Good luck!
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Enjoy your trip and good luck with your defense! Just remember, you’re the person in that room that knows the most about the subject you’re defending. You’ve got it in the bag!!!
6 Likes
12/11
Pure Bodybuilding W4D4
Walked/ran 1.4 miles at 8.7% incline in 20:22
Pull-ups 6,6,5
Low incline DB bench 60x9,7,7
SA DB row 55x3x10
Cable y-raise 17,15,16(7,9 myo-reps)
OH cable tricep extension 22x14,13,13; 18x8; 14x11
Ran 7.45 km in 43:40
Well, it’s been A Time lately. I went on a pretty involved trip that involved attending four very emotional shows, and then I had to scramble to put the finishing touches on the presentation for my defense, which was yesterday and actually went better than I thought (and I didn’t cry!). Passed with minor revisions, so now I have a PhD in bioengineering.
My advisor took our lab and a couple of my friends out to lunch at a great mediterranean place, and then my best friend and I went out to a wine bar to finally put a several-month-old argument to rest. There I had dealcoholized wine and then felt brave enough (yes, I am afraid) to have what really was my first drink of my adult life.
My friend insisted I did not have to drink the whole thing, but I did 
Don’t think I’ll be doing that again anytime soon. It was pretty funny though, no serious harm done.
I’ve been through a lot of difficult things this year, but now it’s all over. Even though I’m not into the new year sentiment, I’m looking forward to 2025 ending.
16 Likes
Congratulation Doctor!
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congrats 
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How wonderful! I’m so happy for you!!!
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Can’t like that post enough—congratulations!
(I know that doesn’t even begin to cover it, but still…)
Congratulations!
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Well done, Doc!
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You have! And you slugged it out like a boss!
hats off to you Dr. Bagsy.
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Huge congratulations Dr. Bagsy!! What a set of amazing news!
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This is amazing! Congratulations! 
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Thanks all, I still feel no different after all that and will insist that no one ever call me Dr. I don’t think the relief has fully set in yet. I’m most stoked about a pay raise.
12/12
Pure Bodybuilding W4D2
Walked 1.1 miles at 9.3% incline in 18:18
Seated leg curl 70x11,11,10
Cable adductor 10x16,15,16
Front squat 110x3, 95x6, 85x7
Cable abductor 14x10,13,12
Leg extensions 50x11,10,9
So, yeah, I’m repeating week 4 of the program just to get back into things. It’s been smoother than expected in terms of the weights, but jeez, I felt like I got hit by a truck yesterday. Felt quite hypo again and just exhausted. I think going to all the shows on very little sleep last week finally caught up to me, maybe the alcohol on Wednesday too. I also got four celebratory piercings the night prior to this. Lots of stuff. Anyway, I’ll get some bloodwork in less than a week and hopefully get to increase my levo dose.
Feels really weird to have a free weekend for the first time in months.
9 Likes
I have a friend with 2 post dr. She is known as super dr. You may get to be power dr.
You mean she has two PhDs or did two postdocs?
2 postdoc, 1 PhD plus 2 Master. She is the over achiever type.
Congrats Dr. !!!
woah!
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Gotcha, I can imagine. I’m trying my absolute best for this next phase to be my only postdoc. I’d love to get a master’s in another field, but I’m not sure it will ever happen…
2 Likes
12/13
12/14
Pure Bodybuilding W4D3
DB press 40x13,10,10,8 (all the other DBs were taken, so I had to stick to straight sets at a lighter weight)
Pull-ups 8,7,6,6
Cable row 80x10,9,10
Zottman curl 30x12,11,10
Super ROM lateral raise 14x11,10,10
Some BPA because the cable machine was occupied
Walked 3.75 miles at 10.5% incline in 60:00
8 Likes
12/15
Walked 1.2 miles at 8.5% incline in 20:09
DB RDL 90x14,12,13
I got a new tattoo yesterday afternoon and therefore cut this really short. I probably should have shifted my workouts up by one day so that I could have done a proper lower body day today, but oh well. Just wanted to get in and out today without working up a sweat or touching any lifting machines. I’ll be pretty sore from this anyway. I’ll head out on a long outdoor walk instead and take tomorrow off too, should be okay to sorta get back into things this week. No more body modifications for a while after this…
10 Likes
12/17
Ran 10.3 km in 59:12
12/18
Pure Bodybuilding W5D1
Walked 1 mile at 8.5% incline in 16:09
Low incline DB bench 60x10,9,9
Pull-ups 8,6,7
SA DB row 55x3x9
Cable y-raise 18,15,16(2x8 myo-reps)
OH cable tricep extension 22x16,9 (ran out of time)
12/19
AM
Pure Bodybuilding W5D2
Walked 1 mile at 8.9% incline in 15:32
Seated leg curl 70x12,10,11
Cable abductor 14x15,14,14
Front squat 110x4, 95x6, 85x7
Leg extensions 50x11,11,9
DB BSS 40x10,9
PM
Walked/ran 3.25 miles at 8.6% incline in 47:53
The fifth week of the program is supposed to be a deload, but I’m going to just keep going without taking it easy since I already had time off earlier this month.
Since about six days ago I’ve started to feel really bad with an almost daily episode of chills, fatigue, and bradycardia with brain fog, dissociation, and slight dizziness that only seem to fully dissipate by sleeping or really elevating my HR by running. Seems like the honeymoon period with the levo is over because in some ways I feel worse than I did before starting it.
I got more bloodwork this week to see how things have gone over the past almost month: my TSH decreased a little bit, by FT4 increased by a measly 0.06 ng/dl (but still the highest it’s ever been for me, woo?), and my FT3 weirdly dropped and is barely still in the reference range. I guess this is why I feel bad. I suspect a conversion issue.
My doctor did not feel comfortable prescribing synthetic T3 without guidance from an endo, so now I get to try Armour at a slightly higher dose as well. I don’t know how I feel about taking a medication that could be banned by the current administration sometime next year, but in any case I’ll see a proper endo in about five weeks and see what they think. At least I’ll take something with T3 in it, hoping for the best when I start Armour tomorrow.
9 Likes