Caloric intake is all over the place. I'm looking for autophagy benefits only and I want to lose as little muscle mass as possible. These are big differences in what is recommended. Can anyone help clarify this?
Sidebar says: Day 1: Total 1090 calories Days 2-5: Total 800 calories
https://www.quantifiedbob.com/fasting-mimicking-diet/ Fasting Mimicking Diet Cycle: Day 1: Total caloric intake of 4.5 to 7 kcal/lb of body weight (10% protein, 56% fat, 34% carbs) Days 2-5: Total caloric intake of 3 to 5 kcal/lb of body weight (9% protein, 44% fat, 47% carbs)
https://perfectketo.com/fasting-mimicking-diet/#:~:text=As%20for%20the%20fasting%20mimicking,fat%2C%20and%2047%25%20carbs On day 1, you eat 1,090 kcal with the following macros: 10% protein, 56% fat, and 34% carbs. For days 2-5, you drop your calorie intake to 725 kcal with the following macros: 9% protein, 44% fat, and 47% carbs.
https://www.carbmanager.com/article/yefkahaaab8adj-i/what-is-an-fmd-fasting-mimicking-diet

Calories on a Fasting Mimicking Diet

The typical recommended caloric intake throughout the 5-day period is as follows:

• Day 1: 1,090 kcal (10% protein, 56% fat, 34% carbs)
• Days 2-5: 725 kcal (9% protein, 44% fat, 47% carbs).

Calculator
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14Pb_0-NqvyMbwvNUBFf2Bs_3r4OzLZO8g99RJ4DoGGA/edit#gid=1255156704

A/N: yeah I changed up the Alliance admiral's name from Shepard Adama to Sheparda Dama (so creative i know) because the old one was going to fuck me over badly at some point. It would be like trying to make a legitimate, serious fantasy novel with a wizard named Albus Gandalf. I was NOT cooking when I came up with that shit.
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It was said that no plan ever survived contact with the enemy. That, at least in the case of Marcus Wayne’s infiltration of Neldia, was proven entirely true.
His ship, the Peacemaker, had undergone an extensive refit before its jump to Neldia to both modify its sensor signature and repair its failing Aegis barrier. The first objective succeeded. The second did not.
One day later, leaving the derelict Ultimate Vigil behind in deep space, the United Human Alliance courier ship Winged Deliverance logged a real space entry at the edge of the Neldia system. Its crew, having spent their waking hours plagued by hallucinations and enduring horrible nightmares as they slept, found this shift very welcome. The worst, though they could hardly believe it, was still yet to come.
“The Neldian fleet is mustering for war,” rumbled the man who had once held the title and security codes of an Alliance sector admiral. Now, he was a traitor to his homeland. “Security will be high.”
“No need to worry, Admiral,” said Marcus Wayne. “Your code will get us through.” It would not.
It took two hours for the Peacemaker, disguised as the Winged Deliverance, to be challenged by the Neldian Armada. “Transmit clearance code,” said an automated voice. Marcus took out a data disc with the admiral's clearance code on it.
“Hold,” said Terris. She was clad in black, her active camouflage offline to save battery, and she had been sitting at the passive sensor console for the past three hours. “Look at this.” A news broadcast popped up in front of Marcus Wayne and his officers. Sector Admiral Sheparda Dama, or at least he was once a sector admiral, had been tried and convicted of high treason.
“It was a secret trial,” Dama said, still in shock at the revelation. “I had no knowledge of this.”
“Well, that tracks, but what do we do now? What code gets us through?”
“Transmit clearance code,” the voice said again, “or adjust course.”
Dama thought for a moment. “Change course,” he said. “We’re not getting through.”
They did. A great sense of defeat took hold in the hearts of the crew. They would never reach the Neldian hypercom. Sheparda Dama, who would have gladly given his life in defense of humankind, would never get the chance to be the man who broke their chains.
The Peacemaker was halfway out of the Neldia system before Terris spoke again. “Hold it,” she said. “I have an idea.”
That was why she had been placed where she was. Clad in an airtight stealth suit. Inside a hollowed-out asteroid. On a ballistic journey to the heart of Neldian space. It was the most insane idea that Marcus Wayne had ever seen.
But, sometimes, insanity was a symptom of genius.
Terris flew past the Neldian Armada undetected. Many asteroids entered the inner system this way, flung by outer-system prospecting ships to the foundries and shipyards in Neldian orbit, and they were thrown and caught so frequently that only the most cursory of inspections was put upon each one. Terris passed the Alliance fleet entirely undetected.
Terris’ chameleon suit could mimic the sensor return of the precious metals it was buried in, at least enough to fool a probing scan, and the cuts made by Protectoral engineers had been so precise that Terris had fit inside there with barely a centimeter of space to spare. She was effectively entombed inside sixty meters of solid rock.
Interstellar espionage was not a job for the claustrophobic.
Finally, after days of waiting, the signal came. She was in range. A mental command triggered a series of shaped charges in the rock above her, if such directions existed in microgravity, and forty pea-sized explosives blasted a circular tunnel all the way to the asteroid surface. If just one of them had failed, that rock might have been her tomb.
Terris tried not to think about that as she began climbing her way out. A brief burst from her suit’s EVA thrusters was enough to start her on her way, and the tunnel out was wide enough for her to use her arms and legs to speed things up. Finally, after too long a wait, Terris saw the Neldian sun for the very first time.
There was fire in the distance. Comm chatter on every band. Warships burning hard for the outer system. The Coalition fleet was here.
She zoomed in, far more than she had ever had to before, and she could pick out the faintest flashes of blue as warships exploded in the black. A brief crawl around the asteroid, which also helped to warm up her muscles after days of inactivity, let her discern an attack force engaging the Alliance fleet. After a moment’s hesitation, weighing the risks, Terris activated her passive sensor suite to try and decrypt Alliance military chatter.
Instantly, her sensors were flooded with noise from the defensive bastions. The fleet base at the L5 point was loudest, its comm operators screaming indecipherably at fellow Alliance elements fighting in the black. Neldian orbit, where the hypercom station was, seemed to be the centerpiece of all the communications traffic. The hypercom, unsurprisingly, was being used as a relay for comm traffic all across the system. Terris made a note to hack its server banks for intelligence, and perhaps leave a timed virus or two to shut down the system after she was gone.
Her suit bleeped, alerting her that she was in optimum position to make the leap to the hypercom. She zoomed in on it, a red and spiked thing just like everything else the Alliance made, and calculated the right trajectory to land right on its metal surface.
Trying to jump from a moving asteroid out past Neldia’s rings and hit a hypercom station barely three hundred meters in diameter was like shooting a rifle from a jumbo jet in hopes of hitting a mosquito down on Earth. A nearly impossible shot, even with Coalition computers to help make the jump, and anyone lucky enough to make it would have been better served bankrupting their local casino at the slot machines.
Terris gave a command to her suit, activating a set of ion thrusters to boost her off the asteroid and adjust her course mid-flight. She’d never believed in luck.
She coasted silent and graceful past the particle guns in high orbit, like a majestic swan flying on a summer wind. Their sensor arrays were directed out, past her, to the far distant parts of space where a trillion tons of steel were locked in deadly battle. Terris really did wish she could smile at the moment. She was about to have unrestricted access to the biggest communications relay in the star system, able to send out viruses and receive vital intelligence that could cripple the Alliance fleet if placed in the right hands. Terris, confident as ever, knew they would be.
She would make the Neldian Armada burn, and they had no idea she was even coming.
She reached the hypercom station in just under a day, agonizingly slow for a woman like her, hovering just above its surface to avoid triggering pressure sensors. After that, it was simple enough to get inside. Terris found it almost trivial to bypass the airlock sensor grid and trigger the outer bulkhead to open unnoticed, its report to the command room destroyed before it ever arrived. Entering the station itself was easy after that.
Here, there was gravity. She could not hover like she had on the outside of the station. But here, there were no pressure sensors. She really had no need to hover.
The corridor she found herself in was large enough, though nothing like the expansive halls of a dreadnought, and a patrol of marines in powered suits trundled towards her obliviously. Terris had made the right call not to wear a Phantom powered suit. She ducked into an alcove, the chameleon suit concealing her from even their impressive sensor batteries, and they passed by with no clue at all.
Terris made it to the server banks with ease. Most of the hypercom’s security measures took the form of warships in orbit, clustered tightly around the planet to prevent exactly this scenario from happening, but those warships were off waging war. The station defenses were hopeless now that she was actually inside.
The data was encrypted, and she could neither access it nor copy it without potentially fatal consequences, but she wasn’t there to steal data. A brief, milliseconds-long connection to the primary server was all it took to riddle the entire system with custom-tailored computer viruses. The viruses were self-replicating, rather like an electronic version of the biological ones on Earth. They worked similarly, too, meant to latch onto outgoing communications signals and remain inert for a certain amount of time before activating and wreaking havoc across cyberspace.
The program would be scoured from the net in seconds once it began its assault, but it would cause plenty of chaos before then. And, with another critical transmission being scheduled to send at around that time, Terris knew her mostly-ineffective virus attack would be just enough of a distraction to make sure its message was heard.
Terris planned to leave the station in approximately thirty minutes. Shortly after that, the fireworks would begin. It was going to be beautiful.
She heard footsteps. A maintenance worker, no doubt. It was time for her to go. She disconnected from the server, taking pains to hide her involvement, and snuck out of the server room like a ghost in the night.
Next was the transmission array. This room was better-guarded, its door being flanked by marines, but Terris slipped inside by trailing behind an officer as he entered on some unknown pretext. After that, her daring and sleight of hand made sure Admiral Dama’s pre-recorded propaganda transmission was uploaded to the hypercom transmitter. It came with a set of instructions bearing the Admiralty’s seal, changed to be anonymous, to ensure as many people as possible heard his message.
In just under one standard hour, the United Human Alliance would be shaken to its very core. Terris had just made sure of it.
It took longer than she had expected for the door to open again and give her a chance to slip out. Terris had spent that time quite productively, downloading as many incoming and outgoing messages as she could to the internal hard drive just by her spinal cord. Even if they were encrypted, they’d be useful intelligence once Coalition codebreakers took a crack at them.
After that, it was trivial to slip past marine patrols and escape to the hull of the hypercom station. Terris found her ride, an Alliance warship by the name of Brightest Thunder, holding orbit just near the hypercom station. Admiral Dama, even if he was no longer an admiral, still had connections.
She charged her ion thrusters by tapping into the station reactor, an act which did not go unnoticed, but by then it was too late to respond. She had completed her incursion. The damage had been done. Perhaps if the Alliance acted swiftly and accurately, they could undo it, but Terris was a careful woman. She had covered her tracks well.
Waving one final goodbye to the crew of the hypercom station, Terris triggered her thrust pack and shot off into the ink.
“You must be my passenger.” A man in an Alliance captain’s uniform was waiting for her in the Brightest Thunder’s airlock. He wore a helmet and gloves, hermetically sealed to his airtight outfit, so he felt no effects from the vacuum of space. “I was sent by Sector Admiral Sheparda Dama,” he announced after a period of silence, “To transport you and whatever you may have safely to the Coalition fleet.” Nothing. Apart from the dull thudding of the ship’s railgun batteries, firing missiles at range to ward off a strike force of Coalition ships, the airlock was quiet as a ghost.
“You cannot expect me to endanger my life and the lives of my crew without at least some identification that you are who you claim to be!” Silence. Captain Senar Trevy had been standing in that airlock for three and a half hours, while his ship was tasked with screening Neldia and her eighteen billion inhabitants from harm, and he was just now wondering if he had been talking to a ghost.
“I am,” came a voice. Cold. Sterile. Inhuman. Exactly the kind Trevy expected from the secret spies of his former admiral.
“So you are.” Captain Trevy thought for a moment. He cycled the airlock. If his guest held hostile intent, one steel bulkhead would make no difference. “I’ve been stocking the crew with handpicked men and women since I received word of the operation,” he explained as they walked through the ship’s corridors. The crewmen he passed thought him insane. “I can’t vouch for them all, but the ship as a whole will obey me.” No response. Sometimes, Captain Trevy thought himself insane as well.
“This is my personal quarters,” he told the specter, stepping inside and sealing the door behind him. “I must warn you, for your own safety, it would be best not to leave it. The crew are mostly still Alliance loyalists.” He looked around, paying no heed to the decorated furniture or artificial sky, and finally shrugged and sighed. “Are you even here, still?”
Terris decloaked. She stood between him and the door, winged and cloaked in black like a demon of ancient myth. “I am.”
“You’re a black angel.” Senar Trevy, to his credit, kept his composure well. “A spy for the Ierad Republic.” He questioned her purpose here. They both knew it.
“You weren’t told?”
“I was told an alien would be coming aboard, but…” Trevy shrugged again, as if to say ‘what am I supposed to do?’ “The admiral vouched for you. That much is enough for me.” He also knew he had no choice in the matter. From what he knew about black angels, his ship had been lost the moment she boarded.
“I could have impersonated him,” said Terris, voice a perfect replica of Captain Trevy’s own. Even his own mother could not have told the difference. “And I’m trained to lie.” She was testing him, gauging his reaction to assess his personality. She was good at that.
“I could have you screened for deception,” Trevy countered, pointing up at a pearl-sized camera in the ceiling. Terris made a note that it was disabled. “And I could have had the technology officers vet your transmission.”
“I’m trained to lie well.” Terris sat down on Captain Trevy’s bed, a spartan thing compared to the sleeping quarters of most officers. There were no chairs in the room, so her options were few. She took off her helmet and tried to at least appear relaxed. In reality, she was anything but. “It comes with the job, really.”
“Fair,” Trevy chuckled, feigning calm. “I suppose the question now becomes whether or not you can trust me.”
“It’s a safe gamble.” Terris made a mental calculation. It would take her between thirty and fifty seconds to kill Captain Trevy, take the bridge, and vent the ship. That was a very safe gamble. “Besides, that’s what a peace treaty is.” Trevy looked confused. “A leap of faith. You trust your enemy to back their word, and you trust them to trust you as well. If we can’t get along here, can’t put aside our differences to work toward a common goal, then the Alliance will be right. And I hate it when they’re right.”
“I’m speaking to you now because I know they are wrong.” That came as no surprise to either of them. “You know, I was once a foreman of a labor crew in the munitions factories. The most productive unit in my sector.” That one did come as a surprise. “As a foreman, you get leeway to make certain decisions regarding the… well, I suppose they are slaves, under your command. Food intake and the like.” Captain Trevy looked pained when he brought up such memories. Terris wasn’t convinced that was how he really felt. “They use it to weed out any potential xeno sympathizers from the populace. Of course, at the time, I wasn’t so empathetic.”
“So you were a slave driver, and you beat your slaves to make them work. I hope every one of those shells was sabotaged.” Terris’ voice dripped with disdain. She had almost forgotten the Alliance captain was her enemy.
“No, I showed mercy,” Trevy defended himself. “I was generous.” This made Terris reconsider. Perhaps Senar Trevy could be an ally, if not a friend. “I won’t say I was a good man, but I wasn’t cruel. I was practical. Strong, healthy, well-treated workers are more productive than the beaten sacks of flesh in the other factories. My crew’s output was unmatched.”
“And?” Terris cocked her head inquisitively. For a high-ranking officer in the space navy of a genocidal regime, Senar Trevy really did not seem so bad. To be fair, however, she had set the bar pretty low.
“I was investigated for anti-human activity.” Terris could have predicted that. She almost did, too. “They sent me to the fleet, and my labor crew was reacquainted with the energy whips and pain beams.” There was no carrot for an Alliance labor slave. Only the stick. “Their productivity fell thirty percent in the first two weeks alone.” He sounded almost mournful as he said that. He was not lamenting the loss in productivity.
“You see,” said Trevy, “Hatred is not natural. It has to be caused, sustained, nurtured from the day a man is born until the day he dies.” With that, at least, Terris agreed. “And, as you’re about to see, a nation built around cruelty or prejudice cannot sustain itself. It will have to apply pressure to maintain its flawed status quo, like it did with me, and the pressure will build and build until it cannot build anymore.” He tapped a few buttons on the data disc in his hand. It began projecting an image of the battle for Neldia. He placed it on the bed next to Terris. “Now it’s breaking.”
“I wonder if they’ll find themselves in need of more shells.” Terris knew it wasn’t just shells. Every time a slave driver prioritized hatred over hard work, put cruelty over their quota, or even just bowed their head and obeyed the traditional dogma, they hurt the Alliance. Across nine worlds, with billions of slaves not working as they could have, things started to add up. “You know, for a superior species, your fleet is really getting its ass kicked right now. Might want to work on that.”
Captain Trevy nodded. His data disc beeped. He was needed on the bridge. “Agreed,” he said. “I hope this war ends soon, and to our mutual benefit. I’d hate to face you on the battlefield.” He picked up the data disc and turned to leave.
“Oh, forgot to mention, there’s a virus embedded in the transmissions you’ve received. Self-replicating. Nasty piece of work.” Terris shifted a bit in her seat. “Almost forgot about that.”
“Well, better to know now than when it’s activated,” Trevy smiled. “I’ll have Technology Officer Galdir investigate it.” With that, he left. His duty to the Alliance was nonexistent, but the men and women under his command still needed him. He had waited too long in the stateroom.
Terris, with nothing better to do, got to work on cracking the encryption in the transmissions she had copied. She failed. A transmission from deep in unknown space, sent from a dreadnought at the head of a task force known only as the Deep Expedition Fleet, was the only message she could read. Its contents, while troubling, mattered little at the moment. What was far more crucial, however, was the message Terris could not decipher. The military battle plan of Janus Ora’s personal armada.
The battle plan that, when analyzed on a Republic starship, would reveal its terrible secret too late.
The Coalition fleet was walking into a trap.
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It’s been about a week since I stopped using harsh products. No more ketoconazole, no more pyrithione zinc. No more random chemicals in shampoos/conditioners. No more harsh styling products. Quitting vitamins, whey protein and it’s been about 5 months since I stopped creatine but I won’t be using that again either.
In addition to these changes, I’ll be quitting unnecessary sugars, greatly reducing caffeine intake, and completely discontinuing the use of nicotine. These are some harder changes that will take to make happen, but that’s the next goal!
Oh, and eliminating as many processed foods as possible.
It’s gonna be a kebab summer, I can feel it.

Hello, writing this from a throwaway account.
So I’m 26 and he’s 30. I’m from a middle eastern country and he’s from the US, we actually met online on Reddit three years ago before I decided to visit him there and eventually moving there together.
I work from home I guess you can say and I take care of our daughter and the two dogs. I’ve been enstranged from my family who disowned me after being with a person from a different religion and having a baby out of wedlock.
So when I left my country I was 4’11 and 100 lbs, a little chubby, high body fat percentage but nothing extreme, but ever since moving away a few years ago and childbirth I’ve developed depression and anxiety. I miss my family and friends back home who won’t talk to me for marring a non Muslim, and the food here and everything is so different. When my boyfriend goes to work I do nothing but order in food and eat a lot of it while doing work or watching tv. I need food to get me through the day because nothing else brings me happiness. I gained to 166 lbs which is the heaviest I’ve ever been, and I can’t blame it on my pregnancy because I was only 135 the day after my daughter was born. I continue to gain. I tried counting my calories and it was more than 5000 calories a day.
I calculated my calories and it shows that my bmr is only about 1800, so that means I need to cut my calories back to about 1500 because anything less than that and I will be too hungry and I will end up binging. I’ve been eating 1500 calories now and I weigh all the foods I eat. I’m mindful of my sodium and fiber intake. I eat a lot of protein but other than walking the dogs I don’t do a lot of exercise. My Apple Watch says 7000-8000 steps. My day I basically wake up and make breakfast for boyfriend and daughter and then I finish some work with a cup of coffee, then eat lunch when husband comes back and then we spend some time together then go out to walk the dogs and take our daughter out with us.
Now I have no idea why I’m still not losing weight. No measurements down, no progress. My boyfriend has been losing lately because I’ve been cooking us healthier food but I’m still not losing. I guess I feel a little bit jealous because I don’t feel as attractive and fit as I was and also he doesn’t need to lose any weight cus he’s very thin. He always insists on eating what I’m eating.
I always get on some sort of diet, then wait a week or two without any weight loss then throw in the towel and eat so much food again. I’m maintaining weight while feels like I’m tormenting myself for no result. Should I just give up?
Throwaway because I don’t want my boyfriend to see this. He’d blame himself.

Before we dive into the details, there's one crucial concept to understand if you want lasting results: you must be willing to approach this as a change to your lifestyle. If you think of this as merely "going on a diet" until you reach a specific goal and then reverting to old habits, chances are very high that your results will not last. You might end up right back where you started, or even worse. Many people have experienced the frustration of yo-yo dieting for years because they approached it this way. Your current habits are what led you to where you are now, so it's essential to build new habits and perhaps completely change your relationship with food.
Don’t let this intimidate you. “Changing your lifestyle” and “changing your relationship with food” do not mean you have to give up all the foods you love forever and eat nothing but bland chicken salads every day. Extreme changes to your diet don’t work in the long run either.

Weight Change

Chances are, you’re reading this because you’re unhappy with your weight. Whether you want to slim down or gain some muscle, the first step to changing your weight is understanding the fundamental mechanism of weight change: calorie balance.
Your body uses calories every day to fuel itself and your activities—this is known as your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). The difference between how many calories you eat and your TDEE determines whether you gain weight, lose weight, or stay the same weight. Eat fewer calories than your TDEE (a deficit), and you will lose weight. Eat more calories than your TDEE (a surplus), and you will gain weight. If you’re doing strength training, some of that weight gain will be muscle. This principle is often referred to as “Calories In, Calories Out” (CICO).
CICO is not an eating strategy but an underlying principle that describes how weight change works. Various factors can make reaching the correct calorie balance easier or harder for different people. You may need to try a few different dietary strategies before you find one that’s easy for you to stick with. But no matter what, your dietary strategy must ultimately conform to the principle of CICO if you want to change your weight.
The good news is that this can happen either directly (such as by counting calories) or indirectly (such as by eating foods that make you feel full so that you eat less naturally).
You don’t necessarily need to dive into meticulous tracking of calories and food to start. Sometimes, doing that can be overwhelming and even detrimental, especially if you have a history of disordered eating or other mental health concerns. However, if you’re having trouble gaining or losing the weight you want over a period of time, at some point, you’ll probably need to start paying attention to and manipulating your caloric balance directly.

General Diet Improvement

If you’re not looking to get into the weeds with calories and macronutrients, you can often make progress by making some general improvements to your eating habits. Here are some broad guidelines to help you "clean up" your diet:

• Prefer whole foods as much as possible.
• Eat plenty of vegetables.
• Avoid snacking between meals if your goal is weight loss.
• Limit consumption of sugar, sweets, junk food, and alcohol.

Remember, you don’t have to give these up entirely. Just be smart about it and understand the trade-offs.

Calories and Calorie Balance

To recap:

• To lose weight, you must eat fewer calories than your TDEE (a deficit).
• To gain weight, you must eat more calories than your TDEE (a surplus).

To manage your calorie balance effectively, you need to know both how many calories are coming in and how many calories are going out. Neither of these are exact sciences, especially the "calories out" part. Remember, any calculation of your TDEE is just an estimate. The scale, however, doesn’t lie about your calorie balance.
For tracking your "calories in," tools such as NutritionData are very useful. Google can also be powerful for finding this information. If you’re struggling, you might need to weigh your food with a food scale to ensure accurate serving sizes. There are also respected paid apps, such as Stronger By Science’s MacroFactor or the RP Diet app, that can help you plan and track.
For estimating your "calories out," any TDEE calculator online will give you a good starting point. Remember, this is an imprecise estimate, and your actual TDEE may be higher or lower. Don't stress about finding the perfect starting number. Expect it to be inaccurate initially and be ready to adjust it. Over time, tracking your weight and caloric intake will give you a more accurate picture of your TDEE.
Most recommendations suggest adding or subtracting 10-20% of your TDEE to determine your daily calorie needs. While it might be tempting to get results "faster" with crash diets or "dirty bulking," being conservative is important for health, adherence, and long-term satisfaction.
When gaining weight, eating far above your TDEE will result in more fat gain along with muscle. When losing weight, eating far below your TDEE makes it harder to preserve muscle and maintain performance. It also increases the risk of nutritional deficiencies and binge eating.
Your weight impacts your TDEE, so as your weight changes, your TDEE will too. Periodically re-evaluate your estimate by tracking your weight over time. If your weight remains unchanged for a few weeks, it's probably time to adjust your calorie intake.

Macronutrients

Macronutrients are protein, fat, and carbohydrates, as opposed to micronutrients, which are vitamins and minerals.
After calories, protein is the most important macro to focus on. PhD candidate Jorn Trommelen recommends 120g/day for those seeking a minimalist approach and 160g/day across four meals for optimal results. Eric Helms, PhD, recommends up to 0.8-1g/lb for building muscle, and up to 1.3g/lb while dieting to preserve muscle. For most people, 120g-160g per day is a good starting point.
Here’s a quick breakdown of caloric content:

• Protein: 4 calories per gram
• Fat: 9 calories per gram
• Carbs: 4 calories per gram

Beyond protein, your intake of fats and carbs is less critical. Aim for a minimum of 0.3g/lb of fat to ensure you get enough essential fatty acids. After this, fill in your calorie budget with however many carbs or fats work best for you.
Keep these considerations in mind:

• High-fat foods can use up much of your calorie budget, making it hard to get enough carbs and protein.
• Carbs are crucial for recovering from training. The harder you train, the more carbs you need.

Conclusion

Improving your diet is about making sustainable changes to your lifestyle and relationship with food. By understanding the principles of calorie balance and making gradual adjustments to your eating habits, you can achieve and maintain your desired weight and health. Remember, it's not about perfection but progress and consistency.

Hey demons, It's me, ya boi...
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Notice: This story is about to humanity, but they are introduced much later into the narrative.
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Prev: Chains of the Veiled (3/?) :
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First: Chains of The Veiled :
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Station 68 was one of necessity, built along with many others to remain active in the case it was needed during any sort of instance of Civilian Hardship. This was a place built for those with no path to rest and wait to walk a new one, and as such had many government-funded commodities to those that sought refuge here. Many found shelter here, homeless through any situation, from financial ruin to wartime refugees. They were civilian projects, for those who could not care for themselves, for those to rest and rely on until they could regain a foothold in reality. To regain control financially and socially.
This was not just free housing however, there are certain conditions that need to be met in order for your stay here to be acceptable. This wasn’t a service meant to be abused, it was for the homeless and poor alike, and those who needed it only... As such, the amenities provided weren’t stellar in any regards. There were recreational activities and freely distributed foods, but it was minimal and decent at best. It was free though, and beggars aren’t in a position to choose what kind of help they get. It’s enough to get reassurance that you don't need to worry about next meals. There was one thing about this place that was rather disappointing though… As Kazzi was currently complaining about in the seat across from me in the larger corner booth.
“Why pay for drinks?! Everything else here is free! Sure, it’s cheaper than anywhere else, but still! It just seems inconsistent with how everything else is here.” she spoke in a fit as she took another swig of alcohol. I could only sigh in a disappointed manner, finding Kazzi’s current behavior both unacceptable, and out of character. I knew that she was supposedly a party animal from what others in the department would suggest, but not to such a degree as to already be at her second bottle halfway into the evening.
After a second of regaining my barrings, I looked back up at the Fulkari woman to respond, “Well, drinking isn’t considered something that should be encouraged Kazzi. It’s an incentive to seek other means of coping with struggle, even if it’s as cheap as it is. It’s also more of a luxury on a station with barely any to give. The fact it’s as cheap as this despite its surprising quality really doesn’t seem to have the effect though. It seems like everyone that was on the yacht who escaped with us is also taking advantage of this feature.” It wasn’t a lie either, I say many others entered before and after us. All grabbing what they could, drawing the bartenders with requests as they wished to drown away problems.
Hopefully those staff got paid aplenty for dealing with shit like this. Some people were less than savory after having to deal with a mechanical extermination that removed them from their very way of life. Everyone and their mothers wanted something to down to distract from the trauma that flooded everyone’s mind, and I was no exception. With a glass of Vlekvir branded Whiskey, I took a long swig, downing a good portion of the bottle. Kazzi seemed to cheek me on somewhat, as she seemed to chuckle at my prolonged chugging. I simply rolled my eyes to Kazzi’s antics and continued to eat my meals. I made sure to drink enough water to not end up a complete Drunk, knowing that I was going to need to direct Kazzi back to the ship considering her tipsy state.
Why is it that I always have to hinder my fun just so this Fulkari doesn’t kill herself in the aftermath of her own?! It’s a serious issue that I refuse to tolerate any longer. Regardless of the current favor Kazzi had in this game of life, the tables would soon turn after I would help her back to the ship. Kazzi would owe me a favor for this, and that was something I intended to make good use of.
“Excuse me?” I heard, jumping at the suddenness of the question, spoke so close. I looked around frantically in response to being so startled, only to look down and find a small entity. A Kraviska, an insectoid species known for rapid repopulation with their method of reproduction being unique compared to most others. As long as they had a type of Queen to their hive, and enough meat and yeast to feed them, then they'd never run out of larvae. Her blue chitinous exoskeleton glistened in the light, and her four compound eyes bore an unease into my gaze. Her two claw-like pincers clicked as she spoke.
I took a moment to recollect myself from the scare, with Kazzi all but laughing at me in her tipsy state. I scoffed at her tease and looked back down at the Kraviska. “How did I not hear you walk over to us?” I asked her, and her antenna seemed to flicker up and down in her species form of embarrassment. For what I could only assume was the scare. She held herself low, keeping her tray of food close to her as she stuttered to respond. “I-I’m sorry,” She spoke. “It’s just something that I end up doing… I’m not trying to sneak about like I do, it just happens. I don’t understand why or how, but I make silent movements.”
“Is that a Kraviska thing, or just something that you do because…” I asked, leaving the question incomplete, waiting for a response. She looked to the side for all but a moment, antenna continuing to wiggle in embarrassment. “It’s something that I myself do, not my species. I’m sorry, I really am.” Seeing her hiding her face with her tray the way she was, I sighed and opted out of any further confrontation. “It’s fine, You just startled me is all… sorry for coming off as so hostile.” I said with a nod, a gesture meant to convey that I meant no escalation of conflict.
She seemed to ease up with this reassurance that I provided and lowered her tray from her face. Her face reverted back to her general curiosity that she initially spoke with. “I’m sorry for the scare. But… you see, the whole establishment is packed with patrons. My significant other and I can’t find a seat anywhere else. You’re in one of the larger booths, so I was wondering if maybe we could squeeze in? I-If you’d be willing, that is…” The Kriviska spoke in a meager tone, trying her best to be as polite as possible. I was honestly surprised to find such an non-confrontational member of her species, considering how prideful some of the supposed hive queens could be.
I nodded and responded in affirmation of the request, “Of course, there’s plenty of space for you and whoever else. Kazzi, could you move in a bit?” The tipsy fulkari huffed in annoyance as she scooted aside for whoever might need a seat. I gave her a glare, and one that seemed to have the expected effect. Being a hardened navy man, she was quick to correct her attitude when she saw me. As for the Insectoid, she nodded her head and went over to speak with…
A… A T’ccoj?! T’ccoj were silicon-based lifeforms that were essentially just massive electrical golems. Electrical signals capable of transmitting all about a metal interior which functioned as neurons in a brain in biological life. These electrical signals are so powerful that it allows them a limited ability to manipulate broad and wide bipedal legs they possess to move. They weren’t able to last long however, only able to live for a few hours after being struck with lightning. Only when they were discovered and provided robotic arms to manipulate tools, and battery packs to increase their menial lifespans, were they able to build up cities and civilization proper. T’ccoj were known for they’re adept learning and utilized in a plethora of roles. This T’ccoj in particular was large compared to most others, easily reaching my height, and my kind were one of the taller species.
When the insectoid walked over with the Living mineral, I found myself nervous and confused. Silicon life was always something that I was antsy around, I wasn’t sure why. It was just a great unease to speak with what was essentially a rock… It would be best to not call it that. I’m pretty sure that’s a racist term for lithoid life to refer to them as rocks.
The Kriviska hopped up into the seating and used her multi jointed legs to scutter across the cushions to the corner. She sat close to Kazzi and gestured to her silicon companion to take a seat just by her. Getting a better look at the T’ccoj, I saw the makeup of the living mineral. Its body was divided between crystalline orange and rocky brown textures. A battery pack along the back of its body, and powerful hydraulic based robotic arms allowing for heavy lifting. They were similar in color and texture to the T’ccoj’s natural body and moved in blocky and stiff manners like that of the Lithoid. It moved to sit downright next to the Insectoid…
What did the Kriviska refer to this entity as?! A significant other?!
“Allow me to introduce ourselves.” She spoke, regaining my direct attention. Whilst she did have my focus, my gaze was still trained on the T’ccoj, trying to get a better understanding of who I was dealing with here. “My name is Zikee, and this is Bocc… my husband.” Whilst I did my best to keep my shock as internal as I could. I found it baffling to see an insectoid like her with a lithoid like this. There was such a divide between compatibility, that I found it strange to be a witness of. Despite my ability to maintain composure, my Fulkari associate wasn’t so like me in the current state she found herself in. Being so tipsy caused her to nearly shout out in raw shock at the fact. As she spoke, it was slurred and unfiltered due to the unnerving amounts of alcohol in her system.
“You married a Lithoid? As a small and fragile Kriviska?! Wouldn’t that lead to some very dangerous situations, like being crushed by the big guy's weight?” I turned to glare at Kazzi, trying to shut her up from this drinking sprawl she seemed to invite with her comment. My glare didn’t have so much of the same effect as before. She seemed to have a bit more resistance to my influence due to the increased effect of her alcohol intake. I should have stopped her sooner, but decided against it since Kazzi needed some relief after the attack. I was beginning to regret that decision even more than before…
Zikee seemed to sigh an annoyed sigh, likely having this conversation many times before. “No… it doesn’t. We Kriviska’s don’t have as fragile exoskeletons as theories believe. Our kind developed in a high gravity world after all! I could bench press Bocc on certain low gravity worlds. Admittedly there are very few where that could happen, but they do exist! Not to mention that I love Bocc, they’re a joy to have around. A shy and gentle giant who’s all but the most tender with little ones. They’re my husband because I love them for who they are. They’re a loving soul despite the hardened exterior they have.” She turned to look at Bocc as she spoke, looking at them with a sense of compassion and devotion that I considered rare to see.
Bocc had a vocalizer attachment, one which allowed them to speak to others freely. Using the electrical signals in their rock brain to operate the machine and speak as needed. “My goal is to be the best I can be… For her. She deserves as much for all she does for me.” He said in a heartfelt tone of conviction. One which caused the Kriviska to turn her head in embarrassment. “Oh stop it you.” She teased, waving one of her arms at him in a dismissive manner, chuckling all the while.
“Seems like you two are really close and trust each other. Can I ask how you two met?” I asked, wanting to know the story to these two. It’s not every day that I find such an interesting duo like the one before me. Bocc seemed to respond on their behalf, “We met years ago when we fell on hard times. We met at a restaurant where I was working, and she was eating at the time. I decided to strike up a conversation after work and it ended up leading me to ask her out. We had our ups and downs, but we pushed through because of the understanding we share. Not to mention, despite our incompatibility in terms of physical appearances, we were never concerned with. We cared about each other because of who we were, not because of any other desires. We wanted to be with one another, because… We just love each other.”
… I was surprised to find such an outlandish couple to be one of the most wholesome I’ve ever seen. “But what about-” Kazzi began to ask before I shut her lips myself with my claws. Kazzi was about to ask something vulgar, and I refused to let her alcohol-ridden system ruin something so pure. The adoration in Zikee’s compound eyes was evident to the devotion she had for Bocc. “As long as we have each other, we’re complete. No matter what else we lose…”
Zikee’s comment left open many interpretations to be made, as the last part was spoken solemnly. As such, it led me to ask the question, “You were part of the evacuation of Fojhiam too, right?”
The two froze up for a moment, before turning back to me. They laid still and motionless as the thick air was left to permeate the surroundings of our booth. From their silence, a thousand words were spoken. It was clear that these two were very much victims like us, victims of tragedy and loss. As hundreds of billions of people lost connection with the wider galaxy. The whole event is almost taboo to speak on, despite us being witness to it. The two of them seemed hesitant to speak up, not wanting to confirm anything right yet. Despite the heavy air, and the stoic expressions they tried to wear, I could feel the heavy emotion radiate from them both. I was going to say something, but Bocc spoke first, their mechanical voice a product of the machine they spoke through.
“We were able to escape on a Jasvikan Superyacht. It was luck that was on our side for such a wealthy individual to permit us entry without leaving. I guess there are good people no matter the walk of life they take.” Bocc said, giving a general idea of his opinion of wealthy individuals. But what my attention gravitated to during their whole exposition was the ship they escaped on… the one that-.
“Oh, you escaped on my ship!” Kazzi spoke up, saying the statement with a drunken burp. I swear this Fulkari is going to be the death of me. The two were shocked at the idea, sitting before the owner of the ship that led them to safety. Zikee was completely stunned by the claim and stuttered to respond. “Y-You’re telling me… T-That you’re the owner of the Jaskivan yacht?! That’s insane! You must enjoy browsing the exotic side of the market! Regardless of the ship itself, you have no idea how grateful I am for you saving us!” She scuttered over to Kazzi to go about shaking her hand and conveying appreciation. The Fulkari woman was able to at bare minimum reply with equal appreciation, even if her words were slurred.
It was amusing to see, but turning to Bocc on the other side gave a completely different look. Something that seemed like a crack in the sort of shy and stoic personality which Zikee advertised. Their tone was one of barely contained anger, shrouded in annoyance. “So… were you the one that flew the ship? Or was it someone else?” Why he was asking that made me unnerved and concerned for my safety. I was the one who piloted the ship and did so in a way which tossed a few folks around, despite the prime conditions of the gravity generators. Was Bocc tossed about, and bitter about the condition that I inflicted upon him with my flying?
Kazzi was dismissive of the claim made by the T’ccoj, which caused the attention of the lithoid to shift onto me. T’ccoj’s didn’t have any sort of face, let alone a head. Despite this inability to convey emotion in a traditional manner, I could see in the way the Bocc composed himself that they were ticked off over something. “Was it you then?” They asked me, with a glare despite not having eyes. It terrified me to answer truthfully, because I was the helm throughout that whole escape. I was once a military man, serviced upon a warship during the outbreak of the GA-Foretold War. Even during the days of service, a loose cannon was the best way to describe my performance at the helm. For better or for worse, I was one to fly in a manner that could only contribute to great insanity.
Flying which seemed to be a major tick in the metaphysical eyes of the T’ccoj before me. I twiddled my claws as I struggled to respond. However, my reaction was enough to provide more than enough evidence to my role during the escape. Evidence which was swiftly examined by the Lithoid, and which attributed to the T’ccoj slamming the robotic appendages they possessed onto the table in aggression. They stood in place as they brought a claw to point directly at my face as they spoke in a tone which clearly cited their annoyance. “Do you have any sort of awareness of how your flying strains the reactor?! I was needing to evacuate the powerplant because of the dangerous conditions that the reactor was reaching with the overclocking that you set upon the suffering machine! Yes, you got us out of that nightmare, but you in turn caused me to experience one in turn! Do you have any idea of how devastating it is as a reactor technician to watch such a tremendously important machine be abused by such reckless flying?!”
Kazzi and Zikee both exchanged glances as they coward away from the seething lithoid, Bocc was creating a bit of a scene with the passion behind their anger. I was able to piece together the story in my mind relatively quickly. Bocc was without doubt the one on the other end of the call that I had during the evacuation. Calling the power plant to prepare for the overclock when I did. It makes much more sense now, considering my actions did cause major stress upon the Prestigious Vow’s framework. I began to speak in a last ditch effort to explain myself to the T’ccoj.
“Bocc, please understand that anything less than the extremes that I was pushing upon the ship wouldn’t have gotten us through the warp gate the way we did. I did what I needed to in order to prevent any contact with enemy missiles, and pass through the warp gate through the collapse. I’m sorry for the stress I put on the ship, but there wouldn’t be a ship if I did anything less.” I stated, causing the T’ccoj to flinch for a moment. I could tell from the way Bocc held itself that they understood that I was right. Despite agreeing with me, they shivered in aggravated annoyance with me for my reckless piloting.
The Lithoid grunted and begrudgingly slumped back into their seat. They held their hands up to the peak of their torso, like how one would palm their face with their hands. Despite not having a head, it was clear whatever was in its place for Bocc was hung low. A great disdain was ever present, but one whose initial prominence was substituted with a current sulking. “That poor reactor…” I heard muffled by the T’ccoj as they struggled to cope with the damage to the machine. I could tell without doubt that this reactor technician took their position very seriously, almost viewing the reactor system as an extension of themselves.
Zikee seemed to scutter to her lithoid partner and rest a claw upon their shoulder, giving them comfort as they seemed to wallow in misery at the condition of the ship. I won’t lie, whilst it got out of the evacuation the least banged up, that meant very little considering all the other ships. Some of those husks shouldn’t have been flying, but they hung within the drydocks of the station, waiting to either be taken to repair yards or scrap yards alike. Most couldn’t afford to repair them like Kazzi, as such I anticipated many of them to be scrapped. That was probably something that ached the lithoid.
“You seem to have a great love and reverence for these kinds of things. Technology is something that you adore isn’t it?” I asked, garnering the attention of the T’ccoj. “Indeed so,” Bocc replied not soon after. “It’s technology that has allowed my people to become a true civilization. To be able to survive for more than a few simple fleeting hours. We exist as a testament to the wonders that such technology provides, as such I feel indebted to the machines that encompass the everyday lives of those loyal to the Assembly. I want to one day understand every modern technological marvel, to one day become more than a reactor technician and become a true inventor.”
I felt a sense of warmth at the rather pure dream, and huffed in amusement before properly speaking. “Your passion for this goal will attest to it coming to reality. I wish you well in achieving it.” The lithoid seemed to appreciate my words of affirmation, and shifted to a much less stiff composure. Bocc sighed synthetically through their vocalizer, before looking back at me to respond. “Thank you for such supporting words Kovvak. I’m… I’m sorry for speaking the way I did. Even though it was a personal reason, it was still unacceptable for me to speak so brashly.”
“That’s quite alright,” I added. “We can all lose sight of what’s important when clouded by heavy emotion. I’m sorry for the reckless flying, but at least you’re here to curse me for it now rather than being cursed to walk through the next life alone, right?” The Lithoid only chuckled at my words. “You are most correct. Maybe I gave you too little credit before… I’m glad to be shown otherwise now.”
“I have that effect on people.” I speak in a joking manner, one which warrants a laugh from Zikee and Bocc. Kazzi said nothing, blacking out rather easily after the alcohol in her system finally took control. I could only sigh at the Fulkari woman… She’s going to really need my help handling such a prominent hangover once all is said and done-
“Everyone listen,” I hear someone speak up from the bar. Causing my train of thought to shift tracks towards the source of the commotion. I wasn’t the only one to have their gaze pulled to this new source, Zikee and Bocc also did the same. The Kraviska hoisting herself to look over the back of the seat towards the bar, and the T’ccoj having their robotic eye lift up without having to move themselves. Kazzi is still blackout drunk from all the alcoholic influence she was subjected to at the moment.
What was a simple conversation between strangers turned into a strange situation as the bartender moved their appendage to show a remote, one with had their eyes fully trained on as they poked away at numerous buttons. The remote was one for the televisions, as they shifted to switch to CCNN, the Core Central News Network. The tv volumes also increased to ensure that this was the main attention grabber in the room. Whilst that was the case, I also looked outside to find that many of the overhead televisions and other such devices were being changed to shift to what seemed like breaking news. The CCNN showed their host news anchor speaking on the GA council head. The representatives of each of the Elder species of the entire organization were present. Each one standing before a podium being recorded by the camera which was transmitting across all channels. This was a PSA, a majorly important PSA given the presence of such important people being presented.
Already I knew well what this was about. After all, practically everyone here in the establishment was a victim of the tragedy. Majority on the station were all there on Fojhiam as it fell. Not everyone in the universe knew however. There were still many worlds in the GA, among outreaches that took around a full day of travel to achieve. The GA would only ever make announcements like this under certain conditions and never anything less.
All instances pertaining to massively influential events. Almost all of them are related to disasters…
The woman who stood in the middle podium was tall and lanky. A Svenoiraq, one of the eight founding species, and chairwoman of the galactic assembly’s council chambers. With three long and spindly fingers holding down firmly at the edges of the podium, her pale white skin glistened against the fabric backdrop of the set. A long neck and pale flat face, adorned with four binocular eyes and a vertical mouth. Chairman Ryu was the most powerful in the GA, and her presence at the PSA conference was no mistake.
“My fellow sapients”, she spoke in a calculated manner, with little emotion in her voice. Her eyes glazed over with an almost lifeless expression, magnified only by her monotone voice. “18 hours, 56 minutes, and fourteen seconds ago, we of the GA high command received an alert regarding unregistered fleet activity in the Fulkari home system. An unknown fleet of an origin that is both mysterious and obvious all the same. Before you, shall be shown what little footage we managed to recover from one of the military vessels that escaped the carnage. I beg you to avert the eyes of your children.”
A Holographic display formed behind the Elders, one that provided the perspective of a ship camera. Raw and unedited footage based on the condition of the camera. A small display was provided in the corner to monitor activity on a diverse and extensive sensor grid. One which remained inactive for what seemed like a concerning amount of time. It was choking with the amount of mental strain this silence caused. In all but a single nanosecond, the display shifted to show the sensor grid flaring alarming all about as a literal supernova worth of activity just spawned… instantaneously, lights flared and sensors went awry with panic. The sensor display on the left showed the size of the active Fulkari fleet compared to that of the enemy that just materialized in the system. And the difference was that of night and day. The Fulkari defenders all but a single atom to the cell of power that was the black fleet. It didn’t matter that those black ships seemed unshielded, the sheer amount of them was more than enough to overpower the Fulkari.
The camera gave all the more unease, as instantly, light from distant stars appeared almost snuffed from reality as the mass of forces blotted any room for light to weave through. Faint lights were visible, which conveyed a sense of primal hatred. Hatred with seared through space like hawking radiation from all but the smallest of singularities. This was only then followed by battle footage, of the enemy forces punched through the stationed defensive craft with beams of terrible firepower. Invisible powers that caused massive explosions upon the defending craft, grilling anyone unfortunate enough to not immediately die. All but a second later was all that it took for the camera to finally be struck, the station that it was attached to likely receiving critical damage. Footage only received by the crews working hastily to escape with all the data they could.
That was all that was recovered from the military craft, all we had as to the source of the Black fleet. A clue with no trail, a lead with no start… but despite the mysterious air to the whole situation, the source of this attack was as obvious as the light of day. With the chairwoman speaking up, the silence was much less heavy than a few seconds before.
“This recording received from one of the surviving members of the planetary Garrison was nowhere near enough to receive a definitive claim on who assaulted the Fulkari territories. As the ships which by all accounts seem to be AI automated, are unheard of in our collective spaces but the most likely theory is what we all suspect. My fellow sapients, such technology is foreign to us, outside of GA jurisdiction and influence. No force could be built within our space without our noticing, and such technology to simply appear in a fixed point in space exists in our collective. There’s only one source we can possibly theorize is the source of this attack. Until any further evidence is presented in spite of the assumption, it’s very much likely that The Foretold Survived… And have bided their time building up these mechanical forces.
“Such a theory, whilst unfounded, is terrifying to reminisce on, especially considering the implications. They were already dangerous without their hostilities to the GA… now more than ever we face a threat of an even greater magnitude. One that is to meet in full force… As such, we of the high council call upon the members of the GA to begin preparations to re-enter wartime production and prepare for total War. Now more than ever we must be ready, for time is no longer on our side.”
It certainly wasn’t…
…
I can’t help but think of how this is a fate that we’ve inflicted upon ourselves… do we really deserve this?
Maybe…

I'm sure I'm beating a dead horse here, but there's so many articles and sites and resources that I really don't know where to turn or what to trust and follow. I know th3 calculators are generalized calculations but i dont know what to pick for TDEE. I've been told it's just better to pick light or moderate but I also don't want to lose... I (M28 -170 lbs) want to maintain this weight. I go to the gym 5 days a week and burn anywhere from 1200- 1900 on those days while walking 10k+ steps. On my off days i still walk 10k+ steps and stationary bike for about an hour, burning about 600-800 cal. I don't know what to do for my TDEE to maintain weight. I currently keep my cal intake between 1600-1900. I feel like I should be eating more and feel hungry, but was a BIG BOI (305 lbs) and have worked really hard to get to this that I don't want to ruin it. I don't really want to consult a dietician/ nutritionist, but if that's what needs to happen then that's that I guess. Any suggestions? I know this is more loaded than a texas roadhouse baked potato and there may be other things at play, like my relationship with food, that needs to be mended. Really, any outside advice would be appreciated. Been doing this on my own for little over a year now and just feel stuck.

I’ve recently added a few new supplements. The labels of course have some guidance, but I’m guessing depending on your overall supplement intake and diet, it may vary on the best timing for each.
My latest list and timing for each.
Nicotinamide Vitamin B-3 (morning) Youththeory Ashwagandha (morning) Youththeory Collagen (morning) Nature Made - multi vitamin for him (lunch) Sports Research Triple Strength Omega 3 Fish Oil (lunch) Magnesium Glycinate (after dinner)
The magnesium, collagen and fish oil are new to my daily supplement intake.
I also take a pre workout supplement stack I mix together with water that consist of… Beta Alanine - 6 grams L-Arginine - 3 grams L-Citrulline - 6 grams Creatine - 5 grams
I add a l scoop ish of optimum nutrition amino energy for flavor and a little caffeine (125mg) . I usually workout mid afternoon.
After my workout I have 50gm of whey protein powder mixed with a 1 1/2 cups of 2% milk
Would appreciate any recommendations on the timing for the daily supplements.

First of all, this is not magic, it's hard work and dedication. So if you're not ready to work your ass off don't even bother to read further.
Now that everything is clear, let's start.
-Nutrition: You must be on a bulking diet, search on the internet for a tdee calculator and calculate your maintenance daily calorie intake and once you have the number you'll up your calorie intake between 300-1000 calories depending on your body complexity, meaning the harder it is for you to gain weight or the skinnier you are the more calories you'll need. Eating enough macronutrients and micronutrients it's essential for an ideal growth, especially protein, you must eat between 1 - 1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight. You must have an ideal micronutrients balance too, that's why having a healthy well balanced diet is key. Your meals should consist of a high protein source, a high carbohydrate source and a high fat source, eat vegetables and fruits too.
-Suplements: First you should take them if you're deficient in any micronutrient. Vitamin D3 is very important too if you're not able to take the sun, doses can go anywhere from 2000-5000 units of daily vitamin D3.
-Sleep: Sleep is very important too, during sleep your body secrets growth hormone which is essential for growrh, thereby the better quality sleep you have the more growth hormone you'll syntezise. To have the best quality sleep you'll have to sleep ideally between 8-9 hours although it can alternate from person to person, but the best way to ensure that you sleep enough is sleeping always at around the same hour, no more than an hour difference, you should wake up without an alarm and wake up naturally, not waking up in the middle of the night by not drinking too much water before sleep and not drinking water after your last piss before bedtime, not ingesting more than 200mg of caffeine after 6 hours before bedtime, and finally become relaxed and calm before bedtime by, meditating and emptying your mind, drinking an herbal infusion, sleeping in a warm environment and breathing through your nose inhaling for 5 seconds, maintaining for 1-2 seconds and exhaling for another 5 seconds.
-Gym: Although many argue against it believing it stunts growth they couldn't be further from the truth, actually there's been showed that weight training improves height growth. For a good weight training schedule search in YouTube for the best exercises and for tecnique form, anything you need.
-Streching: Look on YouTube for a full body streching routine which will take you about 30-45 minutes everyday. This will elongate and relax your muscle and tendons which are attached to your bones, that way they won't be pulling on your bones and compressing them.
-Strech Bed: This is one of Rustam Akhmetov methods of growing taller. The set-up is really simple, you'll have to attach an elastic band to the end of your bed with anklets attached to the band and another one to the other end of your bed pulling from your shoulders, therefore the two bands will be pulling from your feet and your shoulders elongating your bones, joints and vertebrae. It's Wolf's law, which says that you can change bone structure through applied force to the bones, just like some african tribes elongate their neck with rings pushing their head up or rings that they put in their cranium to make their cranium longer. Search for Rustam Akhmetov method and Wolf's Law for further doubts.
-Hanging: You'll have to hang with your hands from a bar and letting your body relax and strech, you could do it too with a pair of antigravity boots hanging from a bar if it's more comfortable. Do it 3 times everyday hanging for 1 minute every time.
-Exercises: Jumping, running, swimming and riding a bicycle or static bicycle. Jump 2 times a day as high as you can for 50-100 times every time. Run, swim and riding a bicycle 2-3 days a week in high intensity intervals doing 5 intervals of 20-30 seconds at maximum intensity every interval. Except for swimming. Running, jumping and riding a bicycle are compressing exercises, so you'll ask yourself why do them if they don't elongate and strech the body, it's quite simple, compressing the body causes the body to regenerate more bone cells because of the micro damages that compressing the body causes.
-Hormones: You should get tested to know what levels are your hormones are and do what's necessary to get them in range if they're not. Once you have your hormones in range there are ways of growing taller through hormone therapy. Testosterone will help you grow taller, you could take natural test boosters or take endogenous testosterone. Endogenous testosterone could make your estrogen levels to raise which would close your growth plates, so taking antiestrogens would prevent your growth plates from closing. Endogenous growth hormone is going to increase your height through increased cell count, somatropin or Mk-677 will increase growth hormone. Another powerful hormone to increase height is Igf-1, which is insulin growth factor hormone, you can increase igf-1 levels using Igf1-lr3. Be carefull using this endogenous hormones, you could harm yourself without the right knowledge, so educate yourself and do your due diligence before getting into this side of height growth. It's not required to do this to get taller, you'll still become taller with the other steps. IT'S NOT MANDATORY TO DO THIS
Keep in mind that the younger you are, the better results you will have. You should start this height growth journey in your teenage years but don't have too big expectations, this takes time and consistency. Doing everything the guide says would realistically make you grow anywhere from 5-10 cm per year but would would diminish after the first year, and the most results you could see after 3-5 years of following this guide would be between 20-25 cm maximum.

I am posting given my experience and feel I owe the community as I may have checked into a mental institution (literally - not saying facetiously) without it.
In early October of 2023 I had a twitch in my right thigh, it came and went for about a week. Twitches weren't new to me as I've had them time to time in a similar way in different places.
Within a week, I had them everywhere - I calculated about 60,000 times per day at the peak, from my toes to my eyelids and also mycolonus kicks started.
My PCP tested for everything non-neurological, full blood mock up looking for mineral diffencies and blood. He explained later that he was screening for cancer and hypoparathyroiddism. I couldn't get a neuro appt for 6 months. He tried to have me use hydroxyzine and then prescribed sertraline (Zoloft), both had a calming effect and reduced symptoms but they haven't been eliminated (still occur daily). I also went through the 'jello' phase of my legs and cramps. But, I believe in hindsight it was related to the twitching volumes -i.e. exhausted muscles.
I finally got to the neuro - Johns Hopkins trained for med school & residency (I live in MD) - after 6 months (acknowledging ALS was highly unlikely). He shared a few things that may be worth exploring beyond the traditional magnesium review. He tested me for all these too. Low B12 is a must review because low B12 can cause this in rare cases. He also noted its uncommon, but he tested for lymes disease too. He also tested a far more comprehensive blood panel to screen for more rare cancers that he said the pcp didn't screen for (multiple myeloma - leukemia - for example). He also tested for autoimmune diseases, which a PCP can order. I share this because you can review these proactively with your doctor. The doctor put me through a full eval and found no other obvious symptoms but then (scaring me obviously) said we needed to do a nerve conduction study and EMG (and he tested for Creatine Kinase - another thing a pcp can quickly order to assist screening for ALS) since I was twitching like this rhythmically 6 months later. He saw the clear twitches throughout the entire process including his visual inspection but the studies showed clean nerves and muscles and he ruled out ALS. All the blood work came back fine and he diagnosed me formally with BFS. He told me to take a daily magensium and B12 supplement on top of a multivitamin. Also, he noted caffeine and especially nicotine (I don't smoke) or adderal/amphetamines can make them worse.
Long story short, this has been miserable and terrible for mental health, and I wish I went to a neuro as fast as possible. I regret not calling in every favor from anyone I know for sanity reasons. If that isn't available to you, you can push your medical provider for a full blood panel to rule out other things (mine told me many of these weren't possible to cause these - lymes for example- and my neuro said he was wrong).
Please reach out to me if you need any help including someone to talk to. I'm also happy to share with you the full blood panel that the neuro and the pcp tested for.
Thanks again to this community.

Hi all. 27, Male, 5'8", 193Lbs, White
The Backstory:
Starting early March, I started getting extremely lightheaded at the gym. I knew there was some expectation of lightheadedness since I train relatively hard (powerlifting + heavy body building sets, frequent train to failure / RPE 10 if you're familiar with those terms), however, one particular day mid-set, my vision went completely blurry, I smelled blood/iron (although it could have literally have been the bar that was just in my hands) and went ice cold. I was 100% confident I was about to pass out but I completely came to, and with some dizziness and jitteriness, I was able to calm down and leave the gym. I went back home, was feeling better, a buddy invited me out for late lunch/drinks and I started feeling better once the drink hit. I took a break for the gym, and went for another gym session about a week and a half later, and something similar but not as serious happened on a high-rep, low weight bench press set. I think it was a final back off set of 95lbs until failure, which ended up being around 25-27 reps. Once I sat up from the bench, I was completely lightheaded and dizzy, and had to go sit down as I felt like I was about to pass out again. This was St Patricks day, and I went out with my buddy again, but this time I was feeling fine and enjoyed the rest of the day. I took a longer hiatus from the gym at this point.
Starting Mar 23rd, I started feeling "off" on my drive out to a car show. Once I was there, after about a 4 hour drive, I started experiencing dizziness inducing anxiety. I couldn't really describe it, but it was something I had experienced before so I recognized it as anxiety. Most common trigger was a face-to-face interaction with a person. No idea why this was a trigger, but it's happened before. On Mar 26th, the symptoms got way worse and the resulting anxiety caused tremendous panic attacks. I started feeling off mid-day at work. I started my drive home where something felt so out of place, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I was driving tremendously slow, and a panic attack started settling in. With my previous gym experience, I was considering low blood sugar. so I made it to an urgent care. Once I got there, and this may have been a result of the anxiety, but I couldn't think straight or form any sentences properly. I was completely forgetting words and stuck in a brain fog. They gave me a finger stick and it came back normal (99). They ended up doing a full blood panel and everything came back normal with the exception of elevated triglycerides (202mg/dl). I ended up leaving my car at the urgent care, and after I was feeling calm, I got a ride to go get my car. During this car ride and driving my car back, I felt extremely dizzy. I still felt out of place, super dehydrated, heavy eyes, and head pressure. The few days leading up to the 26th, and for a week or 2 after, I was chugging water like no tomorrow. I normally am very bad at keeping myself hydrated, but I was knocking down almost 3L per day as if it wasn't enough.
First stop after this was seeing an ENT. I've had BPPV in the past, so some sort of vertigo was my first guess. The ENT said I had no congestion and showed no other signs, i.e. perfectly healthy. He recommended a neurologist. I then saw my PCP and he recommended SSRI's. I did not take the SSRI's, but he did also prescribe me 30 days of 0.5mg xanax, which for a short time I was taking up to 0.25mg max per day as needed. He also recommended a neurologist. I went to the neurologist who ordered a brain MRI, which came back normal.
One extra bit of information, in the first week of March, I purchased a used mini fridge for my bedroom. Around early/mid April, I got a whiff of refrigerant after opening the fridge for the first time in about a week or 2. I used a refrigerant leak detector and it picked up a leak, so I discarded the fridge entirely. It seems symptoms started to improve after this, but it's been about a month at this point.
As well, prior to this, I was taking supplements. I am now taking none of this. They were:

• 150mg KSM-66 (Ashwagandha) - Per Day (I've heard of people having anxiety spells after stopping KSM-66)
• 5mg Creatine - Per Day
• 5000IU D3 - Per Day
• 1000mcg B12 - Per Day
• Multivitamin (Vit A 450mcg, Vit C 67.5 mg, Vit D 25 mcg, Vit E 15mg, Niacin 16mg, Vitamin B6 1.3mg, Folate 400mcg, Vitamin B12 6mcg, Biotin 3 mcg, Zinc 5.5mg, Chromium 35mcg, Fish Oil 227mg) - Per Day
• Daily caffeine intake 200-500mg (via monster energy drinks)

In Summary:
I can't drive as a result of some sort of dizziness. Some days are perfectly normal, but most days, the dizziness often triggers anxiety. If there's no dizziness, there's no anxiety. I've been working from home since Mar 26th, and stopped my 2nd job of driving uber eats. Sometimes I can drive myself to the gym and have a lighter workout and it sets the tone for a better day and have been able to drive. Otherwise, I'm usually a passenger to do what I need to do. Some days that have felt better, I've gone for 20-30 minute trips, just for the next day to not be able to make it up the block without a dizziness inducing panic attack. Sometimes it just feels like general anxiety and taking the xanax as mentioned before does help, but sometimes it has little to no affect. I've had the "off" feeling but the xanax made me simply not freak out about it.
Despite the ENT saying there's no congestion, I had been feeling constant congestion. I started using flonase to clear my sinuses and feel like I can breathe. However, even with that, I still feel a pressure in my sinuses and forehead, dry/heavy eyes, and what seems like a breathing restriction, as like I'm breathing through a straw. I can take deep breaths through my mouth just fine.
I'm feeling that my dizzy spells are either related to sinuses or lack of oxygen of some sort, and I'm running out of ideas because my life has been completely flipped upside down. I was feeling good yesterday, but as of this afternoon, I had wanted to go grab lunch but I had the super heavy feeling in my head, and once I got into my car, even before driving, the dizziness started kicking in so I ended up ordering in and writing this post instead. It sounds like the simple answer is "it's just anxiety", but I genuinely feel something else is wrong, and I'm running out of places to check.
In terms of the sinusitis symptoms, I have had consistently:

• Fatigue (I started off by sleeping a LOT more, knocking out at 4/5pm, now regardless of fatigue I can't sleep or can't stay asleep)
• Headache
• Pressure in the face/behind the eyes/heavy eyes
• Nasal stuffiness

Occasionally:

• Cough
• Sore throat

I also had COVID for the first time in December '23. Home test showed the faintest line, so I went to urgent care where rapid came back negative and PCR came back positive. I had no symptoms, I only tested due to a request of elderly visiting for Christmas. I am not vaccinated.

Hi! I've calculated my daily calorie intake via a couple of websites but I'm not sure if they are legit
345lbs 26 year old male 6'4
Also if I were to start strength training when I'm that big would it help build muscles in the long run? Sorry if those are obvious questions hahaha
Edit: I'm also doing cardio via treadmill 10 minutes a day 4.4km an hour

27M 6'3" SW:317 CW:233 GW:217? 199?
So my town has a weekly bicycle ride that is just one big party, for me it's a 36 mile round trip. Tacos, Alcohol and bicycles, basically the highlight of my week all summer in the past. I've lost almost 85lbs since last fall and haven't been one to "eat back" exercise calories during that time, but since the ride started up this year I'm trying out using it as a "cheat day".
I'm still tracking every calorie. I'm still being mindful, still choosing lower calorie drinks and such, but it looks like the 36 miles of cycling actually does successfully offset the intake at least on paper.
Yesterday, my calorie goal was ~1700 calories, I blew it out of the water at almost 3300 calories with tacos and seltzers. While I know fitness gadgets have a bad habit of overestimating calories, every calculator and estimate for bicycling easily puts calories burned for the 36 miles at 12mph at or above 1600. This lines up with what Apple reports from the workout.
Maybe I'll be back here to report that it derailed everything. I'm hoping the balance does work out and I get to enjoy this event like I want to. Anyone have experience to share?

I'm thinking about transitioning from a 'normal' diet to a carnivore diet because I can't bear my skin itching anymore.
I've started doing some math, and I feel like I'll be hungry. In my diet plan, should I keep the same calorie intake in my daily consumption?
Currently, I'm (M) 66 kg/145 lbs, and my intake is around 2500 kcal (I've been maintaining this for a while).

• Total Calories: 2559 kcal
• Total Protein: 139.5 g
• Total Fat: 63.7 g
• Total Carbohydrates: 361 g

How much should I eat? I've read that I need around 150-200 g of protein. If I target my intake to 210 g of protein, I'll be eating in weight about half of what I currently eat.
Is that right? Any tips or calculations?

Hi folks I’m new here and just wanted to share my plan with you, get some feedback, and maybe start a habit of documenting my experience on this subreddit.
Quick rundown of my background / reasons: I have a very difficult relationship to food and had horrible eating habits for all of my life. Always struggle with creating a good food system and not really enjoying food all that much. I figured that going for pure liquid food will allow me easy control of my calorie and nutrition intake.
I’m 25, 1,90cm, and weigh 98kg. No physical activity, job requires sitting at desk all day.
My plan is to go for ~2.000 calories per day (my baseline calculates to around 2.5000 calories) by using a mix of huel & huel black powder version. My order currently consists of 9 bags of 17 400cal servings for 153 servings = ~5 servings per day for a month.
As far as the psychological aspect I am 100% not worried because it won’t be an actual “negative” in my mind. I don’t care about food and will happily drink my shakes per day. Also have no problem socializing with people at restaurants without eating myself, absolutely not worried about that part.
My only concern is my lack of real knowledge about the nutritional risks etc. of switching to this. While I am educating myself as much as possible and will have doctor check ups etc. to monitor my health I’d love to get some info from people with more knowledge.
Also to be clear, I’m pretty much planning to do this as long as I can do it. There is no “1 year challenge” or anything like that, as I don’t really think it will be a challenge for me to do this. But if health problems arise I’ll obviously have to stop 😅.
Thanks for reading 👍

Hello everyone! I've tried to keep this post as organized as possible, I am sorry if it is too much or too little and am happy to correct it as needed.
I am concerned about the upward trajectory of my dogs weight and am looking for advice on what more we can adjust to keep him healthy!
Species: Dog
Age: 6
Sex/Neuter status: Chemical castration in March 2024 ( decision for aggression issues after adopting him and trying to train his behavior for ~2 years )
Breed: Not fully known, his previous family thought havanese/chinese crested mix, we think maybe maltese mix of some kind.
Body weight: 7kg
History: Before chemical castration it was difficult to keep him on a regular food schedule, he was picky but he maintained a healthy approved weight ranging from 6 to 6.5kg - vet was happy with this weight. At the time of his castration, he was 6.3kg - this was maintained across about 2 or 3 weeks at the time and is a good representation of his usual weight. After chemical castration, his focus on food skyrocketed so that he began to gobble down each meal - we broke his meals into smaller parts and began measuring more exactly, starting with 35g per meal. He now eats four small scheduled meals a day, using a puzzle feeder to slow him down.
Clinical signs: Idk if this is a clinical sign but I'll put this here. His weight has been slowly climbing. He is now 7kg, and his waist line is filling out and his ribs are less easy to feel.
Duration: 3 months
Your general location: Norway
Additional Info:

• After various online studying, I learned about Resting Energy Requirement and calculated his to be 370.65 kilocalories per day for his 6.5kg weight.
• We noticed his weight on an upward trend in April when we checked him and saw he'd gone up to 6.7, and made the decision to reduce his meals from 35g/meal, and reduce snacks such as treats or rawhide.
• We have now cut down his food intake to 30g per meal, four times a day, after he went up to 7kg. For treats he get bits of his daily food intake instead of other treats, and maybe a tiny bit of carrot or broccoli sometimes.
• After about a week, he has stayed at 7kg but I don't know how fast or slow weight loss or gain is.
• He weighs 7kg now, and he goes on 3 20 minute walks per day.
• His food is 3651 kcal / kg.
• What should I do to reach his target weight? Do you cut calories a lot? Do you increase them again when he reaches it?
• I am very worried about him becoming very overweight and we want to do our best to prevent any more weight gain that could become very unhealthy.
• His food: https://en.monsterpetfood.com/product/monster-grain-free-singles-lamb
• He is scheduled to see the vet again for a follow-up on the castration implant, but that's still a couple months out. I thought I would ask here for advice before deciding to try asking for a sooner appointment!

Side view: https://i.imgur.com/iaPdgvD.jpeg
Top view: https://i.imgur.com/4Kgm7do.png
Cute view: https://i.imgur.com/vnWOsap.jpeg
His fur is a little longer than we usually keep it now, too, so I'm not fully relying on visual indicators in noticing his weight gain this month.

I’m not new to weight loss but I’ve just started OMAD today. I don’t eat most mornings anyway and I’m scheduling meal time around 5-6pm. From around 2-4pm I really start getting hungry. How do I move past that??
Just to talk about my journey a bit, I’m a 5’5, 22F that started at 200 lbs 8 months ago and I’m now at 165. Looking to get down to 145 by September, as that’ll mark a year since I started my weight loss. Honestly, Ive just winged it up until today. No calorie counting. Just a complete clean up of my diet and adding strength training and cardio 4-5 days a week. I’m now starting to take accountability for my caloric intake, I’ve calculated my TDEE. I wanna see some final big changes. I’ve been stuck at 165 since March :(

DISCLAIMER : I forgot to add it to the title but this post is about HRT in Transpeople taking Estradiol and other feminizing medication.
Hello people im fairly new to everything HRT and will start soon myself! Feel free to note any mistakes i may have made :)
So i have been reading A LOT about a good amount of topics that include factors that influence the Breast Development and there are quite as much confusing and contradicting information, which is obviously frustrating, not only to me, but to a lot of People!
The one thing that was clear, was the lack of information, in studies aswell as in posts in this or other subreddits. We cant influence the studies, make them faster or even have the necessary rescources to conduct our own, but we can definitly influence the amount of information given to each other!
Many posts asking about feminization in HRT, especially in combination with Progesteron, often lack crucial infromation to the specific situations. We dont have any studies supporting which factors exactly contribute to the different mechanisms, but having a good amount of Factors for every Person posting here could give us all a bigger picture and maybe help with every single ones situation, even tho its anecdotally it may still help!
Noones memory is perfect, every bit of Information can help!!!
Also note that all of the following information is what i found, tried to understand and put into context or explain the importance. Im not a doctor and CANNOT give medical advice. Im just trying to theorize about this topic and maybe be able to filter out what can help!

1. Antiandrogen usage (and possible dangers?)

Specifically Spironolactone, an Antiandronegen, is suspected to decrease Breast Size (to be exacty : happiness with breast size). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23055547/
Finding exact reasons for that is extremely difficult and while researching i didnt find ANY other study supporting this claim, even tho beeing reposted here and in other subs over and over again.
The Level of contradiction only rises in prospect of the apparent enlargment of breasts in female patients using Spironolactone.
"Breast enlargement and tenderness may occur in 26% of women at high doses"
is stated on the Wikipedia article on Spironolactone ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spironolactone ) and an article is linked as source ( https://www.eurekaselect.com/article/128779 ) that i sadly couldnt access.
As seen in Spironolactone, its extremely unclear what exactly contributes to breast development. Contradicting or unfounded claims seem to rule over general discussion about this topic, but from what i found, Spironolactone does not decrease breast size.
Even though it is agreed upon that lowering Testosterone is crucial for feminization (like breast development), i could not find any rescources to where the Testosterone levels should go. There doesnt even seem to be a general understanding how testosterone exactly influences breast development, the general consensus seemingly beeing that testosterone levels should be low with no exact point where to go, though it is advised to reach the "normal" female level of "testosterone 30 – 100 ng/dl; E2 <200 pg/ml" as stated in "The Practical Guidelines for Transgender Hormone Treatment" https://www.bumc.bu.edu/endo/clinics/transgender-medicine/guidelines/
For many Lowering Testosterone by Estradiol Monotherapy seems to work better and decreases intake of different medications, which is generally preferably, not only in hrt. In order to supress testosterone with exclusively with estradiol, estradiol levels starting form around 200pg/mL are needed.
"studies in cisgender men and transfeminine people have found that estradiol levels of around 200 pg/mL (734 pmol/L) suppress testosterone levels by about 90% on average (to ~50 ng/dL [1.7 nmol/L]), while estradiol levels of around 500 pg/mL (1,840 pmol/L) suppress testosterone levels by about 95% on average (to ~20–30 ng/dL [0.7–1.0 nmol/L])" https://transfemscience.org/articles/transfem-intro/ (Under Gonadal Suppresion)
Current Studies, while limited, suggest there is a higher risk of myocardial infarction (MI), ischemic stroke (IS) and Venous thromboembolism (VTE) ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8907681/ ). A thing i have noticed while reading through this is the lack of differentiation in HRT when it comes to Estradiol monotherapy in direct comparison to the use of Estradiol and an Anti-Androgen (AA), aswell as the way the Estradiol entered the System.
Newer research suggest a increased risked of both MI and VTE in prostate Cancer patients taking AAs ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7473503/ ). Similarly AAs are suspected to increase risk of IS ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6675721/ ). There is also another Study that looked at Adverse effects of gender affirming hormonal therapy, in which 22 transfem people were assessed. Only 5 People did not use any kind of Antiandrogen, 3 of which it appeared to have quite mild Adverse Drug Reactions (ADR), with patients recovering from those effects again. The 2 remaining People were both 45 and actively Smoking, one smoking 30 cigarettes a day and dealing with alcoholism, the other one also smoking and having untreated high blood pressure ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9796635/ ).
Obviously more studies are needed but a possible connection between the HRT risks and antiandrogens, with little to no contribution from estradiol is intriguing and could promote a shift to more promotion of montherapy as a safer way to transition.

1. Progesterone

When it comes to Progesterone i have seen mostly People that said it helped them immensly and People that said it stunted their Breast Development.
Alot of Studies suggest that early intake of Progesterone could potentially negatively influence ultimate breast size in female people that also need to take Estrogen because of Development Issues. Generally its advised to wait for 1 - 2 Years of Estrogen Treatment. https://transfemscience.org/articles/progestogens-early-exposure-breast-dev/
No proper evidence supports or dismisses a positive effect of Progesterone, aswell as timing and amount incase of usage.

1. GH / IGH-1

Insulinlike Growth Factor 1 or IGH-1 play a big role in childhood growth, aswell as in breast development and peak in Puberty. This lead not only me to question if an increase in growth hormone (GH) could help development of proper female body parts.
Aswell as with most stuff, when it comes to studies supporting or dismissing a potential help of GH, there are none i could find.
Because too much GH can have huge negative effects on the body, you shouldnt use any strong GH enhancers.
Naturally human Growth Hormone (hGH) increases through excercise ( https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12797841/ )
Also a variety of differen Aminoacids is supposed to increase hGH levels. These include :

l-carnitine : sadly the longterm effects are unknown ( https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12970-020-00377-2 )
creatine : can increase hGH after workout ( https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25804393/ )

I wouldnt use l-arginine, purely because there is good chance for it to have detremental effects on aging and especially in combination with HRT its hard to tell how the body would react. An increased risk is the potential reward not worth in my Opinion ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7851093/ ).
These CAN be helpfull but HAVE NOT BEEN PROVEN TO HELP. Im just trying to share what im finding, please do not throw out all your money for supplements that could may aswell have no effect.
hGH could also be increased by other Factors like decrease of bodyfat ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2690428/ ) and generally a more healthy life style (which is adviced in any case ;) )

1. Body-fat-(re)distribution
   
2. Different Methods of Estradiol intake
   

IF ANY OF MY INFO IS WRONG, I FORGOT SOMETHING OR I MISREAD SOMETHING PLEASE SHARE YOUR CRITIQUE. IM NEW TO THIS AND IM DOING MY BEST BUT DONT WANT TO SPREAD MISINFORMATION!!! EVERYTHING IN THIS POST IS NO MEDICAL ADVICE AND ONLY EXPLORING THE TOPIC
This post is not entirely finished yet and i will complete it in the next few days. Sharing your own Experience, specifically with remarks to how Estradiol is beeing taken (intramuscular, oral, transdermal, etc), aswell if Anti-Androgens (and which) are used and if Progesterone (which and time in transition when first beginning treatment with Progesterone) is used. Also weight loss and fat distribution info, aswell as breast development time and state are as important! I totally get that this is all private info and everyone feels comfortable to share other things, to feel free to just share as much as you personally want. Also looking at the rulebook : All the stuff im hoping people would share are not for any survey or study, only for exchange of anecdotal sharing of person Experience. As long as one person maybe finds help or even just solice in your comment, it goes a long way :)