Once in a while, when slight changes are made in ingredients of our pressed eye shadow shades, or when testing a new one, it is performance tested singularly by hand to gauge and document the necessary ratios. I adapted this process slightly for ease of use for anyone planning to convert existing powder eye shadows or similar loose colour cosmetics into pressed form. If you are starting with raw powder materials, you will need to create a final loose product (various ingredients, not just a colourant or two) before beginning the steps below.
Items you will need:

• Loose eye shadow or other colour cosmetic such as blush.
  
• An oil, synthetic or natural. Dimethicone, dimethicone/cyclomethicone, or fractionated coconut are arguably the best for this purpose, but most low viscosity oils with a long shelf life will do.
  
• Isopropyl alcohol, over 90%. Commonly found in drug stores at 91% or 99%. 70% will likely add too much water to your cosmetic and may ruin it. Rapid evaporation is important.
  
• Cosmetic pans, either tin or aluminum. Tin can rust, though the high percentage alcohol will reduce that possibility, and it also is magnet-responsive. Aluminum pans are also readily found and will not rust, however they must be adhered to palettes or compacts, as they won't be attracted to magnetic surfaces. The instructions below are using a standard shallow 26mm pan.
  
• A clean small plastic, glass, or ceramic bowl specifically for this purpose, not used for food.
  
• A mixing tool such as a glass or plastic stirring rod (chopstick will do), or disposable plastic fork.
  
• Dropper. A clean eyedropper or disposable pipette are perfect.
  
• Paper towels. Preferably not printed, and the more flat they are with less embossed pattern, the better.
  
• Disposable gloves. Nitrile or vinyl are probably better than latex as they have a far less chance of skin sensitivity, and no transmission to the product.
  
• Optional: Cloth, grossgrain ribbon, or lace to imprint a pattern or texture onto the cosmetic surface. A clean metal or plastic knife for levelling.
  

Important: Do not use glycerin. Glycerin does not belong in cosmetic products not intended to remain liquid, creme, or gel, and even then only with a correct ratio of broad-spectrum preservatives. It certainly never belongs in pressed cosmetics, or you get fungal formation, bacteria retention, and likely rust from the pans. Plus a possibly squishy product.
Step 1: Begin with a colour you don't particularly favour in case the first attempt goes awry. I highly suggest a shimmer finish, as those will probably be easiest to work with for a beginner rather than mattes or high sparkle shadows until you're familiar with the process. If you're using a full 5ml jar, measure out about 3/4 teaspoon or about 2/3 to 3/4 of the jar. If it had a sifter, the jar had reduced capacity so you might use the entire jar. If working from approximately 1/4 tsp sizes, you will need at least two for a standard 26mm pan, but one may fill a smaller 15mm pan. For other pan sizes, such as 36mm or larger, you will of course need more powder product. It condenses considerably when wet.
Step 2: Pour into the clean bowl, gently to avoid airborne clouds of powder. Using your dropper (or the bottle it if has a reducer top or very narrow spout), add about 5-8 drops of the oil. Mix it around thoroughly with the stirring utensil, like cutting shortening into flour. If it appears clumpy like shown below, that should be enough. If it still seems very dry and powdery, add a few more drops. Repeat if necessary with 2-3 drops at a time until small clumps of powder form, but it should not look wet. You cannot reduce this substance once added and it will not dissipate like the alcohol. If you're working with face products such as highlighter, you may want slightly less oil in the mix.
Mixture
Note: if your shadow already looks like this from existing liquids in the product, you will still probably want to add a little more, but begin with a minimal amount.
Step 3: Add alcohol by dropper, using the same process above, but adding a little more. This time you will want the mix to be and appear damp. Not wet. Like cookie dough rather than cake batter. You'll want to mix this very well, distributing the ingredients fairly evenly. If you add a little too much alcohol, you can set the bowl aside for 15-20 minutes and some will have evaporated. The mixture should resemble either of the pictures below at this point, and not easily crumble when stirred gently.
Mixture with alcohol, A little more
Step 4: You're ready to fill the pan. Scoop up an approximate amount directly with the pan, or spoon it in. Try to get a little more than you need to fill it. Gently mash this down with your (gloved!) fingers so it's relatively even in the pan as shown below, and then level the top off across a rigid edge like a dull knife blade or mixing tool handle.
In pan
Step 5: Turn it upside-down onto a folded paper towel (you'll want to do this over a cleanable countertop or something you can ruin like newspaper. Liquid and colour will probably soak through). Flatten firmly with the heel of your hand. It should appear close to the pictures below, and if it's uneven, level it off again or add a little more product to the pan and repeat the press. Almost done!
Pressing, Initial result, Levelled off
Step 6: If you prefer an embossed surface, which not only looks better but can help in initial product distribution across your brush or other applicator, this is the point in which you can turn it over onto a small piece of scrap cloth or ribbon over a clean paper towel piece, just as above but pressing a little more firmly. Fabrics such as fine mesh, lace, coarse wovens, or grossrain ribbon give good impressions into the surface. In our equipment we use a micro "fishnet" pattern netting, which gives a uniform texture.
Final result
Step 7: You're finished! Set the finished product somewhere to dry, protected from humidity and small hands or paws. It should be dry to the touch in about 5-8 hours, and usable within 24. If it isn't easily transferring much colour or seems too soft after a day and a half, let it sit another 24-48 hours. After that, if it still does not perform to your preference, try less binding liquid (oil) in your next pressing attempt, or if it's too fragile, add a little more next time, keeping in mind that different powder textures and ingredients will require varied liquid ratios (use slightly less oil in mattes, slightly more in heavy sparkle sheer shades). The pressing process seems somewhat lengthy here, but it will become simpler and faster after the first couple attempts.

Do you personally count the calories in cooking spray like Pam?
I know it’s 0 calories for 1/4 second spray. But that just means it’s less than 5 calories for 1/4 second. So that could be just under 20 calories a second. So if it takes 3 seconds to spray a pan really good, that’s likely 60 calories. Or an extra 100 calories to spray a pan plus veggies for roasting.
Seems like it would add up.

I've recently started trying to live with less waste, plus just spending less in general, and one thing I have realised is that in cooking at types of meats whether frying bacon for breakfast or boiling chicken parts for broth, a lot of fats are released.
I don't know if some medeival ancestor is speaking here, but I try to reserve this fat, cause it's valuable animal product! I almost feel a sense of wealth when I skim the fat from my broth or strain it from the pan. Plus, it tastes great as a cooking oil for other foods.
Right now, I have bacon grease and chicken fat I saved from boiling bones for broth. I did have to re-heat it after collecting to remove water and strain out residual herbs from broth making, but it was worth it!

Did anyone’s I store order from the other day get past the “ partially shipped “ part. I got my digital code for the pan plus but the rest says it’s preparing for shipment. Just wondering if anyone else’s entire order has sent out yet. I don’t trust fedex and I’m going to be monitoring it VERY closely.

My husband is from Rochester and he, his mom, and his sister all worked at Wegmans at one point or another. Whenever we happen to be near a Wegmans, we try to go to it, just to see the local flavor. So now we've got this idea to try to figure out which location is the fanciest/nicest.
We don't have any official criteria yet - just sort of brainstorming ideas to try to figure out how to do a definitive ranking.
My picks so far are Pittsford and Asbury Park. Pittsford since, as the flagship, they have a lot of extra flair but it feels a little small. Lots of really nice touches and they sell some cool things in the home section, like really fancy pans. Plus Next Door is across the street and that alone is amazing.
Asbury Park was really big and it has that liquor store attached. It felt really airy and I just felt like really happy being in there. Unfortunately, I've only gone there once so I can't give more details but I just have such a warm memory of it.
What are some other contenders that we should check out?

The thick paper that the politicians are using to print their ad's on also double as a great impromptu dust pan. Plus they mail them right to your house! Has anyone else discovered this?

this is the set she's looking at
I know AB isn't there best quality generally. I also know she's a fan of Tfal, but those are a bit pricier. If we want a nonstick coating and ideally dishwasher safe and need these pots/pans (plus an 11.5" one), any ideas on another set we can get?
I don't think we need induction just as of yet, and these just have to last us the next 1-2 years (unless we get the Tfal or similar, then we'd like then to last longer)

Both are roughly in the same price range and I’m looking for a cookware splurge. I have a few cast iron units but I’ve heard great things about le cruset and they have lifetime warranty. Meanwhile I’ve always heard great things about the always pan plus it is so aesthetically pleasing. If you had to pick one, which would you go with ?
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• my English is terrible I promise it’s my first language

I hate cast iron skillets. They are the most superficial and unorthodox way of cooking and offer nothing but a prehistoric way of cooking and the right to brag like a BMW owner and say “wow look at me I don’t use regular pans, I use cast iron skillets I’m so much better than you”. The only way I find cast irons acceptable are when they are used at top tier restaurants or used by extremely experienced chefs.
Cast irons hold no advantage or extra perks than a non-stick modern pan and at least with a modern pan you can clean it regularly with soap and water and a large majority are also dish washer safe. Fuck going through a lengthy process of seasoning and cleaning a cast iron its so fiddly it’s not worth it.
Common arguments:
“Cast irons are more non stick than non stick pans “
Your normal modern non stick pan is just as non stick, yes non stick pans lose there non stick but then you just get a new one for very very cheap, and people like to act like non-stick pans last two weeks when realistically you don’t even really need to replace them before three years of use just like every single other piece of crockery and cutlery. Plus I can guarantee no matter how well seasoned ur cast iron is I guarantee it isn’t as non stick as something like a modern Teflon pan.
“Cast irons are non wasteful as they last a lifetime”
If you were that bothered about being non wasteful everything you own would be at the same level of ‘non-wastefulness’ but I’d say a large majority of people who use this as an argument probably still use palm oil to season their pan or use goods that are just as wasteful in their household.
“Cast iron skillets heat food more evenly”
No no no. Unless you are using it in a high end restaurant or a chef who is working on extremely high quality food, this does not matter to you. Most of the home cooks that use cast iron skillets aren’t making food that is affected by extremely minor heat differentiation in a normal non stick pan plus cast irons aren’t magically controlling the heat to spread evenly it’s just they manage to stay hot for a lot longer and can retain a lot of heat but if you aren’t cooking your food on an open bonfire you’re not gonna tell the difference. If I served you the exact same dish but cooked in a pan you would not be able to tell the difference. Cast iron cooks will cook a steak and say how consistent the heat is on a cast iron and how it cooks the steak evenly and then cook veggies and chips in the oven, serve chips that are not evenly cooked, serve mash that isn’t evenly mashed and then tell me the steak is cooked perfectly, do you want everything to be consistent or not??
“Cast iron skillets add iron to your dish”
If you really cared about iron deficiency and adding iron to your dishes you would take supplements or maybe idk, eat stuff with more iron???
“non-stick pans are toxic”
if you can name someone you know who has actually gotten ill from non-stick pans I’ll give you that argument but I guarantee you can’t, it’s such a redundant argument stop pretending to be health freaks, if you cared about what you were in taking you wouldn’t be making huge fatty steaks and pizzas in ur skillet. Also the non-stick chemical only really breaks down at 500-600 degrees.... in what world would a home cook even be cooking to get that hot I genuinely don’t think I’ve ever even seen an oven have an option for that high heat.
“I can cook pizzas in my cast iron skillet”
Just make one normally, you’re not different or skilled because you followed a buzzfeed video on how to make one.
I can’t even cook acidic foods on my cast iron for too long because it could damage it and remove its non stick feature if not seasoned well, cast irons are like a pampered kid with princess syndrome that must use only the finest shampoo because of its sensitive scalp 😢 boo hoo hoo, get a grip.
They also hold odour so that’s also gross.
In summary cast irons are only useful for slightly browning food, high tier restaurants and chefs.
Let’s cut the crap, you just like to show off to your friends and castiron to make you seem more of a skilled chef than you are, but also you do you don’t let an angry boy on the neckbeard website affect what makes you happy, just enjoy what you’re doing and I’m sure whatever it is you’re doing is great.

It was actually pretty damn good, but the flavor won’t mix well with anything that we serve. It tastes like brisket you would get a bbq and eat with macaroni and cheese, corn on the cob, and some cornbread.
Bbq brisket with medium salsa or sour cream or guac? Nasty. It just doesn’t match with anything.
It’s very similar to Asada when cooking, but it’s so fatty and little pieces pop and burns your skin. It also leaves a TON of grease on the grill. No fun. Prepping it is a little more time consuming than Asada considering you have to prep it in a hotel pan. Plus, it only lasts for two shifts.

I've been here before. I was down to around 170. I quit trying when I started working again a few years ago.
October 22, I weighed 217.6 lbs and had 34.1% body fat. I started meal planning for keto again. I told the teens that whatever they're cooking (they each cook at least once a week, from a recipe), it was coming from a specific group of cookbooks (all keto books). I also cut out nightshades, 'cause let's just say we do not get along. I'm not counting calories, or even recording how many carbs I'm eating. I'm just making sure each meal is under 7 carbs, total, not including sugar alcohols, and trying to avoid overly processed foods. I'm not terribly worried about
On November 24 (the last day I've weighed), I weighed 207.6 lbs and had 32.3% body fat. 10 pounds down, and 1.7% body fat (note: I don't believe my scale accurately measures body fat, but I believe it can indicate a general direction). According to the BMI my scale calculates, I've moved from obese to just overweight.
My joints are hurting a LOT less. My digestive system is much happier. I'm a lot happier.
Today's plan was chicken fried steak (breaded with crushed pork rinds and parmesan) with cream gravy (made with the leftover in the pan, plus cream cheese and heavy cream and maybe a touch of glucomannan to make it thicker) with green beans, mashed cauliflower and low carb rolls for me, and mashed potatoes and Hawaiian bread for everybody else. Husband got called out, so we're doing that tomorrow instead. Today I made low carb muffins...and broke my mixer. Still planning to make my low carb bread and cauliflower mash today so there's less to do tomorrow.

Before I give any of my personal background, I'd like to give a disclaimer that I am not a nutritionist, dietician, or licensed health professional. I just thought I'd share some tips that worked for me on my weight loss journey and some things I picked up along the way that I hope will be able to help someone else out there who struggled like I did for years. I know it's a really tough time for everyone in quarantine and I feel for those of you who live alone.
So... background & a little about me: I'm a 22/F/5'2 and currently weigh 144lb (I have hourglass proportions and honestly most of my fat goes to my butt and boobs... I didn't make the rules). As of January 29th, 2020 I weighed somewhere around 175-180 lbs. I'm not completely sure of my starting weight because I only began to weigh myself 2-3 weeks into my fitness journey. It was the heaviest I've ever been in my life and I didn't recognize myself when I looked in the mirror. My college years were spent working in nightlife full time, and while I had started college the thinnest I've ever been (108 lbs), I left college feeling completely mentally and physically defeated/out of touch. I went through a pretty bad breakup in the beginning of 2019 and it really fucked the rest of my year up, not to mention I gained an extreme amount of weight as a result of that relationship (almost 40 lbs). Post breakup, I was partying every single night and I just wasn't happy. While I knew I had the capacity to stop the kind of lifestyle I was leading at any time, I also just didn't want to.
Fast forward to 2020, my best friend and I (who had also gained a lot of weight from what she used to be at) made a pact to hold ourselves accountable and go to the gym three times a week together, no excuses. This ended up being the most effective way to motivate myself to start working out again (I used to run ridiculous treadmill circuits and be insanely physically active at my lowest weight). Three months later, I've lost between 30-35 lbs, and I would say she's lost between 15-20. Here are some things that changed my life, and changed how I viewed fitness/health/weight and more.
I will also disclaim that obviously not everything I did will work for everybody depending on dietary preferences/amount of self control/discipline/motivation.
General

1. Gym Buddy

Starting, for me, was the hardest part of the whole process, and it was honestly shit trying not to feel self conscious at the gym. That was why finding a friend who was just as determined to lose weight was essential, because we didn't allow one another to make excuses. We started out making a pact to go three times a week TOGETHER (any gym sessions alone were considered 'extra' or bonus and we would always congratulate each other any time we hit more than three sessions a week). The way we structured our workouts went as followed:

• Day 1: Legs
  • Nonstop cardio (30 minutes) - This DOES NOT include idle time in the gym or breaks... it means the number on the cardio machines must literally add up to 30 minutes... no excuses. If I did 15 minutes nonstop on the elliptical, and it took me 5 minutes to get waterefuel and hop on the bicycle for 15 minutes, the five minutes in between DOES NOT COUNT. The only number that counts towards this quota is the number on the cardio machine. Obviously do what you are comfortable with and work up. If you can't do the elliptical at full force, walk for 30 minutes just to build endurance. Pay attention to your body and gradually increase the pace, intensity, and tempo... but just do it, just hit that 30 (and you better be sweating like crazy). If you can't, start at 15 minutes and work until you can get to 30 minutes of nonstop cardio. I effing hate running and refuse to do it for any more than 15 minutes, so this method helps keep it fun and allows you to choose where you want to start and for how long you are on each machine. Will it be 10 minutes on bike, 10 minutes on elliptical then rounding it out with 10 minutes speed walking? Will you speed walk 30 minutes straight? Will you do stair stepper for 15 min and bike for 15 min? There are a lot of ways to achieve 30 minutes nonstop without running the entire time.
  • Machines OR Free Weight / Plyometric Exercises (1-1.5 hrs) - We chose to opt with low rep / high weight with overloaded weight (meaning, it was to that point where we almost couldn't lift it), versus medium weight / lots of reps. Each set consisted of 5 reps (8 if we were doing kettleball exercises bc... booty gains). We would do 4 sets each, alternating between each set to count for and cheer each other on. While it may seem counterintuitive not to take a 30 sec break and keep going in order to finish the sets before swapping, it made it a lot more "fun" and less boring. We stopped working out anywhere between 1-1.5 hours depending on when we literally couldn't walk anymore (it isn't working if your muscles aren't fatigued to the point of exhaustion).
• Day 2: Cardio
  • Nonstop cardio (1 hr) - See above for nonstop cardio rules. Also no break longer than 5 minutes was allowed. On our dedicated cardio days we ONLY did cardio, but doing it for an hour straight is... hella exhausting so we would typically just call it a day after and focus on weight stuff the next day
• Day 3: Arms / Full Body
  • Nonstop Cardio (30 min)
  • Machines OR Free Weight / Plyometric Exercises (1-1.5 hrs) - Same thing as legs except for arms/full body.

The reason we forced ourselves to do AT LEAST 30 minutes of cardio each day (including strength days) is because cardio burns fat. Strength training builds muscle. In order to get your muscles to show and slim down/lose weight, ya gotta do cardio, as much as it sucks ass. You CANNOT spot reduce. You MUST lose all over body fat, and likely the first place you gain is the last place you lose. If you want your arms to be thinner, working arms is not going to work if you're not losing overall body fat and keeping a clean diet. You have to lose the body fat first in order to see anything else. Even on strength days, burning fat was the first priority because we wanted to lose weight. That's all I can say about cardio. You just have to do it.

1. Consistency

You aren't going to see progress or gains unless you make it a habit. Going everyday for a week is great (? I guess?) but will have you feeling burnt out FAST, especially if you haven't been working out in a while/just started. You will quickly lose sight of your goal and throw in the towel... so be realistic. You also don't need to go HAM every day. The body needs time to recover as much as it needs physical activity. Maybe set a goal of 2-3 times a week, and stick to it. On days you don't go to the gym, take an hour walk for meditative purposes. You'll start seeing results in your progress photos in 3 weeks, I promise.

1. Protein and Greens

I went from not giving a fuck about what I ate to severely limiting my intake of starch, carbs, dairy, and sugar. I love eating proteins and greens because I feel like I'm able to eat what I like without total deprivation (yay meats, seafood, cauliflower, etc). I've never been one who liked cheese or bread all that much so saying goodbye to starch and dairy wasn't the worst thing to happen to me in my life. If you can't cut all four at once, start with the one that seems most manageable and gradually increase until you can cut all the ones you want. I also started meal prepping on Sunday, but now I actually mostly order through meal prep services (Factor 75 is my absolute fave and their food is *chef's kiss* so good, but Freshly has a plethora of amazing low cal options). They both have great portion sizes and keep me adequately full.
**EDIT: Meal substitutions exist for a reason! If you can't handle cold turkey cutting (heh heh see what I did there), find substitutions and workarounds that work for you. Instead of indulging in a pint of ice cream, make your own banana ice cream. Instead of chips, make some home made popcorn. Just find what works for you that also aligns with your goals of optimizing your health.

1. Intermittent Fasting

I don't eat breakfast. At most I will drink some coffee in the morning, and eat between 12-7. No snacks outside of that window. I always eat two meals a day (or one large meal on Sat/Sun if it meets my caloric and nutritional needs... I tend to sleep until 12PM and not eat until like 4-5, whoops).

1. Maintaining a consistent caloric deficit + calorie counting

It's simple... to lose weight calories burned must exceed calories consumed. You can work out 24/7 but if you're not watching your food and your diet, it doesn't matter.. you'll see zero change. Calories consumed - BMR = should always equal a deficit. This can be calculated based on your height and current weight. I use MyFitnessPal to track my calories and to calculate the amount of calories I needed to maximum healthy weightloss per week.
Calorie tracking also forces you to be more mindful of everything you put in your mouth, including the quality of your food and the quantity of your portion sizes. So even when I eat my one girl scout cookie, it's okay because 1 s'more won't kill me. An entire box might. Also I, in no way, want to kick half my calorie allocation on cookies... gimme my meats, i don't want to waste my meal calories a box of cookies. For my height (being as short as I am with a BMR of 1376, I eat about 1000-1250 (absolute max) calories a day and ensure my meals are nutrient dense. Any less than 1000 calories and you go into starvation mode and your muscles start to deteriorate. You'll feel fatigued, exhausted, and generally pretty miserable :/ And your hair will fall out. I also wouldn't recommend calorie counting to those prone to disordered eating patterns. Another alternative to calorie counting is to keep a photo food journal just to understand your own eating habits, and take a photo every single time you put food into your mouth to understand how frequently you do and during what parts of the day you do it.
For example, understanding when you...

• eat because you're sad
• eat because you're thirsty
• eat because you're bored
• eat to cope with life

...can help you address and self reflect on why you are in the position you're in... and why weight loss may not be the answer. How does living a healthier life contribute to being a healthier version of yourself?
Also, you will be hungry all of the time. It's OK. You will NOT DIE if your stomach growls a little. If you've eaten the healthy amount of calories for your height/weight for the day, your body will function just fine. Just remember that when you want to devour an entire bag of chips because you think you're 'hungry'. You're not.

1. Allowing myself a cheat day (yes I said an entire day)

Given the extreme rigidity of my diet and caloric intake, I allow myself one full day to eat without calorie tracking. This doesn't mean to eat junk from morning to night. It just means I don't track my calories at all, and I eat what I feel like. Often this is the day I allow myself to order takeout... but even if I order takeout, I split it into 2-3 portions, and save the other portions as leftovers. If you have truly, truly been following (and don't lie to yourself) a clean diet, a cheat day is essential to act as psychological relief and a reward to yourself for your hard work. Reward and be proud of the work you've done, but don't turn it into a binge. For example, I make amazing homemade bulgogi and even though I tend not to eat a lot of starch, I will make rice with it and eat well beyond the recommended portion size for my height and weight. I'm still treating myself, but I'm not eating an entire chocolate cake. Be reasonable. Also...
DO NOT USE CHEAT DAYS IF YOU CAN'T DISCIPLINE YOUR DIET FIRST.
Weight loss is 65% diet / 35% exercise.
If you have no discipline over your diet, it's all too easy to say "welp, I deserve... another cheat day" every other day. Believe me, I've been there. I know. Just don't have cheat days if that's your mentality. If cheat days don't work for you, just be cognizant of the quantity of the cheat food you're consuming and track it with the rest of your daily calories.

1. Photo Progress / Set goals

I will say that I'm motivated by the idea of reaching a 'goal'. For me specifically that's a weight. I think when I lose more, it'll inevitably switch more to an appearance based goal versus a number weight. A goal can be something different to you if you don't want to track by weight... such as lifting heavier, or losing an inch off your waist. I currently take pictures of myself every single week, record my weight twice a week, and create a side by side collage of myself every month where the L image is me at my heaviest, and the R image is me today.
I have also found motivation by looking at photos of myself at my thinnest, because it reminds me I was there once, my body is capable of looking like that, and I can absolutely get there again with time, hard work, and some patience. I also find motivation by looking at photos of myself at my heaviest, because I don't want to be that person again. When you've been at your fitness journey long enough, you will see progress. Which brings me to my next point...

1. Celebrate the small victories

It is SO easy not to notice progress when we're looking at ourselves every single day. We are always the last to notice and to congratulate ourselves. That being said, something that puts me in a really good mindset is to celebrate the small victories! Every single time I lose 1lb or 2lbs... I congratulate and compliment myself, because 1lb lost is 1 lb closer to my goal, 1lb that I worked for and sweated for, 1lb for that piece of cake I wanted so badly that I showed restraint on, 1lb more than I ever thought I would be able to lose on my own. Celebrate yourself, because even the small victories make it all worth it. And the small victories add up fast.

1. Lifestyle

Lastly... I also had to make an extreme lifestyle adjustment. This included re-evaluating why I was on this journey, and what was impeding my goals before. Some examples of realizations I came to are detailed below:

1. No more indulgently using Postmates, Ubereats, or other food delivery services -- I forced myself to cook, or make eggs or something if I got bored and lazy.
2. No more sugary lattes every single gd day from Starbucks. In fact, no more Starbucks (this was easily one of the most painful) as part of my daily routine - I didn't realize that the super sweet lattes I was getting every day definitely didn't help the weight gain. I switched my order to a local iced soy chai or regular coffee in the morning with a SPLASH of half/half or soy milk and a dash of sugar. For me it was all about mindfulness, and realizing that I was doing / eating all these things every day that I never really thought about but really screwed with my weight.
3. Drinking is limited to one night a week only - No glasses of wine unless I want to throw it in my calorie count for the day. I typically drink on my cheat days.
4. Saving my starches / dairy for when I go out with my friends to eat at a restaurant. - While I'm extremely restrictive on certain food groups in my personal life, I save these items for when I go out with friends so I can eat them and not feel guilty about it, and I also typically order appetizers "tapas style" so I can try a bunch of things, have some leftovers to take home, and not have a huge portion size.
5. No buying of unhealthy snack foods - If you don't have it in the cupboard at all, you won't eat it. Simple. This goes for anything unhealthy like candy, chips, etc.
6. Itty bitty desserts -I always like to have something sweet to cleanse my palette after I eat, whether that's 1 cookie, 1 miniature cheesecake square from sam's club, or a tiny square of chocolate, I let myself have these indulgences because it curbs any subsequent craving. My brain is just like 'yum i'm happy' and then switches off that craving alarm.
7. Being healthy is lonely... but it's also really worth it. - Not everyone will support you, or be happy for you. Misery fucking loves company. You have to stay strong and know that you are capable and more driven than the people who tell you that you cannot do it.

How I've lost weight in quarantine:

• Walk 5 times a week for 1+ hours (aim for 2-5 miles a day)

That's it. That's literally all I've done for the past month / however long we've been quarantine and I've consistently lost between 1-1.5 lbs a week. I walk hill-y routes, I walk level routes, I just walk. It's important to remember we're in the middle of a global pandemic and humanitarian crisis. I try not to expect the same amount of weight loss I was netting before the crisis, and view this time to just maintain the weight that I'm at/have achieved already. As a result, every lb loss is like a little gift from santa... a nice surprise, but not expected.
I also don't do any strength training or push ups, or any of that nonsense in my house as I find it would depress me too much to work out where I am already eating, sleeping, working, and playing during the day. I've kept my diet the same if not cleaner, and I have tried to limit my weekend cheats to no takeout at all during quarantine (just because I'm not getting the same level of intense physical training as I would if I were to be going to the gym during this time).
Also,
if any of you out there are struggling, I KNOW you can do it and you are capable of taking control of your life. Because at the end of the day, it's not just about weight... it's about living a conscious lifestyle, and creating a sustainable future for the only home you will ever live in: yourself. You can freaking do it.
Feel free to DM me with any questions. Obviously this won't work for everyone, but this is just what worked for me :)
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**EDIT 4/26/2020: Thought it'd be nice to show y'all a side by side comparison of myself on Oct (I refused to take photos of myself in January when I was eVEN heavier than in this photo) and a photo from two days ago. Now the jeans I'm wearing on the after side are an entire size too large. IF I DID IT SO CAN YOU! I believe in you. View my before and after here
Frequently Asked Questions

1. I love ____ (insert food category here), how do I start the cutting process?

Again, ease into it and allow yourself affordances. Instead of eating an entire block of cheese, maybe use it as an accent for whatever you're making, like perhaps cauliflower parmesan. If you love bread, or pasta, limit it to once or twice a week (it's good to push it to your cheat day so you can get excited for it AND reward yourself for your dedication to your diet). There are a lot of ways to do so, but you absolutely WON'T lose weight unless you begin to seriously commit. That's just a fact.

1. Have you always eaten at such a deficit? How are you able to maintain eating such a low calorie count for such a prolonged period of time?

No, I have not always eaten this minimally. I used to eat 2nds and 3rds like a 6'5 linebacker. I also don't view going low calorie as 'cutting calories', but I definitely view it as an emphasis and hyperawareness of the VALUE of foods I am eating. For me, a cookie is very low value because it wastes SO MUCH of my daily allocation on what-- sugar? I'd rather eat 3 slices of bacon than 2 cookies and feel more full as a result. It came down to mentally associating and weighing the nutritional value in my head compared to the percentage of my daily calories it would use. It comes back to discipline, self control-- is this really what I want to use my calories (i.e. meals) on? Will I feel full or still be hungry later if i eat this? Why do I want this cookie right now... am I sad, happy, stressed, bored, thirsty? I don't ever feel like i'm 'cutting', I feel like i'm eating whatever I want within reasonable boundaries. And even when I do want that one cookie, i'll eat one instead of 5.

1. What sorts of foods and meals do you eat?

Answered above, protein and greens. It's diet, diet, diet. Even though I am pretty strict on cutting dairy, carbs, starch, and sugar, I allow myself small affordances and just make sure they're being tracked daily with everything else, and are NOT the primary staple of the meal. If I AM making something with these foods, the food itself is usually low calorie per serving (calculated using myfitnesspal to track cals per serving size) to even out that affordance i'm making. Anywhere you would typically add a starch to complete the meal, sub it with a veggie. Again, my plate is 50% protein, 50% greens, you can choose whatever proteins and greens you like. I'm also a fan of one pan meals because it is SO easy to prep and throw in the oven.
For example, meals I like to make include:

• Baked white fish + roasted cauliflower with a SPRINKLE of parmesan cheese
• Beef patties with caramelized onions grilled inside of it + sauteed spinach and broccoli
• Soy sauce marinated tofu and stir fry it with broccoli, mushrooms, zucchini, and kale
• Teriyaki salmon + asparagus
• Salmon coated with minced garlic, olive oil, basil, oregano, thyme + asparagus on the side (you can make this in one pan), plus diced zucchini
• Smoked salmon bowl with diced avocado, cucumber, drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper
• Kale salad with grilled chicken, avocado, tomato, cucumber, sprinkle of feta cheese, massaged with olive oil and a splash of lemon juice for zest
• Honey dijon chicken + roasted zucchini and spinach
• Spinach feta quiche (i make 2 at a time and it makes a perfect lunch or dinner)
• Rotisserie chicken + brussel sprouts
• Chicken / kale / cannellini bean/ caramelized onion / diced yukon potato chicken broth soup
• 2 fried eggs thrown over roasted asparagus covered with minced garlic, olive oil, and italian herbs

Here are some snacks I like, although I will disclaim I'm not a big snacker as my work keeps me fairly busy throughout the day. I'm also not a big fruit person as I find the sugar content to be really high, and I think I have weird tastebuds in the sense that I find them very sour. I'm a much more savory snacker.
Snacks:

• Banana peanut butter smoothie (2 bananas, scoop of peanut butter, splash of almond milk, ice and water)
• CaSHEWS
• Stovetop popcorn with either salt + nutritional yeast + a little bit of butter (i track the butter, duh) or salt and vinegar seasoning i bought from a mom & pop shop vendor on etsy (SPICES will be your best frienddd)
• Banana ice cream
• Steamed edamame with coarse sea salt (unf)
• Banana + peanut butter
• SEAWEED!!!!!! Nori!!!! Nori chips give me life. And satisfy my intense salt cravings.

+ much more. I hope these helped give you some ideas!

1. What meal services would you recommend?

Factor 75, hands down (DM me for a promo code). freshly is good too but I just find Factor 75 to be restaurant quality / amazingly seasoned.

1. What do you consider more important? Diet or exercise?

Diet. Explained extensively above.
The largest misconception with weight loss is that if you do x, y, z (diet, exercise, etc) it will work, but that's not true. Sometimes it's not enough to have a "good diet for the most part" or be "relatively active". We often hit physical plateaus because we slip into a lack of active consciousness of what we are actually doing, and spin our wheels doing things that are inefficient and seeing no results. You may be eating healthy, yes, but you're eating way too much to go into a deficit. You may be spending hours and hours on a treadmill but that makes you so ravenously hungry when you're done, you just cancel out any of the calories burned. No one said weight loss will be easy. No one will also hold your hand and force you to do anything. It is extremely extremely hard and entirely up to you to want to make that change... but once you reach a certain level of discipline... you will feel SO PROUD of yourself for mastering your mind you will not want to go back to your previous lifestyle.
With the right discipline and drive, you can definitely lose and lose in a way that's more efficient and quicker than just doing everything theoretically "right" but seeing no results. Weight loss, at whatever stage your at, is majority diet and consistency, exercise just compliments the two 💪🏼 You don't have to kill yourself doing sit ups and push ups and running an hour every day. That's just not necessary. It only tones and builds muscles so that when you lose that fat, they look effing amazing.
​

With Before the Dawn getting released tomorrow, so I've decided to share some thoughts on the spoilers I've heard.
I'm focusing mainly on the details about Team SSSN. Partly because they're my favorite team (given it's the team with my favorite character Neptune), and partly because they've been deprived of character development for nearly 6 years. This is the book where they're supposed to finally get to have said development, and for some reason they have to be sharing the spotlight with the team that supposedly stole their originally allotted V2 screentime. So I'm going to be very critical on how well they focus on SSSN, especially since CFVY already had the first book to themselves, so unless SSSN is going to get the same later on (and I do hear there's a book 3 coming out), there's no reason SSSN should be deprived of any focus.

PART 1: SUN.

Sun I hear is getting shat on by everyone. Not just his team and CFVY. But even the Shade professors are... "throwing shade" on him.
I'll admit, for Sun to be mistrusted is understandable and somewhat justified, but what I fear is that the book will go over-the-top with it. Sun does make questionable moves in the show but the last thing we need is fuel to his (and Neptune's!) crazy hatebases. The two have already gotten more shit than they deserve from fans (possibly majorly due to their potential romances with Blake and Weiss that nearly destroyed chances for said girls' more popular ships), so one of my biggest fears about this book is that it would pander to this group of fans that wants to see them get bashed.
Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind Sun getting some flak for his actions, but the last thing we need is for him to become the story's scapegoat.
And from what I heard, we're not exactly off to a good start. When the excerpt scene showing Velvet after he ran up to her and tapped her shoulder, people were quick to praise Velvet and some even said "Nice to see that Sun's finally facing consequences for his creepy stalker behavior". Not to mention earlier, people praising Coco for being a "savage" when she was over-the-top with her distrust in SSSN and Sun in the preview.
But on the bright and sunny side, I do like the backstory they gave him.

PART 2: SAGE AND SCARLET.

Not much to say about Sage. For some odd reason he gets almost nothing in this story, not even his own focus chapter or even a semblance reveal. Major minus-points there.
Scarlet doesn't exactly get a lot of focus either. He gets his own chapter but no backstory. And most of his characterization I hear is either him taking the piss out on Sun.
I am kinda happy that Scarlet's semblance is gliding. Not only because I kinda predicted it, but just cause it's fitting for the guy who was based off of Peter Pan (plus we do see him gliding in the NDGO battle).
Scarlet will also be getting some romance with Nolan Porfirio, the only remaining member of Team BRNZ. I was kinda hoping for Scarlet to have a romance with Sage if any, but Scarlet x Nolan sounds interesting too. It's just nice to see more mlm rep in this series, cause RWBY has almost zero of it. Then again I hear that the relationship goes ultimately nowhere.

PART 3: NEPTUNE.

The revealed reason for Neptune's fear of water as well as his semblance: his older brother Jupiter (totally called Neptune having a brother named after the other planets/Roman Gods, hopefully he has a younger brother named Pluto as well lol) tried to teach him to swim by throwing him off a pier. Neptune came up for air with his semblance (creating a bubble round himself) and then used it on Jupiter, nearly accidentally killing him. Henceforth he hates water and his semblance.
Personally I find this backstory to his fear of water pretty alright. I always felt it made sense if Neptune had some sort of trauma behind his fear of water (as well as Neptune not using his semblance because of an incident where he nearly harmed someone).
But at the same time, it does also feel a bit weird given how much RT has played out Neptune's fear of water for the ironic joke (in the NDGO battle and in Chibi).
And then there's Neptune having a water based semblance (in this case, what is basically Aquakinesis). It's not bad per se, but I do find it just a wee bit cliche. But of course there is a lot to explore with it. Can he manipulate water in other states of matter like ice or water vapor (man if he can use his semblance on ice, imagine how he could fight alongside Weiss)? Can he manipulate the water in people's blood? Can he change water from one state of matter to the other?
Neptune so far seems to have had fairly decent moments in the book. Well, save for one scene where Fox and Yatsuhashi intimidate Neptune using his fear when they're looking for Velvet. Sure, pressuring Neptune is kind of understandable? given the situation (though I don't know why they're going up on Neptune of all people but let's wait for context for this)... but using his trauma induced fear to pressure him? There is absolutely no excuse for that.
And that isn't bad enough, Yatsu and Fox don't even get shit for their shitty behavior or learn their lesson. Well, Yatsu does realize how shitty it was and decide not to go through with it (and kudos to him for doing so), but then Fox fucking MOCKS Yatsu for it. Call me an overdefensive Neptune stan if you will, but this is just yikes on so many levels.
But other than that scene, the book seems to treat Neptune pretty decently (from the spoilers that I've heard). Neptune is still a flirt, but it's more toned down and he seems to be more mature than he was at Beacon.
There is apparently one scene where Neptune accidentally makes a girl cry when he says hi to her (she was brooding over a relative- sister I believe- who was missing).
Now, going with how I mentioned in Part 1 how I feared Sun and Neptune being made into punching bags of the book, one thing I absolutely hoped would not happen was Neptune being a flirt and either making the girl upset and/or getting called out for being a "womanizer fuckboy skeeze who doesn't care about girls' feelings". We don't need pandering to the Sun and Neptune haters.
This scene however does not seem to be the case (at least with what little context we have), seeing Neptune doesn't get called out for his flirting ir anything like that. It comes off as more of an "oops, wrong place wrong time" moment.
But of course, despite that Neptune seems to be treated well in that scene, I'm 100% certain that there are gonna be some assholes who will find a way to twist that scene into "Neptune is such an insensitive immature fuckboy" (meanwhile they'll be giving Coco her 97421478732th "Savage Lesbian Queen" medal).
Also. I heard there's one moment where it's hinted at that Neptune still has feelings for Weiss and worries about her. Haven't heard too much on this, but there's still hope. Iceberg shippers rise up. Of course now, this could very well be misinformation or a misinterpretation, so fellow Iceberg shippers don't get your hopes up too high.

CONCLUSION

From what I've heard so far from Twitter spoilers that got the book early, I'm having lots mixed feelings. I like the new stuff we learn about Sun and Neptune and their backgrounds, and some of the moments seem interesting. But overall it feels like it's going to be very underwhelming.
Well, of course, only way to judge for sure is to read the thing myself.
And if it turns out to be a bust? Well I heard there's a book 3 coming out that will be very SSSN-focused. If Before the Dawn then this one damn well better pull through.

INTRODUCTION
This is the most economical storytelling song on the album. A pure montage of images that connects two stories together, and to link them strongly Taylor forgoes rhyming, instead just using the exact same words between verses. The upward-yeeted voice at the end of each verse is very cinematic, evoking an upward pan plus white fade-out. Everything is in slow motion because of exhaustion, but also because it's dealing with processing what one is about to face, has seen, and has experienced.
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If you're confused about what's going on in this series, you can read the Preamble to Part 1, which also has a table of contents.
EPIPHANY
"Keep your helmet, keep your life, son / Just a flesh wound, here's your rifle": the moment of trepidation before the shit hits the fan.
"Crawling up the beaches now": just a reminder that there were landings in both theaters of WWII.
"With you I serve, with you I fall down, down / Watch you breathe in, watch you breathing out, out" transitions between the two stories and links them together. Each line can also (thus) apply to the other story.
"Something med school did not cover": I know this is referring to the coronavirus, but med school actually leaves out a lot of things. Medicine is a field where there's a huge gap between book-knowledge and practical knowledge. The same symptoms can mean completely different things depending on geography, climate, culture, and medical tradition (even within Western medicine). And that's not even factoring in individual differences, or things like race and gender (did you know that some people still think Black people can't get depression, or that women are MUCH more likely to get misdiagnosed or have their symptoms dismissed entirely?).
"Someone's daughter, someone's mother" shows us that the pandemic is worse than war in the sense that it hits everyone, not just combatants. Of course there was also the firebombing of Dresden, the Blitz, Hiroshima and Nagasaki....
"Holds your hand through plastic now" is in the third person. It makes more sense for the speaker to stay out of the story, though "hold" sounds better and perhaps more intuitive.
""Doc, I think she's crashing out"" is, to me, the most powerful line on the album, because it manages to create a completely different yet analogous scene from the first verse by changing just one substantive word. And "crashing out" is a (deservedly!) melodramatic way of putting it. Melodrama isn't a bad thing when used correctly, like here.
"But you dream of some epiphany": "Epiphany" for a long time had a religious meaning, of coming to faith or God. In our secular age, the immediate reference is to the "meaning" mentioned two lines down.
"Just one single glimpse of relief" makes the most sense given my reading of the last line if the relief comes because the beach is taken, or the patient is saved. But of course most of the time the relief comes simply because your shift is over, while the situation is still fucked, so the entire stanza is still hoping for that epiphany.
"With you I serve, with you I fall down, down (Down) / Watch you breathe in, watch you breathing out, out": Notice how in this stanza the repetition is on "down" and "out," i.e. the bad parts.
Outro: is the bridge, ending on a faint whisper of hope.
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If you're a veteran or frontline worker, God bless you. I cosign every single thing in this song.

TL, WR: Should I fry up chicken escalopes by themselves before adding egg and breadcrumbs to avoid burning the breadcrumbs?
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So I (a rookie cook) tried my hand today at making chicken escalopes for the first time. I bought 4 pieces of raw boneless chicken that were all about half an inch thick.
I put them all in a bowl and added a whisked egg and mixed it all together. Then I added a bunch of breadcrumbs and mixed it all again until each piece of chicken was fully coated.
During this time I had heated up a stainless steel frying pan on medium heat for about 4 minutes (my stove element has heating settings from 1 to 9, and I had it at about 3.5 to 4 the whole time). I did the sizzle test with water (and got a good hiss) so I added a generous amount of sunflower oil, waited another 30 seconds and added 2 of the pieces.
Well it's a good thing I added only 2 pieces because after about 4 minutes, I flipped them over to see that the breadcrumbs had basically burned in a bunch of places (there were black patches, not even brown). Those pieces were simply too burned to serve. I tossed them out, replaced the oil, and turned the stove down to 3. I added the next two pieces and got a decent but very low sizzle.
I was able to cook these 2 pieces at this level, but I didn't like the "feel" of what I was doing. Like I was worried that I was so focused on not burning the breadcrumbs that I wouldn't get the pan hot enough to actually cook the chicken. Or that it would be impossible to properly cook the chicken without burning the breadcrumbs. But eventually I was able to cook the chicken to a point where the internal temperature at the thickest points would read 165F, and the bread wasn't worse than a dark brown.
So now I'm wondering, wouldn't it be better to first cook the chicken by itself (no crumbs, no egg) and only then coat it in egg and crumbs and just put it back on the pan at low heat for a couple of minutes? Then I could be sure the chicken was well-cooked and wouldn't have to worry about burning breadcrumbs on the pan. Plus wouldn't the egg just need 1 or 2 minutes to cook?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated

So I have 3 roommates and one is getting ready to move out. She packed up almost all of the pots and pans plus both large baking sheets. She is adamant that they are all hers, but I’m certain one of the baking sheets is mine, as are at least one of the smaller pans and two of the pots.
One of my other roommates is pissed. He and I lived together before and had another roommate steal almost all of our pots and pans. He knows what was left here and isn’t willing to back down, but also won’t speak to the roommate that took them. I’m also pissed since some of the stuff was mine, but I know I can get it back (roommate is moving in with a very close friend).
The issue really lies in the fact that we mostly have frozen stuff that needs to be baked and we don’t have a baking sheet anymore. I and the two roommates not about to move are worried that we won’t have a way to bake any of our food, especially since we are also about to move.
Any advice? I’m willing to answer any questions

Looking to eventually supercharge my 93 LX (gonna be a little cause of $$). I’m looking for opinions on ProCharger Vs Vortech V3 (don’t really want to tap into the oil pan). Plus if I’m only running 8 lbs of boost, would I really see much of a benefit from an intercooler?

I (39F) moved in with my boyfriend Donnie (39M) at the beginning of December. He comes from a rich family and has a very high paying job in his mom's company. We've been dating for about 4 years, and my lease was up so we thought moving in would be a natural next step. We're both divorced, no kids.
So his living situation is that he lives in his mom's vacation home. It's a nice 2 bedroom. His mom has a house next door but she's hardly ever in it. She doesn't approve of me being there, especially since my job hours have been cut to part-time, and I'm making about 1/5 of what he does. Donnie pays zero rent, just pays for utilities.
The house was a disaster area when I moved in, and I'm not exactly a great housekeeper myself, but his mom made the agreement that if I were to stay in the house and not pay rent, I would be responsible for keeping the place clean. I thought that sounded fair so I agreed - verbally, no writing.
We are in Month 5 of cohabitation and it's become clear that Donnie thinks he doesn't have to do ANY housework, which would be fine, except that he continually makes huge messes. He never shuts a cabinet door or tightens the lid on any jacan of food, either. He went from leaving wet towels on the bathroom floor to leaving wet towels wherever they happen to drop off his body, so I've been surprised by sitting in a wet spot on the couch more than once. He went from not putting away a drinking glass to having entire meals in front of the TV and leaving everything there for me. He went from not cleaning the toilet, to leaving his shaved beard hairs all over the sink.
Tonight: last straw. He made dinner (we trade days), when I went into the kitchen he had dirtied 11 pots and pans plus their lids, several plates and bowls, the blender, and had spilled uncooked rice all over the floor and a sticky burnt crust in the eye of the stovetop. Every goddamn shelf was sticky - so was the floor. I worked for hours on the mess and it's still not cleaned up.
The kitchen stinks like hell, and I know from prior experience that we will have ants in the morning if I don't get all the stickiness up. The thing is, I work from home now - and the kitchen has the only Ethernet port so I have to be in there. I'm tired and I don't want to face a 7am workday after scrubbing on this all night.
So I asked for help. Just this once. He reminded me that I had agreed to keep the place clean, that if I don't want to do it I don't have to, but he is perfectly content with the mess and I'm "the one with the problem".
I'm about ready to scream. I feel like a naggy housewife. I'm thinking about letting it get super bad by stopping all housework, but I don't want to get kicked out and I can't stand living in a rat's nest! I can't afford the utilities or groceries, he really is being super generous right now, so who is in the wrong here? Am I being too harsh on him?