I got my first tattoo today.
Those of you who are familiar with Celtman will know that the symbol I chose is a version of the Celtman 'swirl' logo; it's also an ancient symbol, a Triskelion, with various meanings attributed to it including, appropriately, motion, interconnectedness, and 'past, present, future'. For me though, it has become a little shape that symbolises my reasons why... And not just the short-to-medium-term 'Celtman why', but the long term why. Why I'm taking weight loss jabs to deal with my weight, to try and help reduce the impact of osteoarthritis, to improve my long term health and wellbeing, to increase my Healthspan. Why I'm training, why I'm trying to eat well. Why I get up at 0430 before a 12 hour shift to go out running or lift heavy weights.
A couple of weeks ago I was reading Mark Cavendish's book 'Believe', where he documents his journey through the last couple of seasons of his bike racing career, and that quest for the 35 Tour de France stage wins record. In it, I read these words:
The symbolism of that little red triangle really resonated with me, and the idea of having a small reminder, there every time you look down, stayed with me and just wouldn't go away. And so, the idea of the tattoo was born.
Many people who do Long Distance triathlons have a symbol tattooed as a memento of their achievement. This isn't like that for me. There's no 'look what I did' in it. It is a simple reminder: keep going, do that last interval, get out for that run in the dark or the rain, make the sensible food choice. It will be there every time I look down: unavoidable, always there, just for me.
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This week also marked 100 days since I took my first Wegovy jab, so I thought I would update on progress.
There have been ups and downs, of course, but the general trend has been in the right direction. I'm now on the 3rd level of dose of the drug, 1mg, and losing weight steadily. I've had a few side effects, but nothing worse than in the first couple of months, and really it has been a continuing journey of a similar nature to this post and this post.
Satisfyingly, whilst I've been losing weight, my muscle mass and bone mass have remained the same: testament to the effects of regular strength training and a diet containing plenty of protein.
So some statistics:
On the day of the first jab:
Weight: 87.6kg
Body fat mass: 35.7kg
Muscle mass: 48.5kg
Today:
Weight: 81.6kg
Body fat mass: 29.7kg
Muscle mass: 48.4kg
So that's a 6kg loss, all of which is body fat.
To put that into context, since June 2024 I have lost 12.4kg; 6kg of that has happened in the last 100 days.
I also feel as though my eating habits are changing and adjusting so that I now automatically stop eating when I'm no longer hungry. I've got much better at listening to my body's signals: signals that I had never really experienced before. I will now happily put leftovers in a bowl for later, rather than simply finish everything on my plate. I will pause before choosing to eat something, to decide whether I need it or not. Some of that is the impact of the drugs of course, and some of it is now my brain just having the space and the ability to make more sensible choices.
Wegovy and the other weight loss medication out there gets a lot of bad press, and there is a lot of 'noise' in the media around them. But for me, they are the helping hand I need to improve my long term health & wellbeing; to increase my healthspan. There is still a lot of work required to achieve the weight loss I need to get to a healthy weight, and to allow me to complete Celtman (and other events) in the way I want. But for me, they're making things that previously seemed impossible, feel possible.
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