REBRANDING NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS

It is that time of year again when I fire up Blogger and see when the last time I posted was. I spent most of 2024 on personal growth, so I was a little surprised to see my last one was in June?!

 

Crazy.

 

Quick recap then of where I left off. A few things inspired me to put more energy around my overall health and wellness. I was perpetually tired, had insanely terrible periods and felt losing weight was even more of a struggle (slower to come off, easier to come on). I thought it might be hormonal, and perimenopause related so I found a certified menopause specialist in my area and started running a bunch of tests:

• Sleep study – My sleep quality was not the issue
• Blood tests – I had severely low iron, low blood count and was anemic
• Uterus Ultrasound – I do have fibroids which cause the painful and ridiculously heavy periods which also play into anemia

I started taking iron, vitamin C, magnesium and vitamin D per all the doctors’ recommendations. Since it seemed my weight was not a hormonal/perimenopause issue, in late summer I made an appointment with a Dr. who specializes in medically supervised weight loss. The first appointment he had available was in mid-December, so I waited.

 

I was hoping to find something easy. My perception of these shots is that they make you not interested in food, you don’t eat, weight falls off easily. (I am uneducated in these so if it is hard work, don’t mean to belittle the efforts of those on them.) I also wanted someone to tell me what to eat, when and not to have to think. Then I wanted accountability and weekly/biweekly check-ins with meal plans.

 

Not even close to what I got.

 

My new Dr. described 3 options: 

1. Pills – like the shots, these help block food noise but are far less expensive. These have been used successfully for decades and are known to be safe but on average people lose 5-10% of their body weight.
2. Shots – like Ozempic help block food noise, not often covered by insurance if you don’t have a medical need like diabetes (which I do not) so they are pricey ($600-800 a month was what I was seeing) but patients can lose 15-20% of their body weight
3. Surgery – also expensive as often not covered by insurance, but the most effective according to my new Dr. And patients often lose 30-40% of their body weight.

 

I believe abdominal surgery is not an option for me due to excessive scar tissue from a botched C-Section. Selective surgery is just not worth the risk. I was hoping with a prescription my health insurance might cover something like Ozempic but at this time even being XXX-Obese doesn’t qualify.

 

I decided to go old school and take the pills which are only $45 a month total. I am taking one to help boost my metabolism and one to help block food noise. The goal is to eat less and my body will be more efficiently burning what I am putting in. But on this path, I still must track my calories. Based on my height, weight and body composition he gave me a daily calorie amount to target which seemed a little low but I am trusting the process and will go into my diet in my next post.

 

I absolutely HATE food tracking as it is SOOOOOOO much work. I do use the free version of Carb Manager and it helps that you can put in meals or make recipes of things you eat frequently but it is all still a pain in the ass. BUT it WORKS.

 

The Dr gave me a sheet with 5 days of meals equaling my caloric needs but that was it. Not exactly the mindless plan I was hoping for. He did say if I need more food assistance to reach out and I am guessing I would get more sheets. And my next appointment is in 8 weeks. So also not checking the accountability box I wanted.

 

A good friend (who is also crushing her own health journey) told me “you will maintain your weight loss the same way you shed it”. 

 

This statement has really stuck with me. I as much as I wanted to find a magic solution that was so easy, it doesn’t exist and hopefully by putting in the work I will build a lifestyle vs a quick fix and win at the hardest part – maintenance.

 

I have never kept a New Year’s Resolution and I am sure this isn’t an original idea but for the last few years I have been looking at resolutions more as goals. January is a great time to set goals for the new year. Here are a few of mine:

1. Average 10,000 steps a day for the year. 2024 was around 8,500 daily steps.
2. Follow Dr’s orders for as long as he will treat me
3. Continue making progress on my weight loss. If 165-175 by the end of the year is realistic, then that is my target but my first milestone is getting under 200 lbs again and keeping it off.
4. Add back in strength training. This has been on my list but not started pretty much all of 2024 so it is time.

 

Progress:

• I started my meds right before Christmas and didn’t track on the holidays and enjoyed the festive meals in mindfully 12/24-12/27 and 12/31.
• I also enjoyed meals out catching up with friends and those can be hard to track but I did try my best.
• Even with that, I started at 222.4 and today was 217.8
• This little bit of weight loss already moved me from the Obese III category to the Obese II category. While I have never been focused on BMI, I will be excited to someday reach the “Overweight” category. – Ha.

I wish you a Happy New Year and success on any goals or resolutions you may be working on. Cheers to 2025!