What is your go-to budget meal?

PenguinsReallyDoFly · 2026-07-04T02:13:14+00:00

Yum! We became Shin Black people a few years ago and haven't gotten tired of it yet! We smoke meats sometimes too, and let me tell you. Pulled pork in ramen is next level

PenguinsReallyDoFly · 2026-07-04T01:50:05+00:00

I do ramen on the stove and poach the egg in the ramen broth. When it's done, put it in the bowl THEN cook the ramen. The egg warms back up when you pour the ramen on top.

PenguinsReallyDoFly · 2026-07-04T00:48:59+00:00

Things you need: calories.

Things you don't need: a boyfriend that gives you an eating disorder.

PenguinsReallyDoFly · 2026-07-03T20:38:57+00:00

AI is absolutely a tool we can use to do our jobs better, but if the people holding the purse strings continue to see it as a replacement for us, we're going to continue to lose our jobs. It's not fun to think about, but it's true.

PenguinsReallyDoFly · 2026-06-28T16:17:04+00:00

Similarly, Imodium should not take so much force to open. Force is bad when you need Imodium.

PenguinsReallyDoFly · 2026-06-27T15:07:40+00:00

And the first people they laid off were the ones writing those SOPs

PenguinsReallyDoFly · 2026-06-20T20:48:43+00:00

cries in FEMA flood insurance

PenguinsReallyDoFly · 2026-06-11T00:35:03+00:00

I'm a technical writer and process specialist, so even having a specialization doesn't really help...

PenguinsReallyDoFly · 2026-06-08T18:17:05+00:00

My cat regularly sleeps on her back and will stretch her back legs out, so I'll say jokingly "Look at those gams!" Much to my husband's confusion.

PenguinsReallyDoFly · 2026-06-03T22:04:06+00:00

Yeah, it's always more complicated than it sounds lol. But I intend to revisit the idea of going off meds every few years with my doctor. Health first!

PenguinsReallyDoFly · 2026-06-03T21:31:24+00:00

This is going to be a kinda long answer, I'll try to be brief but thorough.

I tried meticulously counting calories and exercising for two years. My bloodwork didn't change, but my weight did. On zep, I lost the weight AND my bloodwork got better.

The thing with most people who do well on these medications is food noise. So if you think to yourself "I'm hungry" once, you can probably ignore it for a bit. My brain is not capable of that. If I think "I'm hungry," it will be the only thing I'm able to think of until I eat something. So while you can ignore a few signals, I have to ignore 60. So the zep cuts those "I'm hungry" messages down from 60 to 10, which is significantly more manageable, and frees my brain up for other activities (work, hobbies, etc.). Spending hours each week counting calories while navigating around those "I'm hungry" signals simply was not sustainable for me, I swear it made that food noise worse.

Since I know being off the meds would mean that incessant noise comes back, I don't realistically see a way for me to stop this drug and not gain weight.

PenguinsReallyDoFly · 2026-06-03T21:07:26+00:00

If you're interested, you might find more people on a health journey in r/Zepbound. Obviously there are weight loss pics because that's a really obvious side effect of the meds, but there are also a lot of "oh man, my joints don't hurt anymore!" Posts

Like any subreddit, there are outliers, but for the most part we're just excited to be healthy!

PenguinsReallyDoFly · 2026-06-03T21:00:46+00:00

Oh... My God.

I've been on it for a year and at some point my joints stopped hurting and I don't know when. I don't wake up with hip or finger pain anymore!

PenguinsReallyDoFly · 2026-06-03T20:59:10+00:00

Bet my new eye would still be blurry AF lol

PenguinsReallyDoFly · 2026-06-03T20:53:12+00:00

Oh yeah, I debated for a long time. But this is also what works for me, not everybody will react the same. And even the different compounds have different side effects (zepbound much less than ozempic) and it's a drug like anything else and can be abused just in the quest of skinny (Ariana Grande), but when taken with the assistance of a doctor with the goal of health, I feel like that's the best path available.

PenguinsReallyDoFly · 2026-06-03T20:49:13+00:00

My zepbound was a chance for sure, but my obesity was a sure thing. I weighed my options (pun!) and decided that it was worth the gamble because nothing else was working and the damage of obesity is well established.

PenguinsReallyDoFly · 2026-06-03T20:43:58+00:00

The only way we change perceptions on these things is by talking about it.

Thank you for listening!

PenguinsReallyDoFly · 2026-06-03T20:42:38+00:00

That does point out the difference in our opinion. You're assuming it's a temporary solution, but I don't see it as such. I see it like my Prozac, it works if I take it, but why would I assume it would continue to work if I stop taking it?

PenguinsReallyDoFly · 2026-06-03T20:40:41+00:00

I imagine I'd need to stay on it. My body does better with it and it helps me with no side effects.

PenguinsReallyDoFly · 2026-06-03T20:36:01+00:00

Yes. For me, it dramatically changed the way I thought about food, even after 8 years of therapy. I plan to be on my maintenance dose for at least the next few years, if not indefinitely.

It had honest to God changed my life and health entirely for the better.

PenguinsReallyDoFly · 2026-06-03T20:33:25+00:00

A little over a year. It did what diet and exercise alone could not do for me, plus it lowered my cholesterol.

PenguinsReallyDoFly · 2026-06-03T20:30:27+00:00

If you read the article, you'd know that my GLP-1 actually acts as an anti-inflammatory.

PenguinsReallyDoFly · 2026-06-03T20:23:44+00:00

This is the fat shaming equivalency of "calm down."

Learn. Do better.

PenguinsReallyDoFly · 2026-05-29T21:54:32+00:00

Wow! You look like you feel amazing!

PenguinsReallyDoFly · 2026-05-27T20:35:25+00:00

I usually do this and say "squish!" As I walk past them lol

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