not only going to turn them into a star when people visit your house, but it also takes your bond and communication to a level you did not think was possible.

I started clicker training my cat a few months ago and it has been a total game changer. Basically, clicker training is just operant conditioning. It leverages the fact that behaviors that get rewarded are more likely to get repeated. The clicker is just a tool to mark the exact microsecond your cat does the behavior you want so they know exactly why they are getting a treat.

To start, you just need a cheap physical clicker, some high value treats like freeze dried chicken, and your cat. Before you do anything fancy, I highly encourage you to teach them come and finger targeting first so they learn to follow your hand gestures.

Once they know those basics, here is how you teach them 5 simple but cool tricks: sit, down, stay, sit pretty, and spin.

First is sit. It is super useful when you want to put their harness on or keep them still outdoors. Put a treat in your right hand and hold the clicker in your left. Hold the treat between your thumb and middle finger with your index finger pointing up. Hover the treat over your cats head. Eventually, they will sit down to try to reach the treat with their mouth. As soon as their butt touches the floor, click and give them the treat. Repeat this 5 to 10 times. Once they get it, do the same hand gesture without the treat in your hand. If they sit, click and reward from your other hand. Once they react quickly to the gesture on its own, add the verbal command sit right before the gesture. Over a few days, they will start doing it to the verbal command alone.

Second is down. This is the first step towards other tricks like rollover or playing dead. Your cat needs to master sit first. Start with them in a sit. Hide a treat under your fingers and place your hand flat on the floor. Drag your hand along the floor so they try to reach it. When their belly touches the floor, click and reward. Once they react instantly to the gesture, remove the treat from under your fingers and just do the flat hand gesture.

Third is stay. This helps so much when you want to serve food without them climbing all over you or if you want to take pictures of them. Start with your cat sitting. Say stay, and immediately click and reward. The goal here is literally rewarding them for doing nothing. Next, say stay and take one step back. If they do not move, click and reward. If they do move, put them back in the starting spot and try again. Slowly increase how far you walk back and how long you make them wait before you click.

Fourth is sit pretty. This is the cute trick where they stand up on their hind legs. I highly recommend trimming your cats nails first so they do not accidentally scratch you if they try to grab your hand. From a sit, put a treat between your ring finger and middle finger. Hover your hand over their head just out of reach. As soon as their front legs leave the floor, click and reward. Once they get the behavior, remove the treat from between your fingers and do the hand gesture on its own.

Fifth is spin. Hold a treat in your right hand and lead them in a full circle. Click and reward when they face you at the end. Once they master it, put the treat in your left hand. Do the circle with your empty right hand, then feed them from your left hand at the end of the spin. Slowly make the hand circle smaller until it is just a quick finger swirl gesture.

Keep your training sessions really short, like 2 to 5 minutes at a time, because cats lose focus fast.

For the toolkit and troubleshooting: For treats, freeze dried chicken or minnows work best. You can get a basic physical clicker on amazon for like three dollars. Also, if you get stuck or struggle to figure out why your cat is frustrated, gets stubborn, or walks away, check out an app called meowlyzer. It has an ai cat translator where you record a short video of your cat and it analyzes their body language and meows to tell you what they are feeling. It also has a petcare ai chat that acts like a 24/7 cat behaviorist. It really helped me figure out what I was doing wrong when my cat kept standing up instead of sitting pretty.

Let me know if you have any questions or get stuck on any of these!

Are your texts getting ghosted? If you find yourself staring at your screen overthinking what to say only to get nothing back, you are not alone. I used to do this all the time. But I realized texting isn't just about sending words, it is about basic psychology. If you are opening with hey or what's up, you have already lost. It is like going to a restaurant and just saying food.

Here is what actually worked for me to turn things around.

First, you need to build an abundance mindset. If you are single, stop putting all your energy into one conversation. Talk to multiple people. It is not about being fake, it is about not stressing over whether one specific person replies or not. When you have options, you are not sitting around hoping to be picked, and that makes you naturally more confident.

Second, make a killer first impression. Women get flooded with the same boring messages every day. You need a pattern interrupt to stand out. Be specific and make it about her profile. If she has photography on her profile, do not ask do you like photography. Try something like: how many selfies does a photographer actually have on their camera roll? It is playful, grabs attention, and triggers a positive reaction immediately.

Third, stop acting like an interviewer. Most guys ruin chats by asking what do you do, where are you from, what's your favorite color. It feels like a job interview. Instead, use cold reads and assumptions. Instead of asking what music she likes, say: you strike me as someone who listens to indie rock but secretly blasts 90s pop in the shower. Even if you are wrong, it is fun and gives her something easy to respond to. Also, tell short stories instead of giving one-word answers. If she asks about your weekend, do not say not much. Say you went to a karaoke bar and ended up doing a duet with an Elvis impersonator. It makes you exciting and memorable.

Fourth, keep them interested and know when to escalate. Do not reply the exact second she texts you. It makes you look like you have nothing else going on. Pace things naturally. And if the conversation is flowing really well, do not let it drag until it dies out. End it at the peak by saying you have to run but had fun. It leaves her wanting more. Finally, remember texting is just a tool to get to a date, not the destination. When the vibe is good, suggest something casual, like asking what her go-to coffee drink is.

If you struggle to think of things to say in the moment, I highly recommend checking out some helper tools. I use photofeeler to get feedback on my profile photos so I actually get matches. And for the actual texting part, I've been using the drdate app. It is an AI texting assistant that analyzes the conversation flow and suggests playful, natural replies when you are stuck.

Let me know if you guys try any of this and how it goes.

If you search online for skincare advice, it is a complete nightmare. You have influencers claiming you need a 12-step routine with snail slime creams, charcoal cleansers, and LED masks. Almost all of it is marketing fluff to get you to spend money.

I asked a dermatologist friend who trained in New York, to help me build a routine actually backed by clinical science.

He told me something that blew me away: to get 90 percent of the results, you only need to follow three or four basic rules. And no skincare product should ever cost more than 30 dollars. Anything past that is just paying for the brand's marketing budget.

Here is the exact evidence-based science behind why it works, and the simple routine he put me on.

First, moisturizer is about barrier repair, not just hydration.

The main job of your skin is to act as a barrier. It keeps moisture locked in and allergens out. Think of it like a brick and mortar wall. The bricks are your skin cells and the mortar is a paste made of natural fats and proteins holding them together. When you take hot showers or use harsh products, you strip away that natural paste, which leaves your skin dry, red, itchy, and prone to infections. A good moisturizer simply replaces that lost paste. We use Cerave PM in the evening because it has ceramides that mimic that natural mortar.

Second, use sunscreen every single day.

There is a famous case report in the New England Journal of Medicine about a truck driver who spent 28 years driving with just the left side of his face exposed to sunlight through the window. In his photo, the left side of his face has massive wrinkles and damage, looking like an 86-year-old's skin, while his right side looks like a 69-year-old's skin. That is what UV radiation does. It bombards your skin cells and mutates the DNA, causing photoaging and increasing the risk of skin cancer.

When choosing sunscreen, go for broad-spectrum so it blocks both UVA and UVB rays. Also, use SPF 50. SPF is calculated assuming a super thick layer, but since most people only apply a normal thin layer, you really only get about 60 percent of the stated protection. Using SPF 50 realistically gets you about SPF 30. Also, comfort is key. An SPF 30 sunscreen you actually like and wear daily is a thousand times better than a fancy SPF 100 that sits in your cabinet because it makes you look like a pasty clown. I use Altruist dermatologist face fluid SPF 50 in the mornings because it is a cheap moisturizer and sunscreen hybrid.

Third, use retinoids in the evening.

Originally a vitamin A treatment for acne in the 1970s, researchers quickly realized retinoids have incredible anti-aging effects. It is the closest thing to a miracle ingredient in skincare. It does three things: it rebuilds collagen in the deeper layers of your skin to stop sagging, it fades uneven dark spots from sun damage, and it speeds up cell regeneration so your skin looks fresh.

But it is a long game. When you first start, your skin will peel, dry out, and get sensitive. This is normal and means it is working, but most people quit before they see the benefits. If you are starting out, try Differin gel since it has a newer retinoid called adapalene which causes less irritation. I use Dermatica to get tretinoin, starting at 0.025 percent and slowly working up to 0.1 percent.

Fourth, a gentle cleanser is optional.

Water removes dirt, but a cleanser removes excess oils. If you wear heavy makeup or sweat a lot, use a gentle hydrating cleanser like Cerave hydrating cleanser. It has hyaluronic acid and ceramides to clean your skin without stripping the natural oils and leaving your face feeling tight.

So here is the final routine.

In the morning, wash your face with water or the Cerave hydrating cleanser, then put on the Altruist SPF 50 moisturizer.

In the evening, wash your face, apply a tiny pea-sized amount of your retinoid cream, wait a few minutes, and follow up with Cerave PM moisturizer.

How I actually stuck to this and tracked if it worked:

Retinoids and sunscreens take months to show real results. When you look in the mirror every day, you cannot notice the tiny changes. And when my skin started peeling in the first month from the retinoid, I wanted to throw the whole routine away.

To stay motivated and get real data, I started using a mobile app called skintale. I like it because it does all the processing locally on your phone, so your photos and data stay private and never leave your device. You just take a weekly selfie and the AI grades your skin across six metrics like wrinkles, acne, eye bags, and pigmentation.

It tracks your scores week over week and creates progress reports. Seeing the actual numbers improve and watching my wrinkle and pigmentation scores trend up over two months was the only thing that kept me consistent through the peeling phase.

If you are trying to simplify your routine and want to know if your products are actually doing anything, stop guessing and start tracking the data.

​The pay is performance-based: I’m giving 1 cent for every 100 views you pull. If you hit a reel that goes viral for 100k views, that’s an easy 1000 rupees for literally 5 minutes of work. The videos are low-effort. I’ll settle your total via UPI every single night so you’re never waiting for money.

​This is a shadow project. I’m only looking for people who can keep their mouth shut and follow the system without snitching or bragging about where the clips are coming from. If you’re a loudmouth, don’t even bother.

​If you're serious and won't ghost after one day, DM me this exact info in one message:

​Your age and city

Your college course or school stream and your daily timings

What you’re good at (editing, social media, or coding)

What phone do you use

Confirmation that you’re down for the 1 cent per 100 views model

​Don't send me a "Hi" or "I'm interested." Just send the details. I’m only picking someone who actually look like they want to grind. Let’s get it.