This is my journey to become a healthier me. It began on January 26, 2010 and stalled out... I got a type 2 diabetes diagnosis on March 30, 2022 and started to focus on my health again. On November 8, 2022 I added Ozempic to my toolbox to help me shed some pounds and inches!

Monday, August 28, 2023

Week 42 Weigh In

 Well, this past week has been challenging, to say the least. My mother has been diagnosed with metastatic cancer, and we're just waiting for information about how serious it is. And, yup, I fell right back into my old habits of eating my feelings. I both ate to excess and ate when I wasn't hungry, and this isn't how I want to be. After 42 weeks on Ozempic, I had hoped that I would have been building healthier habits.

I just didn't want to care at the time. I stopped tracking. I even stopped eating my healthier snacks because I didn't want to "waste" them. I had definitely swung entirely out of weightloss mode and into depression/anxiety eating.

And while yes, I have a good "excuse", this recalls a previous post of mine talking about maintenance and reminding myself that life is always going to throw us curveballs. Some, sadly, will be thrown a little harder than others, but I have to learn to deal with them without turning to the refrigerator if I want to keep the weight off.

Because of the stress, I'm honestly not sure if I regained weight because of mental food noise (although I did notice some) or just because I was binging. I had been on the fence about whether to give it another week before restarting Ozempic but I really want to put a stop to this before it gets out of hand and I gain back more than a few pounds. Then I'll feel even worse than I do now.

While I didn't make the best choices over the past week or so, I'm going to count my choice to focus on my health again as a minor victory. I am not going to continue eating for the sake of eating. And honestly, I miss being able to enjoy a portion of something without needing to eat it all. I definitely didn't notice my stop point anymore, and again, whether that was the medication missing or the depression talking, I can't be sure.

I have been trying to pick up exercising again but I need to start even more slowly than I thought. I exhaust easily. One day at a time; I'll build back up and get to where I was.

Baby steps. After all, this is my life. One minor derailment isn't going to take me off course.

As for dosing, I'm not quite sure what I intend yet. Convention wisdom is when you miss three or more doses, to start again at 0.25mg, while if you have missed only two to stay at your current dose. I'm not entirely sold on this because I do think that the recommended dosing schedule increases too sharply, too rapidly. I am concerned if I take my next dose at 0.5mg that the side effects will come roaring back and if I'm not entirely healed from my infection that I will make things worse. After all, if you look at my progression below, you'll see that I stayed on 0.25mg for 15 weeks and then increased slowly over time. It took me over another 15 weeks to make it to 0.5mg, and I'm happy that I chose to do things this way because I have had very minor side effects generally. Did I perhaps slow down my weight loss because there was no "jump" to shock my body? Maybe, but that certainly isn't my primary concern. Ultimately, what does it matter if it takes me a few extra weeks or months to lose weight? Again, this is my life, and I'd much rather be tolerating the medication well with limited side effects versus losing a little more quickly (which isn't even a guarantee; simply potential). I will update later on with what I choose to take tonight.



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

Total loss on Ozempic so far: 57.6lbs


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