Wegovy Wednesday Week 5

I am taking Wegovy (Ozempic) for weight loss as an obese person with heart disease. My insurance covers it under those conditions, your insurance may vary.

As reminders:

I grow most of my own produce organically in nutrient dense soil. Maintaining this has made changing my lifestyle simpler and cheaper.

I live in a two person household. My partner, Nick, is not dieting. I cook for both of us. He, mainly, eats what I eat with extra stuff like bread and pasta except more. IE: I defrost one pound of ground turkey to make tacos. 3/4 of that will go to Nick. 1/4 will go to me where I will add lentils and quinoa as well as more taco seasoning, then eat it in taco salad for days.

Due to an unhealthy relationship with dieting and food throughout my life, I'm only weighing in at the Doctor's when I see her once a month and not counting calories. My interest lies in getting healthy, no number on a scale can define health.

That said, I am curious. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't. I'm seeing her tomorrow, so I'll know before you. Nanabooboo. LMFAO

My last bloodwork was the day before I started Wegovy. It had my HDL at 61, LDL at 72, and Triglycerides at 93 with a total cholesterol of 133. These are good numbers, but I'm on a statin (cholesterol medication). The goal is to have those kind of numbers without the statin.

Despite what many people may believe I'm neither diabetic nor pre-diabetic. Not a person in my entire, very large extended family has diabetes, either. I don't think it's in the genes because based on what I used to eat and the PCOS (Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome can cause insulin resistance.), I probably should have it.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a condition in which the ovaries produce an abnormal amount of androgens, male sex hormones that are usually present in women in small amounts. The name polycystic ovary syndrome describes the numerous small cysts (fluid-filled sacs) that form in the ovaries.  

What we do have boatloads of is obesity and heart disease. Funny that.

This week, I ventured a bit into sweet snack territory. But, "healthy" sweet snacks. Like these breakfast cookies:

1/2 c Oats blitzed with 1/2 c smashed overripe banana; 1/4 c Smuckers Natural Peanut Butter (peanuts and salt are the only ingredients), and vanilla in the Food Processor. Then, I added a handful of dark chocolate chips and stirred with a spatula. Press down cookies, they don't spread. Baked at 350 for 14 mins. Yield 12 cookies

5/10 would make again with a modification of unsweetened applesauce instead of banana. Too banana forward for my tastes.

Next up was the ChickPea Chocolate Chip Definitely Dessert cookie

1 15oz can Garbanzo Beans (Chick Peas)

1/2 c Almond Butter (Almonds and salt are the only ingredients)

1/3 c Maple Syrup

I measure Vanilla with my heart which was probably three tsp.

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 c Dark Chocolate Chips

Drain and rinse chickpeas. Put chickpeas and almond butter into a food processor and blitz the crap out of it until there are no lumps. Add the rest of the ingredients except the chocolate chips and blitz again. Make sure the mixture is smooth. Let cool if the food processor heated it up. Add Chocolate Chips, and stir with a spatula. Bake at 350 for 12-14 mins. Yield 12 cookies. These cookies do spread, so leave room for that on the pan. 

7/10 would make again but with WAY less maple syrup. They're too sweet for me nowadays. Nick loved them. 

I dare those who don't need to lose weight to make these and tell me they taste like diet food because they taste like regular soft chocolate chip cookies to me. Gluten free people? You can switch the maple syrup for brown sugar and I bet they'd be even closer to the original!

I eat one of the breakfast cookies when I don't feel like having a smoothie. Nick mostly killed off the chickpea cookies on his own, I had one.

Everything else about my diet remained the same as last week. Protein and Veg every meal in different ways. Snacks are mainly whole foods such as cucumbers, nuts, or half an apple.

I've added quinoa to my list of ingredients for salads and such. I've never eaten quinoa before, and I'm still working out how to cook it correctly. You guessed it, it's high in fiber and protein.

We finally hit a situation where I was out running around in another city doing errands and got hungry. My solution? Fruit from Seven Eleven. Sure, protein would have been better but I just didn't want nuts or jerky.

To be clear, I'm not limiting myself, nor do I feel limited. I know I could continue to eat the bullshit I did before taking the Wegovy and feel like crap doing so. I'd probably eat way less of it because it makes me nauseous, but I could eat it if I wanted.

There are tater tots in the freezer. I used to love tater tots. Guess who hasn't even thought of popping some in the air fryer? Pre Wegovy me would have written the word tater tot, and cooking them after the paragraph was finished. The switch or whatever it is that made me crave unhealthy food is off on this peptide.

Meal prep just makes it all even easier. It's not like I'm cooking full meals. I'm making sauces, cooking chicken, lentils, and quinoa in batches; cutting up fruit and veggies, shredding cheeses, and freezing fruit and veggies from the garden to go in the smoothies. It's made this whole lifestyle change less stressful on my brain.

I have continued the low-weight, high reps for thirty minutes at the gym five days a week, except on days I'm doing a lot of work in the garden because trust...there are muscles being used. It's going to be "stupid hot" season soon, where it doesn't get below 90 even at night, I have to get the garden work done before that season hits. My back is hanging in there.

And, yeah, I don't know what else to say. All has been good so far, I feel better and healthier already and it's only been a month.

Happy Wednesday!