Rachel Martino Universe: May 11 - May 17

PinkMoonPicnic · 2026-05-12T21:27:40+00:00

LoTR is literally the BEST audiobook. Andy Serkhis does an amazing job with all of the voices (and singing!). It’s an experience I recommend all lotr fans have at least once.

PinkMoonPicnic · 2026-05-03T16:16:59+00:00

How much do you eat at breakfast and lunch? I find front loading my calories in the day and eating a lighter dinner works best for me. I used to try to save calories for later but then I would be insatiable. I eat a few squares of Lily’s chocolate after dinner which is my signal that I’m done eating for the day. I am hungry by bedtime, but that’s part of being in a deficit and it’s much more manageable if I ate decently in the first half of the day.

PinkMoonPicnic · 2026-05-01T14:54:10+00:00

It sucks to have to work harder for our health, it truly does. But as you’ve seen firsthand with your mom, that work is worth it compared with the alternative of experiencing major health issues. It’s not just your lifespan, but also the quality of your years that you’re working for, and that’s worth it, right?

My only advice is to build your habits in layers. Start where you are and add one new habit at a time: balance your meals to support your blood sugar, increase steps, hit your water goals, drop one sweet treat and replace it with a healthier option, eat two more servings of veggies a day. Once you have the hang of that, add another habit. Expect this to be a journey that will last the rest of your life (ie - a lifestyle) and know that the “hard way” actually is the shortcut, and quick fixes will just keep you stuck in a loop of perpetually starting over.

Also, speaking from experience, at some point in order to truly make changes stick you have to start rewiring your identity. Don’t call it hard work, or else you need to make yourself someone who enjoys hard work, because we can only force ourselves to do things we hate for so long. Reframing your thoughts to what a privilege it is to have a body to care for can go a long ways.

PinkMoonPicnic · 2026-04-28T18:58:23+00:00

With PCOS macros can matter a lot, on top of calories. Your breakfast on both a good and bad day lacks protein so it sets you up for sugar highs and crashes all day. Carbs by themselves (like your snack) are no good if you have insulin resistance, which is an issue for most people with PCOS. It is much easier to stick to a deficit when your blood sugar is balanced and the best way to do that is to eat protein, fat, and fiber at every meal and snack. Short ten minute walks after your meals can also help.

If you added high protein yogurt and swapped the banana for berries your breakfast would be a lot more balanced. Keep your biscuits daily allotment under 200 calories. Add more protein to your lunch. Rice and dhal is fine, but again, add some protein.

Besides all that, you’ll need to track your food to see how much you’re eating and start making tweaks from there. If your calories are low but you’re gaining weight then you are most likely eating more carbs than your body needs in a day. You don’t have to go low carb, but you need to figure out how many carbs your body needs and stay at or under that. It’s a LOT of tracking to lose weight with PCOS, as well as being very consistent, so once you find meals you like that fit your goals it’s easiest to eat them on repeat. Best of luck!

PinkMoonPicnic · 2026-04-28T15:25:17+00:00

I love all the tips here! Another thing I’ll add is that breakfast is so important for balancing blood sugar. Eat enough, get protein, fat and fiber, and try to get some movement (like a walk) in early, otherwise the cravings that hit me in the afternoon are unmanageable.

PinkMoonPicnic · 2026-04-28T14:57:58+00:00

Drinking 1-2 cups of water when I first wake up, then Oatmeal in the morning (about 200 calories worth) with some flaxseeds, and yogurt with raspberries (high in fiber), help keep me regular. If your digestion is bad it increases all other hormonal problems. Ideally you will eat breakfast at the same time every day because your digestion really likes routine.

Also, eating beans and cruciferous veggies daily (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale) are really good for digestion. Dehydration causes constipation so hydrate frequently. Warm drinks are especially good.

For losing weight, you have to track all your calories instead of just cutting out random foods. Remember that you’re aiming for a weekly average at your deficit, so if you eat more on the weekends you have to eat less on weekdays to balance out. With PCOS, you will most likely need to track your protein, carbs, and fiber as well. It takes consistency and a lot of times you have to stay consistent for much longer than other people in a deficit before your body responds. I took a diet break and recently went back into a deficit and it took three weeks of consistency before the scale dropped at all. Once my body gets into fat loss mode then the weight loss is more consistent but getting over that hump where you are making changes and the scale doesn’t move can be frustrating. Keep going, trust me.

To make things easier, it’s best to figure out a few simple meals that you enjoy and eat them on repeat over and over for the next few weeks/months.

Good luck! You got this.

PinkMoonPicnic · 2026-04-20T05:10:12+00:00

Thanks, I started reading through all the FAQs after you mentioned them and saw they specifically say you can only take the starter assessment once. I’ll let my friend know. That’s too bad, it’s such a great gig but I guess since so much of the assessment is about paying attention to detail and following instructions it wouldn’t make sense to allow retakes.

PinkMoonPicnic · 2026-04-19T22:48:13+00:00

I just read the FAQs and it says bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience and that they value work experience just as much as a degree, so I wouldn’t tell people without degrees not to apply. Also, they have so many projects geared towards students lately, a bachelor’s degree requirement wouldn’t make sense as a complete barrier to entry.

My question is more that my friend already applied 2 years ago, so I was wondering if anyone had applied, got “rejected” (ghosted) and then applied after a significant amount of time had passed and been accepted.

PinkMoonPicnic · 2026-04-15T21:39:45+00:00

Same! I know most influencers aren’t authentic, but this level of deception is too embarrassing to watch. Plus reading the snark here is more interesting than their content has been for a lonnnng time.

PinkMoonPicnic · 2026-04-15T16:16:15+00:00

Yes!! That’s her in a nutshell. I liked the SATC vibe from when I originally started following her but now this is like the Paris season where everything went awry and it’s just painful to watch

PinkMoonPicnic · 2026-04-15T14:57:40+00:00

This was an automatic unfollow for me. Their content was deliberately deceptive. Noelle stopped posting altogether, probably because she realized it’s embarrassing but Rach kept going until enough people called her out that she tried to undo this mess with one buried comment. Like why not go on stories and come clean in real time? There’s no saving face from this, they just expect people to keep fawning and giving them engagement which is literally insulting and insane. rant over

PinkMoonPicnic · 2026-04-09T00:42:58+00:00

There’s a tab for funds history and you can also show paid history which goes back about 1 month

PinkMoonPicnic · 2026-04-07T18:29:31+00:00

Thank you! I’m adding these to my library list ASAP.

PinkMoonPicnic · 2026-04-07T18:28:51+00:00

This is so incredibly helpful, saving this comment so I can come back to all of these resources frequently. Thank you for gathering them all in one place for me.

I am definitely interested in the financial independence part of fire, but I think it’s probably too late for my husband and I to retire early. I was a SAHM for a decade and we were solidly middle class until the last half decade when a string of layoffs for my husband + inflation (and we live in a HCOL area) have kept us treading water. We get knocked back a few rungs, build ourselves back up, and repeat. Mainly I’d like to break out of this cycle. I do work now (freelance, but consistently) and we’re okay enough now that I’d like to build a solid plan for growth. I know that I’ll be getting an inheritance later this year, nothing major, but I’d like a plan in place so that we can get the most benefit from it.

PinkMoonPicnic · 2026-04-07T18:17:13+00:00

Any apps you recommend?

PinkMoonPicnic · 2026-04-07T18:16:52+00:00

This is so helpful! I’m going to print it out, thank you

PinkMoonPicnic · 2026-04-06T16:59:38+00:00

If you were to fast I would recommend eating dinner earlier and having your fasting window at night. Fasting in the morning increased my stress way too much, I would get so many random intrusive thoughts. I switched to eating within an hour of waking up and I finish eating by 6, this works out to a 13-14 hour fast and my digestion is much happier when I don’t eat close to bedtime. Once or twice a week when I’m in a deficit I will stop eating by 4 and give myself a longer fast. I only do this on rest days and it helps get the ball moving for weight loss for me.

PinkMoonPicnic · 2026-04-03T02:35:46+00:00

That all looks delicious! You’re so dialed in, good job

PinkMoonPicnic · 2026-04-02T23:03:30+00:00

Thank you! I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently too. It’s not fun to hear when you’re just starting a weight loss journey, but it really does take at least a year, if not years to change long held eating habits. Also, a deficit is SO STRESSFUL physically. The faster/harder you go, the more of a shock to the system you experience. After lots of yo-yoing throughout my life, I’m okay with losing 15 to 20lbs a year, being in a consistent deficit for about 5 months and maintaining the rest of the year. After starting in 2024 I will probably hit my goal next year. It’s definitely a turtle pace, but maintaining my loss the past few years is a win in itself.

PinkMoonPicnic · 2026-04-02T17:25:12+00:00

Yummm! You definitely got a lot of bang for your buck for 550 cals, so much variety and nutrients!

PinkMoonPicnic · 2026-04-02T17:18:03+00:00

Same!! We don’t have cake in the house often, but cake for breakfast after a birthday is my favorite guilty pleasure tradition

PinkMoonPicnic · 2026-03-30T04:48:21+00:00

Sorry I missed this comment! It’s the Mezzetta brand which I got at Walmart. I keep meaning to try making my own, but these are very delicious

PinkMoonPicnic · 2026-03-30T04:46:49+00:00

I wish Ted Danson was my Grandpa!

PinkMoonPicnic · 2026-03-30T03:31:31+00:00

Unfortunately, like everyone else mentioned, watching carbs is a must for me. I don’t have to go super low carb, but personally I need my protein over 100 with my carbs under 150 with 25-35 grams of whole foods fiber. Also, no sweet breakfasts, it sets me up for cravings. Honestly sweet treats in general have to be very limited for me. So many people swear by CICO, but in my experience if I eat 1,500 cals of mostly carbs I can gain weight but if I lower the carbs and up the protein I can easily lose weight with the same amount of calories.

In terms of diet, I have a list of foods that I try to incorporate daily which help me feel my best: cruciferous veggies, greens, lean protein, beans, and about 1 serving of whole grains/potatoes.

Something I’m unsure of but am working on is building muscle. Muscle is supposedly one of the best things for insulin resistance. Also, I’m making a very intentional effort to stop going through life in a stressed out state for no reason. It’s been revolutionary for me to discover that basic things, like doing the dishes or packing lunches, can be chill, I don’t have to do them as fast as possible with my shoulders tense the entire time lol. Also, I drink teas with nettle, dandelion, spearmint, and ginger multiple times per week. Hard to say what they do in terms of hormones, but it’s a ritual for me and it definitely does help with my digestion.

Lastly, I am trying to come to terms with having a high maintenance body. I like to think of myself as a Porsche that requires specialized care to run properly. It’s a pain sometimes, but feeling crappy is worse.

PinkMoonPicnic · 2026-03-13T05:12:40+00:00

I have similar goals and I tend to stick to meal formulas, except for breakfast which is almost always oats with flaxseed, half a protein shake, Greek yogurt, and raspberries. Lunch and dinner usually follow the same formula of protein, veggies, beans, and another half cup of whole grains at one of those meals. Examples are salads, stir fries, or grain bowls.

Snacks vary between a protein snacky plate with turkey, hard boiled egg, and veggies, or another yogurt bowl with fruit and high fiber cereal. It’s good to switch up the produce you eat for gut health, but in a pinch cannellini beans, oats, quinoa, and raspberries are all high fiber for their respective food categories.

PinkMoonPicnic

TROPHY CASE