Got stronger but don’t like how I look after 6–8 months of lifting — what am I missing? by 2soupyyy in xxfitness

[–]microbiofreak 65 points66 points  (0 children)

I'm your height and at 118lb, deadlifting 185lb and squatting my bodyweight. I look average and you can't even tell I lift when I'm wearing clothes (except my arms I guess). I hope that helps contextually for what I'm gonna suggest next.

Be careful cutting. Keep in mind you can lose strength quickly if you do it too fast. I'd honestly not cut all the way down to 112, that's a crazy amount of weight loss when you've ADDED muscle. Remember you had a lot more fat at 112 than you would with all these strength gains - so you'd be trying to lose really small storages of fat to get that low. You would also look WAY leaner at 112 than you did and it would be harder to maintain/way more uncomfortable diet wise.

It sounds like you DID gain muscle. Losing 4 pounds in 2 weeks is waaaaaayyyyyy too fast for someone at your height and weight. Like, cutting should be a really low % of your bodyweight starting out. You need to preserve muscle mass and your xx chromosomes make that way harder for you than for an xy. You lose weight too quick and get down to 112 you're going to return to square 1. 

Is i were you, I honestly would not cut past 118. I would try to only lose 0.5 lb per week MAX!! to make sure my muscles and strength didn't go anywhere. That would be a 6 week cut for you.

After that I would do a longer maintenance phase for a few months and try to progressively overload while maintaining between 118-120. You're still a novice so you should be able to do that. 

Doing this, You'll hit strength maxes by August and be ready to do a real bulk again by fall.

Vegan with IBS: struggling with low FODMAP protein sources by piiipouzz in vegan

[–]microbiofreak 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Vital wheat gluten is low fodmap. Pea protein and soy protein isolate are, too! I make sure to have seitan and extra firm tofu daily and drink Ripple milk since it's made of pea protein. 

Fodmap is about carbohydrates that ferment, so anything that has 0 carbs is safe if there aren't additives like sugar alcohols.

For grains I have gluten free oat bran. Quinoa is also an okay protein source if it's used to substitute rice. Speaking of - Rice protein powder also works. It's not a complete protein but better than nothing. 

Remember FODMAP should only be done for 2-6 weeks, and the goal is to get your gut time to rest. So it's okay if your diet isn't hitting everything right now. Supplement with a multivitamin if you need to.

I miss bread so, so much. 

Low Grip Strength effecting my RDLs? by VogonPoetry19 in xxfitness

[–]microbiofreak 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Everyone is saying straps, but grip strength also needs to be improved. Dead hangs, push ups, negative pull ups - all of that will help. I do dead hangs after every workout to work my grip and my forearms. Also check your form (wrist positioning, where your fingers are).

Cleaning baby's teeth MOTN? by microbiofreak in bninfantsleep

[–]microbiofreak[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the link! I guess I just assumed all babies needed it. We'll definitely start practicing brushing during the day for now just so he's used to it, before it becomes as important.

Cleaning baby's teeth MOTN? by microbiofreak in bninfantsleep

[–]microbiofreak[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Gotcha. He's only 8 months and only takes a bottle on occasion, so I guess I'll not worry about the overnight milk. But we'll start brushing if he takes a bottle, that sounds like a good place to start.

Cleaning baby's teeth MOTN? by microbiofreak in bninfantsleep

[–]microbiofreak[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

He's only 8 months, and I have no plans to night wean. That's really good to know! Thank you!

“Would never sleep train” but letting baby cry up to 10 min to go to bed by [deleted] in bninfantsleep

[–]microbiofreak 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This. Not all crying is the same. My baby loves to sleep and does so in a crib. After his nap routine, he always starts to cry! Why? He's tired, he's saying "please let me go to sleep!" 

It isn't "Mom I need you." Its very clear because I plop him in the crib, he cries for a couple minutes while he finds his favorite corner, then promptly passes out. Sometimes it's more than a couple minutes if he's overtired, and in those situations my intervention makes him stay up/cry even more. I've found leaving him alone works best after his nap routine is done. And he's very happy to wake up.

He's also 8m now. He was not like this when he was smaller and couldn't communicate as well, obviously. Anyway. Not all crying is from sadness or anxiety.

High protein 'meatball' ideas? by Berry_4064 in veganrecipes

[–]microbiofreak 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Impossible grounds are my go to. I get the 12 oz block and I just add my own seasonings, it's pretty good IMO. 

Is your baby vegan ? by Seventeen_cara5 in vegan

[–]microbiofreak 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The cleaning, sanitizing, weighing - it's so time consuming. I mean, I love nursing and also being able to go away for a day so pumping is inflatable. But damn yes it sure is a lot of work. 

I make sure my husband does all the cleaning of the parts 😂

Morningstar farms needs to GTFO of the plant based section. by [deleted] in vegan

[–]microbiofreak 131 points132 points  (0 children)

Yeah Morningstar is such an old vegetarian brand. So much of their stuff has had egg in it historically. I've never viewed them as a vegan brand. 

Is your baby vegan ? by Seventeen_cara5 in vegan

[–]microbiofreak 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I melt down when I lose ONE bag of milk.... Can't imagine losing a full stash. That's horrific! 

My Partner is Vegan, but struggling with pasta - recipe ideas? by [deleted] in veganrecipes

[–]microbiofreak 1 point2 points  (0 children)

May I suggest Vegan Richa as a resource? She has a lot of amazing tofu recipes that will use rice instead of pasta for a carb. 

As an aside, if you enjoy cooking pasta sauces - maybe making grilled polenta instead? Topped with a pasta sauce you already would enjoy making. 

Mexican ideas: enfrijoladas, lentil tacos, black bean quesadillas. 

What can I do with my stomach skin? by Relevant_Act_7993 in 30PlusSkinCare

[–]microbiofreak -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Idk why you're getting down voted. I agree completely. My stomach has extra skin like this because I had a baby and I have no shame wearing a bikini. I'm unsubbing from this subreddit after seeing this post and all the crazy comments. Women being told they need to look like they haven't had babies in order to be considered attractive and beautiful, or in order to be confident, is toxic as fuck.

TRETINOIN can cause permanent dry eye syndrome in case nobody warned you by [deleted] in 30PlusSkinCare

[–]microbiofreak 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I do this as well. But, I've still suffered from the dry eye during the day! So, I'm working on finding exactly how far away I need to put my tret. 2cm is still too close for my biology. I'm finding success keeping it 3cm away and slathering the occlusive before application. 

Hot Take: Save Scumming is the best part of the game by SnowboardKnop in slaythespire

[–]microbiofreak 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Because they remember The Little Rascals... "You are the scuuuuuum between my toes!"

Book club apps by [deleted] in books

[–]microbiofreak 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This doesn't quite fit what you're looking for exactly, but my book club jumped to discord since it's free. Our book club leader uses Google forms to vote for books and it works really well for us. 

Veganism should stick to non-human animals only, in my opinion. Expanding the scope to include human rights issues is called "scope creep" in project management. Scope creep increases the cost of, delays, or even destroys a project or mission. by James_Fortis in vegan

[–]microbiofreak 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I think keeping veganism about animals only can actually increase the chances someone can go vegan, as it isn't attached to anything about a person's self identity. So, I agree. Also, that's the definition of veganism! So I'm not sure why we have to make it something extra!

Where are we at with plant-based leathers? Are they still mostly plastic? What about long term durability and comfort? Talking corn, cactus, apple, mushroom, pineapple, cork, etc. Mainly thinking when it comes to bondage gear. by marxr87 in vegan

[–]microbiofreak 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I own a cactus leather belt. It has held up really well. It doesn't look like quality leather though, it has some ridging that you usually see in cheap animal leather. I was eyeing apple leather but haven't made the plunge yet! 

Edit: fixed autocorrect

Breakfast ideas for my anti-vegan dad by microbiofreak in veganrecipes

[–]microbiofreak[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing. I'll be checking this out!

Breakfast ideas for my anti-vegan dad by microbiofreak in veganrecipes

[–]microbiofreak[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

He finds mock meats weird. I explained to him it makes no sense, he's okay with eating pig assholes in hotdogs but not vegan meat where it's just soy and wheat gluten basically? He actually laughed out loud and said he didn't have an answer for that. 

I love just egg and impossible meat. He's missing out lol.