Blood Tests NSV!

It's been just over a year since I received my T2 diabetes diagnosis- it was the end of March, 2022 but I suspect that I had it for quite a while before because of all the little symptoms that didn't mean much separately, but added together were resoundingly symptomatic of diabetes. My A1C that day was 7.0, my cholesterol was high, my blood pressure was high, and of course I was extremely obese with a BMI of 49.9.

I just went in for my every 3 months' bloodwork this week and got my results. I am... (drumroll please)... resoundingly NORMAL! My A1C was 5.2 which is not diabetic, not prediabetic, not even at risk- just plain vanilla normal! My cholesterol is normal. The only test that came back flagged is my vitamin D- apparently even with supplementing, I'm still deficient. And while I'm still obese, I have made a lot of progress this past year, as you can see on that weight loss ticker above- now I have a BMI of 37.8, which well not ideal, is one heck of a decrease.

This medication is literally saving my life. While I still have diabetes because you can't really undo the damage that has been done, having it controlled will help lower the risk of developing further related conditions.

But it's not just the medication. Credit where credit is due- I am saving my own life. I can't take back the poor choices I made in the past, but I can make better ones going forward. And thankfully, the Ozempic makes it so much easier to make those good choices. It quiets the food chatter in my head. It allows me still to enjoy all my favourite foods without gorging on them, and still being satisfied by what I'm eating. It gives me space to work out my food related issues because I don't have the gnawing, insistent hunger that feels like I'm starving even when I'm not.

I haven't had any tests run on my heart, but I can see that I've dramatically improved my cardiac health as well since I started exercising. It's been over four months now, and there is measurable improvement there too in my strength and my stamina. Last year when I checked my cardiac fitness scores on my Fitbit, it always told me Poor. That was pretty disheartening even when I started walking and there was no improvement. Now- my fitness tracker has me right at the dividing line for Below Average and Above Average! I have never been so happy to be normal as I am today!

Not to mention that I am a smaller size than I was at this weight last time, so I know the exercise is building muscle and shedding inches. While I've never tracked inches because I just find it to be too much effort, I can see the difference in my clothes and it's exciting! I still have to stop myself from flinching when I take my jeans out of the dryer because I'm afraid they won't fit anymore but they still fit perfectly. I just don't feel like this is really my size yet! Hopefully by the time I do, I'll be onto the next lower one.

Baby steps... if you're moving in the right direction, you're doing it right!

BBQ Season is Coming!

 BBQ season is coming (or so we hope!) and we'll all need some side dishes that are delicious, shareable, and won't break the calorie budget. This seafood pasta salad is easy to make, loaded with protein and is a big hit at parties and potlucks- I've been making it for almost twenty years (!) and rarely get to take any leftovers home.

You can have it as a meal or a side dish by varying your portion size, and I think you'll find it really hits the spot and you won't miss the heavy mayo based dressings on similar salads!

Seafood Pasta Salad:

1lb dry whole wheat or pasta of choice

1lb crab flavoured "sticks"

1lb salad size shrimp, cooked and chilled

1 large red bell pepper, diced

1 large orange bell pepper, diced

2 large red onions, small diced

1 can low sodium corn niblets, drained and rinsed

1 bottle Kraft low calorie Zesty Italian dressing

black pepper to taste

I generally use Catelli Smart pasta so that it has the whole grains without being actual whole wheat, since I have a picky eater in my family. Pick a pasta shape that's small and holds the dressing well. I prefer baby shells when I can get them, but macaroni is a great choice too. I haven't tried this recipe with some of the pasta alternatives like chick pea based pastas, but I think as long as the noodles have a very mild flavour, it would work just fine. I wouldn't use a black bean pasta for this recipe.

Boil your pasta, drain it, and put it in a large serving bowl. Add the bottle of dressing so that the pasta doesn't clump!! Chop the crab into small pieces, then add all the other ingredients, and stir to mix it up and coat everything in the sauce. Season with a bit of black pepper to give it a bit more kick, and enjoy! If you have time to make it a few hours in advance, the longer it chills, the more the flavours blend.

I call this 8 meal sized servings, but realistically unless you have hungry teenagers, it's going to feed more than that. Call it 16 servings if you're using it for a side dish alongside some protein!

If you're having it as a meal, it clocks in at 356 calories, 1.5g fat, 62g carbs, and 21g protein.

Week 24 Weigh In!

So much to my surprise, I found that not only did I feel stronger medication effects this week, but the side effects also returned. I was not expecting that with an increase of only 0.02mg! So I have decided that I don't plan on increasing this week and I'll stay at the 0.44mg until I'm not feeling those random bursts of nausea.

I wish they would run a study with a slower progression of doses. I am starting to believe that many of the side effects people experience are coming simply from the rapid increase in dose and our bodies may need more time to get used to it. It would be interesting to see if weight loss would decrease much because I bet quality of life would go way up. That being said, I've been taking the slow progression and I'm averaging a solid 1.78lbs per week, which is towards the high end of healthy weight loss. If I could have lost it a little faster but been nauseous all the time? Thanks, I'm good the way I'm doing things now.

Even if they can't design a study that says move up in a way that works for you, they could try different things like doubling the time interval from 4 weeks to 8 weeks, or halving the amount of the increase so you move up more slowly, or both. I think it would be interesting to see the results of this and if it has any measurable effects on both side effects, blood sugar control, and weight loss.

The other reason I wonder if a slower progression is better is that once you reach the high doses, where do you go from there once you develop a tolerance? You can't keep increasing if you've already reached the maximum. It feels like going more slowly would allow more space for increases when we stall. I've been lucky enough not to hit a plateau yet (which is defined as three or more weeks of zero weight change while still maintaining a calorie deficit- if you aren't doing that, it's not a plateau), but it's good to know that I will have space to increase if necessary.

I'm not a doctor so please don't take anything I say as medical advice. It's possible I'm missing something obvious that I don't even have the training to understand that I'm misunderstanding. I can only share my thoughts on my own experience with Ozempic.

Start Date: November 7, 2022  0.25mg

OZ Week 1 loss: 3.4lbs

OZ Week 2 loss: 2.2 lbs
OZ Week 3 gain: 2.0lbs

OZ Week 4 loss: 4.4lbs

OZ Week 5 loss: 1.4lbs

OZ Week 6 loss: 2.4lbs

OZ Week 7: skipped weigh in  0.39mg (used "bonus bit" in the pen)

OZ Week 8 gain: 4.4lbs  back to 0.25mg (started exercising seriously)

OZ Week 9 loss: 6.6lbs

OZ Week 10 loss: 2.0lbs

OZ Week 11 loss: 2.4lbs

OZ Week 12 loss: 2.4lbs

OZ Week 13 loss: 2.6lbs

OZ Week 14 loss: 1.6lbs

OZ Week 15 loss: 0.4lbs (took booster dose halfway through the week, so 0.25mg + 0.33mg)

OZ Week 16 loss: 4lbs  raised dose to 0.38mg

OZ Week 17 loss: 0.6lbs

OZ Week 18 loss: 5.6lbs

OZ Week 19 gain: 2.4lbs

OZ Week 20 loss: 2.6lbs

OZ Week 21 loss: 2.0lbs raised dose to 0.40mg

OZ Week 22 loss: 2.8lbs raised dose to 0.42mg

OZ Week 23 loss: 0.6lbs raised dose to 0.44mg

OZ Week 24 loss: 1.4lbs

Total loss on Ozempic so far: 42.6lbs

Full Day Menu Ideas!

 Here's another entry in my series of full day, balanced macro meal plans! Hope it's helpful to someone! If you're interested in seeing my other meal plans, you can click the WhatdidIeat tag. Don't forget to check my Recipes page for a much larger selection! 

Today is going to be hitting a little lower on calories and carbs for days where you want to calorie cycle a bit, or just plain have a smaller appetite, but I think you'll still find it to be more than satisfying.

Breakfast:

French toast has always felt like a decadent breakfast to me, but it doesn't have to break the caloric bank! It's a good source of protein and if you use whole wheat bread, fiber as well. While I try to reduce calories where I can- I will never, ever use sugar free syrup, even as a diabetic. Half a tablespoon of the real stuff is plenty for two slices of french toast, and it tastes infinitely better. Two slices of whole wheat Weight Watchers bread, 100g liquid egg whites, and 1/2 tbsp pure maple syrup. Just don't make the mistake I did and use cooking spray in the pan before it gets hot, or your french toast will stick. It'll still be tasty but you won't get that perfect crust like I did on the pieces in the picture!

Breakfast Summary: 200 calories, 1g fat, 32g carbs, 14g protein.

Morning Snack:

A Greek yogurt cup is a quick and easy snack that's fill of protein. I'm not picky about brand, and I'll buy whatever is on sale between Liberte, PC, or Oikos. My favourite flavours are vanilla if I'm adding fruit, lemon, or pineapple.

Morning Snack Summary: 100 calories, 2g fat, 12g carbs, 8g protein.

Lunch:

If you're missing non-authentic Chinese food, this recipe is perfect for you. Definitely feels like you're eating something calorie packed! 

1/4 cup PC Blue Menu plum sauce 

1/4 cup ketchup 

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes 

340g medium shrimp, peeled and deveined and tails removed

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 

1/2 tablespoon sesame oil 

2 scallions, thinly sliced (white and green parts kept separate) 

1 clove garlic, finely chopped 

1 teaspoon finely chopped peeled fresh ginger 

3 tablespoons unseasoned rice wine vinegar

Optional: brown rice to serve over, your favourite stir fry veggies

Stir together the plum sauce, ketchup, soy sauce and pepper flakes in a small bowl and set aside. Sprinkle the shrimp with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until just cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Add the scallion whites, garlic and ginger to the skillet and cook, stirring constantly, until soft, about 1 minute. Add the stir fry veggies (I used onions and sweet bell pepper). Add the vinegar and scrape up any brown bits that cling to the bottom of the skillet. Add the plum-ketchup sauce and bring to a simmer. Return the shrimp to the skillet along with the scallion greens and give the skillet a swirl to bring everything together. 

Serves two. I decided to have mine over shredded coleslaw mix since I got an enormous bag at the store the other day and it was awesome! I'm not a huge rice fan so I didn't miss it, but you could serve over 1/3 cup brown rice if you preferred. I'd probably add some onions and bell peppers to the sauce if you were going to do that.

You could also swap out the plum sauce for sweet chili thai sauce, and make a zestier sauce while lowering the calorie count further! If you use both sugar free ketchup and sugar free sweet chili sauce, this recipe is also suitable for a low carb diet and it tastes fantastic!

Lunch Summary: 202 calories, 3.5g fat, 17g carbs, 24.5g protein.

Afternoon Snack:

If you haven't yet tried Built bars, you're missing out! They come in quite a few different flavours, and clock in as low as 110 calories with a ton of protein. They are also really good in the freezer if you like your bars a little less nougat-y! Also nut free and reasonably low carb.

Snack Summary: 130 calories, 2.5g fat, 18g carbs, 17g protein.

Dinner:

This Pizza Chicken is quick and easy, low carb, and satisfying! My teenage son told me he didn't think he'd like it but he was asking if there were seconds when he finished!

2 Chicken Breasts 

200g Green Bell Pepper, diced into skis 

160g Yellow Onion, diced 

½ cup Marinara Sauce 

½ cup Monterey Jack Cheese, shredded 

1 tsp Garlic Salt 

1/2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp Renee's light Caesar Dressing 

2 cups Baby Spinach 

optional: any pizza toppings you'd like (my son added black olives and chorizo crumble to his!)

Before starting, preheat the oven to 450°F. Wash and dry all produce. Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Carefully slice into the centre of each chicken breast, lengthwise and parallel to the cutting board, leaving 1/2-inch intact on the other end. Open up chicken like a book. Season both sides with garlic salt and pepper. Heat a large oven safe pan over medium-high heat. When hot, add 1/2 tbsp oil then chicken. Pan-sear until golden-brown, 1-2 min per side. Add peppers and onions to the pan alongside the chicken. Remove the pan from heat. Spoon marinara sauce over chicken and vegetables. Sprinkle with cheese. If you like, top the chicken breasts with your favourite pizza toppings! Roast in the middle of the oven until chicken is cooked through, 10-12 min. Serve pizza chicken and veggies with the spinach Caesar salad alongside. Enjoy! Serves two portions.

Of course, any pizza toppings you add with affect the nutritional information. The breakdown includes the ingredients listed above.

Dinner Summary: 417 calories, 18.5g fat, 15g carbs, 46(!)g protein.

Dessert:

This pavlova is light and delicious without breaking your calorie budget. Even a low calorie day doesn't mean you have to skip your evening snack! Eating dessert helps you feel less deprived, and makes it easier to stick to a calorie reduced plan.

1 egg white, room temperature

1/4 cup Swerve icing sugar

0.5 tsp cornstarch

0.25 tsp white vinegar

dash of vanilla extract

Topping:

1/4 cup heavy cream

1/3 cup Swerve icing sugar

berries to decorate

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Lightly grease an individual baking dish. In a mixing bowl, beat your egg white until stiff peaks form. Using a spoon, add the Swerve, until mixed through and glossy. Add the cornstarch, vinegar, and vanilla extract until combined. Transfer the meringue mixture into the baking dish. Bake the meringue for 45 minutes, or until golden around the sides and tender. Turn the oven off and keep the meringue in there to cool completely. Be sure to leave the door slightly ajar. Once the meringue has cooled completely, prepare the whipped topping. Beat together the heavy cream and powdered sweetener until thick and smooth. Gently spread over the top of the meringue. Decorate with berries of choice and refrigerate for at least an hour, to set.

It's a little more work than a grab n go dessert, but so worth it! This recipe scales up to make more servings, but the baking time will increase as well.

Dessert Summary: 206 calories, 18g fat, 6g carbs, 4g protein.

Daily Total: 1255 calories, 45.5g fat, 100g carbs, 113.5g protein

I bet you'll be satiated and feel like you're eating all day long following this plan! Let me know what you think of these recipes!

Week 23 Weigh In!

This week, especially the past few days, I started to notice a lot more food noise in my head than has been before. I was really surprised, to be honest- is that what it was like before Ozempic??? It was INTENSE. Constant, insistent thoughts about food. 

At that point my first reaction was to be really proud of myself for doing as well as I had in the past with all that pressure! How was I strong enough to resist all that? I believe that I do have a GLP-1 deficiency since the medication works as well for me as it does, and so it's suppressing that level of food cravings. I suspect that means I'll be on Ozempic for life, and I'm okay with that. I would have been on my diabetes medications for life, so why should this be any different? And I would much rather enjoy my food without that busy, insistent focus on eating- because it leaves me more mental space to actually enjoy my food!

I saw a post in the group who asked, dismayed, if Ozempic now means we eat to live rather than live to eat. And honestly, I think that I may enjoy eating now more than I did before. Why is it thought of as a positive that we stuff ourselves until our bellies are uncomfortable? If we can eat a small portion of the food, we can really enjoy it without paying a price afterwards. And even better- there are often leftovers the next day so it costs less per serving even with inflation and we can enjoy it longer!

Part of the discomfort the last few days was that I didn't actually know if I was hungry or not, since we never really do get "full" in a way that I recognize as being full. I used to get the hard stop early in my Ozempic journey, and I haven't had that in a while. I do find that if I get distracted that I'll forget I'm eating and start playing with my food instead, which I recognize as a cue that my body has had enough. But when I was getting that insistent messaging from my brain thinking about food, it made me wonder if I needed more. I've been working out hard lately, maybe my body needs more fuel? Or maybe this week the shot is just wearing off a little early, even though I haven't noticed this side effect before.

Either way? I did eat a snack (cut up turkey pepperettes, cucumber slices and cheese) when the noise got loud, and I felt better afterwards, so who knows. I finished around 1800 calories yesterday, so for a high day it's still not too bad. It will be interesting to see how I feel this week.

Would I like to see a bigger loss than 0.6lbs? Sure, but like I keep pointing out in the group, weight loss isn't linear. A small loss or even a gain doesn't mean we're doing anything wrong. If we trust the process, keep making good choices, and doing what we're doing, eventually we will get to where we're going!

I'm planning to titrate up my dose again tonight in my quest to get to 0.50mg, so tonight's dose will be 32 clicks to get 0.44mg. I'd rather go up slowly than get the intermittent nausea I had back in weeks 15-17.

Off to squeeze in my morning workout before work (yes, I've somehow become one of those crazy people I used to marvel at!), hope you have a great day!

Start Date: November 7, 2022  0.25mg

OZ Week 1 loss: 3.4lbs

OZ Week 2 loss: 2.2 lbs
OZ Week 3 gain: 2.0lbs

OZ Week 4 loss: 4.4lbs

OZ Week 5 loss: 1.4lbs

OZ Week 6 loss: 2.4lbs

OZ Week 7: skipped weigh in  0.39mg (used "bonus bit" in the pen)

OZ Week 8 gain: 4.4lbs  back to 0.25mg (started exercising seriously)

OZ Week 9 loss: 6.6lbs

OZ Week 10 loss: 2.0lbs

OZ Week 11 loss: 2.4lbs

OZ Week 12 loss: 2.4lbs

OZ Week 13 loss: 2.6lbs

OZ Week 14 loss: 1.6lbs

OZ Week 15 loss: 0.4lbs (took booster dose halfway through the week, so 0.25mg + 0.33mg)

OZ Week 16 loss: 4lbs  raised dose to 0.38mg

OZ Week 17 loss: 0.6lbs

OZ Week 18 loss: 5.6lbs

OZ Week 19 gain: 2.4lbs

OZ Week 20 loss: 2.6lbs

OZ Week 21 loss: 2.0lbs raised dose to 0.40mg

OZ Week 22 loss: 2.8lbs raised dose to 0.42mg

OZ Week 23 loss: 0.6lbs

Total loss on Ozempic so far: 41.2lbs

Calories: Are You Eating Enough?

Since we've all been raised on calories in- calories out for the longest time, it's not surprising that a really common trope in weight loss is that if you eat less, you'll lose more weight. This obviously is an immediate discounting of other issues that can make it harder to lose, such as insulin resistance or other hormonal imbalances, but it can be even more damaging for the people it actually seems to work for.

Especially with Ozempic, where on some days it really can be a struggle to eat, either because you don't feel hungry or if you're having severe side effects, it might feel like a good thing if you're only eating 800 calories and not hungry, right?

Having the occasional day where you're very low isn't a big deal, any more than the occasional day where you go high is. Life is about balance, and sometimes we hit those extremes. That being said though, don't be afraid to eat a reasonable number of calories. Lower is most definitely not always better! Your body needs food so that it runs properly, and continually shortchanging it will open you up to health issues just as similarly as eating too much food does. I'd recommend giving this article a look, as it discusses the effects of eating too few calories and how to calculate your personal caloric needs.

Personally, I tend to calorie cycle between 1200-1700 calories, but aiming more for the high end since I do exercise 5-6 days a week now. However, as I lose weight, my basal metabolic rate (BMR) is reduced, so I'll either need to increase activity or lower my intake to stay in a calorie deficit. I've lost half the weight I want to lose, and so my BMR has reduced accordingly. When I started working on my health back in April 2022, my BMR at my high weight was 2084 calories; that's how many I burned just through body systems even if I lay in bed all day. Any activity calories I burned would be in addition to that. At my current weight (and one year older!), my BMR is 1785 calories. So you can see that is a really big difference! I have to burn an extra 300 calories a day just to keep up, or else decrease my food intake. 

Since I want to lose an average of 2 pounds per week, that's a 1000 calorie deficit I'm aiming for on a daily basis (3500 calories is one pound). I could simply eat an average of 1285 calories per day and I would be in deficit to lose one pound per week (going below 1200 calories isn't recommended for health reasons), or I can keep working out and eat more food, and create that extra deficit! While I have days I don't really feel like eating, in general, I'd like to have the option of eating more if that's what I'm feeling like! Additionally, 1285 is too low to calorie cycle in a healthy way, because it is generally recommended not to go below 1200 calories on a regular basis; that's a minimum threshold for women to keep their systems healthy and functional. If you aren't familiar with calorie cycling, that's when instead of eating say 1500 calories every day, it means on Sunday you might eat 1200, Monday you'd eat 1350, Tuesday you'd eat 1500, Wednesday you'd eat 1185, etc and so on. Keeping the calories changed up also keeps your metabolism burning, which is why it's also recommended when you hit a plateau to do some calorie cycling.

Back to the original premise of how it is so important to make sure you're eating enough to fuel your body. Again, I wouldn't worry if you have the odd day when you're really low, but if you're just choosing not to eat because you're not hungry and you're also not hitting 1200 calories as a minimum, I would recommend in my non medical opinion that you make some changes. There are easy ways to give your daily calories a healthy boost that won't leave you feeling overstuffed or eating when you don't want to. 

The first and easiest is olive oil; just spray a little on your food in the air fryer, or when you're pan frying your meal. Make yourself a homemade salad dressing with oil and balsamic vinegar if you like! Not sure I'd recommend the new Starbucks trend of having it in your coffee but hey if it works for you, go for it! One tablespoon of olive oil is 140 calories, so it can give your calories a bit of a boost without feeling like you're eating more.

How about sneaking a little avocado on your toast or into your salad? Half an avocado is 161 calories, and it's also going to add some healthy fats to your diet (which is great for your hair and skin as well!).

Cheese is another good choice that can be a very small portion for a good calorie boost. They vary, but one ounce of cheese is anywhere from 80-130 calories and also includes some protein, too.

What's your go-to snack on days when you're running low calorie?

Week 22 Weigh In!

 

So I knew I was really close to the next milestone and was looking forward to achieving it! I started trying to lose weight on April 1, 2022. While I had some fits and starts, and some months where I lost focus, 65lbs in a year is fantastic! It's also well within the parameters of healthy weight loss.

Actually, I just looked at my ticker and I see that I'm exactly halfway through my current journey- at least for the goal I have set! 67.6lbs lost, 67.6lbs to go. While I don't know exactly where I want to end up on the scale, it's kind of neat to think that I'm halfway there, although of course the second half is likely to take much longer than the first half. I'm okay with that. After all, achieving all this weight loss, while awesome, isn't the finish line; it's just the beginning of the rest of my life.

Also, I'm doing great in my HealthyWager! I'm way ahead of schedule and looking forward to winning that $1100 for losing weight! I'd love to have you join this journey with me (and win some money for new clothes!), and if you sign up through my referral you will receive an extra $40 in your prize money!

Sadly, dysmorphia is real though. I'm still not really sure that I see it when I look in the mirror. I know my body is changing because I've dropped from size 22W pants to size 16, and I can feel that my back is smoother. But the rest of me? I look kinda the same to me. I wonder if that will change in time. Even if not, I'd rather feel fat than be fat, that's for sure!

And that puts me over the 40lb marker of weight loss since I started using Ozempic! While I know that I am the one losing the weight and the medication is just a tool to help with doing so, I'm so grateful that it has allowed me the space to really put some thought into my issues around food, eating, and satiety. Ozempic will not lose weight for me if I don't keep to a calorie deficit, but it is helping me recalibrate what it means to be full. Also, sometimes I wonder if I'm actually enjoying my food more while on Ozempic, because I'm totally fine with eating a small portion of a treat and being completely satisfied by it. I've tried to explain it before but it feels like such a strange concept to enjoy something and not want more of it if it's good! It almost feels like instead of a bottomless well of always wanting more, instead I have this neat little box and once I've filled it up with the pleasure of eating, that's it. I still enjoyed every bite, but I don't actually want to eat more.

I love that!!! I love still enjoying all my favourite foods without the need to eat until my stomach is stuffed because I believe that's what "full" means. My stomach doesn't feel bloated and tight when that little box is full; I just start to lose interest in what I'm eating, which is a great cue that it's time to stop.

So this really does feel like I was very likely deficient in GLP-1 if I'm having this sort of reaction to the medication, which may mean I'm on it for life. If it means I can live a fuller and healthier life, I'm all for that. I would have been on my other medications for life, likely, and no one seems to think that is a big deal, so I wonder why the concern about being on Ozempic for life.

Last Monday I decided to raise my dose to 0.40mg to slowly start working up to 0.50. I didn't experience a big increase in side effects, so my plan is to take 0.42mg tonight and see how next week goes.

Start Date: November 7, 2022  0.25mg

OZ Week 1 loss: 3.4lbs

OZ Week 2 loss: 2.2 lbs
OZ Week 3 gain: 2.0lbs

OZ Week 4 loss: 4.4lbs

OZ Week 5 loss: 1.4lbs

OZ Week 6 loss: 2.4lbs

OZ Week 7: skipped weigh in  0.39mg (used "bonus bit" in the pen)

OZ Week 8 gain: 4.4lbs  back to 0.25mg (started exercising seriously)

OZ Week 9 loss: 6.6lbs

OZ Week 10 loss: 2.0lbs

OZ Week 11 loss: 2.4lbs

OZ Week 12 loss: 2.4lbs

OZ Week 13 loss: 2.6lbs

OZ Week 14 loss: 1.6lbs

OZ Week 15 loss: 0.4lbs (took booster dose halfway through the week, so 0.25mg + 0.33mg)

OZ Week 16 loss: 4lbs  raised dose to 0.38mg

OZ Week 17 loss: 0.6lbs

OZ Week 18 loss: 5.6lbs

OZ Week 19 gain: 2.4lbs

OZ Week 20 loss: 2.6lbs

OZ Week 21 loss: 2.0lbs raised dose to 0.40mg

OZ Week 22 loss: 2.8lbs

Total loss on Ozempic so far: 40.6lbs

Full Daily Menu!

I wanted to share a few more ideas for a full day meal plan with balanced macros, since I know it can be helpful to see it laid out rather than pick and choose from my giant Recipes tab! 

Here are a few new recipes as well for you to try, hope you enjoy them! If you're interested in seeing other full day plans, you can check the WhatDidIEat tag!

Breakfast:

For those mornings where you have a little extra time, nothing beats homemade waffles for decadence!

1/2 cup Kodiak dark chocolate pancake mix

50g liquid egg whites

3 strawberries, diced

1 tbsp Smuckers Sugar Free Caramel Topping

You can use water for the Kodiak mix, but I used egg whites to boost the protein a little. If it's still too thick you can add water to thin it out a bit so it pours well as pancake or waffle batter.

Breakfast Summary: 273 calories, 4g fat, 43.5g carbs, 20g protein.

Lunch:

So this is a really interesting twist on egg salad that I wasn't sure if I would like, but I love it. Eggs are a great source of healthy protein and they're cheap and easy, so I eat some almost every day. I would definitely recommend giving this a try!

2 hard boiled eggs

2 stalks of celery, diced

1/2 small red onion, minced

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

1 tbsp light mayonnaise

1/2 tbsp ancient grain mustard

black pepper, paprika to taste

While you're hard boiling your eggs, soak the celery in the rice wine vinegar. You'll want to leave it for a minimum of half an hour, but longer is better! I'm not going to get into the debate of how to make the best hard boiled eggs, I'll leave that to your discretion!

Chop the eggs roughly and add the red onion, pickled celery (drain it first!! don't use the vinegar), mayo, and mustard, and add your spices. Serve however you would enjoy your egg salad! 

My current favourite way to feel like I'm having a little feast is to take a nice bun, and then slice it thinly like bread, and then put toppings on open faced. I love the Kirkland cheese buns, and this way I can eat half a cheese bun instead of a whole one and still get my enjoyment of the flavours of the egg salad and bun in every bite without being overwhelmed like the bread.

Lunch Summary: 372 calories, 21.5g fat, 22g carbs, 20.5g protein.

Afternoon Snack:

Sometimes, you just gotta go for simplicity! Two slices of whole wheat weight watcher's bread, toasted, with 2 tbsp of peanut butter on top.

Snack Summary: 288 calories, 17g fat, 24g carbs, 12g protein.

Dinner:

This easy dinner recipe is something a little off the beaten path, but it's flavourful and light and definitely worth trying. You can get the calories down even lower if you get something like this sugar free orange ginger sauce!

285g shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/4 cup dry bulgur wheat

1 tbsp vegetable broth liquid concentrate

1 clementine

56g baby spinach

113g snow peas

4 tbsp VH Orange Ginger Stir Fry Sauce

28g sliced almonds

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1/2 tbsp olive oil

If you have a rice cooker, I used that to cook the bulgur. Add the broth concentrate to the water and just cook like rice. If you don't have one, it's just fine on the stovetop- use 1/2 cup of water and add the bulgur and broth concentrate and bring it to a boil, then cover and remove the pot from heat and let it stand until the liquid is absorbed, roughly 15 minutes.

Peel and separate the clementine sections. Trim and halve the snowpeas. Heat a large pan over medium-high heat, and add the almonds to the dry pan. Toast, stirring often, until golden; about 3-4 minutes. Toasting nuts adds so much richness, it's definitely worth the extra time! Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

Add 1/2 tbsp olive oil to the pan, and add the shrimp when the pan is hot. Cook until the shrimp just turn pink, 2-3 minutes. Add 2 tbsp ginger sauce and toss until shrimp are coated.

In a serving bowl, mix together the remaining ginger sauce and the rice wine vinegar. Add spinach, snowpeas, and clementine segments until well combined. Divide the salad between two plates, and add shrimp and bulgur. Sprinkle almonds on top, and enjoy!

Dinner Summary: 387 calories, 13g fat, 42g carbs, 27g protein.

Dessert:

Everything in moderation, right? I don't believe in living life without ever having treats, which is why you can see that I do eat dessert (in some form) every single day. I don't feel deprived, I'm not going to bed hungry, and I can still enjoy my favourite foods.

Get yourself some cute little ice cream bowls that hold a smaller amount (because you really won't want as much as you used to!) and they'll be fun to eat. 

So I had 3/4 cup of Chapman's Three of a Kind Vanilla Frozen Yogurt garnished with 1/2 cup fresh strawberries and drizzled with 1 tbsp Hershey's sugar free chocolate syrup, and it was delicious. You could also pick one of the higher protein ice creams like Halo Top and that would be a great choice too. Or maybe you want a little Haagen Daaz- there is absolutely nothing wrong with treats in moderation!

Dessert Summary: 178 calories, 3g fat, 36g carbs, 4g protein.

Daily Total: 1498 calories, 58.5g of fat, 167.5g of carbohydrates, and 83.5g of protein.

Hope this helps! What did you eat yesterday?

Week 21 Weigh In!

 It's been interesting how my natural inclinations towards food have changed while on Ozempic. I don't know if it's related to the medication, but I have noticed some changes that aren't conscious changes.

I mean, we all know that eating whole, unprocessed foods are the best choice, but I admit that I enjoy some convenience foods too. I like fruit, especially berries, but in the past I would often buy a container and it would rot before I had a chance to finish eating them. Over the last few months, I've been buying fruit every time I make a grocery order and I've been finishing them. Maybe it's related to winter and I'm deficient in vitamin C or something, but except for the price I have really been enjoying eating the fruit! It's an easy, low calorie way to add colourful dimension to my meals or snacks.

This has also been a nausea free week, my first since I did that booster dose back in week 15. I take that as a good sign that my body has finally acclimated to this 0.38mg dose. I'm going to start slowly working it up to 0.5mg. I haven't decided how much I'll take tonight, but I'll note it in my record when I put in the results for this coming week.

Weather is finally starting to warm up, so I'm looking forward to getting outside more and adding outdoors walks to my exercise regimen!

Start Date: November 7, 2022  0.25mg

OZ Week 1 loss: 3.4lbs

OZ Week 2 loss: 2.2 lbs
OZ Week 3 gain: 2.0lbs

OZ Week 4 loss: 4.4lbs

OZ Week 5 loss: 1.4lbs

OZ Week 6 loss: 2.4lbs

OZ Week 7: skipped weigh in  0.39mg (used "bonus bit" in the pen)

OZ Week 8 gain: 4.4lbs  back to 0.25mg (started exercising seriously)

OZ Week 9 loss: 6.6lbs

OZ Week 10 loss: 2.0lbs

OZ Week 11 loss: 2.4lbs

OZ Week 12 loss: 2.4lbs

OZ Week 13 loss: 2.6lbs

OZ Week 14 loss: 1.6lbs

OZ Week 15 loss: 0.4lbs (took booster dose halfway through the week, so 0.25mg + 0.33mg)

OZ Week 16 loss: 4lbs  raised dose to 0.38mg

OZ Week 17 loss: 0.6lbs

OZ Week 18 loss: 5.6lbs

OZ Week 19 gain: 2.4lbs

OZ Week 20 loss: 2.6lbs

OZ Week 21 loss: 2.0lbs

Total loss on Ozempic so far: 37.8lbs