The waiting game is the hardest part!” – Tom Petty
When it comes to health and progress, I know firsthand how waiting can wear you down. The uncertainty and the slow pace, it tests your patience and resolve. I’m Dr. Adrian Blackwell, founder and CEO of PonteVita Rx, and I’ve lived on both sides of the stethoscope, as a doctor and as a patient. Those experiences opened my eyes to how complicated and stressful healthcare can be.
| 🔑 Key takeaways ➤ Waiting is the hardest part, so focus on daily habits. ➤ Weigh yourself the same way each morning. ➤ Ignore short-term ups and downs; watch the trend. ➤ Stay consistent, real change takes time. ➤ Medication helps only with healthy habits. ➤ Learn, adjust, and keep moving forward. |
Uncertainty is certain: The daily reality
A critical and difficult part of the weight loss journey is the scale. You need to weigh yourself every single day and you need to do it in the exact same way. I recommend the first thing every morning, at the same time and in the same way. Then you write the numbers down for that day. Rinse, wash, and repeat every single day.
How do I do it?
- I get up early each day around 5ish.
- I drink one large cup of cold brew.
- I have a big BM.
- I weigh myself in my boxer-briefs only.
The routine is the same. The time I am weighing myself is the same. I write down the numbers each day. This helps minimize other variables that will affect the numbers I am putting into my phone and tracking.
Why consistency matters
Your daily weight will vary a lot. Water weight can move as much as 5 pounds in a single day. Some days I ride my bike in the blazing Florida heat, sit in a hot sauna, or walk on my garage treadmill for 1 to 2 hours and sweat buckets. That will affect water weight. Our family likes to watch movies on Saturday night and I will destroy diet cokes and sparkling water cans by the dozen. If I weigh after a sauna session one day and after guzzling 10 sparkly beverages another night, my weight will be all over the place.
What happens if you keep a chaotic approach?
You will feel like dogwater. Weight loss is hard enough. Then the psychological hit of numbers going up when you are trying to do everything right can knock you flat. You end up saying, “Screw it! I have worked so hard and nothing works!” Then you binge. A week or a month of really hard work disappears in one emotional binge.
The heart of the problem is uncertainty. You ask, “Is this ever going to get better? Is this ever going to work? Will I ever get back to that weight or that waist size?” That uncertainty is insanely difficult to live under while you do all the hard work of healthy living.
Expect the unexpected
So take a different approach. Expect the unexpected. Weight loss is not linear. Look at the chart of 30 days.
The numbers bounce all over the place for a patient with a steady and slow caloric deficit who makes good lifestyle decisions and micro-doses Zepbound. This is real life data.
What stands out in that first-month picture? There is a 5 pound loss after 1 month, but there are 14 days when weight is higher than the day or days prior. The overall trend is down and to the right with consistent lifestyle choices and micro-dosing Zepbound as part of a multi-pronged strategy.
Now march that kind of progress out over a year.
You will still see a lot of fluctuation, but the overall trend down and to the right is what matters.
What should you take away from those pictures?
- First, weight loss is hard. Doing it right is slow going. It is a lot of very hard work, day in and day out.
- Second, the numbers on the scale are data points, nothing more and nothing less. Expect the numbers to go up. Expect chaos. Keep making good and consistent choices and you will continue to trend in the right direction.
What if your trend flatlines after a month? That is data. It is not a psychological or emotional defeat. The data may be telling you to adjust caloric intake, increase activity level, get more rigorous with calorie tracking, look for something you are missing, correct sleep, or optimize or replace hormones. Treat the scale as feedback. Make changes. Move forward.
Can Zepbound carry you if lifestyle never changes?
No.
If you use Zepbound or Ozempic or Wegovy and do not make healthy choices and metabolic optimization a way of life, you will be sorely disappointed. You set yourself up to struggle through cycles of weight loss followed by big weight re-gain, then the emotional and psychological toll that follows. There is the physical and metabolic damage. There are the high financial costs of continued weight loss drugs, books, appointments, and courses. The bottom line is that this must become a way of life. There are no shortcuts or easy fixes. It is a lot of hard work over a lifetime with persistent intentional effort.
I do not say this as a mere observer. This has been me and my story for several decades.
From donuts to discipline
For many years I struggled to stay consistent and be healthy. My work schedule was all over the place. I did nothing to build and maintain muscle. I drank too much beer. I ate too much junk food. I had very poor self control and almost irresistible urges to binge until my stomach would hurt on anything and everything.
Then I watched a documentary on cardiovascular disease and metabolic health. A bolt of lightning hit me. I lunged out of my seat and gasped, “I am going to die.” I ran into the kitchen and told my wife that I had to change. Welcome to my mid-life crisis.
That was 6 to 7 years ago. I started reading every book, consuming every podcast, trying every fad diet, and went down the metabolic health and nutrition rabbit hole. After a year or so I had read 20 to 30 books and listened to hundreds of hours of podcasts. I became a true student of nutrition science. Then something strange happened.
I took my children to a school event. The ever present box of free donuts sat on the table for all to share. For all of my existence something unholy wakes up in me when I go to events with free food. The world’s craziest fat kid comes alive. I obsess over when to get in line, how to load and balance my plate, how to eat fast enough to get back in line first for seconds. Something is seriously wrong with me.
But that day was wildly different.
I walked up to the table. I looked at the box of donuts. A wave of repulsion surged through me. I physically recoiled from the box as if it were a bowl full of angry rattlesnakes. I noticed the reaction. I started observing myself. An internal debate erupted.
Internal fat kid: “What the heck was that? These are free glazed donuts, time to get after it. What is going on?”
Donut phobia man: “That is going to make you sick.”
That thought rang my bell. I stood in front of a table of free food muttering to myself like a psychopath and realized donut phobia man was right. Yeah, that is going to make me sick.
Why the shift? I had been soaking in nutritional metabolic health and physiology. I saw the donut and internal calculations started to fire. Caloric excess. Insulin resistance. Blood glucose spikes. All the content I had been studying now directed my attitude, thoughts, and behavior toward food that had always exerted a voodoo doll level of control over me. I would normally cram donuts until my sides hurt.
That day I did not. I knew I hit a serious turning point in my life. That is what I want for you.
How do you regain control and make this a way of life?
You regain control through simple daily structure, clear feedback loops, and education that changes what you want. Weigh every day in the same way. Log the number. Expect chaos. Look for the trend. If the trend stalls, adjust caloric intake, activity, calorie tracking, sleep, and hormones.
Use micro-dosing Zepbound as one tool inside a multi-pronged strategy that also includes strength training, movement, protein forward nutrition, hydration, stress control, and real rest. You build a system you can repeat when life gets messy.
Final words
The hardest part of weight loss is waiting. Progress feels slow, but steady effort always wins. Daily routines, honest tracking, and small adjustments keep you moving forward. Ignore short-term changes and focus on the long trend.
Stay consistent, learn from the data, and trust your plan. Real results come from patience, structure, and daily discipline.
Author Bio: Dr. Adrian Blackwell is the founder and CEO of PonteVita Rx, a telehealth practice dedicated to making medication access simpler, more affordable, and less stressful. Licensed to practice medicine in all 50 states and DC, Dr. Blackwell is board certified in obesity medicine and emergency medicine. He combines clinical expertise with personal experience navigating the healthcare system as a patient and parent to children with chronic illnesses. His mission: ensure everyone has access to their necessary medications without unnecessary barriers.
Medical Disclaimer: All the information here, on these videos, YouTube, social media, or in any other format, is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your personal physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never replace professional medical advice given to you personally or delay in seeking it because of something you have read or heard on this website. This information is not meant to diagnose, treat, or cure any medical condition. No patient-physician relationship is formed. If you’re my patient, please text me before you make any changes to your medication. If you believe you are having a medical emergency please call 911.