April 3, 2025 • 35 mins
Send Naihomy encouraging words!đź’•
The Ozempic trend deserves more scrutiny as it's being prescribed like candy without proper education on sustainable weight management. This medication has legitimate uses but requires lifestyle changes to maintain results—high protein intake and strength training are essential to prevent muscle loss during rapid weight reduction.
• The weight loss industry preys on insecurities, creating endless cycles of dieting without teaching sustainable habits
• Looking skinny doesn't guarantee feeling healthy—these are two separate factors that often get conflated
• Sustainable weight loss is slow—around half a percent of body fat per month when done properly
• "Microwave culture" creates unrealistic expectations for quick transformations without consistent work
• Coming off weight loss medications without lifestyle changes leads to rapid weight regain, often as fat rather than muscle
• Rapid weight loss without proper nutrition can lead to nutrient deficiencies and muscle loss
• Comparing yourself to your younger body is unfair and unproductive—focus on current season of life
• A holistic approach includes food, exercise, stress management, and sleep—not just one intervention
If you want to learn the foundational work of sustainable nutrition, join my Sugar Mama small group intensive program starting April 23rd. We'll focus on understanding food groups, managing sugar intake, and eating intentionally without restriction. Only six spots remain, so message me for details or book a consultation call.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What up friends?
Welcome back to another episodeof Wealthy Generation Podcast.
That's W-E-L-L-T-H-Y.
If you hear the sound isdifferent this time around, it's
because I am recording from myliving room on my couch on my
(00:21):
phone.
I really want to get thisepisode out to you guys and I
was just craving comfort todaybecause I've been working from
here and I was like I don't wantto move everything to my desk
where my mic is and all that.
So there's a lot more space inmy living room, no sounding
(00:41):
boards, so it might be a littleechoey, but bear with me because
the topic you're going to wantto listen to it is something I
spoke about on Instagram about aweek ago and it's been getting
a lot of attention, not publicly, because a lot of y'all are shy
and won't comment on it, butyou have been reaching out to me
(01:04):
privately about the impact thatreel had and it was my reel on
Ozempic and I just wanted totalk a little bit more about it
here because I did all of twominute reel on Instagram and I
just wanted to talk a little bitmore about it because it is
(01:27):
definitely a hot topic right now.
It is the trendy thing and whatI was talking about in the reel
is, if you've been consideringit, things to think about,
because I've had a lot of myfriends reach out to me asking
me what my thoughts are about it, because they are curious,
(01:50):
because a bunch of their friendsare on it or family members or
a medical professional, like adoctor, has offered it to them
because of whatever concernsthat they're having.
So this is 100% not medicaladvice, right?
This is my opinion, this is howI see it and my thoughts on it,
(02:15):
based on the knowledge ofhealth and wellness and
nutrition that I have as acertified integrative nutrition
health coach, and also based onthe experiences that have been
shared with me from people whohave been on this kind of
medication and what I hear othermedical professionals mention,
(02:39):
talk about, suggest on thismedication.
Okay, so that's where my POV iscoming from and my thoughts are
coming from.
So it is being handed out likekind of candy.
It is the new trendy thing, butit's something I think that
deserves respect.
(02:59):
As with anything else,especially a prescribed
medication, with anything else,especially a prescribed
medication, it does have 100%its needs and its uses.
There are people who benefithighly from it, who need this
kind of medication.
The thing is that it's beinghanded out to a lot of people
who might not need it at themoment, need it at the moment
(03:29):
and people are not properlybeing prepared and set up for
success if they do decide to goon this medication, or a lot of
other factors or, let's say,stages of life are not being
taken into consideration.
I just want to give an exampleof when this has also happened,
and it's when women, especiallyin perimenopause, are prescribed
(03:50):
antidepressants and a lot ofwomen go to the doctor and
they're like oh, my energy'sdifferent, I'm down, I have no
motivation, and a lot of timeswomen just get gaslit and
they're like oh, it's becauseyou're getting older, which
there's an asterisk to thatright, because with
perimenopause you are gettingolder, but it's purely blamed on
(04:13):
age and not the physical,biological, natural symptoms or
changes that are happening inthe body.
And they all say things like oh, it's because you have a lot of
stress, you are in a stressfultime in your life.
You're probably taking care ofaging parents and young children
and you're at the height ofyour career, so of course you're
(04:36):
going to have low energy andyou're going to be down and all
that.
And then they're like, oh, takethis SSRI.
And then they're like, oh, takethis SSRI, this serotonin
inhibitor, right, so that youcan feel better, and oftentimes
it can be helpful.
But there are other underlyingthings happening, which is
(04:57):
probably perimenopause, which ismost likely that you might have
a vitamin D deficiency and thathas you drained.
You're maybe low in iron.
Your lifestyle habits that youcurrently are engaging in are
not aligned with this currentseason of perimenopause, so you
(05:18):
can get prescribed anantidepressant and it might work
for you, but there are also somany other things that are not
being brought to the table anddiscussed that can be helpful
before we get to the medicationpiece, and that's something I
worked on with my doctor a lot.
Actually, I was on SSRIs for alittle while, especially to help
me with my PMDD, and eventuallyI was able to wean off of them
(05:43):
and support myself.
Not that it's super easy andthat I don't get any symptoms
regarding PMDD premenstrualdysphoric disorder, which is
more of an emotional conditionaround menstruation but there
are adjustments that I made tomy lifestyle and my food and
(06:06):
exercise and things like that tobetter support me during those
times.
Okay, and now?
So that's just an example.
I wanted to give an example ofanother time, where medication
is just handed out with nocuriosity, with no digging, with
(06:30):
no curiosity, with no digging,with no suggestions of lifestyle
adjustments that can be made tobetter support the individual.
Now I feel like the same thingis happening with Ozempic, and
there is always a trendhappening in the health and
wellness industry.
It is a multimillion dollarindustry the weight loss
industry.
Not only do they come at womenat all different angles, always
(06:54):
addressing their insecurity,always telling them that they
need to fix this or that,especially us millennials who
grew up in the era of America'sNext Top Model and Tyra Banks.
And just skinny is where youwant to be, your hip bones had
to be popping out, yourcollarbone had to be popping out
, and there were so many womenand celebrities who were just so
(07:18):
sick from this trend.
And now I feel like itcontinues.
So it preys on all theinsecurities your hair, your
lashes, your cellulite, yourbelly fat, your this, your that,
and it's never, ever, everending.
And we lose sight of our ownbeauty and the natural way our
(07:40):
body wants to be.
Your body usually knows theweight that is good for it, but
we want to force it andmanipulate it into looking a
certain way, or we always wantit to go back to a time where
it's not in the right season forus.
For example, a lot of womentalk about when they were in
(08:01):
high school or when they were incollege.
That, reproductively speakingand just in nature, biologically
speaking, is just such adifferent timeframe when you're
in your early twenties and yourteens versus when you are in
your late thirties, earlyforties.
It's just completely differentseasons.
(08:22):
It is so unfair for us tocompare ourselves to those times
and force ourselves to go back.
It can actually make us sick.
We want to admire and thankourselves back then and then see
how we can take care of ourcurrent version, of our current
and present self, because we'renever, ever, ever, ever going to
(08:47):
be that age again.
We're never going to be thatperson.
Unfortunately, we cannot turntime back and if we don't learn
how to love ourselves now and totake really good care of
ourselves now, life is going topass us by, and what a lot of
times happens is you look backat photos.
Passes by, and what a lot oftimes happens is you look back
(09:08):
at photos.
I can promise, guarantee youthat this has happened, where
you look back at photos andyou're like gosh, I don't even
know why I was complaining, Idon't even know why I thought I
was fat and not cute.
I was so beautiful, I wasn'teven big, I wasn't fat, and I
wish I had not beat myself up somuch.
I wish I had loved myself more.
I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish.
(09:28):
So don't you think that that'sthe same thing that's going to
happen 10 years from now, 20years from now, when you're
probably around 60 years old,late 50s, in your 60s, and
you're looking back at your 40sand you're like, damn, I wish I
had taken better care of myself,I wish I was not beating myself
up.
Look how beautiful I was.
(09:50):
I thought I was fat, but I wasnot.
Same thing, right?
Let's pay attention to thesepatterns.
Let's pay attention to thesepatterns and, with that said, I
know I said I was going to talkabout Ozempic, but I feel like
these things are important tomention because the point of
Ozempic is to lose weight.
The point of Ozempic is to beskinny, or whatever your goal is
(10:12):
.
Oftentimes, people are nottaking it for reasons like
healing their diabetes orhelping them with a chronic
illness, with a chronic illness,or if you are obese and you
really need support with losinga few pounds in order to move
your body more comfortably right, with less pain, things like
(10:34):
that.
I'm not saying it's not useful,I'm not saying it's not a great
resource it is but the thing isthat with a lot of things is
being abused.
So I'm talking to those peoplewho maybe have 10 pounds to lose
, 20 pounds to lose, and thedoctor's like, oh, let me give
you this or you go ahead andrequest it yourself.
(10:55):
And it becomes this thing wherepeople have FOMO because you
probably see your friends orfamily members losing weight at
a rapid state.
But the thing is that when Imentioned that people or the
medical system doesn't set youup for success when you're
taking this medication, is thattime and time again, medical
(11:17):
professionals have mentionedthat for this medication to be
successful, you need to eat highprotein and you need to work
out like strength workout,because it's not just with
Ozempic Any diet that you dothat severely limits calories or
(11:38):
, let's say, energy, rightNutrients to yourself and you're
not appropriately protectingyour muscle mass, then that's
what you're going to lose.
If you do rapid weight loss, ifyou're losing tons and tons of
weight in a short amount of time, then you probably start off
(11:59):
losing a bunch of water weightand then you start losing your
muscle mass.
You're not even losing fatwater weight and then you start
losing your muscle mass You'renot even losing fat.
So what they advise is for whenyou are on something like
Ozempic is that you eat a highprotein diet and you strength
train.
The thing is that those arelifestyle changes that you need
(12:19):
to make.
You need to learn about food.
You need to understand how toadjust your schedule to fit in
eating and to fit in strengthtraining.
You need to prepare yourmindset for these changes right.
So now you're on a medicationand you think that that's the
only thing that you're going toneed, and a medication at that
(12:42):
that curbs your appetite.
Because what I've heard from alot of people that have been on
it is that you don't even feelhungry and you feel nauseous a
lot of the times.
So now you're not eating at all, you can become nutrient
deficient and you're losing yourmuscle mass, the one that
protects you the most againstprediabetes, even though this
(13:05):
drug is helping you with that.
But the thing is that if you'renot eating, then how is your
body digesting any food for itto use insulin?
And then it's like, okay, well,you're not prepared to come off
of this safely, because whathappens is that you go ahead and
(13:27):
come off, you lose the way youwant to lose, and then you come
off of it and you have notchanged anything in your
lifestyle.
You're still eating.
However, you're still notexercising.
And then what happens?
You gain the weight back asfast as you lost it.
And it's even worse because nowyou're probably gaining it back
in fat and not in muscle,because you're still not
(13:47):
exercising, strength trainingand you're still not eating
higher protein levels.
And people always think they'reeating enough protein and
they're not.
That's another thing, so it'sjust a bit of a learning curve.
Or another situation is thatwhile people are on these
(14:08):
medications or on whatever dietit is, they'll follow this,
they'll strength train andthey'll eat higher protein, but
they think that once they'redone with the medication or with
the diet, they can go back todoing whatever it was that they
did.
And this is why the dietindustry is a multimillion
(14:29):
dollar industry, because what noone is taught is how to stick
with these habits, how to makeit a lifestyle, how to make it
sustainable, to maintain yourresults, and then you probably
won't ever need a diet in yourlife again or this kind of
medication.
(14:49):
I know a group of people, agroup of loved ones, who every
single year for about six yearsthey did a weight loss challenge
in the beginning of the yearand I literally joined.
Maybe I joined, or I thoughtabout joining, one year and then
I changed my lifestyle.
I learned how to eat, I learnedhow to exercise and year after
(15:11):
year, I maintained my results,whereas year after year, the
same people joined the sameweight loss challenge because
they were bigger than they werethe previous year and I thought
that was it freaking, boggled mymind.
I'm like do people not seewhat's happening?
And you're getting older,you're gaining more fat.
(15:34):
Why are you going to tortureyourself for a month or two to
then just go back to what youwere doing before, to then be on
this hamster wheel over andover again?
So the way that it should workwith go on a lifestyle change
first, you need to earn theright to use something like
(16:01):
Ozempic so that you can do itsafely.
Where you are learning aboutfood, you are learning how to
eat higher protein.
You are learning how toincorporate strength training
into your life, learning how toincorporate strength training
into your life, and then you usethis medication so that you can
successfully get your resultsand maintain your results.
(16:23):
And I know that when some folksdo gastric bypass, that is
required, where you need topractice changing how you eat,
your lifestyle habits and thingslike that to prepare for this
surgery.
And I'm not knocking any ofthese freaking tools.
You can do whatever you want,whatever's going to make your
(16:44):
soul happy.
You can go get plastic surgery,gastric bypass, go on Ozempic.
I really do believe in everysingle one of these tools, right
, and it's so helpful for yourmental health too to just get
support with your results.
What I am freaking will stand.
(17:05):
What's that saying?
Stand on the gravestone?
I don't know.
I will.
To take it to my gravestone?
I don't know.
Whatever, what I will die on mygrave.
I need to stop.
Anyway, what I will continue tosay over and over again is that
(17:25):
that is not an easy way out.
It takes a lot of effort.
It's fucking painful.
I'm assuming it takes a lot ofmental, a big mental load and a
big physical load to do any ofthese things, to use any of
these tools.
So let's protect our healthwhile we're at it in terms of
(17:49):
nutrient deficiencies, ourmuscle mass, how we're feeling,
because one thing is that youcan look amazing.
You can look skinny as fuck orhowever the hell you want to
look, and whatever size andwhatever number on the scale,
and you can be feeling likeabsolute shit.
You can have low energy, youcan be super exhausted all the
(18:09):
time, fatigued like hollowedeyes, because one thing is to
look one way and another thingis to feel another way, and
being a certain size doesn'tguarantee you that you're going
to feel amazing.
Those are two separate things,and it's always assumed that if
I'm skinny, I'm going to feelgreat, that if I can fit into
(18:31):
this clothes, I'm going to feelgreat, and that's all I need for
confidence or to feel amazing.
And that's just not true.
Okay, I went off on a tangentand now I forgot what I was
talking about.
But yeah, it be like that,right?
Oh, I think I was saying that Iwant you to maintain your
(18:51):
results and be healthy at thesame time.
For real, take care of yourhealth along the way.
So when it comes to a medicationlike this.
Why not?
I see people all the time wherethey start the medication and
(19:14):
then they start the lifestylechanges.
Why not give that a shot tobegin with?
Why not just stay consistentwith that?
You stay hella fuckingconsistent when you're doing
some sort of diet or medicationor whatever the fuck.
So it's just like why don't youjust honor that with regular
(19:36):
old things?
And a lot of times what youneed is education, what you need
is support Because, trust me, Iam Dominican.
I have Dominican family members.
I come from lack and scarcityand people pleasing, so making
lifestyle changes for me wasn'teasy peasy.
I'm just going to do this, fuckeverybody.
(19:58):
I really had to make harddecisions.
I really had to learn how toset boundaries.
I really had to learn how tohonor myself, to shift my
thinking, to shift my mindset,to honor my body, to realize
what was happening to me, toreally honor me.
(20:20):
And we're not taught to do thatshit at all.
We're just taught to peopleplease and to eat what you're
served, and if everybody'sdrinking, you go along.
And the peer pressure and allthis.
But that was just not workingfor me anymore.
It wasn't making me feel good.
I was not happy, feeling sosick it wasn't worth it for me
(20:43):
anymore and there were a lot ofthings I had to change.
So why not just give that ashot to begin with, okay.
And another thing is giveyourself time.
Microwave culture has us allthe way fucked up.
Everything is right away.
I don't know if you've seenthese memes out here where
(21:07):
they're so funny because they'relike oh, I asked the fit person
at the gym how long it took forthem to look that way and they
told me seven years.
And I was expecting to looklike that in three months.
Right, three months is nothing,nada.
It took you a whole life to bewhere you are right now.
(21:30):
So, giving yourself threemonths, you can 100% see
progress, right, and you canchange how you're feeling.
But you're probably not goingto be at your goal in three
months, right?
I've been working for first ofall, I've been working out or
consistently with this lifestylefor about eight years, eight or
(21:51):
nine years now, and after Iturned 37, I had this big
perimenopausal shift where Igained about 30 pounds.
I started gaining body fat, Istarted losing muscle mass.
A bunch of stuff changed.
So again, I had to shift mywellness for the new season I
(22:12):
was in because I was like whatthe fuck is happening?
I was gaining a lot of bellyfat and this entire time, for
the past two years, I've beentrying to lose body fat and
maintain or gain muscle and withthat the weight shifts a little
bit right, because I gained 30pounds.
It wasn't that I wanted to lose30 pounds, I was more concerned
(22:42):
about the fat loss and musclegain.
So it just so happened that Igot my in-body is a body
composition report done at thegym and it has taken a year to
lose about 2% body fat and,thankfully, maintain my muscle
and I'm down about six pounds.
I started off at like 183 andnow I'm at 178 or something like
(23:03):
that, and it took this entiretime of consistency to lose
about 2% body fat.
And when you're looking atsustainable weight loss, where
you're maintaining your muscleand losing fat, is about half a
percent of fucking week, okay,or a month, something like that,
(23:24):
it just takes time.
So y'all be quitting at threemonths, at six months, at seven
months, not understanding thatthis is a lifestyle, that this
is a four life change and itdoesn't mean that it's going to
look the same every single dayof the week, every single month,
(23:45):
every single season.
You're going to adjust it, butthe consensus is that there's
going to be some sort ofmovement, there's going to be
some sort of nutritious eating,and how it's composed can look
different 100%.
There are adjustments andtweaks that always need to be
(24:05):
made based on the data thatwe're receiving and the progress
that we're seeing, but theconsensus is that you are
consistent in figuring that outand committed to your wellness
in the way that fits the currentseason of your life, and you
need to freaking give it time.
You can't just be changing upthe strategy every month,
(24:27):
because then you will never knowwhat's working or not.
You should give yourself atleast three to six months to see
how something's working and youmight just be seeing micro
changes, micro progress, whichis what I saw every month that I
did my in-body exam.
It was just small, tiny shifts,but the difference in a year
(24:51):
really is noticeable.
So that's the differenceEverything that is ending like
if you're ending a diet, ifyou're ending Ozempic or
anything like that.
You need to have a plan as towhat you're going to do after
for sustainability.
There is no way that you can goback to not doing it.
(25:12):
Let me give you an example.
Let's say you run marathons oryou're an athlete or whatever,
and you're training and you'replaying, you're training and
you're running, you're trainingand you're running.
And then you stop.
You stop training for threeyears, let's say.
And then, because you were agreat marathon runner and you
(25:35):
had a great time and a greatpace or whatever it is, and
three years later, with nofreaking maintenance work, with
no practice, with no training,you sign up for a marathon and
decide to run it the next day.
You think you're going to besuccessful?
No, you think you're going toget the same results you did
when you were training?
(25:56):
Absolutely not, you will not.
It's just ridiculous when youthink about it, right?
So it's the same thing withhealth and wellness.
Why would you think that youcan go back to doing whatever it
was that you were doing beforeand you're able to keep your
results?
Yeah, you'll keep them for amonth or two, but then it's
(26:16):
slowly going to slip away,slowly going to slip away.
And again I'll say microwaveculture has us all the way
fucked up because we expectthings fast and we expect things
for us not to have to work sohard for it, like one solution
(26:38):
to something, like one thing,and when it comes to health and
wellness, it's not one thing.
It's many things that add upand you can start with one thing
.
But let's say, for weight lossand sustainable weight loss and
healthy weight loss is not onething, it's not just taking
(26:58):
Ozempic, it's also how are youeating.
It's also how are youexercising, how's your stress
management, how's your sleep?
So I haven't spoken about thisyet, but I'm doing a procedure
called Morpheus 8.
And it's like this deep assmicroneedling with lasers or
whatever the fuck, because Iwant the appearance of my
(27:21):
abdomen to look better of mybelly After two kids.
It's left a little jiggly andwith loose skin and stretch
marks and I just want it to looknicer, which, again, like I
said, it's okay.
But the one thing that the nursepractitioner who does the
(27:41):
procedure told me time and timeagain is it's not just this.
She's like are you eating well,are you exercising?
This is not the only solution.
So she doesn't want me to thinkthat just because she's jabbing
my stomach with needles torecreate collagen production and
new layers of skin, that that'sgoing to make my tummy look
(28:05):
fantastic.
She continuously reminded methat eating well and exercising
was an integral part of gettingnice results.
And, lucky for me, I already dothat anyway and I can be more
intentional, let's say abouttraining my core or something
like that.
But I am already intentionallyeating well and exercising, so
(28:30):
it just will enhance my results.
What a lot of you think is thatthat one thing that you're doing
, that one juice cleanse, thatone microneedling, that one
surgery, these few months ofOzempic, is going to solve all
your problems.
But that just puts you on thedepression rollercoaster.
The depression rollercoasterbecause one day you're a few
(28:55):
months you're great and you'refeeling great, and then you
don't keep up with it and thenyou feel crappy again and you
need to figure it out.
So because you were notconsistent.
But there's also the otherscenario that you are consistent
and what you're doing is nolonger meeting your needs and
you need to figure it out again,and that's something that
(29:15):
happened to me.
So those are two differentthings.
I don't want you to think thatwhatever you're doing right now
is going to work forever,because it probably isn't, and I
would not be being truthful andhonest with you if I may
pretend it was.
You will have to makeadjustments depending on your
season or certain goals that youwant, cool.
(29:36):
So I hope this was helpful inunderstanding a bigger picture
of wanting to use something likeOzambic or wanting to go on
some sort of diet as it relatesto sustainable, healthy weight
loss and managing health and notbeing set up for success.
(30:00):
Remember that doctors get paidto give you these kinds of
medications.
The pharma industry is by farthe largest.
They really don't give a shitif you really need it or not.
They really don't give a shitif you're going to use it
correctly or not.
They really don't give a flyingfuck.
And I want you to.
(30:22):
I want you to be curious.
I want you to take the time toresearch and to set yourself up
for success and to understandthat the absolute foundation of
all of it is how you live yourlife, how you incorporate
exercise and food and stressmanagement and sleep and all
(30:45):
that into it.
Gave you maybe a newperspective or a different way
to think about it, or courage ofsome sort to make a decision
one way or the other, what'sbest for you.
Or maybe it filled a few gapsof things that you knew you were
(31:05):
missing, to move forward withsomething and again, this is not
medical advice.
It's honestly like me rantingfrom everything that I know and
what I see happening out here inthe streets.
Okay, and just as a reminder, ifyou need support with the
foundational work, if you reallywant to learn about food
(31:29):
specifically and how to helpyour health and really redefine
your definition with weight lossand understand the fundamentals
of food, sugar Mama, my smallgroup intensive program it's
still open for enrollment isgoing to be closing by April 9th
2025.
(31:50):
So the deadline to join iscoming up soon.
There are a total of six spotsleft and in this program we're
going to really learn about foodgroups, understand how much
sugar you're having and how muchextra added sugar you're having
.
That really impacts weight lossand your overall health, and
(32:12):
we're going to learn how to eatthese foods with joy and more
intentionally.
It's not about restriction.
It's not about I can't havethis, I can't have that.
Let's suck the joy out of lifeand out of food, because I, for
one, am a foodie and I love,love, love, love to eat.
So I invite you to join SugarMama, to send me a message or
(32:35):
book a consultation call wherewe can discuss more about it, if
any of this hit the spot foryou and you're like, yes, I want
to learn about lifestyle, thenthis is a great program to get
started with.
The meetings are going tohappen Wednesdays at 6.30 PM
Eastern time.
They start April 23rd and itruns through March.
(33:00):
It's six weeks, so it's superquick and super effective.
We're going to have a groupchat.
We're going to have a greattime.
We're going to have so much funand so much learning.
So I invite you, send me amessage about it if you want to
join, if you want moreinformation, and I'll talk to
y'all next week.
(33:20):
Bye.
What up friends?
Welcome back to another episodeof Wealthy Generation Podcast.
That's W-E-L-L-T-H-Y.
If you hear the sound isdifferent this time around, it's
because I am recording from myliving room on my couch on my
(00:21):
phone.
I really want to get thisepisode out to you guys and I
was just craving comfort todaybecause I've been working from
here and I was like I don't wantto move everything to my desk
where my mic is and all that.
So there's a lot more space inmy living room, no sounding
(00:41):
boards, so it might be a littleechoey, but bear with me because
the topic you're going to wantto listen to it is something I
spoke about on Instagram about aweek ago and it's been getting
a lot of attention, not publicly, because a lot of y'all are shy
and won't comment on it, butyou have been reaching out to me
(01:04):
privately about the impact thatreel had and it was my reel on
Ozempic and I just wanted totalk a little bit more about it
here because I did all of twominute reel on Instagram and I
just wanted to talk a little bitmore about it because it is
(01:27):
definitely a hot topic right now.
It is the trendy thing and whatI was talking about in the reel
is, if you've been consideringit, things to think about,
because I've had a lot of myfriends reach out to me asking
me what my thoughts are about it, because they are curious,
(01:50):
because a bunch of their friendsare on it or family members or
a medical professional, like adoctor, has offered it to them
because of whatever concernsthat they're having.
So this is 100% not medicaladvice, right?
This is my opinion, this is howI see it and my thoughts on it,
(02:15):
based on the knowledge ofhealth and wellness and
nutrition that I have as acertified integrative nutrition
health coach, and also based onthe experiences that have been
shared with me from people whohave been on this kind of
medication and what I hear othermedical professionals mention,
(02:39):
talk about, suggest on thismedication.
Okay, so that's where my POV iscoming from and my thoughts are
coming from.
So it is being handed out likekind of candy.
It is the new trendy thing, butit's something I think that
deserves respect.
(02:59):
As with anything else,especially a prescribed
medication, with anything else,especially a prescribed
medication, it does have 100%its needs and its uses.
There are people who benefithighly from it, who need this
kind of medication.
The thing is that it's beinghanded out to a lot of people
who might not need it at themoment, need it at the moment
(03:29):
and people are not properlybeing prepared and set up for
success if they do decide to goon this medication, or a lot of
other factors or, let's say,stages of life are not being
taken into consideration.
I just want to give an exampleof when this has also happened,
and it's when women, especiallyin perimenopause, are prescribed
(03:50):
antidepressants and a lot ofwomen go to the doctor and
they're like oh, my energy'sdifferent, I'm down, I have no
motivation, and a lot of timeswomen just get gaslit and
they're like oh, it's becauseyou're getting older, which
there's an asterisk to thatright, because with
perimenopause you are gettingolder, but it's purely blamed on
(04:13):
age and not the physical,biological, natural symptoms or
changes that are happening inthe body.
And they all say things like oh, it's because you have a lot of
stress, you are in a stressfultime in your life.
You're probably taking care ofaging parents and young children
and you're at the height ofyour career, so of course you're
(04:36):
going to have low energy andyou're going to be down and all
that.
And then they're like, oh, takethis SSRI.
And then they're like, oh, takethis SSRI, this serotonin
inhibitor, right, so that youcan feel better, and oftentimes
it can be helpful.
But there are other underlyingthings happening, which is
(04:57):
probably perimenopause, which ismost likely that you might have
a vitamin D deficiency and thathas you drained.
You're maybe low in iron.
Your lifestyle habits that youcurrently are engaging in are
not aligned with this currentseason of perimenopause, so you
(05:18):
can get prescribed anantidepressant and it might work
for you, but there are also somany other things that are not
being brought to the table anddiscussed that can be helpful
before we get to the medicationpiece, and that's something I
worked on with my doctor a lot.
Actually, I was on SSRIs for alittle while, especially to help
me with my PMDD, and eventuallyI was able to wean off of them
(05:43):
and support myself.
Not that it's super easy andthat I don't get any symptoms
regarding PMDD premenstrualdysphoric disorder, which is
more of an emotional conditionaround menstruation but there
are adjustments that I made tomy lifestyle and my food and
(06:06):
exercise and things like that tobetter support me during those
times.
Okay, and now?
So that's just an example.
I wanted to give an example ofanother time, where medication
is just handed out with nocuriosity, with no digging, with
(06:30):
no curiosity, with no digging,with no suggestions of lifestyle
adjustments that can be made tobetter support the individual.
Now I feel like the same thingis happening with Ozempic, and
there is always a trendhappening in the health and
wellness industry.
It is a multimillion dollarindustry the weight loss
industry.
Not only do they come at womenat all different angles, always
(06:54):
addressing their insecurity,always telling them that they
need to fix this or that,especially us millennials who
grew up in the era of America'sNext Top Model and Tyra Banks.
And just skinny is where youwant to be, your hip bones had
to be popping out, yourcollarbone had to be popping out
, and there were so many womenand celebrities who were just so
(07:18):
sick from this trend.
And now I feel like itcontinues.
So it preys on all theinsecurities your hair, your
lashes, your cellulite, yourbelly fat, your this, your that,
and it's never, ever, everending.
And we lose sight of our ownbeauty and the natural way our
(07:40):
body wants to be.
Your body usually knows theweight that is good for it, but
we want to force it andmanipulate it into looking a
certain way, or we always wantit to go back to a time where
it's not in the right season forus.
For example, a lot of womentalk about when they were in
(08:01):
high school or when they were incollege.
That, reproductively speakingand just in nature, biologically
speaking, is just such adifferent timeframe when you're
in your early twenties and yourteens versus when you are in
your late thirties, earlyforties.
It's just completely differentseasons.
(08:22):
It is so unfair for us tocompare ourselves to those times
and force ourselves to go back.
It can actually make us sick.
We want to admire and thankourselves back then and then see
how we can take care of ourcurrent version, of our current
and present self, because we'renever, ever, ever, ever going to
(08:47):
be that age again.
We're never going to be thatperson.
Unfortunately, we cannot turntime back and if we don't learn
how to love ourselves now and totake really good care of
ourselves now, life is going topass us by, and what a lot of
times happens is you look backat photos.
Passes by, and what a lot oftimes happens is you look back
(09:08):
at photos.
I can promise, guarantee youthat this has happened, where
you look back at photos andyou're like gosh, I don't even
know why I was complaining, Idon't even know why I thought I
was fat and not cute.
I was so beautiful, I wasn'teven big, I wasn't fat, and I
wish I had not beat myself up somuch.
I wish I had loved myself more.
I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish.
(09:28):
So don't you think that that'sthe same thing that's going to
happen 10 years from now, 20years from now, when you're
probably around 60 years old,late 50s, in your 60s, and
you're looking back at your 40sand you're like, damn, I wish I
had taken better care of myself,I wish I was not beating myself
up.
Look how beautiful I was.
(09:50):
I thought I was fat, but I wasnot.
Same thing, right?
Let's pay attention to thesepatterns.
Let's pay attention to thesepatterns and, with that said, I
know I said I was going to talkabout Ozempic, but I feel like
these things are important tomention because the point of
Ozempic is to lose weight.
The point of Ozempic is to beskinny, or whatever your goal is
(10:12):
.
Oftentimes, people are nottaking it for reasons like
healing their diabetes orhelping them with a chronic
illness, with a chronic illness,or if you are obese and you
really need support with losinga few pounds in order to move
your body more comfortably right, with less pain, things like
(10:34):
that.
I'm not saying it's not useful,I'm not saying it's not a great
resource it is but the thing isthat with a lot of things is
being abused.
So I'm talking to those peoplewho maybe have 10 pounds to lose
, 20 pounds to lose, and thedoctor's like, oh, let me give
you this or you go ahead andrequest it yourself.
(10:55):
And it becomes this thing wherepeople have FOMO because you
probably see your friends orfamily members losing weight at
a rapid state.
But the thing is that when Imentioned that people or the
medical system doesn't set youup for success when you're
taking this medication, is thattime and time again, medical
(11:17):
professionals have mentionedthat for this medication to be
successful, you need to eat highprotein and you need to work
out like strength workout,because it's not just with
Ozempic Any diet that you dothat severely limits calories or
(11:38):
, let's say, energy, rightNutrients to yourself and you're
not appropriately protectingyour muscle mass, then that's
what you're going to lose.
If you do rapid weight loss, ifyou're losing tons and tons of
weight in a short amount of time, then you probably start off
(11:59):
losing a bunch of water weightand then you start losing your
muscle mass.
You're not even losing fatwater weight and then you start
losing your muscle mass You'renot even losing fat.
So what they advise is for whenyou are on something like
Ozempic is that you eat a highprotein diet and you strength
train.
The thing is that those arelifestyle changes that you need
(12:19):
to make.
You need to learn about food.
You need to understand how toadjust your schedule to fit in
eating and to fit in strengthtraining.
You need to prepare yourmindset for these changes right.
So now you're on a medicationand you think that that's the
only thing that you're going toneed, and a medication at that
(12:42):
that curbs your appetite.
Because what I've heard from alot of people that have been on
it is that you don't even feelhungry and you feel nauseous a
lot of the times.
So now you're not eating at all, you can become nutrient
deficient and you're losing yourmuscle mass, the one that
protects you the most againstprediabetes, even though this
(13:05):
drug is helping you with that.
But the thing is that if you'renot eating, then how is your
body digesting any food for itto use insulin?
And then it's like, okay, well,you're not prepared to come off
of this safely, because whathappens is that you go ahead and
(13:27):
come off, you lose the way youwant to lose, and then you come
off of it and you have notchanged anything in your
lifestyle.
You're still eating.
However, you're still notexercising.
And then what happens?
You gain the weight back asfast as you lost it.
And it's even worse because nowyou're probably gaining it back
in fat and not in muscle,because you're still not
(13:47):
exercising, strength trainingand you're still not eating
higher protein levels.
And people always think they'reeating enough protein and
they're not.
That's another thing, so it'sjust a bit of a learning curve.
Or another situation is thatwhile people are on these
(14:08):
medications or on whatever dietit is, they'll follow this,
they'll strength train andthey'll eat higher protein, but
they think that once they'redone with the medication or with
the diet, they can go back todoing whatever it was that they
did.
And this is why the dietindustry is a multimillion
(14:29):
dollar industry, because what noone is taught is how to stick
with these habits, how to makeit a lifestyle, how to make it
sustainable, to maintain yourresults, and then you probably
won't ever need a diet in yourlife again or this kind of
medication.
(14:49):
I know a group of people, agroup of loved ones, who every
single year for about six yearsthey did a weight loss challenge
in the beginning of the yearand I literally joined.
Maybe I joined, or I thoughtabout joining, one year and then
I changed my lifestyle.
I learned how to eat, I learnedhow to exercise and year after
(15:11):
year, I maintained my results,whereas year after year, the
same people joined the sameweight loss challenge because
they were bigger than they werethe previous year and I thought
that was it freaking, boggled mymind.
I'm like do people not seewhat's happening?
And you're getting older,you're gaining more fat.
(15:34):
Why are you going to tortureyourself for a month or two to
then just go back to what youwere doing before, to then be on
this hamster wheel over andover again?
So the way that it should workwith go on a lifestyle change
first, you need to earn theright to use something like
(16:01):
Ozempic so that you can do itsafely.
Where you are learning aboutfood, you are learning how to
eat higher protein.
You are learning how toincorporate strength training
into your life, learning how toincorporate strength training
into your life, and then you usethis medication so that you can
successfully get your resultsand maintain your results.
(16:23):
And I know that when some folksdo gastric bypass, that is
required, where you need topractice changing how you eat,
your lifestyle habits and thingslike that to prepare for this
surgery.
And I'm not knocking any ofthese freaking tools.
You can do whatever you want,whatever's going to make your
(16:44):
soul happy.
You can go get plastic surgery,gastric bypass, go on Ozempic.
I really do believe in everysingle one of these tools, right
, and it's so helpful for yourmental health too to just get
support with your results.
What I am freaking will stand.
(17:05):
What's that saying?
Stand on the gravestone?
I don't know.
I will.
To take it to my gravestone?
I don't know.
Whatever, what I will die on mygrave.
I need to stop.
Anyway, what I will continue tosay over and over again is that
(17:25):
that is not an easy way out.
It takes a lot of effort.
It's fucking painful.
I'm assuming it takes a lot ofmental, a big mental load and a
big physical load to do any ofthese things, to use any of
these tools.
So let's protect our healthwhile we're at it in terms of
(17:49):
nutrient deficiencies, ourmuscle mass, how we're feeling,
because one thing is that youcan look amazing.
You can look skinny as fuck orhowever the hell you want to
look, and whatever size andwhatever number on the scale,
and you can be feeling likeabsolute shit.
You can have low energy, youcan be super exhausted all the
(18:09):
time, fatigued like hollowedeyes, because one thing is to
look one way and another thingis to feel another way, and
being a certain size doesn'tguarantee you that you're going
to feel amazing.
Those are two separate things,and it's always assumed that if
I'm skinny, I'm going to feelgreat, that if I can fit into
(18:31):
this clothes, I'm going to feelgreat, and that's all I need for
confidence or to feel amazing.
And that's just not true.
Okay, I went off on a tangentand now I forgot what I was
talking about.
But yeah, it be like that,right?
Oh, I think I was saying that Iwant you to maintain your
(18:51):
results and be healthy at thesame time.
For real, take care of yourhealth along the way.
So when it comes to a medicationlike this.
Why not?
I see people all the time wherethey start the medication and
(19:14):
then they start the lifestylechanges.
Why not give that a shot tobegin with?
Why not just stay consistentwith that?
You stay hella fuckingconsistent when you're doing
some sort of diet or medicationor whatever the fuck.
So it's just like why don't youjust honor that with regular
(19:36):
old things?
And a lot of times what youneed is education, what you need
is support Because, trust me, Iam Dominican.
I have Dominican family members.
I come from lack and scarcityand people pleasing, so making
lifestyle changes for me wasn'teasy peasy.
I'm just going to do this, fuckeverybody.
(19:58):
I really had to make harddecisions.
I really had to learn how toset boundaries.
I really had to learn how tohonor myself, to shift my
thinking, to shift my mindset,to honor my body, to realize
what was happening to me, toreally honor me.
(20:20):
And we're not taught to do thatshit at all.
We're just taught to peopleplease and to eat what you're
served, and if everybody'sdrinking, you go along.
And the peer pressure and allthis.
But that was just not workingfor me anymore.
It wasn't making me feel good.
I was not happy, feeling sosick it wasn't worth it for me
(20:43):
anymore and there were a lot ofthings I had to change.
So why not just give that ashot to begin with, okay.
And another thing is giveyourself time.
Microwave culture has us allthe way fucked up.
Everything is right away.
I don't know if you've seenthese memes out here where
(21:07):
they're so funny because they'relike oh, I asked the fit person
at the gym how long it took forthem to look that way and they
told me seven years.
And I was expecting to looklike that in three months.
Right, three months is nothing,nada.
It took you a whole life to bewhere you are right now.
(21:30):
So, giving yourself threemonths, you can 100% see
progress, right, and you canchange how you're feeling.
But you're probably not goingto be at your goal in three
months, right?
I've been working for first ofall, I've been working out or
consistently with this lifestylefor about eight years, eight or
(21:51):
nine years now, and after Iturned 37, I had this big
perimenopausal shift where Igained about 30 pounds.
I started gaining body fat, Istarted losing muscle mass.
A bunch of stuff changed.
So again, I had to shift mywellness for the new season I
(22:12):
was in because I was like whatthe fuck is happening?
I was gaining a lot of bellyfat and this entire time, for
the past two years, I've beentrying to lose body fat and
maintain or gain muscle and withthat the weight shifts a little
bit right, because I gained 30pounds.
It wasn't that I wanted to lose30 pounds, I was more concerned
(22:42):
about the fat loss and musclegain.
So it just so happened that Igot my in-body is a body
composition report done at thegym and it has taken a year to
lose about 2% body fat and,thankfully, maintain my muscle
and I'm down about six pounds.
I started off at like 183 andnow I'm at 178 or something like
(23:03):
that, and it took this entiretime of consistency to lose
about 2% body fat.
And when you're looking atsustainable weight loss, where
you're maintaining your muscleand losing fat, is about half a
percent of fucking week, okay,or a month, something like that,
(23:24):
it just takes time.
So y'all be quitting at threemonths, at six months, at seven
months, not understanding thatthis is a lifestyle, that this
is a four life change and itdoesn't mean that it's going to
look the same every single dayof the week, every single month,
(23:45):
every single season.
You're going to adjust it, butthe consensus is that there's
going to be some sort ofmovement, there's going to be
some sort of nutritious eating,and how it's composed can look
different 100%.
There are adjustments andtweaks that always need to be
(24:05):
made based on the data thatwe're receiving and the progress
that we're seeing, but theconsensus is that you are
consistent in figuring that outand committed to your wellness
in the way that fits the currentseason of your life, and you
need to freaking give it time.
You can't just be changing upthe strategy every month,
(24:27):
because then you will never knowwhat's working or not.
You should give yourself atleast three to six months to see
how something's working and youmight just be seeing micro
changes, micro progress, whichis what I saw every month that I
did my in-body exam.
It was just small, tiny shifts,but the difference in a year
(24:51):
really is noticeable.
So that's the differenceEverything that is ending like
if you're ending a diet, ifyou're ending Ozempic or
anything like that.
You need to have a plan as towhat you're going to do after
for sustainability.
There is no way that you can goback to not doing it.
(25:12):
Let me give you an example.
Let's say you run marathons oryou're an athlete or whatever,
and you're training and you'replaying, you're training and
you're running, you're trainingand you're running.
And then you stop.
You stop training for threeyears, let's say.
And then, because you were agreat marathon runner and you
(25:35):
had a great time and a greatpace or whatever it is, and
three years later, with nofreaking maintenance work, with
no practice, with no training,you sign up for a marathon and
decide to run it the next day.
You think you're going to besuccessful?
No, you think you're going toget the same results you did
when you were training?
(25:56):
Absolutely not, you will not.
It's just ridiculous when youthink about it, right?
So it's the same thing withhealth and wellness.
Why would you think that youcan go back to doing whatever it
was that you were doing beforeand you're able to keep your
results?
Yeah, you'll keep them for amonth or two, but then it's
(26:16):
slowly going to slip away,slowly going to slip away.
And again I'll say microwaveculture has us all the way
fucked up because we expectthings fast and we expect things
for us not to have to work sohard for it, like one solution
(26:38):
to something, like one thing,and when it comes to health and
wellness, it's not one thing.
It's many things that add upand you can start with one thing
.
But let's say, for weight lossand sustainable weight loss and
healthy weight loss is not onething, it's not just taking
(26:58):
Ozempic, it's also how are youeating.
It's also how are youexercising, how's your stress
management, how's your sleep?
So I haven't spoken about thisyet, but I'm doing a procedure
called Morpheus 8.
And it's like this deep assmicroneedling with lasers or
whatever the fuck, because Iwant the appearance of my
(27:21):
abdomen to look better of mybelly After two kids.
It's left a little jiggly andwith loose skin and stretch
marks and I just want it to looknicer, which, again, like I
said, it's okay.
But the one thing that the nursepractitioner who does the
(27:41):
procedure told me time and timeagain is it's not just this.
She's like are you eating well,are you exercising?
This is not the only solution.
So she doesn't want me to thinkthat just because she's jabbing
my stomach with needles torecreate collagen production and
new layers of skin, that that'sgoing to make my tummy look
(28:05):
fantastic.
She continuously reminded methat eating well and exercising
was an integral part of gettingnice results.
And, lucky for me, I already dothat anyway and I can be more
intentional, let's say abouttraining my core or something
like that.
But I am already intentionallyeating well and exercising, so
(28:30):
it just will enhance my results.
What a lot of you think is thatthat one thing that you're doing
, that one juice cleanse, thatone microneedling, that one
surgery, these few months ofOzempic, is going to solve all
your problems.
But that just puts you on thedepression rollercoaster.
The depression rollercoasterbecause one day you're a few
(28:55):
months you're great and you'refeeling great, and then you
don't keep up with it and thenyou feel crappy again and you
need to figure it out.
So because you were notconsistent.
But there's also the otherscenario that you are consistent
and what you're doing is nolonger meeting your needs and
you need to figure it out again,and that's something that
(29:15):
happened to me.
So those are two differentthings.
I don't want you to think thatwhatever you're doing right now
is going to work forever,because it probably isn't, and I
would not be being truthful andhonest with you if I may
pretend it was.
You will have to makeadjustments depending on your
season or certain goals that youwant, cool.
(29:36):
So I hope this was helpful inunderstanding a bigger picture
of wanting to use something likeOzambic or wanting to go on
some sort of diet as it relatesto sustainable, healthy weight
loss and managing health and notbeing set up for success.
(30:00):
Remember that doctors get paidto give you these kinds of
medications.
The pharma industry is by farthe largest.
They really don't give a shitif you really need it or not.
They really don't give a shitif you're going to use it
correctly or not.
They really don't give a flyingfuck.
And I want you to.
(30:22):
I want you to be curious.
I want you to take the time toresearch and to set yourself up
for success and to understandthat the absolute foundation of
all of it is how you live yourlife, how you incorporate
exercise and food and stressmanagement and sleep and all
(30:45):
that into it.
Gave you maybe a newperspective or a different way
to think about it, or courage ofsome sort to make a decision
one way or the other, what'sbest for you.
Or maybe it filled a few gapsof things that you knew you were
(31:05):
missing, to move forward withsomething and again, this is not
medical advice.
It's honestly like me rantingfrom everything that I know and
what I see happening out here inthe streets.
Okay, and just as a reminder, ifyou need support with the
foundational work, if you reallywant to learn about food
(31:29):
specifically and how to helpyour health and really redefine
your definition with weight lossand understand the fundamentals
of food, sugar Mama, my smallgroup intensive program it's
still open for enrollment isgoing to be closing by April 9th
2025.
(31:50):
So the deadline to join iscoming up soon.
There are a total of six spotsleft and in this program we're
going to really learn about foodgroups, understand how much
sugar you're having and how muchextra added sugar you're having
.
That really impacts weight lossand your overall health, and
(32:12):
we're going to learn how to eatthese foods with joy and more
intentionally.
It's not about restriction.
It's not about I can't havethis, I can't have that.
Let's suck the joy out of lifeand out of food, because I, for
one, am a foodie and I love,love, love, love to eat.
So I invite you to join SugarMama, to send me a message or
(32:35):
book a consultation call wherewe can discuss more about it, if
any of this hit the spot foryou and you're like, yes, I want
to learn about lifestyle, thenthis is a great program to get
started with.
The meetings are going tohappen Wednesdays at 6.30 PM
Eastern time.
They start April 23rd and itruns through March.
(33:00):
It's six weeks, so it's superquick and super effective.
We're going to have a groupchat.
We're going to have a greattime.
We're going to have so much funand so much learning.
So I invite you, send me amessage about it if you want to
join, if you want moreinformation, and I'll talk to
y'all next week.
(33:20):
Bye.
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