Guess there's no better time to touch base,
The end of 2025 likely culminated as the hardest series of events I've had to face without any support and by god did they warrant a little crash out.
The hamstring injury I left on in my logs required a 2+ month de-load and dropping anything that aggravated it.
I was finally triaged by the local major hospital for my back and got news I will be approved for spine surgery early this year.
(think I find out the date on the 16th of this month so rip gains)
My buddy and pal of 8 years that was featured in my food pictures required emergency surgery and care and ultimately passed away on super short notice leaving me heartbroken and left me in a significantly worse financial position than I've ever been.
My mind has been on this community a lot in my absence, unfortunately I become heavily debilitated by shame when there should be none.
In the time I've been gone I have only had 3 small grace periods of straying from my diet, both parents visited independently and I wanted to enjoy my time with them instead of shifting the focus to accommodating my diet and stresses and a small window over Christmas and new years when they sent us a hamper and I was grieving the loss of my best friend.
I had only just started picking up momentum in the gym again post de-load for the hamstring injury when everything happened with my dog and over that period I was unable to keep food down or attend the gym without breaking down in public.
I have since established enough emotional stability to start going more frequently again and picking up closer to the weights I left on.
I think the lowest I've weighed in over this time was a crisp 94 (I think my log starts at 98 or 96?) but I haven't been strict enough with my fasted cardio post holiday season bloat to get a current accurate baseline.
only other relevant note is moved up to 1mg/week reta but considering a small bump again because it doesn't feel as potent currently but maybe the urge to eat my feelings can overpower some silly hormones as it's irrational anyway.
now mopey things aside,
Absolute foul work by the both of you progress wise,
Absolutely crazy physique and deserved promotion for
@Allupfromhere huge congrats

and actually insane to see how far you've come
@vanlife_gymbum since I've been lurking, that consistency has payed off in spades.
I think I am at a point where I might not be as consistent as I was early on in the log and still require a monumental amount of grounding and free headspace to be able to lock in everything again but it would be cathartic to at least log what I do manage to eat or get done even if I'm not currently in a position to action all the advice/feedback I'll be getting.