Up… down… up… down… up… down….

Fueled by life, educational and professional stresses and a strong tendency toward emotionally reactionary eating, yo-yo weight fluctuations have defined my lifelong fight with my weight. I stand at an entire 5′ in height standing as straight as I possibly can. Weight training was my first exercise love, so I am more muscular than average.

Still, I managed to stay heavier than what is healthy at most stages of my life, an issue that for me is complicated by my having required two hip replacements and two revisions by age 50. I underwent my last left hip revision emergently following a catastrophic joint failure at my heaviest weight: 195 lbs. I underwent my last replacement, on the right side this time, five years later and 60 pounds lighter.

I had lost some of the weight organically over several years and the last 42 lbs on a stringent, extremely low calorie intermittent fast, shedding 30 lbs in 60 days and the remaining 12 lbs during the transition off of the program as I worked through my postoperative recovery. I was 53 years old and weighed 131 lbs, with a body fat percentage of 29%. My resting heart rate was 56 bpm. As a non-athlete, thanks to my lifelong Orthopaedic issues, I was in the best physical condition of my life. That was 2016.

Fast forward through more professional stress, the decision to return to school for a professional degree in a second medical discipline and a pandemic complete with a national lockdown, my weight slowly crept up. By May, 2021, I had regained all of the 42 lost pounds plus another 6 for bad measure.

I had tried earnestly, without success, to reproduce the success of the brutal program I had been on in 2016, only to learn that I lacked the will to stick to such a rigid program again or even to stay on an intermittent fast for any useful length of time. I tried other programs, such as Weight Watchers, with limited success, never shedding more than 10-12 lbs after months of aggravating deprivation.

Despite my setback, I was determined to recover my health. When we decided to start the Medical Weight Loss Program at CARE Wellness, I saw an opportunity to succeed where I had previously consistently met with failure after failure.

Semaglutide is a GLP-1 agonist and mimic of a naturally occurring (endogenous) signal we produce in response to the full state to tell us when to put down the fork. The naturally produced signal is fleeting and easy to ignore, particularly given its seemingly wimpy appearance in response to the highly processed diet typically enjoyed in the U.S.

In other words, we do not seem to produce this signal strongly in response to processed foods, setting ourselves up to perpetually eat more and more of the conveniently available grab-and-go industry slowly destroying our health. Semaglutide changes the playing field against this onslaught, leveling it in favor of making better dietary decisions.

Can it rev up the human metabolism? No. It is not a stimulant by any means. It does curb cravings, particularly sugar cravings. It suppresses appetite, decreasing preoccupation with food and eating. It slows gastric emptying (emptying of food from the stomach).

However, its greatest asset for dieting is that it is a super strong, persistent signal to the brain to put down the fork, even at low doses. Is it completely benign? Of course not. Nothing is.

It has its side effects, most often nausea, diarrhea, constipation and vomiting. These are usually mild and self-limiting and can be controlled or eliminated with simple dietary changes or a magnet therapy application of acupuncture, which I perform in the office as part of the program.

I combine this with weekly in-person dietary and activity counseling with our patients as they follow a diet and exercise program of their own selection. I hold patients at the lowest effective dose to minimize any side effects they may develop.

I consider myself one of those fairly sensitive to the medication. I suffered from mild to moderate nausea during my first 8 weeks, starting with the first dose. The nausea helped curb my food interest, so I really didn’t mind it as long as it was mild. I was able to teach myself through trial and error how not to exacerbate it, a pearl I am able to pass along to our patients during their initial consultations.

I have never vomited. Neither constipation nor diarrhea has been an issue for me. I lost my preoccupation with sugar, chocolate and caffeine. Once I had passed through the second dosing tier, my nausea resolved. I have had no issues since. After 15 weeks on the program, in which I now effortlessly follow an 8:16, low calorie, intermittent fast, I am 35 lbs lighter and well on my way to my weight loss goal. Since starting my program in May, I have lost an average of 7-9 lbs per month without any sign of plateauing.

When you tell someone struggling with weight loss they need to eat less, a sense of FOMO develops, particularly if eating for emotional support comprises a significant behavior contributing to their weight problem. I have watched my patients make simple but significantly impactful dietary changes, freed from compulsion and food preoccupation by semaglutide.

Such changes have allowed them to achieve or make tremendous progress toward their weight loss goals. Semaglutide has provided the behavioral brake I could not apply to myself over the past 6 years. It has allowed me to reset my mindset from living to eat and eating for emotional support to eating to live, without feeling deprived and without concern for failure or recidivism.

Interested in Dr. Cheryl’s life changing program? Call 954-586-8079 to get started!