It has now been just over two months since I made the decision to do something serious about my weight.
When I started, I weighed 247 lbs, or 17 stone 9 lbs.
Today I weighed 222.8 lbs, or 15 stone 12.8 lbs.
That means I've lost 24.2 lbs.
I'm not quite at two stone lost, but I'm close enough now that I can see it coming.
More importantly, for the first time in years I've gone back into the wardrobe and managed to fasten a pair of 36-inch waist trousers that haven't fitted me for probably five or six years.
They're certainly not comfortable enough to wear all day yet, but that's not really the point.
A few months ago I couldn't even close them.
I've also moved from struggling with the last hole on my belt to being able to reach the third hole. Again, it's still a little snug, but it's there.
Those things somehow make the progress feel more real than the number on the scales.
And now I've made another fairly big decision.
I've stopped taking Wegovy.
For now, at least.
Why I Started
Starting Wegovy wasn't a decision I took lightly.
I'd spent years knowing perfectly well that I needed to lose weight.
The frustrating thing was that I also knew how to lose weight.
I've trained with weights for years. I understood calories. I understood protein. I knew a takeaway wasn't as good a choice as preparing something at home.
Knowledge wasn't really the problem.
The problem was putting it into practice consistently.
And probably the biggest obstacle was something I've come to understand much better during these last couple of months: food noise.
It was the constant background conversation.
Pizza sounds good.
Maybe get a kebab.
There are crisps in the cupboard.
What are we having tonight?
Maybe get something delivered.
It wasn't necessarily hunger.
It was just food occupying far too much mental space.
That's probably the biggest thing Wegovy changed for me.
Food Stopped Making The Decisions
I haven't spent the last two months eating chicken, broccoli and salad every day.
Far from it.
I've had pizza. I've had burgers. I've had fish and chips. I've had Nando's. I've had Starbucks. I've had alcohol.
The difference has been what happened around those things.
Historically, a takeaway on Friday could easily become an unhealthy weekend.
A few drinks could lead to snacking, which could lead to a takeaway, which could lead to more snacking.
The individual burger or pizza probably wasn't the real problem.
It was the chain reaction.
During these two months I've found myself having something I enjoy and then simply moving on.
I've left food on my plate because I've had enough.
I've stopped eating noodles with a third of the packet still there.
I've had a drink without subsequently raiding the cupboards.
That sounds incredibly ordinary written down.
For me, it hasn't been ordinary at all.
Learning To Eat Properly Again
One of the stranger lessons from all of this has been discovering that eating less wasn't necessarily what I needed.
At one point my weekday lunches were becoming far too dependent on convenient things like crisps, protein bars and whatever I could quickly grab.
I thought I was being good because I wasn't eating a particularly large lunch.
In reality, I wasn't eating enough decent food.
Eventually I started making proper lunches again.
Seeded bread with roast beef, turkey or chicken. Lettuce, tomato, cucumber and a little light mayonnaise.
As I've got bored of sandwiches, I've mixed things up with protein bagel thins, Warburtons Thins and peanut butter.
Nothing revolutionary.
Just normal food.
And that's probably one of the reasons I think the routine can survive without Wegovy.
I'm not desperate for this "diet" to finish.
I actually quite like the way I'm eating.
Exercise Has Been Just As Important
I've also kept exercising throughout the journey.
I've continued resistance training and gradually returned to four-set workouts after a period when tiredness and poor sleep knocked things backwards.
I've kept up treadmill sessions too, including hour-long sessions.
One thing I'm particularly pleased about is that despite being more than 24 lbs lighter, I haven't needed to reduce the weights I'm using.
I'm realistic enough to assume that not every pound I've lost has been body fat and I've probably lost some muscle along the way.
But my strength is still there.
That's important to me.
I don't simply want to become a smaller version of myself. I want to keep as much of the muscle I've built over the years as I reasonably can while getting rid of the excess weight around it.
Sleep, Water and The Scales
There have also been lessons I wasn't expecting.
At one stage my weight seemed determined to stay around 233 lbs.
It was frustrating.
But looking back, several things had gone wrong at once.
I wasn't drinking enough. My urine was darker. I wasn't going to the toilet often enough. My sleep wasn't particularly good and my energy levels had dropped.
Once I made a conscious effort to drink more and improve my sleep, things started moving again.
It taught me not to treat every morning's weigh-in as a verdict on what I'd eaten the day before.
The scales are affected by far more than body fat.
That's especially obvious with digestion.
Wegovy has certainly slowed mine down. Bowel movements have often been small and infrequent, and when everything slows down I tend to feel more lethargic as well.
That's actually one of the things I'm interested to see change now that I've stopped taking it.
Why Stop When It's Working?
This is probably the obvious question.
If I've lost more than 24 lbs in two months and Wegovy has clearly helped, why stop?
Because this was never supposed to be the entire solution.
At some point I have to stand on my own two feet.
Over these last eight weeks I've developed a routine that I think I can genuinely live with.
I'm not starving myself.
I'm not avoiding social occasions.
I'm not banning takeaways.
I'm not refusing to have a few drinks.
I'm eating better most of the time, exercising regularly and enjoying the other things in moderation.
That feels sustainable.
So rather than immediately moving onto another month and another dose, I've decided to find out what happens without it.
The First Weekend Without Wegovy
Interestingly, my first weekend after taking my final tablet wasn't particularly "healthy" on paper.
There was homemade pizza on Friday.
Saturday included a bacon roll, a caramel macchiato, a homemade cheeseburger and chips, three pints of cider at a comedy gig and a couple of vodkas when I got home.
On Sunday I had lunch with my daughter, including a chipotle chicken baguette and a packet of crisps, followed later by homemade beef ragu.
But the important thing is that none of it turned into uncontrolled eating.
On Monday I was straight back to a protein bagel with chicken for lunch and a protein sweet-and-sour chicken meal for dinner.
I also got another hour on the treadmill.
And then came this morning's weigh-in:
222.8 lbs.
I've finally broken through the 16-stone barrier and I'm properly into the 15-stone range.
I certainly don't expect every week without Wegovy to produce a result like that, and there's likely still medication influencing things at this early stage.
But psychologically, it's a lovely milestone at which to start the next chapter.
The Clothes At The Back Of The Wardrobe
Possibly my favourite moment of the entire journey happened this week.
Like probably millions of other people, I've got clothes at the back of the wardrobe that don't fit anymore.
But I've never thrown some of them away.
Maybe part of me always hoped that one day they'd fit again.
Among them are several pairs of 36-inch waist trousers.
I haven't properly fitted into them for probably five or six years.
I tried a pair on.
They fastened.
They were snug. I wouldn't particularly want to spend an entire day wearing them yet.
But they fastened.
At the beginning of this journey my 38-inch trousers were becoming uncomfortable.
Now I'm approaching the point where the old 36s are becoming realistic again.
The scales can fluctuate.
A pair of trousers doesn't lie quite so easily.
What Happens Now?
I don't expect the next stage to be effortless.
Normal hunger will presumably return more strongly.
I'm particularly interested to find out what happens to the food noise as the effects of Wegovy wear off.
That's probably going to be the real test.
I'm also hoping my digestion becomes more regular and that some of the occasional lethargy improves.
But I'm not putting pressure on myself to continue losing weight at the same speed.
If I lose a pound a week, brilliant.
If it's a pound every couple of weeks, that's brilliant too.
Even maintaining my current weight for a period while adjusting to life without Wegovy would be progress.
What I don't want to see is the old pattern gradually establishing itself again.
And if that happens, I'll deal with it rather than pretend it isn't happening.
Restarting treatment in future is something I can discuss with my prescriber if I need to.
Was Wegovy Worth It?
For me?
Absolutely.
I'm pleased I made the decision to try it.
Not simply because I'm 24 lbs lighter.
Wegovy gave me something I hadn't managed to create for myself for a long time: some breathing room from food.
In that breathing room I've had two months to practise better habits.
I've learnt to stop eating when I've had enough.
I've learnt that having a takeaway doesn't mean the weekend is ruined.
I've learnt that I actually feel better eating a proper lunch.
I've rediscovered regular exercise.
I've learnt how much hydration and sleep matter.
And perhaps most importantly, the way I'm living now doesn't feel like punishment.
It feels surprisingly normal.
Onto The Next Chapter
I've gone from:
247 lbs (17 st 9 lbs)
to:
222.8 lbs (15 st 12.8 lbs).
My belt has moved several holes.
The 38-inch trousers are comfortable.
The old 36-inch trousers finally fasten again.
My strength in the gym is holding up.
And I've lost 24.2 lbs.
But that's not really what the next chapter is about.
Now I need to find out whether I can keep doing the things I've learned when there isn't a tablet helping me do them.
I'm under no illusion that I've "beaten" anything.
There will be difficult weekends. There will be holidays. I've got a weekend in New York coming up in October that will almost certainly challenge the scales.
That's life.
The difference is that I now have a routine to come back to afterwards.
For the first time in a long time, I don't feel as though I'm temporarily on a diet.
I feel like I've found a way of living that happens to result in me getting healthier.
Wegovy helped me get here.
Now it's time to find out whether I can keep going without it.