Stuck

 250.2

I'm closing in on a weight that has a little significance for me, but it's been a frustrating week. 

I had gotten down to 251 early in the week, but then I bounced back up to 252-253 for the rest of the week. Even though I'm well into the medium dosage of the medication, I felt my old eating habits creeping back in a bit this week. When I got a chicken wrap from BWW, I ate both halves, even though I didn't really need to. I grabbed a cheese stick for a snack, even though I didn't really need a snack. Last night, I had three tacos for dinner, even though I could've stopped at two. I didn't obsess about it or go back for more, but I have not felt the lack of desire to keep eating that I felt during the original dosage. 

I have discovered something that seems to help: I saw some ads for Loaded Teas. They're basically a green tea with added ingredients like protein and collagen. Protein seems to help with the feeling of fullness, and collagen is supposed to help with skin elasticity as I lose weight (I'm worried about extra skin). The previous week, I had bought a few of those teas to try out, and they seemed to help me not feel hungry in the evenings. So I bought more, and they arrived yesterday. I'm going to drink them in the afternoons this week and see if I can keep the weight loss going. 

That 250 mark feels like a big deal. Not that it's a huge improvement from 270 and 260, but I was right around 250 when the world went a bit sideways. Back in September 2024, my dad had a stroke on Labor Day. I went to Carson City to check on him later that week, and I weighed myself on his scale. I was down to 248 on one of those days. I had to clean up his house, entry his fridge, make sure his mail was forwarded to me, access his computer so I could pay his bills, etc. It started a year of being responsible for my dad as we moved him to a nursing home in Billings. In September of 2025, my dad had a fall that may have either precipitated another stroke or caused a brain bleed that essentially created the same kind of outcome. He passed away on October 4, and since then I've been working on closing out all of my dad's personal business. It's been a stressful couple of years. So getting back below 250 will feel like an accomplishment.

I know I will hit plateaus throughout this process, but hopefully I can at least get off this one this week.

Heartburn

 252.6

Oof, last night was unpleasant. I made chili for dinner, and I overate a bit. I tried not to, but by the time I added sour cream and shredded cheese to my bowl, it was more full than I had intended it to be. Even though I didn't eat the entire bowl, I had more than I should have, especially since I also ate a biscuit. Between the volume and the level of spice, I felt very full and a bit heartburn-y by bedtime. 

I should've taken an extra Omeprazole before I went to bed, but I didn't. I woke up at about 12:45 with dreadful heartburn. I eventually took my heartburn medication and a melatonin and managed to go back to sleep around 3. 

I was pleased to see that I still managed a loss this morning, but I'm tired. Hopefully today I can eat within my limitations.

Shot #6

 253.5

I recorded the same weight this morning as I did yesterday morning. I'm not feeling great about my chances for a loss today, because I feel like I ate a lot. Toast and coffee for breakfast, a cheese stick mid morning. A protein snack bar and cottage cheese at lunch, half a piece for pumpkin bread mix afternoon, more cottage cheese when I got home, and a couple pieces of pizza for dinner. It's still probably not a crazy excessive amount of calories, but I'm sure it's more than I've been eating. 

For whatever reason, the past couple of days, I've felt hungry. I still have at least found it easier to not overeat when I do eat something, but I'm still feeling hungry even when I think I shouldn't be. 

Tonight was shot #6, the second shot at the mid-stength step-up dosage. I hope I can continue losing. I have been pretty pleased that I'm down about 15 lbs from the start. I had joined a TrimRX group on Facebook, but it was a lot of people who weren't seeing results, and I found it a little disheartening. 

So I hope I have less of an appetite tomorrow.

New stuff

 255.2

Well, that was a nice weight to come home to. I went on an overnight out-of-town trip to pick up a new truck in Idaho.  I was worried about eating out and being stationary in the car for so long (7-hr drive). 

I took my fifth shot on Friday before we left for the first part of the drive, and it was the first shot of the step-up dosage. My previous four shots were at .25 strength (mg? mL? I don't even know); this next four are at .5, and then the next four after than step up to the full strength. That's all the medication I have currently. They'll send out the next three-month supply at the end of October. 

I was worried that I did my shot incorrectly this time. I think I bent the needle when I inserted it into the vial, and I was worried that I'd actually broken it and maybe the medicine leaked out somehow, and I didn't feel the stinging sensation I have noticed after my shot (accusing to the Internet, it's a reaction to the refrigerated medication), so I thought maybe something had gone wrong. But I think it was working fine: when we stopped for dinner, I got the smallest cheeseburger I could order and didn't really even want any fries (I think I ate three). The next day, I only ate about 2/3 of my breakfast, I sure my sandwich at lunch but didn't touch my potato chips, and when I got myself a snack later (even though I didn't really feel hungry), I actually felt nauseous for about an hour.

From my heaviest, I'm down about fifteen pounds, but from my first shot, I'm down about 11.6 pounds. I would love to maintain a ten-pound loss each month, but I know that's probably not a thing. 

Anyway, crossing my fingers that I keep this up.

Cool cool cool

 256.6

Wow. I skipped right over 257 and went for a pound and a half loss yesterday. I suspect some of that might be hydration, so I don't want to lean too hard on that big a loss. 

But I didn't really eat much yesterday. I had coffee and toast for breakfast, and then we hit the road at lunch to drive to Bozeman to look at a truck (didn't end up buying anything) and just grabbed a double cheeseburger and diet Coke at McDonald's. No snacking because we were at a car dealership, and then at dinner I ordered fish tacos that turned out to be one big piece of fish in each taco, so I only ate one and about 2/3 if the other. I also only had a couple of bites of rice and beans (it probably also helped that the whole thing seemed underseasoned and a little disappointing). When we got home I had a sugar free pudding cup. 

The biggest thing yesterday, though, is that I exercised*fanfare*. The dog wanted to go for get daily walk when we got home, and since it was getting dark (close to 8 pm), I didn't want to walk far. We only went party of the way through our usual distance, but I jogged some of it. Now, my jogging is certainly not impressive, and I didn't do very many steps at a time, but I did indeed increase my heart rate, su that counts. I just need to keep trying that. I think it will help. I have to be careful if what it does to my knees and feet, though. I have plantar fasciitis, although that hasn't flared up in a while, and in these last twenty pounds or so my knees have started to bother me some. Ask the more reason to get the weight off. 

Hopefully I can show another loss tomorrow and not bounce back up.

Whew

 258.5

Well, I'm back down to the weight I was three days ago, so that's a relief. I was anxious. 

Yesterday, I felt the desire to snack. To graze. To eat because it sounded like a good idea, rather than because I was hungry. I avoided it, but I easily could've started and not stopped. 

I'm really hoping that the next dose, I'll start noticing a difference in the desire to eat. 

I was thinking about the feeling of fullness. I do think I'm noticing that I feel full sooner in the eating process. But one thing that never occurred to me is that I've always associated that feeling of fullness with comfort rather than discomfort. It has always felt good to be full, satisfying, pleasant, even when I've eaten until I'm "stuffed". I need to feel those sensations before I reach the fullness stage, or make that fullness stage happen sooner. 

I start school this Wednesday, so I won't really have the opportunity to snack. But I need to plan my lunches so I don't overeat. I need to make sure I'm getting my protein. Fingers crossed that I continue to lose this week.

Shot #4

 259.4

I would like to say I'm safely below 260, never to see the land alive that again, but I've gained back about a pound the past two days from 258.5 three days ago. 

My husband reminded me that my hydration level can play a part in those weigh-ins so I shouldn't worry too much, but the fact that I can't celebrate a 10-lb loss in my first three weeks is a bit disappointing. 

I'm not sure what to attribute Friday's half pound increase to, but I think I can see what got me yesterday. 

First, I went to lunch with a friend, and while I felt like I ordered reasonably (a lunch special of a half sandwich and small cup of soup), I felt weird about not finishing my meal when I probably could've stopped eating before that, and also, she ordered an appetizer for us to share, and I felt guilty about not eating it. I don't know that I ate half of it, but I ate more than I needed to.

Then, I snacked in the afternoon. I had gotten a small grocery order, and one of the items was a rotisserie chicken that I was going to break down, either for dinner that night or later on the weekend. I absolutely love freshly cooked chicken, so I did sneak several bites while I worked. 

Dinner, I think, was probably my best effort. We went to Olive Garden, which is definitely a place where I can overeat easily. I love pasta and bread, two things you can get in large quantities there. My family can go through several baskets of bread sticks at Olive Garden, and they did, but I ate just one bread stick myself. When the vat of salad came, I selected several pieces of lettuce and a few slices to tomato from the bowl, and that's all I had. I felt a bit guilty about that because that bowl of salad is so big, and most of it went uneaten. When I ordered, I chose the item from their "lighter plates" section with the fewest calories, a plate of six raviolis with marinara, and I even left one on my plate. 

Anyway, the fact that I had a half pound increase when I weighed in this morning was somewhat disheartening. But I can see those places that need work. I'm still a social eater when I feel the pressure to participate in a social situation, and I'm a snacker in the kitchen. I took my final dosage at the lowest strength of my medication last night, so I'll be curious to see if I notice a difference in the "food noise" aspect wheni stay taking a stronger dose. 

I also did not do any official exercise this week, despite what I had initially planned. Teachers officially reported for our week of in-service on Wednesday, so I've been at school the past there days working on my classroom and sitting in meetings. I've been a little more active maybe, but I've gone to school many days the past few weeks in order to clean up and redecorate, so it's probably not a big increase in activity level. I have two more days of in-service this coming week, and then we start school Wednesday. I'm not sure if I'll try to hit the gym this week or not. We'll see. 

Anyway, it's nice to see the 5 in the middle of the scale instead of the 6, but I don't know that the 5 is safe just yet. I probably won't feel safe about it until I'm in the lower half of that range.