Why I’m Quitting GLP1’s
I was at my heaviest weight and lowest self-esteem after the pandemic. When my primary care doctor suggested a GLP1 to help me lose weight, I jumped at the chance. I had seen people on social media praising these medications and I had seen coworkers lose a lot of weight with no complaints. I wish someone had told me what the journey I was about to go on would actually look like. That’s why I’m sharing my weight loss journey. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows for everyone. Sure, you could quit, but there are a whole host of reasons you end up staying on the meds. I went through that cycle countless times over the last few years, but I’m finally done and I’ll tell you why.
Previous Weight Loss Journeys
Starting in college, I tried a whole host of different diets. They included Slim Fast, low carb, Weight Watchers (now WW), low carb/high fat and intermittent fasting to name a few. None of them were sustainable long term. I’d lose some weight, plateau and then not know where to go from there. I always ended up gaining the weight back. Each time a diet didn’t work, it brought on feelings of devastation and failure. That feeling of failure led to even lower self-esteem and depression. Looking back, I also know that not dressing for my body type and hating my clothes played into it, but I didn’t realize that at the time. I was also trying to date and felt like I would never meet anyone that wanted a plus-size girlie. I finally got to a point where I just told myself “this is as good as it’s ever gonna get” and tried to move on, ignoring how ugly I felt every time I left the house.
My GLP1 Journey
I know I’m not alone when I say the pandemic was hard. Most were stuck at home while I was stuck between going crazy at home and being in the hospital surrounded by those that were sick. At home, I ate my boredom. At work, I ate my anxiety. I have always struggled with emotional eating, but the pandemic sent it into overdrive. My primary care physician assured me that the GLP1 medications would get rid of my hunger and I wouldn’t struggle with the emotional eating so much. She was right, but maybe a little too right. The daily, overwhelming nausea was new territory for me. I wasn’t just not hungry, I had no desire to eat at all. The “sulfur burps” don’t help either. I lived on applesauce and ginger ale for months. When we would go out for date night, I would eat what I could and take the rest home, but everything I ate would come back up later and the mere sight of the leftovers would draw a gag from my throat. After a few months on a certain dose of GLP1, my body would finally stabilize and I would feel good enough to eat and keep it down. That is also about the time, however, that it’s time to bump up to the next dose. I found myself anticipating the overwhelming nausea and would start to shake during my injections. Before you ask, I did speak with my doctor about this and she told me I just wasn’t taking in enough protein. So I started protein loading the few hours leading up to my injection and the morning after, to no avail. When I told my doctor about that, she told me it was a known side effect and something I had to live with to let the medication do what it was supposed to do.
Through all of this, I was actually losing weight. That one mere fact kept me going and kept me doing the injections. It seems crazy to me in this moment that I was simultaneously physically miserable and mentally excited. The thought of being skinny like I was “supposed to be” led me to tell myself that the misery was just par for the course. Beauty is pain after all, right? After losing about 40 pounds on the first medication, I plateaued and began to get discouraged. Mentally, without the reward of a smaller number on the scale, I was questioning everything. This was the first time I toyed with the idea of getting off the GLP1 medications altogether. Before I could make up my mind, my doctor switched my medication to a different GLP1 to see if my body responded to that one instead. At the simple suggestion I could lose more weight, I started the new medication. Let me tell you, the cycle started all over again. Over the last six months, I have weighed (ha!) all of my options and have officially decided to stop the GLP1 medications. Now let’s talk about why.
Why I’m Quitting
Side Effects
You probably saw this one coming, but the nausea, vomiting and sulfur burps have made my daily life absolutely miserable. I am confident I can find a happy medium between GLP1 misery and over-eating my emotions to maintain my current weight. I will tell you that even if I gained all of the pandemic weight back, I would consider weight loss surgery before I ever consider going back on one of these medications. I deserve a much better quality of life than this.
Poor Quality of Life
As I stated in my first reason, my quality of life on these medications is very low and I deserve a lot more. I only get one chance on this earth and I would rather be pluz-size and feeling good than skinny and miserable. My chronic illness symptoms are enough to deal with and already limit what I can do, I refuse to let a medication limit me further.
I Learned How to Dress My Body Shape and Finally Feel Good in my Clothes
Starting a capsule wardrobe last year helped me figure out how to dress my body shape in a flattering way. I finally have a wardrobe I adore and feel good in. I’m just not motivated to continue losing weight just to fit in to smaller clothes. If you want to begin your own capsule wardrobe journey, start here.
I No Longer Need to be Skinny to be Confident
First, this is not me advocating for everyone to remain overweight. Everyone’s needs and journeys are different, this is just where I’m at in my own journey. At the end of the day, my weight is nobody’s business except me and my healthcare provider. Same goes for you. If anyone doesn’t like how my body looks, then they shouldn’t look. Simple. I feel great and that’s what ultimately matters.
So What’s the Point?
I want to make a couple things clear. First, GLP1 medications are used for other conditions as well as weight loss so I realize there are people that may not be able to stop the medications like I can. All I can say is that I hope you are not experiencing the same side effects I was and that the medication is actually helping you. Second, if you are on a GLP1 for weight loss and it worked great for you with no side effects, that’s great! It’s not, however; my experience and not even close to why I’m writing this. My whole goal here is to share my story so if there is anyone else out there wanting to stop their GLP1 and just embrace their plus-size bodies, they know they are not alone. You are not a failure for choosing yourself over what society says. Finally, this is not medical advice or a demand for you to stop taking your GLP1 medication. Always consult your physician prior to making changes to your medication regimen.
This is basically a long-winded story for me to tell you that knowing your worth and what kind of life you want and deserve is not wrong. Do what makes you happy! Let me know in the comments below if you relate to any of this and what your experience has been.
Until Next Time,
Be Happy!
