u/twoscoopsxd

As someone who is 70+ pounds down and has a consistent exercise routine. This is the worst advice and pushes this myth that you can work off weight. And usually you see this from fit gym bros telling an overweight person to get in the gym. When these people are counting calories and macros and know the facts.

I do an hour of exercise 6 days a week. On a normal day I'm burning 500-600 calories. On a motivated day I might hit 700-800(basing this on my weight/height, not what the machines are telling me). And it's great. Everyone should exercise. My blood pressure is super healthy, my resting heart rate is low, I feel good and flexible and have lots of energy. But all of that did very little for my weight loss. My weight loss was in eating in a calorie deficit consistently. Yeah when I exercise it gives me an extra 500 calories to work with but that's not much.

The only time I've ever felt like I truly burned off everything I ate in the day was when I moved to an apartment on the top floor with flights of very steep stairs. From 9 am to 10 pm I was walking up and down those stairs carrying heavy things inside. I was depleted fully by the end of the day and me and my friends ate tons and tons of enchiladas that night. Professional athletes who are currently training are probably burning tons of calories. But your hour on the stair master is great for you and can help overall. But 99 percent of my weight loss is from the kitchen.

I just dislike this "go to the gym, fatty" thing. Same with when people see overweight people eating "unhealthy foods" of any kind. Saw a video from a guy who lost 80 pounds and he was posting his meals of the day and how it all totalled to 1800 calories. One meal he had two Popeyes chicken breasts and mashed potatoes with no gravy. Fit it in his macros and deficit. Comments were scoffing like "1800 calories and Popeyes isn't going to help you" as if they weren't part of the 1800.

All of this to say that now that I've lost substantial weight, it really makes me see how dumb most advice/comments are. So many blatant lies and bad advice from people who are in shape. The best way to lose weight and get in shape is what system works for you and keeps you in a deficit and routine. I have a friend who has been working on losing weight as well and they have an entirely different routine/process and it's been working for them.

This annoys me so much. Especially since I don't even present it with the intention of getting special treatment or forgiven. If I'm late to work because my car broke down and I say that's why. That's literally the reason why. I'll take the attendance point or whatever policy there is. It's extra dumb when they ask you the reason and say it's an excuse

Me: just wanted to call ahead that I'll be 30-45 minutes today

Manager: Why?

Me: Car won't start

Manager: Excuses

Brother, then why did you ask if any reason would be considered an excuse to you? I understand the policy. Just telling you the reason.

This was very annoying in school when lots of things would happen simply because my family didn't have a lot of money. Like when they made it mandatory to turn in reports typed and this was back when it wasn't common for everyone to have their own computer/device. We didn't have a computer in the home until way late. I didn't get a laptop for myself until I was like 17. Had teachers who would assign a typed paper and it had to be done in a week. Owning a computer let alone a personal printer was rare in my poor area. But the printer part wasn't so hard. I'd give my mom a flash drive and she'd print it off at work or something.

Teachers were always like "excuses" when I'd ask to be able to write it for less points or turn it in later. Because computers were down at the library or my parents were working doubles all week and couldn't take me there. I'd always never expect anything. I'd say "mark me off for being late or whatever. Or for not meeting all requirements but this is what I can do right now" and they'd just say "excuses"

It's only an excuse if you're asking to be excused of something

Like what does this even mean? Are you implying you should have been sexy back then as a child? And it's like "oh I was so ugly and weird looking when I was developing into an adult" and?

I feel like glow up before pictures need to start at, at least 21

I always hear from people, "I could never count calories or prepare meals. I'd go crazy" or "I never know what I'm in the mood for until that day so I can't meal prep." Or something along those lines. But to me, I find it a lot easier and time saving.

I grew up poor so this "I never know what I'm in the mood for" is not me. My parents would buy everything with intention and have a plan for everything to make it last as long as possible. Rarely was it just looking in the fridge and whipping something up. We never had snacks or prepacked foods or anything like that. So it was like "we can use this portion of rice for these meals. If we divide the cabbage like this, we can do this with it." So a lot of either eating the same meal for days in a row or knowing having a meal plan ahead of time for the next two weeks based on the groceries we had was the norm for me.

But I also don't eat the same thing every day. I will cook a few things and switch the meals out but I have all my meals tracked for the next two weeks. And when you're meal prepping, it's easy to just track calories out. Measure a portion of rice once and copy that portion for several meals and continue with other foods. It's just relaxing to know where every dollar is going. I found that once I started locking in on meal prepping, my budgeting improved because I could calculate it better. I just find it relaxing when I sit down and enter my meal prep into the app and then prepare it and I know I'm good. I don't have to think. My meals are ready.

Calorie counting and meal prepping has saved me time and money in the long run

And the other things Brian references. He seems to have a huge love of old Americana. Old movies, classic cars, classic music. We've heard him mention The Cool a bunch.

This band was kind of a perfect mix of what I love. My Spotify most listened artist last year was Bruce Springsteen and the second list listened was Taking Back Sunday. So heartland and emo are my top genres. I grew up on Springsteen. My mom loves him and he has such a strong discography. Everything he released from 1973 to 1987 was classic masterpieces. Which is a crazy run. Even after that. He still put out great songs and really good albums. The song writing is just so personal. If you haven't heard a Springsteen album in your life or maybe never dove in. I would HIGHLY recommend Darkness On The Edge Of Town as a starting point specifically if you love TGA.

But it's not just the Springsteen. I also love old country/Appalachian folk. I listen to a lot of albums released between 1930-1960(Grayson & Whitter, The Kossoy Sisters, Carter Family etc). When I heard "high and lonesome sound" my mind immediately went to Appalachian folk music and that term being used to describe what it feels like. Love the old movies. There is just a feeling you get when TGA is on that no other band gives me. If another band were trying it, it would come off as corny or they are trying so hard to be an old band. But they pull it off by blending it well with the punk influence that feeds the emo side of me.

On a side note. I feel TGA fans would enjoy modern Taking Back Sunday. Their traditional emo fan base hates it but the singer has a very raspy heartland rock voice now and the band is in that direction. I was listening to a TGA album in the car with my friend who likes emo music and he was like "is this a new Taking Back Sunday album?" Would recommend their track Call Come Running.

I do an hour of treadmill every morning and have been playing through all their albums. I love all of them but you never realize how often he says "with the radio on" until you marathon them in this way.

If something is an injustice or something. That is one thing. But it'll be something like an establishment closes at 10pm. Someone pushes and tries to stay until 11. The park doesn't allow dogs but that one person sneaks their dog to that park instead of going to another nearby park without that rule.

Just little things like that. Sign says "take one" but someone takes five. Sign says "enter here, do not exit" but they exit anyway.

There will always be something chill and good but because someone constantly breaks a very easy to follow rule, then it gets taken away and they ruin it for everyone else.

People could argue what exactly pop punk is. Meaning, yes, The Ramones are a pop punk band but it's not what you think of when you think pop punk. I'm talking the mainstreamification of it. MTV and funny music videos. When you'd see a Taking Back Sunday music video on MTV and then an Usher music video would play after it.

To me the eras are late 90s early 2000s. Blink-182, Sum 41, NFG. Baggy jeans, spiky hair. Bright big budget music videos. Probably the most popular the genre has ever been. When your casual thinks of pop punk they are likely thinking of this and skateboarding. Anthemic songs

The mid to late 2000s. Where everyone was trying to be wordy and clever with their song writing(Pete Wentz/Max Bemis-core). Cute Is What We Aim For, The Academy Is..., All Time Low. Tight jeans, lumped in with the emo category. When I say wordy I don't mean the songwriting of this era was better. It just feels like when I listen to Cute Is What We Aim For's first album and hear these lyrics they were clearly going for something blink-182 on EOTS and NFG on Sticks and Stones weren't. When I hear that era of Pete Wentz-core writing it all feels very "I think very highly of myself but I also hate myself."

The 2010s Pop-punk/emo revival era. The Wonder Years, Real Friends, The Story So Far. This era will always hold a special place in my heart because I was in highschool at this time. I lived it. I of course was listening to 05 era. The first pop punk song I heard and loved was Dance Dance and it was new and the time. But there's a difference when you are 15 and Handguns dropped and album and The Wonder Years dropped an album in real time and you are of age to truly feel the music. This era is niche as far the genre goes. Fall Out Boy and blink have songs you might hear while shopping at a grocery store. You'd never hear it with the revival bands. Flannel shirts, jeans, hats. This era was very lumberjack-core. I feel it has the perfect mix of the two prior eras.

I feel like the revival has steadily carried on. modern pop punk has basically merged completely with emo. Bands like Hot Mulligan and Arm's Length who basically do both. But to me, they aren't too far removed from that The Wonder Years vibes. There isn't like a definitive "this is a pop punk band" "this is an emo band" today. They all come together.

Today as I'm pushing 30. My favorite era is the mid 2000s. I return to it the most but blink-182 is my favorite band forever.

I work for a massive company that covers multiple countries. We begin all our calls with "This is (name) with (company), on a recorded line, how are you doing?"

Normally either they continue the call, hang up, or ask us not to call. However, there is always that one person who seems interested but doesn't want to talk on a recorded line and will not move forward from that. They ask if I can "turn it off" like this a button I can press.

I usually say, "Sir, we are an international company. All of our lines are recorded. This is not my personal phone." And then cut into the reason for the call. But a lot of people get stuck on the recorded line as if it's something we can do.

I work from home and always have music on in my headphones while I'm working. Played this full album in the background and had this on while on the phone with clients. Made the call way more emotional than it needed to be.

I am in a comfortable position financially now. And it is much cheaper to buy in bulk and cook. Like buying a pack of ground beef, bread, and vegetables and making multiple burgers is way cheaper than buying 1 burger in the long run. And it's good when you know your exact budget and what you'll be getting.

But when I was in my early 20s and never knew what my next pay would be(inconsistent bad retail hours), didn't know when my bad car would break down and I'd need to put my whole paycheck toward something, or anything like that. When I'd pull up a recipe video for how to eat for a week when you only have 10 dollars. It would start with "buy 10 dollars worth of chicken thighs" or something. And it's no help at all when you have 10 dollars in your bank account.

You learn quick in this situations that buying canned goods, seasoning packs, or a premade sauce can help it stretch a lot. Way cheaper to get a pack of taco mix for a dollar than buy an assortment of spices that are 2 dollars each. Yeah, in the long run the spices last longer. But buying each is a big up front cost. I just hate "cheap recipe videos" that have an upfront cost 50+ dollars.

Glad I don't live that way anymore though. My GOAT cheap recipes in the broke days were a pack of chicken legs from Aldi seasoned with some flavor pack(if I had no spices) and rice or roasted potatoes.

If I parked right up close and someone chose the next one because it's the second closest, totally understandable. But it's when I park in the back or off in the middle of a completely empty lot. Or the lot has tons of spots available.

It's also annoying if there are several open spots up close to the entrance but they still go out of their way to park by me. Same vibes as the strangers who pick the spot right next to me in the theater. Annoying

I'm all for being a good worker no matter the position. And nothing is worse than a slacker at work who makes you have to do twice the work for the same pay. And I also understand entry level jobs can become more and you get promoted.

I'm talking about that person that has been working the same position for 10+ years with no promotion and no desire to advance positions. In a lot of cases with those kinds of jobs, there is not much advancement you can do. I worked prepared foods at a grocery store in my early 20s. Basic job. Pretty much the only advancement you could do would be learning other positions and get a few cents more an hour(deli, bakery, seafood). Or become a manager, which honestly, nobody wanted that. Overworked for little pay.

There were people there who worked the same position for 20 years and behaved as if they were the manager. Took everything personally. They'd expect the same level of dedication from the 16 year old who works weekends and after school. They'd be a huge stickler for everything. "Tom took his fifteen minute break at 11 and he came back at 11:17" Bro, who cares? Whenever I would close with the guy who'd been there 20 years it was always annoying. I'd have the fryers shut off and cleaned. All the rotisseries ready for the next day. But he'd always find some reason "we" need to stay 20 min over. He would pressure the others into staying over with him but I'd just say "well my shift is over bye" and clock out.

It's not that serious. It's an entry level job. Most of our coworkers were teenagers/college students or retired people who just wanted something to do. It's not our fault you decided to be a cashier for 20 years. Which also, there is no shame in that. A job is a job. But you don't need to be going this hard for 10 dollars an hour.

A few years ago I lived in an apartment complex where for some reason if you typed my address into any GPS service, it would always take you to the wrong place completely. It was an apartment connected to a building that also held lots of bars and restaurants. The door to my apartment was right next to this big easy to find bar.

So I would always say "GPS is wrong. Go to (bar name) and I am the black door to the left of it". Easy to understand, right? Nope, somehow half of every driver would completely ignore my instructions and always end up messaging me and calling me. My first response would be "did you read the notes?" And sometimes that was enough but other times they'd just keep saying "can't find you " I'd always have to call the driver and tell them "go to this bar" and then they'd be like "oh I passed that on the way here "

Some people would say "just enter the bar's address" but if I can't trust the driver to read my notes. They will probably just take it inside the bar. Or I'd select the leave at door and do not knock option and half the time they'd knock and stand there and wait for me to get it.

I've been on a steady weight loss journey. 272 down to 208. I am a 5'10 28 year old male. Overall, it's not been that difficult for me. The tracking everything and measuring everything out and an extra step but for me, if actually has made things easier. I know what I'm eating for the next 2 weeks. I have my portions tracked so it makes grocery shopping and meals easy. There is no opening the fridge and looking for something, it's already been planned weeks ago.

I walk on the treadmill 6 days a week for an hour at a 6.5 incline at 3.5 mph. 3 days a week I'm doing some light strength/endurance training(nothing crazy. My goal is just general health. Don't care to sculpt my body or anything). My calorie deficit is 1800 calories but really that's a range for me. Some days I'm eating 1900 calories. Some days I may only get 1500 calories. But during the week I'm tracking it all. I eat one big meal after my workout and one snack later in the day. I literally have everything portioned out, my snack as well. My popcorn I pop myself and my two Fiber One bars.

For a time I would pretty much live in a deficit 7 days a week. Even on my one meal a week where I would eat out instead of cook. I would get something like a chipotle bowl with just double steak, fajita veggies, rice, and double black beans, lettuce, and nothing else. I would lose weight but I'd experience plateaus and hold onto weight for a long time. Someone gave me advice that I should include a cheat meal and so I've started doing that. I QUICKLY started dropping weight way more consistently. For example this week every day I had some combination of lean baked protein, measured rice, eggs, big vegetable portions, fruit portion, and an avocado every day. But yesterday I had a big Philly cheese steak and large fry from Penn Station. And I've been doing something similar to this for a while and it's made the weight loss more consistent than remaining in a 1500-1900 deficit 7 days of the week.

I'm just wondering the science behind this. I know some will say something along the lines of "well you just must not have been in a deficit before". But I was. My meals during the week have literally not changed at all. I would never gain(I weigh once a week) but the plateaus have greatly reduced.

I know sharing food can be a touchy subject if someone wants a few fries or a few chips. I'm not stressing that. Want a handful of trail mix, sure.

But when it's "let me have a single bite of your sandwich" or "let me cut off a piece of your sunny side up egg". That's weird. Was in a situation where there were communal donuts for everyone and someone wanted a bite of my donut when there were donuts of that exact kind laid out. Even if all you want is a bite just take the whole donut. Have a bite, eat the rest later.

Odd behavior. I don't want to eat a sandwich with a bite taken out of it. If we're at the movies and you want some of my popcorn, that's fine. But leaning over and asking for a bite of a hot dog is insane

I work in a call center doing customer service/customer support. And people will call in with questions or issues. They will ask a question, I'll start answering and then they start talking and if I don't immediately stop talking once they interrupt me they get all "sir, do not interrupt me"

Me: Hello this is (name) with (company). How may I help you?

Customer: I'm having X issues

Me: Sorry to hear that. So to solve x issue you mu-

Customer: cuts me off I live in- hey, don't you DARE interrupt me!

But I understand being in a call center/customer service field it can show you the most unhinged people in society. But this will happen in regular conversation. You are talking and someone will interrupt you and become offended that you interrupted their interruption because you didn't stop talking. To me, this is weird behavior. Interrupting happens, we're all guilty of it. It's part of conversation. But to become offended that someone kept talking when you interrupted them is psychotic behavior

I've been on my weight loss journey and am currently down 50+ pounds. The grocery shopping is fine. I cook most of my meals and buy big bulk things like bags of potatoes, rice, onions. Big packs of meat to store in my deep freezer and big bags of frozen vegetables and I can make lots of different meals on that alone for like 30-50 bucks a week.

On my 2 off days from week, I eat out. One is still within the deficit and one is a cheat day. But even in my cheat day, I'm still going after nutrients and protein. I'm not just loading up on carbs and cheese because my body doesn't crave that anymore.

But making the healthy choice when eating out is EXPENSIVE. No fries with your burger and ordering a salad with no protein adds like 8 dollars to an already over priced meal. I'll look for deals on Uber eats and it's always "buy one large fry, get another one free" "buy one double bacon cheeseburger, get one free " it's never for the lower calorie options. There was a promotion going on where I could have gotten two double cheeseburgers, 2 large fries, and chicken nuggets for 15 dollars. But instead I just ordered one cheeseburger, another double cheeseburger with no bun, a chicken salad with no dressing and it ended up being 45+ dollars. Even when I order a ribeye from Longhorn, I'll get broccoli as a side dish and it's like the tiniest handful, when for the same price I can get fries as a side and it's a huge portion.

It's hard out here.

Edit: Yes, eating out is an expensive option. My budget for weekly groceries can be as low as 25 a week and a meal out can easily cost more than that. But that's why I limit it to two meals a week and scan for deals and promotions. The promotions rarely favor the healthier options

Edit: Uber pick up example being cheaper. The local Jamaican spot has a jerk chicken plate with 3 sides for 30 on Uber. It's buy one get one only on Uber. Sure, ordering in person is 25 but I only get one. If I select pick up instead of delivery I pay no service fee, delivery fee, or tips. It's a no brainer to order via Uber

I'm talking about people who expect strangers to watch out for kids in a public setting. Obviously if you are at a family event or something then it's normal to be a bit more relaxed in knowing people are looking out for your kid. And we as a society should protect any kid from danger. If I see a kid running with a knife, I'd stop them.

I've been out at public events and a parent of parents will do that thing where they walk away from their kids and leave them unattended. Literally more than once have been at a job outing/peer outing type of event where I don't know people. Someone will walk into where I am and leave the room without their kid. Then eventually I leave the room and later on they'll see me and ask me about their kid, upse. Like they expected me to know I was the assigned person in their head to watch their kid. I'm just carrying on with my night. I don't know if someone else in this room is responsible for the kid. I don't know if you're going to come back in a minute. Was never asked, never even made eye contact.

Also what's with these parents who put their trust in all these strangers.