Weighing In

An update on my weight loss journey

I just finished up three months back on Mounjaro (The Weight of the Matter). I haven’t been weighing myself (To Weigh or Not to Weigh), but this week I saw my doctor for a follow up and learned how things are going.

28 pounds - I’ll take it!

My doctor and I were both very pleased. I had estimated I had lost about 30 pounds but wasn’t positive. Interesting that the most drastic change in numbers was the cholesterol - wow! I guess I shouldn’t be surprised based on what I was eating before…

The one semi-depressing thing about the weight is, when I went to log it in my health app I noticed the last time I logged my weight was April 2023 and it’s exactly the same! Depressing because I gained that weight after going off Mounjaro last year.

I don’t go back to the doctor for 6 months this time. I don’t know whether I’ll weigh again before that or not. I’d like to weigh again in 3 months but we’ll see.

---

This week I also went to the orthopedic clinic because my bad knee has been getting progressively worse. I’ve known I needed a knee replacement for 5 years, but thanks to a gel injection I was able to put it off. My orthopedic surgeon at the time wanted to wait until after I was 60 (I’m 61 now) and wanted me to lose weight.

Source: https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/diseases--conditions/arthritis-of-the-knee/

I asked the PA at the clinic what I should shoot for in terms of weight, and 30 more pounds after this will do it although the closer to 50 the better. They are working on getting insurance approval for another injection, and I’m hoping that will hold me until I can get the weight off. I’m having a lot more knee pain recently and there are a lot of things I can’t do, so I really hope the injection helps. Either way, I expect to have the surgery next year.

---

The past few weeks I’ve noticed I’m getting more hungry as it gets closer to my next shot. I also notice the “food noise” start to come back (cravings, obsessing). It’s been very mild but it causes me anxiety. I’m going up to 7.5 mg starting today so that should help.

Last time I was on Mounjaro I was on 7.5 for several months at the end. I stalled then and was going to ask to bump it up to 10 but the savings card stopped working and I went off it.

That stall was hard psychologically. I heard so many success stories losing 100 pounds or more and I stalled at 50. I felt like a failure. Even with the medication, I was failing. But I was overeating, even when I felt too full or sick. Thinking I could eat anything I wanted because of the medication. I wasn’t really trying.

I am determined to do better this time. On doctor’s advice I’m eating more protein (she wants me to get 100 grams a day, because this medication makes you lose muscle) and drinking more water (she wants me to get in 60 oz a day at least). She also recommended I get hand weights to work on upper body strength until I get the knee pain under control and can do more. I keep saying I’m going to start doing chair yoga again but I haven’t. I need more self discipline.

---

Even with the determination to do better, every time I see a post in the Mounjaro subreddit about someone losing 100+ pounds in a year I get super anxious. My doctor’s daughter even lost 100 pounds in a year. I’m trying to consciously change that anxious pessimistic feeling to a hopeful optimistic feeling, imagining how I’ll feel when I reach that goal. Turning fear to excitement (these emotions feel very similar in the body).

“Excitement and fear are in fact closely intertwined in the brain. They share the same physiological reaction: the adrenaline that courses through the body when a person is scared is the same as when they are excited. The difference is not how the body reacts, but how the mind interprets the experience.” - Anne Guillot, Excitement over fear

This technique is helpful:

Source: Transforming Anxiety into Excitement: The Power of Heart-Centered Breathing

---

That’s all for this update. Thanks for “listening.”