GLP-1s and Addiction?

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Can GLP-1s Affect Food Noise, Alcohol, and Addiction?

** While Kim takes time away following the passing of her sister, we're revisiting some of our most impactful conversations. Thank you for your kindness, patience, and continued support of The Plus SideZ Podcast.

We're sharing this episode because it's more relevant today than when it first aired. Since then, research has expanded interest in whether GLP-1 medications may affect more than weight loss, including food noise, alcohol cravings, and other compulsive behaviors. While the science continues to evolve, so does the conversation.

Licensed therapist and addiction treatment leader Dr. Joy Bracey joins community member Brenda, who shares how Mounjaro changed her relationship with food, alcohol, and smoking. Together, they discuss the brain, behavior, and why this emerging area of research is drawing growing interest.

**In this episode:**

• Brenda's journey with obesity, binge eating, alcohol, smoking, and Mounjaro
• Food noise, binge eating, and emotional eating
• GLP-1 medications, dopamine, and the brain
• Alcohol cravings and addictive behaviors
• Mental health, self-love, and healing
• Why researchers are studying GLP-1 medications beyond weight loss

*Originally recorded during Season 1. This episode reflects the information available at the time of recording. Research and clinical guidance have continued to evolve. It is intended for education and discussion only and is not medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider regarding your individual care.*

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to the Place Ads Podcast. That's Taylor. Kat.

SPEAKER_03 0:07

Hey, party people. It's always something new. It is. It really is. I just did a million things before we got on.

unknown 0:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 0:18

Well, you know, you gotta get it in. You gotta get it in in between your full-time job and your passion gig. It's cool.

SPEAKER_03 0:27

Just made cake, it colored my hair.

SPEAKER_02 0:29

Yeah. Right. Oh my god. You're so productive. So if you're new here, where you been? We've been looking for you. Um, today we're gonna be talking about addiction and GLP ones like Ozempic, Wagovi, and Manjaro, and many others, um, what the kind of effect is, sort of real world. I think we'll go into that um in clinical stuff too, you know. Um, but if you don't know me, my name's Kim. Hi, um, uh, this is my handle, uh DMF Kim Almanjaro on TikTok. This podcast was born out of a TikTok community um where all people that struggle with um obesity or type 2 diabetes or metabolic disorders or PCOS or insulin resistance, something like that. Um, you know, and we all came together and uh really have a nice supportive group. And it's kind of getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Not kind of, it is getting really bigger. And um we love it though. Yeah, we do love it. Yeah, we do love it. And um, we we decided that we wanted people to be able to tell their stories unfiltered and uncut instead of having to like everybody's stories and like testimonials of their life-changing experience, you know, were being like just just just shrunk down, you know, to fit like little sound bites in the news or you know, big graphics over their pictures or their tummies because they weren't acceptable for the television, stuff like that. And it just felt disrespectful. And um, it was also just wrong. So um, we decided we're gonna change that and we're gonna talk about these things because a lot of beautiful things can come out of hard conversations, and we wanted to be able to do that and have people be able to learn and grow and be able to advocate for people to have more access to accessible uh or just more accessible, you know, medications and more affordable medications. Um, and so that's what we're trying to do. We're just trying to get loud and change things. We don't know where this road's gonna go, but it's going good so far. So we're gonna keep it up. But I have been on these medications uh in some form or other because I have this thing called step therapy that I had to do um for about a year. I've lost 66 pounds. I hit all the stalls and all the land, but I usually come out on top. So hanging in there. Um, my whole life has changed. Um, I used to have binge eating disorder. I do not have that at all now, and that alone is incredibly freeing. I used to have horrible, debilitating, obsessive anxiety that is gone now. It turned off like a switch. I used to struggle with food noise and that is gone, turned off like a switch. And it's completely given my brain the ability to just focus on so many things, you know, like starting a podcast, you know? And it's just been great. And I just want to, you know, keep keep the conversation going. And these lovely ladies have joined me, which is excellent. So now that I have a real mom help, uh hey cat, what you doing? What you about? How's it going?

SPEAKER_03 3:16

Hey, what's up, Kim? Hey, I uh see, I changed my name. I did finally find my glasses, but let's professional-ish, professional-ish here. Are we impossible?

SPEAKER_02 3:28

Oh, my big old lights right there. Hey, hey, that's what editor for his work.

SPEAKER_03 3:34

I am Kat Carter Seven on TikTok. I too am also a uh binge eating disorder recovering or recovering from binge eating disorder, and um struggled with that all my life. Um, been an overweight child all of my life. Um, and tried everything. And um, and Gerald did actually just kind of like Kim said, he kind of switches, it just turns it off. I would say not completely for me, um, but I hit a wall so soon. And um it makes binging impossible, which is the point. I'm I'm just trying to say sometime, you know, you know what I mean? Like, okay. Uh, but it does, it does shut things off. Um, so like uh just for one example today, I'm making a cake and I made some fabulous icing and it was banging. And I was like, do I want to? Nah.

SPEAKER_02 4:28

The coolest thing ever. Just be like, eh.

SPEAKER_03 4:31

No.

SPEAKER_02 4:35

Even your gluten-free cupcakes, they are in these walls. Oh show. What is the what is it called again? So people can follow you right quick. We're gonna plug it.

SPEAKER_03 4:43

Oh, I'm on Instagram, loud mouth bakes. Loud mouth bakes. One day I'll blow up and put a website out there.

SPEAKER_02 4:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Right now on IG. Loudmouth bakes. Cool, cool.

SPEAKER_02 4:52

IG books. Yep. Well, thank you so much, Kat. Hey JT, what you doing? How are you? Hey, what you doing here? How's it going?

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Oh, I am just ebbing and flowing. But no, my goodness. So you're not good. That's what I heard. I'm like, I'm like, yeah, you're here, but I'm here. But uh yeah, um, you know, we always talk about how certain doses of medications you know kind of affect you in different ways. Well, today is one of those ways, and yeah, I was doing fine. I was cruising along even in this 100-degree heat. Good lord. I went to Target, I did all the things today, I was productive today, and oh buddy, I'm like, yeah, oh, okay. I understand that so happy here. Yes, and I'll keep it short. I am this is my home TikTok and YouTube and Instagram. I believe in being consistent, the journey, and the world can only take one journey. Today is the beginning of Virgo season. Is it yes? Today is the beginning of Virgo season, and we're going to cue any song that like praises Virgos. Yay!

SPEAKER_02 6:20

So, um there are songs that praise Virgos, yes. Uh Beyonce I'm gonna need a playlist.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

Um, Beyonce has one on her new uh compilation of songs, Renaissance. It's called Virgo's Groove because she's a Virgo. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_04 6:37

Okay, your face descent.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

But I I'm on TikTok, I'm a type two diabetic as well as I have an autoimmune uh disease uh called Shogren's uh syndrome, and I have late-in-life obesity, so um that's my story, and I'm sticking to it. All right, that's a good story.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

Thank you, thank you. We like to have a good perspective here so that we um are covering all angles. So that is why you will also have guest ghosts that come in and out. And um, so if you're new here, that's that's how we like to roll. So, anywho, today we're gonna be talking about addiction. I don't know why I made it like a song, the song. I don't know. Anyway, I'm excited to talk about it. I think that's why it felt sweet. Yeah. Um, so we have a community guest um who's gonna come in and share her story. Um, she has taken Majaro um for I think over a year now or something close to it. And we're gonna let her kind of explain things. But again, like what we do is we like to give our guests the opportunity to take the space so it is a safe space where people can talk about these things and not be, you know, censored. And without further ado, I want to tell you who it is. Hold on. Our community guest is Brenda.

SPEAKER_04 8:03

Hey Brenda.

SPEAKER_02 8:03

Hey Brenda, hello. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

Thanks for being here.

SPEAKER_02 8:10

Yes, absolutely. So, hey, so listen, um, I know this can be sort of a weird thing, uh, especially if you've dealt with like obesity or addiction or anything like that, like a lot of us have, right? For a long time. It's hard to like keep your story short. And you don't don't feel like you need to do that. That's why God made editors. You just be yourself, okay? Just be yourself and tell us your story. And if you need some help, we'll we're here to support you and guide you through it. But go ahead and take the space. It's unfiltered, uncut.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

Okay. I'm Brenda and I'm 51 years old. I've been married for 32 years and have four uh adult children and one granddaughter. And um I have a history of obesity that spans as far back as my memory will go. I can remember as early as five years old being very aware of my body size being larger than that of my peers. And um, my family uh genetics are um very much inclusive of obesity. And um, I can remember as well um second grade having a conversation with my mom about how unhappy I was with my size, and as many mothers from that generation, she felt that the best thing to do would be to help me learn how to restrict by not keeping certain foods in the house, um, and by monitoring my intake of foods. And uh it just began the vicious cycle of restriction and binging for me at a young age. And um, I never through all of the years, I can think through middle school, junior high, high school, trying many different diets. She brought me to Weight Watchers. Um, at one point, we were on herbal life together, slim fast, all of those things. And um, I never had any significant weight loss. I was always uh obese, and most of my life was spent morbidly obese. Um, by the time I got married at 19, I was 275 pounds. And the following year, I had my first child, and over the next six years, we had three more. And all during that time, I just continued to pile on the weight. Um, by the time I did have our fourth, I was in the upper 300s, about 380 pounds, and in very poor health. And um I was seeking medical treatment because I didn't know what was wrong with me. I was having uh breathlessness, I could barely walk stairs without a problem and rapid heart rate. And when I would go to a couple different doctors, I was told I needed to lose weight, that that was the issue, and sent away with being told to diet and exercise. So I remained very ill until I ended up in an ambulance and brought to the hospital to find out that I had Graves disease, autoimmune thyroid, uh, that was causing the issues, which is very odd because most people that have graves, you know, it's um hypermetabolism. So they're rail thin quite often, but uh I was not. So once I got the diagnosis and started receiving treatment, um, I was able to pitch some of the weight. Um and I got under just under 300. So maybe about 80 pounds came off. Um and it didn't stay off. It came on soon after I took it off. Um, about by the time my youngest was two years old, um, I was beginning to gain it back and trying all sorts of interventions of at the time Atkins was popular. So the Atkins diet, the cabbage soup, everything I know that we've probably all tried um without success, but my shame was growing. And the more that grew, the more it drove me to binge and to hide food. I became a big food hider. Um probably in my younger years, I did a lot of that too, to hide it from my mother. So that continued. Um, and I began drinking about that time too. So about the time that I was 29, 30, I began um heavily binge drinking. And that just compounded my shame because I could not control my appetite for food or alcohol. Um and I I continued on like that for the next 20 years. And during that time frame, I had some other health issues come up and was eventually diagnosed uh about 10 years ago with Hashimoto's autoimmune of the thyroid. Um they had put me in remission from the graves quite a few years before that, and then this uh occurred, and so I began to receive thyroid replacement for that, which again helped with the weight loss for a little bit. Um but it wasn't long lasting. And about five years ago, I was diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer and had my thyroid removed. And um, again, the disruption in hormones did not help my weight situation at all. Um, and I just spiraled further into weight gain from binging, restricting and uh binging alcohol, eventually turned into a daily drinker. Um by the time we hit COVID time, I was really headlong into my addiction, and that just exponentially increased my drinking um to be home all of the time. And um I went from drinking just in the dark at night to an all-day round-the-clock drinking for a couple years. Um so I July of 2022, I was seeing my endocrinologist, who's also an obesity medicine specialist. And over the years, he had tried, you know, fentramine tocomax and diet and exercise regimens uh with me that would be successful for short term. But when I went to see him in July of 2022, he, you know, I weighed in at 306 pounds, and he said, When are you going to be ready to meet with a surgeon for bariatric surgery? And um, I told him that wasn't my plan. And he explained to me that my insurance would cover bariatric surgery, they wouldn't carry any uh cover any obesity medication. And he felt like this, you know, it was time for me to really do something drastic. So um I still said no, I wasn't interested at that point. And that is when he told me about Mountjaro. He had just started using it in his patients, his type two diabetic patients, and was seeing great success with weight loss. And he asked me, Would you like to try this? You would need to know that with this coupon, it's affordable, but that's going to end. He thought maybe in six months, he wasn't sure on the timeline. So he asked if I was willing to start a therapy that I may have to stop at some point. And um I said, yes, I was willing to take the hand that was being, you know, offered me at that point. And when he described Mountjaro and how he had seen it working, I was very excited. I left his office that day with the prescription. I came home and very excitedly told my husband about this new, you know, opportunity to maybe finally get a handle on this weight situation and proceeded to get completely wasted because I was celebrating, and that's how I did that. Um, I woke up the next day miserable, assumed it was my typical hangover, but um continued getting ill through the day and ended up with the flu. So it was about a week's time before I started Moonjaro because I wanted to recover from that, but I did start the Mounjaro. Um day one, I had no desire to drink, like day one of the injection. Now, I also felt some fatigue and not hungry, and thought, you know, maybe that's why. Um, day two, same thing. I also I didn't mention I was smoking a pack of cigarettes a day as well. This was something I'd started in childhood smoking here and there. Um, and then in the last five to ten years, it became a pack a day habit. No desire for cigarettes at that point. And I was just amazed. Every day I would wake up and it was the same scenario. I had no thoughts of having a drink, of smoking a cigarette. And um I think I let that go for two months. I think I did my first speaking TikTok because when I got on TikTok, I just pretty much was documenting my walks. And then when I finally did a speaking one and told people, I think it had been a couple months, and I was finally convinced that it was the Mount Jaro that had done this. I mean, I had spent years struggling, as I said, decades drinking like this. And the last year in particular, before Mount Jaro, I did buy a couple books about how to quit drinking because I was thinking, I need, I know I'm desperate. I need to, I just I need help. But could never ever envision a life without alcohol. That just was not the life for me, I was convinced. So um, to have those thoughts completely erased from my mind in a day is mind-blowing. I don't know how to explain it.

SPEAKER_02 18:14

Um I don't think it can until they like eat people take it and you're like, holy crap, like it's incredible.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

Yeah, and the headspace that it freed up. That was the amazing thing. So suddenly I had, and I think people talk about this with the food noise. It probably just works on a very similar thing. Um, I had all of this headspace freed up to now think through why I had spent all of that time stuck in addiction and start dealing with those things, which was very scary and very uncomfortable for me because all of those years, my whole reason for drinking was to suppress any of those thoughts or feelings of what was wrong in my life or what was wrong with me. Um so it's a lot of it was a lot of a mess to start working through. And I believe I will be continuing to work through some of that stuff for the rest of my life. Um, and that's fine because I found out that as bad as I thought all of that would feel, it feels so much better to know that I'm alive. It makes me feel alive to work through these things and have these things to tackle rather than stuff myself with food and alcohol and feel nothing. So I it's for me, and I said this early on. I know everybody goes back and forth on this conversation. Is it a miracle drug? Is it a tool? Yes, my answer is yes. Um, it is both, and I stand by that.

SPEAKER_02 19:43

Yeah. Yeah, I I say all the time too, and you know, obviously, like we had Roseana, and she's like, it's a miracle drug, and like a lot of people feel that way. But I I think that something to to think about there in terms of the miracles, it's not even necessarily that it's like, oh, it's a miracle, it solves all the problems, all the things. It's that the experience that you have when you're taking it is nothing short of miraculous, yeah. Right? Like you they just like you said, things you never thought possible. Yeah, you know, 100%.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

I I really and I do think too, like it frees up the headspace, but also it seems to bring some kind of clarity of thinking to a lot of us too, that just wasn't there. I agree.

SPEAKER_02 20:25

Yeah, yeah, I totally agree. And I think they've had some studies out there recently about that, about like what it's doing, something bad to your brain. I don't know. I remember we're seeing Dr. Albert show some stuff about them, like, yes, the brain. Yeah, and Dr.

SPEAKER_00 20:38

Carla, our Dr. Carla Carla said maybe my time on Mountaro like really worked to rewire my brain. And yeah, I think she's right. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:49

Wow. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, it's it's crazy. Like, I think um, you know, as we're going through this journey, I often think that all we have is today, you know. So just like you when you said you were starting, you know, on your journey and um and you were like, uh, I know it could end. I didn't even think about it that way because I really had no idea what I was doing. I just jumped in. Um, and through this, it has put my brain and my body in a place to be able to connect dots that I was never able to connect before. Be able it, like I'm able to make choices and gear shift in my mind in a way I've never been able to before my entire life. And I like that because it leaves room for the healing, right? Like the mental healing that comes with, like frankly, all of the anguish of all of these years, the things that many of us have dealt with, you know. And another miraculous thing.

SPEAKER_03 21:44

But I can there, we're gonna call the icing on the cake. Uh is this community? I know of all things, but just you know, making analogies, I guess, to to cake and to sweets. Um, but this community too is so healing. Like, I feel like this. Is like another level to it for all of us in this GLP one community is everybody's stories. I feel like everybody feels safe in this community just to to talk about their stuff, you know, from out of the dark. So I think it's they yeah, I think it's good too.

SPEAKER_02 22:21

Because I think there are some people that are going to continue to keep their their stories private, but they I think they're healing through the ones of us that are like talking and like coming into our lives and moderating for us and commenting on our videos and asking questions and like we respond to them with videos. So it's like they don't necessarily have to be like these big outgoing personalities to be able to come and like be in our community and heal, which I think is really special.

SPEAKER_00 22:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:46

Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:47

I think the community is amazing in that too. And it was it was essential for me because I had spent so much of my life hiding. I would, you know, someone would have looked at me and said, Oh, you're you're a functional drunk. Like you, you know, you show up for other people, which is true. I would show up for other people, never for myself. Like I didn't understand what that meant. Um, I would show up most of the time. Sometimes I wouldn't. My word was not what I wanted it to be. But so so many people in my life, because I was hiding, didn't really know the depths that I had gotten to. And so when I was coming out of that and I was so excited, and at a time when I really needed encouragement, they weren't necessarily the people at that point that could do it because they didn't know. But I had exposed myself to this group of people on TikTok who did show up every day for me and cheer on every tiny. You know, it's been this many days that I haven't had a drink, it's been this. They didn't know me from anyone, but yeah, they are some of the best people, you know, and I consider them friends at this point. Whether I ever meet them in real life or not, they are family and friends to me, and it's priceless.

SPEAKER_02 23:58

It is, it's priceless. That is so true. Yeah. And like, and we can try to like migrate to other platforms and different things like that. And I I I'm not sure like how possible that is because I feel like we kind of tried when we could, by the way, this isn't censored, we can talk about it when TikTok was possibly going to be banned, and they're still gonna bring that up. I feel like every three to six months, probably till after the election. Um, you know, but if anything, I just see it growing, you know, because TikTok shop mostly. But yeah, so I I I I think it's the same. I I worry about things like the algorithm and like what's being served up to us and stuff and how that keeps changing. Um, almost like they're innovating for the sake of innovation. Sometimes I feel like I don't get to see, like I went, you stopped Minjaro, which we can go into three months ago, and I have no idea. And you are lit literally one of my favorite creators. And I I had no idea. I just came upon your page one day and you were like, You literally, you must not even know. I'm like, I don't, and I'm on this thing constantly, like you know, it is crazy the way it works. Yeah, I know. Um, can you tell us a little bit about why that decision was made? How things like that?

SPEAKER_00 25:05

Yep. I um so in the past I have had issues with AFib that have come up, often thyroid related before having my thyroid removed. Um and in recent years, in the last five years, it's just been very occasional. Um, it's they they said that there's no real rhyme of reason, uh not enough of an issue that I need any type of treatment for, and I pop right out of it. It wasn't like, you know, lasting AFib. So all that was fine. I by the time I got up on 15 milligrams, I was miserable. I wasn't sure what was going on, why I felt awful. I had some breathlessness. Um I was having extended bouts of AFib, as it turns out, and SVT um also where my heart, it's um superventricular tachycardia. So it's a very rapid heart rate. Um and I had a couple scary incidents, one at the beach when I was walking it, and one at the zoo with my kids, where I felt like I hit a brick wall just walking. I could not catch my breath, could not breathe, and my heart rate was, you know, well up over 200. Um, and it stayed up there for a long while. Um a long while, about eight hours, which is a long while at that rate. But um so I tried, you know, we tried finding answers, tried to figure out what it was. Certainly didn't think it was the Mounjaro causing it at all at that point. Um, could not, everything else was checking out fine. Um, thought maybe it was a dietary issue, so cut a bunch of stuff out of my diet to see if that helped anything. Um, I thought dairy, you know, was gonna resolve it once I pulled that out, but even that did not. It's resolved some other things, but not bad. Um but um the doctor sent me to a specialist who once he saw they put me on a heart monitor and saw how it was going. And once he saw all that was going on, he said, You need to have you know heart mapping and ablation, and you've got these, it was like four different things bradycardia, the SVT, the AFib, and one other arrhythmia, which I can't think of right now. But so he's like, We need to get this scheduled. So at that point, I spoke with my main cardiologist and said, I think I want to come off the Mount Jaro and see if this could possibly be affecting it. So he agreed. That's what I did. And uh so the first after the first week I was off, maybe into the second week, the incidence slowed down of the AFib. The SVT stopped altogether, the super high. The AFib gradually slowed down till it was maybe once every two weeks at this point. Um so I I and I think for me, I started feeling off probably on the 12.5, but I just passed it off.

SPEAKER_02 28:07

I remember 10 was my last thing. I don't know what it is.

SPEAKER_00 28:10

Yeah, yeah, I remember that. I think the 10 was the last thing where I'm like, I feel really good here. So anyway, um, I I've since you know met with the cardiologist and the specialist, the electrophysiologist, um, and the electrophyphysiologist in particular, who was at a pretty big hospital out this way, said that he is seeing this more and more, mainly in his patients that are on Ozempic. He hasn't seen it as much with Mounjaro yet, but the increase in arrhythmia, if you had a pre-existing arrhythmia going on. Um, so he was not at all surprised that that's what it was. And um, I mean, I have AFib. Like that's that has not gone away, and I will have that probably for the rest of my life. And maybe eventually I'll still need to do something about that if it ramps up. But um, it seems for now being off of the Mount Jaro has been the solution. So that was it was encouraging that it could be something that simple and so discouraging because uh my time on on Mount Jaro was so life-giving. But um the transition off has gone well. It is life-giving.

SPEAKER_02 29:20

I love that, Brenda. How is that the first time I've heard that? It's perfectly because it's hard for us to say life-saving because we know this isn't a sustaining medication for life, like insulin is, for example, right? I love that. All right, we're gonna brand that, Brenda. Copyright. So it's been going well. I know. Yeah. And how how about the weight loss? Is it still happening?

SPEAKER_00 29:45

Yeah, it's been um so far, it's been like 15 pounds since I've been off of it in the last few months. Um all of the things that I thought were going to happen have not happened. Um, I thought, you know, I had a terrible time with inflammation and back pain prior to Mamjaro. None of that has returned. That could be from the weight loss um and how physically active I've become. And um what else was I? You know, of course I was worried about the weight gain just starting immediately. It didn't, I had I don't have any cravings. I don't have any cravings for alcohol. I don't have any cravings for uh food. Incredible. None of that has changed, and my appetite has not increased. My appetite is still at a Mountjaro level, um, which for me, and I've spoken about this recently, might be a lot for some people, you know, around 17, 1800 calories a day is what I was doing on Mountjaro, and it's still what I'm doing. Yeah. Um, so I I understand that we're all going to be in the same position on medication or not, because of the way that our body works, from what I understand from doctors, which is it's always going to try and fight you and get you back up to a higher weight. Yeah. Um so I know that those days will come where it's a struggle, but for now, I really I am amazed by what I can only chalk it up to Mount Arm, what it did in my body and brain and what it allowed me to do for myself while I was on it to really learn how to take care of myself and love my body and use my mind in ways that I had not before.

SPEAKER_02 31:21

So yeah, totally. I I have so much hope hearing that because, like, with all the issues of people getting their medicine and me wondering, like, how in the world am I ever gonna be able to afford a thousand dollars a month for?

SPEAKER_00 31:34

Like, I'm not and I always am real sure to point out I didn't come to the table with the diagnosis of PCOS, you know, or even of insulin resistance. I was never diagnosed with that. Um, so I know that it's a different situation than other people that you know have have had a different story coming off for sure.

SPEAKER_02 31:54

Yeah. And I and I think that's probably where it goes back to not everybody's body is the same, right? And that's why telling somebody the diet and exercise and throwing that at every single body, and you think that that's gonna work for every single body, that's just asinine. That makes no sense, you know, and we know that, like, you know, we know that now, but I don't think there's a ton of data on um on people, especially for Manjaro, right? People who have stopped taking Minjaro who weren't type two, right? And and years later or months later, like if the weight returned, if the cravings returned, you know, anything like that. Yeah, I would I think it's fascinating. I really hope that these studies that they're doing on addiction, like, is it possible to heal when the medication puts your mind in a place? Because if you think about it with like depression medication, if it's like a situational depression and you're able to get in a place with your mind, right? Where it puts you there, and you're like, and then you do therapy and you do healing and you change your lifestyle. And then eventually people come off those medications. You don't have to take those forever. Like maybe weight stuff returns, but maybe the habit pieces that we couldn't control, the lack of control, maybe that changes. Yeah, you know, because that is sort of like a precedent that a lot of these, you know, you can go on, for example, we're butrin, right? And be on that for a year, make all these changes and then go off. You know, so I I have hope, especially for those people who struggle with addiction and maybe don't have a weight thing, you know, um, that this this will be something. I I I really I have such hope because I uh in in my family personally, and even with myself with addiction to food, uh, you know, addiction is very, very strong. You know, so I have I have hope. Yeah, I've been like go on, I'm sorry. No, no, no, keep talking. I I just saying I it's nice to see your story. And like even if things change, like I feel like you're very transparent and candid about what you're experiencing, like positive or negative. And like I think going back to like what you were saying about um about your heart and and like your health issues before that, like it was weighing the pros and the cons, right? Like you knew that something had to give. And did it was it worth the risk, like knowing that you were already struggling with, you know, what'd you say it was AFib, right? That was what you're saying first, right? Yeah, yeah. And you know, was it worth the risk? And I I think that there are not enough conversations going on for people in our community at the beginning with their doctor about let's talk about the pros and the cons. Right. I don't think enough of that is happening. 100%.

SPEAKER_00 34:21

That's why yes, yeah. Go ahead, go ahead. Yeah, not enough of that is happening, and it's I'm not placing a fault anywhere on it, even with the Mount Jaro, because I feel like had my endocrinologist known this info, had there been more info available for him at the time he prescribed it, we may have had that discussion because he knows my heart history, but even he was taken off guard. He was not, um, yeah, he was, I don't know, and he's I'm sure I don't I maybe I shouldn't excuse him because I know he's prescribed a Zempic to type two for quite a while now, and that's right in their literature about this increase in arrhythmia.

SPEAKER_02 34:58

So yeah, yeah, and it's and I can't help but wonder, like, because I I don't have any of that. Like well, there have been a couple times where my heart rate's gone up really fast, and it's because of dehydrated, and then and then I haven't had any other problems with it. And heart stuff is my family. That's what gives me family. Gotcha, addictive fiction and heart stuff.

SPEAKER_00 35:15

Yeah, well, hopefully all the great cardiovascular benefits they talk about with Home Dara will be great for you. Yeah, I hope so. Yeah, there is hope, and that is the whole point, right? 100%. And that you know what? That's another thing that's really helped with having to come off is the knowledge now that we have knowledge is power, right? So now we know there is like real help out there. And so if the weight comes back on, is there a possibility I could go on a GLP one maybe at a low dose, you know, and and get some help? 100%. Like, yeah, I think the future is very bright compared to where it was even 10 years ago.

SPEAKER_02 35:51

So yeah, and I think even things like rebelsis, right? They're the lower doses of semaglutide, like, or as they're making more pill versions, like especially people who have you know bariatric surgery, maybe they need smaller doses, like there has to be a way. Like you didn't have any of that until you got to the higher doses, you know? Yep. And then even with um Reditru Tide, I know I say it's southern, but even with that, I mean, they were seeing some some increase in heart rate, but it wasn't until the the long the higher doses, you know? So I'm super curious, like how this all shakes out. I think it's kind of fun to be a part of it. Never did I ever think being like a real life guinea pig would be a good thing, but everything has been like everything has been so incredible, it's like hard to care.

SPEAKER_01 36:33

We're just all guinea pigs at this point. And and and and you know, Brenda, you and Kim and Kat, you were saying at the higher doses, I can say I felt my heart rate increase on 2.5.

SPEAKER_02 36:51

Really, JT.

SPEAKER_01 36:52

I did, and but it didn't last long, but I felt my heart rate increase a little bit. And I said, Whoa, you know, whoa, wait a minute. And um earlier this year I had to have in uh EKG, I had to have the whole cardio workup done in January because my EKG came back irregular, and because of my age, I'm 50. They said, Oh, we need to send you to a cardiologist. So, and this was my PCP, and I said, Okay, so I went and you know, I had to do the stress test, you know, the whole nine. You yeah, and you talk about scared, and I've never really talked about it. But then when I started Mountjaro, which was in January, my uh cardiologist at got my test results, and he said, Oh, everything's fine. Yeah, okay, but I did feel an increase in my heart rate, like once or twice, and then it went away, and that was at the lower dose.

SPEAKER_00 38:06

So I yeah, there are others out there that have had that similar experience. Um, and they seem to have adjusted to it over time. Yeah. But it's I've been amazed, you know, to see the comments that come in either on posts of mine where I talk about it or uh Lisa that talks about the cardiac issues. Um how many people are on Mount Aro that are on a beta blocker? And that's how that's how their doctor has been able to keep them on it. Um that was not an option for me because now that I've lost the weight, my resting heart rate is in the 40s. Um and so there's there's no pill that I can take that's not gonna plummet that. So yeah, um, and how is a resting heart rate usually like 80? 60 to 80 is supposed to be like a good yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:53

Um, yeah. So that's the normal range. And I know mine was 90.

SPEAKER_04 39:00

Okay. Really? Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 39:03

Before uh it was 90. I really don't know if it was before, but I can say about a month after. And I in a way, I don't want to put that on the medication. No, it's okay.

SPEAKER_02 39:19

We have to talk about it. We have to talk about it.

SPEAKER_01 39:23

But but my resting heart rate was 90. And this was like around my second checkup while on Mountjaro. I go every three months because I have to get a full blood panel done. Same thing. Yeah. And and so I my doctor said, I need for you to start moving. I need for you to start exercising. She said, exercise is not really to lose weight. She said, exercise is is getting your heart rate up. And then when your heart rate is coming down, that's when you experience the weight loss. It's not while you're while while your heart rate is going up, it's the reverse. And she said, so we need to work that muscle. And literally, yeah. I mean, literally, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:22

Yeah, yeah, I think it's interesting. And I, you know, they do blood workups for me too, because again, like the heart stuff is a thing in my family, and I've been obese for such a long time. Um, and this just keeps getting worse and worse. And this is the first time I'm like, wow, it's been a whole year, a whole year, and I've never ever had this, and it's still still working. It's still, I mean, it really is incredible the things that I've been able to change. I I it's still a struggle for me. Like, I love to watch Brenda's What I Eat in a Day videos because one, I want to go either. Um you also could gluten, you you eat gluten-free. Yeah. So I'm like, yo, that looks so good. Like, you know, but like I haven't changed something about me, which is that I haven't like set aside time to like meal prep or do things like that. I tend to very much be like, put a rochester chicken in the refrigerator and make different things with the throughout the week. Um, now, is that because I have two jobs? Probably. But but I think it's hard though. It is hard. It is hard. But there's people like Brenda and there's people like Jamie.

SPEAKER_00 41:26

Like, people can do it. Yeah, I'm not even meal prepping. I was gonna say, I'm aware that I'm in a very privileged position of being the age that I'm at, unemployed, you know, I don't work outside of the house, and my kids are all gone. So I it's that time of life for me where I can spend as long as I want making a tuna sandwich, even if that's all it is, I can take my lazy old time. And not everybody has that. That's so that's so true.

SPEAKER_02 41:49

Yeah, my mom, when when we were all gone, um, she got really into pampered chef. Do you know the pampered chef? Yeah, and she was like, I never knew how to cook until I did pampered chef, and now I know how to cook. And I just take my time and I love it. And I was like, Oh, really? And she's like, Yeah, well, great, cook for me. I'm coming over, you know, because you know, so like that's not a place I've been in in my life. But now that my son's almost 11, I'm like, Are we getting there? I don't know. Is it is it gonna be more than a rochester chicken and and ground up turkey taco and mixing it with different things?

SPEAKER_01 42:21

I don't know, maybe I think that you're on your way because I live, you know, and I'm we're we're very close in age, and it's just a freedom of like, well, do I feel like eating this or do I feel like eating that? It is a freedom, yeah. Yeah, so but I even with that freedom, and I'm not sure if anyone else can attest to it, it's just that you my taste buds have just changed so much, so it's hard for me to even look in the refrigerator and be like, oh I like vegetables now.

SPEAKER_02 42:57

Like, who am I? Who am I? I know I don't even know. Rice and veggies.

SPEAKER_01 43:07

Rice, rice and veggies for for Monday night football last night. I ate I had six oven roasted wings, but I ordered six. I could I think I ate two, but I ate the entire salad.

SPEAKER_02 43:23

Yeah, you know, protein, yeah, veggies, good stuff. Yeah. And before I'd be like, feel so restricted by that, but it's different when you're making the choice, right? You know, it's different when you're like, I'm choosing to do this because I want to. It's like you don't want to, I don't know, your brain doesn't quite quite bucket enough or something, like you know, because you're restricting yourself because you want to. I don't know. The brain stuff. We have got to find a neurologist to come on the podcast. I am I am on the hunt. Anyway, hey, Brenda. Um, so uh I want to make sure that you had a chance to like say anything you wanted to say specifically about your story, and then I will bring on our special guest, but I just want to double. Check first where we go.

SPEAKER_00 44:01

I think that's it. If you think I covered it all, I'm probably done. I do.

SPEAKER_02 44:05

I know your story. So it's good. It's so good to hear it. Yes. And I'm glad everybody else is going to get to experience it tonight. Hey Dr. Joy. Did you like your indicator? Yeah, that is very fancy.

SPEAKER_05 44:27

I've literally lost 100 pounds since that photo. Oh, have you really? Oh wow.

SPEAKER_02 44:33

I I blame our new social media.

SPEAKER_05 44:35

That was almost exactly a year ago. Oh my gosh. And you look just as lovely. I think I was cute before, cute during cute hours. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 44:46

Oh, yeah. I agree. I also feel cute all the time. So I think it's fine.

SPEAKER_05 44:50

I'm not ashamed of that girl at all. No.

SPEAKER_02 44:54

Well, we're so glad to have you. Welcome. So for those of us, for those of us like we do know you, we didn't. Um, but for those of us who don't know you who are watching or listening, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you help people?

SPEAKER_05 45:08

So I am Joy Bracy. I am a licensed professor counselor. Um, I am the CEO at an addiction treatment facility. I teach self-love and inner critic healing on social media and in workshops and retreats. Um, and I work with individuals on um coaching for self-love and things like that and also therapy. Um I'm a mother of four. Um I have my doctor of education in executive leadership. Um, and I have lost 103 pounds in 11 months on Mount Jauro and am having bariatric surgery in 12 hours. I'm having gastric podcast in 12 hours.

SPEAKER_03 45:52

Well, thank you for your time. Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_05 45:58

Thank you so much for squeezing us in. Of course, I'm on the liquid diet, the pre-obliquid diet. So I need to be as busy as possible all day so that I don't feel starving. Because they made me stop taking the Mountaro, obviously.

SPEAKER_02 46:10

So I feel like you stop it for a long time. I know they're still trying to figure that out. What's best practice?

SPEAKER_05 46:17

Just two weeks. Uh I stopped it myself before they even told me. I took my last shot two weeks ago. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:23

Wow. Wow. Well, that's awesome. So it's cool to know that you're here and that you have a background in all of this, but also that you're a community member. That's exciting. So um, a couple things um that I would love for us to hit on is like Brenda mentioned, you know, talking about um, you know, I would I don't even want to call it alcoholism, but you know, just drinking to the point where she couldn't control it, right? Or making that part of like her life and every day and not feeling like she was in control. And then um, I think for me and many others, like the addiction to food, right? The addiction of whatever it was, like whether it's the food or the dopamine hit or whatever it was trying to like make ourselves feel better, however it was, like uh there seems to be with these medications, like something connected there, you know, because it's helping people with different, you know, addictions in different ways. Like, what do you think about that in terms of like your experience, you know, with the medication or with others? You know, what is that?

SPEAKER_05 47:17

Yeah, well, it's so exciting. I mean, for a mental health professional, I also have struggled with using food to cope with life and feelings and to cover over my feelings. So it is so exciting to see these medications helping people with this. And for me in the addiction field, seeing the potential for helping people with um alcohol use disorder or uh nicotine use disorder, any number of addictions, uh, other behavioral addictions like shopping, gambling, sex, all of those, it's just a thrill. And I'm not an expert on GLP1 medications, although I did take them for 11 months and have done a little homework on it. Um, so I just want to say like none of this is medical advice. I'm not a medical doctor. Yes, no. So these medications work on that part of your brain that functions to desire things. It works on desire, um, cravings, all of that. Um I know, like for me, when after I started taking Mounjaro, food lost that effect, that ability to give me the feel goods that I would get from it. Just like Brenda mentioned, it did the same thing with alcohol. It just kind of takes the goodness out of it. You're like, oh, why did I even do this before? And um, like I didn't, you know, it's not magic. Like I went from I made a video very early on in my TikTok days where I ate two candy bars because my sons were driving me crazy and I needed, you know, the sweetness and the sugar, and I ate the candy bars, and then I felt because now I was working on self-love and being in tune with myself. I was like, wow, I felt the relaxation go over me. And that was really upsetting because it's like, well, no wonder I've used this for so long. It really works really well. But then after the mounjar, I tried, you know, when I hit a stress bump or something, I would reach for those foods and it would be like, huh, like what I just it took it took away its power. So then I was forced to learn to live without that. Um, so it was like now I have to find a way to cope with tough feelings or a tough day that don't have anything to do with, you know, sugar.

SPEAKER_02 49:35

Yeah, it I gotta tell you that I remember that moment where I had that same feeling, and I have done this for so long. Like I started binging when I was eight. Um, and I've done this for so long that when it happened, I didn't know what to do with myself. I had no idea, like, how am I gonna feel better? How am I gonna feel better? And that mental fear was intense. But through the community and through therapy, thank you, Jesus. Um, you know, it really did help me be like, oh, you know what? I think that I don't need that, I think I'm enough. You know, and that was a cool revelation. Like, I think maybe I don't need all these extra things. I think I'm enough. And that was my brain could never do that before. Or maybe I could say it, but I certainly didn't believe it. You know, it's incredible, it really is. Yeah. Kat, I think you had a question. Sorry, didn't we interrupt?

SPEAKER_03 50:35

Oh, you're fine. So I just want to say, Dr. Joy, your content is really helpful on TikTok. I love it. Um, and I feel that you balance self-care with body love um while on an obesity journey. I think that's really important. Um, and my question is how do we balance this notion of loving our bodies um while burning diet culture to the ground, um, all while taking steps to ultimately lose weight? Because I get stuck in this like, are we still technically in diet culture if we are in the pursuit of losing weight? Um what are your thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_05 51:11

I love this question so much. And I'm so happy that you started with this because this is was my primary motivation for starting the TikTok and doing all of my content. It was really like, I won't need, I was 337 pounds, and life was painful. There were so many limitations, things I couldn't do. And I, but I always was body positive. I had learned to love my larger body and feel good about myself and identified in this body, and I didn't know how to do it. And I have figured that out over this year of figuring out self-love and teaching self-love. And that is, I think there's a few things. I think the first thing is that we have to honor and love all versions of ourselves. You will never ever see on my page a before and after video that implies I was ugly or miserable or unworthy, and now I'm skinny and therefore I'm like so great. Um these ways of thinking about what our bodies are here for just have to go. Our body is not here to be for other people's consumption, like for you to look at it or for him to desire it or whatever. My body is for me to use to be on this earth and like function as a human being. Yeah. And really framing for ourselves, like, what is your body for? Like, I don't look at my body all day, I feel my body all day, but I don't really look at it that much. So who cares what it looks like? What does it feel like? How are you using it? What does it need from you? I think taking the focus off of this is how I want to look to this is how I want to feel helps a lot with this. And I think framing it in a way for other people when you talk about your weight loss is so important. Like when you put up that picture of me and I noted I've lost 100 pounds since then, but I made sure for my own self-worth and for her self-worth, because I take care of all former versions of myself. I said, but I was beautiful then, and you could leave that picture. I leave up pictures around my house. I don't hate her, she did a lot with the weight of like five bags of 40-pound dog food extra on her body. She was amazing. So I think it's about and reinforcing these messages to yourself until you really feel it, but also the way we talk about it to other people, you know. When people say you look amazing, I say, I feel amazing, and I really feel like I looked amazing then too. I I reinforce that message to people so that other people can't make me a part of diet culture without my consent, right? You're not gonna use my story to perpetuate your diet culture fascination or obsession.

SPEAKER_02 54:04

Totally. I think um I I look back at pictures of myself and I always thought I was lovely. Um, but it was more thinking about like my face and my spirit and you know, those kinds of things. But so many times of my life and dealing with this forever, like every three to six months, I was on some sort of diet, you know. Oh, I'm gonna get my shit together now. Sorry, everybody, but you know, and like I'm gonna do it now. I'm gonna do it and had enough. I'm um, you know, because people have if you didn't work, the constant, consistent message was it's because you are lazy and that is why you are fat. And it is your fault, it is a moral failing, and that is really, really hard to get out of your head. So I feel like I did at some point start to just kind of accept it and give up almost, you know. Um, and I did decide to like love who I was, but it didn't matter because when I would, it didn't matter. Like that's the thing, because I couldn't control my food. And that that addiction to food and that addiction to binge eating and and and and feeling like I don't even know, like I don't think it was a control thing. I don't even really understand it, to be honest. But it's that piece of it made it so difficult to love the me that was underneath all of that because it was loud and big and you know, just so so easy to hear tell myself all these negative thoughts, right? Just like how everybody else was saying to me too until I believed them. Yeah, you know, and it's amazing the medicine can put your, and I was mentioning with Brenda, put you in a place mentally where you're able to do that work, you know, because it is it is work, it is work, you know.

SPEAKER_05 55:41

It it frees you up to really look at what's happening, feel your body, experience it instead of covering over it and running from it. I spent my whole first 47 years of life running from my feelings and cover covering over my feelings.

SPEAKER_04 55:55

Totally.

SPEAKER_05 55:56

They were not acceptable. I did not know what to do with them, I didn't let myself experience them unless something was really bad. But just the day-to-day, you know, stressors, I just didn't let myself feel it. It wasn't acceptable. I had to keep moving, keep it moving, eat something and keep it moving. Yeah, um, and so learning how to live differently is just a huge thing. And the medicine really allowed for that.

SPEAKER_02 56:17

Yeah, that's awesome. It's cool that you've experienced that and that you can help that help others, you know. I love that so much.

SPEAKER_03 56:24

Love it, love it. All right. Um, so I want to build on this as well. We're we're we're getting we're getting somewhere good and juicy. Um so let's say we wake up on any day of the week. Um, I sometimes get this too, and it's a tough one, and I end up in the grumpy land. Um, and our minds immediately kind of take us south. Um, we're tired, family issues, overwhelm, um, you name it. And it starts to reel its rear its ugly head. Um, what sort of tools do you share with your clients to help keep in their back pockets just for situations just like this?

SPEAKER_05 56:58

That's such a good question. And yeah, so for me and what I teach my clients is that you have to let yourself feel your feelings. That A, you are not your thoughts. Like the things that you think are not who you are. Your brain is just busy, busy trying to fill up your mind and keep you keep you busy with thoughts, but they're not who you are. And your feelings are not in charge of you and they don't require an immediate response. In the pre-self-love version of myself, um, I would have a difficult feeling. And if I let myself feel it at all, I needed an immediate resolution. If there was a conflict with someone, if I was wondering what so-and-so was thinking about what our last interaction was and stressing out, or if this person that I'm dating isn't texting back right away, anything I just needed out of the misery of the bad feelings right now, like no time, no ability to just cope with some stress or negativity going on. And so the first thing is that your feelings don't run your life, they're just feelings. You can be like, oh, hi, like I see some serious anxiety about this situation over here. That's interesting. I wonder what about this has me so anxious, and you know, sometimes it's just like you said, a bad day, whatever. There's nothing really to explore though, no healing rocks to turn over. But maybe it's just all right, well, there's no way I pass this except for through it. And today I'm just gonna love myself and be gentle with myself and just allow myself to feel these things, you know. Name the feelings. I am stressed, I am tired, I am really anxious. It helps so much just to identify the specific source. You know what I really realize? That I am anxious that this person will not love me anymore because of something that I said, or I'm really anxious because I don't know if they like me at work, or whatever is underneath, then frees you to heal from that. But a lot of times it's just letting yourself experience it without the panic because it will pass. You're not gonna wake up tomorrow and feel stress about this little thing that has you down right now. And if it is, then tomorrow you can take action steps or whatever, you know. That's the main thing. Yeah, wow, let's oppose your feelings.

SPEAKER_01 59:40

Feel your feelings, feel feel your feelings and go through them as opposed to trying to avoid them.

SPEAKER_03 59:51

As a binger, I can yeah, I can totally understand that because we used to always eat our feelings, you know.

SPEAKER_05 59:58

So when you're a kid, you know, a lot of us, my parents did the best that they could, but when you're, you know, in the 70s, the best they could wasn't as good as what people are doing now with their kids, right? As far as emotional regulation and teaching. But when you're a kid and you have big feelings, and maybe the parents or the adults are are having their own big feelings that they can't deal with, and it feels like no one can handle what is going on, then you have to find a way to just like push it down. And kids really, a lot of times, if they're lucky, the only thing they have on hand to push down feelings is food.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:34

Sure.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:42

Or they're hiding how much they're eating, they're looking forward to the sugar and they're using food because that's what's in the kitchen, you know. Um, so it when you grow up like that, stuffing your feelings with anything, with anything. Like if you take food away from me, my next go-to would probably be shopping or you know, love, you know, things like that. So it's it's you have to get to the bottom of what it is you're running from, what it is that scares you so badly about your experience. And I felt like I would I was gonna combust. Like if this isn't resolved right now, or if I can't stuff this or get away from it, I'm just gonna die of this feeling. It felt like life and death, and it isn't. You can survive some bad feelings.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:30

Yeah, that's so true. I have felt a lot of them on this journey, that is for sure. I mean, there is so much, so much trauma. Like our community is beautiful and powerful, but we are full of trauma, you know, and it's and and sometimes it rears its ugly head, and we all have to forgive each other and find a way to move forward, you know? Um and uh because we're we all usually can empathize in some sort of way, you know. But it's true. And the sitting with it, the sitting with the emotion and being like, it's okay to feel like this in this moment and take this time to be to feel it.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:05

That is, what can I do while I'm what can I do while I'm going through this to make it easier? Can I take a hot bath? Can I call my best friend? Scrolling tends to make me feel worse, but you know, whatever make if it makes you feel better, then great. Like, how can I pass this time and do some self-care while I know I'm going through this anxiety or stress? Totally. Is it you know a hot bath? Is it calling your best friend? Is it you know, whatever, something that is productive and actually self-care when eating a snicker bar or 10 felt like self-care, it actually was detrimental.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:45

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:46

I do make you feel good that are actually self-care.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:49

Yeah. I do remember this moment, and God, I can I can track this podcast all the way back down to this moment, where Rachel, a girl in our community who's been a um uh co-host with us several times. I know, right? Um, and I she was she was a bigger creator, and um, and I was just really dealing with it. And I had gone out to Red Lobster with my family, and I ate two biscuits. And here's the thing I don't need gluten. So, first of all, I was gonna be sick as hail the next day. Um, and second, you know, I felt like I had made a bad choice, like I had chosen a bad food and made these bad decisions, and I had gone so far. I had come so far and I'd lost like 30 pounds at that point, and I was so proud of myself. And 30 pounds is my number. I can do that's all I can do, right? And I made this choice and I reached out to her and I was like, hey, like I feel really bad. And that was my behavior change because usually I go upstairs and eat more. Usually I go upstairs and be alone and beat myself up, but instead I reached out to a friend and I went to the community. I had another day where I had the same kind of thing, and I was like, I'm gonna make a behavior change, and that's what I've been able to do on the medicine. And it's true, like it could be, and it wasn't like I was going and you know, going to TikTok and like scrolling FYP. Like I was going to the friends that I follow that are going through the same journey, which is community, right? And I think that was what worked for me. Everybody's different, but now I probably spend too much time on everybody. What equals too much? Sorry, JT.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:20

Look, no, no, no. I it's I I think that the conversation is is is good because these are almost like open-ended questions. It's like we're asking a question, but it goes somewhere completely different, but it's somewhere we need to go though. So I I I just wanted to ask what we wanted to ask. Uh, you recently posted a TikTok that uh truly resonated, and it was about your journey of losing 100 pounds uh versus uh wanting it to be, you know, gone so quickly, the weight to be gone quickly. Could you share some of your perspectives of seeing the bright side of the process and not wishing for overnight success?

SPEAKER_05 1:05:11

Yeah, that's so hard. I mean, I I totally relate to wanting those immediate results. I mean, as a person who has struggled to get into an exercise routine her whole life, I, you know, will spend two weeks like, well, why am I not in a size eight? You know, I don't know what's happening here. Um but what in my experience losing 103 pounds in 11 months has been is that those 11 months have been invaluable. It has given me time to adjust to to the changing body that you know, to get used to it. Um and to learn how to take care of this body. If someone had waved a magic wand and put me in a size eight overnight, which I'm not, I'm now in like a size 16, sometimes a 14. Um If someone had put me in a size eight or 10, which is probably about the goal, then I would have lost those 11 months of being rewarded for all of the effort and learning what my body needs and wants and responding to that. And I feel like loving your body takes time. We, when you love another person or you fall in love with someone, that usually doesn't happen overnight, or it might be in fatuation, but typically, like to build real love takes some time. And the same is true for yourself and your body. Another thing is that just biologically, losing a hundred pounds has been a trauma to my body. My body and my brain are freaking out. Like I have lost a third of myself. My body is like, you've lost a third. I mean, it really is very difficult for your body. So taking your time with it is actually better for your body too. And if you're in that mode of taking care of your body and giving it what it needs, then you know, responding to that need to like be like, okay, losing a third of yourself is pretty stressful. Let's take it slowly, you know. And the time is gonna pass. You know, I don't those 11 months weren't lost because I was still a fat girl. Like I did amazing things in those 11 months. And for the next 11 months, I'm still gonna be a fat girl and I'm still gonna do amazing things. Like going from fat to skinny overnight, like what value does that really have in our lives anymore? Especially if we're trying not to participate in diet culture, right? Yeah. Love yourself today. You know, I borrow a lot from AA, so Brenda might recognize like just for today, just for today, I'm going to take care of my body. Just for today, I'm gonna love myself. What does how much I weigh, the number on the scale have to do with that? What does how quickly I moved down the scale have to do with that? Nothing, nothing.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:02

Yeah, it's also OA. I did OA for a while. So yeah, I totally get it. Just for today 301, three meals a day, zero in between, one day at a time. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:15

Wow. Okay, well, of course, at first I thought when you said 301, that that's the state of Maryland's, you know, area coach. I was like, wait a minute, what? No, sorry. 301.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:28

But yeah, so another question is we touched on many aspects of weight loss journeys and food addiction. However, we could argue that if we're, you know, truly healing, it would be a mental health journey with the byproduct of weight loss. What are the major facets in mental health, in a mental health journey that are crucial in our healing, such as activity, connection, things like that?

SPEAKER_05 1:08:58

So I think from my perspective, especially since I'm a self-love, you know, lover of self-love, I think that self-love is the most important thing. I could not have done what I've done without loving myself. And um I've lost 80 pounds before. And without self-love, I gained it all back. In fact, I panicked at 80 pounds and purposefully gained it back. I mean, as purposely can do that. Um because I hadn't addressed what it was going to be like to live without my coping mechanism. So it was like, oh no, no, you know, I can't, I can't keep going. Um, so I think self-love is so important to your mental health journey. And the byproduct of that would be weight loss. Um, connection with others is documented by data to be the number one most important thing to anyone's mental health. Um, so that is always important. I think moving your body in ways that feel good, in ways that your body responds well to and can tolerate feels good. It's great for your mental health, well documented, and good for you know, your your body and and and your fitness. Um I think that taking care of ourselves and learning how to prioritize our needs, um, set boundaries, um, take care with ourselves. You know, when I saw the 337-pound version of myself on that screen, I thought, wow, you know, look at her. And and that is something that you have to practice. Like that doesn't just come naturally. And it you have to practice recognizing the beauty in yourself and giving yourself credit for like making it in this crazy difficult life. Um, but just taking taking it slow, focusing on you know, self-compassion, I think giving yourself compassion for your mistakes or your bad days. Like, I'll I'll I have not talked about this to anyone, literally, not a single person, but I'll disclose that in the two weeks since I took Mandaro, I was fine the first week. Obviously, I had the medicine on board. But this last week, knowing that I was going into bariatric surgery and without the Monjaro on board, I was, you know, the food choices were very different. I didn't go way overboard, but I would say I made choices that I would have never made just out of sheer fear, you know? And instead of at the end of a day, I would be like, wow, like you made some really different food choices today. And had compassion for myself. I say, you know, you're about to go through something really scary. Life is gonna change and you're ready for it. And you've proven that with a year of very hard work emotionally and physically. And it's okay, you know, you you're gonna be fine. It, you're doing the best that you can. Instead of, oh my God, just like you said earlier, Kim, like I ate some bad food or whatever, you know, like the harsh judgments of ourselves. Um, I talk to myself as I would my best friend. If my best friend said, I'm having gastric bypass in a week and I ate some cookie dough last night and I feel really bad about it, I would say, Oh my God, you were about to have this major life change. You know, I would have compassion for her. So I've learned to give that to myself. And I think that is absolutely like the cornerstone for any positive changes that you want to make in your life. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:33

Kindness look, oh okay. Well, my my my final question. Well, no, my next final question is as an addiction counselor, do you see a uh a future for GLP1 scripts being written specifically for substance abuse disorders?

SPEAKER_05 1:12:58

Gosh, I really hope so. There is data I read up on the studies they've studied in rats, in mice, uh other rodents, and um in non-human primates, so monkeys, you know, apes, they have given them this medicine and it is working. It is reducing alcohol consumption. Um they have a lot more studies to do before this is being prescribed for that, um, or that before it's FDA approved anyway. But um, there's so many testimonials that I've seen on TikTok and other places of people saying, like, this is life-changing. It's helped me with my cravings for all sorts of things, not just with food. Because truly, the mechanism that makes that made me want to eat a Snicker bar so that I could cope with difficult children is the same mechanism that makes an alcoholic want to drink or a sex addict want to have sex or whatever. I mean, the addiction, certain drugs are much more highly addictive, right? So a person who is addicted to opiates is having a very different experience from someone who has a behavioral addiction, like gambling or something. There's literally a substance that's taking over. But for these things that are all generated out of here, there's so much hope with this medication and so many amazing, great stories and people being willing to be vulnerable and share. Uh it's changing the world. And I'm so hopeful. I'm so hopeful.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:37

Well, well, I know that I'm I'm hopeful too. My my my father battled addiction. And I don't think I've you know disclosed that as part of my journey. But my my dad battled addiction, and I was talking to my mom earlier today, and I said, Mom, I wonder what would have happened if these medications were available to him. Like, would it have been a different outcome? You know? But um, he, you know, he passed away from heart from a heart condition, but he still battled addiction. So thank you for that, because I really haven't talked about it, but I see the power of this drug class. And I wonder if he were able if he were here and if he were able to take it, what would be now?

SPEAKER_05 1:15:42

What might have happened? I've also lost a loved one that way, and I just want to send you so much love. And um you're speaking so beautifully and with compassion about him, and I think that's a good thing. It's wonderful. Um, and I want to note that all of this is biological and genetic, right? When I have surgery, they put me in the hospital and give me surgery, not tomorrow, I don't think they do this tomorrow, but on other more painful surgeries, for example, and they prescribe opiates for me. I don't like the way it makes me feel. It's just like it, I don't I don't feel hazy. And but some people take that medicine and feel euphoric, like literally like all the sunshine and roses, and they just feel like getting a million kisses from a puppy, you know, like so good. And why is there a difference? Is it because that person is weak of character? No, you know, is it because they're a bad person? No, they have different biology, just as different as we all look here. There's five of us, and we look five different ways, and there's just a million ways for all of us to look, even though we're so close genetically, right? What how our bodies respond to different inputs, food, medications, is is also very different. So alcoholism is primarily a genetic thing, like it it's it's just in you. Like I've I can drink and never become an alcoholic because I just am not wired that way. But give me donuts and I'm you know headed to Troubletown. So there's a lot of people who can eat half a donut and like share one with someone, you know, that is not so it's genetic. And so if we can start to frame this in these ways, like a food addiction, but also all these other things as not moral failings, you know, this is just biology and and medicine helps us deal with biological issues. Um and thank God for that. Thank God for that.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:42

Yes, but I'm I'm beyond grate thankful every day, grateful, thankful, all of that. But with talking about like the addictions and like the fears, so so many future and current GLP1 community members, you know, state that they're afraid uh to take a prescription like Mountjaro. They'll say, Well, I have it in my refrigerator and I'm just afraid to take it. And then, you know, they'll ask a lot of questions, and it's like you can feel I can't even describe what it is, but I it's more than apprehension. But what are some of the causes of this uh type of fear?

SPEAKER_05 1:18:32

I think that change is scary in general. So especially people with obesity, we've been living like this and coping the way that we cope. And you're saying that this medication is gonna take that away from me. And so then your brain is gonna find all kinds of ways. Um, in the addiction field, we know that addiction wants to survive. So any threat to the addiction is going to be met with resistance by the person. So if you say to a person, here, I'm gonna send you to addiction treatment, it's no big deal. It's a beautiful, like spa-like environment, you're gonna love it. The addiction is like, oh no. And we're gonna think of every reason why that is a terrible idea. I mean, I'm not gonna be able to hug my kid when he goes to bed at night, or you know, I'm gonna be too far from home, or what about work? I'm gonna miss work. I mean, it just will come up with the whole litany of reasons why this is terrible. And I think that that's one thing that might be happening for people is that you're saying, like, I'm gonna be skinny and I'm not gonna want food anymore. Like, I don't know, because I've really used this to survive. Food is how I survive. So you're gonna take that from me. And the food addiction is going, oh no, no. I mean, you don't want to, you're afraid of needles, aren't you? And uh, this medication is new and it could have side effects. And, you know, what are people gonna say about you if you take medication to lose weight? I mean, I just don't know about this. So there's that. Um, I think it is scary, you know, injecting something into yourself seems like a lot. That seems pretty, it's a big leap, I think, for some people. Um, and I think that for so there's I think as we all know, there's only five medications to treat obesity. And until now, you know, those have been pretty scary medications. Um, these are stimulants, their speed. Everybody knows in the 80s and I mean I surely did have my turn at the Aspen weight loss clinic with spendramine or whatever. Oh, the fenophen that kill people. Yeah, there's this ingrained fear about weight loss medication. You know, what is it gonna do to my heart? What is it gonna do? And then you hear something like Brenda's story, and that there's good reason for some people to be afraid. So I think there's that, and then I think fat phobia is internalized, fat phobia is so ingrained in our culture and in our own minds that anything like this is just, you know, the easy way out. And you know, for me, I have been obese since I was about 24 years old and overweight since I was about 19. Um, and I would think, I would consider bariatric surgery for many years. I did, and I thought, no, I can do this myself, I can conquer this myself, which is just internalized fat phobia. Because now you should do this yourself, or can't you've done this yourself for you know, 100 pounds. Why don't you just keep going and do this yourself? Well, I'm myself, I'm gonna have to do it, like surgery or not, medicine or not, nobody's gonna come into this body and and like exercise and eat less and figure out the emotional aspects of it so that I can lose weight. I have to do that myself. So I think that's like another part of it is just harsh judgments about how this should be done, you know, that it's not okay. But truly, we're learning it's a biological problem with a biological solution. Yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:09

Yeah, I get this question all the time, my lies. It's in my refrigerator, but I just can't do it. It's been in there two weeks. I just can't do it. Why am I so scared? And like my answer is always like it's super biological, like and natural for you to be afraid of something like this. But like lean into the logic, you know, that the decisions that you made with your provider based on your history, based on all the data and the facts and the land for all the years, you know, like lean on that instead of the fear, you know. And and I mean, I think that does seem to help some people, but I mean, it is a leap of faith sometimes, you know.

SPEAKER_05 1:22:43

It's an injection. So once you inject it, you're stuck with it until it wears off. So yeah, totally that part will do for speaking.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:51

That's why I liked Victoe the sex sending, because you just say you screw up one day and then like fix it the next day.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:56

You're stuck with it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:22:58

I mean, this is why I have never done hard drugs because I'm terrified of this whole like idea that you take a dose and then you're stuck with whatever the effects are until it wears out of control. So I think it's natural for people to be afraid of something like that. It's not like I take a pill, I experience something for one day, and then I can choose not to take the pill tomorrow. It's not like that. No, it's not, you know, yeah, it you gotta pick what's pick your discomfort. Is it yeah more comfortable to be 350 pounds or whatever is a person's weight prescription and they're afraid? Or is it more comfortable to deal with a little bit of fear about the medication? I think we have to pick, you know, your pick your hard, as they say. Yeah, yeah. For me, nothing is harder than living every single day in a 337-pound body. It was very hard. It's very painful. Grateful to myself. I am so grateful to 337-pound me for taking this leap and starting this journey and getting me to where I'm at now because that was really hard. And I don't choose that one. Surgery tomorrow is gonna be hard. My recovery is gonna be hard. Adjusting to this new way of eating is gonna be hard. None of that is gonna be harder than living in a 337-pound body for me. Some people are gonna say, No, this is I can do it. This is fine, and that's great. If you're loving your body and that's you're comfortable and happy there, then awesome.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:23

Totally. Well, that was a lovely way to wrap it all up. I love that. That's thank you so much, both of you. Wow, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You're so welcome.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:38

This can I just put a quick plug-in for Dr. Joy? Okay, yeah, yeah. So the truth bombs that she has thrown at us tonight that I've seen some of you reacting to very strongly. I've been hearing this stuff all through the year because Dr. Joy has given her time freely for the TikTok community to run the self-love uh book club. And on a weekly basis, she has just given her time to us to teach. I can't tell you what I've learned from her. It has made all a difference in my life to learn how to love and take care of myself for the first time. And I'm I'm so appreciative, Dr. Joy. You really show up for this community every day.

SPEAKER_05 1:25:16

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:17

I love that. Where can we find you, Dr. Joy? Where can our audience find you? Like your socials and your work.

SPEAKER_05 1:25:26

Yeah, I'm all over social media at at D-R-J-O-Y-B-R-A-C-E-Y, Dr. Joy Bracie. And I mostly live on Instagram and TikTok, um, but I'm also on Facebook and some other things. Um and there is a link in my um on my website, which is linked in all my bios on across the platforms where people can sign up for the book club. It is this uh next book that we're gonna be reading is by Tara Brock, um, Radical Acceptance. Um Embracing Life with the Heart of a Buddha, I think. And radical acceptance is what one of my newer assignments I've been working on with myself, and it's life-changing, incredible, incredible, incredible.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:06

Um can we can we put the link in the show notes for our listeners?

SPEAKER_05 1:26:10

Yeah, sure. Accepting the things that you cannot change, it makes life so much more peaceful and happy.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:18

So true. So true. That's what we're gonna be working on in our school. Awesome! Thank you so much, everybody. What a lovely conversation this was. I really appreciate it. I am going to exit you stage left, but I just wanted to make sure I I showed you our gratitude again. So thanks so much for I hope this will help people. I'm telling you, every single episode I get a message from somebody that says, That sounds like me. I'm gonna go see my doctor every single episode. So even if it helps one person per episode, I think that's winning, you know? Yeah, absolutely. All right, thank you so much, everybody. I hope you have a great night. Thanks, thank you.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:54

If you if that's great surgery, we'll be watching your TikToks for you.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:59

Yeah, awesome, bye.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:02

All right, thank you. Bye.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:04

Oh, that was so nice. I learned, man, I gotta tell you, Dr. Joyce said some things, and I was like, oh my god, that's gorgeous. Like, I was like, I had never thought about it that way before. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 1:27:15

She said some bites, yeah, she said some sound bites that was awesome that were like a gut, well, not a bad gut punch, but just a gut punch. And I like, you know, like the fact that she I've I've never heard addiction explained the way that she explained it.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:39

Yeah. I've yeah, I've never heard really good. Yeah, it was super good. Yeah. Yeah. Well, let's um let's go ahead and do our our sign offs if you have any NSVs you want to share or any kind of new quotes you want to share. Uh, we've been at this for quite a while now, so we You know how we go? They're good conversations, they're organic conversations, they end up in other places. Think of this like a book club, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 1:28:07

Like we're just we're gonna be on the Dr. Joy's book club, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:28:11

I know, super interesting. Yeah, I know Brenda and some other people in the community do that and and really like it. So, and it's a journey, right? Especially like mentally, like we've been talking about. So very cool. I can't wait to see what comes from this class of medicine for for addiction in the future. I'm very excited, you know? Yeah, all right. Um, so I'm gonna be basic tonight. Okay, and and mine is gonna be for sure, like obviously you're not alone, you know, and it's not your fault. Like we've we've discussed all the things, you know, and it is biological. And if you're able to fix the thing that's going on biologically, then you have the opportunity, right, to fix the other things or address the other things. So that's what I got for tonight. What about you, Kat?

SPEAKER_03 1:28:56

You know, it's not really a quote, and it's not really a well, I guess as an SC, but I caught myself for the first time um trying entertaining the idea or the thought they're doing a 100-mile ride um at my cycle bar in November. And I was like, I'm not gonna do that, I'm not gonna do that. But if I was like today, hmm, should I do it? Definitely doing ride a bike for six hours, five to six hours.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:23

That's a lot of hours. People did it a little bit. I mean, think about it this way: if you do it and you don't finish, at least you did it.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:36

No, they they'll make I have yeah, they yeah, at least I moved.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:42

I've actually caught myself without gonna like I feel like there are people that try to climb mountains and they don't make it all the way to the top, but they freaking climbed a mountain, and most people didn't even try, you know.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:51

I'll stay with Kinnesaw Mountain, okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:54

Kinnesaw Mountain here in Georgia.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:56

Okay, but you know, um do it.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:00

I think I'll I think you should. We'll be rooting you on. I think you should, yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:05

Yeah, all right. That means I have to do two classes every Sunday just to get my body ready. You can do it. Look, you can do it.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:12

You're so tough. You can totally do this. Yeah, you love it. No, this is a goal. This is something that brings you joy, just like Dr. Joy was saying, right? Like, you know, there are things that will are good for her, right? That may not be good for you. Like that sounds like horrible misery and pain to me, but I know you and I know how much you love that and the joy that it brings you and the control that you feel camaraderie, like yeah, yes. So if that's something you want to do to challenge yourself, then I think you should, you know, do it. And if if you're talking about it, you've already decided. I think exactly, yeah. What about you, JT? What's your what's your uh classic sign of?

SPEAKER_01 1:30:53

Yeah, well, uh you know me, it's marathon, not a sprint. Because it is seriously, and NSV last night, Monday night football, I turn into a completely different person during football season. And yeah, I do. And the a couple of the servers who uh are our dedicated servers from last season. When I walked in to the restaurant, they literally looked at me and uh they asked, Are you the same girl that comes in here all the time during football season? Like, yeah, that's me. They're like, Oh my gosh, you look so different. And then a one actually pulled me over to the side and asked me, uh, what are you doing? And she said, I need help. And I actually talked to her. So yeah, that that was my NSP. Fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:58

That's awesome. That's awesome. All right. Well, we'll go ahead and end it for tonight. Thanks so much for joining us, everybody. We hope this will help you out. Thank you, Apostol. Bye.