[cn: weight-loss / Wegovy pills] My dad requested that I switch out my profile photo to one that looked prettier. I think the last one was a little wild and witchy for him. 
I told him that girls didn’t have to look pretty, and he agreed that it was my choice, of course, but he asks very little of me, so here you go, Daddy. You have to look closely to see the witchiness now…
I’m mostly posting now to note, while we’re talking about appearance and the like, that I started Wegovy pills a week ago. So the rest of this post is weight-loss related, please skip if such discussion isn’t your thing, for any reason.
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Quick health recap: I was diagnosed a few months ago with diabetes. I’d been pre-diabetic for a long time, and had gestational diabetes with Anand. I was a little irritated that I’d somehow tipped over into diabetic; my weight is extremely stable generally, so nothing had changed except, I guess, my body aging and my pancreas not working as efficiently as it used to? Sigh.
My doctor wanted to try me on Mounjaro, but my HMO insurance denied that, and told me to try Metformin instead. So I did, and it worked, and I’m now back to pre-diabetic. But all that said, my doc and I agree that my health is likely to be better if I lose 25 pounds or so (which would put me at the top of the ‘normal’ weight range for my height of 5’0″).
In addition to the diabetes, extra fat is also a problem for my particular cancer — I had hormone-positive breast cancer, and fat puts out more hormones, so reducing fat is supposed to significantly reduce the risk of recurrence, according to my oncologist.
And to be completely honest, health is my main reason for weight loss, but not my only reason. While I’m pretty adept at dressing myself in ways that I think look reasonably good, and I don’t tend to stress too much about weight and appearance, I’m not immune to vanity, and it’d nice to have that momma belly slim down some.
So when I heard that Wegovy was coming out with a less expensive pill form, I asked my doc about it, and she said she was happy to try it with my insurance, and as it turned out, they were willing to cover it. I pay $35 / month for the med.
Now, the way Wegovy works is that you titrate up — micro-dose first month, about triple that the second month, and up to full dose the third month. So I’ve had about a week on the micro-dose, and it seemed like a good point to report back.
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SIDEBAR: I mentioned before that my weight is very stable. I do weigh myself daily, and it’s usually within .2 pounds of the previous day, and hovers around 145 generally.
So when I’ve gained weight previously, there was always a reason. The first time, was due to undiagnosed thyroid disease — in my early 20s, I was gaining five pounds a year, which was clearly worrisome. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, put on Synthroid to replace the thyroid hormone my body wasn’t producing properly, and the weight gain stopped, and I was around 135 for a long time.
The second time I gained weight, around age 30, I was pretty depressed, for complicated life reasons. I climbed up to 160. Kevin and I were broken up that year, and eventually I decided that if I wanted to date again, it would probably help if I lost some weight and got into better shape. So I met with a personal trainer, started lifting regularly and doing cardio, and counted calories for three months.
By the end of that time I was back down to 135, and I was content with that, so I stopped calorie-restricting, though kept up mild daily exercise.
I know calorie-restricting doesn’t work for everyone — and I spent a lot of time in the fat acceptance community, and learned a lot about yo-yo dieting and its terrible effects on the body, how most people who lose weight gain it back again and more, etc. I can only speak for myself and my body.
Calorie restriction was very effective for me, but difficult, because although I could usually eat small meals and feel all right during the day, getting to a deficit meant going to bed hungry every night.
The third time I gained weight was with my pregnancy — each pregnancy left me with about five pounds extra at the end of everything. So that takes me to my stable 145.
All of which is to say is that while I know this isn’t true for many or perhaps most people, I have both evidence and trust that if I do manage to calorie restrict and exercise, I will lose weight, and that it will stay off.
My normal intuitive eating habits (educated from the months of calorie restriction and food tracking, so I know pretty exactly what I’m putting into my body, calorie-wise) help me do that without much extra effort — I don’t spend a lot of time or energy thinking about how much I eat normally.
I have lots of small meals, usually about 6 / day, and try to eat a balanced diet of protein, fiber, fat, and carbs.
Wegovy has really screwed with that.
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So back to the meds. I’m on the micro dose, as I said. And maybe it’s because I’m relatively small, but I definitely noticed the effect immediately. It killed my appetite and most of my hunger cues.
As a result, especially as I was running around frantically trying to get everything ready for the grand opening weekend, I missed a bunch of meals, I ate whatever random bags of chips and candy were around, I sometimes got faint because I’d gone too long without eating, I was probably dehydrated a bunch of the time.
So all my good intuitive eating habits basically fell apart without the hunger cues. I was talking to the kids about it, and the way I explained it is that normally, my stomach talks to me in a nice loud voice, and tells me when it needs food, and then I give it food, and all is well. If I go too long without food, it shouts at me.
From my reading around disordered eating, a lot of people don’t have such helpful stomachs, and theirs are mostly silent, which I would think would make intuitive eating much harder. That was my experience this past week.
I thought about stopping the pills entirely, because it honestly feels pretty unpleasant not having hunger cues. My weight has stayed stable this week.
I think I’m going to give it at least another week or two, maybe the full month, and now that the madness of rushing around frantically is over, and I can go back to the normal pace of my semester, I’m hoping that I can at least be conscious of my eating, and go back to a balanced diet of protein, fiber, fat, and carbs. But I’m going to have to be much more careful than I normally am, I think, and possibly need to actually write it all down again, which is just a nuisance.
Is it worth it to be able to calorie-restrict more easily, and not feel hungry when I go to bed at night with a calorie deficit? I’m honestly not sure, but it seems worth the experiment. I’ll report back at the end of the month, or when I stop taking the pills, whichever comes first.
I’ve been a slacker about exercise with all the running around (though getting some good weight-lifting with actually hauling a lot of heavy things), so I’m also going to try to be more consistent with exercise.
I know the general thought with these weight-loss meds is that you’re going to be on them for the rest of your life, but I’m really hoping to avoid that. Given my body’s previous track record, I think it’s reasonable to assume that if I can use them to lose weight, and then continue intuitive eating and reasonable exercise, I can stop taking the pills when I’m no longer trying to calorie-restrict. We’ll see.
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One last note on the pills — they recommend taking them on an empty stomach with at most a few ounces of water, and then waiting at least 30 minutes, but better, more like 2 hrs, before consuming anything else. I’ve found what works best for me is to keep them bedside, wake up a little early, take them, and go back to sleep for a while. So far, my body is cooperating with that mostly, which I appreciate. Better than giving myself shots!
Hope this is all helpful — ask if you have questions, and I’ll do my best to answer.
