I’m Over 50, Still Fat... and GLP-1s Didn't Work for Me

I Thought I Had Finally Found the Easy Button to Lose Weight Over 50

The day GLP-1s started taking over my social media feed, I was sold. Women were losing thirty pounds. Fifty pounds. Sixty pounds. Celebrities were suddenly claiming they were "just eating less and walking more." (Sure they were . . .) Meanwhile, I was sitting over here thinking, "Sign me up doc! Where do I get this magic shot?"

After decades of dieting, counting calories, trying every new eating plan known to mankind, and riding the same roller coaster over and over again, I honestly thought science had finally thrown us girls over 50 a bone. I wanted to be one of those women saying, "I don't even think about food anymore!" and "This changed my life!"

Unfortunately, my body didn't get the memo.

Over the last couple of years, I've tried just about everything. I started with Wegovy, moved to Ozempic, then compounded semaglutide, and eventually landed on Zepbound because I kept thinking maybe it wasn't me... maybe it was the medication.

Every time I picked up a new prescription, I was convinced this was finally going to be the one.

Spoiler alert...

It wasn't.

My Body Had Other Plans

For the first five months, I followed the plan exactly as prescribed. I stayed on each dose for about a month before moving up to the next one. I was the gold-star student. If there had been a report card, I would've gotten an A for effort.

Five months later, I'd lost around fourteen pounds.

Now, don't get me wrong. Fourteen pounds is fourteen pounds, and I wasn't going to complain about losing it. But if someone had told me ahead of time, "Hey Trish, you can lose fourteen pounds, but you'll spend months feeling like you've got the flu, a stomach bug, and a hangover all rolled into one," I probably would've politely declined.

Actually... I wouldn't have been polite.

The nausea was relentless. My energy completely disappeared. I developed vertigo, became incredibly motion sick, and there were days when simply riding in the car made me want to crawl back into bed. Every Thursday I'd take my shot, and by Friday I'd already know my weekend was shot too. Friday? Forget it. Saturday? Horizontal.

Sunday? Maybe I'd start feeling human again just in time to go back to work.

Still, everyone kept telling me to hang in there.

"It gets better."

"You just need more time."

"You probably need the higher dose."

So I kept hanging in there because, let's face it, when you've struggled with your weight for years, you'll tolerate a lot if you think the payoff is just around the corner.

Maybe It Was the Crohn's?

I also have Crohn's disease, and at the time I was taking several medications, including an immunosuppressant. Somewhere along the way I started wondering if maybe all of that was part of the problem. Did it make the side effects worse? Was my body already dealing with enough that adding a GLP-1 was simply too much?

The truth is, I don't know. Neither did my doctors. It wasn't some grand medical conclusion. It was simply me trying to make sense of why everyone else seemed to be posting before-and-after pictures while I was over here trying not to throw up on the drive to Costco.

Eventually I threw in the towel.

Then something amazing happened.

This spring my Crohn's disease went into remission, and I was finally able to stop one of my medications. Immediately that little voice in my head started whispering, "What if THAT was the problem? What if this time is different?"

Hope has a funny way of convincing us to try one more time.

One More Try

So in May, I went back on Zepbound.

This time I wasn't going to rush anything. I decided to stay on the lowest dose for as long as possible and let my body adjust. I honestly thought maybe I'd figured it out.

Four weeks later...

I had very little weight loss, a sore leg from the injections, and four weekends that I basically spent lying on the couch trying not to be nauseated.

At one point I opened the refrigerator, looked at the box of injections sitting there, and actually laughed. There they were... hundreds of dollars' worth of hope staring back at me.

Every time I opened the door it felt like they were asking, "You sure?"

Yep.

I'm sure.

Because I finally realized I was spending more time recovering from the medication than I was actually living my life.

That's not the trade I want to make.

Can I Admit Something?

I'll admit it.

This whole thing pissed me off.

Not because other people are losing weight. Good! I mean that. If these medications have changed your life, I couldn't be happier for you.

But I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a little part of me that wanted to stomp my foot like a five-year-old every time I scrolled past another post that said, "I've lost 42 pounds!" or

"I've never felt better!"

Meanwhile, I was over here wondering why apparently everybody else's body got the owner's manual except mine.

It felt unfair.

So yes, I had a little pity party.

I think I earned it.

My Comeback Doesn't Depend on a Shot

After I got done feeling sorry for myself—and yes, there was probably chocolate involved—I remembered something I've been saying since the day I launched Comeback Over 50.

This has never been about finding the easy button.

It's never been about chasing skinny.

It's about getting my strength back, my energy back, and becoming an active participant in my own life again instead of watching it from the sidelines.

Would I have loved for GLP-1s to be my answer? Absolutely.

Am I disappointed they weren't? You bet.

But I'm not willing to let one medication decide what the next twenty or thirty years of my life are going to look like.

Apparently my body rejected Plan A.

Fine.

We'll do Plan B.

I'll lift weights. I'll walk. I'll eat my protein. I'll work on my mindset. I'll celebrate the small wins, complain when I need to, probably cuss a little along the way, and then get up the next morning and do it again.

Because that's what comebacks are made of.

If This Is Your Story Too...

If GLP-1 medications have changed your life, I am genuinely celebrating with you.

But if you're reading this because they didn't work, because they made you so sick you couldn't function, or because you've got a refrigerator that looks suspiciously like mine with expensive injections collecting dust, I want you to know you're not alone.

I'm still over 50.

I'm still overweight.

And apparently I'm doing this comeback the hard way.

Honestly... that's never stopped me before.

And I'm not about to let it stop me now.

Check out the video on my youtube channel.