#and building some lean muscle so my metabolism goes up because god knows that I’m squishy enough as is

[damned-if-they-do]

It feels so unreal to lose a pound a day by fasting tho…. Like Omfg….. how does this even work like it feels so efficient

[romeoandjulietyouwish]

Whumptober Prompt 26 - Abandoned

Read on ao3

Summary: major thanks to @blondsak​ who sent me a prompt for this (I changed it a bit, but not too much). Peter and Tony get taken by a sorcerer who turns Peter invisible so Tony can't see or hear him.

Peter wakes up laying on a cold stone floor. He sits up, clutching his head. His brain feels like it’s been shoved through a meat grinder. He groans, forcing his eyes open. Where the hell is he? The room is small, concrete floors and walls. No windows, only a simple metal door on the far wall. It’s lit by one florescent light embedded in the ceiling. He’s being held captive. Yay. But Peter’s not alone. Laying just a few feet away is Tony.

Peter crawls closer to him, “Tony,” he says, shaking the man’s shoulder. “Tony wake up.” He doesn’t move. Peter groans in frustration. Whatever drug they gave them wore off faster on him. Stupid enhanced metabolism. He sighs and sits down against the wall. Peter keeps a watchful eye on the door to the cell. If it opens before Tony is up he’ll have to figure this out on his own. With Tony at least he has some help.

But thankfully, a few minutes later, Tony begins to wake up. “Peter?” Tony mumbles under his breath, eyes still closed.

Peter touches his shoulder, “I’m right here, Tony.” Tony’s eyes fling open. His eyes dart around the room apprehensively, not even looking at Peter. “Tony?” Peter asks softly. He touches his hand to get his attention, Tony doesn’t look at him.

“Peter!” Tony shouts, causing Peter to jump. “Peter! Where are you!”

“I’m right here!” Peter exclaims. “It’s not funny.” As Tony stands so does Peter, stepping in front of his mentor. “I’m right here Tony.” Tony walks through him as if he’s a ghost. Peter gasps, touching his chest. What the hell? He runs up to Tony and roughly shakes his shoulders, he hits his back, he screams his name. Nothing. Tony doesn’t even turn around.

“Let me out of here!” Tony howls, banging on the door. “Where’s Peter?!”

Peter stumbles back. Tony can’t see him or hear him. Oh my god. Peter winds his fingers into his hair and pulls, trying to calm himself. What’s going on? Is he dead? Maybe he’s a ghost. Peter shakes his head. That’s not right. When he touches his chest he can feel his heart pounding and his warm blood. He doesn’t feel dead. Okay. That’s some good news. So what? He’s invisible then? Maybe.

Tony is still shouting for him and pounding on the door when it swings open, smacking Tony. Tony falls back onto the floor with a groan. Peter is on his feet instantly, he knows he won’t be much help to Tony, but he can make sure he’s okay. Tony’s nose is bleeding, but he’s otherwise okay.

“Hello, Tony.” Tony and Peter both look up at the same time to see a wizard in the doorway. The wizard, as evident by the long cloak and magic pendant, looks in Peter’s eyes and winks before looking back at Tony.

And the pieces fall in place.

The wizard took them. He knocked them out and turned Peter invisible. The worst possible torture for both of them. Shit. But then Peter lets out a sigh of relief, if a wizard did this to him, then Strange will be able to reverse it.

“Where the hell is my kid?” Tony growls as he stands up, hands clenched into fists.

The wizard smirks, “What kid?”

Tony charges at the wizard, “You son of a bitch, I know you have my kid somewhere. Give him back to me!” If Peter’s heart swells at Tony calling him his kid, no one has to know.

“I’m afraid I don’t know where he is, Mr. Stark,” the wizard chuckles. He tosses Tony a cloth to clean up his blood, “I’ll see you later.”

Tony tries to follow the wizard out the door, but the door slams in his face before he can. Tony slams his fist into the door, causing Peter to jump. He throws the cloth away.

“It’s okay, Tony,” Peter says gently. He touches the man’s shoulder. “He’s not hurting me. I’m right here. I’m safe.” But Tony doesn’t hear him. Of course he doesn’t. Peter sinks to the floor as Tony paces the room over and over again. “You don’t need to worry about me,” Peter says to Tony. “No one can hurt me like this.” Peter scoffs. “No one can even touch me like this.” Tony’s feet clomp loudly in the echoey room. “You should sit and rest. Clean up your face,” Peter tells him. “You’re going to wear yourself out.” A minute later, Tony finally does. He sits down against the wall and mops up the blood with the cloth. “Finally,” Peter laughs. He stands up and then sits back down beside Tony, leaning on his shoulder.

After sitting in against the wall wearing a heavy frown for a few minutes, Tony clasps his hands together, bows his head, and begins to pray in Italian, “Ave Maria, piena di grazia, il Signore e con te.” Peter bows his head and folds his hands together, respecting Tony’s prayer. “Tu sei benedetta fra le donne e benedetto e il frutto del tuo seno, Gesu. Santa Maria, Madre di Dio, prega per noi peccatori, adesso e nell’ora della nostra morte. Amen.”

“Amen,” Peter repeats. He looks up at Tony with a soft smile, “I didn’t know you spoke Italian.”

Tony sighs, “Peter, where ever you are, I hope you’re okay.” Tony’s voice is soft almost like he’s still praying.

“I’m okay,” Peter says. They sit like that for a long time. Peter doesn’t know how long they sit there, but it’s long enough for Tony to tip his head back and fall asleep. Peter smiles and lays down on the floor, resting his head on Tony’s leg. “Goodnight, Tony.”

Peter jerks awake when the door bangs open. Peter jumps up from where he was resting his head on Tony’s leg, instantly ready to fight. Tony is just a hair slower but is just as ready to fight. But they don’t need to. Because on the other side of the door is Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff.

“Tony.” Steve walks quickly towards Tony, pulling his friend into a hug. “Are you alright?” Tony nods. “Good. Let’s get out of here.” Steve tries to pull Tony towards the door, but Tony won’t move. “Tony, what-”

“Peter’s here somewhere,” Tony says. “We were together when the wizard took us.”

Natasha frowns, “Tony, we checked the entire building before we found you, there’s no one else here.”

“I’m right here,” Peter says. “You don’t need to look for me.”

Tony shakes his head, “No, that can’t be right. He’s here, I know he is.”

Steve tugs Tony’s arm again, “We need to go. Once we get back to the tower we’ll call Strange and have him track him. Okay? C’mon, let’s go.”

Tony plants his feet, “He’s my kid, Steve. I’m in charge of him, I can’t just abandon him!”

Steve grips Tony’s shoulders tightly, “Tony. You’re not abandoning him.” Peter nods in agreement. “We don’t know where he is and right now we need to get you safe first.”

Peter touches Tony’s shoulder, “It’s okay. We need to go. I’ll be right here the whole time.”

As if Tony can hear Peter, he reluctantly agrees and allows Natasha and Steve to take him out of the room. Peter follows close behind as they run quickly out of the building. Peter quickly loses track of where they are in building, but somehow they get to the ground floor and into the quinjet. As Natasha goes to piolet, Steve sits down on the bench beside Tony. Peter takes his place at Tony’s feet, leaning against his legs. “We’re going to find him, Tony,” Steve tells him. “FRIDAY is summoning Strange to the tower as we speak.”

“Steve,” Tony says, so calm Peter knows he passed worried and stressed and afraid. “I can’t lose him.”

“I know, Tony.”

“No, you don’t.” Peter looks up at Tony in confusion. “He’s my kid, Steve. Do you know what it’s like to have a child trust you with their life? To look at you as if you could take away all of their problems? Because I do.” Peter has never heard Tony talk about him like this. Tony’s talking about his as if he is his child. Which...isn’t wrong. Peter smiles and leans back against Tony’s legs. “If he is missing or dead...” Tony takes a long breath. “That’s on me.”

Peter touches Tony’s hands, “I’m okay, Tony. I’m not hurt.”

Steve apologizes to Tony, squeezing his arm in comfort. No one says anything for the rest of the ride. Finally, they arrive at the tower. They all rush off of the quinjet and into the living room. Tony sits down on the couch and Peter sits beside him.

A few minutes later, Strange steps through the portal and into the room, “You needed me?”

Peter smiles up at Stephen from where he sits leaning against Tony’s leg. He can fix everything. Steve and Natasha explain the situation to Stephen, the man nodding the whole time.

“I can find him,” Stephen says. Tony sits up at attention. Strange closes his eyes, opening them a few seconds later. “He’s right there,” Strange says, pointing to the spot on the couch Peter is occupying. Peter wiggles his fingers at Stephen who rolls his eyes at the boy’s antics. Peter smiles, he can see him.

Tony pinches the bridge of his nose, “I thought you said you could help.”

“I can,” Stephen’s voice is tight. “Give me a moment.”

Strange closes his eyes, not even a minute later. Peter screams, clutching head. His entire body feels like it’s being torn apart and stitched back together all at once. It’s like he’s on fire. He hears someone say his name and then strong arms wrap around his middle. He’s in so much pain that he can’t even open his eyes. Someone says his name over and over, telling him he’s okay. Peter’s cries turn into painful sobs, wracking through his body violently.

“Strange!” Someone calls. “What’s wrong with him?”

“Think of every cell in his body as having two sides. One that makes him visible one that doesn’t,” Strange says calmly. “So every one of his cells has to completely turn over. It’s quite excruciating if you can imagine.”

Every muscle in Peter’s body is tense and painful. The arms around him clutch him tighter. “How much longer will it last?”

“Only a few more minutes.”

A hand fluffs his curls, “You hear that Petey? You’re going to be okay soon.”

Peter sobs, he can’t stand this anymore. This is worse than death, he thinks. He clings tightly to the person holding him, wanting desperatly for it to end. Finally, after two more minutes, the pain goes away and Peter collapses, panting heavily. He opens his eyes to find Stephen watching him passively while Steve and Natasha are watching him like hawks.

“Hi, Pete.” Peter looks up to find himself leaning on Tony’s chest. His head is tucked under the man’s chin with Tony’s arms holding him close. Tony gives him a soft smile, “You alright?”

Peter nods, “Yeah,” his voice is breathy. “Yeah, I’m good.”

Tony gently touches his cheek, “You really scared me, kid. I thought we abandoned you.”

Peter shakes his head, “I was here the whole time.” He offers Tony a small smile, “I didn’t know you spoke Italian.”

A light blush colors Tony’s cheeks, “You heard that?” Peter nods. “So I’m guessing you heard the part-”

“About me trusting you with my life?” Peter asks, shrugging, “It’s true.”

Tony smiles, “You want a hug?”

“You know I do.”

Tag list:  @just-the-daydreamer​, @irondad-is-cannon-bitch​, @anxiousangstyangel​, @wicked-starlight-collector​, @bookstorebunny​, @m0ther-of-dragons​

[ninjasai]

Weight Loss (Part 2)

Now on to bad habits.  Here I'm gonna be going over things you wanna keep under control.  As with anything though, it's best to phase things in slowly and operate in moderation.

Bad Habits To Avoid:

1.  Less carbs, more fiber and protein.  Carbs aren't inherently a bad thing.  Noodles, rice, bread, and sugar all provide readily available calories to help fuel your workouts.  However, they should be eaten in moderation.

See, there are three basic macronutrients that provide energy, and they're generally used up by your body in order of preference.  Carbs are your body's preferred energy source: they're easy for your cells to turn into energy and use.  Fats come second.  Once all your carbohydrate stores are used up, your body turns to fat to burn for fuel.  However, when fat reserves run low or if your blood sugar goes has plummetted too far, your body will turn to the last macronutrient out of desperation and break down muscle.

Some people wanna follow the Atkins diet (a strict, zero-carbs plan) and enter the metabolic state known as ketosis: where your body is so starved of sugars and starches that it has no choice but to start burning fat and producing ketone bodies to feed your cells.  Some studies even imply that going into ketosis might be good for your health in some ways, though more research still needs to be done as to whether it really is safe long-term.

Practically speaking though, most people can't handle going without some toast for weeks on end.  And the good thing is, you don't have to.

See, there's another reason to go low-carb, high-protein.  And it has less to do with cell chemistry and more to do with that concept I brought out in my previous post:  satiety.

So quick reminder:  Satiety is the opposite of appetite.  It is the feeling of being satisfied, of not feeling the desire to eat more.  You aren't necessarily full per se, you just don't feel the need to eat any more.

This is important to keep in mind, because different foods produce different levels of satiety when eaten.  Foods that are pure starch shoot through your system really fast and don't make you feel satisfied quite as quickly.  You ever notice how you can eat several plates of pasta, but you would struggle to eat as much chicken because you lose interest in all that meat really quickly?

That's satiety at work, and the take-home message for how you should structure your meals.  Eat less starch not because you want to go into ketosis.  But rather, eat less starch because it doesn't do much for your sense of satiety, and this ends up encouraging you to overeat.  Instead eat more lean protein like chicken or fish, since these tend to fill you up quicker.

Fiber is also an important component in a healthy diet, since it helps fill you up and pad out your stomach.  So if you wanna feel more satisfied with your meals while eating fewer calories, increase both your intake of lean protein and fiber.

2.  Don't drink your calories: Avoid sodas, juices, and smoothies.  Again, the idea here is that whenever you eat anything you want to be sure you get as satisfied and full as you can on as few calories as possible.  Liquids flow right through you, and because of this they don't fill you up the way that solid food would.  By cutting out things like juices and sodas, you won't be pouring excess calories into your system.

There's definitely this misconception that just because juices and smoothies come from fruit, they're healthier.  Definitely not.  Not only does juice not satiate you or fill you up in the way solid food would, it'd also give you heavier sugar spikes since the sugars in the juice are so easily absorbed.  This means an increased risk of diabetes.  If you want to enjoy fruit (and you should, they're delicious and healthy) eat 'em whole instead:  all that nice pulp and fiber will help put bulk into your stomach and fill you up long-term.

Now some people transition to drinking diet soda instead.  They've got zero calories, so they should be fine right?  Well, not so much.  The question of how diet soda impacts your health is a difficult one to address, because how artificial sweeteners affect our biology is still unclear.  There's some research out there that suggests diet soda may screw up our body's ability to recognize calories related to sweetness, which can lead to overeating.  There's also the idea that diet sodas may enable bad habits: the "Big Mac and Diet Coke" phenomenon, where people assume that because they're ordering a diet coke they can get away with eating unhealthy, calorie-dense foods.  Or zero-calorie sweeteners may condition us to have more of a sweet tooth, getting us to crave sugary foods even more.  So even though diet soda may be a step in the right direction if consumed with a responsible diet, it's best to avoid sweet drinks altogether.

Now you don't have to quit juice and soda cold turkey.  Water them down with either plain old water or some club soda.  When I was younger I'd do 2/3 juice to 1/3 water, and over time that'd get more and more dilute.  Your sense of taste will adapt to it over time too, so you'll learn to enjoy lighter drinks that are lower in calories.

Personally, my preferred beverage these days is unsweetened, flavored seltzer.  There's no sugar, no artifical sweeteners, just carbonated water with fruity aromas added to it.  Polar Seltzer, LaCroix, and Arrowhead are all fantastic, though Polar has the best variety and LaCroix has the most interesting flavors.  It takes some getting used to, but I find that with unsweetened seltzers I get a far more refreshing drink with none of the guilt or cloying sweetness.  And they tend to be cheaper than soda too!

3.  Don't obsess over the scale.  Weight isn't a very good short-term indicator of fitness progress for several reasons.

First, your weight can fluctuate by several pounds throughout the day.  Your cycles of eating, drinking, peeing, pooping all change how much you weigh on the scale.  I generally gain one or two pounds right after breakfast, and in the afternoon I've gone to the bathroom sufficiently to drop two or three pounds in all.  If I have a big bowl of noodle soup (super high in sodium) my weight can shoot up by four pounds for a day or two.  Fluctuations might make you feel thrilled that you've apparently lost a couple pounds in a day, but by the next it may make you feel like you've reversed all that progress and worse.  Don't put yourself through this emotional rollercoaster!

Second, water weight will also fool the scale.  Even when you're doing your best on a calorie deficit and legitimately burning loads of fat, your fat cells might just be replacing that lost fat with water.  This is very much a temporary situation as your body adjusts.  Just keep at it, and over time your fat cells will start shedding that water and shrinking down and you may just see a sudden drop in weight.  Cutting down on the sodium for a little while will also help.

Third, if you're also doing a lot of weightlifting at the same time (and you should), you may simply be building muscle at the same time that you're burning fat.  This can give you the illusion that you aren't making progress in losing weight, when in reality you're doing a fantastic job on both getting fit and getting trim at the same time.

So really, don't put too much trust in the scale.  Instead, focus on developing dieting skills like tracking calories, portion control, exercise, and discipline!

4.  Don't do cheat days, do cheat meals instead.  We all need a break from our diets every once in a while, and a cheat meal is a legit way to unwind.  But it's important not to go overboard with this.  A cheat meal once a week or so should be a temporary break from your diet where you just relax and push calorie-counting in the back of your mind for an hour or so.  But you want to try your best to use the rest of your day to make it up by cutting calories elsewhere.  If you can still make a deficit, great.  If you're in neutral mode, that's good too.  If you eat a little past your daily caloric requirement, that's not so bad, just try a little harder next time.

The important thing to do when it comes to cheating around your diet occasionally is to not fall into the trap of saying "Well I just broke my diet rule, might as well break it even further" or go down that slippery slope of "eh I already broke my diet rules today, no harm in breaking another."

The rules and boundaries you set for your diet aren't absolute.  If you think of them in absolute terms you'll end up operating on extremes of binging and fasting, and that just isn't sustainable.

5.  Don't push yourself too hard.  Know when to slow down.  At some point weight loss is more about vanity than personal health.  Vanity is fine, but give yourself permission to slow down with your diet and moderate your sense of control.  Getting an eating disorder is the nasty other end of the spectrum that people need to watch out for.

Just remember that moderation is crucial, and that includes moderation in how fit you want to be.  If you want to get down to 8% body fat, develop abs like a rockstar, and pecs like a Greek god, more power to you.  But not everyone has the time or energy to achieve this, and not all people should have this as their ultimate goal.  Come to understand what healthy body type is best for your given lifestyle and try to work towards it.

And seriously, don't be ashamed if you have a little bit of pudge.  If you're still eating right and exercising, it'd even be healthier for you to be a teeny bit overweight than being too lean.  One of my friends had totally ripped abs and a gorgeous chest, but when he got the stomach flu his body didn't have any spare energy to burn through to help him recover.  He ended up being out of commission for a week, lost a TON of muscle mass, and when I saw him again the poor guy's cheeks were hollowed out and he was probably twenty pounds lighter.

So yeah.  Unless you're dead set on a superhero bod it's good to be comfortable with having some body fat.  Learn to slow down and love yourself, and appreciate the progress you've made.