What's Your Most Recent NSV

My favorite online store to buy pants/skirts had a 50% off sitewide sale last week. So, I bought their smallest size, 12 (pretty sure its a 12W, though), thinking I would fit into them after the first of the year. I tried them on this weekend, and they fit perfectly! A year ago I was fitting into their 24/26W pants.

Sad thing is I might not fit any of their pants/skirts when I'm at my goal weight. They are so soft and easy to wear. Might need to look somewhere else to get bottoms!

@anxietyfairy Congratulations! This is a perfect example of deciding to keep going! You are not going to change your nutrition and movement habits quickly. You will slowly become accustomed to eating healthier and moving more. Just as you could only eat half the meat and swapped out the chips…your taste buds are slowly craving fresh crunchy veggies over salty fatty grease! As a baby....you were slowly introduced to solids....when you were ready. Give yourself the same grace you did back then. (You're not still eating only apple sauce right? Lol). Same with exercise. When you feel low energy, have a back up plan for low energy exercise. It might be a walk around the block, yoga on you tube or climbing up and down a flight of stairs 5 times. Moving your body daily keeps the blood moving, builds muscle and lifts your mood. Little things over time add up to BIG results. Don't concern yourself with the time it takes but do stay consistent. 😊

We're heading into summer in Australia and I've just put on the pants I wore a lot last year (despite them being a bit too tight) and they are almost unwearable this year, they are so loose. Yay for loose pants!

Week 7 of my walking program I walked 40 minutes on Tuesday and today... it is such a regular habit now I almost forgot to log it!! 🤣

wow. This is a great idea! To specifically do emotions, I mean.

I did a habit breaking mindfulness thing at my yoga studio. We were each issued journals.

No kidding. Within a week, I’d broken a 50+ year nail biting habit and shortly after was also able to kick a weird, lifelong, automatic habit inherited from my dad.

I was floored that it was that easy.

Journalling really worked for me. It made me pay attention and question why and when I did these things.

The other day I had to trim my fingernails because I haven’t had a chance to get to the nail salon. I was trimming and thinking,”wow! Weight loss and long nails! This really is a new me!!!!”

I sincerely hope journalling works as well for you as it did for me.

It has been a long time since I posted, but I am still regularly checking in to get my hit of happy reading all your inspiring NSVs! Apologies in advance- this is a long one. Scroll to the bottom for the TL/DR.

My health journey has been very up and down throughout my life. I have on several occasions gained and lost 25+ lbs. The most recent was a ~33 lb weight loss in 2022 followed by slowly gaining back about half since I moved last year. This meant a large uptick in pain and a hit to my physical activity because of a lower back issue.

Trust me, the healthy habits are aaaaall there, but eating at maintenance has meant dealing with constant hunger. My empty, growling stomach would wake me up in the middle of the night and gnaw at me every moment of the day. I couldn’t concentrate on work. If I didn’t have food when I needed it, I would get uncontrollably hangry. I could eat a giant meal to the point of bursting and still not feel satisfied. I have done everything right- high protein, high fiber, consistent weight training and movement, whole plant-based foods, tons of water, all of it. All it would take is one small bump to my routine, and my body and brain would SCREAM at me constantly to EAT.

My NSV is that I have finally accepted that my physiology will not allow me to maintain a healthy weight without help. After careful consideration of my options, I started tirzepatide last month. I can already tell that this is a life-changing medication for me. No more waking up hungry. No more constant “food noise”. I feel truly satisfied after eating for the first time in many, many years.

I am tracking my calorie and protein intake in detail still, but now it’s to make sure I’m getting enough. For the first time ever, this feels easy. I am not fighting with my own brain and body anymore. I have plenty of energy, and I am KILLING IT at the gym. I feel like I somehow have more time and more brainpower than I did before. There were some mild negative side effects at first (nausea, reflux, pronounced food aversion), but they subsided pretty quickly.

I am a dietitian who worked in dialysis for 13 years. I have seen the worst case scenarios that happen when people deal with obesity and metabolic dysfunction. It has been a very long time since I have felt true optimism when it comes to this huge nutrition problem the human race has been facing. I don’t think any of us were expecting a solution to come in the form of a medication, but here it is, and it’s changing the world. It has certainly changed my world. I sincerely can’t wait for these meds to be accessible to everyone who needs them.

I have great envy of those who can lose weight and maintain it with relative ease by relying on healthy habits they’ve developed. Based on the evidence, I am clearly not alone in my inability to do that. Some of us simply need more than a change in habits alone can give us.

TL/DR: After years of doing the weight yo-yo, I started on the GLP-1 agonist tirzepatide, and so far it has been a life-changing success.

I am OFF INSULIN!!! I only take oral meds now to keep my blood sugar under control. Not having to shoot up insulin 5 times a day is SO liberating!