Changes…

Yesterday, I put up a cryptic post on Facebook that read NEW YEAR, NEW ME.

Lots of comments on that one, I’ll tell ya. The gist was people said ( thankfully), “I like the old you!”

Awww. Thanks, peeps. But let me explain the meaning of that statement so everyone can understand why it was so important for me to announce it.

For the past 18 months I’ve been on a journey to try and get healthy. Not healthier, but healthy, because for most of my life I’ve been physically and psychologically unwell.

18 months ago my weight was at the highest it had ever been in my life. My joints ached all the time. My clothes didn’t fit so all I ever wore were scrub tops and pants and pjs, and elastic-waisted pants. My sciatica screamed daily and I just felt like…well, like shit most days. Menopause weight gain, boredom weight gain, and post-pandemic weight gain had topped me out to a BMI of 30. Which, if you know anything about medicine, tells you I was classified as obese.

Yikes.

Double yikes.

Except for a brief period when I was 15-17 and flirted with anorexia, I have always been above average for weight. Genetics plays a part, but most of it during my life has been an out-of-control eating disorder that runs rampant when my emotions are out of whack.

Which they were for 40 years.

I’m not kidding.

Nothing worked. Diets made me crankier and more emotional and resulted in binging. Exercise exacerbated the pain in my joints. 40 years of dieting packed 60 pounds on my frame that I didn’t need.

One day, my sister-in-law told me about something she was doing to try and get rid of the menopause-induced weight gain she was suffering through. It sounded like a miracle.

And to someone like me, it was.

I got on a test program for weight loss for the drug that was soon-to-be FDA approved, MOUNJARO. It was wickedly expensive and because I had no co-morbidities ( high blood pressure, diabetes,) I was just fat, I had to pay out of pocket for it, which, let me tell you, was equivalent to the GNP for a small third world nation.

But I did it. I paid.

And I started losing weight.

A lot of weight.

To date, I am down 65 pounds from the very first day I began injecting the drug.

Do I still have sciatic pain? Yes, at times, especially if I am on a long car ride. But my joints otherwise are almost pain-free.

Now, I know there are millions of people who right now are saying that I cheated my way to weight loss. That I didn’t do the work I should have. That I just needed to eat less, move more, and drink water.

I did all that, peeps. For 40 years.

For some people ( a lot of people, actually) those things don’t work. We need something to help jumpstart us and get the scale needle moving, and the weight loss injectable helped me. Tremendously. It obliterated my appetite, my cravings, my psychological need to use food when my emotions were out of whack.

And speaking of emotions. Once the weight started coming off, not only was I lighter in body, but in spirit also. It seems most of those emotional issues I was experiencing were from feeling overwhelmed by the weight and not being able to do anything about it. Today, my moods are better controlled and when I am experiencing sadness or get a little depressed, I don’t immediately reach for the Peppermint Patties or the potato bread because I don’t crave them anymore.

Are there side effects of the drug? Sure. My hair got very thin and I had to take measures to correct the loss and thinning. The skin on my abdomen and thighs, despite exercising now ( without pain) sags and I look like I have the jowls of a hound dog hanging from my waist.

Do I care? Some. But I don’t live in a nudist colony and the only ones who ever see me naked are my doctor and husband. One doesn’t care and the other loved me even when I was fat, so there’s that.

I am able to exercise now, which I do. I eat much healthier, and I still have the added benefit that I am never – never – hungry or craving food.

So.

2023-24 was the year I geared up for the change in my body and psyche and took measures to ensure that change happened.

2025 is going to be the year I start living the life I dreamed about for the past 40 years. New clothes ( that fit) new hairstyle, new makeup. New spring in my step.

New year, new me.

So, see, all you peeps who were worried something drastic was coming down the pike. It’s still me. Only better.

At least, I hope better. You’ll have to decide when you see me.

Be kind to one another, peeps. I adore you all.

~ peg