Ozempic stuff: So it's mid-June and I'm the same weight I was the last time I wrote here. This may sound like a horrible thing. In fact, it's miraculous.
If you read posts on the Ozempic FB group, or any weight-loss-focused group, it's I hit a plateau – it's a disaster! most of the time. 20 years ago, I'd probably have been feeling the same. Instead, I am quietly relieved that I have not gained anything since Ozempic stopped quieting my food noise (incessant thoughts about food).
I told my new-husband (long-time partner and wonderful man) that it feels like I had been magically cured of being addicted to some sort of drug that was only doing me harm for about a year, and didn't want it any more. And then the cure got un-cured and all I wanted was the drug. It was effortless, avoiding the stuff that was making me ill, only wanting an appropriate amount of anything.
Ozempic is still making me feel full sooner, but less soon than it did. I still eat smaller portions than I did in 2022, but I can keep eating past the point that it used to tell me to stop. And then I feel gross. So I'm working to listen to my body better and stop at the stop point based on any physical feedback. Trying to.
I was very lucky that hub's drug plan covered Ozempic for me for just short of 2 years. Now that it's stopped, I'm paying for it. For those in the US who are curious, it's about $240/month for a 1mg pen. I've added an additional .25mg to see if it will help boost the psychological effects, but it hasn't. That brings it to about $90cdn a week at current treatment levels.
Wegovy is the same drug as Ozempic, mostly, and it's approved for weight-loss use. The drug plan has a pre-approval form you can take to your doctor to see if insurance will cover it. The answer came back almost instantly: not only will we not cover it, but we're not even sure it's effective or safe, so go away until some constantly changing date when we will have finally decided if we'll cover it or not. And why did you even fill out the form when it says right on our site that it's not covered?
Why is there a form to fill out, then? Does it not matter that Ozempic and a 75lb weight loss cured my fatty liver disease? My liver is 100% healthy and normal now. But clearly that's just cosmetic. (So mad about this, obvs. Grrr.)
Anyway, I feel good in this body, though my left knee is now starting to succumb to arthritis the way my right knee already has. Durolane has helped so much for that knee, so I'm waiting to see the doc to get knee #2 sorted out. My clothes still fit, and I can walk at this weight. Another 20lbs off would make both knees happier.
But as someone who has never kept off the weight she's lost, staying steady is a huge victory. It's taking willpower, which the first part of this process didn't require. I'm doing my best. All my fat clothes are gone. I will not be buying more. This has to stick and I will make sure it does, somehow.
Life catch-up:
That pic above is me, paddling my new pink (!) Tucktec folding kayak. I haven't been on the water regularly since the early 2000s. The day after our wedding in Hawaii, I paddled a rental with my friend Kay, under the Rainbow Bridge on Oahu's north shore, and remembered what I had been missing.
That spurred me into action. I came home, sold my old kayak (a lovely recreational flat-water model) that had been stored on Toronto Island where the ex lives for a decade, because I couldn't transport it or even lift it myself. I got enough to buy the Tucktec (refurbished, on sale) and it's sat in my living room since it came in March.
It's intimidating because it's made of super-thick plastic that takes a huge amount of strength to wrestle into the shape of a water-tight boat. At least the first few times. Then someone from the FB group offered to meet me for a paddle and coached me into successfully assembling it on my own. (The 2024 models are made of a slightly different plastic that makes the boat weigh 20 lbs instead of 26, and folds easier.)
It is not a fast boat. But I'm not a fast paddler. It's stable and the only water in it after an hour paddling the Eramosa River was what had dripped off my paddle.
It fits in the trunk of our Elantra. It's magic.
I have, after being in therapy for most of my adult life, finally found a therapist who calls me on my shit, and will actually make pointed comments that often help me reveal the truth behind things I haven't been able to figure out before. I just had another breakthrough with her in the last hour.
Sincere amends and behaviour change is required on my part, in more than one of my closest relationships. I'm doing the work. I'm grateful that I'm in a safe place with my marriage that has allowed me to see and challenge some of my long-held beliefs and do better at being a partner and friend. And I'm exceptionally grateful that I finally found a professional who isn't shy about telling me the hard truths. It's exactly what I've needed.
Comments