Ozempic: My Truth
Someone asked me the other day if I’d ever been tempted to do Ozempic. Absolutely, I have! I think you’d be the anomaly if you haven’t thought about taking full advantage of one of the medications like Ozempic.
I have many close friends who have lost substantial amounts of weight over the last 2 years because of it. Just like I have many close friends who have lost substantial amounts of weight because of weight loss surgery. It’s called, ‘the chemical bypass,’ for a reason. Both of these are tools to help you achieve a desired outcome.
However, they are temporary tools to band-aid a bigger problem. Your stomach will inevitably stretch back out. The creators of Ozempic have said that in order to have long term success you must stay on it for life. But, can you really stay on a medication that causes decline in kidney and liver function, stomach paralysis, loss of appetite, pancreatitis, tachycardia, nausea, and thyroid cancer, for life? The bigger problem not being, that you’re overweight, but that you do not have the lifestyle behaviors and patterns to facilitate healthy weight management long term.
Ozempic won’t give you that, weight loss surgery won’t give you that— they might help as a tool to kick-start the process, but if you never get to the root of the problem, you are doomed to repeat the outcome.
Hunger is supremely important. It’s one of the bodies only signals to let us know that it’s suffering from nutritional deficiency. You lose that, you lose your health. Skinny is not the end all be all, we must remember that. If you want to be well into your older age, you need to discover, prize, and value the importance of learning how to nourish your body and why it’s important.
Our bodies will naturally create GLP-1 when they’re given the proper nutrients. The hunger signal will naturally turn off because the body is nourished.
All that to say, yes, I’ve thought about it. I even went as far as scheduling a consultation with my physician. She told me I was not a candidate. She informed me that anyone with thyroid issues should not be prescribed these medications because of the risk of thyroid cancer.
About a year later, I was tempted again. After a year of trying to lose weight, and adding another 10 pounds, I was fed up. Instead of returning to my primary physician, I did a consult with an online doctor that a social media influencer was promoting to her audience for the meds.
I paid the $25 consult fee, the doctor called me and we spoke for 2 minutes and he sent the prescription for Tirzepatide- a more potent form of the weight loss drug- that targets two parts of the brain instead of one. All I had to do was pay $500 a month and my hunger would be gone.
Brady, my husband, said, “If you decide to do that, I’m taking out a life insurance policy on you.” His gut has always said that in 20 years we’re going to see documentaries about all the people with life long issues because of these medications.
There is always a bill. Nothing comes easy. And you can pay now, or you can pay+interest later, but you’re always going to pay. Honestly, $500 a month seemed reasonable to quiet the food noise that I’d been constantly struggling with for the last couple years.
… but I’d gotten that noise to quiet before. Why had I lost the belief that I could again?
It’s because no one else in my community was managing without the band-aids anymore. I cannot express to you enough the importance of community. Someone said to me, “If 5 of your friends start working out, you’ll be the 6th. If 5 of your friends are losing weight, you’ll be the 6th. Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.” Your sphere of influence so heavily effects what you believe to be true.
Whether you believe you can or you can’t, you’re right. So many in my circle were using these drugs to lose weight that I started to forget that you could lose weight without them. That it was possible to turn off the food noise and feel satisfied without them. And I’m the girl who lost 125 pounds naturally in a year and then wrote five books about it!
Let me be clear. There is nothing wrong with a risk/benefit analysis and deciding to use one of these tools with informed consent. The risks could be at life-saving benefit for some! I absolutely support that. But, many of those who are taking it not are not at great risk, or even morbidly obese. It’s become a vanity drug that has caused huge shortages for those who actually need it.
I’d be remiss to ignore the cost. The cost that for me, in the end, was too steep a potential price.
So, how can we increase our GLP-1 hormone naturally? It’s actually pretty easy. It all goes back to J.E.R.F. Just eat real food.
Eat more fiber, protein, healthy fat, fruits, and vegetables. Even certain supplements like berberine, curcumin, and ginseng have been proven to boost production of the GLP-1 hormone. Exercise and coffee too!
Basically, keep food simple and from the earth. Move your body and be mindful of what you put in your mouth. Respect your hunger and honor your fullness. Rinse and repeat and you’ll be alright.
I’d doubted and forgotten this but I’m shutting out the world noise and trusting in what I know. And what I know is that I’m no longer interested in temporary fixes but life long solutions.
P.S. I’ve lost ten pounds in the last 25 days. It’s still possible, I just had to get honest with myself about my stress levels, water intake, sleep patterns, and yes, food choices. Then I had to dive deeper and ask what was holding me back?
The answer, I didn’t want to do the hard thing again. I didn’t think it was fair that even though I eat SO well, that I continually gain. But I wasn’t really eating that well and my body was signaling that I needed to clean myself up, internally and externally. I know what my body needs for me to thrive— it doesn’t tolerate gluten well, I’m lactose intolerant, and it really struggles with highly processed foods, even the healthy ones.
It likes to drink a lot of water, get a lot of sleep, and prefers long walks and hikes over intense HIIT workouts. It has a really difficult time carrying stress and needs me to be aware, so I don’t shoulder situations and a work load that’s too heavy for it to carry.
So, a little over three weeks ago, I did the hard thing. I started again, and I’m so glad I did. I feel less stressed, more energized, my creative juices have begun to flow once more, and I’m starting to like what I see in the mirror again. Not because I’m losing weight, but because I’m really proud of the fact that it’s just not in me to quit.
Follow along on stories (tap here for faceboook, tap here for instagram) as I show you daily how to lose weight naturally. We talk about mindset, making adjustments, staying motivated, and food— we talk a lot about food.
For simple recipes to get you started, tap here.
If you would like a more in-depth guide on how to start with simple recipes and a meal plan, check out my book Instant Loss Cookbook. It is on sale now! I also have a budget-friendly book with tips on how to keep your costs down this year, with meal plans and grocery lists. Tap here for Instant Loss on a Budget!
Check out my book Dear Body, What I lost, What I gained, and What I’ve learned along the way! Everyone knows the story of how I lost 125 pounds in one year but very few know why I gained it. I take you to my most secret places and I talk about my struggle with food addiction and how I’ve started to recover. Tap here to read more!
