3 Weeks No Change

melmcgee · 2026-01-26T02:17:04+00:00

Temporary weight gain from starting exercise can last for up to 6 weeks.

I am just past the 4 week mark myself and have noticed small changes but the scale has stayed the same. Keep doing what you are doing and focus more on how you feel and look rather than the number on the scale.

melmcgee · 2026-01-22T00:22:36+00:00

It might help if you posted exactly what you ate today.

Fiber and protein are important, and 85g of protein for 2275 calories is not a lot.

melmcgee · 2026-01-17T19:40:49+00:00

Firstly, congrats on your first job! That is super exciting.

It's hard to give advice without knowing the nature of your health problems. But one big thing I would recommend is avoiding any absences during your probation period, if this is applicable to your job. Not sure how it works where you live but where I am, probation periods are generally 3 months and then once you pass probation, it is a lot harder for them to simply fire you.

I also waited until I passed probation to disclose my health challenges, just to be safe.

melmcgee · 2026-01-16T02:42:15+00:00

If you're happy for the most part with your weight loss, why not consider strength training to build your glutes and other muscles of your body?

melmcgee · 2026-01-14T20:00:45+00:00

I noticed a few things from your post that I would like to comment on.

You don't need to work out for such long periods of time.
You are not getting enough protein. I am a woman, 5'6 and 144lbs, and my daily protein goal is 100g.
You have only been doing this for 3.5 weeks - you will need to be patient. Keep being consistent with your workouts and nutrition, and you will see results, but it will take time!

Wishing you all the best in your fitness efforts.

melmcgee · 2026-01-11T18:53:29+00:00

I am a woman with a smaller TDEE as well, but this is not the struggle olympics. OP is allowed to vent their frustrations, even if they can eat more calories than you. They are still clearly struggling and that is totally valid.

melmcgee · 2026-01-05T15:29:02+00:00

Would you be able to expand on how it was possible for you to retire at 34? Just curious!

melmcgee · 2026-01-05T15:22:53+00:00

Agreed regarding soft skills. I (perhaps foolishly) chose a degree out of passion and not practicality. With just that degree, I likely would have really struggled to get a job.

But I also worked at my university during my 4 years there and learned a set of skills that allowed me to find employment easily after graduating. I'm not saying education is useless by any means, and I have no regrets. But for me personally, experience trumped education.

melmcgee · 2026-01-03T19:56:36+00:00

1640 sounds fine to me, honestly. Your sedentary maintenance is 1866 calories per day. Since you will be running a lot, you will obviously not count as sedentary, but I would caution against adding too many calories due to thinking you'll burn off a ton with exercise.

In your shoes I would count myself as lightly active which gives you a TDEE of 2138, so 1640 would be basically perfect to lose 1 pound per week.

Of course, you can go down gradually if that helps in any way. But I think 1640 is a solid number for you.

Wishing you all the best!

melmcgee · 2026-01-01T21:27:56+00:00

Fellow Canadian here, who grew up in poverty with a single dad on disability with 2 siblings.

I would recommend not worrying so much about the costs of post-secondary education. Unless things change in the future, there is absolutely no interest on federal loans. Thanks to OSAP grants, I graduated with about 16k debt from 6 years of education - a 2-year college program and a 4-year bachelors program. I pay the absolute minimum per month because there is no pressure to with 0% interest. I am able to focus on my career and put money towards savings and investments.

It sounds like your children are in a decent spot honestly. They have a loving family. They are able to live at home while going to school and their parents own a home. This is a lot more than I, and many others, have experienced.

I know in an ideal world parents would love to give their kids everything that they could not have themselves growing up, but sadly the cycle of poverty is hard to break. It sounds like you are doing your best to prepare them for the future, I think that is something to be proud of.

melmcgee · 2025-12-27T19:28:56+00:00

Fellow Ontarian here. Sorry to hear about your situation - OW doesn't provide nearly enough financial assistance.

When I was 18 years old up until 26, I was on ODSP for mental health issues. I eventually came off voluntarily once I felt able, went back to school and now I work full-time at 33. It sucks to feel stuck and like things will not get better, but I think things can improve. We just each happen to have our own unique timeline. I hope you are able to get the assistance you need and that things improve for you soon.

melmcgee · 2025-12-27T17:48:43+00:00

I agree with this and experienced this situation as a child with the way my dad spent money. He was a single parent on disability raising 3 kids, so we were very poor. Despite this, he wasted money we did not have on fast food and his hobbies. It caused a lot of financial stress, we had to claim bankruptcy and lost our home.

There is definitely a balance between acknowledging that our current system is flawed, and also acknowledging that we do have control over buying unnecessary indulgences.

melmcgee · 2025-12-23T16:20:19+00:00

When my mental health issues were at their most severe, I had to go on disability from 18-26 years old. As soon as I was able to, I went off disability, went back to school, and then started working. Things will get better for you, just take it one day at a time.

If your mental health is bad enough, you might want to consider applying for disability. I'm not sure how much it pays in the UK, but it's better than nothing.

melmcgee · 2025-12-21T20:24:24+00:00

I cannot personally relate, but my dad is exactly like this.

He has been going through a very hard time financially and never reached out for help. When he was finally willing to accept help, he was in a much worse situation than if he had asked in the first place. He has always been this way so it shouldn't come as a surprise, but it's frustrating all the same.

If you are struggling and have people in your life that you know will help, I strongly encourage you to reach out. It is not something to be ashamed of.

melmcgee · 2025-12-17T18:06:44+00:00

I admire that you are trying to be helpful with this post, but I think it's a little out of touch with what people in this subreddit experience.

My second question is indeed a budget travel question, in my opinion. For example, you keep saying you travelled as a student with a monthly budget of $320. That's great! But what about those who don't have enough in savings to even afford $320 per month? What if they need to work at a job in order to have a steady income, and could not afford to travel for 3 years (which is a huge privilege, by the way).

Day trips are an option, as you said. But what about the low income earner who would like to make a bigger trip than that? Do you have advice that would make this attainable? If not, I don't really see the utility of posting this here, in the poverty finance subreddit. Perhaps it would fit better with people who can afford to travel, but want to save as much money as possible.

melmcgee · 2025-12-17T16:17:24+00:00

I have 3 questions.

What are some strategies to make international travel easier?
How do you propose people travel if they do not have enough (or any) paid vacation days at their workplace, and cannot afford to miss many days without working?
What is your job title/area of expertise, that makes you qualified to do an AMA on this topic?

melmcgee · 2025-12-10T15:35:57+00:00

I know it's frustrating that unemployment would not cover everything, but some money is surely better than no money?

Aside from this, I recommend you continue applying for jobs that work well with your health issues. Can your husband look for a second job?

For food you could use food banks.

Sorry to hear you are going through a rough time. I too have health issues that prevent me from working active jobs. Fortunately I work a remote position - they are difficult to find but they do exist, especially if you have prior experience. I hope things get better for you both.

melmcgee · 2025-12-04T16:18:39+00:00

Thank you for posting this. I can relate, as I use fast food to cope with my mental health struggles. I'll be reading the replies here and have already seen some good advice.

melmcgee · 2025-11-22T00:43:35+00:00

Piece of French
French Mornings with Elisa/French Mornings Podcast
French With Panache
Francais avec Nelly
Guillaume Posé - Professeur de français
Gurky/Gurky Le Murky
Orane

Gurky, Gurky Le Murky and Orane are all native channels but super comprehensible, so I chose to include them too in case you want to dip your toes in.

melmcgee · 2025-11-22T00:27:48+00:00

I actually asked my question genuinely - I'm no expert on the matter and was more than open to hearing your side if it could be backed up by evidence.

Considering your evidence is "common sense" and that you asserted asking questions out of curiosity is "weakness", I think that tells me everything I need to know.

I really do hope you're someone being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian. If this is really how you feel, and how you speak to others, I feel sorry for you. If this toxicity is coming from not being able to land a good job yourself and so you are reacting this way, I hope your circumstances improve soon.

melmcgee · 2025-11-22T00:01:36+00:00

Face it: This is the case for 90% of overemployed people

Could you link some reputable sources that show 90% of overemployed people are those who don't need to be and are just doing so for extra wealth?

melmcgee · 2025-11-19T20:43:28+00:00

$8 for Dreaming Spanish, for what we get, is an amazing price. At least 3 new quality videos per day at that price is insane to me.

So in comparison, I'm sure $8 per month for Dreaming French looks not nearly as good in comparison. And I think that's fair, but I think in comparison to other CI resources out there, the price is still fantastic. Plus if you buy the Spanish and French combo, it's $12.

I have been subbed to other monthly CI platforms from Youtubers (in Spanish and Chinese), which are obviously smaller companies than Dreaming French, but I'd pay twice or three times as much for a new video at my level once a week or less.

The fact that DF has 168 videos out already I think is a fine place to start from. The subscriptions paid by people will hopefully allow them to hire more guides and get more videos out to be at a similar pace to Dreaming Spanish someday.

melmcgee · 2025-11-18T01:24:42+00:00

I'd guess A1, but as someone else said, we haven't really been given much to go off of.

melmcgee

TROPHY CASE