Experimenting with Ozempic
Faulty wiring, hormonal dysregulation, and genetics have kept me in a complicated battle with weight gain
Although I’ve never been skinny, my weight took a turn north last winter and kept going. Weight gain isn’t new to me. I’ve spent my whole life gaining and losing the same fifteen pounds over and over again; measuring my self-worth by how many calories I had consumed or whether I was thinner or fatter than the day before. But this felt different. My old weight loss hacks weren’t working. No matter how many meals I skipped or hours I spent on my Peloton, the pounds kept piling on.
My first thought was menopause. Losing my lady hormones could make me extra flabby. I’m 51, so the timing made sense. Most nights I woke up in sweaty panic attacks and, during the day, felt terribly depressed. It would have been easy to blame low self-esteem and the pandemic, but, erring on the side of hope, I paid a visit to my gynecologist.
“Depending on you’re lab results, we’ll start bioidentical hormones,” she said.“But I’m sure you’re in menopause.”
“But what about the weight?” I asked, angrily pinching four inches of belly fat for effect.
“Yeah. Menopause makes you gain weight.”
