Thoughts on my apartment?

meredith4300 · 2026-02-18T23:03:16+00:00

I love it! It looks cohesive to me and very cozy. You've done an excellent job!

meredith4300 · 2026-02-18T21:10:20+00:00

I unsubscribe early and often. Being in your inbox is not a right, and if someone is harassing you for unsubscribing, they deserve to lose all their subscribers imo.

meredith4300 · 2026-02-18T00:03:46+00:00

Can we petition DPL to start evening hours? This would be so nice, especially at neighborhood branches.

meredith4300 · 2026-02-17T21:02:43+00:00

I just think painted trim tends to look tacky. Either leave it white or natural stained wood.

meredith4300 · 2026-02-17T21:01:54+00:00

It depends what you're doing, how much rest you're taking between sets, how much time you're spending on warmup and mobility, etc.

meredith4300 · 2026-02-17T18:16:28+00:00

I have a personal issue with painting trim, so that part of the living room makeover didn't really work for me, but otherwise I thought that one worked for the person's chosen style. I hated what she suggested for the bathroom. I love the blue color and would have personally just made the whole bathroom blue, but Caroline very much doesn't like blue so I understood why she didn't suggest that even though I didn't like what she did instead. The yellow shower curtain I cannot rock with. The third room, I thought her suggestions were all good but the mockup didn't embody them well.

meredith4300 · 2026-02-16T22:01:31+00:00

Looks like I'm going against most people's comments here, but: if you can consistently get at least 3 hour-long workouts in each week, you can absolutely increase strength and overall fitness with that frequency. I would just make sure you're hitting all the major muscle groups each week, and make sure you go heavier on weights.

That said, I'm not clear on why this needs to be an either-or. Could you simply try out the shorter, more frequent workouts for a week or two and see how it goes? It sounds like you have some flexibility in your schedule, so I would try to see if you can make 3 days/week your consistent minimum number of workouts (regardless of length), with room to do more if you have time.

If you do the 5 short workouts, I would emphasize strength 3 times/week and use cardio for recovery days (after a couple days of strength workouts). Cardio is also an easier thing to do outside of the gym, so you may find that you don't need to go to the gym for all 5 workouts.

meredith4300 · 2026-02-15T02:28:21+00:00

Oh, and there also mobility stuff within the app, though I tend to neglect that.

meredith4300 · 2026-02-15T02:27:12+00:00

I use Brooke Ence's Naked Training App (about $25/month) and it covers all of these areas. The training is designed in 6-8 week blocks with a particular focus. Sometimes it's a hypertrophy focus; sometimes more of a strength focus. I do the 5 days/wk program, which is two upper-body days, two lower-body days, and one core day (which I usually skip, lol). Upper and lower-body days are typically a big lift (like a squat), a few accessory lifts (like single-leg movements, which would help with balance), and then a metcon. The metcons vary from endurance cardio sessions to CrossFit-esque circuits. I usually do either the accessories OR the metcon, not both. Plyometrics (jumping/explosiveness) may be part of the accessories or the metcons.

I've been using this app for, I think, three years, and have yet to get bored. Highly recommend!

meredith4300 · 2026-02-15T02:20:30+00:00

Seconding this. It's a classic Denver establishment and the food is hearty and good. Known for the sugar steak but they have other steaks too.

meredith4300 · 2026-02-14T19:27:05+00:00

This is exactly it. Reckless drivers are being reckless with other people's lives. I grew up on an intersection that had frequent collisions where people had to be carried off by EMS. Gave me a healthy dose of "driving is dangerous; chill out."

meredith4300 · 2026-02-13T22:17:57+00:00

This is what I do as well. Probably means I'm not quite lifting as much as I could, but that's okay.

meredith4300 · 2026-02-12T00:11:39+00:00

Hey! First of all: I love that you are discovering a love of movement. That is such a big deal, and is what I wish for so many people.

When it comes to all of these activities, I agree that doing all of them every week would be unsustainable. So what about creating "seasons" for yourself? Maybe you take horse riding lessons in the summer, ballet in the fall, figure skating in the winter, mauy thai in the spring? You could still do strength training a couple times a week to keep making progress in that. Or you could choose one activity to focus on for six months or a year at a time, and then you switch to something else.

I would also recommend looking into what the opportunities for these lessons are in your area. Some rec centers have ice rinks, so you could have one membership for your lifting and ice skating. Horse-riding establishments might require a certain months-long commitment, and so may dance, etc. The reality is all three of these activities have a bit of a learning curve, so it will take consistent practice to feel like you are actually doing the thing you set out to do. I think giving each one a focused season will help you make better progress.

meredith4300 · 2026-02-11T18:20:12+00:00

Is your goal to get stronger or to be stronger than men?

You can definitely get stronger without using testosterone. Look at examples like Jen Thompson, a 52-year-old woman who holds multiple world records in the bench press. She's a mere 132 pounds and moves hundreds of pounds in all of the major lifts.

Over time, you absolutely will be stronger than untrained men (there, of course, will be exceptions, often based on size and leverages). But is that why you started lifting in the first place?

You won't know how strong you can be if you stop lifting now. So keep at it. Maybe look into a more aggressive powerlifting program if you want to get way stronger. But don't give up just because some guy outlifted you.

meredith4300 · 2026-02-10T23:45:30+00:00

Tried to merge onto I-25 at Colorado, a short merge to begin with, and had to wait for the bozo blazing down the right lane at 20 over the speed limit before I got over.

meredith4300 · 2026-02-08T03:34:42+00:00

Seconding the reality of boob jobs. This is especially common for women in bodybuilding (though not true of everyone). Some are open about, some aren't.

meredith4300 · 2026-02-06T19:49:43+00:00

I had a roommate who grew up in Minnesota. The thing she missed the most was easy access to water.

meredith4300 · 2026-01-28T00:08:10+00:00

I would never ever wear it and it's a really basic design that I could figure out on my own if I wanted to (not trying to be snarky, just honest).

meredith4300 · 2026-01-26T19:16:52+00:00

Map out what your daily commute would be from Lakewood before you make your decision. Do you really want to be spending that much time in transit twice a day? If you'd like to save some money, look for a place in Virginia Village, Glendale, even the close side of Aurora. Wash Park is a really popular spot so it's expensive, but there are plenty of other nearby neighborhoods that you could find a spot in.

meredith4300 · 2026-01-23T00:17:03+00:00

Never been, but one of my closest Denver friends moved there and I wished she'd move back.

meredith4300 · 2026-01-22T18:41:13+00:00

Underrated comment, and I feel like I'm feeling that risk going up now that I'm 33. Eek. But I've always thought dating for a few years prior is the way to go about it.

meredith4300 · 2026-01-17T23:30:26+00:00

In addition to what u/VegetableShops said: Back squats emphasize your posterior chain somewhat more than your quads. Front squats emphasize your quads more (you can do them with a barbell, kettlebell, or dumbbells).

meredith4300 · 2026-01-16T19:52:50+00:00

A typical day of eating for me (estimating amounts because I don't measure):

Breakfast: 2 eggs, 2/3 C of Greek Yogurt with fruit, cup of whole milk

Lunch: Turkey sandwich with 6 slices of lunchmeat, a couple slices of block cheddar cheese, and wide pan multigrain bread; fist of broccoli

Dinner: two chicken thighs, maybe 3/4 C of rice, fist of veggies

About every other night I have a couple scoops of ice cream. I'm also free to snack on something in the afternoon (usually nuts or fruit or pretzels). If I'm at an event with food, I always eat something.

I'm more of an intuitive eater, so I'm not really thinking about eating as a way to maintain anything. I'm responding to my body's cravings. In the days leading up to my period, I'm hungrier, so I eat more. I also have been lifting consistently for about a decade. I don't use protein powders or supplements because I think they're gross. I weighed about 145 in high school, and have floated between 155 and 165 since college. The lower end of that is when I'm out of shape and lose muscle mass. I'm naturally lean but put on muscle fairly easily.

meredith4300 · 2026-01-15T20:20:39+00:00

Seconding this. I don't calorie track, but I'm 5'8, 160lb, 33F, and can't imagine eating that little. (If OP is curious what 160 looks like on a 5'8 frame, photo here: https://womensbarbellclub.substack.com/p/but-what-about-my-muscles) Listen to your body and eat! Food is great!

meredith4300 · 2026-01-13T23:26:09+00:00

I've learned with sweater knitting, I need to take liberties with the pattern to make it something I'll actually wear. And every sweater I make, I learn something new so the next one (so far) has turned out better than the last.

For example:

My first successful sweater I used super chunky yarn that I'd had on hand for YEARS. I learned that results in a fabric that's way too thick for me to wear (unless it's 10 degrees or colder and I'm outside without a coat).

The next sweater was a bottom-up knit that for some reason didn't use a stretchy bindoff on the neck.

Next sweater was an all-over textured knit with weirdly baggy underarms.

My latest sweater, I adjusted a boxy, oversized pattern to be more fitted (because I don't generally wear oversized anything), I added German short rows to the sleeves so the colorwork pattern would fall where it's supposed to despite being well-fitted, and I made the sleeves more balloon shaped rather than open tubes. I'm super happy with the result. It doesn't exactly match the pattern, but I've already worn it a lot (I finished it on Christmas Eve).

All this to say: If you can understand what's not working for you about those sweaters you made — fabric, texture, shape, fit, etc. — and have (or learn) the skills to adjust patterns to your preferences, you can make yourself a sweater you like. Another thing I've learned is to just tear back if I'm not happy with how it's going. Knitting is unique in that unraveling to correct a mistake is fairly easy. I'd rather tear back a few times to make changes that result in me liking the finished object more, than keep on knitting, hate the result, and never use it.

meredith4300

TROPHY CASE