By the time you read this post, I'll have completed one month on Wegovy! I'd like to thank the Academy. Let's raise a protein shake! Ha ha.
It's been a big month. Honestly, February 2024 Gracie would be shocked to know that we're even on Wegovy, forget about the fact that we've actually lost some weight using it. The above picture might not show that much weight loss, but non-scale victories (NSVs) are just as important as weight loss. My face looks healthier. My skin is clearer.
Without further ado, here are some of the highlights of the month!
I've lost 14 pounds in one month. I don't think I've ever lost that much weight in a month's time before. While I have lost as many as 55 pounds in a previous attempt to get healthier, it didn't happen at this speed. I'm assuming I'm going to slow down, but that's okay! Also, if you're on Wegovy or any GLP-1, please don't compare my weight loss to yours. Everyone's body is different and all successes are important and valid. How your body reacts to a GLP-1 might be entirely different than how my body does. And maybe you've lost more than I have in your first month!
I've moved up from the starter dose of Wegovy (.25mg) to the next dose (.5mg). I detail the journey to find the .5mg in a previous post. I did not think it was possible to eat less than I was on the .25mg... and .5mg had other ideas. While I am not tracking calories with an app, I do like to keep rough track of calories for the day to ensure that I'm staying in a calorie deficit for my current weight. I've had traumatic experiences with calorie-counting in the past, so I have to be careful of not becoming obsessive about calories and remember that this experience is about health. However, .5mg of Wegovy pretty much does the work for me, as long as I listen to my body when I'm full. Which happens far sooner than I expect it to. I've also been really lucky because I've had few side effects. I burp constantly which my husband makes fun of (but that's his job, sigh), and on injection day, I turn into a space cadet. But I'm grateful that overall, my side effects are limited.
No more puffy feet! Someone strike up the band and celebrate! I did have an incident with home exercise equipment a few weeks ago where I may or may not have dropped said equipment on my foot (*facepalm*) and even that foot doesn't have much swelling anymore. You guessed it, this incident happened on injection day, when I was feeling particularly spacey! To end this section on a good note, my shoes all feel big on me now.
The reduction in acid reflux disease symptoms is life-changing for me. I had some heartburn once I started the .5mg of Wegovy, but I'm pretty sure it was a side effect and has since subsided. Over the course of the past month, I only had one other heartburn incident, and it wasn't food-related; it was anxiety-related. I heavily relied on antacids in the past, and even had a few stints with Prilosec. It's really nice to not panic when I'm out of Pepcid.
I have a lot less inflammation than I did before. I still have knee pain, leg pain, and back pain due to having to carry the weight on my five-foot-three-and-a-half body, but thanks to less inflammation, the pain has decreased and arrives with more days in between pain incidents. And my face doesn't feel and look so puffy anymore.
No more body sores! Every so often, I used to see big pimples, that were actually sores, show up on my stomach, as a result of my stomach rubbing against clothes that didn't fit great. I haven't seen one in a few weeks.
And finally... and most importantly. My food noise has decreased by about 95%. The most important part of this experience for me has been far more about mental health than it has been about physical health. In those five-percent moments, I am reminiscing about particular food rituals that have been part of my life for a long time. So, I've modified the rituals. I still need to finish an evening with dessert, but instead of eating a whole bag of cookies, I have a handful of dark chocolate chips that are much lower in sugar. Anyone who knows me well knows that I love Starbucks, and in the "before times," I often visited Starbucks twice a day -- and also supplemented with their store-bought "frappuccinos." I still go to Starbucks, almost every day, and I still get an iced mocha (no skinny syrups, I HATE anything with artificial sweetener) with half and half. BUT... in my first week on Wegovy I started having a Grande (medium) once a day only, and no supplemental frappuccinos. I am now down to a Tall! I haven't ordered a Tall anything at Starbucks since I was in high school. Ordering it, and feeling like it was enough, has been one of my greatest NSVs to date.
To live without food noise constantly in your head is a gift. I have been lucky enough to see what it is like to live without food noise in terms of cravings for particular foods, but also, without the drive to finish (or even start) oversized portions. My husband ate french fries in front of me today and I didn't even have one... not because I was willing myself not to eat a fry, but because I didn't crave one. Naturally. Without effort. Without having to perform mental gymnastics or leave the room. He even offered to not eat the fries in front of me, and I told him that it was perfectly fine. For the first time in my life, I had the confidence to know that food noise wouldn't beg me to eat half of the fries that he brought home for himself.
I also went to a family party a few weekends ago, where there was unlimited access to pigs in a blanket. Two were enough, rather than the 15 or so I would have scarfed down before. I didn't have to summon up every temptation-fighting prayer and mantra in order to not have more than two. It came naturally; I didn't want any more. And if you've ever experienced food noise, you KNOW.
A life with minimal food noise is an entirely different life. And February 2024 Gracie can't believe what we're telling her, because she never thought it possible. I can't wait to see where we are in a month from now.
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