Small Changes, Big Results: My Journey to Weight Loss

My Story

When I moved back to Miami from Orlando, in 2018, I was not at my skinniest, but I was also not at my heaviest. However, fast forward to the years between 2020 and 2022 and I was definitely also not at my healthiest. My weight, and I, seemed to just blow up. A lot of people would just blame this severe increase in weight on COVID and what became/was 2020…we were home, things were shut down, people were dying, etc. But honestly, I can’t do that. That wasn’t the case, at least not in my story.

I can’t honestly remember a time where I wasn’t constantly trying to lose weight, be skinny, or look a certain way. Since before I even started high school, I was always compared to my friends. I mean, my best friends are all tiny (in the weight sense, not height!). Even my tallest friend, who has been my best friend since we were four, looked like a model. So, the comparisons were always there. I wasn’t fat, but I was athletic and had a wider body build. But at 12, 15, and even 18, I didn’t understand what that meant.

Here are examples of what I looked like as a kid and during high school.

My weight gain during these years (2020-2022) seemed to come out of nowhere and I definitely didn’t even realize it. Since I was a teenager, my weight has always fluctuated. But in 2021, when things finally started to reopen and life went back to this new normal, post-COVID life, I turned to my usual weight loss tools: Weight Watchers and Dr. Lipman. These were both tools I’ve used in the past to help kick start or rejuvenate my weight loss. What I didn’t know was that this time, it was different, and it took me over a year to learn that. Weight Watchers worked to help me lose 15 pounds. Lipman helped me lose the same 15 pounds again, plus maybe 20 more, but I was gaining them back as fast as I was losing them. 

Here’s photographic evidence of my weight fluctuation over the years: from 2008 (when I graduated high school) to 2013 (pre-pregnancy and during pregnancy) to 2014, 2018, and 2022.

This Happened Once Before (Kind-Of)

I have only even been this heavy, or as close to it, once before. Let me take you back to the year 2009, when I was struggling with gallbladder issues (we just didn’t even know it). It all began on my boyfriend-at-the-time dad’s birthday, January 3rd, 2009. We were at his house, celebrating, when I got this excruciating pain in my stomach. I’m talking about what I assume it would feel like to have a knife plunged into your stomach, then twisted. It was so bad that I had to go to the hospital. That visit lasted roughly a week. The conclusion? Well, this is where it gets fun. The Urgent Card doctor told me that no one would agree with him, because I was only 18, but it was my gallbladder. The Emergency Room doctor, who was a pediatric emergency doctor since I had just turned 18, could not figure out the problem but it could be my appendix. He recommended taking it out. I said (in MY version of the words of Mr. Big said on SATC) abso-fucking-lutely NOT. No one was taking anything out until it was proven to be the issue. This “attack” happened two more times over the span of six months, but no matter what we tried: we could not figure out what the issue was. It wasn’t until the third attack and hospital stay, roughly in October of that year, that we decided to change doctors. Once I did, he figured out very quickly that it was what the original Urgent Care doctor had said. He even went as far as to say that they had done the exact test we needed, it was just done incorrectly. The day after my 19th birthday, I went back to the hospital to re-do this exam. Exactly one month later, my gallbladder was finally removed. That was on December 14, 2009. 

Roughly ten and a half months and 76-pounds later, I was at my heaviest EVER and the pain was finally nonexistent. This marked a turning point in my life, and it was also the first time I saw Dr. Lipman. The weight came off quickly after that, and I never looked back. I mean, even after I had Enzo and went through a severe depression, I didn’t struggle as much with losing weight. I would go through bouts where my weight would fluctuate, but it never got as bad as 2009. Until it happened again between 2020 and 2022. 

I could not find pictures in my own phone or computer from this time, but I found some on my dad’s FB account. I ask in advance for forgiveness since the quality is anything but great. However, for the purposes of this post and complete transparency, I wanted to include them anyway. You can’t see the insane weight gain very well in these pictures, but you can see the inflammation in my face. When I gain weight, which you’ll see more of a little further down, you’ll see that my face is the first place you notice the weight gain/loss.

My Weight Just Blew Up

I went up a whopping four sizes. I was a 33/14 in US women sizing. My entire life, I have been between a 28/29 (28 on my good years, 29 when my weight would fluctuate). Like I mentioned, I tried to change my diet. I went back to Weight Watchers. I even went to Dr. Lipman again. I would work out at Orangetheory and take medication (both over the counter and prescribed). I joined a gym and worked out with a trainer. None of this worked though. I was at my heaviest and could not tell you why. 

Honestly, I wasn’t even that concerned…it’s like I became ignorant and just ignored the fact that my health was obviously in jeopardy and something bigger was going on. It truly was not until my aunt voiced her concern that I realized how bad it had gotten. Ironic, considering I was literally over 200 pounds and a size 14 (which had never happened before). I wasn’t even eating badly. I mean, do I eat like a five-year-old? Yes, absolutely. Do I like sweets? Absolutely. Was I constantly munching on junk food? No, not really. I mean I never said no to junk food, but I was not eating enough of it to get this big. 

So, What Changed?

Looking back, just seeing my graduation pictures from my second master’s degree makes me cringe. I was unrecognizable. I AM unrecognizable. To this day, people at work (who are not part of my day-to-day role) will stop me and say that I look like a completely different person…and I am. I am a different person, but for several reasons.

It took me going to an endocrinologist to figure out that what I was going through is obviously not normal. My primary care doctor just told me to keep trying Weight Watchers and it would work itself out. But my Endo said it was beyond that. I had extremely high cholesterol and high A1C levels. She told me that I was prediabetic. THIS shook me to my core. My paternal uncle was prediabetic and I did not want to live my life with my diet constantly scrutinized like he had it.

Starting Medication

Once the blood tests came back confirming everything my Endo had concluded, she started me on Mounjaro 0.5 mg with the plan to increase to 2.5 mg in a month. This plan failed since my insurance did not want to cover the medication. For two months, I went without any medication and in January 2023 I started my journey with Wegovy (semaglutide). I lost roughly 20 pounds on the first dose, but then I remained there for several months. It wasn’t until my doctor increased my dose to 2.4 mg that the weight loss and inches started to come off. A year and a half later, I am almost at the goal weight we established.

I inject the medication once a week on different parts of my stomach (you could also inject your thigh or the back of your arm, but I have found that the stomach works best for me). Since beginning the injections in January of 2023, I have lost 85 pounds. My cholesterol and A1C levels are doing much better and are finally in the range that they need to be.

I look, and feel, like I’ve lost this entire other person with my weight loss. We can call this other person Debbie. Debbie and I have happily parted ways, and I hope to never encounter her again. Even during my weight gain, I kept doing my RunDisney and half marathon races. I just felt like I was suffering while partaking in those events. I couldn’t breathe as well, I would get severely winded and tired, etc. Now, I can walk 13 miles easier, and I don’t feel like I need my inhaler every half an hour. My confidence has also started to return. That’s not to say I wasn’t “faking it till I made it”, but it’s different now. 

Here is a photo timeline of the progress documented during from when I started the medication to where I am today. I would say the biggest, noticeable, difference happened between March 2023 and June 2023, closely followed by August 2023. Since August 2023 to today, I’ve been consistently losing inches and creeping towards the goal weight my doctor and I committed to from the beginning.

Dealing with Side Effects and Setbacks

There were several side effects that I encountered on my journey with semaglutide/Wegovy, but it never got so bad that I had to stop. I had a lot of nausea at the start of taking the medication and some indigestion, but I quickly learned that drinking water and doubling my protein intake helped curb those side effects. My eating patterns have also changed, and I get full extremely quickly. I tend to stick to kid size meals. I also wait until later in the day to have my lunch. 

My Recommendation

My biggest recommendation when people ask me what I eat or do to continue to curb the side effects or to not be hungry is to drink protein shakes. When my cousin started the injections, I told her to triple her protein intake and drink a lot of water. I struggle with this, because I’m never hungry, but I try to drink as many proteins shakes as possible to make sure my protein intake remains high. You also need to be mindful of the economic impact that being on this medication has. Some insurances do not cover the medication, so the copay is high, and you will need to replace your entire wardrobe several times throughout your weight loss journey. I also spend a lot of time on TikTok learning tricks and tips from other people on the same journey as me. It helps to see other people going through the same thing I am.

As I mentioned, I started on the lowest dose of semaglutide and am now at the highest.  I know that taking the medication is usually a long-term commitment and I do plan to discuss tapering off Wegovy once I reach the weight my doctor and I are happy with. I am almost there, I just need five more pounds.

In Conclusion

During this journey, I learned that I love reformer Pilates and that taking control of your weight loss doesn’t just change your perspective in things, but it changes your life. The best thing to come out of this situation is that my weight no longer holds me back from living my life to the fullest. I am the most confident I’ve ever been and am slowly starting to wear two-piece bathing suits (comfortably) again. I hope to be able to continue to own my weight loss and confidence even after I start to taper off the medication, because for the first time I’m completely aware of how important it is to take care of your health. Weight loss is one thing, but being healthy is something completely different. My goal has always been to get healthy, even if losing weight was a large part of getting healthy.