Confession time. Just want to caveat by saying this is hard for me. I grew up skinny. Like so skinny, the adults in my life, outside of family, always assumed I had an ED. This was just normal for me. The freshman 15 most college kids dread just made me look normal. So, to end up at my current weight now is mortifying. And when I’m mortified, I just put my head in the sand and ignore it.
Motherhood, work, work travel, commuting, my cooking hobby, and of course, perimenopause all got in the way of living a healthy lifestyle. Oh and let’s not forget wine as a coping mechanism. I can say that wine or alcohol is not a problem for me. That’s not denial, but it’s clear that I drink more when I’m not active.
My wake-up call slash ah ha moment were the wildly unpleasant effects of that mid-life change we women are blessed with. Hot flashes, shortness of breath, unadulterated rage, etc. I’ll spare you my list, bc any woman in the same boat knows how long it is.
I was tired of feeling like shit, looking like shit, not wanting to go out with friends or go to concerts, dress up for anything bc I was fat, my skin looked like shit, and my hair was out of control. I used my daughter’s crazy busy dance and school schedules as excuses to not fix myself. My daily routine consisted of waking up, doom scrolling, commuting to work, spend 8 hours in front of my computer (unless traveling for work), picking my kid up from school, commuting again to get her to dance an hour away, sitting in my car binge watching some true crime show on Netflix, commuting home, cooking dinner (if home by 8…which was rare), staying up too late, going to be, and repeating over and over. It was a cycle I just couldn’t find the motivation to break.
Well, she graduated from high school and chose a college dance program that is an 18 hr drive away. It’s time to fix my life. I can’t use motherhood as an excuse. So, after about a week of “online research” I begrudgingly made an appointment with a MIDI Health doctor. Because, let’s face it, I was too chickenshit for in-person. She put me on HRT. After about 3 weeks, I started noticing improvement in my symptoms, didn’t feel like I was “dying” anymore. This is important to my story because I had a realization that I didn’t have to feel terrible. A small but significant step to finding the motivation to improve my health.
The HRT, while a miracle in itself however, it did not address my insane weight gain or how I felt in a body that had betrayed me. During my follow-up with Midi, I broached this topic. Her response was, “Would you be interested in trying a GLP-1?” To which, I emphatically replied, “yes”.
And this is the moment, my mindset and my life changed.