I know I haven’t blogged in a while…as some of my followers are aware I struggle with mental health issues and needed to take a break. I finally feel stable and am in recovery. I don’t know if my writing will flow as nicely as before but it is worth a shot. I love self reflection and sharing my story.

A lot has changed in the last couple months. I gained a little bit of weight back over the summer months due to some medication side effects and vacation eating. I also was too sedated to cook and wasn’t myself so we weren’t making the healthiest of choices.

But if I was an inspiration to anyone out there on this weight loss journey through my blog, I hope I can continue to be that inspiration with coming back after a gain. It is really, really hard to pull yourself out of the overeating and binging rut and get back into a healthy lifestyle again. I was going over my points every single day. I was still tracking…but I was so mindless and not putting any effort into my meals that the points quickly added up.

Finally, I have gotten the go ahead from my doctor to reduce some of my medications and get out of horrible zombie land. I finally feel like myself again and that my spark is coming back.

When it comes to my weight loss, I have a new journey ahead that I would like to share with you.

I have two barriers to losing weight that make this journey an uphill battle. All my psychiatric medications make me gain weight, which is so incredibly frustrating because they help me so much that I would never consider a life without them. I need them to be a functioning member of society and to live a healthy life so I have to manage side effects as they come.

I also have PCOS. I have done a lot of research about this disorder and what kind of medications or therapies could help. I found out that Ozempic has an off label use for treating some symptoms of PCOS (the pharmacist and nurse practitioner agreed with my research so it’s not just me). So I went down the Ozempic rabbit hole and found out that it can be a well tolerated drug that could be a wonderful tool to regulate my hormones and the metabolic changes that comes along with PCOS. And then bonus, weight loss is a side effect of this drug. So that’s great! It feels like I am killing two birds with one stone by giving it a try.

So I’m taking my first dose next week. I know it is controversial and I might lose some people’s respect for not continuing with the natural journey, but if this medication can help me with my PCOS symptoms even a fraction of the amount…it will be worth it to me. I’m looking forward to this new journey and to see if this tool will help me with lifelong issues.

When I looked at my surgeon’s consultation that he wrote of my shoulder injury, it said “Medical history: Obesity, etc.”. That was such a slap in the face to see it on paper like that. So when I think about how my other illnesses require medication for me to function, and they literally consider obesity a disease, then why is it so wrong to take medicine for obesity? I’ve heard such amazing success stories about how these GLP-1 medications can change your life.

I am never giving up on Weight Watchers, though! I am a member for life. And with this medication you still need to eat and live a healthy lifestyle, so I will still be joining multiple workshops a day and following the program. I also have found a newfound love of the pool! I’ve been going multiple times a week and just love it.

I will still be living a super healthy lifestyle, I just will hopefully be getting a little bit of chemical help along the way to help with my two different diseases.

So that’s my new journey! Who knows if my body will tolerate it but I’m willing to try anything at this point.

Until next time. Thanks for listening.