Good While it Lasted

'Way back in May I wrote a post here about my out-of-control appetite. And in June I mentioned that Victoza, while helping lower my blood sugar, had also suppressed my appetite, a very welcome side effect.

Well.

Here we are three months later. My blood sugar is doing much better (morning blood sugar is now 6.8 mg/dL, which is very close to healthy normal), but my appetite is ramping back to [my] normal. I'm back to eating independently of any sense of hunger.

Example: the other day at work, we had a farewell lunch for one of our colleagues. I ate salad and a sandwich. Then we had cake to celebrate another colleague's birthday (and the birth of his first child). I ate a slice.

Then I went out for coffee with my boss. I ate a biscotti. 110 calories, 15 gm carbohydrates, 0 nutrients.

Why? I certainly wasn't hungry! But as I stood before the display case of pastries that I knew would be delectable, I chose the least sinful of the items on offer. To assuage my guilt, I bought one for my boss as well (like an alcoholic trying to convince everyone around her to drink up). She, having had the same meal I'd had for lunch, thanked me and said she'd save hers for breakfast. Smart woman with a normal appetite.

So the "magic pill" of Victoza seems to be losing its potency. I feel a little like Charlie in Flowers for Algernon, aware that the state of grace was to be short-lived. Unlike Charlie, however, I'm not powerless.

I'm simply going to have to really work on the willpower.

On the bright side, I have been able to keep off the ten pounds I lost in the early days of Victoza, without feeling deprived or really even trying. This is a first for me. Typically, unless I am on a specific weight-loss program, I gain half a pound per month.

That's 1,750 calories per month more than I burn*. So I guess I should acknowledge that I've been eating less than I was before, which is progress.

More importantly, I've been eating better than I was before. If I go to the food court at lunch, it's to buy a vegetable soup or some veggies and dip, not a sandwich or smoothie (or both!). I have avoided the chip-wagon like the devil.

So I do credit those changes, along with the medications, with helping my blood sugar. I was just hoping for a smaller waistline as well.

*1,750 calories is probably what I should consume daily, so I really just need one day of fasting per month, right? Maybe if I just slept through one whole day per month that might work. What do you think?