Posts by amberheron62

I’ve been thinking about getting a baby carrier for my runs because there’s really no middle ground when it comes to gear—unlike lifting weights or kettlebells (unless you count those jogging strollers, but I don't run around Central Park; I'm usually hitting the trails in the woods). In theory, my mom could step in to help, but she's already busy babysitting my nephew, and I really don't want to dump more on her plate.

Amanda Ward80, I am absolutely loving this park workout! 🙏 Ali, you still have to make sure all the math adds up with your calories and effort.

The best part for me is that even before I was pregnant, I was always a late-night trainer (usually around 9 PM), so now I just jump back into that routine once the little one finally crashes.

I take my workout everywhere—whether I’m hitting the mall, trekking through the woods, browsing at Geneva, or just wandering around Newport. I even lug it along when I'm grabbing dinner or traveling abroad! I honestly don't get why people act like indoor spaces are such a "nightmare." They're just part of life, just like everything else 🤷
If I didn't have all my own gear on hand, I wouldn't even bother stepping foot in a gym.
So, 👍here's a little inspiration—fingers crossed someone actually sees the potential in this idea.

So, get this—I totally wiped out at the gym once and accidentally pulled off a full-blown deadlift mid-fall! It was wild. Literally the second I hit the ground, my muscles just flared up everywhere, almost like some crazy allergic reaction. 🙂

Steven Lopez35 said:It’s all about perception, man. It’s definitely some girl with low body fat wearing decent lighting, flexing her quads, and suddenly she looks absolutely jacked. 😁

^Exactly this! Just a ton of subcutaneous fat covering up some light hypertrophy from consistent lifting, and boom—"huge legs."
Honestly, it’d be pretty wild to see how much those massive muscles would actually shrink if she dropped her body fat by just 3-5%. 😁

Baked Oatmeal

Makes two servings:

3.5 oz quick oats (I personally love using Alnatura Feinblatt)
1.75 oz raisins or dried cranberries
0.7 oz brown sugar (muscovado is best!)
0.5 oz chopped almonds
One whole egg
0.7 oz butter
3/4 cup milk—could be dairy, almond, coconut... I usually go with unsweetened almond milk (just a heads up, this measurement is based on a standard US cup, so please don't try measuring this out with one of those massive protein shakers you get at Dick's Sporting Goods! 😁 )
1/3 cup applesauce (I use this one)

Just toss all your dry ingredients together in a bowl, then stir in your melted butter, milk, egg, and applesauce. Super easy!
Pour the mix into a baking dish and pop it in the oven at 350°F for about 20-25 minutes.



Feel free to top it with whatever fruit you're feeling, a little splash of milk, or maybe a sprinkle of cinnamon or cocoa powder if you want to get fancy!

Per serving:

390 calories
55g Carbs
9g Fat
12g Protein

A little bit of bicep and back gains here! I think it’s finally starting to look like all those hours in the gym are actually paying off. 😬

Still got a long way to go, though.

Not me 😬

I'm about 5'5" and weighing in at around 125 lbs.
I spent years crushing cross-country mountain biking until an injury totally sidelined me, which actually led me straight into running. It's been my absolute go-to for five years now.
Fast forward to this past spring—I decided to switch things up and dive into heavy lifting! I’ve been hitting the dumbbells hard, and while I’ve dialed back my running mileage a bit, I’ve basically swapped long hauls for intense HIIT sessions and quick, explosive sprints.
Diet-wise, nothing crazy. I mostly just follow IIFYM (If It Fits Your Macros), so I eat pretty much whatever I want, though I’ll definitely watch my portions if I’m grabbing something a little more indulgent.

The first peanut butter (extra crunchy!) recipe is finally live! 👋

Nothing crazy fancy here, just super simple and honestly delicious—these banana, oat, and peanut butter cookies are a total win:



Three bananas
Old-fashioned oats (I used these) 130g
Peanut butter (linked above) 115g

Just mash up those bananas and mix in everything else. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, shape them into cookies, and pop them in the oven at 350°F for about twenty minutes—you want them to stay a little soft!

I ended up with 10 cookies, and per cookie, you're looking at:

145 kcal
14g Carbs
6g Fat
6g Protein

Personally, I’m a fan of making bigger cookies (around 60g each) because they feel more like an actual meal to me. They're perfect as a pre- or post-workout snack with a glass of milk or even some homemade jam on top 😁 , but hey, you can totally make 15-20 mini ones if you prefer.
The whole batch is roughly 1450 kcal, so just math it out based on how many you make!

Look, speaking as a biologist here, I can tell you that almost anything involving human physiology—especially when you're talking about an ultra-active body that’s pushing way beyond basic metabolic functions and simple movement—is rarely considered an exact science.
If you throw obesity into the mix, which is such a massive, relatively recent headache for modern American society, you basically end up with one giant, uncontrolled experiment. Honestly, trying to be black-and-white about this stuff is laughable at best, and dangerous at worst.

Scientific studies are really just theories that have been empirically tested on a tiny handful of subjects and currently haven't been debunked yet. They aren't some kind of holy scripture just because they use "big" fancy terminology designed to impress people who don't know any better.

So, I whipped up some Sheevin scones today! 😍 And to go with them, I made this killer chicken spread:



The recipe for the scones is right above, but here’s how you make the spread (this makes enough for two people):

15g mayo
1 garlic clove
50g low-fat cottage cheese
40g goat cheese
15ml soy sauce
25g onion
10g mustard
100g chicken (grilled on a dry pan, no oil needed!)

Just toss the chicken, onion, and garlic into a blender or use an immersion blender to get it super fine, then mix that right into the rest of the ingredients.
Give everything a good stir, add salt and pepper however you like, top it with some chives for looks, and let it chill in the fridge for at least an hour.

Seriously, spread this on those warm scones while they're still hot. It's amazing. 🙂

Nutrition info per 100 grams (about half of what I made):

170 kcal
2.3g Carbs
15g Protein
9g Fat

Whole Wheat Zucchini & Goat Cheese Pizza:



First up, mix your dough (whole wheat flour 200g, half a small packet of dry yeast, a teaspoon of salt, plus water until it feels right) and let it rise for at least 30 minutes. Once it’s puffed up, knead it again, roll it out super thin, and pop it into a baking pan (a round one works best!).

Spread chopped tomatoes mixed with basil and oregano over the base, then layer on some deluxe turkey ham—just one standard 100g pack
should do it!
Next, grate two small zucchinis and mix them together with goat cheese (about 130 grams), then spread that yummy mixture all over the pizza.
Top it off with about ten pitted olives.
Sprinkle on some extra oregano and bake at 410°F for 25 minutes.

Nutrition facts per slice (that's 1/4 of the pizza):

kcal - 248
Carbs - 38g
Protein - 13g
Fat - 5.5g

Baked Baby Spinach with Bacon and Mushrooms:



Grab a tablespoon of olive oil and sauté some finely chopped onion (about 1.5 oz) until it smells amazing. Toss in some diced bacon (roughly 1.2 oz) and let it sizzle for a bit before throwing in your sliced mushrooms (around 5 oz).
Keep cooking everything until those mushrooms get a beautiful golden-brown color, then dump in the baby spinach (about 7 oz) and stir it all together until it wilts down perfectly.
Hit it with a bit of salt and pepper.
Transfer the whole mix into a small ceramic baking dish, crack an egg right on top, and slide it into a 400°F oven for about 10 minutes.

310 kcal
Carbs: 15g
Fat: 40g
Protein: 20g

These Sheevin crackers would be absolutely killer with this! 😬

Merry Christmas to all my fellow nurses and patients out there! 😍

Honestly, I haven’t met a single soul who actually benefited from those mobile appliances. In my experience, everyone just ends up needing full braces anyway.
Maybe try asking about a different type of orthodontic tool? If you explain the whole "it keeps falling out at night" thing, they might suggest something better to hold them over until it's time for the permanent stuff.
That parent from the PTA totally freaked you out for no reason (which, hey, maybe makes her a great doctor, but whatever). If you go with fixed braces when he's 13, everything can be easily corrected. Just do a quick Google search before and after photos of orthodontic patients to see for yourself.

My best advice? Start tucking away some cash for the next two or three years so you can take the little guy to a top-tier orthodontist.
Personally, I had a pretty lousy experience over at the Perkov clinic, even though I was the one paying the bills!

Honestly, I don't see this as some huge scandal or anything crazy. I really do feel for those girls, but you just can't go on trips—especially overseas—without travel insurance. It's a total no-brainer.

I’m actually hanging out in Canada right now, and man, I cannot even begin to imagine the massive medical bills I'd be staring at if something went wrong and I wasn't covered.

Hold down that CTRL key and just tap the + button. Keep clicking until the text is big enough for you to read comfortably! ☕

Honestly, my orthodontist smoothed them all out super fast and totally painless—I haven't had any issues at all since!
That’s just my two cents based on what happened to me, though maybe someone with actual medical training can jump in and weigh in here. 🙂

Trapezoids. 🙂

Paul Green31 said:The ability to "speak your mind without a filter" is one of the highest traits of *Homo sapiens*. Unfortunately, only a select few actually possess it.

And yeah, sure, when your chat gets deleted, you start whining, but then you immediately go and pull a moderator's quote because it bothered you. 😳

See, I totally thought that was just called empathy—silly me! 🥳

If someone actually knows how to own up to their own mess, then they're definitely part of that special group, but honestly? This is just an unnecessary comment in the intro post. That post should really just serve as a guideline for all the newcomers. Period.

rustydrifter10 said:
With all those intense methods going on, don't forget to have some sex every now and then—apparently, that helps too! 😳 😁

It would be totally awesome if the mods could tone down comments like this in threads where it's mostly women who've been trying to conceive for a while. It feels a little out of line to imply they're doing all these fertility methods just for kicks, acting like they're forgetting that, hey, you still need a guy to make the whole thing work! ☕