13 months on Ozempic, soon to be done

For my birthday I was diagnosed with diabetes last year. The before photo was right around that time, but not my heaviest ever (that is the last comparison photo). We tried metformin etc at first but I couldn’t tolerate it so I got the OK from insurance to try Ozempic.

Had hip surgery in November last year (torn labrum and they released my IT band), which is my 6th surgery in the past 10 years, all my joints are shot from being overweight. In March I started lifting weights 4x a week and in May I started biking 40 miles a week. Was astonished to find I could bike daily and not be super sore from the bike seat 😅

Told my doc I’d like to try going off it next year. Deductible will reset and I can’t eat enough protein to do much good with the weight lifting. I count calories religiously (I weigh everything) and I’m at about 1300 per day, on a good day. Some days I don’t make it past 1100 calories even with all my activity.

I plateaued for 4 months from February through May, then lost another 25lbs over the summer. Super close to my goal, which was 160 but I’m kinda hoping to get into the 150’s before I go off it and start focusing on building muscle. We will see. I am 46 years old and 5’10” so I don’t think 150’s is out of the question. I went from size 48 waist and I just bought jeans last week that are size 30. Might squeeze into 28’s before this is all over lol.

If anyone is on the fence about trying it I would say go for it honestly. I’m super disappointed in myself that I let things get that bad. Lots of loose skin and I don’t think I’ll ever build enough muscle to fill it out again at my age. Pissed off that I threw my late 20’s and all of my 30’s away like that. Frustrating, but I’m loving how I feel now. I can even sleep on my back without snoring 😂 The Mrs appreciates that I’m sure.