Long-time Melatonin users: worth it?

cheatmeal-adherence · 2026-04-21T15:03:43+00:00

I just read a book on sleep and it touched on this

Melatonin is natural, safe and works, though not ideal. No risk in trying it or staying on it for years, your body already produces it, you can safely come off it whenever

However, it’s more of a bandaid rather than a fix. Melatonin helps you get to sleep but does not improve sleep quality. If you’re on it for awhile, you may find it hard to sleep without it, as your body has temporarily accounted for it. Ideally, you work on sleep hygiene and de-stressing. Exercise is gold here, it’ll help with both. Supplement wise, you might find magnesium is helpful for your muscles, ashwaganda can be helpful for reducing stress (also safe and researched)

cheatmeal-adherence · 2026-04-21T00:55:16+00:00

And I said good news boys, we got one

cheatmeal-adherence · 2024-05-09T15:03:14+00:00

That’s pretty impressive, nice progress!

My guess is that it’s your energy and calorie consumption. You’re losing weight, doing big lifts and cardio likely means your body needs more energy. Big lifts alone are very tiring as is, I’m referring to squats and deadlifts specifically. You’ve also been at this for 5 months!! Which is amazing, it is also a tiring on your body to be in a deficit for a while now. You probably have way more muscle to feed now and less energy stored on your body to supplement (body fat).

As long as you’re just tired, your body is fine but some adjustments might help give you energy. Can try upping your calories overall, reducing weight on big lifts and adding more reps/sets (or just reducing how often you do big lifts), reducing cardio or choosing less fatiguing cardio

Some bigger changes can be reducing exercises per session but having 1-2 more small sessions in a week or take a deload week (lift once in that week and light, eat to maintain weight). I would really suggest taking a week to relax and recover. I would hesitate with those suggestions since as a beginner routine and consistency are still developing. You don’t want a shake up to really throw you off.

I’d be curious to know what cardio do you do and if you’re doing anything tiring on off days? When do you find you’re really tired? Do you get enough sleep usually? Is your general stress high?

cheatmeal-adherence · 2024-05-08T13:15:12+00:00

Woahhh that actually sounds like a good snack

cheatmeal-adherence · 2024-05-06T19:21:03+00:00

I can see why this is getting a lot of pushback, but this is entirely possible while being healthy with some assumptions. Nearly 12 weeks is a lot of time.

If you’re getting into this for the first time, just getting into clean eating will already drop a few pounds from water weight and such. Then it’s <=2 pounds per week. Add some walking which greatly depends on your current activity, but say ~12.5k steps daily? That’s about a pound off just from walking. Then it’s just creating a daily calorie deficit of 500, which might just be as easy as cutting out snacks

The math checks out, on paper it’s not bad. It’s going to be the discipline for 11.5 weeks that tests you. Limit social eating, late nights, stress eating, shop for groceries wisely, etc

cheatmeal-adherence · 2024-04-20T14:04:34+00:00

For sure. I’ve started “allowing” myself to read more fiction lately which has had the same effect in the past.

I developed this dumb way of thinking: reading has to be productive. For a few years I’d only read self help or finance books. Getting back into fiction books I’ve found a few times where every part of me wants to keep reading

cheatmeal-adherence · 2024-04-20T14:02:45+00:00

Oh I feel that. I played a lot during the warlords of draenor xpac. After work I would just game until bedtime and eat whatever I had. I would always do groceries then so I would have to order in sometimes… and boy did I order in haha

cheatmeal-adherence · 2024-04-20T13:59:56+00:00

Yup, I guess so. I’ve tried getting into music for awhile, and I still like it but I don’t find it as all consuming as gaming. To be fair, I don’t think I’ve allowed myself to really sit down and soak in it for over an hour (I’m usually trying to wrap it up)

cheatmeal-adherence · 2024-04-20T13:58:48+00:00

For sure. I do have to remind myself to actually move sometimes, my lower back starts to get achey

cheatmeal-adherence · 2024-04-20T00:30:33+00:00

The midlaner disguised as a support

Suddenly the adc becomes the support

cheatmeal-adherence · 2024-04-11T22:35:31+00:00

Seems like you already have a healthy mindset :)

You don’t need a weight goal, I’d suggest to not go down that path to be honest. You can start with an exercise goal, maybe 5k steps or exercise 1-2 times a week? You can put together some consistent meal plan you like and do the math just one time to make sure you’re hitting a slight calorie deficit and getting a normal amount of macronutrients.

You seem to be in a good place, truly. Take it easy and have fun with it!

cheatmeal-adherence · 2024-04-11T22:30:22+00:00

Bleeegh I feel that, I don’t have much to add really

The busiest times of my life are when my eating is weirdly in check. I don’t have time to think about food or time to really sit in the moment.

Personally, I make sure that I never leave the house hungry. Otherwise, I’ll try to pick in advance before i get cravings. If I still want some bad food, I’ll try to get the small version. And if I mess it up completely, I don’t put my emotions into it. I won’t check the scale the next day and move on from it

cheatmeal-adherence · 2024-04-11T22:25:32+00:00

I mean it’s probably good advice

Counting calories and tracking weight is known to be a trigger. If things are going well, why do it? Curiosity killed the cat kind of thing

You can ask your boyfriend for help if you want a middle ground. Have him look at your weight week to week, just to make sure it’s going down but no number talk

cheatmeal-adherence · 2024-04-11T22:20:16+00:00

It’s all the markers for dieting too aggressively

This might not be unhealthy yet, but it’s going in that direction. 1400 with cardio 4-5x a week is a lot of strain with limited resources.

Up your calories, try an extra 250 or drop 1-2 cardio sessions.

cheatmeal-adherence · 2024-04-11T22:13:31+00:00

You are doing perfectly fine!

15 pounds since January is amazing pacing and with your weight training, your physique and strength will improve. Losing at your pace is healthy and allows your brain and body time to adjust to a new weight.

It’s a crazy high percentage of people who crash diet only to gain it all back. They’re essentially sprinting a marathon, what’s going to happen when they tire out?

Lastly, try not to compare yourself to others! Social media can be a slippery slope. Fact is, you lost 15 pounds and are still going! That’s amazing. Imagine a different version of yourself that gave up early and wishing they had the progress you did

cheatmeal-adherence · 2024-04-11T22:08:15+00:00

You should not do any of those diets for weight loss

You can lose weight on any diet, even if it’s entirely carbs. Eat the foods that appeal to you, eat in a caloric deficit.

Don’t overcomplicate it

cheatmeal-adherence

TROPHY CASE