Today I thought I would write about me and my weight. During the summer I decided to start a diet so I downloaded a calorie counting app and started counting my calories all was going well, I was starting to lose weight, but what I found was the progress was slow and my motivation was waining, the desire to eat chocolate and crisps and drink beer was strong. Most weekends I would be less disciplined and weight would go back on, the same thing happened when I went on holiday. I know that is normal and that is all part of the journey. I knew my reason for losing weight was strong. I wanted to improve my health. I knew I was running the risk of having a heart attack and was probably already pre-diabetic. If anything this was making me struggle with motivation as I could feel the spectre of my negative self talk creeping in and telling me I was a failure. I did not have the self discipline to lose weight. I carried on regardless, I continued to count my calories, and feel disheartened when my weight went back up and then encouraged when my wight started to go down. Progress was slow, and I was still feeling unhealthy and worried.
At the end of August I started to think about using a weight loss drug to help me lose weight faster. I had started to hear from people that I knew using Mounjaro or Ozempic and having good results. Initially I dismissed it, as it did not fit with the image I have of myself. I kept telling myself I needed to do this myself to get a long lasting result. The problem was that this felt almost impossible. I know I need to change my mindset and I also know I need to lose weight before my health is permanently affected. Then I heard about someone else who had just started it and that night I laid awake thinking about my situation. Why can’t I do both? Why can’t I use the drug to reduce my intake of food and at the same time continue to work on my mindset when it comes to my relationship with eating. Since June I have been challenging my relationship with eating certain food (crisps, chocolate, and other high fat foods). I have been giving myself choices about what is helpful for me, is it having a mars bar and obliterating my calorie intake for the day, or choose some thing else that has more nutritionally beneficial or have nothing at all. This seems simple enough, but when you have a habit of reaching for the tasty high fat and sugar food when feeling sad, or under pressure that has been nurtured all your life, then it is not that straightforward. That is why I made the decision to start on Mounjaro to have alongside doing the work to shift my mindset.
That was the end of August and I started Mounjaro on 31st August. I weighed 17st 13lb on that day which was progress as when I started calorie counting I was 18st 7lb. The picture below is of me in August.
I have been on Mounjaro ever since. I have not followed the plan that most people do, and no doubt some people will think I am doing it wrong. I am now on my third syringe and I have kept the dose the same at 2.5mg. All the advice is that you should increase the dose to maintain the same effect. That is not for me, what I want to do is to use the Mounjaro with my mental work to shift my mindset. I have noticed the effects of the drug do not last the full week now, but that is ok for me as my mindset continues to shift and I am making better choices. My view is that I only want to use Mounjaro for the short term to take most of my weight off and then to continue my weight loss journey without it. Today I am 16st 3lb, I think I have started to look different, but make up your own mind with the picture below. I have quite a way to go as I want to settle between 12 and 13 stone. I plan on staying on Mounjaro until December and then go under my own steam.
I now do not see losing 4 stone as impossible, it is really challenging especially changing the way I think about food and eating. That is the key for me to remain at a lower healthier weight, and there is no other way of doing it other than working on myself and how I view myself. I can now exercise more which is helping me lose weight at a good pace.
Back in May I watched the Great Manchester Run and felt distraught that I wasn’t there racing money for MacMillan and honouring the memory of my mum. The main reason was because I was too fat and my knees could not cope with a 10k run. I plan on doing it next May so look out for updates.
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