August 1, 2024 • 49 mins
Ever wondered how childhood trauma and cultural pressures can shape a lifetime of weight struggles? Join me as I share my deeply personal journey from being a chubby kid bullied in school to navigating the high expectations of body image in an Italian and German household. I'll recount the emotional toll of high school teasing and how these early experiences influenced my self-perception. This episode uncovers the emotional and psychological battles that have been a constant in my fight for a healthier lifestyle.
From the joy of marriage to the challenges of divorce, my story continues through the highs and lows of adult life. Imagine finding a plus-size wedding dress in the late nineties when body positivity was barely acknowledged. As I grappled with unhealthy eating habits, the strain of an unfit relationship, and the hurdles of single motherhood, I found myself at a crossroads. Hear about the small victories, the setbacks, and the evolving methods that helped me lose and maintain weight, including the controversial decision to undergo bariatric surgery.
Fast forward to today, where modern tools like Manjaro and Ozempic have become essential in my weight maintenance arsenal. I'll discuss practical tips on balancing protein intake, the benefits of a supportive community, and the science behind these medications. This episode is a heartfelt exploration of the small, daily decisions that lead to long-term success and a celebration of resilience in the face of ongoing challenges. Tune in for an honest, unfiltered look at the realities of weight management and the importance of embracing every tool available without shame.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey everybody, welcome back to Did we Just
Become Best Friends?
And today we are becoming bestfriends with terzapatide and
semiglutide and medications alsoknown as Ozempic and Wegovi,
and Monjaro and Zepbound.
So today I'm going to take youon my weight loss journey.
(00:24):
It's the number one questionthat I get asked all the time
how did I'm going to take you onmy weight loss journey?
It's the number one questionthat I get asked all the time
how did I lose the weight?
What am I doing?
What have I done?
How long did it take me?
And so today I decided wereally need to just get into all
the things, because when peopleask me about my weight loss
journey, what they don't realizeis it's been a lifelong journey
.
It's been a lifelong struggle.
(00:45):
It's been a lifelong battle.
It is one that I don't think Ihave won because I'm on it every
single day childhood trauma,where I grew up as a chubby kid,
where I was bullied in school,how I got super heavy, how I got
(01:08):
married and was fat and happyand then tried to get healthier.
And now, at 51 years old, Ithink I've finally figured out
some of the science and some ofthe tips and tricks that have
helped me to get healthier, andevery day as I try to stay
healthier.
So let's get into it today.
Thank you so much for joiningme on.
Did we Just Become Best Friends?
(01:29):
I am flying solo today to talkabout my weight loss journey.
So we're going to go all theway back and to some of my first
memories of being a chubby kid.
I think I was probably aroundsix years old.
That's probably the earliestmemory that I can recall where I
looked down and my stomach,kind of, was a little chubby,
(01:50):
had a pooch.
And I think back to being alittle kid and looking at
pictures of myself as a toddler.
And I was not a chubby kidInitially.
I was very thin, I was sickly,I had a lot of respiratory
issues when I was born, so I wasnot necessarily a chubby kid.
(02:11):
But then you get into thatwhole mentality of finish your
plate and that's how I grew up.
So I'm from an Italian andGerman family.
So I'm from an Italian andGerman family.
My grandparents on my dad'sside were German and on my mom's
side came from Sicily, camethrough Ellis Island, italian,
(02:32):
and you know, with differentcultures it's eat, drink and be
merry and it's for 100% surewe're not wasting food.
There's people starving inother countries.
Finish the food on your plate.
So that is how I grew up.
In school I was always thechubbier kid.
I was very jovial, I was veryhappy, I was very bubbly, I was
(02:57):
very, you know, cute and fat andchubby.
And you know just a triggerwarning for anybody who you know
can't take some of thatlanguage.
You know we grew up differentthan it is now.
So in the cancel culture whereyou can't say certain things and
it might be taken as fatshaming definitely not trying to
fat shame myself or anybodyelse, but I was considered fat
(03:20):
when I grew up.
So, being a chubby kid, youknow you're cute and chubby.
Until you're not cute, you'rejust chubby.
So basically what happened wasin high school.
I was always had a pretty facebut I was always bigger than my
friends and so when the averagegirl was maybe like a size three
(03:43):
or a size five, I was like a 12or a 14.
So I was considerably andnoticeably bigger than the other
kids in my class.
And in high school I started toget bullied a bit and it got
actually so bad that at onepoint people were sending me
magazine subscriptions to myhouse and they put my last name
(04:07):
as Fats.
So I was Lydia Fats, not LydiaStutzman.
So those are some things,obviously from the childhood
that still sit there, stillresonate, still are in the back
of your mind and although Ithink I've, you know, gotten
over them and conquered them andthey don't, it doesn't bother
me anymore.
At the time it was very hurtful, but you know.
(04:27):
But we grew up in a culturewhere we were used to being
teased and bullied and it wasn'tlike to the point where it was
so severe that I thought oftaking my life.
It wasn't like that.
But you kind of just got usedto it.
You got used to the fact thatthere was mean kids.
There was a couple of kids ingrade school that I knew were
just mean to me and they werefat shamers and it was basically
(04:49):
like you know, we grew up inthis, the time where it was no
fat chicks and bikinis.
Like you, you would never wear abikini if you were fat and if
you didn't have that perfectbody.
So growing up in the eightiescause I was born in 1973.
So growing up in the mid, youknow, to late eighties as a
(05:10):
teenager in middle school andgoing into high school in the
late eighties, um, I would neverhave even thought of showing my
midriff or you know, all thedifferent things that we have
now, where there's a differentculture of body positivity
didn't exist back then.
So I would have never in mywildest dreams ever put on a
bikini.
(05:30):
Fast forward to some yearslater, I was 300 pounds wearing
a bikini, but that is adifferent story.
We'll get into that a littlebit.
So I'm trying.
You know, people ask me wereyou always heavy?
Were you always chubby?
So I would say I was always achubby kid.
And then, going into my earlytwenties, when I was about 24,
25, when I met my firsthusband-to-be, we basically were
(05:54):
both overweight, right, butthen we got together and we were
dating and then we got engagedand then I would just consider
us, you know, the fat and happycouple.
So you start dating, you startgoing out to eat, you start
going out to, you know, eating alot of fast food, and I think a
lot of that actually startedfor me when I started driving,
(06:16):
because I think about my kids.
And when you know they firstget a license and they're
driving and they're on their ownand driving themselves to work.
You know there's nothing thatcan prevent a parent from, you
know, stopping their kid fromgoing through the Taco Bell
drive-thru when they're drivingand they're on their own and
they're making their own money,like you cannot control what
your kids are doing 24 hours aday.
And remember we didn't havecell phones back then, we didn't
(06:38):
have life 360 back then.
Um, I try to think back to mychildhood and it was almost a
scarcity mindset and mentalitywith food.
So I did not grow up in anaffluent household.
I did go to a private school.
My mom sacrificed a lot to keepme in a private Catholic school
(06:58):
but a lot of my friends hadmoney.
So when I would be at myfriend's house all the time, I
remember one of my friends.
Her dad managed a Burger Kingand we just thought that was the
best thing ever because wecould eat Burger King.
You know, fast food and eatingout and going out to dinner was
a luxury in my household.
It wasn't the norm.
It wasn't like the DoorDashculture we live in today and the
(07:20):
Uber Eats culture.
So anyway, I grew up with ahealthy fear that my mom wasn't
going to be able to buygroceries and that I had to make
the lunch meat last all week,and so I think that scarcity
mentality helped me to like hangon to food.
And I also think that whenthere was plenty of food around,
I overindulged because therewas an opportunity to eat
(07:42):
without having a fear that itwas going to run out.
On the flip side of that, whenwe went to holiday gatherings
with family, there was alwaysplenty of food because, being
Italian, you never want to runout of food, so you always made
extra.
So just to give you a littlebackground about my childhood,
all right.
So then I fast forward into mymid twenties.
I got married.
(08:02):
I was very heavy.
I probably went from beingabout 190 pounds all through
high school, which by today'sstandards would be fine.
But back then it wasn't.
When all your friends were 110,115, 120 pounds, accelerating
into the 250, 260, 270 ish.
By the time I got married I wasabout 265 pounds.
(08:24):
I was a plus size.
Looking for a wedding dress anda plus size culture was not
easy back then, because in thelate nineties we didn't have the
body positivity movement.
We didn't have so much to offerthe plus size community.
The fashion for plus sizes wasnot the fashion Nova and she
incurred culture that we live innow.
So I got married.
(08:47):
Both me and my husband wereoverweight.
Within two years of gettingmarried we had our first child
and my daughter was a peanut,naturally thin.
She was not heavy, and whatstrikes me as very odd is
because she'll call herself athicker girl and I say to her
Bella, you are not a thickergirl, you are actually a very
(09:09):
naturally thin person.
So I think back to when shestarted to gain weight and get a
little chubby.
And again, it was right aroundthe cusp of that six-year-old
mark, going into first grade andstarting to eat the school
lunches.
And I think that's where we getlost.
Kids want to eat chickennuggets and macaroni and cheese,
and fast food is so easy topull through the drive-thru.
(09:32):
So anyway, later on in mymarriage, when I was going
through some struggles and I wasvery unhappy, I said I have to
do something about my weight.
So I started to go to the gym.
I joined the gym with myneighbor and I was like
literally the fattest person inthe gym.
And I went into this oneaerobics class one night and
(09:54):
I'll never forget.
I was in like a you know at-shirt and baggy sweatpants and
I looked at myself in themirror in the exercise class and
I was like the biggest personin the class, but at least I was
there right.
So within probably a year or soI lost about 60 or 70 pounds.
I also started to realize Ididn't want to be married
(10:15):
anymore.
I was not in a healthyrelationship anymore with my
husband and I did not want to bein that abusive situation any
longer.
So it's very difficult whenyou're in a marriage and only
one person is trying to gethealthy, because then it puts a
big strain every time you'regoing out to dinner, every time
(10:35):
you're trying to plan a meal oryou're trying to eat healthy,
and they bring home donuts.
So that did put a strain on themarriage as well.
So it's very much easier whenboth parties are on the health
journey together.
But with that said, in 2009, Imade a decision to get separated
.
By 2010, I was divorced and Iwas my lowest weight I had been
(10:56):
in a very long time, which isabout 237 pounds, wearing about
a size I don't know, 16, 18.
I'm not sure.
Somewhere around thatneighborhood I had always been
bigger, was always in like a 24,26, jean, 2x, 3x top, you know,
shopping at Lane Bryant were myonly options, basically.
So fast forward into 2010,.
(11:17):
I got divorced.
I ended up, we ended up sellingour house.
I moved from one county toanother, back home to where I
live now, and then I went into adepression because I was in my
own apartment, I had my two kids, I was a single mom, I was by
myself, I didn't have my gym, Ididn't have my trainer, because
(11:37):
I left the county that I livedin before and I kind of went
into a depression and I juststopped working out.
So I had worked out five to sixdays a week and I counted
calories.
So when people ask me, how doyou do it?
How do you lose weight, my bodyresponds better to being in
what we now call a caloriedeficit and it really wasn't
called that then.
But I would keep an Excelspreadsheet because we didn't
(12:00):
have apps at the time, and Iwould track my calories and I
knew if I was only eating 1800calories a day that I would be
losing weight because obviouslyI was burning so many calories
in the gym.
But I wasn't meticulouslytracking it, but I was counting
my calories, so I would eat myfood, I would come home on the
refrigerator I'd put the I havea magnetic notepad this is again
(12:23):
before the, my fitness pal andall the apps, because we didn't
have the technology of the AppleiPhone at that point when I
first started trying to gethealthy.
Um, the iPhone was very new butwe didn't have all the apps.
So I would take a piece ofpaper on a magnetic pad on the
fridge and I would put 803calories left for the day out of
the 1800 I gave myself orwhatever.
(12:44):
And then I would make surewhatever I ate didn't go over
that and I never accounted forthe calories I was burning,
which is why I think I was sosuccessful.
Now you can track it to thescience and know exactly how to
get yourself into the caloriedeficit.
So anyway, I've very muchalways been eat whatever I want
and calories in versus caloriesout, input versus output right,
but we all know that thecalories and the quality of your
(13:07):
calories do count when it comesto your protein and other
macros.
But I wasn't savvy to any ofthat back then.
I remember after my daughter wasborn in the year 2000,.
The gastric bypass was asurgery that many people were
having and my insurance at workwould cover it.
So I thought very, verystrongly for years about having
(13:30):
bariatric surgery.
And then one of the people thatI worked with had the gastric
bypass and she had complicationsas you passed away and it
scared the crap out of me.
So I was never interested inthe gastric bypass after that,
but I was still very compelledthinking about bariatric surgery
and other bariatric options.
So after my daughter was bornin 2000,.
(13:52):
You know we're talking.
Those thoughts of bariatricsurgery don't go away.
10, 15, 18 years later I'mstill wanting to do something
because I'm not having success.
So after I became the gym ratand had some success and then
had, you know, some good weightloss, I never truly went all the
(14:15):
way and then I started to gainweight and my mom got sick.
So fast forward to 2000 andprobably 2016, 17.
So a series of events happenedand occurred.
I changed jobs, I decided tobecome a teacher.
I completely changed careers.
(14:35):
Just a lot going on, which weall have a lot going on, right.
So that's not an excuse to nottake care of your health, but
the short version is a lot wasgoing on and I started teaching.
I started substitute teaching,fell in love with education and
decided to become a teacher.
So I finished my bachelor'sdegree in 2012.
Started dating somebody newpretty rapidly after my divorce
(14:59):
was final and he's now mycurrent husband.
But while we were in thattransition again dating and
going out to dinner a lot andstuff and not working out as
much and not being in my regularroutine I started to put on
weight.
Then my mom's health started todecline after my dad passed
away.
My dad passed away in March of2016.
(15:19):
And by 2018, I was heavy again.
I lost my mom in June of 2018,and I had scheduled a gastric
sleeve surgery.
So in this whole time, in thiswhole movement from, I would say
, probably 2015 to 2018, losingmy dad and figuring out that I
(15:43):
needed to do something drasticabout my health, I started
researching the gastric sleeve.
I had seen a lot of people hadvery good results.
I actually thought about thelap band at one point but
decided it wasn't right for me.
But then I did somethingridiculous.
So when you're on a bariatricjourney, you have to have a lot
of documentation for theinsurance company.
So, lo and behold, I had tohave six months of diets and
(16:09):
exercise that I had tried.
So of course you know I'vetried them all.
I've been to Jenny Craig, I'vebeen to Weight Watchers, I've
done MyFitnessPal, I've doneevery diet.
There is right, but had I everdone it really with true
integrity and intention andsuccess?
No.
So I got engaged to my boyfriendin 2014 and we were planning
(16:32):
our wedding for 2017.
Lost my dad in 2016.
2017, my mom got really sickand she started having a lot of
health issues and on a fastdecline and just going through a
lot of struggles.
So we ended up getting marriedin 2017.
(16:54):
We flew to Vegas and I alwayshad said I never wanted to be
fat when I was married, right?
So in the process of doing thissix months of diet and exercises
to document for the surgery, Igot the gastric balloon.
Let me tell you something Ifyou're out there listening and
you are considering bariatricsurgery, please do your research
.
That bariatric balloon, Ithought, was going to be a
(17:15):
temporary fix during my sixmonths of diet and exercise to
try to lose weight.
I thought to myself and Iactually went to see a doctor
about the VSG, the verticalsleeve gastrectomy.
So when I went to go have thegastric sleeve, the doctor said,
well, we can do the balloon andI thought if I do the balloon,
(17:37):
then in six months maybe I'llhave had dropped 30 pounds and
then my insurance will approvethe sleeve, and then my
insurance will approve thesleeve.
So I spent $5,000.
It was a very colossal waste ofmoney.
And I got this gastric balloonand all it did was make me sick.
So it's they do an endoscopyand they put the balloon in, and
(17:57):
then they inflate it and thenit's in your stomach and it's
supposed to limit the amount offood and drink that you can
intake and keep you full orlonger.
Well, I was completely sick.
I had nothing but indigestionand I burped all the time.
It was awful.
So the week before I was flyingout to Vegas to get married in
2017, so this was like January2017, I went back to the surgeon
(18:19):
.
I said take it out, take it out.
I can't do it.
I've paid $5,000.
It's been a colossal waste oftime and I've only lost like 13
pounds and I just couldn't do it.
I didn't want to go out toVegas and get married and not be
able to eat and drink and behappy.
So, again, putting food andbeing able to overeat as a
priority, I had the balloontaken out.
(18:42):
Meanwhile, I went for anotherconsultation for another surgeon
.
I had a friend who had thegastric sleeve and lost like 90
pounds and she did amazing and Iwas like who's your surgeon?
I'm going to go see them.
So I went to Dr Shomstein atthe Cleveland clinic and I had a
consultation and I loved hisoffice and I loved his bedside
(19:03):
manner and I said and I lovedhis bedside manner and I said
we're going to do this.
I was very fortunate that my uminsurance covered it.
My husband's insurance coveredit.
So that journey from beinggetting married in 2017 and
going through that hideousgastric balloon, I do not
recommend that.
But you know, you have to makeyour own decisions for your own
body.
But I did not have a goodexperience with that.
(19:24):
It was a colossal waste ofmoney and time and it made me
sick.
So then in 2018, my mom wasprogressed with getting worse
and I said I have to dosomething about my health.
I'm going to have my surgery.
So I scheduled my surgery forJune 19th.
My mom's birthday was the 18thand my mom passed away on June
8th, so I had to reschedule mysurgery.
(19:44):
So I called the lady at theCleveland Clinic Surgical Center
and I said I need to reschedulemy surgery.
I have to have my mom's funeralon the day that I was supposed
to be having the surgery.
And I said I want you toschedule it for July 10th,
because that is my birthday.
And she's like, well, we'realready full.
I said move somebody.
I said that is my day, that ismy gift to myself, it is my
(20:09):
birthday and I want to givemyself the gift of, you know,
this new gift of health.
Because, again, thinking thatthe sleeve, the gastric sleeve,
was going to be the miracle pill, the miracle that I needed to
finally be thin.
And again, you know, the sadthing is we equate being thin
with being successful.
And again, you know, the sadthing is we equate being thin
with being successful.
I remember going to my 10 yearreunion and I was very heavy,
(20:30):
very overweight, and it wasalmost embarrassingly to the
point where I didn't.
I wanted to go but I didn't.
I guess at the time I didn'trealize how big I was.
But when you look back atpictures you realize how big and
unhealthy I was and I thought,if I could just be thin, that's
my success.
It's like, oh, it doesn'tmatter if I'm a lawyer or a
doctor, or I'm a successfulentrepreneur.
(20:51):
If I could be thin, then I'd besuccessful, and I think I felt
that way because I had neverbeen thin, never being a
naturally thin person, neverhaving what felt like success in
being thin and of course, thatwas.
Our culture was all aboutskinny, skinny, skinny.
You had to be a Victoria'ssecret model, you had to be the
(21:12):
sample size, you know, um, thewhole waif model, uh, culture
was how we grew up.
All right.
So, going back to the surgery, Ihad my surgery on July 10th
2018.
It was my birthday.
They sang me happy birthdayinto the OR and it wasn't a
(21:34):
magic pill.
I lost about 67 pounds thefirst year and I have friends
who have lost 120 pounds in thefirst 10 months.
So the results are differentfor everybody.
I tend to be a slow loser.
It takes me a minute to putweight on.
It takes me days and weeks totake it off, and I just am a
(21:55):
slow loser and I don't know if Ihave a slow metabolism.
I don't know.
There's all the excuses you canmake in the world, but I do not
take off weight quickly likesome people do.
So during the first year, I lostabout 60, 70 pounds.
Now you might say that is stillsignificant and yes it is.
But again, remember I had lost70 pounds on my own before.
So at this point I was like Idon't really know what my goal
(22:17):
weight is.
I don't really know what theyou know timeframe is for how I
should be losing this weight andhow much weight I should be
losing.
But I know I'm not anywherenear what I want to be.
So for the first year I lost 67pounds.
The next year I ended up losingprobably about 25 and something
(22:40):
triggered and I and I said Ihave to do something different.
So I was in Cocoa beach onesummer and the keto movement had
started to be very big and Isaid, well, is it possible?
I could be a bariatric patientand be keto?
You know the the high protein,low carb mentality was hot and
heavy in the keto culture.
So I started doing a lot oflike um, eggs and avocado and
(23:05):
berries and things that were fatburning and good for weight
loss, and I made a decision andI did some research.
I was like, what can I do tospark the weight loss?
And I decided that I was goingto set eating times.
So as a teacher, I had a verystrict schedule where I had my
first break around 10.05 andthen I had um.
(23:26):
After school was about 2.30 andthen dinner-ish, so a dinner
around 6, 6.30.
So I said you know what, whatif I set my eating times where
my first break, which is 10 am,is breakfast, because I'm not
eating lunch at 10 am.
So I set eating times for 10, 2, and 6.
And that was really helpful.
(23:47):
And then I would play gameswith myself.
Like you can only drink fluidsin between 10, 2, and 6.
So you eat your breakfast, youwait 30 minutes, because that's
a bariatric thing that we do.
We wait 30 minutes betweeneating and drinking, which is
very helpful.
I recommend everybody do that.
And then I started doing theeating times and it really
helped me because I wouldhydrate in between.
So I was more hydrated drinkingmy crystal light or my water or
(24:10):
whatever I was drinking.
So my morning routine was coffee, my iced coffee, my breakfast
at 10, my lunch around two,dinner around 6, 6.30.
And it seemed to work reallywell.
And in the next two years Iactually lost 25 pounds per year
.
So what you think you'reaveraging?
Half a pound a week.
(24:30):
People want a quick fix.
They're like I don't want toonly lose half a pound a week.
Okay, half a pound a weekequates to 25 pounds a year
times two years in a row.
By the time I had been at my newjob because I transferred from
working in a middle school to ahigh school.
I had started working at thishigh school and I was 254 pounds
(24:51):
and then by the time the coupleof years passed, I was in the
100s again.
So I got down to my lowestweight that I'd ever been and I
finally found Wonderland.
And I'll never forget the daythat I was 199 pounds on the
scale and I was just so excited,right.
But again, the journey is neverdone because that is too close
(25:12):
for comfort.
Then you're still close to 200and you're like, oh, I have to
do better.
So at that point I set my firstgoal would be one 90, and I got
to 188 pounds and I stayedwithin that range for a good
chunk of the year, again had VSGin 2018.
So by 2022, I had hoveredbetween that 188 to 193 pounds.
(25:41):
And the summer came and Istarted kind of regaining some
weight and I went on a cruise.
It was my first cruise in 17years.
My girlfriend took me for mybirthday and I went on a cruise
and I came back and I was 206pounds, and I'm not an excessive
eater or drinker because mystomach is small.
I didn't stretch out my stomach.
(26:02):
My stomach is still small.
I can still tell you that Ifeel it when I overeat.
And I was like, oh my God, if Idon't get this under control,
I'm going to have to go in for arevision.
And I told myself, if I evergot to that point where I
regained the weight and I had togo in for a revision, I would.
So come back from the cruise.
(26:23):
I'm 206 pounds by Halloween.
So come back from the cruise.
I'm 206 pounds by Halloween,I'm 213 pounds, and I am
miserable.
Because what I realized was, ifI didn't get this under control,
I would fail, and my worst fearwas being a percentage of the
population that failed afterhaving bariatric surgery.
I did not want to be theunsuccessful outcome.
(26:44):
I wanted to be the anomaly.
I wanted to be the challengingoutcome.
I want it to be the anomaly.
I want it to be the the thechallenging the odds and beating
the odds population that keptthe weight off and didn't regain
it.
And I had friends that hadgastric bypass that regained all
the weight and then some.
And I said how could this be?
When your stomach is the sizeof a thumb?
How is it possible that thiscould happen to you?
Well, even with a small stomach, that this could happen to you?
(27:08):
Well, even with a small stomach, you could overeat.
So I always use the examplethat I could eat something small
once an hour.
I could take a dozen KrispyKreme donuts and I could eat one
an hour for a 12 hour day andit would be very unhealthy and
it would be about 3,600 caloriesfor the day and I would gain
weight.
So it is possible, and I didn'twant to be that person.
I was horrified at the thoughtof failure after having the
(27:31):
bariatric surgery.
So what I did was I startedresearching different things I
could do differently to shakethings up.
And then I had seen a post ofsomebody in a bariatric
community that I followed onInstagram and she posted a
picture of her Manjaro pen and Iwas like what is this?
(27:54):
And I'll never forget it Cause,like her, her caption said, I'm
not sure how we got here, but Inow need an adjunct tool for my
weight loss journey.
The surgery wasn't enough.
I need something else.
So when we when we talk aboutthe gastric sleeve, we talk
about it as being a tool and youstill have to put in the work.
(28:16):
Right, it's a tool in yourtoolbox, but you still need
other tools.
You need other resources, youneed other things.
You have to do.
It's not magic.
So I saw her post and it hit meand I was like, oh my God, if
this lady has to use an adjunctmethod to help her lose weight,
maybe it could work for me andmaybe I need it.
Then I started talking to afriend of mine who was going to
(28:38):
have the gastric sleeve and shewent to her doctor and her
doctor said there's newmedications on the market that
are helping people with diabetesand some of the side effects
are weight loss.
Why don't you try that instead?
And if you still don't havesuccess, then you'll have the
surgery.
And she was doing great.
So I went to the doctor.
(28:59):
I actually went to her doctorFunny, because it was really
close to my house and I was like, okay, this is great, I needed
a new doctor anyway.
And I talked to the nursepractitioner and I said, I'm
very unhappy.
I was 188 pounds at my lowestand now I'm almost a year later
to 13.
It's no good.
(29:19):
I'm you know.
It's too close for comfort forme to 13,.
Another five pounds would be218.
Another five pounds would be223.
Next thing you know, you're 230.
Next thing you know, you're 235.
Next thing you know you're 240and it snowballs and I'll be 300
pounds again.
And at my heaviest weight I was314 pounds.
The day I had my gastric sleevesurgery I was 301 pounds.
I'm not proud of that, but it iswho I was.
(29:40):
So I can't be ashamed.
I'm not going to be ashamedanymore.
I'm not going to have guilt andshame.
I wasn't a morbidly obeseperson and when I decided to
take charge of my health as mybirthday gift to myself after
losing my parents young, Idecided that's it.
You know, 73 was too young tolose my dad.
He was mentally there and hewanted to still be active and do
(30:02):
all the things and he loved tobe out and about and my mom
hated to be stuck in the houseand depressed.
So losing my mom at 77 and mydad at 73, it's too young for me
.
I want to live, to be a hundred.
I want to live to be a hundredand terrorize my kids.
So, anyway, talk to the doctorand we started the Manjaro,
(30:24):
which, for those of you whodon't know, the Manjaro is
terzapatide.
There are two weight loss drugsout on the market and they have
different branded names, butthe terzapatide is.
I'm going to actually pull itup so I can give you good
information here.
It's an anti-diabeticmedication used for the
(30:45):
treatment of type 2 diabetes,okay, and for weight loss, so it
is what they call a GLPmedicine.
So originally I was on Monjaroand Monjaro is trisepatide, so
you might've heard of Ozempicand Wagovi, that is, semiglutide
(31:08):
.
Manjaro and Zepbound are isterzepatide.
Okay, and it's.
They call it a twin creation,all right.
So on November 1st I'll neverforget I went I went on
Halloween to the doctor and Iwas 213 pounds.
So on November 1st I startedMonjaro.
Now Monjaro is a medicine thatis used for type two diabetes,
(31:31):
but it also has good sideeffects of weight loss.
Anybody who has type twodiabetes and I used to work for
a company that sold diabetictesting supplies Anybody who has
type two diabetes.
They say you have to monitoryour diet and exercise and get
some weight off because yourinsulin receptors are stretched
out when you're overweight.
Okay, so the weight loss is anatural um you know benefit
(31:53):
that's going to help you withbeing able to process your
glucose.
So terzapatide is theingredient that is in Manjaro
and now Zepbound.
Manjaro is the drug that isapproved for people with
diabetes.
Zepbound is a branded name ofthe same terzepatide.
For people who don't havediabetes, like me, I've never
(32:13):
had diabetes, even when I was300 pounds, I had beautiful labs
.
So terzepatide targets theglucogen-like peptide 1 receptor
and the glucose-dependentencylotropic polypeptide
receptor to stimulate weightloss.
So the GLP and the GLP-1receptors.
(32:34):
It's a twin creation.
It targets both.
Okay, semiglutide, theingredient that's in Ozempic and
Wagovi, only targets one oftheir receptors.
So when you talk about what'sthe difference between the
(32:56):
medications, now terzapatide, ithelps because it targets both
receptors.
So the GIP and the GLP-1.
The semiglutide only targetsone.
So I am not a physician, I amnot giving you medical advice, I
(33:16):
am not an expert, but what I'mtelling you is the terzapatide
is a twin creation.
It treats both of the hormonereceptors in the brain that help
you to control hunger, and thenthe semaglutide only targets
the one.
So if I had to choose.
For my own personal self, Iwould say the terzapatide is
better.
Now, with that said, in NovemberNovember 1st I started taking
(33:40):
Monjaro and I had great results.
I was not sick, I had no nausea, no side effects.
I had a great result with itand by January I was down 25
pounds at least.
And I had a great, great result.
Unfortunately, my insurancedecided you're not diabetic, you
don't need Monjaro, and theycanceled me off of having that
(34:02):
medication in January of 2023.
So now I was like, oh my God,what am I going to do?
So then I talked to my doctorand we started to do the
semiglutide, which again onlytargets the one receptor.
It's not the better of themedications in my opinion, but I
was like, if my insurance willcover the Wagovi, which Wagovi
(34:26):
is approved for the weight loss?
The Manjaro was only approvedfor diabetes and the weight loss
was a side effect.
So Wagovi and Ozempic same drug, semaglutide were approved for
weight loss.
So FDA approved for weight lossversus only FDA approved to
treat diabetes.
So when you're dealing withinsurance companies and
(34:47):
diagnosis codes, you know theywanted me to have a diagnosis
code of diabetes, which I neverhad.
The Wagovi was approved forweight loss.
So we went on that instead.
So then again, it's a path.
You know it's.
Every four weeks you increaseyour dosage and you're on a
six-month path taking thesemedications.
So I was about I don't have theexact numbers, but probably
(35:12):
ended 2023 around back in the180s for sure and I said to
myself, okay, now that I'm backto my lowest weight, what's my
goal?
So I put my next goal at 175,blew past that and was around
169.
Again, up and down within acouple pound fluctuation.
(35:36):
You have the holidays, things,not drinking your water properly
, but for the most part, I'm onmy medicine, I stick to it, and
I got all the way up to the topof the Wigovi, which was the 2.4
.
(35:58):
So back in the fall of 2023, theZepBound, finally I believe it
was fall of 2023.
It could have been spring 2024.
But the ZepBound finally cameavailable as FDA approved for
weight loss.
So Monjaro and ZepBound are theexact same medicine.
They are terzepatide, the twincreation.
They are the ones that I prefer.
However, I don't have diabetes,so I don't get Monjaro, I get
(36:19):
ZepBound.
So I talked to my doctor aboutgoing back on the Zepbound now
that the insurance would coverit because it is now FDA
approved for weight loss, sothere's a diabetes version and a
weight loss version.
They are the same drug.
There's a lot of confusion too,because if you are not
overweight enough and you can'tget it, or your insurance
(36:41):
doesn't pay for it overweightenough and you can't get it, or
your insurance doesn't pay forit a lot of the pharmacies and
doctors and med spas are doing acompounded version.
I have the brand, which is aninjectable pen.
It is from the manufacturerdirect.
You can get a compoundedversion from the pharmacy
through your doctor that youinject in a vial.
(37:02):
I personally am very thankfulthat my insurance covers it and
I'm staying on the brand name.
Today it's July 2024.
I've been back on the ZepFoundfor several months now.
I'm at a 7.5.
You start out every four weeksyou increase.
(37:22):
So I was at a 2.5, then a 5,then a 7.5, then a 10, and then
it goes to 12 and 15, even, Ithink Right now.
Today I think I screwed up.
Okay, today I am actually onstill the ZepBound 10, 10
milligrams pen pound 10, 10milligrams pen.
(37:47):
So it's like the fourth levelbecause it's 2.55, 7.5, 10.
So I'm on the 10.
And I stand today at the timeof this recording I was 165
pounds on the scale.
I usually fluctuate between 163to 165 pounds.
So again, what am I doing?
I am taking a GLP-1 GIPmedication that helps me manage
(38:12):
my brain, because you can makemy stomach as small as possible,
but it doesn't treat the brain.
You can tell somebody tillthey're blue in the face.
If I can do it, so can you.
That is garbage.
You can tell somebody eat less,move more, okay.
But when your brain says Icrave, I want, I'm hungry, I
(38:33):
need, I have to have, it's hardto manage.
So what this medication doesfor me is it takes the hunger
away.
So if I'm not hungry, I'm notthinking about food.
Normally, and again, with my seteating times, I stay on track.
I have my iced coffee in themorning.
I put a protein shake in it, soI'm getting 30 grams of protein
(38:56):
first thing in the morning.
By 10 am I'm eating my cottagecheese and fruit, or my
overnight oats or whatever I'mmaking with my protein powder.
Am I'm eating my cottage cheeseand fruit or my overnight oats
or whatever I'm making with myprotein powder.
By two o'clock I'm eatingusually a sandwich or some kind
of salad or whatever I want.
Or a burger, but I'm eatinghalf.
And then by dinnertime I'meating whatever I want, but I
eat very little and themedication makes you kind of
(39:18):
like sick of your food after afew bites.
So then you're like, oh, I'mdone, I've had enough.
It makes you feel full, itmakes you feel satisfied and it
takes those cravings away.
What I can tell you is I lovesweets and I still eat chocolate
every single day.
I don't deprive myself, butthat's my mentality, kind of the
Weight Watchers mentality,where it's like you could eat
(39:38):
whatever you want, but withinyour points budget.
I eat whatever I want within mycalorie budget, but right now
I'm not really tracking calories.
For the first two years aftermy bariatric surgery, I did my
fitness pal.
I was meticulous, I tracked mycalories, I tracked my protein,
my carbs and my fat macros.
(39:59):
I don't want to do it anymore.
I don't want to track fatmacros.
I don't want to do it anymore.
I don't want to track.
However, I am getting to anothermilestone in my life.
So I'm getting ready to starttracking protein grams again,
because really all I care aboutis protein and I follow this one
influencer who had the samesurgery as me and I love the
fact that she just countsprotein.
I think it's great because it'ssimple.
(40:20):
I don't feel overwhelmed.
You have to do what works bestfor you, but she just counts
protein.
Obviously, the higher proteinis not going to be filled with a
lot of garbage for the mostpart.
But you could eat a 40-gramprotein bar that still has some
sugar and still has some carbsand still has higher calories
(40:42):
because it's got 40 grams ofprotein.
But you could also drink aprotein shake for 30 grams of
protein that has 160 calories.
So it's all about what you like, what you prefer.
What's going to help you besuccessful and what helps me
stay on track and be successfulis allowing myself to eat a
Hershey's chocolate bar everyday, and that's what I do,
because I love chocolate and I'mnot giving it up.
And at the point that I decideI'm going to give it up, and
(41:04):
that's a different story, butright now I'm not ready and I
love chocolate, so I have itevery day and I don't feel
deprived, and I think that'swhat helps to keep me successful
is, I don't deprive myself.
Now, with that said, I don'tdrink a lot of alcohol.
I'm not a big drinker, so a lotof my friends that are sauced
up on the wine every night andthen complaining they can't lose
weight.
Well, that's part of yourproblem, um, people who are
(41:28):
constantly buying their coffeeout every day and not putting
good quality stuff in theircoffee.
I drink a cold brew and I dumpa premier protein shake in it
every day, and I know that I'mstarting my day with 30 grams of
protein and that, to me, is agreat attribute to my success.
Starting to move my body moreand try to get activity in has
been very helpful.
The one regret I have is notworking out and lifting weights
(41:52):
more.
So, as I wrap up, I'm going totell you that there's no magic
pill.
The surgery was a very drasticand needed step for me because I
was morbidly obese and mydoctor said I was going to take
10, 15, 20, 25 years off my lifeif I didn't do something about
my weight.
And I'm trying to do whatever Ican to control to be healthy.
(42:13):
I can't control what happens tome out there.
If I get hit in a car accident,that's not my fault, but I can
control, trying to at least notbe morbidly obese.
It's a lifelong struggle.
It's a daily battle, everysingle day.
I think about every meal, whatI'm putting in my mouth, and
it's just hard, it's hard, it'shard.
(42:34):
I don't know anybody who'sskinny, who isn't hungry.
I don't know anybody who isn'tin the best shape of their life,
that doesn't work hard for itand sacrifice for it and spend,
isn't in the best shape of theirlife, that doesn't work hard
for it and sacrifice for it andspend those hours in the gym.
So I think it's all about whatyou want to do for yourself.
But when people ask me, how didI do it?
I'm very transparent.
I had bariatric surgery.
(42:54):
It's not a magic pill.
You still have to do the work.
I ended up needing an adjunctmethod to help me with my
journey, so I take weight lossmedication.
Prior to that, I had triedContrave.
That was very, very, veryhelpful.
Prior to that, I did ephetamine, but it speeds you up and I
didn't like how it made my heartfeel and I don't want to have
(43:16):
heart attacks.
So obviously I'm not sayingit's unsafe medication.
It's not.
It was very effective for me,but it's not something I can
stay on long-term because I tendto have higher blood pressure
issues when I'm on it.
So the only tip I can give youis just take it one day at a
time.
Everybody wants a quick fix andeverybody says, oh, but how long
(43:37):
did it take you?
Did you lose the weight fast?
Everybody wants to lose theweight fast.
You don't want to lose theweight fast, you want to lose it
forever.
So get out of that weight lossfast mentality and let's lose it
forever.
I know this weight that I'velost I'm never putting back on,
because I'm never going to allowmyself, because I will do
(43:57):
anything I have to to continuethis journey to be healthy.
And if it means I take a weightloss medication, so be it.
If I had cancer, I would treatmy cancer.
If I had diabetes, I wouldtreat my diabetes.
If I had a skin disease, Iwould take medication for that.
There's no reason in this worldto suffer with obesity and not
(44:20):
treat this disease.
So whatever I have to do, I'mgoing to do, and that's how I
feel about it.
I also feel it's reallyimportant to put good quality
food in your body.
So I'm trying to like reallyget rid of the fast food and
limit that, like when I lostweight previously.
I love a McDonald'scheeseburger and I would have a
McDonald's cheeseburger a coupleof times a week.
300 calories.
(44:41):
I was a calorie counter but Iknow that it's not the best
choice for my body to eat fastfood.
So I love to make my ownburgers in the air fryer and
I'll make chicken burgers orturkey burgers or beef burgers
and I will air fry them andthey're just delicious, you know
.
But it's so great to have theworld of social media and all
(45:03):
the influencers that are showingyou how to have these amazing
meals for 500 calories or lesswith 30 to 40 grams of protein.
And then you've got like theketo snacks guy and he shows you
how to make low carb this andcottage cheese that, and there's
so many ways to infuse theprotein and have things that
taste good, that are a littlehealthier for you, and I think
you just have to do what worksfor you.
(45:25):
But if staying on a caloriebudget and incorporating fast
food because you're on the go isthe way you need to do it, just
do it.
You can always improve thequality of your calories later.
I don't eat a lot of fruit.
I love fruit, but nutritionallyI need the protein more.
But I do, every now and then,like to have a little fruit and
(45:48):
I try to keep it in berries andfat burning fruits, you know, um
, but I love to vacation, I loveto reward myself.
Um.
So, wrapping it up, I'm in thefinal stage of my journey.
I think the journey never endsbecause it's a daily struggle,
but in December I'm having myloose skin removal surgery, I'm
(46:09):
having my tummy tuck, having abreast lift, and I'm very
excited for my mommy makeoverbecause it's been a long time
coming.
I had my surgery six years ago.
I think it's well-deserved toget rid of this extra loose skin
that's standing in my way andI'm very much looking forward to
that.
It's going to be a difficultrecovery, but I'm excited about
(46:30):
it and I just want to thank youso much for listening.
I am not a weight loss expert.
I am not a coach.
I've never wanted to be a coachor weight loss influencer on
Instagram.
The only thing I wanted to dowith this episode was share my
story, because people ask me howdid you do it?
How do you do it, how do youstay fit, how do you keep the
(46:51):
weight off?
And how I do.
It is simple.
Every meal, I try to incorporateprotein, try to get my water in
and I just try to not overeatand it's difficult, but these
medications help.
They work.
They've worked very well for me.
I'm very blessed and I'mthankful and I just want to
(47:13):
thank you for listening.
So share this episode withsomebody who's struggling and is
curious about the weight lossmedications.
There are amazing bariatriccommunities out there if you
decide that you want support.
But I can tell you that if youare over 300 pounds or you are
morbidly obese, the gastricsleeve, I believe, did save my
(47:35):
life and now I'm putting in thework to continue to keep that
journey going and keep healthy.
So thank you so much forlistening to.
Did we Just Become Best Friends?
So today my best friend isTerzepetide and I am so happy to
be on the journey and my finalthought is don't shame people
(47:56):
for being on Ozempic or Wagobeor Manjaro or Zepon.
Don't shame people.
People should be on whateverthey need to be to be healthy,
no matter what.
It's about health and makinggood decisions one meal at a
time.
So I hope you have an amazingrest of your day.
Thanks for tuning in.
(48:16):
Thanks for listening.
I'll see you next time.
Hey everybody, welcome back to Did we Just
Become Best Friends?
And today we are becoming bestfriends with terzapatide and
semiglutide and medications alsoknown as Ozempic and Wegovi,
and Monjaro and Zepbound.
So today I'm going to take youon my weight loss journey.
(00:24):
It's the number one questionthat I get asked all the time
how did I'm going to take you onmy weight loss journey?
It's the number one questionthat I get asked all the time
how did I lose the weight?
What am I doing?
What have I done?
How long did it take me?
And so today I decided wereally need to just get into all
the things, because when peopleask me about my weight loss
journey, what they don't realizeis it's been a lifelong journey
.
It's been a lifelong struggle.
(00:45):
It's been a lifelong battle.
It is one that I don't think Ihave won because I'm on it every
single day childhood trauma,where I grew up as a chubby kid,
where I was bullied in school,how I got super heavy, how I got
(01:08):
married and was fat and happyand then tried to get healthier.
And now, at 51 years old, Ithink I've finally figured out
some of the science and some ofthe tips and tricks that have
helped me to get healthier, andevery day as I try to stay
healthier.
So let's get into it today.
Thank you so much for joiningme on.
Did we Just Become Best Friends?
(01:29):
I am flying solo today to talkabout my weight loss journey.
So we're going to go all theway back and to some of my first
memories of being a chubby kid.
I think I was probably aroundsix years old.
That's probably the earliestmemory that I can recall where I
looked down and my stomach,kind of, was a little chubby,
(01:50):
had a pooch.
And I think back to being alittle kid and looking at
pictures of myself as a toddler.
And I was not a chubby kidInitially.
I was very thin, I was sickly,I had a lot of respiratory
issues when I was born, so I wasnot necessarily a chubby kid.
(02:11):
But then you get into thatwhole mentality of finish your
plate and that's how I grew up.
So I'm from an Italian andGerman family.
So I'm from an Italian andGerman family.
My grandparents on my dad'sside were German and on my mom's
side came from Sicily, camethrough Ellis Island, italian,
(02:32):
and you know, with differentcultures it's eat, drink and be
merry and it's for 100% surewe're not wasting food.
There's people starving inother countries.
Finish the food on your plate.
So that is how I grew up.
In school I was always thechubbier kid.
I was very jovial, I was veryhappy, I was very bubbly, I was
(02:57):
very, you know, cute and fat andchubby.
And you know just a triggerwarning for anybody who you know
can't take some of thatlanguage.
You know we grew up differentthan it is now.
So in the cancel culture whereyou can't say certain things and
it might be taken as fatshaming definitely not trying to
fat shame myself or anybodyelse, but I was considered fat
(03:20):
when I grew up.
So, being a chubby kid, youknow you're cute and chubby.
Until you're not cute, you'rejust chubby.
So basically what happened wasin high school.
I was always had a pretty facebut I was always bigger than my
friends and so when the averagegirl was maybe like a size three
(03:43):
or a size five, I was like a 12or a 14.
So I was considerably andnoticeably bigger than the other
kids in my class.
And in high school I started toget bullied a bit and it got
actually so bad that at onepoint people were sending me
magazine subscriptions to myhouse and they put my last name
(04:07):
as Fats.
So I was Lydia Fats, not LydiaStutzman.
So those are some things,obviously from the childhood
that still sit there, stillresonate, still are in the back
of your mind and although Ithink I've, you know, gotten
over them and conquered them andthey don't, it doesn't bother
me anymore.
At the time it was very hurtful, but you know.
(04:27):
But we grew up in a culturewhere we were used to being
teased and bullied and it wasn'tlike to the point where it was
so severe that I thought oftaking my life.
It wasn't like that.
But you kind of just got usedto it.
You got used to the fact thatthere was mean kids.
There was a couple of kids ingrade school that I knew were
just mean to me and they werefat shamers and it was basically
(04:49):
like you know, we grew up inthis, the time where it was no
fat chicks and bikinis.
Like you, you would never wear abikini if you were fat and if
you didn't have that perfectbody.
So growing up in the eightiescause I was born in 1973.
So growing up in the mid, youknow, to late eighties as a
(05:10):
teenager in middle school andgoing into high school in the
late eighties, um, I would neverhave even thought of showing my
midriff or you know, all thedifferent things that we have
now, where there's a differentculture of body positivity
didn't exist back then.
So I would have never in mywildest dreams ever put on a
bikini.
(05:30):
Fast forward to some yearslater, I was 300 pounds wearing
a bikini, but that is adifferent story.
We'll get into that a littlebit.
So I'm trying.
You know, people ask me wereyou always heavy?
Were you always chubby?
So I would say I was always achubby kid.
And then, going into my earlytwenties, when I was about 24,
25, when I met my firsthusband-to-be, we basically were
(05:54):
both overweight, right, butthen we got together and we were
dating and then we got engagedand then I would just consider
us, you know, the fat and happycouple.
So you start dating, you startgoing out to eat, you start
going out to, you know, eating alot of fast food, and I think a
lot of that actually startedfor me when I started driving,
(06:16):
because I think about my kids.
And when you know they firstget a license and they're
driving and they're on their ownand driving themselves to work.
You know there's nothing thatcan prevent a parent from, you
know, stopping their kid fromgoing through the Taco Bell
drive-thru when they're drivingand they're on their own and
they're making their own money,like you cannot control what
your kids are doing 24 hours aday.
And remember we didn't havecell phones back then, we didn't
(06:38):
have life 360 back then.
Um, I try to think back to mychildhood and it was almost a
scarcity mindset and mentalitywith food.
So I did not grow up in anaffluent household.
I did go to a private school.
My mom sacrificed a lot to keepme in a private Catholic school
(06:58):
but a lot of my friends hadmoney.
So when I would be at myfriend's house all the time, I
remember one of my friends.
Her dad managed a Burger Kingand we just thought that was the
best thing ever because wecould eat Burger King.
You know, fast food and eatingout and going out to dinner was
a luxury in my household.
It wasn't the norm.
It wasn't like the DoorDashculture we live in today and the
(07:20):
Uber Eats culture.
So anyway, I grew up with ahealthy fear that my mom wasn't
going to be able to buygroceries and that I had to make
the lunch meat last all week,and so I think that scarcity
mentality helped me to like hangon to food.
And I also think that whenthere was plenty of food around,
I overindulged because therewas an opportunity to eat
(07:42):
without having a fear that itwas going to run out.
On the flip side of that, whenwe went to holiday gatherings
with family, there was alwaysplenty of food because, being
Italian, you never want to runout of food, so you always made
extra.
So just to give you a littlebackground about my childhood,
all right.
So then I fast forward into mymid twenties.
I got married.
(08:02):
I was very heavy.
I probably went from beingabout 190 pounds all through
high school, which by today'sstandards would be fine.
But back then it wasn't.
When all your friends were 110,115, 120 pounds, accelerating
into the 250, 260, 270 ish.
By the time I got married I wasabout 265 pounds.
(08:24):
I was a plus size.
Looking for a wedding dress anda plus size culture was not
easy back then, because in thelate nineties we didn't have the
body positivity movement.
We didn't have so much to offerthe plus size community.
The fashion for plus sizes wasnot the fashion Nova and she
incurred culture that we live innow.
So I got married.
(08:47):
Both me and my husband wereoverweight.
Within two years of gettingmarried we had our first child
and my daughter was a peanut,naturally thin.
She was not heavy, and whatstrikes me as very odd is
because she'll call herself athicker girl and I say to her
Bella, you are not a thickergirl, you are actually a very
(09:09):
naturally thin person.
So I think back to when shestarted to gain weight and get a
little chubby.
And again, it was right aroundthe cusp of that six-year-old
mark, going into first grade andstarting to eat the school
lunches.
And I think that's where we getlost.
Kids want to eat chickennuggets and macaroni and cheese,
and fast food is so easy topull through the drive-thru.
(09:32):
So anyway, later on in mymarriage, when I was going
through some struggles and I wasvery unhappy, I said I have to
do something about my weight.
So I started to go to the gym.
I joined the gym with myneighbor and I was like
literally the fattest person inthe gym.
And I went into this oneaerobics class one night and
(09:54):
I'll never forget.
I was in like a you know at-shirt and baggy sweatpants and
I looked at myself in themirror in the exercise class and
I was like the biggest personin the class, but at least I was
there right.
So within probably a year or soI lost about 60 or 70 pounds.
I also started to realize Ididn't want to be married
(10:15):
anymore.
I was not in a healthyrelationship anymore with my
husband and I did not want to bein that abusive situation any
longer.
So it's very difficult whenyou're in a marriage and only
one person is trying to gethealthy, because then it puts a
big strain every time you'regoing out to dinner, every time
(10:35):
you're trying to plan a meal oryou're trying to eat healthy,
and they bring home donuts.
So that did put a strain on themarriage as well.
So it's very much easier whenboth parties are on the health
journey together.
But with that said, in 2009, Imade a decision to get separated
.
By 2010, I was divorced and Iwas my lowest weight I had been
(10:56):
in a very long time, which isabout 237 pounds, wearing about
a size I don't know, 16, 18.
I'm not sure.
Somewhere around thatneighborhood I had always been
bigger, was always in like a 24,26, jean, 2x, 3x top, you know,
shopping at Lane Bryant were myonly options, basically.
So fast forward into 2010,.
(11:17):
I got divorced.
I ended up, we ended up sellingour house.
I moved from one county toanother, back home to where I
live now, and then I went into adepression because I was in my
own apartment, I had my two kids, I was a single mom, I was by
myself, I didn't have my gym, Ididn't have my trainer, because
(11:37):
I left the county that I livedin before and I kind of went
into a depression and I juststopped working out.
So I had worked out five to sixdays a week and I counted
calories.
So when people ask me, how doyou do it?
How do you lose weight, my bodyresponds better to being in
what we now call a caloriedeficit and it really wasn't
called that then.
But I would keep an Excelspreadsheet because we didn't
(12:00):
have apps at the time, and Iwould track my calories and I
knew if I was only eating 1800calories a day that I would be
losing weight because obviouslyI was burning so many calories
in the gym.
But I wasn't meticulouslytracking it, but I was counting
my calories, so I would eat myfood, I would come home on the
refrigerator I'd put the I havea magnetic notepad this is again
(12:23):
before the, my fitness pal andall the apps, because we didn't
have the technology of the AppleiPhone at that point when I
first started trying to gethealthy.
Um, the iPhone was very new butwe didn't have all the apps.
So I would take a piece ofpaper on a magnetic pad on the
fridge and I would put 803calories left for the day out of
the 1800 I gave myself orwhatever.
(12:44):
And then I would make surewhatever I ate didn't go over
that and I never accounted forthe calories I was burning,
which is why I think I was sosuccessful.
Now you can track it to thescience and know exactly how to
get yourself into the caloriedeficit.
So anyway, I've very muchalways been eat whatever I want
and calories in versus caloriesout, input versus output right,
but we all know that thecalories and the quality of your
(13:07):
calories do count when it comesto your protein and other
macros.
But I wasn't savvy to any ofthat back then.
I remember after my daughter wasborn in the year 2000,.
The gastric bypass was asurgery that many people were
having and my insurance at workwould cover it.
So I thought very, verystrongly for years about having
(13:30):
bariatric surgery.
And then one of the people thatI worked with had the gastric
bypass and she had complicationsas you passed away and it
scared the crap out of me.
So I was never interested inthe gastric bypass after that,
but I was still very compelledthinking about bariatric surgery
and other bariatric options.
So after my daughter was bornin 2000,.
(13:52):
You know we're talking.
Those thoughts of bariatricsurgery don't go away.
10, 15, 18 years later I'mstill wanting to do something
because I'm not having success.
So after I became the gym ratand had some success and then
had, you know, some good weightloss, I never truly went all the
(14:15):
way and then I started to gainweight and my mom got sick.
So fast forward to 2000 andprobably 2016, 17.
So a series of events happenedand occurred.
I changed jobs, I decided tobecome a teacher.
I completely changed careers.
(14:35):
Just a lot going on, which weall have a lot going on, right.
So that's not an excuse to nottake care of your health, but
the short version is a lot wasgoing on and I started teaching.
I started substitute teaching,fell in love with education and
decided to become a teacher.
So I finished my bachelor'sdegree in 2012.
Started dating somebody newpretty rapidly after my divorce
(14:59):
was final and he's now mycurrent husband.
But while we were in thattransition again dating and
going out to dinner a lot andstuff and not working out as
much and not being in my regularroutine I started to put on
weight.
Then my mom's health started todecline after my dad passed
away.
My dad passed away in March of2016.
(15:19):
And by 2018, I was heavy again.
I lost my mom in June of 2018,and I had scheduled a gastric
sleeve surgery.
So in this whole time, in thiswhole movement from, I would say
, probably 2015 to 2018, losingmy dad and figuring out that I
(15:43):
needed to do something drasticabout my health, I started
researching the gastric sleeve.
I had seen a lot of people hadvery good results.
I actually thought about thelap band at one point but
decided it wasn't right for me.
But then I did somethingridiculous.
So when you're on a bariatricjourney, you have to have a lot
of documentation for theinsurance company.
So, lo and behold, I had tohave six months of diets and
(16:09):
exercise that I had tried.
So of course you know I'vetried them all.
I've been to Jenny Craig, I'vebeen to Weight Watchers, I've
done MyFitnessPal, I've doneevery diet.
There is right, but had I everdone it really with true
integrity and intention andsuccess?
No.
So I got engaged to my boyfriendin 2014 and we were planning
(16:32):
our wedding for 2017.
Lost my dad in 2016.
2017, my mom got really sickand she started having a lot of
health issues and on a fastdecline and just going through a
lot of struggles.
So we ended up getting marriedin 2017.
(16:54):
We flew to Vegas and I alwayshad said I never wanted to be
fat when I was married, right?
So in the process of doing thissix months of diet and exercises
to document for the surgery, Igot the gastric balloon.
Let me tell you something Ifyou're out there listening and
you are considering bariatricsurgery, please do your research
.
That bariatric balloon, Ithought, was going to be a
(17:15):
temporary fix during my sixmonths of diet and exercise to
try to lose weight.
I thought to myself and Iactually went to see a doctor
about the VSG, the verticalsleeve gastrectomy.
So when I went to go have thegastric sleeve, the doctor said,
well, we can do the balloon andI thought if I do the balloon,
(17:37):
then in six months maybe I'llhave had dropped 30 pounds and
then my insurance will approvethe sleeve, and then my
insurance will approve thesleeve.
So I spent $5,000.
It was a very colossal waste ofmoney.
And I got this gastric balloonand all it did was make me sick.
So it's they do an endoscopyand they put the balloon in, and
(17:57):
then they inflate it and thenit's in your stomach and it's
supposed to limit the amount offood and drink that you can
intake and keep you full orlonger.
Well, I was completely sick.
I had nothing but indigestionand I burped all the time.
It was awful.
So the week before I was flyingout to Vegas to get married in
2017, so this was like January2017, I went back to the surgeon
(18:19):
.
I said take it out, take it out.
I can't do it.
I've paid $5,000.
It's been a colossal waste oftime and I've only lost like 13
pounds and I just couldn't do it.
I didn't want to go out toVegas and get married and not be
able to eat and drink and behappy.
So, again, putting food andbeing able to overeat as a
priority, I had the balloontaken out.
(18:42):
Meanwhile, I went for anotherconsultation for another surgeon
.
I had a friend who had thegastric sleeve and lost like 90
pounds and she did amazing and Iwas like who's your surgeon?
I'm going to go see them.
So I went to Dr Shomstein atthe Cleveland clinic and I had a
consultation and I loved hisoffice and I loved his bedside
(19:03):
manner and I said and I lovedhis bedside manner and I said
we're going to do this.
I was very fortunate that my uminsurance covered it.
My husband's insurance coveredit.
So that journey from beinggetting married in 2017 and
going through that hideousgastric balloon, I do not
recommend that.
But you know, you have to makeyour own decisions for your own
body.
But I did not have a goodexperience with that.
(19:24):
It was a colossal waste ofmoney and time and it made me
sick.
So then in 2018, my mom wasprogressed with getting worse
and I said I have to dosomething about my health.
I'm going to have my surgery.
So I scheduled my surgery forJune 19th.
My mom's birthday was the 18thand my mom passed away on June
8th, so I had to reschedule mysurgery.
(19:44):
So I called the lady at theCleveland Clinic Surgical Center
and I said I need to reschedulemy surgery.
I have to have my mom's funeralon the day that I was supposed
to be having the surgery.
And I said I want you toschedule it for July 10th,
because that is my birthday.
And she's like, well, we'realready full.
I said move somebody.
I said that is my day, that ismy gift to myself, it is my
(20:09):
birthday and I want to givemyself the gift of, you know,
this new gift of health.
Because, again, thinking thatthe sleeve, the gastric sleeve,
was going to be the miracle pill, the miracle that I needed to
finally be thin.
And again, you know, the sadthing is we equate being thin
with being successful.
And again, you know, the sadthing is we equate being thin
with being successful.
I remember going to my 10 yearreunion and I was very heavy,
(20:30):
very overweight, and it wasalmost embarrassingly to the
point where I didn't.
I wanted to go but I didn't.
I guess at the time I didn'trealize how big I was.
But when you look back atpictures you realize how big and
unhealthy I was and I thought,if I could just be thin, that's
my success.
It's like, oh, it doesn'tmatter if I'm a lawyer or a
doctor, or I'm a successfulentrepreneur.
(20:51):
If I could be thin, then I'd besuccessful, and I think I felt
that way because I had neverbeen thin, never being a
naturally thin person, neverhaving what felt like success in
being thin and of course, thatwas.
Our culture was all aboutskinny, skinny, skinny.
You had to be a Victoria'ssecret model, you had to be the
(21:12):
sample size, you know, um, thewhole waif model, uh, culture
was how we grew up.
All right.
So, going back to the surgery, Ihad my surgery on July 10th
2018.
It was my birthday.
They sang me happy birthdayinto the OR and it wasn't a
(21:34):
magic pill.
I lost about 67 pounds thefirst year and I have friends
who have lost 120 pounds in thefirst 10 months.
So the results are differentfor everybody.
I tend to be a slow loser.
It takes me a minute to putweight on.
It takes me days and weeks totake it off, and I just am a
(21:55):
slow loser and I don't know if Ihave a slow metabolism.
I don't know.
There's all the excuses you canmake in the world, but I do not
take off weight quickly likesome people do.
So during the first year, I lostabout 60, 70 pounds.
Now you might say that is stillsignificant and yes it is.
But again, remember I had lost70 pounds on my own before.
So at this point I was like Idon't really know what my goal
(22:17):
weight is.
I don't really know what theyou know timeframe is for how I
should be losing this weight andhow much weight I should be
losing.
But I know I'm not anywherenear what I want to be.
So for the first year I lost 67pounds.
The next year I ended up losingprobably about 25 and something
(22:40):
triggered and I and I said Ihave to do something different.
So I was in Cocoa beach onesummer and the keto movement had
started to be very big and Isaid, well, is it possible?
I could be a bariatric patientand be keto?
You know the the high protein,low carb mentality was hot and
heavy in the keto culture.
So I started doing a lot oflike um, eggs and avocado and
(23:05):
berries and things that were fatburning and good for weight
loss, and I made a decision andI did some research.
I was like, what can I do tospark the weight loss?
And I decided that I was goingto set eating times.
So as a teacher, I had a verystrict schedule where I had my
first break around 10.05 andthen I had um.
(23:26):
After school was about 2.30 andthen dinner-ish, so a dinner
around 6, 6.30.
So I said you know what, whatif I set my eating times where
my first break, which is 10 am,is breakfast, because I'm not
eating lunch at 10 am.
So I set eating times for 10, 2, and 6.
And that was really helpful.
(23:47):
And then I would play gameswith myself.
Like you can only drink fluidsin between 10, 2, and 6.
So you eat your breakfast, youwait 30 minutes, because that's
a bariatric thing that we do.
We wait 30 minutes betweeneating and drinking, which is
very helpful.
I recommend everybody do that.
And then I started doing theeating times and it really
helped me because I wouldhydrate in between.
So I was more hydrated drinkingmy crystal light or my water or
(24:10):
whatever I was drinking.
So my morning routine was coffee, my iced coffee, my breakfast
at 10, my lunch around two,dinner around 6, 6.30.
And it seemed to work reallywell.
And in the next two years Iactually lost 25 pounds per year
.
So what you think you'reaveraging?
Half a pound a week.
(24:30):
People want a quick fix.
They're like I don't want toonly lose half a pound a week.
Okay, half a pound a weekequates to 25 pounds a year
times two years in a row.
By the time I had been at my newjob because I transferred from
working in a middle school to ahigh school.
I had started working at thishigh school and I was 254 pounds
(24:51):
and then by the time the coupleof years passed, I was in the
100s again.
So I got down to my lowestweight that I'd ever been and I
finally found Wonderland.
And I'll never forget the daythat I was 199 pounds on the
scale and I was just so excited,right.
But again, the journey is neverdone because that is too close
(25:12):
for comfort.
Then you're still close to 200and you're like, oh, I have to
do better.
So at that point I set my firstgoal would be one 90, and I got
to 188 pounds and I stayedwithin that range for a good
chunk of the year, again had VSGin 2018.
So by 2022, I had hoveredbetween that 188 to 193 pounds.
(25:41):
And the summer came and Istarted kind of regaining some
weight and I went on a cruise.
It was my first cruise in 17years.
My girlfriend took me for mybirthday and I went on a cruise
and I came back and I was 206pounds, and I'm not an excessive
eater or drinker because mystomach is small.
I didn't stretch out my stomach.
(26:02):
My stomach is still small.
I can still tell you that Ifeel it when I overeat.
And I was like, oh my God, if Idon't get this under control,
I'm going to have to go in for arevision.
And I told myself, if I evergot to that point where I
regained the weight and I had togo in for a revision, I would.
So come back from the cruise.
(26:23):
I'm 206 pounds by Halloween.
So come back from the cruise.
I'm 206 pounds by Halloween,I'm 213 pounds, and I am
miserable.
Because what I realized was, ifI didn't get this under control,
I would fail, and my worst fearwas being a percentage of the
population that failed afterhaving bariatric surgery.
I did not want to be theunsuccessful outcome.
(26:44):
I wanted to be the anomaly.
I wanted to be the challengingoutcome.
I want it to be the anomaly.
I want it to be the the thechallenging the odds and beating
the odds population that keptthe weight off and didn't regain
it.
And I had friends that hadgastric bypass that regained all
the weight and then some.
And I said how could this be?
When your stomach is the sizeof a thumb?
How is it possible that thiscould happen to you?
Well, even with a small stomach, that this could happen to you?
(27:08):
Well, even with a small stomach, you could overeat.
So I always use the examplethat I could eat something small
once an hour.
I could take a dozen KrispyKreme donuts and I could eat one
an hour for a 12 hour day andit would be very unhealthy and
it would be about 3,600 caloriesfor the day and I would gain
weight.
So it is possible, and I didn'twant to be that person.
I was horrified at the thoughtof failure after having the
(27:31):
bariatric surgery.
So what I did was I startedresearching different things I
could do differently to shakethings up.
And then I had seen a post ofsomebody in a bariatric
community that I followed onInstagram and she posted a
picture of her Manjaro pen and Iwas like what is this?
(27:54):
And I'll never forget it Cause,like her, her caption said, I'm
not sure how we got here, but Inow need an adjunct tool for my
weight loss journey.
The surgery wasn't enough.
I need something else.
So when we when we talk aboutthe gastric sleeve, we talk
about it as being a tool and youstill have to put in the work.
(28:16):
Right, it's a tool in yourtoolbox, but you still need
other tools.
You need other resources, youneed other things.
You have to do.
It's not magic.
So I saw her post and it hit meand I was like, oh my God, if
this lady has to use an adjunctmethod to help her lose weight,
maybe it could work for me andmaybe I need it.
Then I started talking to afriend of mine who was going to
(28:38):
have the gastric sleeve and shewent to her doctor and her
doctor said there's newmedications on the market that
are helping people with diabetesand some of the side effects
are weight loss.
Why don't you try that instead?
And if you still don't havesuccess, then you'll have the
surgery.
And she was doing great.
So I went to the doctor.
(28:59):
I actually went to her doctorFunny, because it was really
close to my house and I was like, okay, this is great, I needed
a new doctor anyway.
And I talked to the nursepractitioner and I said, I'm
very unhappy.
I was 188 pounds at my lowestand now I'm almost a year later
to 13.
It's no good.
(29:19):
I'm you know.
It's too close for comfort forme to 13,.
Another five pounds would be218.
Another five pounds would be223.
Next thing you know, you're 230.
Next thing you know, you're 235.
Next thing you know you're 240and it snowballs and I'll be 300
pounds again.
And at my heaviest weight I was314 pounds.
The day I had my gastric sleevesurgery I was 301 pounds.
I'm not proud of that, but it iswho I was.
(29:40):
So I can't be ashamed.
I'm not going to be ashamedanymore.
I'm not going to have guilt andshame.
I wasn't a morbidly obeseperson and when I decided to
take charge of my health as mybirthday gift to myself after
losing my parents young, Idecided that's it.
You know, 73 was too young tolose my dad.
He was mentally there and hewanted to still be active and do
(30:02):
all the things and he loved tobe out and about and my mom
hated to be stuck in the houseand depressed.
So losing my mom at 77 and mydad at 73, it's too young for me
.
I want to live, to be a hundred.
I want to live to be a hundredand terrorize my kids.
So, anyway, talk to the doctorand we started the Manjaro,
(30:24):
which, for those of you whodon't know, the Manjaro is
terzapatide.
There are two weight loss drugsout on the market and they have
different branded names, butthe terzapatide is.
I'm going to actually pull itup so I can give you good
information here.
It's an anti-diabeticmedication used for the
(30:45):
treatment of type 2 diabetes,okay, and for weight loss, so it
is what they call a GLPmedicine.
So originally I was on Monjaroand Monjaro is trisepatide, so
you might've heard of Ozempicand Wagovi, that is, semiglutide
(31:08):
.
Manjaro and Zepbound are isterzepatide.
Okay, and it's.
They call it a twin creation,all right.
So on November 1st I'll neverforget I went I went on
Halloween to the doctor and Iwas 213 pounds.
So on November 1st I startedMonjaro.
Now Monjaro is a medicine thatis used for type two diabetes,
(31:31):
but it also has good sideeffects of weight loss.
Anybody who has type twodiabetes and I used to work for
a company that sold diabetictesting supplies Anybody who has
type two diabetes.
They say you have to monitoryour diet and exercise and get
some weight off because yourinsulin receptors are stretched
out when you're overweight.
Okay, so the weight loss is anatural um you know benefit
(31:53):
that's going to help you withbeing able to process your
glucose.
So terzapatide is theingredient that is in Manjaro
and now Zepbound.
Manjaro is the drug that isapproved for people with
diabetes.
Zepbound is a branded name ofthe same terzepatide.
For people who don't havediabetes, like me, I've never
(32:13):
had diabetes, even when I was300 pounds, I had beautiful labs
.
So terzepatide targets theglucogen-like peptide 1 receptor
and the glucose-dependentencylotropic polypeptide
receptor to stimulate weightloss.
So the GLP and the GLP-1receptors.
(32:34):
It's a twin creation.
It targets both.
Okay, semiglutide, theingredient that's in Ozempic and
Wagovi, only targets one oftheir receptors.
So when you talk about what'sthe difference between the
(32:56):
medications, now terzapatide, ithelps because it targets both
receptors.
So the GIP and the GLP-1.
The semiglutide only targetsone.
So I am not a physician, I amnot giving you medical advice, I
(33:16):
am not an expert, but what I'mtelling you is the terzapatide
is a twin creation.
It treats both of the hormonereceptors in the brain that help
you to control hunger, and thenthe semaglutide only targets
the one.
So if I had to choose.
For my own personal self, Iwould say the terzapatide is
better.
Now, with that said, in NovemberNovember 1st I started taking
(33:40):
Monjaro and I had great results.
I was not sick, I had no nausea, no side effects.
I had a great result with itand by January I was down 25
pounds at least.
And I had a great, great result.
Unfortunately, my insurancedecided you're not diabetic, you
don't need Monjaro, and theycanceled me off of having that
(34:02):
medication in January of 2023.
So now I was like, oh my God,what am I going to do?
So then I talked to my doctorand we started to do the
semiglutide, which again onlytargets the one receptor.
It's not the better of themedications in my opinion, but I
was like, if my insurance willcover the Wagovi, which Wagovi
(34:26):
is approved for the weight loss?
The Manjaro was only approvedfor diabetes and the weight loss
was a side effect.
So Wagovi and Ozempic same drug, semaglutide were approved for
weight loss.
So FDA approved for weight lossversus only FDA approved to
treat diabetes.
So when you're dealing withinsurance companies and
(34:47):
diagnosis codes, you know theywanted me to have a diagnosis
code of diabetes, which I neverhad.
The Wagovi was approved forweight loss.
So we went on that instead.
So then again, it's a path.
You know it's.
Every four weeks you increaseyour dosage and you're on a
six-month path taking thesemedications.
So I was about I don't have theexact numbers, but probably
(35:12):
ended 2023 around back in the180s for sure and I said to
myself, okay, now that I'm backto my lowest weight, what's my
goal?
So I put my next goal at 175,blew past that and was around
169.
Again, up and down within acouple pound fluctuation.
(35:36):
You have the holidays, things,not drinking your water properly
, but for the most part, I'm onmy medicine, I stick to it, and
I got all the way up to the topof the Wigovi, which was the 2.4
.
(35:58):
So back in the fall of 2023, theZepBound, finally I believe it
was fall of 2023.
It could have been spring 2024.
But the ZepBound finally cameavailable as FDA approved for
weight loss.
So Monjaro and ZepBound are theexact same medicine.
They are terzepatide, the twincreation.
They are the ones that I prefer.
However, I don't have diabetes,so I don't get Monjaro, I get
(36:19):
ZepBound.
So I talked to my doctor aboutgoing back on the Zepbound now
that the insurance would coverit because it is now FDA
approved for weight loss, sothere's a diabetes version and a
weight loss version.
They are the same drug.
There's a lot of confusion too,because if you are not
overweight enough and you can'tget it, or your insurance
(36:41):
doesn't pay for it overweightenough and you can't get it, or
your insurance doesn't pay forit a lot of the pharmacies and
doctors and med spas are doing acompounded version.
I have the brand, which is aninjectable pen.
It is from the manufacturerdirect.
You can get a compoundedversion from the pharmacy
through your doctor that youinject in a vial.
(37:02):
I personally am very thankfulthat my insurance covers it and
I'm staying on the brand name.
Today it's July 2024.
I've been back on the ZepFoundfor several months now.
I'm at a 7.5.
You start out every four weeksyou increase.
(37:22):
So I was at a 2.5, then a 5,then a 7.5, then a 10, and then
it goes to 12 and 15, even, Ithink Right now.
Today I think I screwed up.
Okay, today I am actually onstill the ZepBound 10, 10
milligrams pen pound 10, 10milligrams pen.
(37:47):
So it's like the fourth levelbecause it's 2.55, 7.5, 10.
So I'm on the 10.
And I stand today at the timeof this recording I was 165
pounds on the scale.
I usually fluctuate between 163to 165 pounds.
So again, what am I doing?
I am taking a GLP-1 GIPmedication that helps me manage
(38:12):
my brain, because you can makemy stomach as small as possible,
but it doesn't treat the brain.
You can tell somebody tillthey're blue in the face.
If I can do it, so can you.
That is garbage.
You can tell somebody eat less,move more, okay.
But when your brain says Icrave, I want, I'm hungry, I
(38:33):
need, I have to have, it's hardto manage.
So what this medication doesfor me is it takes the hunger
away.
So if I'm not hungry, I'm notthinking about food.
Normally, and again, with my seteating times, I stay on track.
I have my iced coffee in themorning.
I put a protein shake in it, soI'm getting 30 grams of protein
(38:56):
first thing in the morning.
By 10 am I'm eating my cottagecheese and fruit, or my
overnight oats or whatever I'mmaking with my protein powder.
Am I'm eating my cottage cheeseand fruit or my overnight oats
or whatever I'm making with myprotein powder.
By two o'clock I'm eatingusually a sandwich or some kind
of salad or whatever I want.
Or a burger, but I'm eatinghalf.
And then by dinnertime I'meating whatever I want, but I
eat very little and themedication makes you kind of
(39:18):
like sick of your food after afew bites.
So then you're like, oh, I'mdone, I've had enough.
It makes you feel full, itmakes you feel satisfied and it
takes those cravings away.
What I can tell you is I lovesweets and I still eat chocolate
every single day.
I don't deprive myself, butthat's my mentality, kind of the
Weight Watchers mentality,where it's like you could eat
(39:38):
whatever you want, but withinyour points budget.
I eat whatever I want within mycalorie budget, but right now
I'm not really tracking calories.
For the first two years aftermy bariatric surgery, I did my
fitness pal.
I was meticulous, I tracked mycalories, I tracked my protein,
my carbs and my fat macros.
(39:59):
I don't want to do it anymore.
I don't want to track fatmacros.
I don't want to do it anymore.
I don't want to track.
However, I am getting to anothermilestone in my life.
So I'm getting ready to starttracking protein grams again,
because really all I care aboutis protein and I follow this one
influencer who had the samesurgery as me and I love the
fact that she just countsprotein.
I think it's great because it'ssimple.
(40:20):
I don't feel overwhelmed.
You have to do what works bestfor you, but she just counts
protein.
Obviously, the higher proteinis not going to be filled with a
lot of garbage for the mostpart.
But you could eat a 40-gramprotein bar that still has some
sugar and still has some carbsand still has higher calories
(40:42):
because it's got 40 grams ofprotein.
But you could also drink aprotein shake for 30 grams of
protein that has 160 calories.
So it's all about what you like, what you prefer.
What's going to help you besuccessful and what helps me
stay on track and be successfulis allowing myself to eat a
Hershey's chocolate bar everyday, and that's what I do,
because I love chocolate and I'mnot giving it up.
And at the point that I decideI'm going to give it up, and
(41:04):
that's a different story, butright now I'm not ready and I
love chocolate, so I have itevery day and I don't feel
deprived, and I think that'swhat helps to keep me successful
is, I don't deprive myself.
Now, with that said, I don'tdrink a lot of alcohol.
I'm not a big drinker, so a lotof my friends that are sauced
up on the wine every night andthen complaining they can't lose
weight.
Well, that's part of yourproblem, um, people who are
(41:28):
constantly buying their coffeeout every day and not putting
good quality stuff in theircoffee.
I drink a cold brew and I dumpa premier protein shake in it
every day, and I know that I'mstarting my day with 30 grams of
protein and that, to me, is agreat attribute to my success.
Starting to move my body moreand try to get activity in has
been very helpful.
The one regret I have is notworking out and lifting weights
(41:52):
more.
So, as I wrap up, I'm going totell you that there's no magic
pill.
The surgery was a very drasticand needed step for me because I
was morbidly obese and mydoctor said I was going to take
10, 15, 20, 25 years off my lifeif I didn't do something about
my weight.
And I'm trying to do whatever Ican to control to be healthy.
(42:13):
I can't control what happens tome out there.
If I get hit in a car accident,that's not my fault, but I can
control, trying to at least notbe morbidly obese.
It's a lifelong struggle.
It's a daily battle, everysingle day.
I think about every meal, whatI'm putting in my mouth, and
it's just hard, it's hard, it'shard.
(42:34):
I don't know anybody who'sskinny, who isn't hungry.
I don't know anybody who isn'tin the best shape of their life,
that doesn't work hard for itand sacrifice for it and spend,
isn't in the best shape of theirlife, that doesn't work hard
for it and sacrifice for it andspend those hours in the gym.
So I think it's all about whatyou want to do for yourself.
But when people ask me, how didI do it?
I'm very transparent.
I had bariatric surgery.
(42:54):
It's not a magic pill.
You still have to do the work.
I ended up needing an adjunctmethod to help me with my
journey, so I take weight lossmedication.
Prior to that, I had triedContrave.
That was very, very, veryhelpful.
Prior to that, I did ephetamine, but it speeds you up and I
didn't like how it made my heartfeel and I don't want to have
(43:16):
heart attacks.
So obviously I'm not sayingit's unsafe medication.
It's not.
It was very effective for me,but it's not something I can
stay on long-term because I tendto have higher blood pressure
issues when I'm on it.
So the only tip I can give youis just take it one day at a
time.
Everybody wants a quick fix andeverybody says, oh, but how long
(43:37):
did it take you?
Did you lose the weight fast?
Everybody wants to lose theweight fast.
You don't want to lose theweight fast, you want to lose it
forever.
So get out of that weight lossfast mentality and let's lose it
forever.
I know this weight that I'velost I'm never putting back on,
because I'm never going to allowmyself, because I will do
(43:57):
anything I have to to continuethis journey to be healthy.
And if it means I take a weightloss medication, so be it.
If I had cancer, I would treatmy cancer.
If I had diabetes, I wouldtreat my diabetes.
If I had a skin disease, Iwould take medication for that.
There's no reason in this worldto suffer with obesity and not
(44:20):
treat this disease.
So whatever I have to do, I'mgoing to do, and that's how I
feel about it.
I also feel it's reallyimportant to put good quality
food in your body.
So I'm trying to like reallyget rid of the fast food and
limit that, like when I lostweight previously.
I love a McDonald'scheeseburger and I would have a
McDonald's cheeseburger a coupleof times a week.
300 calories.
(44:41):
I was a calorie counter but Iknow that it's not the best
choice for my body to eat fastfood.
So I love to make my ownburgers in the air fryer and
I'll make chicken burgers orturkey burgers or beef burgers
and I will air fry them andthey're just delicious, you know
.
But it's so great to have theworld of social media and all
(45:03):
the influencers that are showingyou how to have these amazing
meals for 500 calories or lesswith 30 to 40 grams of protein.
And then you've got like theketo snacks guy and he shows you
how to make low carb this andcottage cheese that, and there's
so many ways to infuse theprotein and have things that
taste good, that are a littlehealthier for you, and I think
you just have to do what worksfor you.
(45:25):
But if staying on a caloriebudget and incorporating fast
food because you're on the go isthe way you need to do it, just
do it.
You can always improve thequality of your calories later.
I don't eat a lot of fruit.
I love fruit, but nutritionallyI need the protein more.
But I do, every now and then,like to have a little fruit and
(45:48):
I try to keep it in berries andfat burning fruits, you know, um
, but I love to vacation, I loveto reward myself.
Um.
So, wrapping it up, I'm in thefinal stage of my journey.
I think the journey never endsbecause it's a daily struggle,
but in December I'm having myloose skin removal surgery, I'm
(46:09):
having my tummy tuck, having abreast lift, and I'm very
excited for my mommy makeoverbecause it's been a long time
coming.
I had my surgery six years ago.
I think it's well-deserved toget rid of this extra loose skin
that's standing in my way andI'm very much looking forward to
that.
It's going to be a difficultrecovery, but I'm excited about
(46:30):
it and I just want to thank youso much for listening.
I am not a weight loss expert.
I am not a coach.
I've never wanted to be a coachor weight loss influencer on
Instagram.
The only thing I wanted to dowith this episode was share my
story, because people ask me howdid you do it?
How do you do it, how do youstay fit, how do you keep the
(46:51):
weight off?
And how I do.
It is simple.
Every meal, I try to incorporateprotein, try to get my water in
and I just try to not overeatand it's difficult, but these
medications help.
They work.
They've worked very well for me.
I'm very blessed and I'mthankful and I just want to
(47:13):
thank you for listening.
So share this episode withsomebody who's struggling and is
curious about the weight lossmedications.
There are amazing bariatriccommunities out there if you
decide that you want support.
But I can tell you that if youare over 300 pounds or you are
morbidly obese, the gastricsleeve, I believe, did save my
(47:35):
life and now I'm putting in thework to continue to keep that
journey going and keep healthy.
So thank you so much forlistening to.
Did we Just Become Best Friends?
So today my best friend isTerzepetide and I am so happy to
be on the journey and my finalthought is don't shame people
(47:56):
for being on Ozempic or Wagobeor Manjaro or Zepon.
Don't shame people.
People should be on whateverthey need to be to be healthy,
no matter what.
It's about health and makinggood decisions one meal at a
time.
So I hope you have an amazingrest of your day.
Thanks for tuning in.
(48:16):
Thanks for listening.
I'll see you next time.
Popular Podcasts
Cold Case Files: Miami
Joyce Sapp, 76; Bryan Herrera, 16; and Laurance Webb, 32—three Miami residents whose lives were stolen in brutal, unsolved homicides.  Cold Case Files: Miami follows award‑winning radio host and City of Miami Police reserve officer  Enrique Santos as he partners with the department’s Cold Case Homicide Unit, determined family members, and the advocates who spend their lives fighting for justice for the victims who can no longer fight for themselves.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.