wegovy, baby!

in early may, i started on wegovy. my weight has been creeping up for some years and menopause hasn't exactly helped. it seems harder than ever to those extra pounds. my mom was about my age when she was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, so i was starting to think it was a good idea to shed those extra pounds. plus, a couple of my friends were trying it with great results, so i decided to try it out. 

in order to have it prescribed here in denmark, you have to go through a full physical and blood workup. you can have it if your body fat is 30% and mine was "only" 28%, but my blood test showed weirdly high cholesterol, so the doctor went ahead and prescribed it. 

in four months, i've already lost 10 kilos (22 pounds). it simply makes me eat less. i feel full more quickly and so i just don't eat as much. i've learned that i don't have to clean my plate (what a bad habit that was we were taught as children). and a nice side effect is that it also makes me drink less. i have a glass of wine while i'm making dinner and then i don't have any desire for another one. 

i've also been trying to exercise regularly. our rainy summer has gotten a bit in the way of that, but it has also helped with the weight loss.

for me, the main side effect is low grade nausea that comes and goes all day. and a positive side effect is that my nails are so much stronger! it's also positive that my clothes fit better and i just overall feel much better and more energetic. 

this morning, i was browsing instagram and came across some very vitriolic comments on emily simpson's (of real housewives of orange county fame) instagram. she's lost a lot of weight in the new season and the people in her comment section are castigating her for kickstarting her weight loss with ozempic (that's the version of the drug for diabetes). ozempic and wegovy are the same drug and both are made by danish pharmaceutical company novo nordisk but just marketed for two different purposes. 

i genuinely didn't realize that using the drug came with so much shaming. and i really don't get it. why not use all the help you can get on the road to getting healthier? it's not a miracle in and of itself, you still have to get more exercise and be sure that you eat healthy. you still have to do the work, but it just helps you along the way. why should anyone care enough about how someone else loses weight to leave nasty comments?

it feels like the world and especially the online world, has become such a nasty place. there's so much judgement and strife and a real lack of thoughtfulness and kindness.

i do recognize that i am privileged to live a place that has access to the drug - for now, it's only sold in denmark, norway, germany and the us. and it's not cheap. i've paid nearly 1300kr ($188) per month until this month, when it went up to 1800kr ($260). that's because your dose goes up each month on the regimen. i'm actually going back down to 1.0 (this month was 1.7) in september. it might slow down my weight loss, but it will also hopefully cut back on the nausea, which can be a little annoying when you're sitting in a meeting at work, trying to concentrate.

i'm happy to be using this drug and not afraid to say so. i don't know how long i'll continue and i hope that when i stop, i will have trained myself to eat less and get more exercise and it will be such a habit, that my weight will stay off. i'd like to lose 15 more kilos and then keep it off, once and for all.