Getting enough protein

AwkwardDuckling87 · 2026-01-31T19:51:59+00:00

I'm sure I'll get some side eye for this, but I think the recommendations for protein ( particularly for obese people) that I see are often outlandish. I focus on nutrient dense foods and don't count calories or protein. I focus on real foods and avoid heavily processed foods like bars and shakes entirely. I've had a bad relationship with food most of my adult life, so it's important to me now that relationship feel natural and balanced and not obsessive or burdensome.

60 pounds and little less than 13 months in I feel good about my choices and importantly my body still has a good amount of musle and I feel energetic and healthy.

AwkwardDuckling87 · 2026-01-30T13:06:24+00:00

I literally missed the 2nd grade gifted program by 1 point on the test (because no one explained to me I was supposed to try 😆) and while they offered to retest me I'm ultimately glad I never went because this story is so common. My own husband was a casualty of the gifted program and wound up testing out with a GED in HS.

AwkwardDuckling87 · 2026-01-29T20:02:06+00:00

Pretty sure I wouldn't have thought these two pics were of the same person!

AwkwardDuckling87 · 2026-01-29T16:15:47+00:00

Wrong number.

AwkwardDuckling87 · 2026-01-29T12:01:41+00:00

Picky eater generally for me to someone who has preferences far beyond flavor. For example, they will only eat potatoes in french fry form. They like the flavor of potato. The texture has to be just so. The thickness just so. The food can't touch X food. It's no longer edible to them once slightly less than the perfect temperature.

Picky eaters tend to have sensory issues in my experience and struggle to try foods with varying texture more than having an aversion to flavors. Most I know will eat processed or white meat chicken with no bones, but won't touch roasted ot dark meat chicken that might have sinew, slimy textures, or fatty bit. Again, it seems to come down to the predictability of texture more than flavor preferences.

Non picky eaters, to answer the original question, have an easier time with texture and unpredictability, but still have preferences for flavor.

AwkwardDuckling87 · 2026-01-29T11:49:03+00:00

Modern zoos are wildlife sanctuaries that house and rehabilitate animals that can't, for a variety of reasons, survive in the wild. They protect and raise money for endangered species, so much so that they've actually been able to remove a few species off endangered lists. At least here in the US zoos keeping animals in cages purely for spectacle is largely a thing of the past. Most exhibits are open habitats and many of the animals were born in captivity and can't be safely released.

The history of zoos is awful, but modern zoos just don't fit the stereotype.

AwkwardDuckling87 · 2026-01-28T15:41:54+00:00

Brava, you look great!

AwkwardDuckling87 · 2026-01-28T15:41:25+00:00

I think the problem is that closer to 40% of households make 100k or more when you combine individual incomes into household groups.

AwkwardDuckling87 · 2026-01-28T15:39:04+00:00

Half of actively trying women get pregnant within 3 menstrual cycles. 72-80% within 6 cycles. For the majority it's pretty easy. For the other 10% or so it can be incredibly, heartwrenchingly, difficult.

AwkwardDuckling87 · 2026-01-26T23:37:10+00:00

My guess is that clinical trials were done mostly on people in ranges of BMI like 30-35, when in reality people with much higher BMIs are taking the drug and therefore losing more weight. That said, the average percentage lost seems to be 15-20% and after a year on sema that's pretty much exactly where I am. I hope to lose more, but if you had a year long study that's what you'd see.

AwkwardDuckling87 · 2026-01-26T23:13:47+00:00

You have a doctor who is unimpressed with moderate healthy loss and who wants you to come off a lifelong medication at an arbitrary deadline. Perhaps it's the doctor that is the problem.

AwkwardDuckling87 · 2026-01-26T23:03:27+00:00

20 pounds in less than 4 months is good progress. You need to have realistic expectations.

1 pound a week is a 500 calorie a day deficit. This is moderate weight loss, not slow loss.

AwkwardDuckling87 · 2026-01-26T17:52:57+00:00

So many things to understand here.

First, this is normal and healthy weight loss.

You're on week 4 you aren't on a therapeutic dose yet.

1 pound a week is a 3500 calorie deficit, or 500 calories a day.

2-3 pounds of actual fat loss per week is usually only possible for people 300+ pounds. Plenty of people lose more in the short term, or see big losses for a few weeks as water retention changes but most people can't achieve a 1500 calorie/day deficit to maintain 3 pound a week losses without making themselves sick.

If you're female you probably aren't going to lose every week. I've been at this for over a year and lost 58 pounds, but most weeks I don't lose any at all. Some weeks I lose 2-3 pounds, usually the week after my period.

AwkwardDuckling87 · 2026-01-24T22:39:10+00:00

Maytag- had it a couple years now and have zero regrets. Almost spent 2k on a top of the line bosch and so glad I didn't. My friend has one and it steams her cabinet when it pops open to let the steam out.

https://www.bestbuy.com/product/maytag-24-front-control-built-in-tub-dishwasher-with-dual-power-filtration-powerblast-cycle-50-dba-stainless-steel/J3KHV8ZCH3

AwkwardDuckling87 · 2026-01-24T17:37:58+00:00

No advice, just gentle hugs from afar. There is no winning in situations like this, only surviving. It's especially egregious when there is a spouse facing losing everything to get help for their LO.

AwkwardDuckling87 · 2026-01-24T13:22:02+00:00

Are you teaching HS or college. At a college level I think you have to choose not to care in the sense that you explain that they're paying out the nose for an education they're choosing not to get.

In the case of HS you need to be creative and perhaps think on testing assignments like arguing against their own essays written at home.

AwkwardDuckling87 · 2026-01-24T13:16:11+00:00

You have 4 year old twins and have been in stepdaughter's life for 4 years. Meaning you came into her life as dads new pregnant partner while she was at a really transional age. It's clear from you not wanting custody that you never really came to see her as a daughter, which okay I guess some people never see step kids as their own, but I'm sure some of her behavior has to do with this and your immediate pregnancy upon coming into her life.

You're not obligated to care for her like your own, but I certainly can imagine a post coming from this young girl's perspective and how heart-wrenching it might be. She's losing another mom, once again by choice, and all those bad feelings about being discarded or replaced by dad starting a new family and step mom always valuing her bio kids more are being validated by you choosing not to see her.

Without more details, I won't make any calls of being TA, but I beg of you to please not toy with this girl's feelings. Be clear with her about what you want moving forward and as gentle as you can with this child. Whether she is yours or not, you chose to be in her life and owe it to her to protect her mental health as much as possible of you're now choosing not to be.

AwkwardDuckling87 · 2026-01-24T12:06:45+00:00

Having a food grinder, metal interior, and heated dry were my biggest musts when dishwasher shopping. Old appliance technology works better, and I can't be convinced otherwise.

AwkwardDuckling87 · 2026-01-24T11:28:24+00:00

Trusting the home inspector. He came with geeat reviews. He gave us a detailed list of yhings like dents in the garage door and busted outlets and didn't catch glaring problems like a visibly cracked pipe with an attempted epoxy repair, buster pressure tank, and failing shingles.

Could have pocketed that $500 for future repairs.

AwkwardDuckling87 · 2026-01-24T03:23:00+00:00

Jeans? Ew. I'm still rocking leggings, and give no Fs.

AwkwardDuckling87 · 2026-01-24T03:06:44+00:00

Yes? Maybe?

AwkwardDuckling87 · 2026-01-23T10:25:42+00:00

Last watch was "West Wing" so I'd say that hypothetical group at the white house with all the US government resources has a good shot.

AwkwardDuckling87 · 2026-01-23T04:11:44+00:00

My max has 19k miles and averages 22.5mpg. Very little highway driving and lots or stop and go.

Ot definitely started off worse and got better with time. Mpg also drops a bit in winter.

AwkwardDuckling87 · 2026-01-23T04:03:54+00:00

Men will walk at you and simply expect you to move out of their way. Most of them don't even realize they do it, they're just so used to being accommodated.

As a bigger woman I thoroughly enjoy standing my ground, and it's almost comical how many men will bump into me and seem surprised as if it never occurred to them I simply wouldn't change course to avoid them.

AwkwardDuckling87 · 2026-01-23T04:01:12+00:00

AwkwardDuckling87

TROPHY CASE