Strike 1

When I got to work, I called my insurance company who informed me that none of the coverage plans my new employer offers cover any weight loss medication, even though the plan I chose is 99.999% identical to my previous plan with the same insurance company... the ONLY difference is one bullet item under the heading "What's not covered", which read "Weight loss medication".  This is truly the only difference I could detect and believe me, I went through that thing with a dammed lice comb.

Strike 2

(... oh yeah, did I mention I jumped ship three weeks ago and went to work for my previous employer's #1 competitor?)

An annoyingly long email string, online chat, and three phone calls to HR later, I learned that my new employer is self funded and therefore chose to exclude weight loss medication coverage due to the expense.  Funny, since I pay damn near $800 a month for the (what I now consider terrible) coverage.

At lunch, I emailed my weight loss doc to let her know what had happened and to see if she could come up with a way to convince my insurance company that the medication is medically necessary or if she had any other suggestions.  

Later, while sitting in the Labcorp waiting room to get my blood drawn for my upcoming appt. with Matrix, my doc emailed me back to let me know that she has fought this same battle with the same insurance company/employer combo and lost.  There just wasn't much she could do... Oh, and also to let me know that she has decided to leave the practice and spend more time at home with her young children. No!  Not this!  Not today!  Dammit.

Strike 3

When the phlebotomist called my name, they said that there had been a billing mix up and my credit card was never actually charged.  I didn't want to screw around in front of other patients so I said I trusted them and had no problem paying for the test then and there. As luck would have it, my card had actually been charged  - so I paid twice.  The cherry on top of the crap sundae that was my day.  

YOU ARE OUT!

Finally done with this lousy day.  I sit down with my laptop and a bourbon to peruse the internet and daydream of a new pickup truck.  I get a little giddy recognizing that I hadn't logged in here for a LONG time.  The I do log in, it looks like no one else has been here either.  What gives?  Is anyone there? Are we all that busy?

Guys?  Hellooooooo?  Where the hell is everyone?

That's it.  Today fucking sucks. I'm taking my ball and going home!

I think the kicker was joining a gym and going 4-5 days a week.  My last post was about how to get started and it just so happened that my son (19) had decided to join a gym that day to 'get swole'.  I figured that was a sign of some sort so I took the hint and just did it.  

In the last year though - here's what Apple Health has recorded from my super-duper-ultra-mega-genius smart scale:

Weight: 403lbs to 303lbs

BMI: 53.3 to 41.4

Body Fat:  58.4% to 44.8%

Lean Body Mass: 153.7lbs to 166.5lbs (almost 13lbs!)

What's more surprising is what has happened since joining the gym - I'm down 16lbs overall but gained 3lbs of lean body mass! in less than a month! That's flipping nuts! If I keep it up, by this time next year, I'll be 'swole'!!!

To be honest, losing 100lbs wasn't a huge milestone for me - losing 104lbs will be the real milestone because that will be the first time I've been under 300lbs since the late 1990s.  Shit - the '90s... that's a hell of a long time to be carrying around this much weight. When I cross that line, I'm going to shave off my beard and see what I look like.  I haven't seen that guy since he was in his late 20s.

Next stop: the 200 club!

Everyone likes to cut loose, and some have to opportunity to smoke/eat things to cut loose while others can only really drink alcohol. Being a federal LEO, I’ll never probably be able to smoke the hood herb, but I definitely can drink. I am a connoisseur of beer. I love it. I know it’s killer on my diet, and possibly test. But I don’t drink every day, not even every week. Occasionally I’ll get a chance to venture to some brewery’s but that’s once a month or so, if I’m lucky. My go to drink for social drinking is either a Michelob ultra golden, or I’ll have a redbull vodka (zero sugar version). 

What are y’all’s go to drinks to help not kill macros and loose gains and what not? 

I’m in the middle of my second month of Wegovy and have dropped just over 20lbs without any change in exercise or activity level.  

So far I’ve only experienced minor side effects the day or the day after injection. Thankfully no nausea, just some embarrassing (but very funny) bouts with gas. 😳💥💨

Tia!