15. How I lost 85 pounds | Shanon Adams

In this "How I Did It" episode, Shanon Adams, a 47-year old President & COO of a 200 person market research firm shares her 85 pound weight loss journey.

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Transcript

Shanon Adams (00:00.238)
A lot of people in GLP once talk about food noise going away and trying to explain to a person who has never dealt with obesity about what food noise is. You're just going about your life and you're living and you're not living around food anymore. You're not beholden to it. Your day isn't brought off course at four o'clock going and grab a bag of chips because you're able to control that feeling. And I have said to friends, I'm like, is this how normal people feel?

People in control of their cravings who don't have that physiological need. And you become satisfied at a much more limited amount of food. And that makes you start to really think about what you put in your body. It has an interesting thing of like the empty calories starts to matter more when you start thinking about the importance of nutrition and making sure your body is healthy. You know, if I can only consume 1200 calories a day because my body physically will only let me.

I'm gonna make sure they count, right? Like I'm gonna make sure they're good for me and they're building muscle and they're doing those. And so it makes it easier also to walk away from the chocolate covered donut because you're like, it's just not worth it. It's like a control I've never experienced. I'd never felt that before. I I plan my whole vacations around eating. I plan my days around food.

You know, it was a hobby, was everything. That's not how it should be. And so this was an ability to take a break from that, which is so nice.

Bill Jollie (01:34.712)
More than 73 % of Americans have overweight or obesity, while more than 12 % have food insecurity. America is getting heavier, sicker, and more isolated from each other every day. Our motto, Give, reflects our belief that virtually every problem in America could be fixed if we took better care of ourselves and took better care of each other. Welcome to Interrupt Hunger's Move, Give podcast, where we talk with experts in exercise is medicine, food is medicine, and food insecurity.

And understanding that knowledge isn't always enough to help you lose weight. Every other episode showcases someone who's lost at least 10 % body weight to share exactly how they did it. Interrupt Hunger is a 501c3 nonprofit, which helps you lose weight while feeding the hungry. Bring our free 12 week weight loss challenge and donate your weight program to the places you live, work and pray. We fund our mission with sales from our movie, give bracelets and clothing. So please visit us at interrupthunger.org to show your support.

50 meals are donated for every item sold to the nation's largest hunger relief network. So you get to look good while feeling good. Now onto today's episode. Hey everyone, it's Jolly here with Interrupt Hunger. Thanks again for joining us. We've got Shannon Adams with us today from Orlando, Florida. Shannon, thanks for making some time with us. Thank you for having me on. Why don't you kind of just give us an idea of what it's like to be Shannon and talk about your...

Kind of your work in family dynamics. I like starting here. So somebody listening might be able to relate with you and your journey and where you are in life and say, my gosh, this is Shannon's just like me. And if she can do it, I can do it. So I'll turn it over to you. I'm 47 years old. I have been married to my current husband for about six. I've been living here in Orlando for a little over a decade now. I have a 24 year old son.

who is in college. He left the nest about three years ago. And so we've been sort of empty nesting since then, which is a whole new experience after being a mom and a single mom for quite a while. I am the president and COO of a market research tech platform. I've got about 200 employees. So we're not quite a big business, but I'm quite a small business. And I've been in that sort of like tech startup space for a really long time.

Bill Jollie (03:57.39)
You know, working remote, I work 100 % remote. My company is 100 % remote, which is a really unique experience to sort of be inside your home and be sitting around a lot and not being very active at all and being quite isolated from everyone and not getting to see them day in and day out. But it also has the benefit of, you know, being home and have two little dogs who keep us really busy now that our son is out of the house. Yeah, I mean, I'm

I think, you know, when it comes to like family dynamics, I married an athlete. He was quite fit when I met him and he was meant to be a good influence on me, but I think I was more of a bad influence on him. And so, we've really been kind of on a journey together over this last year to be healthier.

And I think when you, when you finally meet your person and you want to be healthy with them and you want to have a long life with them, it kind of gives you a different, a different way of thinking about it. And I think for a long time, I really let work sort of take, like be a primary position. Really only my son was sort of first and foremost to that. And it's hard, it's hard to be healthy when you're busy a lot and you're a parent and you're kind of doing things on your own. So really this last year is about he and I trying to.

partner together to be healthy for one another. So it's involved a lot of change. love that. Yeah, it's, it is really, really hard to do it on your own. It's, it's incredibly hard. It's really not. Like that's, think the point is like he factors heavily into my success along with my friends and stuff too. yeah, that's what I meant. Yeah. When you got a partner there, you got accountability and you, really want to, anything from just

the level of physical activity or what you're doing to what you're eating. It's just nice to have somebody there, whether it's spoken or not, to look out for each other. that partner can also be a negative influence too. Which really we spent the last eight years with, you sort of being the negative influence and being the workaholic and not being focused on my health. So it's been, been really great. have such a supportive partner in that way. Now the cool thing is it's never too late. It literally is never too late to start taking care of yourself.

Shanon Adams (06:12.502)
Yeah. So, you know, 46 and, and busy. I'm a person who works really long hours and I'm really dedicated to my job and, being a parent still, even when our kids aren't in the house, there's, you know, they still need us and mine's local here going to school. So he's over a couple of times a week and, know, there's always going to be things, right? There's always going to be stuff going on and reasons to not focus on it. So, yeah. that's good.

So what was your struggle with food and your struggle with weight? And you can go back as far as you want with that. gosh. I think it probably goes all the way back. you know, one of the things about, you know, I definitely didn't grow up in an affluent family. You know, at the same time too, I grew up in a loving family. So it was really lucky.

I grew up in a multi-generational household. you know, I think about when you're sort of raised by either multi-generations and aunts and uncles, as well as your parents, you know, living with my grandmother, you know, nutrition and food, those were just not things that they were really taught.

I don't think it was a primary focus either. And I think when you're in an environment where you don't always have the ability to choose the healthier option, cause it may be outside of your price range. So they did the best they could to keep, you know, food on the table and take care of me. And they did a good job at that. But being taught proper nutrition, being taught about exercise and the importance of movement and all of those things were just never really like part of the skill sets that I was, I was given a lot of survival skill sets, but that wasn't necessarily one of them.

And so that really stuck with me as I grew older, you know, into adulthood, not really having a strong sense of those things. And I started to gain weight when I was in high school. I think a lot of people as you kind of go through puberty and, you know, I was very active in high school. I was a cheerleader. played tennis. And once I graduated school and got into more sedentary lifestyle, wasn't moving as much, was more focused on studies and trying to get through school.

Bill Jollie (08:12.662)
you know, I started to gain weight, which I think is just like a pretty common story for everyone. You know, you get into an environment where you're not moving as much and, and, you know, you're, you're focused on other things and you really just don't have the tools that did not get better. Once I had my son, you know, going through pregnancy, gaining weight through pregnancy, not really losing that weight. then, you know, a lot of really the most common theme is

food for comfort when you're going through hard times, whether that's you're having trouble in a relationship or your work is very stressful or you're trying to parent. It's so easy to just reach for like the simple, easy thing. And I think I had really kind of trained my body to crave those things and find comfort in those things. you know, so I found myself like snacking on it and, you know, needing sugar and all of these sort of chemicals to be able to get through the day.

And, you know, really was never able to kind of break that cycle because, know, you go on a diet and you're focusing on how can I, how can I be healthy? Cause you know, you need to be right. Like that's the interesting thing about needing to lose weight or gaining weight slowly, even through my twenties was.

the realization I need to do something about this, but I really don't know what to do. And I'm not being able to kind of stop and really analyze what am I doing wrong. But I would go through these cycles like everyone else. The start of the year makes a New Year's resolution. I'm going to go to the gym. You go to the gym three times. You know, I'm not going to eat the junk food anymore. Then you clear out your cupboards. And then before you know it, you're back buying the junk food again, because it's so easy to just cycle right back into it. And I assumed that was because I didn't.

Like my body wanted to be big. My, you know, I'm big boned or I'm a chubby girl or like this is how it's supposed to be and you know, I wasn't a person who could be fit. So I just thought those things worked for me.

Bill Jollie (10:07.456)
So I would cycle through them and fail at them. And then that would be a deterrent and get busy with other things and sort of become less and less mindful. And I cycled through these things all through my twenties and all through my thirties as well. Through massive change in my life, through a divorce and being a single mom and, you know, taking on more and more at work. You know, it just never really kind of became the most important thing to focus on. It despite means at that point, you know, was lucky to

come out of, I wouldn't call it a poverty situation, but I definitely did not come from even, you know, from a lower, lower class family. didn't have a lot of money, to being able to ascend to making, making great money. And so that I could afford healthy, nutritious food. and then the opposite started happening. The richness of life started happening, the large, you know, steak dinners and the, you know, being able to afford the.

More expensive things put me into the, again, still putting different sort of toxic things in my body, but they're just, you know, higher quality, more expensive bad things for me. More expensive crap. More expensive crap. And so you just kind of get stuck in these cycles. And I kind of thought, I was thinking about it actually, when I was thinking about coming on this today, about how being able to like afford the more expensive crap became almost in itself a win.

For me, like, you know, as a child, I would have wanted those things so badly. I would be in the grocery store and ask and wasn't allowing to have them because they were too expensive or I wasn't eating out at fancy restaurants or going on vacations or, you know, doing those things. And, know, the ability to have that was almost like a mark of success in some sort of weird way. And I think you just get kind of caught in that cycle of like the enjoyment of food as this like escapism and the fact that I could afford it now.

And so then I got into cycles of like, get a personal trainer or buy a subscription to this expensive thing. Or if I just do the more expensive things, then those will be the things that work for me. And it really took a long time until I was in my fees, when I started to notice that, you know, there were things going on in my body, hormonally, that were really starting to affect my quality of life. And I think that.

Bill Jollie (12:26.336)
was really why it was a turning point for me was the physicality of not just having the weight, because you carry weight around and it affects your body. My back surgery three years ago, that was a real wake up call, but also just my feeling of noticing these. I started to become more mindful in noticing how I was feeling as a person. When I would eat things, I would watch my blood sugar drop. I would have terrible panic attacks in the middle of the night.

You know, all of these things were kind of, they were related to how my body had sort of formed over time because of food and my habits. And I think a lot of times we don't really connect those things. We think they're, they're isolated, you know, like I'm anxious, I'm an anxious person. It couldn't possibly be because I'm eating, you know, a candy bar before bed, right? So it really was like all linked to that kind of attachment to food and, you know, a level of dissatisfaction.

Sometimes food created satisfaction. Explaining in a way by thinking about it as like, this is fun. This is the lifestyle I always wanted. Yeah. And it's such a gradual thing. You don't notice all those changes in your body, the way you're thinking, the anxiety building. You don't notice any of that stuff. And so it's like, in the moment you're like, it's just overwhelming. This tastes good. It's gonna make me happy. Yeah. You look in the mirror and be like, wow, I'm a hundred pounds heavier.

You start to get comorbidities. You start to have other issues happen. One of the things that happened to me was when I was in my forties, actually it was my late fifties, I was diagnosed with lupus, an autoimmune disease. And a lot of that is tied to lifestyle, like your inflammation levels and what you're putting in your body. I learned a lot about my hormone levels and what was going on inside of my body through trying to figure out.

and get that differential diagnosis to get to a lupus diagnosis, not an easy thing to get to. So that was also a moment of just being like, you know, my body's sort of fighting me. literally is producing things to, you know, good things in my body now. And it was definitely a big wake up call. And I've had to go through a lot to be able to come to the conclusion that a lot of this was tied to food. A lot of it was tied to lifestyle.

Bill Jollie (14:46.862)
Yeah, what's the, yeah, that's a hard realization, but it's kind of, it's a turning point for a lot of folks. So speaking of that, think I can say everybody I've talked to that has gone through a significant shift in the way they look at their health and go more towards lifestyle medicine and just taking care of themselves. At some almost singular instance of time where there was like a, you know, a switch that got flipped and life was just different and taking care of themselves was just easier after that.

Was there one of those for you or? I mean, I definitely believe that the moment I made the decision to invest in GLP-1s, despite my insurance's refusal to pay for it, was a switch because when you, first off, I have gotten to see other people that had succeeded on it. I think I, I always felt like.

This is my fault because I'm lazy. And then I had a number of doctors from an endocrinologist to my primary physician to my GI doctor, basically saying to me, Shannon, your hormones are a mess. This is not you. Something is going wrong and we need to get it right. We want to prescribe you these meds. And so hearing that this isn't just like, you you should just work out more. You know, hopefully you should just cut calories and do all these things. Like you have a

you have like an actual physiological problem to solve was really enlightening for me. And I first learned that in 2023. You know, they were like, we want to prescribe you these meds. And so that's when I went through a series of denials with my insurance company, despite the fact that my BMI was, I think I was at 46 or something like at that point, almost 300 pounds.

So I was being told you have this physiological medical problem that needs to get solved through this medicine that helps that problem, but you're not sick enough. I was diabetic. My A1C was steadily going up. I was pretty much about six months from being diabetic and insurance being willing to pay for my, for my meds, but, you had to get sicker and it was really tough. So I went through 20, 23, trying to work.

Bill Jollie (17:04.811)
I was just thinking, I'm sorry. I was just thinking about these last few minutes and all the stuff that you've been through and you're still, according to the insurance company, you're still not sick enough. That's. It's just a crazy thing, right? When you're like, you you've needed back surgery and you've got lupus and your A1Cs are steadily rising. Your C-reactive proteins are super high. All your hormone panels are coming back a mess. You feel like, like trash and your insurance company is still like, you're not sick enough, you need to get sicker.

And so, but it was so nice to have supportive doctors. think having really good people in your life in terms of like physicians is important who believe you. I think a lot of times when you're a bigger person, you're often treated very differently by your medical professionals. And so I was lucky that I was surrounded by those that believed that I needed something that this wasn't just me being lazy.

And so was really enlightening and sort of a moment for me to have multiple proofs of the fact that I needed to do something about this, that there was a solution for me. My doctors wanted that for me. They were equally upset, frustrated by my insurance company and for me. So finally, I think the real switch was I went in for my annual physical in January. And my primary physician was just like, you know, any luck? you think your insurance plan had changed this year?

And I said, no, had, you know, we'll talk about it. I went through so much just to try and get my insurance plan to change as well in 2023. but it hadn't. And he said, well, there's a savings card for this new drug called ZipBound, which is essentially Monjaro, which is for weight loss. And if you can afford $550 a month versus 1300, then I'll write you a script for it. You won't have to worry about insurance. And that was like, I remember that feeling of like,

It was accessible to me. I could choose it. I was no longer beholden to some organization telling me that I was either not sick enough to have this thing and it's because 1300 would have been way too high for me. But 550 was, I think I can do this. I think I can invest in this. And that was a moment. It was like having somebody have a willingness to talk to you about, let's make this affordable for you in some way. And I'm so thankful for that because.

Bill Jollie (19:22.941)
It allowed me to get out of the cycle where I was blaming insurance for why I wasn't moving forward with this thing that I knew that I needed. It allowed me to kind of take matters into my own hands. Whether I liked it or not or felt it was fair, I at least was privileged enough that I could afford that. And thankfully my partner was very supportive. And so we decided to invest in my health at that point. And I can tell you when you're spending $550 a month on medicine, you take it very seriously. So at least it's a little bit of a...

I mean, I try not to think about it as a silver lining because it's crummy and I don't think people should have to go through it, but it was because it was like, I have to take this seriously. I'm not just going to blow this money. You know, I'm too frugal and too mindful of money, I guess. So it really was, it really felt like a physical investment and emotional investment. And I'm just thankful for the doctors that were me who were willing.

continue to try and figure out a way to help me, even though it should have been much easier than it was. Yeah, that's incredible. Yeah, a couple things there. Like, not everybody.

has the privilege that you do. And I think that's like, definitely appreciate that. fully appreciate that. And also the fact that you had some really supportive docs. Again, not everybody has that. then- friends all the time. if your doctor's not working for you, then you need a funny different doctor, you know? Like it's a, I just think people are scared to do that. The, yeah, absolutely. And then I was also thinking like 550 docs. I mean, that's a lot of money. And so there's-

I think we're getting better as far as the stigma goes of anti-obesity meds and bariatric surgery and all this. We still got a long way to go because I still confront, I run into people all the time that just don't like the idea of this. if, I don't think $550 a month is the easy way out. Definitely not. I think it was just after a year of frustration to be like,

Bill Jollie (21:22.411)
What am I going to do? Am I going to choose to do this for myself or am I going to continue to let there be excuses? Right? Like if I have the means to do it, I'm very privileged to have at least that level of means to do it. What can I decide to focus on this? Cause it's more important. And, also too, I think I would have always wondered if this was the thing that was going to help me. Cause I had cycled through diets. had done keto. had done Weight Watchers. know,

done all these things and I was just always really, really struggling. You know, this was the first time I was going to take a medicine to help me with this process and one that my doctors felt was important. So to me, it was different than like investing in a $500 a month physical, you know, personal training thing or whatever, right? Like it was, it was very much like I got to fix what's going on inside my body. so making the decision was tough because of the financial piece of it, but

I also really liked the idea that I could be in control, finally. And I also knew people that had been out and had succeeded. I didn't view those people as like more resilient than me or had more willpower. I viewed them as people, you know, just like me who needed a little bit of help. And I think that was very encouraging for me, but I did have worries.

Of course. of course. in your meds, sure. You hear horror stories and there's so much misinformation about, you know, what you've got to do. But the interesting thing was it also flipped a switch on more things than just taking a shot. You know, through having a year to research doing something, you went earth a lot of really interesting data and things about losing muscle mass and having had back surgery, I can tell you, I very much care about my core.

I don't want to fall apart. And so it set off a whole series of me, not just taking a shot. It's not a magic shot. It doesn't do everything for you. Lots of people take it and it doesn't work for them because you can't continue to eat poorly through it. You have to care about your nutrition, but you also have to move your body. And so it really set off kind of a whole new lease on things for me. But I would say that the switch that flipped was something inside of me just went.

Bill Jollie (23:36.447)
I'm kind of done waiting. I'm done fighting with outside parties. I have a whole war to wage with myself still. So I might as well get started. And yeah, I just feel really lucky that I was able to do it. Cause you know, not everybody would have had even for it to be accessible at I think folks that still hold on to the, misperception of what these medications are, can do and then how much control you have over it. think the best thing is.

Just a simple way to explain it is like, you've got this incredible noise that's always in your head and it's this craving and you can't stop it no matter what. And these medications kind of take away that noise and they allow you to look at food as actual like nutrients and what you're putting in your body instead of all that distraction, which I was thinking earlier when you talking about grabbing snacks on the go and

I used to crave the absolute worst weird peculiar things. was like those chocolate covered donuts that are like a dollar at a convenience store or those horrible apple fritters. There was specific things that I would have and I'm like, screw it. I'm just gonna have one. That's completely non-existent if the chemicals are not controlling your thoughts, right? Well, I noticed that about.

four o'clock in the afternoon, my blood sugar would drop and I would just go try and find the closest nearest thing, which was a bag of chips or, you know, it's just a junk that you would keep in your house. And it would, you know, you're getting like a little bit of sort of dopamine, serotonin booster, whatever you need from it too. But it would be, it felt physiological, the craving. It felt very much like, you know, some of it's mental. It felt physical to me.

You know, and I think you can get into these spirals of guilt about like, look at me, I don't even have the resilience or willpower to not pick up this bag of chips right now. But you're, you live a certain lifestyle for so long and your brain gets hooked on it. And the meds really do, they quiet it. A lot of people on GLP once talk about food noise going away and trying to explain to a person who has never dealt with obesity about what food noise is. even to people who have, when they're asking about like, what does that even mean? It really truly is like.

Bill Jollie (26:00.105)
You're just going about your life and you're living and you're not living around food anymore. You're not beholden to it. Your day isn't, you know, your day isn't brought off course at four o'clock going and grab a bag of chips because you're able to control that feeling. And I, I've said to friends of like, is this how normal people feel? People in control of their cravings who don't have that physiological need, who aren't, their brain isn't trained to that.

They have, and it's not even so much about not eating those things anymore, though, you know, there isn't a lot of nutritional value in the chocolate covered gas station donut. It's about being able to take one bite of it and go, huh, that's all right. And that's okay. I don't need to eat two of them. I don't even need to get the whole thing, right? And you become satisfied at a much more limited amount of food. And that makes you start to really think about what you put in your body.

has an interesting thing of like, the empty calories starts to matter more when you start thinking about the importance of nutrition and making sure your body is healthy. You know, if I can only consume 1200 calories a day because my body physically will only let me, I'm going to make sure they count, right? Like I'm going to make sure they're good for me and they're building muscle and they're doing those. And so it makes it easier also to walk away from the chocolate covered donut because you're like, it's just not worth it. No, it's not. And they don't taste as good.

No, they don't. You know, it's so interesting how it changes the things that you want to put in your body. But yeah, it was a, it does. It quiets that food noise. It regulates your blood sugar. I think a lot of people think of it like, well, it just makes you nauseous. makes you not want to eat. It doesn't make me nauseous. Some people it does. Everybody responds really different, but you know, it really is more about a feeling of not thinking about food. And that is.

You know, a feeling of not needing that in that moment. You still get hungry. You eat. You just don't eat as much. And it is, it's like a control I've never experienced. Like I had never, I'd never felt that before. It took me going through this process and talking to different people to realize that normal people aren't totally defined by hunger all the time. Their days are not. I I plan my whole vacations around eating. I plan my days around food.

Bill Jollie (28:24.937)
You know, it was a hobby, was everything. That's not how it should be. And so this was an ability to take a break from that, which is so nice. And the noise does come back after a while. That's something that people don't realize is that after a little while, it will come back a little bit. And you especially will see it happen later in the week, as you get into like day five or a couple of days before your next shot. And that's where you need tools.

just go right back to the bad behaviors, you know? And so that's where I think people need to understand is that it really is just like a mechanism, tool to help. It doesn't take away all of those things. You will fall and slip right back into bad habits two days a week. It's very easy to consume way more calories than two days a week. And so you can't look at it in isolation. And thankfully I did. And that was because I had doctors who told me I should, you know?

who are like, you've got to focus on these other things or you're not going to succeed with it. If you want to, I love, I love telling folks, like if you want to change your life, you actually have to change your life. You can't just rely on a medication. The medication quiets the noise and allows you time to get in some new good healthy habits. So, so let's talk about some of those healthy habits. Let's talk about your eating style. What do you have something that

You try to stick by, you mentioned 1200 calories a day, but how are you eating? So one of the big differences is I started actually tracking everything I put in my body through my fitness pal, which I had done off and on through the years. But I think it's really incredible to just like pay attention to your food. Like part of it is just mindfulness. know, looking something up before you put it in your body to be like, do I want to spend this? You know, is this going to help me? Is this really going to...

going to accomplish something for me is so important. I think tracking has been such an important part of it. You know, was able to come up with a macro plan that really worked for me. You know, I think a lot of people too often are like trying to cut carbs, like no carbs or going down to less than 20 carbs a day. Like I was never that person. I took a more balanced approach. I focused on protein as a primary, trying to get over a hundred a day and you know, everything else sort of falling in line.

Bill Jollie (30:39.199)
with carbs and fats after that. I also recognized that like on shot days and the three or four days after, I can consume less calories. So I made it so that my macros and calories would be lower on those days. And so when I got into the latter three days of the week, I would raise them. So I wouldn't be in this mode of like, gotta be 1200 every day. I gradually go from 1200 to 1400.

the 1600 for two days and then back down to 1200 on Chante. And so it gives you a little bit of that. And I happen to do it so that those larger calories happen over the weekend so that I can go out and have dinner with my friends and have a drink and do those things that I'm going to want at that point. And it is about like building around for me what works. think too often people are extreme with what they do and then they wonder why it's not sustainable. So that was what was sustainable for me. In terms of what I eat.

what's definitely changed that I do prioritize protein. So I find myself eating, I have, and I do practice some intermittent fasting during the week too, which has been helpful for blood sugar regulation, but I'll have a protein shake in the morning. I really like the Fair Life ones a lot. And, you know, I have been using like certain Greek yogurts that are like low sugar Greek yogurts. I've been doing collagen as well. So that gives you a little bit of extra protein.

So it's just really good for your hair and your skin. And as you lose weight, really start to lose hair. It's kind of a fluffy amount of hair, really. So I can ask you real quick on the collagen, does it have a taste to it or is it? I didn't taste it. I mixed it in with my yogurt and I don't taste it at all. So it's really just like free protein and good nutrients for very little. great hair. And it helps your hair because it's going to definitely get harder.

A lot of people struggle with that on GLP ones and just with weight loss in general. And something I make really my eating window tends to be around dinnertime. I consume a lot of chicken and a lot of fish now, which is really different because I ate a lot of red meat before that. But I found myself not really wanting red meat. My body wasn't processing it as well anymore. That faded over time. So now I could have a steak and it wouldn't make my stomach hurt at all. But I just don't crave it as much.

Bill Jollie (32:57.471)
So I have a tendency to like stick with fish and chicken as well as like other like plant-based protein. But that's like, I think when you look at your plate, you got to look at what you've got on your plate, right? Like it's not about like not having something that's maybe not the best for you, but making sure that there are most of the plate has the things that are good for you. ate a tremendous amount of salad now. You know, I found things that I liked and like.

didn't get into the mode or was like, I'm going to only have sugar-free salad dressing and I'm not going to eat cheese at all. like, I make sure that I still have those things that I enjoy, but I just really pay attention to portion control and that making sure that I'm filling up on the things that are good for me first before I, you know, move on to the things that I still order dessert when I'm out and I'll have two bites of that. And it really is just a different style of eating for me. And then I just don't keep things in the house anymore that are bad.

for me either, but I don't feel like I want them either. It's really an interesting transition in sort of how my cupboard looks and how my refrigerator looks and how I eat. I I used to a frozen pizza every week, or a couple times a week. I can't remember the last time I had a frozen pizza. Still, I Quest protein chips if I'm looking for something to satisfy that sort of crunchy sort of something with a sandwich. You see the full sandwich, now I eat a half.

I moved to whole wheat breads or like Dave's bread, which I really love. never gave up bread. know, I love bread. knew that if I gave up bread, I would be so sad. So I just, you know, I adapted. I think I replaced things with other things. So, you know, I went from like Ben and Jerry's to Yasso bars, you know, like sometimes it is really about replacing things. And what's so nice about the meds is that your body is okay with that because you don't want.

the super sweet thing anymore. You're not going to crave those as much anyways. So the alternatives taste better to you. At least they did for me. That's what I variant. And then when you do go back to have some of the things you used to eat, it doesn't taste the same. It doesn't taste the same. It's so interesting. And you're just like, I don't know. It doesn't taste so much better than it's worth it. I think that's the bit that really, my brain isn't getting.

Bill Jollie (35:20.223)
what it needs from those things anyway. So I'd say I crave the gym more than I do. wow. It's an accident. That's cool. I like that. What makes me feel worse is not going to the gym, then missing whether I'm having a cupcake or not. That's been the big change. Wow. That's a great line. Okay. Speaking of the gym, why don't we talk about...

Exercise for a little bit. What's it? What's your exercise look like for you? This is the most intimidating part. So it's one thing to fight insurance companies and, finally to say, screw it. I'm going to pay for it myself. Maybe get this shot. You're you're, you know, it's an auto injector, thankfully, but you're going to give yourself a shot. You don't know what's going to happen. All these things are really scary, but they pale in comparison to how I felt the first time I watched it. Thankfully, my husband was really supportive and he had really wanted to get back to working. So he's like.

He went and he did like a tour at the Y and he's like, come to the Y. It's not like, you know, other gyms where people are like super fit. And it was always just so intimidating. And I kind of thought those places were places for me. was worried people were looking at me and judging me and being like, why is this, you know, big person there? And I went to the Y and it was, it was totally eye-opening. And I was like every kind of person there. And I'm so thankful for the environment because it really is a community-based place.

versus a gym, which feels like more of a commercial place. And I think that was a moment for my husband got me in the building. I think that was the hardest part, get to the building. And the first time I went there, all I did was the recumbent bike. Because I realized I wasn't actually there to work out that day. I was there to feel comfortable. I was there to look around and observe people and determine if I felt comfortable there. And so I did, I just did the recumbent bike the first time. You know, we decided, all right.

If we're going to do this, then we're going to go twice a week. We're going to go Tuesdays and Thursdays early in the morning. And so it started off with that. And then just try this machine, look dumb on this machine, not know how to work that machine. know, thankfully, my was with me and he was kind of, you know, going along with me. So I had the buddy system was really in play and that I definitely would not have been able to take hold that new habit without him.

Bill Jollie (37:32.733)
Or without like a great space to go be that felt very welcoming. so yeah, we started Tuesdays and Thursdays and I did not like it. I did not like it at first. I did not feel this like, I got to get there today. Or I didn't go. It was like, all right, I'm doing shots. I don't, I'm losing weight because I started to lose weight. And I was like, my gosh, I'm going to lose muscle. And then my back's going to... If you've been through a traumatic surgery of any kind or through a illness of any kind, you learn you're like,

That was terrible. never want to go through that again. So it really got me up the first month or so. Those two days a week was I'm losing weight and I'm afraid I'm losing muscle and I can't have that happen because I don't want to be hurt. And I think it's whatever it is that gets you going. think oftentimes you were like, I'm not feeling that like euphoria or whatever that people talk about at the gym. I didn't feel that for months. know, I went there because I didn't want to fall apart.

I went there because I felt comfortable being there and I went at the pace that worked for me. And I started to become more and more curious about movement and two days a week became three days a week. And then I had a friend who was a former dancer and I was like, there's this dance class I want to go to and I'm super intimidating because I'm afraid, you know, I'm going to be like the big person. And she was willing to go with me. So then I started going to dance once a week and you start going to dance twice a week. And then you're like.

In between dance, I need to go walk at the ball because like each day I want to have some movement and you know, it becomes this like part of your life. And I was telling friends, like, I felt like I finally had the time to think about those things because I wasn't thinking about food. And I was like, what do you do when you don't think about food? So you fill all the space with, with movement. I think varied activity was so important for me. Strength training can be very intimidating, especially for women.

But it was like, I wanted to be strong. just took, you know, I did two machines and then I did three machines. It wasn't like this, like, I'm going to go for it. I think sometimes people do that. They're like, you know, the New Year's resolution people, like, I'm really going to go for it this year. I'm going to go and go hard and lift heavy and do all these things. The truth of the matter is like getting in the building is probably the hardest part. Going consistently. These are the big wins. And then what you do when you're there, like just dedicate yourself to 30 minutes of some kind of movement.

Bill Jollie (39:57.359)
And you know, some days that's different than others. And at first it wasn't, I wasn't even paying attention to how much weight I was flakelessing. I was just happy to get there and use the machines. And then I started realizing it was getting easier. And I was starting to think about it more in other days when I couldn't go. And then I was starting to plan my vacations around whether or not there was a good gym at that hotel. I remember I used to think, why do people go to the gym when they're on vacation? It's so weird.

And I needed it, right? became, it had replaced food in a lot of ways. Just creating control and happiness. it's just something over the time gradually started to take hold and now it's a part of who I am. And I'm so thankful that my husband was there with me. And you know, I feel for people who don't have that kind of partner, you know, because it is so hard.

But some days, even with my, like, my friend who goes to dance with me, we'll perhaps see each other and be like, okay, we're going dance today. We'll be like, I'm really not feeling it, but you're going to feel better if you want. You need a person to be like, you're going to feel better if you want. Because it's so true. And, you know, I do that for him and he does that for me. And I'm so thankful for it. But yeah, was a, it was quite a process to go through. And it's so strange to think of myself as eight months later where I'm at with it. Cause I.

I me a year ago would have been, I knew I wanted to take the meds. I didn't know that I saw myself working out as much as I do or enjoying movement as much as I do or running up the stairs quickly because you want to get your heart going, pay attention to your heart rate, pay attention to your calories you're burning. In a lot of ways it's sort of gamified in a fun way. I really It's funny. Yeah, no, it feels real.

Do you get the runner's high quote unquote now or? I do a little bit more, but you know, it's kind of interesting. I wouldn't even say like the runner's high. For a period of time I noticed as I was transitioning to working out that I wouldn't get this like boost of sort of euphoric feeling and the sort of don't be a boost afterwards. And now I notice it because my life is so built around it. You don't get the boost as much anymore as you feel yourself. You feel yourself like.

Bill Jollie (42:17.385)
On the days when I don't do it or I miss it because I'm sick or something like that, you don't feel yourself as much anymore. And so it's less about the euphoria because I think sometimes when we go chasing euphoria and it doesn't happen, it's so easy to get like, but instead it's like I adapted to it and it became a habit. think forming habits takes time and it finally formed a habit for me. But more so it was like, I just didn't feel myself on the days when I didn't go. And that's a great motivator when you spend.

so much of your life feeling like crap and you don't feel like crap anymore. It becomes a great motivator and it's still, know, some days are hard. Some days you're just like, I'm so tired. And now that it's cold out, you just want to burrito yourself in bed and not get out of bed. But I think it's so important to do. And then you start to see the results. that really is like huge when like get muscles. You know what I mean? You measure and you, you're starting to notice changes in your body and,

that also becomes like the next kicker is when you start to see the results and it takes a couple of months. So I don't know, different phases, you gotta find different things that keeping you going. It's funny. it does, I always recommend you've got to start like so much slower and so much less weight than you think you can do just to get in the habit. Cause if it's, you want to make it super easy those first few weeks, but then now I love progressive overload. Some people call it tiny gains.

So I do the same amount of weight, but every couple of days I'll add one more rep and I keep track of it. That's the only thing I track anymore. Cause I got a good handle on my food. I up, go to the bathroom, weigh myself and then to have some coffee, then go to the gym. And if I miss a day, yeah, I don't regret. There's all different types of negative feelings. If I don't go to the gym that day and it might be because I've got a work thing or family thing, but also it's not, you said like gamify it. If I'm not able to like put one more like rep.

in my phone and the note app where I keep it. like, damn it. Like I think about that and it's such a silly little thing, like, just, it's just, it's almost like being a gamer when you're a kid, you always want to like level up. And it's like every time you could put one more rep or you know, when you do after some time period of time, you are able to go up a weight. that is, that's just an amazing feeling. you get to level up. Yeah. get to level up and it's, it's like your altitude, you go get machines behind other people.

Bill Jollie (44:38.923)
see the weight that they're lifting and you look at them and you're just like look at the girl, you know, she's doing all this weight. So it must be possible, right? Like it's possible in some way. And you do, you creep up and you push yourself, you push yourself a little bit harder and you know, I really enjoy that feeling and I also love to walk, I think.

You take people talking about running, running can be so tough. love walking. It's, you know, one of the things after back surgery, was told like, you know, walking is the body's lubricant for your spine. And it really is true. So got into walking and so it's a varied exercise too. So like we walked in the mall. It's a lot of fun to walk in a mall.

I used to look around and get to people and it doesn't always have to be like go run on the street or run on a treadmill and stare at nothing. I could get out of the world and do movement as well too. Some of my friends who are on a similar journey, walking was where they started. They didn't start at the gym, right? They started walking. They started with creating the easiest form of movement and then moving on from that. I think if I didn't have Andrew with me, I probably would have started just with walking and then progressed from there.

And there's nothing wrong with it, right? Like you're to do whatever works for you. And for different people, it's different things. And you know, you do, you get, you get kind of hooked on it. I do a little bit more. I'm tracking all my reps now too. And all my, what's, you know, what's hard. What can I go up to? You know, I'm also paying attention to the fuel light to do well at the gym. Something I never did. I got caffeine out about a month into my journey, which was interesting. that's, that's not an option.

That's not happening for me. Seems like a nudge, but it helped me. Like it stopped me from having anxiety. And, you know, it's not a chemical my body actually needs. It was keeping me from sleeping well, but you become so much more mindful of a lot of things through the whole, the whole process. I love movement so much. I always tell people that's like the best medicine. This movement have a tough day at work.

Bill Jollie (46:44.757)
You know, go walk around Disney. I live in Orlando. It's nice. You won't feel bad, but it's hungry. That's a pretty fantastic exercise snack right there. Walking around Disney. That's cool. You just got to not eat. So that's the only challenge. Well, this has been pretty, I feel like it's been a therapy session almost. Like you've, you've shared a lot of like insight that I think people really just hold themselves back.

because of, and you just processed all this and been very introspective and shared a ton with us. So thank you for that. Thanks for having I've chronicling every month, pretty openly on Facebook. And I started doing that because it's so overwhelming. It's so hard to know where to start. And also like it can feel like, like you said, you want people to see themselves in my story. And that.

was why I started diarying, what I was doing and sharing so openly. The whole process was so that people could see that these are normal feelings and my diaries are not all like, and I lost 10 pounds and look at me work out. It was like, you know, I got a sinus infection and I couldn't breathe. I couldn't go to the gym or like, you know, it was really hard this month. It was really hard to get through these things. Or I felt a certain way because that's the journey is not going to all feel like this euphoric, you know, thing.

Instead, it's going to be tough. just wanted people to, cause I know that if I had a friend who did that, I would have felt less intimidated. And I get so many DMs from people. And now I know a number of people who are on similar journey, whether it's this medicine or a different one or just working out who were like, thank you for sort of being so open about it. I was really happy to do that because I just felt like it was something that was needed. How to make you feel good. That's very cool.

Yeah, thanks for having me. I appreciate it. you know, the last piece of advice I might give to anyone that does relate to insurance companies is mine eventually paid for mine. They also reimbursed me for the time. You know, as Bill knows, I, because of my position at work, I actually oversee our benefits administration and even I wasn't able to get a good insurance plan that covered it. But thankfully through time, the insurance company did cover it.

Bill Jollie (49:00.233)
Work with your doctors, get pre-authorizations, continue to pursue them. Now everyone in my company that fits the profile of, I think it's like 30 BMI over or with comorbidities are able to get approved without having gone through the same stress that I did. So just keep at it. Like try different angles, appeal them. They're trying to deter you and talk to your benefits administrators. Make sure it's important that they know what you need.

And I think that's the case for like any medicine, not just this one too. But, know, thankfully mine has like a happy ending of 85 pounds down and, you know, I do have coverage thankfully now and, you know, I've learned to work through the process and so happy to share. is so cool. I'm so happy for you. That's, that's been great. Yeah. You got such a big smile. It's neat to hear you, how much you fought for yourself, but then also you happen to be in a position at your company where you can fight for, for the people that work with you. So good for you. I'm so happy.

You know, it's happy ending and good story. And I hope others get to experience similar things and fight for yourself. And you you never know how it's going to turn out. That's a great place to end. All right. Very cool. Thanks so much, Shannon. Thanks so much.

Bill Jollie (50:14.091)
Thanks so much for listening. Please rate and review the podcast on the platform of your choice so we can reach more people and more people are recommended this podcast. And if you really liked it, the single best way you can help us grow is by telling your friends. Now for all the legal stuff. The views and opinion expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent. For my day job, I'm an employee of ABB and appear on this podcast on my own accord and not in the professional capacity as an ABB employee.

All viewpoints provided are my personal opinions and not intended to reflect those of my employer. If you have any questions or comments, please shoot me an email at jolly at interrupt hunger.org. Let's go spread some joy people.