Also, an addictive personality can sometimes be a useful tool when directed at non-destructive purposes lol

@Nicole B hahahah I'm aware of the risks, and I appreciate the concern! My body learning to "cling to the calories" is actually part of the reason why I was doing something a little drastic, to shock the system so to speak. Basically, whenever my Crohn's flares up, I shed a major percentage of my body weight. Then, I usually get put on high doses of corticosteroids, like Prednisone, to tamp the inflammation to help me recover faster. For example, when I was first diagnosed back in 2006 (when I was 11), I probably weighed like 70ish pounds and dropped to like 50 (I was very small in general... Juvenile growth hormone deficiency). Then I was put on 40mg of Prednisone for months, and well, blew up like a balloon. And that cycle has basically repeated itself over and over throughout the years. I get sick, I drop a ton of weight, I get put on steroids, I gain back even more weight. I am more or less healthy now. I had a near total colectomy (I've got only a few inches of my colon left) in 2019, but over time my body has "learned" to hang on to all the calories and fat and weight in preparation for needing it when I get sick again. So part of the deficit is meant to be shock my body into realizing "hey body, you don't gotta hang onto so much anymore, we're good now". After my initial drop, I am definitely carefully planning on ... Whatever of the opposite of weaning is lol... Back to a higher calorie range. That said, I'm sure I'm actually consuming more calories than my app is telling me. Mostly because it's not like I'm not eating much, and I'm not like starving myself. I am definitely eating less, but still eating quite a bit in general, I think. It mostly just happens to be that I've basically traded all the candy and fried crap and pointless carbs for protein. I promise that I won't do anything stupid. Except for definitely play too much pickleball when I should be taking a rest day. But I don't think anyone in here can fault me for that 😂

I've always been pretty active regardless of how I was physically feeling (for me, soreness and achiness is just another Tuesday), and I was never a *terrible* eater (my issues there were more about portion control and moderation), but I've pretty much always had issues with sleeping and actually feeling energetic without having to force myself into that mindset. With my health issues and stuff, I realize that a lot of that is out of my control, and I just sorta have to deal with it (story of my life lol). At least in the physical realm of things. I also happen to have absolutely crippling FOMO, which has definitely lead to terrible habits, sleep especially. Though I have gotten a bit better with that!

The others have given you an idea or two on how to restart, but I wanted to specifically add this... Don't expect yourself to be perfect. You know that saying, "to err is to be human". We all make mistakes. We all slip up. We all struggle. It's okay to get knocked down. What matters most is that you just keep on getting back up. As long as you keep trying, you're doing infinitely better than if you were doing nothing.

But did you weigh yourself wearing the medal? 🤣

@John Marchese Wear the medal in your next submission for the weekly check-in thing!

I was a Selkirk advocate for a few years and ran the gamut of their paddles. I currently have been going back and forth between the Friday Aura Pro and the 11SIX24 Power2. Mostly because Rachel Rohrabacher and Dekel Bar are my two favorite players. Fun fact... I've unintentionally used the same exact paddle as Rachel for like three years 🤣

@Tara Schultz