Week 55 Weigh In

 It's amazing how quickly your whole life can go upside down. The past two weeks have been horrible, and I am wrung out and beyond exhausted. Thankfully, everything will be OK, but for the past little while paying attention to what I'm eating and exercising has been nowhere near the top of my priority list, and I've been engaging in stress/comfort eating.

It was pretty awful. I ate an entire package of Oreos in one sitting. Not because I was hungry; I just wanted to drown myself in sugar. And that was just one moment in the past couple of weeks. Since I wasn't sleeping, there certainly was no energy for exercise, which means I lost the rest of my trial membership to the gym that I was enjoying. I can pay for more classes if I want to, but it's really, really expensive and I'm not sure that's in my budget at the moment.

I'd like to say I'm back on track as of today but honestly I'm still exhausted and I'm not going to make a commitment I'm not ready to keep. My survival methods when I'm worn out generally involve eating more because I need more calories to function on those days, which isn't helpful. At least I do have a fridge full of food so I won't be looking for convenience meals.

But I can't stay off track long because I have $1341 on the line in my HealthyWager! I didn't make a second wager with the intention of losing, that's for sure. I just need to get some sleep, get my head back on straight, and keep going.

Because while my health couldn't be high priority these past couple of weeks, ultimately it has to be a priority for me to take care of myself. You can't pour from an empty cup.

OZ Year 1 loss: 68lbs (click here to see the week-by-week tracker!) 

OZ Week 53 gain: 1.4 lbs

OZ Week 55 gain: 1.6 lbs

Total loss on Ozempic so far: 65 lbs

All Shook Up!

 So I mentioned in my last post that I had gotten a two week trial to an F45 gym that was within walking distance, and I'd never done F45 before. I decided to take it as a sign to go ahead with my new HealthyWager and use this as a little kick start to getting back my fitness groove.

Well, I have finished three classes and they are kicking my ass, but I am stubborn! I like how they come with a personal trainer to help make sure you're doing the moves correctly and to offer modifications if you need it. Readers- I needed them! Most of the other people there were all fit people there to build muscle, not people like me who still have quite a lot of weight to lose. But you know what? They were all super nice and welcoming even still. I didn't feel like anyone was judging me for using the lightest weights or needing to modify exercises or taking a break. The trainer told me I should be proud of myself for showing up and doing my best, and I am!

That being said, it's been hard on my body! My first class was on Tuesday and I've been pretty sore since then. I took today off, and I think I won't go to Saturday's class either. Hopefully by then my muscle soreness will have eased up and I'll be good to go on Sunday. That might mean I don't get to use all ten of my classes since the package is only for 14 days but I'll do my best! 

I don't know if I'll be able to go to this gym once my trial is over though. I am really enjoying it, but I had no idea that gyms cost so much nowadays. I was reminded that the last time I had a gym membership was over 15 years ago and of course things cost more now, but I wasn't expecting $229 a month (they offered me $199 as a Black Friday promotion), or I could pay $139 a month for 8 classes a month, or I can buy a 25 class package for $500. That seems like an awful lot of money to me when I pay my $8.99 a month for the Leslie Sansone Walk at Home subscription! To be fair, they have a lot of equipment at the gym that I don't have at home, and I know personal training is very expensive too. I just wasn't anticipating that much money. It was also pointed out to me that even the cheap gyms that run classes are about $80 a month, so this really isn't that much more. That being said, it might mean a gym is simply out of my price range for now. 

We'll see how I feel about it maybe in a few months. For now, I'm going to go to as many classes as I can and get as much use out of my trial membership as my body can handle! I've really been enjoying the hard push and having someone cheer me on and encourage me to work right up until the buzzer goes off. Those are things I don't have at home, either. Also, apparently I've been doing deadlifts incorrectly and I have to work on that.

I'm guessing that for now, I probably don't need to work out this intensely to lose weight. I'll probably be just fine with my Leslie Sansone videos. Maybe as I get closer to goal, I might need to step things up a bit and then something like this might make more sense for that kind of outlay of cash. I'll think about it anyway. I wish I had a few more weeks to stick with it and see how it's affecting my body!

One day at a time. Since today is a recovery day, I went for a nice walk at a fairly slow pace just to keep my muscles stretched out. I also upped my protein on the weight lifting days and drank extra water to help with the muscle soreness. Hopefully I'll be back to my usual sassy self in a couple of days!

Week 53 Weigh In!

 I noticed the past week that I was just not feeling disciplined, and after 8 months of doing my absolute best to exercise and stay within my calories so that I'd win my wager, I was okay with not going hog wild, but by just not really worrying about food and having what I wanted when I was hungry. So, no surprises that I have a little bit of a gain this week. That being said, I feel like I was mindful about my choices, I didn't binge, and I'm feeling good about getting focused again, so I think it was just fine to indulge a little bit.

And after playing with the Healthy Wager settings for a while, I decided to make a second wager after all! I was trying to make another conservative wager so I'd feel confident about it, but the payout ROI was much lower than it was on my first wager, so I guess the HealthyWage staff have faith in me! I found that the payouts didn't start to go past 100% unless I said I'd lose at least 35lbs and since I'm getting smaller and closer to my goal weight, that made me a bit nervous since I'd be approaching my goal weight and I know it's normal to hit longer plateaus at that point.

But since I am placing my new wager within 2 weeks of winning my last bet, they are letting me use my weigh-out verified weight for my new wager- and I made that one in the evening after eating dinner and drinking some water, so I'm already down a few pounds from there! So I figured that would give me a little bit of a boost. So here we go again- I have wagered $35 per month that I will lose 40lbs in 18 months, which is about half a pound a week. I'm hoping that I'll be able to average that, but it's a long timespan so we will see how it goes!

If you're thinking of making some money while you lose the weight you were going to lose anyway, you can get an extra $40 free on your wager payout by using my referral link!! Put it towards some nice new clothes that fit!

I am also still exercising at home with my Leslie Sansone Walk at Home subscription, but I decided to go along with this new wager that I'd give myself a little bit of a kickstart. I saw an ad on my Facebook page for an F45 gym that is within walking distance, and they were offering a pass for 10 workouts in 14 days for $29. I'll be honest, I have absolutely no idea what F45 is so I might have bitten off more than I can chew, but I decided that I would give it a try. Something to shake it up a bit in my gym routine so that my body doesn't get acclimatized. And maybe it will help boost my muscle development so that it becomes easier for me to lose more fat. 10 workouts in 14 days is a pretty crazy schedule but it's only for 2 weeks so I am going to give it a try. I'll be updating here how it goes!

OZ Year 1 loss: 68lbs (click here to see the week-by-week tracker!) 

OZ Week 53 gain: 1.4 lbs

Total loss on Ozempic so far: 66.6 lbs

One Year Weigh In!!!

 Wow- hard to believe it's been a year already! But on the same hand, look at all the changes I've been able to make this year! 

I'm really proud of everything I've accomplished this year. While it's been more than a year since I've been trying to take back my health (that journey restarted on April 1, 2022 when I got my T2 diabetes diagnosis), it's been exactly 52 weeks since I took my first injection of Ozempic.

And what a difference a year makes! By every indicator, I'm definitely improving my health and hopefully fighting back against my chronic conditions. First and most obviously, I am down 68 pounds! While it's slowed significantly, that's still an incredible amount of weight and I'm so grateful not to be hauling it around every day- I'm sure my joints are, too. Including the time before I started Ozempic, I hit a new milestone today and I am down 95lbs total!

I won my HealthyWager!!! In hindsight, I wish I had bet more because I felt like I was a sure bet. I'm considering placing a second wager but I guess it will depend on what kind of odds they are giving me! 

Secondly, while I didn't take measurements at the start of my journey (kind of wish I did but honestly I wasn't going to keep up with them), I have seen my clothes get bigger and bigger and become unwearable, which is awesome. And despite that niggling bit of anxiety that I've been in this place before, I am quite firmly getting rid of the ones that are too big to wear. I'm just going to have to deal with life and the demons that come up so that I don't regain the weight again because I genuinely believe I will die if I do. My body can't handle being the size it was. I started at a 4X, size 24ish depending on the clothes, and currently wearing XL, size 14-16ish comfortably.

Thirdly, my A1C dropped from 7.0 (confirmed diabetes) in April 2022 to 5.1 as of last week. That's not only not diabetic, it's not even at risk anymore. I have normal A1C! That's amazing and I'm ridiculously happy about that. No insulin, and no crazy restrictive diets or counting carbs, either- I couldn't live like that.

Fourthly, I'm making better choices- the soft positives rather than the hard positives of the numbers. While I'm not back to where I was in terms of my physical fitness before I got sick, I'm still battling my way back. My cardio fitness score has started to improve again, even if it's still below average again. And while I'm still struggling to get the frequency of my workouts back to my 4-6 times a week, I'm still getting in at least 1-2 a week plus long walks on 2 days, so I'm not back to being a couch potato. It's hard battling inertia, but it does get easier when exercise was just something that I did as a habit rather than something I had to make myself do. I'll get back there; I just need to keep working at it and not give up.

And fifthly- look at me! :)

July 2022

Nov 2023

The workout clothes in the first pic are a size 4X and the ones on the second pic are a 0X!

I still have more weight that I'd like to lose. I saved all my smaller size clothes from before I regained the weight, so I'm looking forward to having them all back. I'm already into some of them which feels great, but there's a particular pair of size ten jeans that are calling my name. I'm sure the journey forward will be slower since I have less to lose, but I will keep doing my best and take it one day at a time. Because all those individual days can really add up to a lot of progress! Look at what a year can do!

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

OZ Week 25 loss: 3.4lbs

OZ Week 26 gain: 1.0lbs

OZ Week 27 loss: 3.8lbs

OZ Week 28 gain: 2.0lbs

OZ Week 29 loss: 1.0lbs

OZ Week 30 loss: 1.6lbs raised dose to 0.46mg

OZ Week 31 loss: 2.2lbs raised dose to 0.50mg

OZ Week 32 loss: 1.2lbs

OZ Week 33 loss: 0.8lbs

OZ Week 34 loss: 2.4 lbs

OZ Week 35 on vacation: no weigh in
OZ Week 36 gain: 8.4lbs

OZ Week 37 loss: 6.0lbs

OZ Week 38 loss: 4.6lbs

OZ Week 39 gain: 0.6lbs

OZ Week 40 loss: 1.8lbs 

OZ Week 41 loss: 0.6lbs skipped dose on dr orders

OZ Week 42 gain: 2.4lbs skipped dose on dr orders

OZ Week 43 loss: 3.2lbs restarted at 0.25mg

OZ Week 44 gain: 0.6lbs raised dose to 0.38mg

OZ Week 45 loss: 1.6lbs raised dose to 0.50mg

OZ Week 46: 0.0lbs 

OZ Week 47 loss: 3.8lbs

OZ Week 48 loss: 0.2lbs

OZ Week 49: no weigh in

OZ Week 50 gain: 1.8lbs raised dose to 0.62mg

OZ Week 51 loss: 1.4lbs raised dose to 0.75mg

OZ Week 52 loss: 2.6lbs

Total loss on Ozempic so far: 68lbs

Losing to Win!

I did it, everyone! I bet $50 per month for 8 months that I would lose 30lbs. I figured that was pretty much a sure bet- since it's less than a pound per week. I'm definitely glad I gave myself some extra space because when I got sick and couldn't work out, my weight loss slowed right down. But I still made it with room to spare and I'm excited to collect my winnings!!! I win $1141!!!

I think I'll be putting this money away to spend on new clothes once I reach my maintenance phase. I still have some weight that I'd like to lose so for now I'm going to stick with cheap options like thrift stores and Marketplace so that I can wear clothes that fit and aren't too baggy, but also not a waste of money since hopefully I won't be in them for too long.

Definitely considering making another wager, although I have to take into account that my loss rate has significantly slowed since I have much less weight to lose.

If you haven't tried HealthyWage out, I'd definitely recommend them. You are absolutely allowed to take any medications you have been prescribed, including Ozempic and other GLP-1s. And if you sign up for your wager through my referral link, you'll get an extra $40 on your prize!

It really is a nice extra bonus to get paid to lose weight, and if you're paying for your Ozempic out of pocket, you can even use your wager as a way to fund the meds! Just play around with the prize calculator until you get a payout you are happy with. The minimum timespan is 6 months (no crash diets!) and the minimum amount of weight you have to lose is 10% of your starting weight. The minimum bet is $200 (total over the timespan, not per month!). Beyond that- you can play around with it and make longer timeframes, lose more weight or bet more money- the choice is yours to make it work best for you.

My best recommendation is to give yourself some wiggle room because bodies can be a little unpredictable. They do allow you to extend your wager if you're close but not quite there, but it's better not to need that safety net! Healthy weight loss is 1-2lbs per week, so I would definitely take that into account even if you think you can lose faster. Some weeks I did, but on average, I wouldn't have been able to sustain that.

But if you're already working hard and losing weight... why not get paid for it, too? It's a pretty exciting feeling to add to the excitement of losing! And something to remember when we have those moments where we want to backslide a bit. Just a little bit of extra motivation!