Healthy Habits

Last year my bloodwork was less than stellar. Cholesterol was high and triglycerides were a bit high.
I decided to make some changes in my diet and exercise routine.

This year’s bloodwork was perfect.

Cholesterol drop by 80+ and triglycerides were down by 92.

Going to allow myself a cheat meal this weekend and then back to my new routine.
 
R1pps said:
Last year my bloodwork was less than stellar. Cholesterol was high and triglycerides were a bit high.
I decided to make some changes in my diet and exercise routine.

This year’s bloodwork was perfect.

Cholesterol drop by 80+ and triglycerides were down by 92.

Going to allow myself a cheat meal this weekend and then back to my new routine.
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Damn dude. Impressive. I have had similar difficulties with cholesterol and tried to fix it with changes to diet and exercise, but unfortunately nothing helped so I had to start taking a statin (which did help).
 
It's definitely a border line "getting old" thread clevelandisthecity

Normally after running races, I ignore massage tables. The last year or so, I will take some time today, to let them stretch / massage my legs.

Today, after an 18 mile group run, I also took advantage of demoing Normatec compression leg massager things. I had seen some pro runners, post videos w/ them. They were really cool. For anyone doing any type of workout where they beat up their leg muscles, I can see them being useful. To purchase them outright is pretty expensive, a bit over $1000.

But, some training studios, have them available to use for their customers. I'm not a member of any such place. But these folks were certainly trying to sell me today, on joining their strength & conditioning services.
 
I like the comparison between this and the getting older thread. Most days I feel like the choices I make are geared towards making sure I do not head gracefully towards the grave.

Ive been dealing with an unhealthy amount of stress lately. Which ill be completely honest, I dont handle it very well. Its a part of life we all face but holy shit I feel like ive lived a fairly stress free lifestyle for so long that its all playing catchup on me now.
 
clevelandisthecity said:
Is this the healthy habits or getting old thread?

Took first dose of zepbound today. Let’s see what happens.
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Long post, so I apologize to everyone in advance.

I've been overweight most of my life. I'm 41 now, and I've had issues with my weight as long as I can remember. Probably starting at around 10. My dad working afternoon shift, six days a week so suffice to say he wasn't around a lot and my mom was not an attentive parent. Translation, I ate whatever and whenever I wanted.

That's not to say that I'm "blaming" this all on them. I'm 41, I've been an adult for a long time and I've had plenty of time to fix this on my own. I've tried multiple times with varying degrees of success but I've always backslid.

My wife has also struggled with her weight, though not to the same extremes that I have. About 18 months ago, she was prescribed Wegovy and she's had amazing success. She's lost 100 pounds and is looking & feeling the best she ever has in her adult life. I'm incredibly proud of her and happy for her and her success.

About six months ago, I decided to engage my doctor in discussing starting something like Wegovy or Zepbound. I had the bloodwork done, and the story was that I was in a bad gray area. My A1C and glucose levels were "too high" for Wegovy/Zepbound to be approved, but not "high enough" for Mounjaro/Ozempic, according to my PCP. This lead me to visit the weight loss specialist doctor that my wife sees. She disagreed with my PCP RE my A1C being "high enough" and prescribed Mounjaro.

I took the first injection almost exactly two months ago. The first month consisted of 2.5 mg injections once a week. I had no issues in the first month, and lost about 8 pounds. The doctor was satisfied with this progress, and bumped me up from the starter dose to 5mg per week to step up.

This is where all hell kind of broke loose.

Week 1 on the step up dose was fine. I didn't feel any differently than I did on the starter dose. Week 2? Entirely different story. I took the injection around 5am on Friday morning. Waking at around 7am on Saturday morning, I had terrible nausea and upper-mid stomach pain. Terrible bloating. I didn't even suspect the Mounjaro, I just thought I had a stomach bug, foodborne illness, etc. Spent all of Saturday day/early Sunday morning with vomiting, diarrhea and terrible nausea along with that continued upper gastric pain and pressure. After about 28 hours or so, it subsided and I pretty quickly went back to normal.

Week 3? Again, no issues. I continue on thinking I had a stomach bug. Week 4? Disaster. I took the injection around 9pm on Thursday night. Around 7pm on Friday, again. The diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, pressure. Over the next 12 hours, I vomited no less than a dozen times. I couldn't hold down sips of water without vomiting again. I took a shower in the middle of the night just to try to feel differently, trying anything. I nearly fainted in the shower, made it out just in time to sit in the toilet, soaking wet, puking in the trash can again. By around 7:30am the next morning I'd had enough and called 911. I was legitimately scared, insanely dehydrated and could not stand to feel that way anymore. I got IV nausea meds and fluids in the ambulance and a repeat round of both at the hospital. They tested for Pancreatitis, a (fairly) common side effect of these injections but thankfully that was negative. After 3 hours or so, they sent me home with a prescription for Zofran and instructions of a BRAT diet. As of now, Wednesday, I'm just now starting to (kind of) eat normally again.

Now, this isn't entirely on the meds. I did things poorly. One thing that I did which is a cardinal sin on these meds is that (on both occasions), I ate and then lied down. Almost immediately. I know in hindsight how stupid that is, but I didn't get to be obese at 41 by making quality food decisions. Additionally, when taking the injections, I was only usually eating two meals a day. Another cardinal sin, apparently. Your body needs protein 3x a day on these meds, whether you feel hungry or not, in order to regulate properly. Basically, I did most everything wrong and it resulted in disaster. In 8 weeks on this drug, I've lost 32 pounds. The desired pace for weight loss on Mounjaro is about half that.

So now, I'm off Mounjaro for the time being. My doctor wants me to refocus on eating correctly and keeping the weight that I've lost off and we'll revisit the possibility of Mounjaro or another medication in the next few months. I say all of this not to scare you (or anyone else) off of Zepbound, Mounjaro or any other drugs of this type. I guess the moral of my story is for you (and anyone else who may be using or thinking of using them) to PLEASE carefully consider the instructions the doctors give you. The way I felt the way I went to the hospital that morning I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.
 
preluderl said:
Long post, so I apologize to everyone in advance.

I've been overweight most of my life. I'm 41 now, and I've had issues with my weight as long as I can remember. Probably starting at around 10. My dad working afternoon shift, six days a week so suffice to say he wasn't around a lot and my mom was not an attentive parent. Translation, I ate whatever and whenever I wanted.

That's not to say that I'm "blaming" this all on them. I'm 41, I've been an adult for a long time and I've had plenty of time to fix this on my own. I've tried multiple times with varying degrees of success but I've always backslid.

My wife has also struggled with her weight, though not to the same extremes that I have. About 18 months ago, she was prescribed Wegovy and she's had amazing success. She's lost 100 pounds and is looking & feeling the best she ever has in her adult life. I'm incredibly proud of her and happy for her and her success.

About six months ago, I decided to engage my doctor in discussing starting something like Wegovy or Zepbound. I had the bloodwork done, and the story was that I was in a bad gray area. My A1C and glucose levels were "too high" for Wegovy/Zepbound to be approved, but not "high enough" for Mounjaro/Ozempic, according to my PCP. This lead me to visit the weight loss specialist doctor that my wife sees. She disagreed with my PCP RE my A1C being "high enough" and prescribed Mounjaro.

I took the first injection almost exactly two months ago. The first month consisted of 2.5 mg injections once a week. I had no issues in the first month, and lost about 8 pounds. The doctor was satisfied with this progress, and bumped me up from the starter dose to 5mg per week to step up.

This is where all hell kind of broke loose.

Week 1 on the step up dose was fine. I didn't feel any differently than I did on the starter dose. Week 2? Entirely different story. I took the injection around 5am on Friday morning. Waking at around 7am on Saturday morning, I had terrible nausea and upper-mid stomach pain. Terrible bloating. I didn't even suspect the Mounjaro, I just thought I had a stomach bug, foodborne illness, etc. Spent all of Saturday day/early Sunday morning with vomiting, diarrhea and terrible nausea along with that continued upper gastric pain and pressure. After about 28 hours or so, it subsided and I pretty quickly went back to normal.

Week 3? Again, no issues. I continue on thinking I had a stomach bug. Week 4? Disaster. I took the injection around 9pm on Thursday night. Around 7pm on Friday, again. The diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, pressure. Over the next 12 hours, I vomited no less than a dozen times. I couldn't hold down sips of water without vomiting again. I took a shower in the middle of the night just to try to feel differently, trying anything. I nearly fainted in the shower, made it out just in time to sit in the toilet, soaking wet, puking in the trash can again. By around 7:30am the next morning I'd had enough and called 911. I was legitimately scared, insanely dehydrated and could not stand to feel that way anymore. I got IV nausea meds and fluids in the ambulance and a repeat round of both at the hospital. They tested for Pancreatitis, a (fairly) common side effect of these injections but thankfully that was negative. After 3 hours or so, they sent me home with a prescription for Zofran and instructions of a BRAT diet. As of now, Wednesday, I'm just now starting to (kind of) eat normally again.

Now, this isn't entirely on the meds. I did things poorly. One thing that I did which is a cardinal sin on these meds is that (on both occasions), I ate and then lied down. Almost immediately. I know in hindsight how stupid that is, but I didn't get to be obese at 41 by making quality food decisions. Additionally, when taking the injections, I was only usually eating two meals a day. Another cardinal sin, apparently. Your body needs protein 3x a day on these meds, whether you feel hungry or not, in order to regulate properly. Basically, I did most everything wrong and it resulted in disaster. In 8 weeks on this drug, I've lost 32 pounds. The desired pace for weight loss on Mounjaro is about half that.

So now, I'm off Mounjaro for the time being. My doctor wants me to refocus on eating correctly and keeping the weight that I've lost off and we'll revisit the possibility of Mounjaro or another medication in the next few months. I say all of this not to scare you (or anyone else) off of Zepbound, Mounjaro or any other drugs of this type. I guess the moral of my story is for you (and anyone else who may be using or thinking of using them) to PLEASE carefully consider the instructions the doctors give you. The way I felt the way I went to the hospital that morning I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.
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I really appreciate the disclosure. It sounds like it was a very scary ordeal. I hope your health continues to improve. To hear it first person is impactful.
 
BigFrank said:
I really appreciate the disclosure. It sounds like it was a very scary ordeal. I hope your health continues to improve. To hear it first person is impactful.
Click to expand...
It was not ideal. And I honestly don't say it to scare anyone, just to share my experience. And to be clear, it was largely my fault. The doctor said that, in hindsight, it was probably too soon to step up from the starter dosage. But I ate poorly, failed to follow some of the most pivotal instructions and I didn't communicate with her enough on what I was experiencing.

If I had told her about the first incident, she would have told me to discontinue use there. It just didn't even occur to me that it had anything to do with the meds, so I didn't even consider sharing it with her.
 
preluderl said:
Long post, so I apologize to everyone in advance.

I've been overweight most of my life. I'm 41 now, and I've had issues with my weight as long as I can remember. Probably starting at around 10. My dad working afternoon shift, six days a week so suffice to say he wasn't around a lot and my mom was not an attentive parent. Translation, I ate whatever and whenever I wanted.

That's not to say that I'm "blaming" this all on them. I'm 41, I've been an adult for a long time and I've had plenty of time to fix this on my own. I've tried multiple times with varying degrees of success but I've always backslid.

My wife has also struggled with her weight, though not to the same extremes that I have. About 18 months ago, she was prescribed Wegovy and she's had amazing success. She's lost 100 pounds and is looking & feeling the best she ever has in her adult life. I'm incredibly proud of her and happy for her and her success.

About six months ago, I decided to engage my doctor in discussing starting something like Wegovy or Zepbound. I had the bloodwork done, and the story was that I was in a bad gray area. My A1C and glucose levels were "too high" for Wegovy/Zepbound to be approved, but not "high enough" for Mounjaro/Ozempic, according to my PCP. This lead me to visit the weight loss specialist doctor that my wife sees. She disagreed with my PCP RE my A1C being "high enough" and prescribed Mounjaro.

I took the first injection almost exactly two months ago. The first month consisted of 2.5 mg injections once a week. I had no issues in the first month, and lost about 8 pounds. The doctor was satisfied with this progress, and bumped me up from the starter dose to 5mg per week to step up.

This is where all hell kind of broke loose.

Week 1 on the step up dose was fine. I didn't feel any differently than I did on the starter dose. Week 2? Entirely different story. I took the injection around 5am on Friday morning. Waking at around 7am on Saturday morning, I had terrible nausea and upper-mid stomach pain. Terrible bloating. I didn't even suspect the Mounjaro, I just thought I had a stomach bug, foodborne illness, etc. Spent all of Saturday day/early Sunday morning with vomiting, diarrhea and terrible nausea along with that continued upper gastric pain and pressure. After about 28 hours or so, it subsided and I pretty quickly went back to normal.

Week 3? Again, no issues. I continue on thinking I had a stomach bug. Week 4? Disaster. I took the injection around 9pm on Thursday night. Around 7pm on Friday, again. The diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, pressure. Over the next 12 hours, I vomited no less than a dozen times. I couldn't hold down sips of water without vomiting again. I took a shower in the middle of the night just to try to feel differently, trying anything. I nearly fainted in the shower, made it out just in time to sit in the toilet, soaking wet, puking in the trash can again. By around 7:30am the next morning I'd had enough and called 911. I was legitimately scared, insanely dehydrated and could not stand to feel that way anymore. I got IV nausea meds and fluids in the ambulance and a repeat round of both at the hospital. They tested for Pancreatitis, a (fairly) common side effect of these injections but thankfully that was negative. After 3 hours or so, they sent me home with a prescription for Zofran and instructions of a BRAT diet. As of now, Wednesday, I'm just now starting to (kind of) eat normally again.

Now, this isn't entirely on the meds. I did things poorly. One thing that I did which is a cardinal sin on these meds is that (on both occasions), I ate and then lied down. Almost immediately. I know in hindsight how stupid that is, but I didn't get to be obese at 41 by making quality food decisions. Additionally, when taking the injections, I was only usually eating two meals a day. Another cardinal sin, apparently. Your body needs protein 3x a day on these meds, whether you feel hungry or not, in order to regulate properly. Basically, I did most everything wrong and it resulted in disaster. In 8 weeks on this drug, I've lost 32 pounds. The desired pace for weight loss on Mounjaro is about half that.

So now, I'm off Mounjaro for the time being. My doctor wants me to refocus on eating correctly and keeping the weight that I've lost off and we'll revisit the possibility of Mounjaro or another medication in the next few months. I say all of this not to scare you (or anyone else) off of Zepbound, Mounjaro or any other drugs of this type. I guess the moral of my story is for you (and anyone else who may be using or thinking of using them) to PLEASE carefully consider the instructions the doctors give you. The way I felt the way I went to the hospital that morning I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.
Click to expand...
My uncle reacted badly to two of the meds he was put on as well. A bad reaction to these meds sounds dreadful. My mom got gastric bypass about 20 years ago and that doesn’t sound fun either, though I think how they do them now is a bit more gentle. I hope you find something that makes you feel good as well as look how you want to look.

I grew up in a house where my dad was active and my mom unhappily yoyo dieted. While both always had physical jobs my philosophy on fad diets has always been that the juice doesn’t seem worth the squeeze. So it isn’t really surprising that I have found success in just finding healthier foods we enjoy, eating more of them, drinking less, and if I want a treat to just have it but to not go crazy. I want to be able to keep having weekends like the one I just had and absolutely nothing is guaranteed. It’s not worth making yourself miserable. It’s taken me a bit over a year (did not mark the exact start date or weight) to lose about what you have and I am so very nearly comfortably in a smaller pant size. I can put them on, they look alright. Just don’t ask me to bend over and pick up something off the ground.
 
I got prescribed Zepbound by my endocrinologist. Not sure if it'll be covered or affordable but damn that story gives me extra pause. I tend to skip a lot of meals and generally grit through symptoms. Sure as shit won't if I end up going that route.
 
Coyote said:
I got prescribed Zepbound by my endocrinologist. Not sure if it'll be covered or affordable but damn that story gives me extra pause. I tend to skip a lot of meals and generally grit through symptoms. Sure as shit won't if I end up going that route.
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Honestly my intent isn't to persuade or dissuade anyone from using those medications. My wife has had a wonderful experience and results with Wegovy with basically zero side effects.

I would just recommend being very, very clear and communicative with your doctor about your diet and lifestyle. RE skipping meals, the main thing that mine is stressing is just protein intake. If you don't feel like eating a meal that's OK, but you have to get protein in some other way if that's the case. I quite like these as a meal substitute, for example. Making your own protein shakes, etc will also work.


shopping
 
OceanOfMead said:
My uncle reacted badly to two of the meds he was put on as well. A bad reaction to these meds sounds dreadful. My mom got gastric bypass about 20 years ago and that doesn’t sound fun either, though I think how they do them now is a bit more gentle. I hope you find something that makes you feel good as well as look how you want to look.

I grew up in a house where my dad was active and my mom unhappily yoyo dieted. While both always had physical jobs my philosophy on fad diets has always been that the juice doesn’t seem worth the squeeze. So it isn’t really surprising that I have found success in just finding healthier foods we enjoy, eating more of them, drinking less, and if I want a treat to just have it but to not go crazy. I want to be able to keep having weekends like the one I just had and absolutely nothing is guaranteed. It’s not worth making yourself miserable. It’s taken me a bit over a year (did not mark the exact start date or weight) to lose about what you have and I am so very nearly comfortably in a smaller pant size. I can put them on, they look alright. Just don’t ask me to bend over and pick up something off the ground.
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At this point, my hope for myself is that all of this is enough of a wake up call that I won't need to go back on any medication. I've lost 32 pounds which is a great start. My goal at this moment is to focus on keeping up that momentum and seriously reevaluating my lifestyle and my food choices and then going from there.

It's a real possibility that I do go back on the medication in a couple of months and have a perfectly positive experience. Like I've said, a LOT of what happened to me was my own doing. Technically it's all a "side effect" of the meds, but it's kinda like a side effect of gun ownership being that you blew a hole in your own foot because you were fucking around with a loaded gun.
 
It isn't ideal, but since Mid-June I am down about 30 pounds. Feels good to be under 200 pounds again. The weight loss is mostly due to not drinking all of those empty Two Hearted calories, but also some lack of appetite with my whole cancer situation.

It is nice to have re-expanded my wardrobe with some shirts fitting properly again.

I still don't recommend cancer as a weight loss catalyst.
 
I'm back on my weight loss kick. I'm currently sitting around 240 lbs, which is 15 lbs heavier than my most recent lowest point but also about 15 lbs lighter than my most recent heaviest. I'd really like to get back down to 225 lbs and hold that weight for a while.

I'm doing all the same things that worked for me last time, focusing on protein, choosing leaner meats, and saving most of my carbs for around my workouts. I'm also cutting back on alcohol. For the past year, my consumption has already been the lowest it's been in a while. I'm going one to two weeks between drinks and typically only having one or two beers or a bourbon at a time. For example, I just got back from a week-long vacation and only had one La Fin Du Monde and one Zombie the entire week. So I'd like to cut that even further.

I've also been working on cutting social media almost completely out of my life which I think is an anxiety trigger which leads to over snacking and drinking more. I've completely cut out instagram and deleted my account. I am hoping it is permanent this time. I feel so much better without staring at short form content which over the last few years has only gotten more and more extreme and depressing. I can not express to you how much better I feel.

The only platforms I have left are facebook and X. For Facebook, I have deleted the app off of my phone and only ever check the timeline or groups via a desktop computer. I find groups to be the best user generated content for hobbies and much superior to reddit. I have found you if you can find a good group with strict rules you can find a lot of post that have value. I try to stay off the timeline as much as possible as I find it has turned into a dumping ground for the terminally political and AI slop post. And even though I have been telling the algorithm I don't want to see post like this, it still throws it in.

As much as people hate X, it is the best way to keep up with cutting edge technology news for work. I have also found that it is the only platform that when you tell it to "show less post like this" it will actually do it. I now see 0 post about politics in the feed and mostly only post I am interested in.

I am more than ready to delete facebook and I've cut the number of people that I interact with down substantially. The only issue that keeps me on Facebook is the group of guys I went to college with that will only talk in a facebook group chat. Only having the Messenger app on my phone has significantly reduced my time on the platform. If I could get them to switch to text or some other app I would delete FB instantly. Even though groups are useful, I could live without it.

I'm trying to find more ways to de-algorithm my life, but I'm finding that hard to do in 2025. I thought about selling my iPhone and getting a smart watch to communicate with. The only issue is there is no way to 2FA with Microsoft on an Apple Watch. And I'm not really wanting to use a physical USB key to log-in.

I have got my phone usage down to sub 2 hours a day and that's pretty close to as low as I can get it. One major tip is I put my phone on the charger as soon as I get home from work and I do not pick it back up until I'm ready to leave for work in the morning. I have also set the charger in the kitchen, so when I wake up, there is no drive to open and app and start scrolling.
 
TripleSixHoppia said:
I'm back on my weight loss kick. I'm currently sitting around 240 lbs, which is 15 lbs heavier than my most recent lowest point but also about 15 lbs lighter than my most recent heaviest. I'd really like to get back down to 225 lbs and hold that weight for a while.

I'm doing all the same things that worked for me last time, focusing on protein, choosing leaner meats, and saving most of my carbs for around my workouts. I'm also cutting back on alcohol. For the past year, my consumption has already been the lowest it's been in a while. I'm going one to two weeks between drinks and typically only having one or two beers or a bourbon at a time. For example, I just got back from a week-long vacation and only had one La Fin Du Monde and one Zombie the entire week. So I'd like to cut that even further.

I've also been working on cutting social media almost completely out of my life which I think is an anxiety trigger which leads to over snacking and drinking more. I've completely cut out instagram and deleted my account. I am hoping it is permanent this time. I feel so much better without staring at short form content which over the last few years has only gotten more and more extreme and depressing. I can not express to you how much better I feel.

The only platforms I have left are facebook and X. For Facebook, I have deleted the app off of my phone and only ever check the timeline or groups via a desktop computer. I find groups to be the best user generated content for hobbies and much superior to reddit. I have found you if you can find a good group with strict rules you can find a lot of post that have value. I try to stay off the timeline as much as possible as I find it has turned into a dumping ground for the terminally political and AI slop post. And even though I have been telling the algorithm I don't want to see post like this, it still throws it in.

As much as people hate X, it is the best way to keep up with cutting edge technology news for work. I have also found that it is the only platform that when you tell it to "show less post like this" it will actually do it. I now see 0 post about politics in the feed and mostly only post I am interested in.

I am more than ready to delete facebook and I've cut the number of people that I interact with down substantially. The only issue that keeps me on Facebook is the group of guys I went to college with that will only talk in a facebook group chat. Only having the Messenger app on my phone has significantly reduced my time on the platform. If I could get them to switch to text or some other app I would delete FB instantly. Even though groups are useful, I could live without it.

I'm trying to find more ways to de-algorithm my life, but I'm finding that hard to do in 2025. I thought about selling my iPhone and getting a smart watch to communicate with. The only issue is there is no way to 2FA with Microsoft on an Apple Watch. And I'm not really wanting to use a physical USB key to log-in.

I have got my phone usage down to sub 2 hours a day and that's pretty close to as low as I can get it. One major tip is I put my phone on the charger as soon as I get home from work and I do not pick it back up until I'm ready to leave for work in the morning. I have also set the charger in the kitchen, so when I wake up, there is no drive to open and app and start scrolling.
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Team 240 reporting for duty with same dream to be 225 again but absolutely loving Squatober and dont have any F’s left to give if I end up gaining a couple pounds through the holidays this year.

Currently all aboard the gainz train and will worry about cutting again when deer season is over. It is fucking pathetic how cold I get now that my skin is thinner.

I admire your culling of social media.
 
TripleSixHoppia said:
The only issue that keeps me on Facebook is the group of guys I went to college with that will only talk in a facebook group chat. Only having the Messenger app on my phone has significantly reduced my time on the platform. If I could get them to switch to text or some other app I would delete FB instantly. Even though groups are useful, I could live without it.
Click to expand...

Finally happened. I guess there has been a FB purge of accounts lately where it seems to be trying to get rid of bots, but it's deactivating legit accounts. Well, one of the college buddies had his account deactivated and there is no course of action. Dude spent 3 hours on web and phone support with zero help. So now we are on Discord.

I hit the delete button and it's scheduled to permanently delete in 30 days. I posted my phone number and a link to a git-hub page with my digital contact info yesterday just so people have a way to contact me. But it feels good to be free.
 
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