I want to hug the guy on the left. Two years ago, I gave myself my first Zepbound shot. 200 lbs later, this is what someday looks like.
I want to hug the guy on the left!
The photo on the left was taken minutes before my very first Zepbound shot. The photo on the right was taken yesterday. Between them sits 200 lbs and exactly two years of my life.
I almost didn't take that first shot.
I sat with it in my hand and I made a list in my head of every reason to walk away. Side effects. Cost. What if it doesn't work. What if it does work and I still don't like the man underneath. What if I am just someone who was meant to live small and quiet in a body I didn't recognize.
I took the shot anyway. Not because I was brave. Because I was tired.
Two years later, here is what I know.
I know my body is not a punishment. I know hunger is not a personality trait. I know the version of me on the left was carrying something invisible that no amount of willpower was ever going to lift on its own. I know that getting help is not cheating, it is just getting help. I know that the scale stopped being the point somewhere around month four, when I realized I had started laughing again.
I run now. I lift now. I sleep through the night. I eat to fuel a life instead of to numb one. I look at my kids and I am present for them in a way I wasn't before. The people who love me have their guy back. I have myself back.
If you are at the start, please hear me. The first shot is the heaviest. After that you just keep showing up, quietly, one week at a time, and one day you turn around and you have walked further than you ever thought your legs could carry you.
The guy on the left deserved better. So do you.
Two years. 200 lbs. One life, finally lived.