I started at 129.5 kg (285 lbs). I lost down to 95.5 kg (210 lb) then was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma. My oncologist told me to eat everything that I could eat because calories were more important than anything else. I gained 13.6 kg (30 lbs) which I carried for almost a year before I decided to start losing weight again last November. I was drifting down gradually but had decided to make a dramatic change in my eating at the beginning of March to see what I could lose over the month. I had an concology checkup on February 27 which was very positive. I went in to see my oncology nurses and update them and one of them, a very pretty nurse, commented that I was looking “lean” and expressed concern about my weight loss. I explained that it was intentional. I knew that I was going to see her again on March 27 when I drove a friend for her treatment so I decided to start cutting then that there. Over the next month I lost 6.8 kg (15 lbs) causing her to freak out a little and when I opened my sweather and pulled my shirt down to dive in and give me a good feeling up. You can see February 27 very clerly on the graph.
To calm her concerns I made an appointment see my doctor and he ordered bloodwork. I made up a 5 page summary of my motivations and methods and recorded every calorie I ate for two weeks. He said that my bloodwork was great and that I was eating well but very little (average 1,100 calories per day.) He cleared me to continue until my next checkup on July 2. I hope to be close to 82 kg (180 lbs) by then.
I’m currently down from 111 cm (44 inch) pants to 91 cm (36 inch) pants and from a 3XL t-shirt to an L. The pants are too loose on me so I’m going to go down to 86 cm (34 inch) pants shortly.
My blood sugar is perfect and my blood pressure is down to very close to normal. I’m feeling good.
I can provide details about how I was eating and how I am eating if anyone is interested.
How as your eating changed before vs after? When you hit your target weight will you keep eating the same way?
Hi.
Details here https://lemmy.world/post/47560396/24028472
The most important thing was to not fight the Ozempic. I believe that the people who fail believe that it’s a magic bullet and they can just keep eating how they have always eaten and that just doesn’t work. I talked to one woman who said that it was completely useless, she just vomited all the time and stopped taking it. I saked her if she had change the way that she ate and reduced her intake and she was incredulous.
I dramatically changed how I eat and have lost almost 45 kg (100 lbs) since the beginning.
Reading the details - do you think you will keep the new eating pattern after your off the weight loss drugs?
I’m glad your seeing such success. I hope everything keeps improving!
Thank you.
Ozempic is not a weight loss drug for me. Weight loss was a welcome side-effect. I was pre-diabetic and am on Jardiance and Metformin. My doctor has talked about reducing the Ozempic either by extending the injection interval or by micro-dosing. He says that Ozempic seems to have a heart protective benefit that they don’t understand yet.
I’ve been eating the way that I’m eating now for more than 3 years. What was slowing me down was empty calories. I’m not going to never eat empty calories but I’m going to treat them as treats. When I reach my target weight I’m going to work with my doctor to develop a maintenance program. I sent a bunch of forms to a local gym and plan to start Olympic style weight training next week to protect and strengthen my muscles and to improve my quality of life as I age.
To put the food question simply, was it what you were eating or how much or how often?
As i get older the how much and how often has been the biggest change to stop the gain. So I am interested to hear how you did it and how long some of the side effects/cravings were.
And how does your fridge/ pantry look?
Most importantly, really well done realising you needed a change and then doing it!
To put the food question simply, was it what you were eating or how much or how often?
When I started taking Ozempic I had an adjustment period. I started to eat less to protect myself from reflux. I found that I couldn’t eat spicy food late in the day so I started eating mild, unchallenging food late in the day and spicy food for breakfast. I stopped eating lunch because I wasn’t hungry.
I started eating a couple of eggs or a Nature Valley granola bar for breakfast then taking my supper in a pottery bowl that holes 250 ml (1 cup) or if it was not bowl appropriate I ate my supper from a side/bread plate. Whatever the main is goes into the bowl. Tonight we had soya sauce chicken over rice. I ate it out of the bowl and had less than 250 ml total of the main. We also had broccoli and I put that on a side plate. I eat as much of the vegetables as I want.
I’ve had an extremely busy and stressful period from November. My mother needed major surgery so my father, who she had been caring for, had to go into LTC. He resisted aggressively and has been extremely resentful of me since I’m now in charge. When my mother recovered from her surgery she had planned to take my dad home but that wasn’t possible. She started driving in to care for him in LTC all day every day until after two weeks she had a stroke. She was in the hospital for 6 weeks and I had to get my dad and bring him to the hospital. Once she was out of the hospital I started driving her in to visit my father three times a week. She lives 20 minutes from me and it’s 35 minutes from there to the LTC home so I was spending 3 hours a day taking her in and either visiting or hanging out in town while she was there. I was doing all of this while trying to keep my family running and my day job happy. I was doing a lot of stress eating and boredom eating, especially since my mother is a huge snack monster. I was eating a lot of chips, Doritos, Cheesies, candy, and donuts while driving my mom around.
I had planned to cut out those empty calories during the month of March to see what happeend. I had a cancer followup on February 27 and got a clean bill of health and a next appointment 6 months in the future. I stopped by on the way through to home to tell the nurses who had administered my chemo and with whom I had become very friendly. One of the nurses who is very pretty and who I quite like walked up to me, looked me up and down, and said, “You look…leaner. Are you losing weight?” I told her that I Was doing it intentionally. I decided to start cutting the next day, one day in advance to see if I could convince her that she should feel me up the next time I saw her, March 27, when I drove a friend for her six weekly immunetherapy treatment. I cut everything except my morning granola bar and my supper. I lost 15 pounds before the next time I saw her and she stood with a shocked look on her face with her mouth hanging open. I told her that I was fine, unzipped my fleece, pulled out the nexk of my t-shirt, and asked her if she wanted to feel for lumps. She did and I counted that as a win.
You can see the change on February 27 on the graph.
I promised the nurses that I would call my doctor and ask if he wanted to see me. I called and asked if he wanted to do bloodwork and/or to see me. He ordered bloodwork which was apparently find and asked me to come in. I prepared a 5 page summary of my motivation and what I was doing and I kept an accurate record of everything I ate for 2 weeks. My low was 770 calories and my high was 1850 calories. Taht high day I went for Chinese with my family. I’m averaging 1,100 calories.
As i get older the how much and how often has been the biggest change to stop the gain. So I am interested to hear how you did it and how long some of the side effects/cravings were.
I don’t find that I’m hungry through the day very often. If I need something to eat I will get a big carrot, peel it, and slice it into thin disks which I put in a bowl and eat like chips. I get to go through the motions without getting a bunch of empty calories. My wife gave me a bunch of Cadbury mini-eggs for Easter and I ate 4 and put the rest in the fridge in my office. I eat a cookie when someone makes them and a small piece of cake if it’s a birthday. When I walk past food I think, “Am I hungry or am I bored?” If I’m hungry I ask myself, “Is that what I should eat or should I eat something else?” I try to make good choices. I used to eat pecans, dried cranberries, and a few chocolate chips for a bedtime snack. Now, if I want one, I eat a pear, an orange, or some mellon.
And how does your fridge/ pantry look?
The rest of my family still eat the way they have always eaten. My wife complains that her homemade sourdough bread isn’t being eaten as fast as it was and she gets up my trumpet from time to time about the fact that I should eat more. I am working with my doctor to come up with a plan to level off and maintain my weight when I get down to 82 kg (180 lbs).
Most importantly, really well done realising you needed a change and then doing it!
Thanks. I’m really pleased that my blood pressure is finally down and that my blood sugar has returned to normal.
Thank you so much for spending all the time to write that up. Sounds like a good mix of everything really. Better choices, more self control, reduced frequency, reduced volume.
I had a laugh when you mentioned down sizing your plates and bowls. When the wife and I did this, my father said “give it 6 months and you will be back to normal plates” … that was 5 years ago.
The struggle is real and i saw your other post below about needing to make the changes in line with the medication to get the most out of it. For people starting ADHD medication this also holds true. It’s not a fix all but a tool to hopefully enable the change you need. Good on you for making the wholesale change for maximum effect!
