Mounjaro / Zepbound Journey

  Wow!  Day 160 … I have been thrilled with my progress. My BPs are the best they have been in years … not sure if I will be able to decrease any meds but I certainly will not need to increase any doses!   That is exciting as my high blood pressure was worsening prior to starting the Mounjaro. I was only able to get the 10mg Mounjaro for this coming month but that is okay … I seem to do okay on it (although I do a touch better hunger wise on the higher doses). The unsolicited compliments continue to come in which is wonderful.  A lot of people asking me questions about the drug and my results.   Interestingly they all focus on nausea and hearing that people could not tolerate the medicine but as I have said I have not had any of those kind of issues.  One area of real concern, however, is that the delayed gastric emptying particularly with certain foods has an unintended consequence that everyone taking the medication needs to be aware of!  If you go under anesthesia for a procedure no

  So I went with my last dose of 10mg Mounjaro this morning … going back to 15mg with the next dose.  So supply issues are bad … my local pharmacies can’t seem to get it and my farther away stand by pharmacy may be having problems getting it too.    I have 3 injections left so not a crisis at this point.   Hopefully they will turn up before it becomes a crisis. On a good note, my weigh in today was 274.8 lbs for an 83.2 pound weight loss on Mounjaro since Jan 18th!  All kinds of people congratulating me on the “looking good”! The image is a long exposure on my boat driving on a lake around 11pm … very peaceful even if a bit cool out.

  So this week I did a 10mg dose after last dose’s 15mg  … I waited until Day 11 to take this dose as part of my efforts to stretch out the doses to save some money.  I am at a plateau again which I guess is how things will be from now on. So this entry is dedicated to all of us on mounjaro (or wegovy) for weight loss who are judged by those around us for being on a medication.     The unsolicited commentary that we could all do this without the medication if only we would  “do the work” and show “mental fortitude” and “make some better choices” … well my first choice in improving my health is cutting those people out of my life.   They do not say these things because they are trying to help us or be supportive … they say it because they judge us as being less than they are … that they feel that they are superior to us … they are essentially the Karens of our world looking for things to pass judgement on but like all Karens they do not know what they are talking about.  They are oblivi

  So the plateau finally broke!!  Today I am at 281.6 pounds which is 76.4 pounds less than the day I started Mounjaro (21.3% weight loss!) … which is so crazy exciting!!  I added the total day number Day #160 to my title since my mounjaro weeks are not all 7 days.    I finally did get a box of 15mg Mounjaro after I could not find any 10mg nor 12.5mg boxes available anywhere in my area.  I had two shots of the 10mg dose left but because of the plateau I have been having this past month I decided to alternate between the two doses for these 4 weeks …. I am kind of curious to see how that goes. So in the photo above from this past weekend my clothes are looking loose and a bit oversized which is exciting because these are all smaller clothes than what I was wearing when I started in January! I think I mentioned in a previous post that I have lowered my goal weight since my original goal weight which seemed so unlikely to ever reach is actually approaching and the impossible now seems ver

  WAIT!!!   I think I see some Mounjaro over THERE!!! So complete supply chain FAIL for this month’s refill!   No Mounjaro 10mg (nor 7.5 mg nor 12.5mg!) available for at least 100+ mile radius with no expected availability time frame … Crazy!!! I found one pharmacy who says they have access to the 15mg dose so I contacted my doctor and he wrote a prescription for that dose … he did it quickly but I hope the dose is still available when the pharmacy processes the prescription! I still have two more doses of 10 mg in my present box of mounjaro in the frig but I am getting my refill boxes started early enough to account for the supply chain issues which have not been smooth locally. My weight on the scale has been basically in plateau mode for three weeks but my waist line is still getting thinner … maybe the working out is building muscle?  I ordered a new smaller belt again … I was not excited to have to physically add new holes to this newer belt too!  My original belt that I added 4 h

Nothing special to report weight loss wise … Holding the course as I am on another plateau … but I feel good so there is that.   I have also started working out in earnest which is good.   And as an added bonus I get unsolicited compliments on my losing weight which has been nice.   So with regards to the working out.   I have committed to working out three times per week and I have opted for a gym machine centered workout.    So my dilemma was that I used to workout a lot when I was young but that has been a really really long time ago.   Ego will only get me hurt.   I have to suck it up and do the work to get back into a regular work out shape.   I am 58 and have been mostly sedentary for that last few years with my bad knees and being very very overweight … the last thing I need is to it hurt myself in anyway which would set me way way back. Here is my progressive “work into it slowly” workout.  Day 1:      Elliptical at lowest setting for 1 minute                    Machine workout

  So Weight Update!    Today I hit the scales at 290.2 for a total loss since starting Mounjaro of 67.8 pounds (18.9% loss) …. and from my all time max weight in 2021 of 383 that is 92.8 pounds down which is 24% total body weight loss …with 25 pound weight loss being  pre-Mounjaro.  It is scary how heavy I got in 2019 and then again in 2021 and all my yo-yo dieting since then … Mounjaro really has made the huge difference in successful weight loss!

  So I did something different this week!    I was watching a video on youtube and someone suggested that if you had good appetite suppression at your mounjaro dose that your could consider stretching the dose to 9 or 10 days in between doses (instead of the usually 7 days) so that if you were paying FULL PRICE like I AM … it would save some money!!  So the math … if it costs $1045 per 4 weeks for the mounjaro but you can stretch it out to 9 days in between shots … then a one month supply would last 5 weeks instead of 4 weeks … so that would work out to $840 per month … $205 per month savings!!   Very exciting!   And if the hunger hits you can always opt to go ahead and take it it at 7 or 8 days mark instead… nothing lost for trying. So last night I made Tikka Massalla and it was the evening of Day 8 … and it was really good but I could only eat half of it … so the appetite suppression and quick to feeling full from the mounjaro was still present!  I am excited about saving some money!

  So this week had its highlights and its surprising less than stellar lights …I have restarted my weight loss after being on a plateau … presently at 293.8 pounds as of this morning for a 64.2 pound weight loss since starting January 20th!     The surprising part of this week is that I have covid and am now home bound for a few days … thankfully it has been a mild case symptom wise so far …. but it was surprising for me because I have gone this whole covid time without actually getting covid until now so it truly was a surprise for me!  I did get to start paxlovid for mild-moderate covid in people with risk factors (which I have a few) but as soon as I started it I have already felt better. The photo above was of the Eiffel Tower in September 2019 (taken by me the last time I left the country pre-Covid) when they turned off the lights in honor of the death of their former President Jacques Chirac … not a sight you will often see!     And who I am becoming with my Mounjaro success is s

  Hello.   Not too much to report today.   I relaxed my food intake this week and the week off let me know it … I was at a plateau the whole week at around 305 lbs.    Well I just have to hit and get back in the groove!   I have a doctor follow-up this week where we will discuss staying at 10mg or moving up to 12.5mg with next box.   We will see. The photo above is of the old St Petersburg Florida pier .. great photo with a storm rolling in but that pier in now long gone and the new replacement pier and area is completely unrecognizable!   I was thinking how I need to let the old me … the old habits … the memories that I think are the reality of what is going on today (which they are not) and after taking moments to think back on them to move forward … just like the storm in the photo above was a sign of the great upheaval and change that was coming!