Last week I told you my story. The years of doing everything right while the scale climbed, the functional medicine work, and the GLP-1 that finally let my body respond. I told it because I know how alone that struggle feels, especially when fitness is supposed to be your thing.
Today I want you to meet one of our own coaches. Julie has coached here at Cobra Command in Basehor and her story is different from mine in one big way. Julie is a Type 1 diabetic. Her body does not make what it needs on its own, and that changes everything about how she thinks about medication. I asked her to tell it in her own words, and she did. Here it is.
Julie’s story, in her words
As a woman, my weight has fluctuated many times in my 42 years. Pregnancies, crash diets, age and hormonal shifts are all contributing factors to these changes. At one point in my life, I had three different pants sizes in rotation.
I finally settled into a healthy weight and felt good, then I got pregnant with my son. When I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes and later put on insulin injections, I started gaining more weight than was considered normal. Once he was born, the weight came off, but it started coming off really quickly and without much effort on my part. I was very happy at the time, but I never felt good. I knew something was off. Sure enough, my gestational diabetes had stuck around and was now the autoimmune type, Type 1.
Within three weeks of starting treatment, I had gained over 20 pounds. Cue my paranoia about doing something wrong. The thing is, I had been working out and eating right and nothing was changing. It took years to finally see that, despite doing everything right, my body wasn’t cooperating and I was spinning my wheels and driving myself crazy.
I tried it all. Phentermine, berberine, calorie restriction, keto, macro tracking, and in turn, I was likely doing more harm than good. My system was majorly out of whack. I was achy, inflamed, hungry, tired, and never felt recovered from workouts. I never felt like myself. Oh yeah, I was also still overweight.
When GLP-1s became mainstream a few years ago, I knew I had to try, for my own sanity and for the sake of my body. A wonderful doctor prescribed Mounjaro and very quickly, I felt so much better. Like, SO much better. If I could bottle that feeling and sell it, I’d be rich. My food noise was gone, my inflammation was kept at bay, I ate food that was good for me and didn’t crave fast food or sweets like I had in the past when my body was addicted to sugar, I was moving better in the gym, and, most importantly, I had more confidence. The confidence may have been the missing piece all along.
I am still taking Mounjaro for maintenance two and a half years later. Critics of GLP-1s say the weight comes back rapidly if the drug is stopped, but that doesn’t bother me. I am taking this drug because my body doesn’t do what it is supposed to do on its own. I would never stop taking insulin for my Type 1 diabetes, because my body doesn’t produce its own insulin, so why would I stop taking this life-changing medication? It’s not a cure, but instead a tool that I use alongside nutrition and exercise to keep my body feeling its best. I wouldn’t be where I am today without it.
Why I wanted you to hear this one
That last paragraph is the whole point of this series. A tool that I use alongside nutrition and exercise. Julie did not stop moving. She did not stop eating well. The medication gave her body what it couldn’t produce on its own, and then she showed up and did the work anyway. That is why it worked, and that is why it lasts.
Her story and mine start in the same place. Two women doing everything right, watching their bodies refuse to cooperate, wondering what was wrong with them. And both of us found the same answer. Sometimes your biology needs help, and needing help is not the same as failing.
The difference maker was never the prescription by itself. It was the prescription plus the training, the nutrition, and a place to keep showing up. That is exactly what we do at Cobra Command.
If any part of Julie’s story sounds like yours, come talk to us. Book a No Sweat Intro, and let’s build the parts of the plan that the medication can’t.
See you in the gym,
Jill
