u/MentalEye1955

I am just about to move into maintenance and this adventure isn’t how I wanted to end my weight loss journey (although it is helping me knock off a quick few extra pounds 😏).

I try to eat an early dinner because I have been prone to developing acid reflux on this med. On Saturday, friends brought over a nice dinner to celebrate a birthday. Traffic was terrible and they were delayed. I hadn’t eaten much and had a decent sized serving of a rich casserole, bread and a very small portion of dessert. I think it was more fat than my body could tolerate. I had just injected the day before. I woke up in pain, took gas ex and tums, tried to sleep and ended up on the couch deep breathing and trying to move past the discomfort. I felt like I was going to throw up so I took a Zofran. Once I thought that would have kicked in, I stood up to get Tylenol and realized I needed to vomit. I puked my guts out and felt better for a while but still had pain and excessive fatigue. Mother’s Day wasn’t much fun. Now it is Tuesday. Last night I took Tylenol and Ambien and woke up feeling better but the pain is back, although not quite as bad. I started a course of acid reflux treatment yesterday but it can take four days to work. I am drinking little sips of warm water and eating little bites of banana. My house is a mess and I have to go to work this afternoon.

If the acid reflux medication doesn’t start working by Thursday, I will go to urgent care but I’m assuming they will need to do a bunch of imaging and the pain is mostly near my esophagus so I think my self diagnosis is correct.

Do you struggle with this and what helps?

For those of you who are on maintenance, you stick to achieving a goal weight or just reach a point where you looked and felt good and decided to stop losing?

I have lost about 42 pounds and am at a comfortable weight for my height and build (158, 5’8”). My clothes look good on my, my blood pressure is down and I am no longer prediabetic. I have lost at a carefully slow pace over 7 months and when I plateaued in March, I gave it a month to just adjust to the new weight before increasing my dose.

However, I still have some belly fat I would love to say goodbye to. When I upped my dose, I had a return of unpleasant symptoms. I am a bit sensitive and lost most of the weight at 2mg. I am now at 5mg. Last week I really went off food so extended my time between shots by 3 days to wait for some appetite to come back. When I have trouble eating, my energy suffers so I try not to let that happen. I guess it is all feeling like a bit of a hassle and maybe it is time to call it good.

The reason I am thinking about this is that there are some stressful things going on in my life and it would be easier not to be dealing with side effects. At the same time, I get great joy out of getting dressed every morning and thinking, “I look so good!” 😊

I know there is no secret equation and it is highly personal but I wonder what went into other people’s thought process.

My daughter recently had a harrowing medical emergency. I work three non-contracted nanny gigs and run my own small business. My daughter is medically complex so I can’t swing a formal full time job and my business allows me to work from home part time. This gives me the flexibility for her many appointments. The nanny gigs have developed over time. Because of how part time they are, I never really felt the need for a formal contract. I only work for people I really like and always feel respected and appreciated.

However, the drawback to no contract is no PTO. When my daughter had to be rushed to the hospital, I was at work and a ways away with kiddo who was at soccer practice. I called the mom and asked them to work out transportation home for him and jetted to the hospital in time to meet the ambulance. She was admitted and I stayed inpatient with her. We were there for 12 days. She made it and we are home. I’m off work until Monday which is good because I am exhausted.

No contract, no PTO but tons of good will from my employers. I never say no when I can say yes. I give a lot of thought to how best to support each child and how to positively deal with issues as they come up. I always go the extra mile. I love each child and am proud of their growth and achievements.

Every family paid me for the two weeks I needed to be there for my daughter without being asked. I lost money by not being able to do date night gigs and by losing sales for my small business but it wasn’t disastrous.

In no way am I advocating for non-contracted work, but I am advocating for being choosy about who you work for. I am always so unsettled by the posts where nannies are treated badly. I would not do this work if I were treated that way.

Best wishes to all!

Edited to fix typo