1.7 mg (ish)
Last Weight: 209.8 pounds
Down 59.2 pounds (22.0%)

I’ve lost about six pounds in the last month—one in the last week.  Yeah, I am getting frustrated.  But I am sticking to it.  I keep logging my food and keep taking my shots. I am trying to shift my mind to the mindset I will need in March: It doesn’t matter what the scale says, I just need to keep logging my food and staying aware of what I am eating.  That is the only way I will maintain a healthy weight.  

It’s hard not to see the big changes I want on the scale.  I am so close to being the smallest I have ever been.  If my memory serves me right, I was about to get to 203 when I was like 21 years old.  So breaking that barrier into the 202s is my biggest goal.  I want to get there by the end of December but I expect that’ll be a bit too fast.  

I am finding it hard to balance my diet with getting sick.  My kids are finishing up their first semester of kindergarten and preschool.  The number of illnesses they have brought into the house is ungodly and I am tired of it.  It makes it hard to focus.  But I will keep going.

1.7 mg (ish)
Last Weight: 210.8 pounds
Down 58.2 pounds (21.6%)

I have been getting frustrated by the slowness of my weight loss the last month or so. I know when I look at the numbers it’s not even that slow. It’s just hard. I got used to seeing more dramatic daily weight loss. Now I have stagnant days and days when I gain weight despite doing well the day before.

I need to internalize this as a positive thing. There is a lot less excess weight for me to loss. Before I was eating enough calories for someone at 180 pounds while weighing up to 90 pounds more than that. Now I’m eating enough calories for someone at 180 pounds while only 30 pounds above that. Of course it is going to go slower. But that doesn’t make it that much easier. I’m so close to my big goals. It’s hard to slow down now.

But I’m 167 days in. I’m not going anywhere. I may still have harder days, but I recognize it and learn from it. And I must remind myself that they are still far better than my worst days just six months ago. And they are often better than my best days six months ago. I have come a long way.

1.7 mg (ish)
Last Weight: 213.6 pounds
Down 55.4 pounds (20.6%)

So with the last three doses, I have puked at some point in the days following injection.  That is why I had started spacing the injections two weeks apart.  But even with that my body isn’t happy.  So I’m trying something new.  With today’s 2.4 mg injection, I only injected somewhere around two-thirds of it.  That should get me close to the 1.7 mg that my body seemed more comfortable with.

If this works, I will do weekly injections the same way.  After today, I will have 12 doses left (so long as I can fill it one last time at the end of the year).  If all goes according to plan, that would make my last dose February 25.  My weight and diet apps have me hitting goal in early march and have barely moved, so I think that works perfectly.  I just need to keep focused.  It has been hard with the holidays.  But with this new plan, I Just need to keep focused for three more months and I can hit that goal.

2.4 mg
Last Weight: 215.2 pounds
Down 53.8 pounds (20.0%)

One-fifth of my body weight is gone in less than five months.  It’s pretty hard to believe.  I shaved off my beard for the first time in nine years last week and now I barely recognize myself when I look in the mirror.  I can see the weight loss in my cheeks.  And the crazy part is I still have 25 pounds to go.  And I still believe I can get there.

After today’s dosage I have 9 left.  I won’t be getting any more due to insurance.  I’ve already moved to taking it every other week.  That will allow me to spread these out to about March, which is when I should reach 189 goals anyway.  Then I will enter a new stage of these where I try to maintain without the medication.  I believe I can do it so long as I continue calorie counting.  And I’ve built that habit strong—145 days in a row!

The last two time I took a dose, I got pretty sick.  So I am worried.  But I also knew that sickness was going around.  So I just took it despite seriously contemplating coming off cold turkey.  I want to be able to ease off over the coming months on my own terms.  And I really want to hit the big goals I set out to hit.  

The next big goal now that I’ve hit 20% is going sub-200.  I want to get there by the end of the year and think that is a very realistic goal.  I just got to keep this up through the holidays.  That is a tall order, but I’ve made it through everything else without faltering.  I can do this.

2.4 mg
Last Weight: 218 pounds
Down 51 pounds (19.0%)

I am moving to taking the dosage every other week to start to elongate the remaining doses. I expect I will only get ten more doses. I have 6 in my fridge and expect to get four more in December. If I take them every other week, my last dose will go in 3/25/25. Right now my goal is expected to be attained early March. That means this spring will be more about trying to maintain with h continued calorie counting.

It’s insane to see myself fly past 50 pounds loss and inching toward 20% lost. I am now at the weight that I had to work toward even in my twenties. The thing is, it’s not like it has gotten n harder. I just need to keep on my current path and by my 36th birthday I will be at a not nap weight for the first time in my life. I’m already feeling so much healthier. It’s crazy to think it can still get better.

I wish I didn’t have to come off it so quickly. But I am excited to try as hard as I can to hit the goal first.

2.4 mg
Last Weight: 223 pounds
Down 46 pounds (17.1%)

The night before I was supposed to take the first 2.4 dose…I ended up puking my guts out.  What made it worse (or better?) is that I knew it was coming.  I watched all weekend as the sickness made its way through my children and spouse.  I knew there was no way it was going to skip me.  Between rushing a four year old out of bed as he projectile vomited and trying to help Sofia through the roughest part, there was no way I was going to avoid the virus.

But it passed quickly.  I now feel comfortable enough to actually take the dose.  It feels like a big moment.  Four months in.  46 pounds down.  And I finally am on the full dosage.  I still worry about the future and whether or not I will be able to continue taking this medication into 2025.  But I still have at least this dose and 11 more doses to go.  Even if I don’t figure it out, I am going to be surprised if I don’t get under 210—or even as far as 200.

My perspective is already shifting to: maintain.  Whether I continue to get Wegovy into 2025 or not, I need to figure out how to maintain this new weight.  I know that will involve me continuing to use the calorie counter app.  It has been core to my success.  But I can’t let myself backslide.

1.7 mg
Last Weight: 227 pounds
Down 42 pounds (15.6%)

Down only a pound in a week.  It’s frustrating. I think knowing this journey might come to a sudden stop due to insurance has created a sense of urgency that probably isn’t helping.  The urgency causes stress and the stress makes me want to eat.  Instead, I need to just stay on the path I have been carving for the last 15 weeks.  I can make plenty more progress by the end of the year.

Plus this was my last dose at 1.7 mg.  Starting next week I will be at the full dosage of 2.4 mg.  I am excited to finally be there and see how helpful it is alongside the habits I have created in these four months.  With it, I think I can reach my miniature goal of being at 220 pounds by the time I leave for Amsterdam.  That is 7 pounds in four weeks, which is well within the healthy range.  So I think it is a great goal.

As for the long term—I have a month until the Health Insurance Open Season starts.  I am going to be looking into a lot of options for health insurance.  It does appear there could be good alternatives so I can continue to take the medication.  It’ll be a hard balance though—because this is the insurance for my whole family so I need to make sure it doesn’t mess up anything for them if I change it.

1.7 mg
Last Weight: 228 pounds
Down 41 pounds (15.2%)

Sometimes I really hate certain parts about living in this country.  I should be sitting here writing about how I am one pound away from not being obese for the first time since I became a parent. I should be writing about how I am more than halfway to my goal weight.  I should be writing about how I am now at the weight that I sustained for most of my young adulthood.

Instead I am writing about insurance and the pharmaceutical industry.  I pay $500 a month to insure my family with good insurance.  I am lucky to have access to good insurance as a federal government employee.  I’ve been paying $25 a month for Wegovy.  Meanwhile, my insurance pays $1225.44 each month.  That is more than $300 per dose.  So it wasn’t surprising when my found out my premiums would be increasing to $600 a month.  

What was surprising was when my insurance decided to reclassify Wegovy from tier 2 to tier 3.  Tier 2 costs $25.  Tier 3 costs me 60% of the negotiated price.  That means I would have to pay $735 a month for my medication…and that is with insurance.  So…that’s not going to happen.  I don’t exactly have $710 extra dollars in my budget—especially after my premiums are going up $100.

I know there are other options that I can consider.  But what I do know right now is that my insurance will still allow me to buy Wegovy for $25 through mid-January.  At the rate that I am taking them (falling behind with the flu and whatnot), if I time it correctly, I will have enough doses to get me through the end of February.

The thing is, my apps have been very stable—showing late February as the date I will reach my goal.  So there is a part of me that  wonders if I can just power through, make it to my goal, stop the medication, and then make it my new goal to maintain.  It doesn’t sound ideal, but I do have to consider it.

The way medicine and insurance in the country works is insane.  I didn’t need more of a reason to vote for Harris, but I can throw this one on the pile.  Even incremental change away from the system we have now is better than the status quo.

1.7 mg
Last Weight: 230 pounds
Down 39 pounds (14.5%)

I stand on the edge of the 220s.  Being here and seeing the 2.4mg pens in the fridge feels surreal.  I am one pound away from being 50% to my goal weight.  I am a mere 4 pounds away from no longer being obese.  And the reality is I haven’t even started the full dosage of this medication.  It works so well for me.  I know how to count calories.  I know that works for me.  And for the last 100 days, I have had a helper that has kept me on course.  The results have been incredible.  

I’ve had three separate people at work ask me if I’ve lost weight.  It is a weird level of encouragement.  But the encouragement that really gets me is the amount of energy I have.  It is easier to go play with the kids, walk around, or just about anything.  I have caught myself a few times exerting myself a lot and not accounting for that in my caloric intake.  I need to give myself more leniency when I know it will be a very active day so I don’t feel lethargic.  When I was in Oakland, I went on an unexpectedly long walk and it definitely made me realize I have to be more aware of this part of myself. 

I feel so lucky to have been given this opportunity.  I will stick to it and make the most of it.  My doctor said he had never weaned anyone off of one of these meds—it always ends with a shortage or the insurance saying they are done.  So I just need to make the most of it while this opportunity lasts.

1.7 mg
Last Weight: 233 pounds
Down 36 pounds (13.4%)

Three months in.  This week is the start of another increase.  Four weeks from now I should be able to start the full dosage of 2.4mg.  I’m kind of amazed.  It’s been six hours since I took the dose and I feel pretty good.  To be fair, I ate quite lightly throughout the day knowing that that would antagonize my stomach.  But this feels like one of the smoothest increases that I have had.  Maybe knowing what to expect really is half the battle.

This past week was only down 1.4 pounds, but I am extremely happy with that.  This past weekend I spent three days down in Oakland with Alan.  As we normally do, we basically talked all weekend, eating out, and drinking.  I limited myself to two drinks a day.  But considering I hadn’t been drinking at all these three months, that was enough to get me to unwind.  I am just happy to have maintained over the last week.  

Now that I am back to my normal routine and on a higher dose, I hope to be able to do very well this week.  I know the 220s will likely be out of reach in the course of one week, but it feels so close.  Crossing under 230 will mark the halfway of my journey—40 pounds down with 40 to go.  It will also mark the return to the weight that I maintained for a long time—from 22 years old until 29.  Hitting 227 will mark the end of obesity and the start of being merely overweight.  This is all so close.  I don’t need to try harder—I just need to stay on track.  These goals are all attainable in the month ahead—and that is all before hitting the full dosage!