The Shot

Yep, that's me. You're probably wondering how I got here. In this article, I talk about my personal experience with taking a GLP-1, and the road to get here to better understand "why". This is not and should not be considered medical advice, it's a public journal of my journey and my experience so far.

Juvenile Diabetes

On a doctor's visit when I was about 8, they had taken a urine sample and found excess glucose. After a few appointments at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital, it was declared I had juvenile diabetes. They taught us how to check my sugar and how to give myself insulin for when the time came. I was told I needed to cut back my sugar intake, limit myself to "1 sweet a day" less than 35grams of sugar, to check my sugar daily, but to hold off on the insulin for now. I was told one day my pancreas would give out, and I would need insulin, but for now diet and keeping active were what I needed to do.

As I aged, the term had changed to borderline diabetic, but it was the same. "I check my sugar and manage it with diet and exercise." Years go by, and I believe both terms are no longer correct or in use. As well as I know, 23 years later, my pancreas is still ticking. No insulin taken. Up until taking the shot, I was still doing diet and exercise with metformin thrown into the mix in 2019.

A history of weight loss and gain

My weight has always been a bit of a Yoyo. I believe I'm about 5'10/11 ft. In high school, I was always around 190-210lbs. After I turned 21, I had drastically gained weight. I had gotten a desk job, had easier access to alcohol, and a touch of depression. I had gotten to the 300 mark. Then around the age of 22-23 was about the time the low carb Keto diet started becoming popular. I never really paid attention to the fat intake side of things, but started eating very low carb, less than 35 net carbs a day. I also started lifting weights. During that time I got down to the 230s, and was feeling great.

Mid 20s hit and a new depression hit, you guessed it. Went back up to 300. At this point, I was no longer going to the doctor or had a PCP, had not gone since turning 18. I was young and bulletproof. Also, I hated making phone calls, and how do you even find a PCP? Well, I finally had a mental breakdown. Was checked into a hospital for a week, which was well overdue for me to finally face the music and deal with my depression. Along with tackling my depression, they also tackled my physical health. They got me on Metformin, antidepressants, and a new PCP for when I got out. With my newfound outlook on life, I started going to the gym, counting carbs, and doing the thing yet again.

That was December 2019, and as you guessed, the lockdown was a mere 3 months away. Even during it, I could keep up the exercise and a form of the diet. Hit below 240s for the first time in a while, had more muscle than before and felt pretty good. That stayed for about a year, then for the last 5 I have been sitting between 265-285 with various degrees of success depending on how active I was. I also picked up a CPAP machine during this time, which works wonders. I sleep better, etc. But is the most annoying damn thing in the world.

To give it a TLDR, I seem to only have success losing weight when I exercise, count calories, and eat a lower carb diet. If I change that, it goes back up sooner or later. Big surprise right?

GLP-1, Dawn of a new era..maybe?

The joke I always make is that everyone in the South knows someone's grandmother or aunt that somehow lost over 80lbs with a once a week shot for their diabetes, but still cooks with lard and fries chicken every Sunday. It's a loving joke, but it was happening. A lot of older folks I knew were drastically losing weight and improving their health, while only one thing seemed to change. No one was really using the term GLP-1 yet, just that they got some magical new weekly shot. No, it wasn't insulin, but was a shot. Yes, weekly, not daily. Kind of stumped everyone.

As the shots got more popular, I had asked my PCP in 2024/25-ish about possibly seeing if I could get on them. I was finding it harder and harder to stick to a diet and see weight lost results. From what I had seen and the research I did, it looked like I had checked the boxes. Type 2 diabetes, not insulin dependent, higher than average BMI. She had said, let's hold off and see if you can tighten your diet and do more regular exercise. Along with these, are still pretty new. So we held off.

Fast forward to my latest checkup in June. My A1C has slowly been creeping up. My weight, which I had maintained around 275 is at 300 again. She asked how it's going and I was honest "Dieted and did daily walks well at the first of the year, fell off the wagon on the first ice storm where you're stuck at home for a week." She brought up, "well what do you think about GLP-1s," and well, here we are.

I have fears. I'm worried I may always have to take them to see results. I am worried there may be long effects not yet found. But I am excited to see if this can be something different. Something to break the weight loss and gain cycle, maybe not. But we're going to see, and I plan on keeping this journal about it.

The goals for GLP-1 for me are.

Lower my A1C below 5.6, was 6.2 last appointment

Lose weight. Probably an obvious one. But the hope a lot of my problems are linked to my weight, and my weight seems to be linked to how my body processes food/carbs.

Have a healthy relationship with food. Meaning find comfort in other things than ordering a large pizza on a Sunday and eating it by myself.

Get rid of that damn CPAP machine.

Layout of the journal part

Alright, now that I over shared, let's get to the journaling part. Still playing around with the best way to write this, and it may change. I am thinking I am going to write a bit of starting info on each time period, starting weight, etc. Then talk a bit about how I feel, etc. May update monthly, may update bi-monthly. I think everyone always sees the "After a year story", but thought some early thoughts and experiences might be nice to share.

Month 1

Starting date: June 23rd,2026
Starting Weight: 300.7 lbs
Exercise Level: Short walks 1-2 a week. Under 1.5 miles.
Diet: Not good, probably north of 3.5k calories a day

I started to mentally prepare for the changes in my life a bit before I started taking the shot. The doctor's appointment was on a Monday, took till that Thursday to get approvals from everyone to let me get the shot. Researched more and kind of came up with a plan. I am approaching it as a "lifestyle change" instead of a lose weight then maintain. I am also mentally preparing myself for the fact that I may always have to take a form of GLP-1s to continue to see results and not gain any weight back that I have lost.

So far, I'm not sure if it's placebo, or if I am really seeing the effects of the shot, but you really don't get as hungry. Like that first week after a few meals where I overate, I legit felt like I had an entire large pizza and was miserable. It has taken me a bit to mentally tell myself not to get a second plate. I don't need it. I won't be hungry with what I've already had, and that's what I am finding.

Since I am eating less, I am strategizing my meals better to get my "bang for my buck." I am making sure I get plenty of fiber and protein, which ironically is leading to healthier choices. You're going to want to up your fiber to keep regular since everything moves a bit slowly. I am finding that you notice a difference without enough fiber (I know, TMI).

One of the hardest parts of dieting has always been that I am just hungry the entire time, no matter what, unless I just eat an ungodly amount of protein. With this, I find that if I just follow the serving size on the label, I am full. It is a very bizarre feeling I've never had in my life. I'm turning down seconds or can't finish some meals, which is not like me.

Cheating a bit by writing this in week 2, and only 2 shots in. But I wanted to get the ball rolling on some journaling. Plus, figured some early insights may be interesting and help me. Reading the scale this morning, it says I am down 11.7 lbs, which is a lot. But I have gone from 3.5k+ calories a day to under 2k. A very high BMI, so my body is burning a lot. I am probably in a pretty big calorie deficit atm, napkin math says around a 1.5k a day deficit. That first bit is always the most drastic, a bit of a purge. I expect it to level out to 2lbs a week loss. This is also the period where if I hung my hat, I'd gain back those 10lbs next week like nothing happened.

The game plan currently is to get back into daily walks to get a routine going. Once I am comfortable with that, hopefully, I'll get back into lifting weights. We shall see!

My current daily meals look a bit like this:

Breakfast is 60-ish grams of cereal, which was a comical amount to find out is the serving size. Usually a granola type cereal with whole milk

Morning snack is usually a banana or some nuts

Lunch is the night before left overs, protein bar, or snack-ish foods. Sometimes a protein shake, need to make this more regular

Supper is usually a meat, a vegetable, and a carb. Trying my best to keep to 1 plate, or if I go back, only to get half a plate. Depends on what I have for lunch. This is usually when I get the hungriest and largest meal of the day.

And I drink roughly a gallon of water a day, more or less. Throw in a couple of electrolyte packs. Always found a bit more sodium helps at the start of dieting.

Current date: July 8th,2026
Weight: 289 lbs
Exercise Level: About the same, trying more. Short walks 2-3 a week. Under 1.5 miles.
Diet: Mentally counting. Keeping under 2,500 most days
glp-1: 2.5mg doses of Mounjaro, 2 shots taken so far.

Month 2

Current date: July 23rd,2026
Weight: 286.8 lbs
Lost: 13.2 lbs
Exercise Level: lower again.
Diet: Need to tighten up the diet, but am counting around 1,750 calories a day (more on that later)
glp-1: 2.5mg doses of Mounjaro, 5 shots taken so far.

I think the game plan from now on I am going to do a start of the month update and an end of the month update? Any who, today (7/23/2026) is officially right at a month since I've started and a few days short of my first shot.

Start of the month notes

Notes on weight

Well, it has been a month! Feeling pretty good. My weight loss has kind of plateaued, which I am pretty happy about that actually! Keeping that extreme weight loss isn't the goal, but long term loss and keeping it from going up. I'm officially down 13-ish lbs, weigh myself every other day, and it stays within the same 1-2lbs trending down slowly since my last update here, and that's what I want more or less.

It's not trending down as much as I want, I'd like to see closer to 2lbs lost a week. But I haven't been putting as much effort forward as I should, which is also cool because I didn't gain weight in the last 3 weeks like I normally would if I was slacking. I've also lost 13lbs in a month, so I can't complain. Hoping to see 275 this time next month!

Diet

Ehhh it could be better. I am eating less, but I am still not making the best choices I could. But the portions have probably been cut in half. I have started to track my calories with an app on my phone. I'm sure not always exact, as I'll do the math here in a second, but I'm tracking on average 1,300 - 1,800-ish daily. I try to have a protein shake in the mix, and usually two meals, and a light snack. Cereal for breakfast, some pretzels or something similar for lunch, then a protein/carb/vegetable combo for supper. Now sometimes that supper combo is actually just boneless wings in sauce from a restaurant, I am only human after all. But I will say instead of getting a plate of chicken and fries, or a burger, it's 5-10 boneless wings, and that's it.

A bit of an explanation on how calories work for weight loss in case you don't know. I am not a nutritionist, nor claim to be one. But my understanding is that the math works like this. About 3,000 calories is a pound (not exact and other things into play, but yeah), you have to be in a daily deficit to lose weight. Losing weight is mostly done in the kitchen, not the gym. Right now I am:

Eating about 1,800 a day

My body burns about 3,000 just to keep me alive, no exercise on top

On average, on top of that, I burn 790 daily.

So (3,000 + 790) - 1,800 = -1,990. aka, something ain't adding up. I should be losing more weight. There of course is things like water weight, etc, etc. But yeah.

My guess is I am not tracking intake calories as well as I should, so a goal for this month is to do that right to give me a better idea of when I should be full when eating and what's extra. Because I am also still getting used to eating smaller amounts and being full. It just doesn't always feel right or normal to me still.

Exercise

I have walked 15.2mi in the last 30 days as a dedicated "I'm going on a walk", really want that to be closer to 15mi a week again, like it used to be. Still trying to get more active calories burning and just in general go outside for my mental health. I have been slacking again; the weather is nice, and I got to start getting in walks again.

Alcohol

This is one I did not expect. I don't crave drinking like I used to. I do think I have been a smidge bit more irritable since I've cut back, and I still have had a bit. But I can count on one hand and have a finger left over for how many times I've drunk this month. It used to be that I would usually need 2 hands to count how many times I drank in a week. So that has been very very pleasant surprise to keep drinking to social occasions for the first time in probably my life. I'm sure those 4-5 times I did probably play into that calorie math being wrong as well. But I am just human.

But yeah that's the update! May also change the format next month for a recap on how the month went, and then a clearer goal section for next time? Not sure, either way it's nice to keep a journal on it and keep me motivated.