Did We Just Become Best Friends?

My Path From a Two-Time Plus-Size Bride to a Happy and Healthy Weight! How I Did It!

• Lydia Stutesman

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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.

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Speaker 1:

Hey everybody, welcome back to Did we Just Become Best Friends? And today we are becoming best friends with terzapatide and semiglutide and medications also known as Ozempic and Wegovi, and Monjaro and Zepbound. So today I'm going to take you on my weight loss journey. It's the number one question that I get asked all the time how did I'm going to take you on my weight loss journey? It's the number one question that 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 we really need to just get into all the things, because when people ask me about my weight loss journey, what they don't realize is it's been a lifelong journey. It's been a lifelong struggle. It's been a lifelong battle. It is one that I don't think I have 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 married and was fat and happy and then tried to get healthier. And now, at 51 years old, I think I've finally figured out some of the science and some of the tips and tricks that have helped me to get healthier, and every day as I try to stay healthier. So let's get into it today. Thank you so much for joining me on.

Speaker 1:

Did we Just Become Best Friends? I am flying solo today to talk about my weight loss journey. So we're going to go all the way back and to some of my first memories of being a chubby kid. I think I was probably around six years old. That's probably the earliest memory that I can recall where I looked down and my stomach, kind of, was a little chubby, had a pooch. And I think back to being a little kid and looking at pictures of myself as a toddler. And I was not a chubby kid Initially. I was very thin, I was sickly, I had a lot of respiratory issues when I was born, so I was not necessarily a chubby kid. But then you get into that whole mentality of finish your plate and that's how I grew up. So I'm from an Italian and German family. So I'm from an Italian and German family. My grandparents on my dad's side were German and on my mom's side came from Sicily, came through Ellis Island, italian, and you know, with different cultures it's eat, drink and be merry and it's for 100% sure we're not wasting food. There's people starving in other countries. Finish the food on your plate. So that is how I grew up.

Speaker 1:

In school I was always the chubbier kid. I was very jovial, I was very happy, I was very bubbly, I was very, you know, cute and fat and chubby. And you know just a trigger warning for anybody who you know can't take some of that language. You know we grew up different than it is now. So in the cancel culture where you can't say certain things and it might be taken as fat shaming definitely not trying to fat shame myself or anybody else, but I was considered fat when I grew up. So, being a chubby kid, you know you're cute and chubby. Until you're not cute, you're just chubby.

Speaker 1:

So basically what happened was in high school. I was always had a pretty face but I was always bigger than my friends and so when the average girl was maybe like a size three or a size five, I was like a 12 or a 14. So I was considerably and noticeably bigger than the other kids in my class. And in high school I started to get bullied a bit and it got actually so bad that at one point people were sending me magazine subscriptions to my house and they put my last name as Fats. So I was Lydia Fats, not Lydia Stutzman.

Speaker 1:

So those are some things, obviously from the childhood that still sit there, still resonate, still are in the back of your mind and although I think I've, you know, gotten over them and conquered them and they don't, it doesn't bother me anymore. At the time it was very hurtful, but you know. But we grew up in a culture where we were used to being teased and bullied and it wasn't like to the point where it was so severe that I thought of taking my life. It wasn't like that. But you kind of just got used to it. You got used to the fact that there was mean kids. There was a couple of kids in grade school that I knew were just mean to me and they were fat shamers and it was basically like you know, we grew up in this, the time where it was no fat chicks and bikinis.

Speaker 1:

Like you, you would never wear a bikini if you were fat and if you didn't have that perfect body. So growing up in the eighties cause I was born in 1973. So growing up in the mid, you know, to late eighties as a teenager in middle school and going into high school in the late eighties, um, I would never have even thought of showing my midriff or you know, all the different things that we have now, where there's a different culture of body positivity didn't exist back then. So I would have never in my wildest dreams ever put on a bikini. Fast forward to some years later, I was 300 pounds wearing a bikini, but that is a different story. We'll get into that a little bit. So I'm trying. You know, people ask me were you always heavy? Were you always chubby? So I would say I was always a chubby kid.

Speaker 1:

And then, going into my early twenties, when I was about 24, 25, when I met my first husband-to-be, we basically were both overweight, right, but then we got together and we were dating and then we got engaged and then I would just consider us, you know, the fat and happy couple. So you start dating, you start going out to eat, you start going out to, you know, eating a lot of fast food, and I think a lot of that actually started for me when I started driving, because I think about my kids. And when you know they first get a license and they're driving and they're on their own and driving themselves to work. You know there's nothing that can prevent a parent from, you know, stopping their kid from going through the Taco Bell drive-thru when they're driving and they're on their own and they're making their own money, like you cannot control what your kids are doing 24 hours a day. And remember we didn't have cell phones back then, we didn't have life 360 back then.

Speaker 1:

Um, I try to think back to my childhood and it was almost a scarcity mindset and mentality with food. So I did not grow up in an affluent household. I did go to a private school. My mom sacrificed a lot to keep me in a private Catholic school but a lot of my friends had money. So when I would be at my friend's house all the time, I remember one of my friends. Her dad managed a Burger King and we just thought that was the best thing ever because we could eat Burger King. You know, fast food and eating out and going out to dinner was a luxury in my household. It wasn't the norm. It wasn't like the DoorDash culture we live in today and the Uber Eats culture. So anyway, I grew up with a healthy fear that my mom wasn't going to be able to buy groceries and that I had to make the lunch meat last all week, and so I think that scarcity mentality helped me to like hang on to food. And I also think that when there was plenty of food around, I overindulged because there was an opportunity to eat without having a fear that it was going to run out. On the flip side of that, when we went to holiday gatherings with family, there was always plenty of food because, being Italian, you never want to run out of food, so you always made extra. So just to give you a little background about my childhood, all right.

Speaker 1:

So then I fast forward into my mid twenties. I got married. I was very heavy. I probably went from being about 190 pounds all through high school, which by today's standards 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 was about 265 pounds. I was a plus size. Looking for a wedding dress and a plus size culture was not easy back then, because in the late nineties we didn't have the body positivity movement. We didn't have so much to offer the plus size community. The fashion for plus sizes was not the fashion Nova and she incurred culture that we live in now. So I got married.

Speaker 1:

Both me and my husband were overweight. Within two years of getting married we had our first child and my daughter was a peanut, naturally thin. She was not heavy, and what strikes me as very odd is because she'll call herself a thicker girl and I say to her Bella, you are not a thicker girl, you are actually a very naturally thin person. So I think back to when she started to gain weight and get a little chubby. And again, it was right around the cusp of that six-year-old mark, going into first grade and starting to eat the school lunches. And I think that's where we get lost. Kids want to eat chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese, and fast food is so easy to pull through the drive-thru.

Speaker 1:

So anyway, later on in my marriage, when I was going through some struggles and I was very unhappy, I said I have to do something about my weight. So I started to go to the gym. I joined the gym with my neighbor and I was like literally the fattest person in the gym. And I went into this one aerobics class one night and I'll never forget. I was in like a you know a t-shirt and baggy sweatpants and I looked at myself in the mirror in the exercise class and I was like the biggest person in the class, but at least I was there right. So within probably a year or so I lost about 60 or 70 pounds.

Speaker 1:

I also started to realize I didn't want to be married anymore. I was not in a healthy relationship anymore with my husband and I did not want to be in that abusive situation any longer. So it's very difficult when you're in a marriage and only one person is trying to get healthy, because then it puts a big strain every time you're going out to dinner, every time you're trying to plan a meal or you're trying to eat healthy, and they bring home donuts. So that did put a strain on the marriage as well. So it's very much easier when both parties are on the health journey together. But with that said, in 2009, I made a decision to get separated.

Speaker 1:

By 2010, I was divorced and I was my lowest weight I had been in a very long time, which is about 237 pounds, wearing about a size I don't know, 16, 18. I'm not sure. Somewhere around that neighborhood I had always been bigger, was always in like a 24, 26, jean, 2x, 3x top, you know, shopping at Lane Bryant were my only options, basically. So fast forward into 2010,. I got divorced. I ended up, we ended up selling our house.

Speaker 1:

I moved from one county to another, back home to where I live now, and then I went into a depression 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, I didn't have my trainer, because I left the county that I lived in before and I kind of went into a depression and I just stopped working out. So I had worked out five to six days a week and I counted calories. So when people ask me, how do you do it? How do you lose weight, my body responds better to being in what we now call a calorie deficit and it really wasn't called that then. But I would keep an Excel spreadsheet because we didn't have apps at the time, and I would track my calories and I knew if I was only eating 1800 calories a day that I would be losing weight because obviously I was burning so many calories in the gym. But I wasn't meticulously tracking it, but I was counting my calories, so I would eat my food, I would come home on the refrigerator I'd put the I have a magnetic notepad this is again before the, my fitness pal and all the apps, because we didn't have the technology of the Apple iPhone at that point when I first started trying to get healthy. Um, the iPhone was very new but we didn't have all the apps. So I would take a piece of paper on a magnetic pad on the fridge and I would put 803 calories left for the day out of the 1800 I gave myself or whatever. And then I would make sure whatever I ate didn't go over that and I never accounted for the calories I was burning, which is why I think I was so successful. Now you can track it to the science and know exactly how to get yourself into the calorie deficit. So anyway, I've very much always been eat whatever I want and calories in versus calories out, input versus output right, but we all know that the calories and the quality of your calories do count when it comes to your protein and other macros. But I wasn't savvy to any of that back then.

Speaker 1:

I remember after my daughter was born in the year 2000,. The gastric bypass was a surgery that many people were having and my insurance at work would cover it. So I thought very, very strongly for years about having bariatric surgery. And then one of the people that I worked with had the gastric bypass and she had complications as you passed away and it scared the crap out of me. So I was never interested in the gastric bypass after that, but I was still very compelled thinking about bariatric surgery and other bariatric options. So after my daughter was born in 2000,. You know we're talking. Those thoughts of bariatric surgery don't go away. 10, 15, 18 years later I'm still wanting to do something because I'm not having success. So after I became the gym rat and had some success and then had, you know, some good weight loss, I never truly went all the way and then I started to gain weight and my mom got sick. So fast forward to 2000 and probably 2016, 17.

Speaker 1:

So a series of events happened and occurred. I changed jobs, I decided to become a teacher. I completely changed careers. Just a lot going on, which we all have a lot going on, right. So that's not an excuse to not take care of your health, but the short version is a lot was going 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's degree in 2012.

Speaker 1:

Started dating somebody new pretty rapidly after my divorce was final and he's now my current husband. But while we were in that transition again dating and going out to dinner a lot and stuff and not working out as much and not being in my regular routine I started to put on weight. Then my mom's health started to decline after my dad passed away. My dad passed away in March of 2016. And by 2018, I was heavy again. I lost my mom in June of 2018, and I had scheduled a gastric sleeve surgery.

Speaker 1:

So in this whole time, in this whole movement from, I would say, probably 2015 to 2018, losing my dad and figuring out that I needed to do something drastic about my health, I started researching the gastric sleeve. I had seen a lot of people had very good results. I actually thought about the lap band at one point but decided it wasn't right for me. But then I did something ridiculous. So when you're on a bariatric journey, you have to have a lot of documentation for the insurance company. So, lo and behold, I had to have six months of diets and exercise that I had tried. So of course you know I've tried them all. I've been to Jenny Craig, I've been to Weight Watchers, I've done MyFitnessPal, I've done every diet. There is right, but had I ever done it really with true integrity and intention and success? No.

Speaker 1:

So I got engaged to my boyfriend in 2014 and we were planning our wedding for 2017. Lost my dad in 2016. 2017, my mom got really sick and she started having a lot of health issues and on a fast decline and just going through a lot of struggles. So we ended up getting married in 2017. We flew to Vegas and I always had said I never wanted to be fat when I was married, right?

Speaker 1:

So in the process of doing this six months of diet and exercises to document for the surgery, I got the gastric balloon. Let me tell you something If you're out there listening and you are considering bariatric surgery, please do your research. That bariatric balloon, I thought, was going to be a temporary fix during my six months of diet and exercise to try to lose weight. I thought to myself and I actually went to see a doctor about the VSG, the vertical sleeve gastrectomy. So when I went to go have the gastric sleeve, the doctor said, well, we can do the balloon and I thought if I do the balloon, then in six months maybe I'll have had dropped 30 pounds and then my insurance will approve the sleeve, and then my insurance will approve the sleeve. So I spent $5,000. It was a very colossal waste of money.

Speaker 1:

And I got this gastric balloon and all it did was make me sick. So it's they do an endoscopy and they put the balloon in, and then they inflate it and then it's in your stomach and it's supposed to limit the amount of food and drink that you can intake and keep you full or longer. Well, I was completely sick. I had nothing but indigestion and I burped all the time. It was awful.

Speaker 1:

So the week before I was flying out to Vegas to get married in 2017, so this was like January 2017, I went back to the surgeon. I said take it out, take it out. I can't do it. I've paid $5,000. It's been a colossal waste of time and I've only lost like 13 pounds and I just couldn't do it. I didn't want to go out to Vegas and get married and not be able to eat and drink and be happy. So, again, putting food and being able to overeat as a priority, I had the balloon taken out.

Speaker 1:

Meanwhile, I went for another consultation for another surgeon. I had a friend who had the gastric sleeve and lost like 90 pounds and she did amazing and I was like who's your surgeon? I'm going to go see them. So I went to Dr Shomstein at the Cleveland clinic and I had a consultation and I loved his office and I loved his bedside manner and I said and I loved his bedside manner and I said we're going to do this. I was very fortunate that my um insurance covered it. My husband's insurance covered it.

Speaker 1:

So that journey from being getting married in 2017 and going through that hideous gastric balloon, I do not recommend that. But you know, you have to make your own decisions for your own body. But I did not have a good experience with that. It was a colossal waste of money and time and it made me sick.

Speaker 1:

So then in 2018, my mom was progressed with getting worse and I said I have to do something about my health. I'm going to have my surgery. So I scheduled my surgery for June 19th. My mom's birthday was the 18th and my mom passed away on June 8th, so I had to reschedule my surgery. So I called the lady at the Cleveland Clinic Surgical Center and I said I need to reschedule my surgery. I have to have my mom's funeral on the day that I was supposed to be having the surgery. And I said I want you to schedule it for July 10th, because that is my birthday. And she's like, well, we're already full. I said move somebody. I said that is my day, that is my gift to myself, it is my birthday and I want to give myself the gift of, you know, this new gift of health. Because, again, thinking that the 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 sad thing is we equate being thin with being successful. And again, you know, the sad thing is we equate being thin with being successful.

Speaker 1:

I remember going to my 10 year reunion and I was very heavy, very overweight, and it was almost embarrassingly to the point where I didn't. I wanted to go but I didn't. I guess at the time I didn't realize how big I was. But when you look back at pictures 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't matter if I'm a lawyer or a doctor, or I'm a successful entrepreneur. If I could be thin, then I'd be successful, and I think I felt that way because I had never been thin, never being a naturally thin person, never having what felt like success in being thin and of course, that was. Our culture was all about skinny, skinny, skinny. You had to be a Victoria's secret model, you had to be the sample size, you know, um, the whole waif model, uh, culture was how we grew up. All right.

Speaker 1:

So, going back to the surgery, I had my surgery on July 10th 2018. It was my birthday. They sang me happy birthday into the OR and it wasn't a magic pill. I lost about 67 pounds the first year and I have friends who have lost 120 pounds in the first 10 months. So the results are different for everybody. I tend to be a slow loser. It takes me a minute to put weight on. It takes me days and weeks to take it off, and I just am a slow loser and I don't know if I have a slow metabolism. I don't know. There's all the excuses you can make in the world, but I do not take off weight quickly like some people do.

Speaker 1:

So during the first year, I lost about 60, 70 pounds. Now you might say that is still significant and yes it is. But again, remember I had lost 70 pounds on my own before. So at this point I was like I don't really know what my goal weight is. I don't really know what the you know timeframe is for how I should be losing this weight and how much weight I should be losing. But I know I'm not anywhere near what I want to be.

Speaker 1:

So for the first year I lost 67 pounds. The next year I ended up losing probably about 25 and something triggered and I and I said I have to do something different. So I was in Cocoa beach one summer and the keto movement had started to be very big and I said, well, is it possible? I could be a bariatric patient and 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 of like um, eggs and avocado and berries and things that were fat burning and good for weight loss, and I made a decision and I did some research. I was like, what can I do to spark the weight loss? And I decided that I was going to set eating times.

Speaker 1:

So as a teacher, I had a very strict schedule where I had my first break around 10.05 and then I had um. After school was about 2.30 and then dinner-ish, so a dinner around 6, 6.30. So I said you know what, what if 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. And then I would play games with myself. Like you can only drink fluids in between 10, 2, and 6. So you eat your breakfast, you wait 30 minutes, because that's a bariatric thing that we do. We wait 30 minutes between eating and drinking, which is very helpful. I recommend everybody do that. And then I started doing the eating times and it really helped me because I would hydrate in between. So I was more hydrated drinking my crystal light or my water or whatever I was drinking.

Speaker 1:

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 really well. And in the next two years I actually lost 25 pounds per year. So what you think you're averaging? Half a pound a week. People want a quick fix. They're like I don't want to only lose half a pound a week. Okay, half a pound a week equates to 25 pounds a year times two years in a row.

Speaker 1:

By the time I had been at my new job because I transferred from working in a middle school to a high school. I had started working at this high school and I was 254 pounds and then by the time the couple of years passed, I was in the 100s again. So I got down to my lowest weight that I'd ever been and I finally found Wonderland. And I'll never forget the day that I was 199 pounds on the scale and I was just so excited, right. But again, the journey is never done because that is too close for comfort. Then you're still close to 200 and you're like, oh, I have to do better. So at that point I set my first goal would be one 90, and I got to 188 pounds and I stayed within that range for a good chunk of the year, again had VSG in 2018. So by 2022, I had hovered between that 188 to 193 pounds.

Speaker 1:

And the summer came and I started kind of regaining some weight and I went on a cruise. It was my first cruise in 17 years. My girlfriend took me for my birthday and I went on a cruise and I came back and I was 206 pounds, and I'm not an excessive eater or drinker because my stomach is small. I didn't stretch out my stomach. My stomach is still small. I can still tell you that I feel it when I overeat. And I was like, oh my God, if I don't get this under control, I'm going to have to go in for a revision. And I told myself, if I ever got to that point where I regained the weight and I had to go in for a revision, I would. So come back from the cruise. 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.

Speaker 1:

Because what I realized was, if I didn't get this under control, I would fail, and my worst fear was being a percentage of the population that failed after having bariatric surgery. I did not want to be the unsuccessful outcome. I wanted to be the anomaly. I wanted to be the challenging outcome. I want it to be the anomaly. I want it to be the the the challenging the odds and beating the odds population that kept the weight off and didn't regain it. And I had friends that had gastric bypass that regained all the weight and then some.

Speaker 1:

And I said how could this be? When your stomach is the size of a thumb? How is it possible that this could happen to you? Well, even with a small stomach, that this could happen to you? Well, even with a small stomach, you could overeat. So I always use the example that I could eat something small once an hour. I could take a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts and I could eat one an hour for a 12 hour day and it would be very unhealthy and it would be about 3,600 calories for the day and I would gain weight. So it is possible, and I didn't want to be that person.

Speaker 1:

I was horrified at the thought of failure after having the bariatric surgery. So what I did was I started researching different things I could do differently to shake things up. And then I had seen a post of somebody in a bariatric community that I followed on Instagram and she posted a picture of her Manjaro pen and I was like what is this? And I'll never forget it Cause, like her, her caption said, I'm not sure how we got here, but I now need an adjunct tool for my weight loss journey. The surgery wasn't enough. I need something else. So when we when we talk about the gastric sleeve, we talk about it as being a tool and you still have to put in the work. Right, it's a tool in your toolbox, but you still need other tools. You need other resources, you need other things. You have to do. It's not magic. So I saw her post and it hit me and I was like, oh my God, if this lady has to use an adjunct method to help her lose weight, maybe it could work for me and maybe I need it.

Speaker 1:

Then I started talking to a friend of mine who was going to have the gastric sleeve and she went to her doctor and her doctor said there's new medications on the market that are helping people with diabetes and some of the side effects are weight loss. Why don't you try that instead? And if you still don't have success, then you'll have the surgery. And she was doing great. So I went to the doctor. I actually went to her doctor Funny, 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 nurse practitioner and I said, I'm very unhappy.

Speaker 1:

I was 188 pounds at my lowest and now I'm almost a year later to 13. It's no good. I'm you know. It's too close for comfort for me to 13,. Another five pounds would be 218. Another five pounds would be 223. Next thing you know, you're 230. Next thing you know, you're 235. Next thing you know you're 240 and it snowballs and I'll be 300 pounds again. And at my heaviest weight I was 314 pounds. The day I had my gastric sleeve surgery I was 301 pounds.

Speaker 1:

I'm not proud of that, but it is who I was. So I can't be ashamed. I'm not going to be ashamed anymore. I'm not going to have guilt and shame. I wasn't a morbidly obese person and when I decided to take charge of my health as my birthday gift to myself after losing my parents young, I decided that's it. You know, 73 was too young to lose my dad. He was mentally there and he wanted to still be active and do all the things and he loved to be out and about and my mom hated to be stuck in the house and depressed. So losing my mom at 77 and my dad at 73, it's too young for me. I want to live, to be a hundred. I want to live to be a hundred and terrorize my kids.

Speaker 1:

So, anyway, talk to the doctor and we started the Manjaro, which, for those of you who don't know, the Manjaro is terzapatide. There are two weight loss drugs out on the market and they have different branded names, but the terzapatide is. I'm going to actually pull it up so I can give you good information here. It's an anti-diabetic medication used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, okay, and for weight loss, so it is what they call a GLP medicine. So originally I was on Monjaro and Monjaro is trisepatide, so you might've heard of Ozempic and Wagovi, that is, semiglutide. Manjaro and Zepbound are is terzepatide. Okay, and it's. They call it a twin creation, all right. So on November 1st I'll never forget I went I went on Halloween to the doctor and I was 213 pounds. So on November 1st I started Monjaro.

Speaker 1:

Now Monjaro is a medicine that is used for type two diabetes, but it also has good side effects of weight loss. Anybody who has type two diabetes and I used to work for a company that sold diabetic testing supplies Anybody who has type two diabetes. They say you have to monitor your diet and exercise and get some weight off because your insulin receptors are stretched out when you're overweight. Okay, so the weight loss is a natural um you know benefit that's going to help you with being able to process your glucose. So terzapatide is the ingredient that is in Manjaro and now Zepbound. Manjaro is the drug that is approved for people with diabetes. Zepbound is a branded name of the same terzepatide. For people who don't have diabetes, like me, I've never had diabetes, even when I was 300 pounds, I had beautiful labs.

Speaker 1:

So terzepatide targets the glucogen-like peptide 1 receptor and the glucose-dependent encylotropic polypeptide receptor to stimulate weight loss. So the GLP and the GLP-1 receptors. It's a twin creation. It targets both. Okay, semiglutide, the ingredient that's in Ozempic and Wagovi, only targets one of their receptors. So when you talk about what's the difference between the medications, now terzapatide, it helps because it targets both receptors. So the GIP and the GLP-1. The semiglutide only targets one. So I am not a physician, I am not giving you medical advice, I am not an expert, but what I'm telling you is the terzapatide is a twin creation. It treats both of the hormone receptors in the brain that help you to control hunger, and then the semaglutide only targets the one. So if I had to choose. For my own personal self, I would say the terzapatide is better.

Speaker 1:

Now, with that said, in November November 1st I started taking Monjaro and I had great results. I was not sick, I had no nausea, no side effects. I had a great result with it and by January I was down 25 pounds at least. And I had a great, great result. Unfortunately, my insurance decided you're not diabetic, you don't need Monjaro, and they canceled me off of having that 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 doctor and we started to do the semiglutide, which again only targets the one receptor.

Speaker 1:

It's not the better of the medications in my opinion, but I was like, if my insurance will cover the Wagovi, which Wagovi is approved for the weight loss? The Manjaro was only approved for 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 loss versus only FDA approved to treat diabetes. So when you're dealing with insurance companies and diagnosis codes, you know they wanted me to have a diagnosis code of diabetes, which I never had. The Wagovi was approved for weight loss. So we went on that instead.

Speaker 1:

So then again, it's a path. You know it's. Every four weeks you increase your dosage and you're on a six-month path taking these medications. So I was about I don't have the exact numbers, but probably ended 2023 around back in the 180s for sure and I said to myself, okay, now that I'm back to 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 a couple pound fluctuation. You have the holidays, things, not drinking your water properly, but for the most part, I'm on my medicine, I stick to it, and I got all the way up to the top of the Wigovi, which was the 2.4.

Speaker 1:

So back in the fall of 2023, the ZepBound, finally I believe it was fall of 2023. It could have been spring 2024. But the ZepBound finally came available as FDA approved for weight loss. So Monjaro and ZepBound are the exact same medicine. They are terzepatide, the twin creation. They are the ones that I prefer. However, I don't have diabetes, so I don't get Monjaro, I get ZepBound. So I talked to my doctor about going back on the Zepbound now that the insurance would cover it because it is now FDA approved for weight loss, so there's a diabetes version and a weight loss version. They are the same drug.

Speaker 1:

There's a lot of confusion too, because if you are not overweight enough and you can't get it, or your insurance doesn't pay for it overweight enough and you can't get it, or your insurance doesn't pay for it a lot of the pharmacies and doctors and med spas are doing a compounded version. I have the brand, which is an injectable pen. It is from the manufacturer direct. You can get a compounded version from the pharmacy through your doctor that you inject in a vial. I personally am very thankful that my insurance covers it and I'm staying on the brand name. Today it's July 2024.

Speaker 1:

I've been back on the ZepFound for several months now. I'm at a 7.5. You start out every four weeks you increase. 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, I think Right now. Today I think I screwed up. Okay, today I am actually on still the ZepBound 10, 10 milligrams pen pound 10, 10 milligrams pen. So it's like the fourth level because it's 2.55, 7.5, 10. So I'm on the 10. And I stand today at the time of this recording I was 165 pounds on the scale. I usually fluctuate between 163 to 165 pounds. So again, what am I doing?

Speaker 1:

I am taking a GLP-1 GIP medication that helps me manage my brain, because you can make my stomach as small as possible, but it doesn't treat the brain. You can tell somebody till they'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 I crave, I want, I'm hungry, I need, I have to have, it's hard to manage. So what this medication does for me is it takes the hunger away. So if I'm not hungry, I'm not thinking about food.

Speaker 1:

Normally, and again, with my set eating times, I stay on track. I have my iced coffee in the morning. I put a protein shake in it, so I'm getting 30 grams of protein first thing in the morning. By 10 am I'm eating my cottage cheese and fruit, or my overnight oats or whatever I'm making with my protein powder. Am I'm eating my cottage cheese and fruit or my overnight oats or whatever I'm making with my protein powder. By two o'clock I'm eating usually a sandwich or some kind of salad or whatever I want. Or a burger, but I'm eating half. And then by dinnertime I'm eating whatever I want, but I eat very little and the medication makes you kind of like sick of your food after a few bites. So then you're like, oh, I'm done, I've had enough. It makes you feel full, it makes you feel satisfied and it takes those cravings away.

Speaker 1:

What I can tell you is I love sweets and I still eat chocolate every single day. I don't deprive myself, but that's my mentality, kind of the Weight Watchers mentality, where it's like you could eat whatever you want, but within your points budget. I eat whatever I want within my calorie budget, but right now I'm not really tracking calories. For the first two years after my bariatric surgery, I did my fitness pal. I was meticulous, I tracked my calories, I tracked my protein, my carbs and my fat macros. I don't want to do it anymore. I don't want to track fat macros. I don't want to do it anymore. I don't want to track.

Speaker 1:

However, I am getting to another milestone in my life. So I'm getting ready to start tracking protein grams again, because really all I care about is protein and I follow this one influencer who had the same surgery as me and I love the fact that she just counts protein. I think it's great because it's simple. I don't feel overwhelmed. You have to do what works best for you, but she just counts protein. Obviously, the higher protein is not going to be filled with a lot of garbage for the most part. But you could eat a 40-gram protein bar that still has some sugar and still has some carbs and still has higher calories because it's got 40 grams of protein. But you could also drink a protein shake for 30 grams of protein that has 160 calories. So it's all about what you like, what you prefer.

Speaker 1:

What's going to help you be successful and what helps me stay on track and be successful is allowing myself to eat a Hershey's chocolate bar every day, and that's what I do, because I love chocolate and I'm not giving it up. And at the point that I decide I'm going to give it up, and that's a different story, but right now I'm not ready and I love chocolate, so I have it every day and I don't feel deprived, and I think that's what helps to keep me successful is, I don't deprive myself. Now, with that said, I don't drink a lot of alcohol. I'm not a big drinker, so a lot of my friends that are sauced up on the wine every night and then complaining they can't lose weight. Well, that's part of your problem, um, people who are constantly buying their coffee out every day and not putting good quality stuff in their coffee. I drink a cold brew and I dump a premier protein shake in it every day, and I know that I'm starting my day with 30 grams of protein and that, to me, is a great attribute to my success. Starting to move my body more and try to get activity in has been very helpful. The one regret I have is not working out and lifting weights more. So, as I wrap up, I'm going to tell you that there's no magic pill.

Speaker 1:

The surgery was a very drastic and needed step for me because I was morbidly obese and my doctor said I was going to take 10, 15, 20, 25 years off my life if I didn't do something about my weight. And I'm trying to do whatever I can to control to be healthy. I can't control what happens to me out there. If I get hit in a car accident, that's not my fault, but I can control, trying to at least not be morbidly obese. It's a lifelong struggle. It's a daily battle, every single day. I think about every meal, what I'm putting in my mouth, and it's just hard, it's hard, it's hard. I don't know anybody who's skinny, who isn't hungry. I don't know anybody who isn't in the best shape of their life, that doesn't work hard for it and sacrifice for it and spend, isn't in the best shape of their life, that doesn't work hard for it and sacrifice for it and spend those hours in the gym. So I think it's all about what you want to do for yourself.

Speaker 1:

But when people ask me, how did I do it? I'm very transparent. I had bariatric surgery. It's not a magic pill. You still have to do the work. I ended up needing an adjunct method to help me with my journey, so I take weight loss medication. Prior to that, I had tried Contrave. That was very, very, very helpful. Prior to that, I did ephetamine, but it speeds you up and I didn't like how it made my heart feel and I don't want to have heart attacks. So obviously I'm not saying it'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 tend to have higher blood pressure issues when I'm on it. So the only tip I can give you is just take it one day at a time.

Speaker 1:

Everybody wants a quick fix and everybody says, oh, but how long did it take you? Did you lose the weight fast? Everybody wants to lose the weight fast. You don't want to lose the weight fast, you want to lose it forever. So get out of that weight loss fast mentality and let's lose it forever. I know this weight that I've lost I'm never putting back on, because I'm never going to allow myself, because I will do anything I have to to continue this journey to be healthy. And if it means I take a weight loss medication, so be it. If I had cancer, I would treat my cancer. If I had diabetes, I would treat my diabetes. If I had a skin disease, I would take medication for that. There's no reason in this world to suffer with obesity and not treat this disease. So whatever I have to do, I'm going to do, and that's how I feel about it.

Speaker 1:

I also feel it's really important to put good quality food in your body. So I'm trying to like really get rid of the fast food and limit that, like when I lost weight previously. I love a McDonald's cheeseburger and I would have a McDonald's cheeseburger a couple of times a week. 300 calories. I was a calorie counter but I know that it's not the best choice for my body to eat fast food. So I love to make my own burgers in the air fryer and I'll make chicken burgers or turkey burgers or beef burgers and I will air fry them and they're just delicious, you know. But it's so great to have the world of social media and all the influencers that are showing you how to have these amazing meals for 500 calories or less with 30 to 40 grams of protein. And then you've got like the keto snacks guy and he shows you how to make low carb this and cottage cheese that, and there's so many ways to infuse the protein and have things that taste good, that are a little healthier for you, and I think you just have to do what works for you. But if staying on a calorie budget and incorporating fast food because you're on the go is the way you need to do it, just do it. You can always improve the quality of your calories later.

Speaker 1:

I don't eat a lot of fruit. I love fruit, but nutritionally I need the protein more. But I do, every now and then, like to have a little fruit and I try to keep it in berries and fat burning fruits, you know, um, but I love to vacation, I love to reward myself. Um. So, wrapping it up, I'm in the final stage of my journey. I think the journey never ends because it's a daily struggle, but in December I'm having my loose skin removal surgery, I'm having my tummy tuck, having a breast lift, and I'm very excited for my mommy makeover because it's been a long time coming. I had my surgery six years ago. I think it's well-deserved to get rid of this extra loose skin that's standing in my way and I'm very much looking forward to that. It's going to be a difficult recovery, but I'm excited about it and I just want to thank you so much for listening.

Speaker 1:

I am not a weight loss expert. I am not a coach. I've never wanted to be a coach or weight loss influencer on Instagram. The only thing I wanted to do with this episode was share my story, because people ask me how did you do it? How do you do it, how do you stay fit, how do you keep the weight off? And how I do. It is simple.

Speaker 1:

Every meal, I try to incorporate protein, try to get my water in and I just try to not overeat and it's difficult, but these medications help. They work. They've worked very well for me. I'm very blessed and I'm thankful and I just want to thank you for listening. So share this episode with somebody who's struggling and is curious about the weight loss medications. There are amazing bariatric communities out there if you decide that you want support. But I can tell you that if you are over 300 pounds or you are morbidly obese, the gastric sleeve, I believe, did save my life and now I'm putting in the work to continue to keep that journey going and keep healthy. So thank you so much for listening to.

Speaker 1:

Did we Just Become Best Friends? So today my best friend is Terzepetide and I am so happy to be on the journey and my final thought is don't shame people for being on Ozempic or Wagobe or Manjaro or Zepon. Don't shame people. People should be on whatever they need to be to be healthy, no matter what. It's about health and making good decisions one meal at a time. So I hope you have an amazing rest of your day. Thanks for tuning in. Thanks for listening. I'll see you next time.