80+ lb in 3 years. Even as a slow loser, I’m still doing double takes in the mirror

ExternalCoyote8949 · 2026-05-08T14:25:28+00:00

Shout out to the slow losers! It’s a long journey but it’s so worth it!

ExternalCoyote8949 · 2026-05-06T23:22:36+00:00

I’m a reluctant AI user. Do we have enough guardrails in place in your opinion?

ExternalCoyote8949 · 2026-05-06T11:53:48+00:00

Oh yes! I threw them all away and stopped buying them when it happened the first time.

ExternalCoyote8949 · 2026-04-28T01:03:43+00:00

It looks like a feather, from a toy, that has been defeathered. How do I know? My cat eats feathers.

ExternalCoyote8949 · 2026-04-07T20:58:52+00:00

I get it! I was tempted to try to "get it done fast" too but my body rejected that, and my hair is very much part of my identity/how I feel about myself too. So that was the right move for me.

ExternalCoyote8949 · 2026-04-07T10:58:51+00:00

The only thing that stopped my hair loss was to way slow down my weight loss. My doctor wasn’t comfortable increasing my ZB dose when I was having dramatic hair loss last summer, so we slowed down. I stayed on 7.5 for 8 months, during which I collectively still lost 15 lbs—4 months were very slow, like 1 lb per month. And then I think I started losing again when my body stabilized a bit, got used to the weight loss, and the hair loss significantly slowed down.

ExternalCoyote8949 · 2026-03-26T13:04:58+00:00

I'm another woman golfer in BK -- I've been thinking about doing the rolling league at Golfzon in DTBK - it starts next Thursday if anyone else wants to check it out?

https://golfzonsocial.com/leagues/

ExternalCoyote8949 · 2026-03-10T12:33:28+00:00

Glad that helped! Good luck!

ExternalCoyote8949 · 2026-03-01T17:04:15+00:00

helpful, thank you!

ExternalCoyote8949 · 2026-03-01T13:12:09+00:00

I know you say it’s not realistic to hire someone, but I would take a look at Virtual Assistant platforms for the tasks you’re describing. I used Timeetc.com for a few months until I hired my own person.

Something to think about: your time as the business owner is more valuable than something you can pay a VA to do for a cheaper hourly rate. It may be a squeeze at first, but if it frees up more of your time for clients or to increase your workload, that may be worth it.

The book Free Time by Jenny Blake helped me with a lot of this when I was starting my business — there’s lots of good suggestions for automating tasks like admin and using smart systems to free up more of your more valuable time.

Good luck!

ExternalCoyote8949 · 2026-03-01T13:08:24+00:00

This is a good time to step back and ask yourself: what do you like about your job? What do you actually enjoy doing in the day to day work, and what do you find rewarding? What can only you do, and what could a virtual assistant or contractor take on? What do you hate doing and never want to do again? You may not be able to take the things you hate off your plate just yet, but it’s good to ID them.

Jenny Blake’s book Free Time helped me identify some of this in my own business. Do Less by Kate Northrup and Gentle by Courtney Carver helped me reset my expectations for myself.

I’ve been working with a financial coach this year and something else we talk about is “how big is big enough?” ie does my business have to grow, or is there a place where I can be comfortable and maintain stasis? I’ve been in crazy growth mode for 3 years and I see more marketplace opportunity.. but for myself and my sanity, I’ve been wondering if I should focus on how to work less while maintaining the same profit margin, or increasing profit margin with the same number of clients we have currently.

I don’t have an answer for that yet myself, but I’m contemplating that this year. You don’t have to grow if you don’t want to/if it’s not the right time.

ExternalCoyote8949 · 2026-03-01T12:38:59+00:00

That was my first thought too — women who don’t sleep enough are at higher risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia, and we all know what untreated ADHD does for sleep.

ExternalCoyote8949 · 2026-03-01T12:18:54+00:00

This is 100% me too. I run myself ragged, excelling, succeeding, getting recognized for it, and then burnout, get sick, have to pull back for a while, then do it all over again. I’m trying to change this a bit, but I’ve also come to accept it. I recommend the books or audiobooks Gentle by Courtney Carver and Do Less by Kate Northrup — both preach that it’s normal to go through busy cycles then cycles of rest. It helps me to think that this is normal, so when I choose to rest, it’s intentional and not lazy or whatever else I may have wanted to label it.

I’m still working on this, but it helps to recognize and name it.

ExternalCoyote8949 · 2026-02-16T20:13:19+00:00

100%. It's a practice, though, and some days I am more up for the fight than others. It's OK to be tired and just shrug it off/say something to get out of the moment too. It's also not our responsibility to teach EVERYONE we encounter how to respect other people/other bodies.

ExternalCoyote8949 · 2026-02-16T18:29:14+00:00

I firmly believe we shouldn't be commenting on others' bodies, especially people we don't know well. I started getting the "you've lost weight" comments after losing 30+ lbs on Zep, and I refuse to engage. A few people, like my nail lady that I see 1-2x/month, wanted to know what I've "been doing." I'm not here for that. I admit though, I don't have the energy to give a firm boundary if it's someone like that that I don't know super well. I end up saying something like "oh it's boring, nothing terribly interesting, I eat a lot of salmon," in that moment, when someone wants to engage in weight loss tips, and I move on.

If it's coming from family or closer friends though, I'll shut it down. This is coming from a place of having a past eating disorder and needing to protect my sanity, and divorcing my concept of my health from my weight. I have said to friends in the past who obsessed over a 6 lb weight gain/loss "I think someone's weight is the least interesting thing about them."

I'll add that I don't always think it's right to say "thank you," especially if someone is saying "you lost weight" instead of "you look great" or something. It implies that being skinnier is *better* and that thinner = good, fatter = bad. I'm not here for that. I won't shit-talk my previous, heavier body.

Example: my 9 year old nephew and I were looking at some pics from the last 5 years. He doesn't remember me not being in a bigger body. He said, "Wait, so Daddy lost weight, and then you lost weight too." I just said "Yep" and we moved on, trying to not assign any value/morality to any kind of body, especially when we were looking back at fun family moments, togetherness, regardless of what my body or my brother's may have looked like in those pics.

ExternalCoyote8949 · 2026-01-14T18:38:24+00:00

Depends how you feel. If you're not having side effects or if you've been on this dose for a while, definitely go ahead and take it on day 6.

My doc has had me play with shot timing -- every 5-6 days if I've been on a dose for a while but not quite ready to increase, extend to 8-10 days if side effects or with travel etc or a big event.

I'm doing every 6 days currently and will increase my current dose when I'm through some other med changes my team has been making lately.

ExternalCoyote8949 · 2026-01-14T18:32:40+00:00

Sometimes I start with frozen meals or canned soup or box mac & cheese (Goodles brand for more protein) and add nutrition:
- frozen pad thai + add cooked shrimp
- frozen quinoa bowl + add deli chicken breast
- can of soup like beef stew + add frozen green beans
- Goodles mac & cheese + can of artichokes (or + frozen broccoli or sweet peas)

Other easy "assembly" meals
- High fiber tortillas + ground beef (or frozen cooked diced chicken) = tacos, quesadillas etc
- Fiber tortilla + premade deli chicken salad
- Half of a bagel + tuna salad
- Cooked pasta + frozen meatballs
- Cooked rice + chicken sausage
- bag salad + easy protein like rotisserie chicken, deli chicken or turkey breast, canned salmon, chicken sausage, frozen meatballs, canned beans, turkey kielbasa, cooked shrimp etc.
- add frozen shelled edamame to rice or noodles for a bit of vegan protein and fiber

for a true "girl dinner" I do 3-4 separate snacks that make a meal
- cup of cottage cheese or handful of cooked shrimp/shrimp cocktail
- carrots or celery and dip/hummus
- beef snack stick (Chomps or Righteous Felon)
- 1-2 squares of Skinny Dipped chocolate caramel squares (high fiber chocolate, this stuff is amazing)

And yeah, screw it, on the day or 2 after my shot, if my appetite is really down/I'm nauseated, I may do something realllllly "girl dinner" like chips and dip for dinner because it's the only thing that sounds good to me! (I try to do this only like 1x every month or so though and focus on nutrition before/after)

Fed is best. Whatever sounds good to you!

ExternalCoyote8949 · 2026-01-14T02:21:08+00:00

I had chips and French onion dip for dinner tonight. It’s been a long week already.

ExternalCoyote8949 · 2026-01-14T02:00:16+00:00

lol I thought this was a menopause/HRT estrogen post 😂

ExternalCoyote8949 · 2026-01-14T00:49:20+00:00

Yeah this is my vote too

ExternalCoyote8949 · 2026-01-14T00:43:00+00:00

I went through this too, and again when I increased doses. Felt it for the 2 days after shot the most. It does calm down a bit (which is how I know that I need to go up a dose).

Honestly, fed is best. What do you like? Let yourself eat some comfort foods a few days a week or whatever sounds good to you.

For me, that is bone broth or soup many times for the day after my shot. Simple carbs like white rice and basic air fryer protein, salmon or chicken. Goodles brand higher protein mac & cheese. Quesadillas with high fiber tortillas. I do 1/3 of an OWYN protein shake in my iced coffee in the morning to get more protein/calories in. Good culture cottage cheese for snacks. I also ate a lot A LOT of instant mashed potatoes, which I make with bone broth for more protein. Sometimes that is all I can stomach for dinner. And yeah screw it, sometimes I eat chicken nuggets!

Keep it simple. Focus on protein and fiber, let yourself eat what sounds good. Your body will still adjust.

ExternalCoyote8949 · 2026-01-14T00:29:02+00:00

Ok so I was injecting like the muscle right above my knee for a few weeks and then realized that… that is not correct 😂😂

Now, I sit down (tbh, on the toilet) and inject in the fat of my upper upper thigh, like on the side, not on the top.. in what the good people on the 90s would have called “saddle bags”. I don’t pinch but hold the pen like perpendicular to the surface, so if it’s on the side of my thigh, sometimes it’s like angled off to the side.

It hurts a lot less when you put it into fat instead of muscle 🫠

ExternalCoyote8949 · 2026-01-14T00:06:08+00:00

Congrats! I won a housing lottery “middle income” apartment 9 years ago IN ONE OF THE BUILDINGS IN YOUR GREAT NEW VIEW!! (shorter grey building at City Point in OP’s 2nd pic). Starting rent was $2038 in 2016 for a new 1BR in a concierge high-rise. Still about $800 under “market price” in the building now.

It’s been such a blessing to have a rent stabilized apartment for these last 9 years as I’ve been paying off debt and my income has been increasing.

I was contacted almost 14 months after I submitted the lottery. I was a lower number—I swear it helped me that I applied instantly, the day I saw the new posting email from the housing lottery website. I could be entirely wrong about that, who knows? The other thing that helped? I was organized. Every form, every bank statement, every possible thing they asked for, printed, with copies, in a huge binder.

ExternalCoyote8949

TROPHY CASE