Belly fat diagrams

Hello! Can you please answer my question?
Ano anong pagkain po ba ang dapat kainin during calorie deficit? 'Yong everyday po sanang pwedenv kainin. I really want to lose fats, specially in my lower belly and thighs, huhu. I tried working out months ago but it didn't work. I even tried to take slimming capsule, a month ago until now, but looks like wala rin siyang epekto huhu.
Please suggest any slimming and growth recommendations. I am 17 years old pa lang kasi and my height is 5'1 but my weight is hshshaga nvm hahahaha
Please pips, I really wanna go slim. Nag babalak pa naman ako mag tourism sa college.
🥹🫶

Over the past few months I’ve been working out more regular Weight training but haven’t done as much cardio. I’m about 5”11 and 187. Trying to gain more muscle and shed belly fat. I admit I’m not great at tracking calories but I stick to protein. In the morning I eat eggs, oatmeal, fruits, milk, Greek yogurt. During the day I eat snacks like nuts, seeds, fruit, peanut butter on whole wheat bread. Lunch and dinner I eat a lot of chicken breasts, turkey, fish, lean beef with beans and salad. I work long hours mainly sitting do I feel I’m not going enough even though i don’t t have much choice. However I’ve started running more in the morning before work and will do resistance training at night since it’s about a 10 hour interval. Just seeking advice if that’s a good way to go or any other pointers would be greatly appreciated thanks

Has anyone been able to lose the love handles and/or lower belly fat. I'm starting keto again, two weeks in, and I'm as thin as can be except for these two areas that stick out a bit.
I walk every day between 30-60 minutes and eat under 20 carbs a day. I wonder if the love handles will ever go, or how long it will take.

Hi.
I have this simple classic question of how to lose lower belly fat & love handles.
I am not considered “fat” but through the years since after Covid I haven’t been into much sports so I’ve gained some fat and generally have lower belly fat & love handles.
Now I know most would suggest cardio but I am already kind of skinny fat and I wanted to put on some muscle, so if I just focus on cardio would I not have to lose everything and start again?
I’ve tried Gym but its too boring alone so I’ve opted in for sports again like Jiu Jitsu now but no sports is near to gym for muscle hypertrophy.
Soo, what are your thoughts for losing weight around this area without starting from zero.

i need a straight up answer. ive tried going on a calorie deficit but i just lost weight and just a tiny bit of fat and since im already skinny i dont think its healthy for me to stay on a calorie deficit. i do however eat lots of processed sugar, in the form of sodas snacks etc. if i exclude those things from my diet completely, will i lose some fat? i mostly have belly fat and love handles. and i mean i dont have fat to the point where its hanging from my body but just enough to hide my lower abs. and also ive been seeing tiktoks that are talking about going on fasts, like a 16/8 fast, will that help my case? pm me if any pictures are needed. thanks

I’ve been doing solidcore five days a week for a year, but my body hasn’t changed, and I haven’t lost any weight. I’m 5’6” and weigh 130 pounds, which is the same as a year ago.
Thought I might need to lose some fat, so I decided to add a bit more cardio. Now, I’m doing 2X solidcore, 2X barre, and 1X swimming or Orange Theory each week. However, I think my body looked more toned when I was doing solidcore five days a week. Despite not having much fat around my belly, I’ve never been able to see visible abs lines.
I’ve seen TikTok videos where people achieve abs after just 2 weeks of solidcore, which is frustrating because I’ve been exercising for over a year and only have very faint abs, and most of the time, they’re not visible at all.
Is it normal not to have visible abs lines after these types of exercises? Could it be that visible abs are only achievable through weightlifting or other specific exercises?

Hey, so I have been trying to gauge if I have gyno or not. 30% body fat teen, around 190 pounds. I don’t have a lump underneath my nipple or aerola, but there is a donut shape small lumpy thing around the aerola, but it feels the same as by belly fat, when I press down(a little lumpy like my belly fat)
I was wondering if gyno is only when there is a lump under the nipple/aerola or if what I have can possibly be gyno

Like many now-adults, my parents never told me about my hypospadias surgery I had as an infant. They're not around to ask, so hoping the community here can help me fill in some blanks based on your experiences. Three questions:

1. About 5" above my penis on my abdomen, there is a small horizontal scar, maybe 0.5cm long. Does everyone with hypospadias have this scar as part of the hypospadias surgery process? Or is it related, like surgery for buried penis? Or maybe something entirely unrelated (like a childhood hernia, etc)? I always jokingly called it my "second belly button," since a little bit of abdominal fat around it makes it indented.
2. I've been trying to understand what degree of hypospadias I had. My scar runs about 2/3 of the way down the underside of my penis. Does the length of the scar penis suggest where the original hole was? Or do doctors sometimes need to 'go past that' as part of the surgery?
3. Did my childhood hypospadias correction even work? I have a visible scar starting about 2/3 of the way down my shaft and it appears to stop 1/2" before the tip of the penis. I pee through a hole just under the underside of the tip — what seems like the definition of "glandular hypospadias." Pee standing up fine, with a little dialing in at times, but probably not the "normal pee experience," based on what I'm reading. I have no idea how to make sense of this. Did I have a more severe condition they corrected to mild? Did the surgery somehow undo as a child and nobody checked on it?

Ultimately, I have no complaints — the goods function as advertised, helped me bring some awesome kids into the world and my wife is happy with how things work. But it's something that's been driving me crazy for years trying to understand. Thanks for any thoughts!

I had a childhood with pretty less physical activities. I used to stay and home watch TV and use Mobile Phone all the time. I had good healthy foods but with bad nutrition proportions. I am from south asia and we have a lot of carbs in our daily diet. Since childhood I was a pretty lazy guy I only did my physical activities when i was in my school. I used to play football and jump around but when I got home I had no friend nearby so my whole childhood I never been exposed to so much physical activities except school. I was not overly fat but yeah I was something called "fat" during the age of 12-15. I fractured my both hands within this age. I had really less physical strength since my childhood not the worst but still I was pretty weak. Though this did not matter me a lot back then It kills me deeply inside now when I am past 18. During the covid time I got skinnier and complete opposite of what i was before. I had my breasts hanging my belly fats hanging. Maybe something called "skinny fat". I never moved a stick and got so slim which I assume is because I ate less I stayed up whole night and had lots of stress. I had no muscles and some fats. I had skinny hands but had some chest belly and thighs. I joined gym at 16 and did lots of hardwork and researched a lot to get muscular and did it for 2 years but did not gained more than like 4-5 kgs. And by seeing people who did not had lots of knowledge as me through out the journey did a lot better than me. I believed a lot in science and followed science based advices and yet I did not progressed a lot.
The good part is I got little bigger arms and chest and shoulders. I quit gym due to my exams and lot other reason. And recently started home workout and noticed lot of insecurities. I am past 18 and I think I have less testosterone. I have less hair in my body though both side of my family ( mom and dad ) seem to have quite opposite than me. I have a very thin wrist, soft palms. small D, child face, hair fall, puffy nipples masturbate every single day sometimes even two times a day and i also assume I did not put my muscles because I had less testosterone. My dad is like a huge giant ( though is shorter than me but ) who has a thumb big as my 2 fingers combined ,hairy, has a very big forearm and wrist has never touched weights and is strong as hell and when I look at myself I feel like a disgrace to my bloodline.
Idk what is wrong with me I dont even have a beard and mustache yet I am over 18 and will me 19 soon. And when I compare it with my friends it makes me a even sadder. I am weaker than them and they are more physically active than me. I don't even want to do a test because I am really embarrassed to tell it to my parents.And also due to lifting in the gym now I have back problems and my fractured wrist hurts a lot and I can't even pushup like i used to before. I cant do a pushup my attaching my palms to the ground. I need to make a fist and do it.
Idk what is wrong with me because I want to be strong, a bit masculine and physically active than can jump here and there easily but I am exactly opposite. Please give me some advice what should I do I am very under confident currently.

Edit: an year or ago two I was completely skinny fat, and since have been going to gym rigorously
I have been consistently exercising for a year with a structured plan: upper body workouts twice a week, lower body workouts twice a week, and Cardio/HIIT sessions 1-2 times a week. While I've gained significant muscle mass, losing body fat has been challenging. I feel like I've become as beefy and muscular as Batman's Bane, but I can't seem to shed the extra weight.
I don't specifically count calories, but I strive to eat healthily. However, when I try to eat less, I find it difficult to manage my gym sessions, studying, and working, as I quickly become tired and fatigued. I usually try to eat just below what would completely satisfy my hunger. I just want to be lean and muscular and I think that cardio every day might make me prone to injuries and heavy loss of muscles. I don't have accurate measurements of my body fat but looking at stats online, I can deduce that I am right now at 25% body fat and I wish to be less than 15%.
Any advice would be appreciated!

I know people will say it’s systemic so just do the belly. But ive injected locally twice now for my achilles, and there seems to be a significant improvement the day after when compared to belly fat injection
Obviously this is just anecdotal off two experiences, and there could be placebo effect, but imo placebo is the best medicine so idc. And id like to keep testing the systemic vs local topic
Problem is theres not a whole lot of fat there, its also more awkward, a little painful, and bleeds. Anyone have a specific area they would recommend for the injection?

Just another fun little story idea I had. I am still working on Humans are the violent ones but I like to bounce around and experiment with ideas to see what I really like. I also suck at writing more casual stories, as they give me severe writer's block as I try to map out how to make a scene feel genuine in my head, but I promise I'll update that soon. If you like this story and want to see more, then like and comment. I'll gladly continue this series as well.
Start of Personal Log
Humans don't like being told what to do. They don't like being commanded, put in their place, or snubbed. It was an inexorable, inalienable trait of humans, at least any noteable humans, to go against any authority that they believed was against their interests.
Humanity would not fit amongst the stars. Few ever did. It was a trait of most successful species to be willful, ambitious, and to desire more. But once they reached the stars the new (and simultaneously very old) pecking order either quashed any spirit such species had or simply eradicated them. Countless tomb worlds and diaspora served as painful reminders of what became of the nails that chose to stick out. The hammer of order would always strike. There could be no compromise, the very soul of the authority that held the Jurisdiction together relied on a show of unmatched power, or at least the illusion of item.
In reality, the Jurisdiction was an old, fat, and lazy beast. It filled its belly on the corpses of empires far and wide, and sated its bloodlust on the shattered dreams of hopeful cubs. It had every right to, for none could challenge it: there were no new frontiers to explore, nor were there any other enemies to conquer. The Milky Way, as humans had so strangely dubbed our cradle galaxy, as well as Andromeda, had long since been warred over and settled for millennia before humanity had arrived, bright-eyed and with familiar yet otherwise foolish dreams of cooperation and prosperity. The Jurisdiction did not cooperate, nor did it ensure prosperity. Oh, it claimed it did, but in reality it simply took. The rest was just the peace that came with not being the direct target of the biggest fish in the pond. The humans didn't like that, but they had no choice.
Slavery was a common tribute. The Jurisdiction had no use for other resources: it simply took. No, it wanted those who could facilitate that unequal exchange, those raised in a world where the only morality was the one set by your lord. The Jurisdiction was held together by expectations, obligations, and dury more than any kind of shared dream, so when you were ordered to take you did so without question. Humanity was new: they had no niche or value that set them apart, but they had a penchant for killing and taking, so the Jurisdiction gave them a taste of how the galaxy worked. They killed and they took. The humans didn't like that, but what choice did they have?
Humans were strange. They learned, but not in the way most species learned. Most species learned to adapt in a passive way, to adhere to the world around them. They flowed like water, moving past and around obstacles and confirming to the boxes they were assigned too. Humans didn't confirm, nor did they adapt: they made their circumstances fit their desires. They would not move around obstacles, but rather smash through them, and they refused to stay in one box for too long. The Jurisdiction merely saw them as a particularly loud nuisance, but those who faced their wrath knew better.
It is said that when a beast seeks to make an example, it shall humble its rival by killing it's cubs. Children were one of those universal constants that brought entire communities together: the Sok’klar saw their hatchlings as gifts, shaped by the fruitful currents of the universe in perfect harmony. The Yarrack saw each and every newborn whelp as an uncut gemstone, ready to be shaped into something magical. Humanity oftentimes referred to their offspring as angels, or spirits of unbridled good sent by the gods themselves. Children were seen by most of the galaxy as gifts.
The Jurisdiction saw them as a lever to inflict suffering. It had become quite effective at enacting psychological punishments on those that stood up and spoke out. You dare to disobey? You believe you can speak out? Your gifts shall be taken from you, and you shall be without joy.
Humans didn't like this, but the Jurisdiction would have their pound of flesh, and humankind would kneel. And they did. But humans were patient creatures: most species who retained that trait of willful spit also lacked patience.
I had long since become desensitized to the Jurisdiction’s actions: it was simply how the universe worked now, as if it were a constant akin to gravity. Cruelty was the unspoken rule of this seemingly unending age, where our lives never appeared to move forward or backwards, only lay dormant. The Jurisdiction had been the unyielding authority that ruled the galaxy for thousands of years, venerable yet feared all the same.
And for the longest time I was just another cog in its wheel. My name is Kalnuracht Sedjuur-Noumar VII, and was the scion of the noble house Sedjuur-Noumar. I was born into what most would describe as veiled apathy, living a life that could be attributed to the privileged class of feared scribes that enacted the will of those above. I was an administrator and nothing more. And now I am doomed to be far less than that in the eyes of my former constituents within the endless administration. I am the only scion, as is tradition, and without an heir I am the last of my house, our name to be scrubbed from the records, worthless, meaningless, and forgotten.
I am merely Kalnuracht, nothing else and nothing more. I have seen from their eyes, the eyes of the downtrodden, and it makes my crimes of association with the Jurisdiction feel all the more damning on my worthless soul. I am worthless to the world, and this is my story.
End Personal Log #1
Start of Neural Lace Narrative Log #1
They came from the black like carrion birds in the night, encircling our convoy as if it were a dying animal ready to be picked clean without remorse. There was no warning, no list of demands sent out as civilized peoples did, nor was there either any requirement for unconditional surrender nor chance to parlay, as was done so under letter of marque: this was an unmistakable call for violence and nothing else. They sought to reduce us to slag and scavenge the rest.
So, as one would expect, the entire bridge of the ship was nearing a panicked state. This was not the actions of those practicing civility, but rather the common behaviors of despoiling barbarians, the kind that tore their way through the dark reaches of the galaxy as if they owned it.
“Wayfinder, what do your probes see?” Shouted the ship’s sovereign. He was an older Kar’Rowmach, an amphibious cephalopod species with a venerable history within the Jurisdiction going back thousands of years. Normally one such as him would be above me if it weren't for the fact that I was under the authority of the Jurisdiction’s seal of office. He didn't like me very much, but most of his kind shared the same sentiment.
“All dark, honorable Sovereign: the sensor arrays are wailing but the feedback we're reviewing is beyond incomprehensible,” the wayfinder replied with a certain restrained temper in his voice. The Sok'klar wayfinder swayed gently, his tentacled limbs grasping different metallo-liquid braille output arrays, the liquid gallium flexing and reshaping unnaturally to allow him to to take in multiple different sources of sensory output at once, with the primary navigation computer plugged into the cybernetics surrounding his opaque, gelatinous head and plugging directly into his tube-shaped brain.
The Sovereign cursed in Loskat and pointed to his bridge crew while I simply sat in the back, near the Sovereign’s symbolic throne. “Prepare countermeasures and spool up the warp drive, we cannot allow the amanuensis to be taken! He carries sensitive information that only he can translate and transcribe!”
As the bridge crew nodded and began fiddling with their own systems, I preened my feathered hide anxiously. I wasn't a fighter: us nobles of the cloth were the educated minority above all else, not those who waged war or partook in hard labor. Special cybernetics in my brain allowed me to translate triple-encoded messages that usually took a ducal signet codekey or above to parse, but even without that I was a skilled mathematician and logician. I had terabytes worth of knowledge stored within the hardware installed in my head, all well protected of course, but if I were to die it would still be a waste. I could only imagine the damage any malcontenders could do with it if they were able to get their filthy hands on me.
Suddenly, the ship rocked, and the gallium overhead display began to form crescendos like I'd never seen before. “Sovereign, decks A-3 through C-12 are venting atmosphere and our coolant systems have been obliterated,” the Wayfinder spoke in an almost serene voice, as if he was completely unconcerned by current events. I knew they were simply incapable of tonal displays, but it was unnerving nonetheless. “Once we jump, we will not be able to risk another until the vacuum of the void can reduce temperatures to acceptable levels within the plasma capacitors.”
“Damn them,” the armored nautiloid hissed, his barbed feelers coiling in frustration, “May the currents take them. What are our options? what can we see? This fleet cannot fall to the void today, not with such vital cargo.” My hackles rose lightly at the Kar’Rowmach referred to me as some object rather than an esteemed amanuensis of the Jurisdiction, but I bit my forked tongue. Now was not the time to squabble with the sovereign over who was what and what titles I deserved, not while he was so desperately attempting to keep what semblance of order within his fleet that he had left.
I could not blame the crew for being panicked either: wars were practically mythologized now, having been long since rendered obsolete with the rise of the Jurisdiction, and that felt like an eternity ago. Now, either being levied into or joining a ducal naval force was simply another career, more akin to serving as an officer of the law rather than a fully fledged soldier. Minimal training was required, most of it being the technicals of one's duty rather than any kind of combat conditioning, so expecting a fleet to actually be prepared for a combat scenario in a universe where peace was the norm was laughable.
“We are practically blind, Sovereign,” stated the Sok'klar Wayfinder, “our probes are offline, and shipboard graviton displacement sensory arrays have been rendered unreliable at best.”
“What about the particle emission array? Has there been a spike in radioactivity where we were hit?”
The Wayfinder seemed to think for a second, his gelatinous form flexing and morphing a bit before answering. “Affirmative, a jump from negligible to forty billion becquerels along decks A through E-5 on our starboard side.”
“Torpedoes…” the Sovereign hissed, stroking his barbed feelers, “Human Torpedoes. Only those primitives would rely on crude nuclear warheads.” He then turned to his militant leaders on the ship. “Noddos, Rel’ads: organize your phalanxes and prepare to repel boarders. We are bound to be assailed by those rancorous primates, and I want their skulls piled at my feet if they dare set foot on our ship.”
“Your wish is our command, Sovereign,” the two militant commanders spoke as one. Noddos, a large bipedal with multiple sets of curved spines running down his back, a pair of graceful horns sprouting from his head, and multiple rows of sharp teeth in his snout, bowed first, followed by Rel’ads, a marsupial with long saberteeth and thick fur. They both must have been fierce warriors in their own right to each lead a phalanx. They wore thick, semi-powered armor and held dueling polearms alongside their usual plasma casters, and seemed completely unfazed by the situation we were in. As they stomped out of the brightly lit bridge, I let out a quiet squawk of discontentment. “Sovereign, why haven't we jumped again? We are wasting precious time.”
“I am working on it, you spineless beaurocrat!” He warbled back, his feelers tensing in anger, “besides, it's not as if you're the one who will be spilling blood today, amanuensis, so flatten your wretched beak or I shall weld it shut with a plasma torch.
I was about to reply with something indignant, but the ship rocked again, this time causing the lights to flicker and the air to become… thick. The skin under my feathers began to blister, and I became lightheaded and confused. “Seal the damnable vents, initiate radiation scrubbers, and activate secondary life support!” Shouted the Sovereign, “Their nuclear weapons are rendering the ship inhospitable!”
I coughed up magenta blood accidentally, and I could feel more seeping from under my eyes. Some of the crew was in a similar position, but others were more resistant to radiation than I. The Sok'klar seemed completely at ease as he ran his tentacles across his morphic braille arrays before calmly announcing the ship’s status. “I've regained some control over our probes: ten, twelve, and seventeen are active and fully functional, the rest are either still malfunctioning or permanently inoperable. A rapid rise in localized radiation is also interfering with the detection of graviton displacement; we can't sense photon redirection, thus readings will remain inconclusive.
“Wayfinder, damn you, get me some kind of out here! We're easy prey until we can respond in kind!”
“Negative, something has gone awry with our processing hub, I am attempting to troubleshoot-”
And with that, the Wayfinder’s bulbous head exploded in a cascade of opaque lavender blood, covering the front half of the deck crew like a morbid art piece. Some of the crew screamed and shouted in terror before removing their cranial adaptors and choosing to interact with their displays manually. Others died just as quickly, unable to unplug in time as their brain stems fried or their blood boiled. It was a horrible way to go, having your insides neutralized by your own cybernetics, so I was glad I wasn't connected to the system.
“Cybernetic warfare! All systems are to be considered compromised, switch to manual settings or you'll be killed!”
The lights in the bridge flickered again, and the displays went haywire. The bridge crew, which obviously weren't acquainted with working without being hard-linked into the mainframe, moved at a much slower pace.
“Launch missile pods A through F and set to self-target after five hundred kilometers, then rely on their ballistic coordinates to begin firing broadsides! If we can't see the humans due to their meddling, we'll just have to feel them.” Shouted the Sovereign, “and got me a detailed report on the ship’s diagnostics readings. I need to know if this flagship is still capable of escaping or if we'll have to scuttle it and retreat on another.”
“Acknowledged, Sovereign, launching now,” affirmed another deck officer as he swiped across his own gallium output array. I could hear the dull thunk, thunk, thunk of missiles pushing out of their pods before racing off to their intended targets, then the mechanical whirring as the pods rotated to be reloaded by slaves in the lower decks. I was regaining my bearings as the many horrible sensations of being overwhelmed by radiation poisoning were beginning to subside, but I still felt as if I had been microwaved. The air was stale, the crew was horribly sick as well, and even the sovereign himself seemed to be on his last leg. I was beginning to believe that I might die here.
“Sovereign, a message from the lower decks,” shouted a communications officer, his chitin scraping against itself as he turned quickly, “they're requesting reinforcements, something about being overrun.”
“Impossible,” the Sovereign hissed out in a vain attempt to exude confidence, “We must outnumber the humans, they always go for bigger targets out of arrogance.”
“I've received reports that it's not just humans: the primates seem to make up only a third or so of the assailing force, along with some Phaeldaer and Vrex.”
The commander slammed his clawed hands down on his own output array in a fit of rage, obviously overwhelmed by the circumstances, “Then this wasn't just a typical assault, but something more sinister!” The nautiloid warbled, blood seeping from his shell as the full effects of the radiation took hold, “Get Rel’ads on the line, have him divert all spare lances to the lower decks or else we'll lose the only offensive capabilities we can use.”
“Rel'ads has gone dark, Sovereign, his vitals are critical.”
“Then either get me Rel'ads tail-leader or get me Noddos!” He screamed in rage, “don't give me this nonsense! If we don't pick it up we're all going to die, is that what you want?”
“No, Sovereign, I'm simply overwhelmed-”
“We're all overwhelmed! By the tides, I'm dying of radiation poisoning you nincompoop! Get me something I can work with!”
The officer didn't even acknowledge the Sovereign after that, simply turning back to his display. Eventually, the Sovereign was able to get Noddos on the line.
“Sovereign, two thirds of my phalanxes have been decimated by combat with the primitives and the radiation, the rest are in shambles. We must retreat and fortify elsewhere!”
“Then the ship is compromised! Rel'ads is unresponsive and the lower decks are swarming with intruders. We must evacuate the amanuensis to another ship.”
Just as the Sovereign spoke, I heard several gentle thumps rattle against the bridge’s door, and it made me uneasy. Some of the bridge crew seemed to feel the same, as they looked incredibly nervous and some even drew their sidearms. Just as the sovereign turned to give further orders, the door blew inward with a deafening explosion, followed by shouting and gunfire. Several of the bridge officers were dispatched quickly, brain matter and blood splattering against the delicate electronics. Others were shot in the legs, the torso, or in any other exotic yet non-vital body parts. The humans poured in, brandishing primitive ballistic firearms and jury-rigged energy weapons while wearing scavenged, legion-grade powered armor.
The Sovereign was the next to go, but he wasn't afforded an honorable death. He was shot along the arm with a particularly potent plasma caster, burning off his clawed hand and cauterizing the wound, the acrid smell of roasting chitin filling the already hot and cramped bridge. He fell back against his output array, the gallium reaching new highs and lows as more diagnostics and casualty reports were delivered, and he clutched his stump angrily. “I'll burn every last one of you in the foundries! I'll tie you to stakes, cover you in wax and set you alight! Your screams will be broadcasted all over the galaxy!”
One human warrior stomped up and slammed the butt of his rifle into the sovereign’s face, shattering his facial plates and causing blue blood to splatter across his section of the bridge. “Shut the fuck up, you mutant lobster,” the human said before dragging him by both antennae towards the center of the bridge and receiving a stained breeching axe from one of his comrades. “Emmanuel, start recording. We need proof.”
The other human nodded and pressed a button on his armor before lifting up his gun again. The rest of the humans fanned out, holding everyone else at gunpoint. I tried to get up and sneak out, but a human grabbed me by my neck and nearly wrung it out as he forced me to my knees and pointed a sidearm to my skull. “Get down, you piece of shit, before I blow your brains out too.”
“Damnable primate,” I hissed, but he bashed me in my skull with the base of his sidearm’s grip and sent me sprawling, making my already pounding headache worse. Another human shouted at him in a language I didn't recognize, but he sounded furious. The first brought me back up to my knees again, and I complies with a hiss and a groan, blood still leaking from my eyes and mouth and my world was spinning.
The Sovereign struggled, but he was weak from the radiation poisoning and he couldn't exactly resist on account of his lost arm. The human with the breaching ax kicked the Sovereign down and forced him to kneel before lifting up the breeching ax and splitting his chitinous head down the middle with one powerful swing, sending more blood and brains across the floor. “Execution confirmed, take his antennae just in case and we've got ourselves a bounty. Now all we need is that ugly cat’s teeth and the fat hedgehog-thing’s grimy spines and we'll be in business. Although, they do have skulls… we might as well just take their heads.”
The real horror of the situation dawned on me at that moment: they were going to kill us all, or maybe worse. They mentioned a bounty for the commanders, and multiple of the higher ranking ship officers were already dead, their brains splattered against the walls or their bodies torn apart by gunfire. I wasn't dead yet, but that didn't mean much since I wasn't an immediate threat.
“Alright, round them up and bring all the grunts to the hanger bay, then kill the rest,” the leader of the humans said in such a lackadaisical manner that his complete disregard for life almost made me sick… almost. I had seen worse from the Jurisdiction before, but usually that was from me delivering some kind of ordered judgment on a world that had sinned against order. I might have simply been the messenger, but I had seen many of the outcomes. “And make sure to collect whatever proof of bounties you can, we'll need to deliver them to the office to get cashed out. Don't let this be a repeat of last time where Juarez fucking forgot to take a few heads and it ended up cutting our profits in half, the fucking retard.”
Some of the humans chuckled at that as they dragged more of the senior officers away, out of the room and into the hall,where I heard gunshots. The rest of the bridge crew froze in place, different fear instincts kicking in. The remaining Sok'klar corralled together into what seemed to be a singular, semi-congealed mass as if to try and trick the humans into believing that they were much bigger and much more threatening than they actually were. The one Thei’chi on the bridge, an ensign who had clearly thought this would be a simple mission, bore her curved fangs at the humans and growled as they approached, her hackles completely vertical and her eyes dilated. They quickly muzzled and bound her before beating her over the head with a gun stock, sending her sprawling onto the ground. Many others simply cooperated, eyes wide and yet simultaneously empty, as if they couldn't quite process that the ship had been taken and the commanding officers were being executed as the rest were escorted to the hangar.
“Get the damn messenger down to the hanger as well, we need whatever data's in his ugly lizard head, then we can decide on what to do with him.”
I spat at him in spite, as if to try and seem brave, but it was clearly an empty gesture. “You won't get anything, primate! You couldn't possibly crack the encryption!”
The human holding me seemed to wind up for another swing, but the commanding officer simply held up his hand to stop my tormentor before strolling over to me. He knelt down and removed his helmet, revealing a beige-colored face covered in scars, wiry black hair cut down to the scalp, and multiple tattoos. “You're really fucking mouthy for a hostage,” he said before punching me across my beak faster than I could register. I heard a sharp crack as his fist connected, and my head spun again as the metallic taste of blood pooled into my mouth. “I'd advise you to shut up, but I'm sure you won't listen: you aristocratic types are so full of yourselves. Maybe I should have you flogged in the public square until your vocal chords give out once we rip those cybernetics from your head, huh? How's that sound?”
“It won't matter… it won't change anything… the Jurisdiction will hunt you down.”
“Maybe, but I doubt it will happen for some time: they really suck at doing anything that requires effort, even when they're mad enough. They just keep sending their rabid lapdogs to try and smoke us out, and they always end up full of holes,” the human officer said with a smirk, his yellowish-white teeth and green eyes sending shivers down my spine as he drew his knife. “They're just horrible at their job, you know? You've all gotten so lazy and incompetent after being able to just take what you want without resistance, and now that you've met people who are angry and crazy enough to fight back you act as if we're committing some grave injustice,” he placed the knife against my throat, the flat just underneath my now bent beak, “No, we just took a few pages out of your book, ‘cept we've got standards. No kids, for one…” he seemed to look off into the distance as his sneer deepened, “but it's more than that, we don't attack the defenseless in general and we still win against you all in fair fights.”
I went to say something else snarky, but he quickly grabbed my thin tongue with his fingers and yanked it out, blood from my mouth pulling to the floor as he held the blade of his knife against it. “No no, none of that. Say one more thing and I'll cut that rancid little tongue of yours out of your mouth and feed it to you,” he hissed at me, pressing the blade down just hard enough to draw blood. “Do you know what it's like to see a planet turn into a tomb?" he asked me, gritting his teeth, “Do you know what it's like to see everything you've ever known crumble to ash and glass, all the life and the green stripped away leaving nothing but bones? I do. I've seen it happen to countless worlds, and my grandfather always told me stories of how you bastards did it to Earth. He still prays in its direction five times a day, to Mecca, but he knows the Kaaba is gone now, or maybe it's still there, buried in the bones of those who sought refuge there.”
I didn't care for the human’s nonsensical beliefs, but I did care to correct him. “I've seen it before, and I'll see it again. And so will you, it's inevitable. The Jurisdiction will always have its judgment fulfilled, there is no alternative.”
“One day, I hope we can rectify that,” he said, then he sheathed his knife and slammed my head against the metal floor with enough force to nearly knock me out. As I lost consciousness, I could hear him speak. “Take him to the Chop Doc, and make sure the cybernetics don't get damaged: they're supposedly more valuable than any bounty on this ship.”
Warning: Severe radiation poisoning detected. Flush system immediately.
Warning: Neural Lace removal detected, chance of neurological damage high. Proceeded with caution.

I’m 20 weeks pregnant today. This baby is very much wanted and planned for but I am struggling more than I thought I would be. I don’t really look pregnant yet, just kind of fat/bloated. I lost a ton of weight my first trimester due to nausea, then gained it back but mostly in boobs. My teen self would be thrilled but I mostly find it unsettling and painful. TMI but the skin of one of my nipples literally cracked open I think from how fast everything grew. I had to ditch a ton of my skin care ingredients and sunscreen etc. so my skin feels dull and acne prone. I had to stop laser hair removal for the time being while also simultaneously becoming the most hairy I’ve ever been (hormones maybe?) My main form of exercise/hobby which I participated in 5-6 hours a week is not safe for pregnancy so now I do yoga once a week which is not the same. My sleep was already garbage but now I wake up to pee most nights and am paranoid about sleeping in the wrong position and harming my baby. I may not be allowed to travel at 35 weeks for my sister’s wedding in another state.
I know all of these are majorly first world problems, that I am lucky to have had a healthy pregnancy so far and no major symptoms but like everything together is really weighing on me, I did not expect everything to start sucking so early I guess? Like for having so little belly right now I thought I’d be able to go about my usual routines to some extent until I’m closer to my due date but I just feel this loss of like things I enjoyed about my life and it’s starting to really wear on me.
I’m not sure what advice I’m looking for as I know this is all temporary to some extent/may only get worse once baby arrives but I am struggling