Yesterday, my sister Laurie, messaged to ask how my Ozempic journey was going. For someone who takes a lot of pleasure documenting personal activities, my GLP-1 story has been a bit muted here. It's just an injection that I take on Saturdays and there's not a whole lot to continually comment on. But here goes ...
First, I started my beginning month at the suggested 0.25 mg per week on July 6th. Right from the third day, my food intake was affected. I was not as hungry and decided I required a whole lot less. It felt weird getting full after having so little. Unlike others, I have had very few digestion related problems when taking it.
Subsequently, I moved to the 0.50 mg dose with the same pen on the fifth week. Still I had no harsh gastrointestinal issues. I did read that an uptake in fiber is good, so I returned to using psyllium husk powder daily. I may have had a headache the day after my first dose at the slightly-increased level, but it could've been something quite unrelated.
Next, I will finish my second month on Ozempic this weekend. I have lost some weight but I decided to only weigh myself on the same days that I take my injection. Interestingly, I have discovered that my Bluetooth bathroom scales can tell me a whole lot of things other than pounds or kilos. I saw a decrease in my BMI but not a reduction in muscle mass. To help avoid that I did buy protein power and now drink 30 grams per day since starting this process.
I am having some blood work next week and I have set up a doctor's appointment for the week after. We can talk about whether I need to move to the standard 1 mg dose or simply stay at the maintenance level for a prolonged period.
My real goal for starting Ozempic was to reduce my A1c level because I noticed this spring it had crept up to a 6.2. I'd like to reduce that to 5.6. In addition, continuing on Ozempic seems to have provoked me into thinking more seriously about my excess weight and the detrimental affects of carrying it around. Looking back, the week the doctor wrote my prescription I weighed 102 kilograms on the clinic's scales. (That's almost 225 lbs for those metrically-challenged among you.) Right now, I envision my ideal weight should be 80 or maybe even 75 kg!
My sister also asked me whether I was getting any exercise.
I think the few kilograms that I have already shed are helping to prompt me to be more active. This morning, I felt especially happy to start walking uptown. I will do that on a regular basis again. You see, I live in downtown New Westminster, BC. I'm lucky in not needing a gym membership. Simply carrying my present weight to the uptown business district is a workout. The rise in elevation, from our building's front door, is nearly equivalent to a 21-storey building.
I've owned Pixel watches for a couple of years but never really looked into all the Fitbit integration aspects. All of today's graphics are just screenshots saved from my morning walk. How cool to turn something as pragmatic as exercise into a nerdy, numerical pursuit. Look at all the data that I can generate in an hour! This will help make sure I keep doing so.
