Under the Influence (with Jo Piazza) - Real Talk on Weight Loss Drugs

00:00:00.000 Hey y'all, Joe here, and you are listening to Under the Influence.

00:00:04.140 Just a quick reminder to get your orders of Everyone is Lying to you in

00:00:07.660 the book of the summer, the book the internet can't stop talking about,

00:00:12.440 the book that the Trump administration will shut down the second that it finds out about it.

00:00:18.400 Order Everyone is Lying to you today, it will arrive in July, and you will just thank yourself.

00:00:22.920 You'll just be so happy that you did it. I promise.

00:00:26.880 Today, we are talking about drugs. Yes, drugs. The weight loss ones. The semaglutides, the

00:00:34.160 Zep Bounds, the Ozempics, the Manjaros. You know what I mean. You know the ones. Because 0.71

00:00:39.560 this is the conversation that every woman in her 30s, 40s, and 50s is either having or

00:00:45.380 desperately Googling in secret. I have been dying to do this episode because I am so sick

00:00:51.340 of influencers, whispering in their little influency voices about their wellness journeys

00:00:56.800 while casually showing off their new six-pack abs and pretending that they didn't take medication. 0.95

00:01:05.600 I want real talk from real women. I want to talk about the side effects, the weird Reddit rabbit 1.00

00:01:11.380 holes that you go down, the sweaty 3am wake-ups where your heart is racing. I want to talk about

00:01:17.580 what it is really like to go on these meds as a woman navigating aging, perimenopause, parenting,

00:01:24.080 body image, and a culture that punishes us for either caring too much about our bodies

00:01:29.140 or not caring enough about them. So I called up my friend Kara Baskin. She's been really honest

00:01:35.900 about taking these medications on her Instagram account. She's a journalist, an author, and a

00:01:40.460 parenting columnist for the Boston Globe. And this is our no bullshit conversation that I think

00:01:45.360 everyone is pretty much craving right now. It's not medical advice. This is not an infomercial.

00:01:50.300 We are just two women trying to feel good in our bodies without having to apologize.

00:01:58.660 Hello, Kara. Hello. So I'm very excited for our chat today. This is an episode I've been

00:02:05.900 dying to do because I just want to spill all of the tea about the semaglutide. I thought it

00:02:15.240 was semi-glutide for a long time too and then I was corrected it's not it is not semi-glutide it

00:02:23.380 is semi-glutide but whatever like it the weight loss the weight loss drugs yes right yeah first

00:02:30.000 off talk to me talk to me about your journey my journey can I just tell you I'm wearing shorts

00:02:35.420 that I haven't worn in five years today so that's like how my journey is going it feels really nice

00:02:41.600 to be in like my my skinny shorts that feels good um yeah well here's the thing that that is the best

00:02:48.560 part of this for me it's not like I don't even really care how my body look because I'm just

00:02:54.480 like whatever it's not like I'm gonna go put on a bikini or anything I just love my old clothes 0.53

00:03:01.480 and so psyched to fit into them again and it feels like a goddamn gift okay seriously so I'm wearing

00:03:08.300 these shorts and I and my husband comes downstairs and he goes why are you wearing jorts they're like

00:03:12.540 jean shorts I was like you don't understand I haven't worn them in five years now I feel like

00:03:17.320 I'm wearing jorts but whatever you are definitely wearing jorts but I will also tell you my my

00:03:21.520 jorts also fit the jorts were the first to go and they fit again and they don't because I've been

00:03:26.640 breeding for eight years they did not fit and they do and they look great and it's it's so funny

00:03:34.260 because I had boxes and boxes of which I had labeled pre-pregnancy clothes. And I just went

00:03:43.640 through them this week and I don't think I ever have to buy clothes again. It's the thing. I'm

00:03:49.860 like, oh my gosh, I have so much here. It was just, it was like Christmas morning in my house.

00:03:56.040 It's, I very much relate. And I mean, as much as it's not just about fitting into clothes,

00:04:01.780 like, let's be honest. There is a vanity aspect to this. It feels really good to be able to fit

00:04:06.280 into the clothes I haven't been able to fit into. But my journey, I'll start I'll start at the

00:04:10.640 beginning of my journey and then we can we can go from there. But so just like a little bit of

00:04:15.620 perspective. I was always short and small, like always. And, you know, when you're a kid or a

00:04:21.620 teenager, like that's when your first sense of identity is formed. And I always thought of myself

00:04:25.980 as a short, small person. I never had to think about what I ate. I can eat whatever I want.

00:04:31.340 it just was not a factor in my life. There are plenty of other self-image issues that were,

00:04:36.060 but like size was never one of them. I got older. I hit perimenopause. I had two kids who are almost

00:04:42.140 10 pounds a piece. Oh, those are big kids. Those are big, big headed boys. And I was on SSRS. I've

00:04:51.780 taken Zoloft, I've taken Lexapro, I've taken Prozac. They all can fuck with your, you know, 1.00

00:04:57.180 I say. Oh, totally. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So basically, you know, I had slower metabolism. I 1.00

00:05:03.560 was on drugs that made it harder to lose weight. I was getting older. And the tipping point,

00:05:08.880 honestly, and I bet you can probably maybe relate to this. I was doing an event. I was doing an

00:05:13.920 author event at a bookstore in Boston where I live with a woman who I just looked at her and 0.99

00:05:21.020 I felt and I've described this like a sack of potatoes like I felt like a lumpy sack of crap 0.93

00:05:27.620 yeah yeah I've I have also felt like a lumpy sack of crap before uh and also kind of felt like a 0.92

00:05:34.620 sausage casing that was too tight kind of times yes yes and I'm like I had had I like put on the 0.71

00:05:40.640 like shapewear and the spanx but it like made me look like a tube of toothpaste that was like

00:05:44.740 squeezed wrong it was just the whole look was bad and they posted all these photos from the event

00:05:49.700 afterwards like this Instagram story and I I winced I winced looking at myself in the photos

00:05:56.280 and finally just thought I don't want to feel like this and I don't want to cringe when I see myself

00:06:01.080 in a photo I don't I don't like this I also hated looking at photos of myself and like that's that's

00:06:06.980 not great especially because we live in a world where we're photographed constantly too yeah and

00:06:12.900 it's all over social media and yeah I just like I didn't enjoy looking at myself anymore I didn't

00:06:18.840 enjoy looking at myself I didn't enjoy wearing clothes like I felt like I was shopping to like

00:06:25.000 hide my body instead of there were clothes that I probably wouldn't have chosen normally except

00:06:29.940 for the fact that I wanted to like hide my hide myself as much as I could I was adjusting my life

00:06:36.320 in all these little ways and I realized oh my god this is taking up space in my head that it never

00:06:42.120 used to and I don't like it and then the other side of it is my my dad's side of the family has

00:06:46.660 a lot of cardiac issues. He, you know, he has heart problems. He, his family had heart problems

00:06:52.480 and I thought I'm not getting any younger and being overweight is probably not the healthiest

00:06:57.740 thing anyway. I'm also a food writer in my other life. So I eat out a lot and it was a confluence

00:07:03.860 of factors, but the final straw was honestly seeing myself at that book event and wincing

00:07:08.340 and feeling horrible. So long story short, I went to the doctor. I had no problem getting

00:07:12.920 ZepBound. ZepBound is, so a lot of people take Ozempic, which is like, I think that's the more

00:07:18.220 diabetic oriented one. ZepBound is more for pure weight loss because I'm not diabetic. And I'm

00:07:25.540 short. My BMI qualified me immediately. I'm 5'1". And it costs 25 bucks. It got covered by my

00:07:32.420 insurance and I've been doing it now for 11 weeks. Have you had any side effects? Oh my God, yes.

00:07:37.340 okay yes can we let i want to be really really candid about no i want you i want you to be i

00:07:43.380 mean i just i want to have as many candid conversations as i can about this i'm going

00:07:47.640 insane because the world of influencers is now i mean there's glp1 influencers now right

00:07:52.800 and if i have to if i have to see one of them doing like a weighted squat while they're like

00:08:00.000 the one thing that i wish i knew in fact i think i'm gonna do like weighted squat videos of me 0.57

00:08:05.140 and then just shill my fucking book okay because the algorithm loves them so i just want to have 0.87

00:08:11.000 like no bullshit convos about this tell me yeah tell me what your side effects have been i the 0.99

00:08:16.220 only weighted squat i'll be doing is over the toilet as i vomit like it i was super sick okay 0.93

00:08:21.300 so i started on 2.5 and honestly so i got you get like a little box and you put it in the fridge

00:08:29.240 and it took me a while it's like two or three weeks to rationalize taking it like it sat there

00:08:35.080 for a while and I was like oh my god am I leaping into the unknown what's going to happen and I

00:08:40.240 went down a whole reddit wormhole which you can you know there there are side effects totally I

00:08:44.760 did read I went down the wormhole when I first started taking them and I mean now I will never

00:08:49.020 look at look at reddit again no no like but everybody was like I could never drink again

00:08:53.620 I was like oh my god screw that like or yeah I will I will say drinking drinking became very

00:08:58.860 impossible for me in in the beginning yeah but like all of these crazy things but finally I just

00:09:04.600 that you know let's do it so my husband gave me my first injection you like you know so it's like

00:09:09.180 a little subcutaneous and um my husband gave it to me because i didn't want to do it to myself

00:09:14.740 um he gave it to me in the stomach which is yeah that's where they do it see i i got injected at 0.90

00:09:20.300 the med spa because i didn't qualify for it by insurance so i paid a fucking fortune for it 0.86

00:09:25.340 yeah you did yeah yeah yeah which whatever i i do not mind because i would have paid a fortune for 0.99

00:09:32.220 other bullshit things. Right. Right. So it's it's actually you're doing a good thing for your 0.99

00:09:37.300 you're eliminating so many comorbidities by losing weight. Yes. It's really not just about the weight

00:09:42.180 loss. It's about a lot about the weight loss. It's really not. It's not. All right. Keep going.

00:09:45.920 Keep going. Yeah. Right. So he gave me my injection and in my stomach, which is like my worst problem

00:09:50.480 area. So like my nervous stomach hanging over my yoga pants, like ching, ching. He gave it to me 0.98

00:09:55.000 the next day. So I had no side effects the first day, except like you overtaken Paxlovid during

00:10:00.720 like the height of COVID. No, I didn't. It gives you a metallic mouth taste. It's like notorious

00:10:06.100 for that. Oh, interesting. Yeah, it was weird. So the same thing happened to me with this. So I

00:10:10.380 took the shot and like immediately my mouth was filled with this very metallic taste, which I

00:10:15.580 guess is a thing that happens. So that was my first side effect. And then the next day I felt

00:10:21.020 like I was pregnant. Like it was like first trimester nausea. Yeah, that's exactly what it

00:10:26.480 felt. It felt like first trimester nausea, which I also sometimes compare to a hangover. Yes. I

00:10:32.520 felt hungover or pregnant, like one or the other. And I definitely neither. I was belching like a

00:10:38.380 truck driver, like these like sulfurous belches that were just like otherworldly in their

00:10:43.380 noxiousness and yeah, nauseous. But then it went away. And what ended up setting in,

00:10:49.720 and I don't know if this happened for you too, is my appetite was completely gone.

00:10:54.160 just gone gone yeah yeah like gone it was so freaking weird and so I take it I had to remind

00:11:01.480 myself to eat totally totally which like has never happened to me before in my life like it was so

00:11:07.320 strange and so I take my my drug on them on a Monday purposefully because by the weekend those

00:11:14.500 side effects seem to wear off my appetite kind of goes back to normal and I'm definitely not

00:11:19.120 nauseous um but even now 11 weeks in I am still first trimester the day after my shot just yeah

00:11:26.800 no I was I was too I was too in the beginning yeah I was very first trimester I um and then

00:11:32.320 it went away it went away after about I mean I would say I see I in the beginning I was only on

00:11:39.820 it for four months and then I stopped for three months and then I just started doing a maintenance

00:11:44.140 dose. So what's what's your maintenance dose? How much do you take? My maintenance dose is 0.5.

00:11:50.480 OK, yeah. So I went from and maybe it's different depending on what you're on. So I'm on

00:11:54.640 I think five or 0.5. I don't know if it's five or 0.5. I'm a terrible. I think it's 0.5. I think

00:12:00.140 they're all the same dosage. Yeah, 0.5. Yeah. Because you probably started at 0.25. Right.

00:12:05.680 I started at 0.25, went up to 0.5. And I'm just on that because I'm losing like two pounds a week.

00:12:12.140 And if I I don't want to lose a ton of weight, I just want to lose like, you know, a healthy amount.

00:12:17.560 So right now I'm just kind of maintaining.

00:12:19.280 You just kind of maintain.

00:12:20.300 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:12:21.240 But I've lost 20 pounds in 12.

00:12:23.620 Well, I guess it's 12 weeks now, which is two little less than two pounds a week.

00:12:27.940 Yeah.

00:12:28.240 Well, and that's weight that just was never going to come off.

00:12:30.680 It was otherwise.

00:12:31.920 And I was doing all the things like, I mean, I was never a super athlete, but like I was trying to work out.

00:12:37.920 I did not eat terribly.

00:12:39.420 I didn't drink them.

00:12:40.560 It was just perimenopause. 1.00

00:12:41.580 like I hit a wall it's just perimenopause it's just women's bodies it's we put on weight yeah 1.00

00:12:46.360 some of us do some don't but like some of us do when we have babies and then that doesn't go away 0.99

00:12:52.900 it's just been like the cumulative effect of that and yeah I mean I work out five days a freaking

00:12:58.420 week okay it doesn't work right like yeah it is just and I you know huff protein at this point

00:13:05.280 So it is, it is, it's like, it is fat that was just never going to move.

00:13:12.300 And yeah, I mean, I had the nausea.

00:13:15.480 I, if I drank more than two glasses of wine, I'd puke.

00:13:19.220 Yes.

00:13:19.780 I, okay.

00:13:20.860 Yes.

00:13:21.320 That is the thing that has, I've only literally had alcohol twice in 12 weeks for that reason.

00:13:27.740 Because if I had to do this, like, I mean, I did once and it was not pretty.

00:13:31.880 No, it's not pretty.

00:13:32.760 Like I really pushed through because we were going to the Weezer concert.

00:13:35.280 for my birthday and i'm like i'm like oh yeah i'm like i'm pushing i'm so gross i'm like i'm 0.52

00:13:39.980 pushing through this fucking nausea i don't get it also like me i mean part of it is the weight 0.81

00:13:44.920 loss but honestly i talked to so many women in our age group right who it's like are you gonna 0.99

00:13:49.500 have a good night's sleep are you gonna drink like oh no exactly it's like what's your what's

00:13:53.600 your choice this is this is a cost benefit and this is a cost benefit analysis 100 am i gonna

00:13:58.520 wake up in a cold sweat at three in the morning or am i gonna like you know have a normal night

00:14:02.920 sleep and nine out of ten times this every i mean every time i drink i know what's going i know

00:14:07.840 what's gonna happen i know like it is just so it's cold sweat at three in the morning it's funny

00:14:11.900 we we went up to new york my friends tara janelle and i uh to go see soft and we were having like

00:14:18.640 a girl's night out we stayed at this hotel that had bunk beds the moxie which was so funny uh

00:14:24.060 we drank uh we drank broadway rosé which is you know so cheap and they charge you 30 for it 0.63

00:14:30.080 and it was called chloe chloe rose my head you're giving me a headache i know i know i'm having a

00:14:35.560 headache it's so pavlovian just thinking about it right now and all of us all of us are laying

00:14:40.600 in these bunk beds at three in the morning waking up sweating and now we call it being chloe'd we're

00:14:44.680 like did you get chloe'd oh why not to me every time the cold sweat although i will tell you when

00:14:51.260 i was just in croatia at teaching at a writing workshop um the the european wine does it less

00:14:57.800 I'm glad so I'm going to Italy in two weeks and I have heard this so yeah yeah yeah it's a little

00:15:04.200 it's a little bit better okay let's take a quick break and when we get back I want to talk about

00:15:09.780 whether or not you think you're going to be on this for the rest of your life oh all right

00:15:12.960 okay we are back hi when I first started this I was convinced I would be one of those people

00:15:26.820 who was not on it for the rest of my life. And I do not know if I will. We also have no idea what

00:15:31.600 this is actually doing to any of our bodies, by the way. I know. No clue. And so I got off of it

00:15:38.600 and it took about two months, but I did start gaining weight back despite the fact that I

00:15:46.700 continue to work out all the time. My diet doesn't suck. Although I did start drinking again.

00:15:52.320 yeah and my appetite really did surge back like a mac truck and that's when i went on the 0.87

00:16:00.700 maintenance dose and i was like fuck it yep and you know i i think about this a lot too and what

00:16:06.420 part of the tipping point that made me feel okay about going on this drug i don't know if you saw 0.98

00:16:10.520 it but a few months ago there was a piece in the new york times but how every doctor is skinny now

00:16:14.820 because they're all on these drugs and i thought well yeah oh yeah all right if they're doing it

00:16:19.800 It's okay. I don't know if I'm going to be on it forever, but I will say that I feel it's not just

00:16:28.920 about the weight loss, although that's why I went on it. I feel, and there are anti-inflammatory

00:16:34.440 properties that I've definitely noticed manifesting in my own body. Oh my God, totally.

00:16:39.860 Yes. I feel better. I don't want to sound like an advertisement for these, but the truth is

00:16:49.720 my joints ache less yeah same i i sound like a broken down old lady like my joints ache less

00:16:57.500 i get fewer headaches like it is easier to move around everything everything feels is everything

00:17:03.540 feels better in my body i'm stronger now because you're taking in probably i'm very conscious about

00:17:10.280 the protein that i'm taking oh my god we i mean we are all such protein freaks now i know it's so

00:17:15.460 funny, but yes. Yes. Same. Yeah. I have to be on a maintenance. And I, I mean, I am somebody who's

00:17:21.380 been on an SSRI, like an anti-anxiety medicine since I was in college. And I almost think of

00:17:25.780 it like that. Like, this is just a drug that I need to take that, you know, I feel better.

00:17:31.020 I operate better on it. It is what it is. And that's that. So yeah. Okay. Yeah. It's working

00:17:37.920 out. And I do think there is something to be said for having a better self-image. Women are,

00:17:44.780 I mean, at first it was like, oh, am I being vain by going on this? 1.00

00:17:48.080 Is this shallow?

00:17:49.480 Is this whatever?

00:17:50.080 Well, because there was a lot of messaging early on, when I first started taking it in

00:17:54.620 September, I feel like the whole world has changed in nine months about it, too.

00:17:59.120 Because people were like, you shouldn't be going on it just to lose weight.

00:18:03.300 Like, this is vanity weight loss.

00:18:05.320 And now I do think that the messaging and the culture around it is changing a little

00:18:11.160 bit.

00:18:11.800 Yeah. 1.00

00:18:11.940 Like, fuck it. 1.00

00:18:12.840 I am vain. 1.00

00:18:13.540 Okay.

00:18:14.320 Like.

00:18:14.780 I want to be comfortable in my clothes.

00:18:18.340 I want to be comfortable in my body. 1.00

00:18:20.380 We are also so inundated with all of the images of actually disgustingly thin women in our pop culture, on our television. 1.00

00:18:31.800 And they're that thin because they're rich as hell, okay? 1.00

00:18:35.220 It is really easy to maintain your body and look a certain way when you have gazillions of dollars.

00:18:41.600 And you have a chef.

00:18:42.520 And you have a chef.

00:18:44.060 Yeah.

00:18:44.240 Yeah. And a personal trainer and a masseuse. And yes, all of these things. So like, I don't think 1.00

00:18:50.440 anyone should be like, oh, my God, I feel bad. I feel vain. Like everyone should do what they want

00:18:55.880 to do to feel good and confident. Exactly. And I'm guessing, I mean, I certainly don't want to

00:19:02.520 lose weight to the point of being stick thin. I just want to be healthier and move around better

00:19:08.500 and be able to like play on the ground with my kids without my joints aching. And to look at

00:19:13.840 photos of or you know what to want to be in photos with my family instead of wanting to hide behind

00:19:18.500 my phone and take the photo because I don't want to be in it yeah I mean actually you know that's

00:19:22.900 the main thing but you remember even maybe it was like a year ago was it Oprah or someone showed up 1.00

00:19:27.480 to an award show and everyone was like oh my god is she on a Zempick like she looks like a different

00:19:31.680 different person and it was I think it was maybe Oprah but people were like gasping about her

00:19:36.540 weight loss and it was such a it felt like a stigma it felt like oh my god what's you know

00:19:41.680 It was something that celebrities, filthy rich celebrities did to get stuck in.

00:19:45.940 And I feel like it is becoming a little more normalized now.

00:19:48.800 Yeah.

00:19:49.200 Yeah.

00:19:49.580 No, it absolutely 100% is.

00:19:53.880 And yeah, I mean, look, I feel great.

00:19:56.540 I think I look great.

00:19:58.680 I'm so happy with how I look right now.

00:20:00.980 Well, it was really funny.

00:20:02.960 It's also reached this.

00:20:04.380 It's given me this level of acceptance, I think, because as I went through all of these

00:20:08.880 boxes of clothes and stuff I was finally able to get rid of a lot of stuff yeah because and they

00:20:15.680 were things that I was keeping thinking they were one day going to fit I'm never going to be a size

00:20:19.900 two again and that's fine right neither am I no size two since high school that's fine but that's

00:20:27.580 fine so I got rid of those things I did I did finally realize I I got some nice clothes okay

00:20:33.160 so I did make a box for stuff that I'm keeping for the girls because I'm like they're gonna want

00:20:37.300 these dbf wrap dresses and stuff yes yes totally but um but i was finally able and i did a big

00:20:44.300 goodwill drop off yesterday because i was finally able to get rid of these things and i'm like this

00:20:48.400 is not my body anymore and that is fine so i think i'm probably you know topping out at a six

00:20:56.160 i think that's where i'm i think that's where i'm where i live now yeah and that's amazing and like

00:21:01.360 logistically, it's nice to purge, but it also it's like sort of a ritualistic act of cleansing and

00:21:07.180 walking into your next chapter and feeling like this is who I am now. And I, I will never forget

00:21:12.220 this. I mean, it was not that long ago, but it's just, it was like a core adult memory. I went on

00:21:16.720 to forget. I think it was like Bowdoin. It was like a Bowdoin dress. And the longest time I was

00:21:22.300 not a single digit. I mean, I simply was not. And they suggested like my sizes for me. And I was

00:21:29.440 like, nope, that's not my size anymore. And it felt, I have to say, it felt really good to buy

00:21:36.440 the size that I used to buy. And the dress came and it fit and it looked great. And there was a

00:21:42.200 little twinge of, is this vain? Then I was like, no, screw that. I can fit in this dress. You can

00:21:48.020 fit in this dress. I really think that the idea of vanity is something just to, again, oppress

00:21:57.000 women. All right. Like, let us just enjoy what we like about ourselves. Let us enjoy what we look 1.00

00:22:02.080 about our bodies. Why is it wrong to to feel good? Why is it wrong to feel good? Because we're women

00:22:08.480 because we're women. Yeah. Men are never made to feel bad about themselves. But it should be it's 1.00

00:22:14.000 because feeling good about it should be hard. It should be work. It should be a struggle. And like,

00:22:18.860 honestly, taking this little shot, the one day of nausea is not fun, but it's easy. It is easy

00:22:24.720 feeling that things should be things shouldn't feel easy but it is easy well exactly exactly and

00:22:30.220 i you know when when we talk about that i keep thinking back to there's there are a lot of

00:22:35.680 cultures that for a long time believed that women shouldn't be given drugs in childbirth

00:22:40.180 because they they should feel the pain of childbirth yeah and i think about that i'm like

00:22:44.920 no absolutely not same thing with mental health drugs and i i've been very open yeah and i've

00:22:53.040 I'm on Sertraline, right? Like I'm on generic Zoloft. So I'm on fluoxetine. So Prozac. And

00:23:00.180 I'm very open about that. And I cannot tell you the number of readers who are like, what a cop

00:23:04.960 out. You're cheating. You're this, you're that. You're medicating with drugs, whatever. All of

00:23:09.600 these things, because you're supposed to suffer to feel better, because that is so deeply ingrained

00:23:15.640 in our culture. It is ridiculous. Yep. I take a pill and I feel better. It's just that easy. 0.99

00:23:21.060 and it helps you to do the work in therapy

00:23:23.440 in all of the other ways.

00:23:24.860 Totally, totally.

00:23:25.740 Yeah, I really liked your comparison

00:23:27.800 of these weight loss drugs to mental health drugs

00:23:31.640 because I don't think I'll ever go off surgery

00:23:33.060 and I've gone off it before and then gone back on it.

00:23:36.780 And I was fine for a few years too,

00:23:39.440 but my brain just like,

00:23:41.960 I like myself better when I'm on it.

00:23:44.220 So why would I go off of it?

00:23:46.400 My issue though with the weight loss drugs

00:23:47.960 is because it's not prescribed for me.

00:23:50.200 Yeah.

00:23:50.600 They are crazy expensive. I think I've found a way to get them generically so that I won't be paying as much as I'm paying.

00:24:00.080 Do you go directly to the pharmaceutical website? Because I've seen people get coupons.

00:24:04.700 You can do that. You can. And I only know about this because my mom was not able to get her insurance to cover this, which I think is crazy because she like her BMI does indeed qualify.

00:24:16.240 yeah and she had a hip replacement and she has so much extra weight that i don't think her hip 1.00

00:24:22.060 replacement healed properly because she wasn't able to do the kinds of physical therapy so she

00:24:26.200 has a she's 70 years old but has a really hard time getting around yeah and when she sold her

00:24:31.680 house and now she has a little bit of extra cash we decided just to go without the insurance and

00:24:37.360 get them and yeah we were able the doctor wrote a prescription we were able to order directly from

00:24:43.280 eli lily's website which was about half the price of doing it a regular pharmacy

00:24:47.720 and then it ended up being annoying just the sign-up process and my friend camila we ran

00:24:55.620 into her the other day and she's like no she's like my whole family does it through this internet

00:25:01.220 compounding pharmacy and so we tried that and i got it i got it for mom from that and that was

00:25:06.660 even cheaper so all right there's there's i i actually have a friend um going to denmark soon

00:25:11.700 on a vacation and her doctor was like i'll write you a prescription i think you can just get it

00:25:18.580 over the counter there i mean who who knows who knows who knows yeah yeah who knows i'm like are

00:25:24.500 you gonna become like a mule uh yeah but who knows uh i'm gonna i'm gonna see what this maintenance

00:25:31.460 dose does when i started it last week i started last wednesday and woke up at two in the morning 0.95

00:25:37.000 puked shit my brains out yeah and then have not had another side effect i took one last night 0.74

00:25:42.620 and we'll see what happens yeah today i think it'll be better it for me it's like when i go 0.98

00:25:47.620 up a dose i mean clarin i've only done that one but it's it's worse and then it sort of levels

00:25:51.700 off and then and then and then it levels off exactly um but i will tell you i dropped weight

00:25:59.260 like it just like you lost would you say 30 30 so I started off at around 162 okay and then I got

00:26:09.420 down to 132 and then went back up to 142 and now I'm back at 135 okay that's amazing and how tall

00:26:18.120 are you give me five seven okay so you you're taller than me so I so I'll give you my stats

00:26:23.700 So tell me your numbers. I'm like, I'm a little person. I'm five one. My whole life, I'd been

00:26:30.620 like 120 pounds, then whatever that went straight to hell. I was straight to hell. I was like one

00:26:37.120 always like 160. Okay. And that, and my goal weight is one 25 ish 130. And now I'm 140.

00:26:45.040 Awesome. I forget. I weigh myself every Sunday, but anyway, I'm in the low 140s now. And like,

00:26:51.540 it feels it's a noticeable difference when you're as short as me too like that yeah it was a

00:26:56.560 noticeable difference the whole way yeah because it was also belly fat oh that's the thing worst

00:27:02.140 fat you can have because i i don't even think i would have cared as much if it had been evenly 0.92

00:27:07.820 distributed but people asked me if i was pregnant all the fucking time oh yeah oh that was yes a 0.96

00:27:14.160 hundred percent yes that also happened to me and one of the interesting things and i don't know if 0.95

00:27:18.780 you've found this is your, I lost weight in my stomach, but also my face. Not like the classic

00:27:24.260 Ozumpic face where your cheeks are hollow, but just my face looks less round or something. I

00:27:28.760 don't know. Oh yeah. I lost weight. I lost weight in my face too. Yeah, definitely. That's what

00:27:32.600 people started to notice first. And part of the reason, I don't know if you felt like this, but

00:27:36.540 part of the reason why I kind of got in front of it and started writing about it and talking about

00:27:40.280 it, I went through in 2019 a health, kind of like a health, not a health scare, but I had a kidney

00:27:46.980 stone, which is like the worst pain you can ever have. I dropped so much weight so fast because I

00:27:51.800 was so sick and people would approach me being like, are you on health? Are you dying? Are you

00:27:57.860 dying? Like, and I did not want that to happen again. So I told everyone, I'm like, if you

00:28:02.300 notice that I look thinner, it's because I'm taking that bounce. And once I started telling

00:28:06.840 people about it, I don't know if you found this, everybody's on it or wants to take it or has

00:28:11.220 questions about it oh yeah oh yeah everyone everyone um it's really really i think becoming

00:28:17.920 i think it will reach a point where so many people are taking it and it will be like very

00:28:21.940 very normalized hopefully it won't be totally expensive that's the that's what i'm worried

00:28:25.880 about i pay 25 bucks now and i won't forever i don't think i don't think my insurance will keep

00:28:30.540 covering it yeah we don't i mean we have no idea what's going to happen right so yeah exactly

00:28:35.140 exactly but uh it's worth it to me like i would pay i know i mean i realized that it is also worth

00:28:41.560 it to me so yeah knowing it and there's nothing to be ashamed of i think there's nothing to be

00:28:47.720 ashamed of there's really not no everyone when i started i i was very forthcoming about it uh when

00:28:52.940 i started taking it in the fall and every time i brought it up people were like oh my god i have

00:28:56.680 so many questions like it feels like something we can't talk about um and but now i've realized

00:29:01.020 that when I bring it up, like at least 50% of people are like, yeah, me too. Yes. I had the

00:29:06.800 exact same experience. And I think that there's something really nice about that, about being

00:29:10.800 candid and about being transparent. And we're all dealing with this debt. I just think that there is

00:29:15.520 such an issue wrapped up in self-image and what are we supposed to care about or not care about

00:29:19.860 as women? And are we placing too much value on being thin? And you know what? If you feel better

00:29:25.340 when you're thin. Great for you. Cool. Good for you. Great. Fine. That's totally fine. All right.

00:29:32.600 Let's take one more quick break. And then I want to go through rapid fire. Some of the questions

00:29:36.560 I get asked. Okay. Okay. We are back. Do you still enjoy food? That is the big thing that

00:29:49.540 people ask me. They're like, oh my gosh, I could never, I can never give up food. It's like one of

00:29:53.660 my biggest joys. No, I get asked that a lot because I do write about food professionally

00:29:58.500 for a living, food and parenting. So people were like, oh, my God, are you putting your job at

00:30:02.600 risk? Here's the thing. Yes, I still enjoy food, but in way smaller portions. So before I would

00:30:08.000 be one of those people who if I would clean my plate and then just keep eating mindlessly and

00:30:12.960 like there was no off switch and now there's an off switch. Yes, I enjoy. Yes. But I savor it.

00:30:19.100 I don't just like shove it in.

00:30:21.540 Same, same, same.

00:30:23.820 Yes.

00:30:24.540 So I, and that's, that's also how I explain it to people.

00:30:27.740 And I will tell you when I went off of it, I also noticed that I was then who bring food

00:30:32.420 back up without the off switch again.

00:30:35.120 Yep.

00:30:35.760 And I kind of caught myself, but it was definitely like I would clean my plate.

00:30:41.200 I would, I would eat unnecessarily.

00:30:43.260 and now when I'm on it, Nick and I will share like an entree.

00:30:49.600 We'll share an appetizer and an entree

00:30:51.760 and then maybe we'll share a dessert too.

00:30:53.240 So we're having all of the things just left.

00:30:56.400 100%.

00:30:56.760 I was out with friends in the North End,

00:30:58.480 which is like the Italian part of Boston.

00:31:00.280 Like we went to this big pasta dinner

00:31:02.060 and instead of eating everything, I took home a doggy bag

00:31:05.000 and I had like a little bit of dinner

00:31:06.960 and then I had a little bit at lunch and it was lovely.

00:31:10.080 I enjoyed it, but I didn't enjoy it all at once

00:31:12.280 and that was fine.

00:31:13.260 i you know what i take home a lot of doggy bags too i'm like oh we don't have to finish this this

00:31:17.480 is going to be my lunch the next day uh and i stop that's the thing i stop when i'm not hungry

00:31:23.060 totally anymore and i also with drinking not that i was like drinking to oblivion but i'm like

00:31:28.860 like what we were talking about it's like oh no this won't feel good if i have like the second

00:31:33.340 glass of wine or the second whatever oh there's just a little moderation is a little bit easier

00:31:38.560 that's that's all i would say moderation moderation is easier that's the thing like

00:31:43.140 it's just certain things are easier and that's nice it sure is it's really nice and also is it

00:31:51.960 probably good for me to stop at two glasses of wine probably yes because we both know what happens

00:31:57.460 when nothing good's gonna happen i mean i have so much fun okay like i am a person who like loves

00:32:01.240 to socially drink so whatever but like it's night it's like okay you achieved like the nice social

00:32:07.780 level instead of the like raging hangover night sweat level that's a nice level to be at that's

00:32:13.860 a nice level to be at that's a nice level to be at yeah so no i mean i still i still really do

00:32:18.780 i i same as you i think i appreciate the food more too yep because i'm like i'm consciously

00:32:26.260 making the decision i don't eat off my kids plates anymore oh same yes 100 same and oh my

00:32:33.600 god my husband went out to five guys last night we had like sports right and ate really late and

00:32:38.860 he was like do you want a burger and I was like no no like he was there and it would have been so

00:32:45.760 easy I was like no I'm just not you know I didn't just eat it for the sake of eating it because it

00:32:50.180 could be there it's it's easier to I don't just eat for the sake of eating yeah that's the thing

00:32:55.620 and I do I mean I do I do eat a lot of protein now you know I think that I also make better

00:32:59.740 choices then. Yes. Where the same better choices that I was probably supposed to be making all

00:33:06.040 along and not like I was a crappy eater either. Right. Like I wasn't. But then you notice all

00:33:13.060 the little small things that you did, like eating off your kid's plate or just like eating a really

00:33:17.200 large portion because that's what the restaurant serves you. And it was there. Exactly. Which I

00:33:22.060 think is probably a lot of the reason that the inflammation has been going down. I mean, I don't

00:33:27.800 I really don't consume sugar at all now or added sugar unless it's like a really good

00:33:33.800 dessert or like maybe a teeny bowl of ice cream or if we're going out for ice cream.

00:33:39.600 But there's no like, oh, my God, I'm going to eat six cookies.

00:33:42.680 Yes.

00:33:43.120 Same with me.

00:33:43.680 For me, it's savory and salty.

00:33:45.240 So I would like down a bag of chips.

00:33:47.300 I just don't do I don't do that.

00:33:49.360 Yeah.

00:33:49.540 Yeah.

00:33:51.000 Yeah.

00:33:51.340 I mean, look, it's all it's all fascinating.

00:33:53.260 I want us all to be talking about it more because, you know, when I post about it on my sub staff, people are so hungry for real information about it, too.

00:34:03.280 And yes, and I'm glad that you're transparent about it.

00:34:07.080 More people.

00:34:08.400 I mean, I don't say, you know, some people are comfortable talking about it.

00:34:11.040 Some people aren't.

00:34:11.740 That's fine.

00:34:12.260 But I think I have some friends.

00:34:13.480 I mean, like I have a lot of friends on it now.

00:34:15.520 And I would say probably most of my friends still don't want to tell people that they're on it.

00:34:21.640 Mm hmm. And cool. Again, like a lot of people don't want to tell people they're on anti anxiety medicine either. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm like, I'm on this and I'm on this and I'm on this. And guess what? I'm also a totally like more or less functional, well-adjusted human being. It doesn't make me any less of a person. It's we're all the same. It's fine.

00:34:41.840 Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So, yeah. And again, we are all works in progress at this point, but I feel good. I like I like I like my body. I'm really excited for my mom because I think that she's going to be a lot more mobile if she drops even 20 pounds.

00:34:59.240 and it does shock me that the medical system was not there for her in a way they should have been

00:35:04.740 when she got this hip replacement being like we've got to we we should get this weight off you we 0.88

00:35:08.260 should like move your body in like different ways because yeah she is just hobbled by that now you 0.85

00:35:15.100 do realize the older you get the more important like use it or lose it right like you have to be

00:35:20.280 able to move you should keep moving because if you don't your body will come back to haunt you

00:35:24.800 as you get older as you get older totally and so that kind of mobility is so important and so in a

00:35:30.820 way i feel like i'm paying it forward for my future self you're paying this is your future

00:35:34.900 self well because i am a lot stronger i really am because well you know i lift all the weights i do 0.97

00:35:38.780 what the fucking influencers say i hate these influencers so much we didn't perimenopause best 0.98

00:35:43.000 i saw someone yes i don't know oh my god i've seen one in the wild no i i've been seeing them 0.99

00:35:48.300 in the wild yeah yeah yeah oh my god it really exists i do pilates and it's so much easier now

00:35:54.020 so much easier because my joints feel good. Totally pelvic floor stuff. Like, I don't know

00:35:57.820 if you have pelvic floor. I don't pee as much, dude. I was like, I would pee so much. I had a 0.50

00:36:05.040 bladder prolapse. Like my bladder was in my vagina. Like it was a whole thing. And now my 0.99

00:36:10.820 urination is so much better. Like, I know such a weird thing, but yep. Yep. Oh, another side

00:36:16.660 effect I got that I do want to bring up is I got really constipated in the beginning. Oh my God.

00:36:20.640 Okay. So let's be gross for a second. So I used to be one of those people who would like, 0.64

00:36:24.640 I would have my morning coffee. Like I was very regular. Oh, I'm a morning. I'm a regular morning

00:36:28.940 pooper. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Now, same with me. I wouldn't say I'm constipated, but like I'm

00:36:34.460 irregular. Let's just say that like there's not as much action. Yeah. No way. Yeah. I mean,

00:36:41.400 I try to stay hydrated. Smooth moves. T if you do get constipated, people swear by that. Smooth

00:36:46.160 Moves T. Smooth Moves T. I haven't tried that yet. I will. Cated friends love it. Smooth Moves

00:36:51.260 T. But that is a thing definitely to happen. And I get heartburn. It's like the heartburn and the

00:36:56.080 belching is kind of gross. I got a little heartburn in the beginning, too. Yeah. It's like being

00:37:01.040 pregnant. That's all I can say. It's like it is. It's the first trimester of pregnancy. That's 0.84

00:37:05.180 exactly what it is. You lose the weight instead of gaining more of it. You actually get to look

00:37:10.260 better. Exactly. Well, I've actually got to go because I am heading to the gym for my weight

00:37:15.500 lifting costs uh good for you i have to go make a protein shake joe don't worry i'm gonna make a

00:37:20.320 protein shake too girl uh will you tell everyone where they can find some more of your writing 0.95

00:37:24.400 because i love all of your shit oh my god okay so parenting unfiltered every thursday night um 0.98

00:37:29.660 it's a newsletter in the boston globe and it comes out um online and then print in boston globe on 0.99

00:37:33.900 fridays so that's my main place to see me and then my first book is coming out soon-ish called

00:37:39.400 everything to everybody it's all about being at middle age our age and dealing with everything

00:37:44.620 to everybody i felt this so hard i was my mom my mom has a new uh has a pool in her new apartment

00:37:52.040 because we moved her down to the city and it's great pool and i just plan on like throwing my

00:37:57.020 kids in it right but i get there and she needed me the kids were there she needed me to figure

00:38:02.520 out her weight loss drugs for her and like this and like every each of my kids individually like 0.98

00:38:07.220 the baby needed to climb climb me my five-year-old needed to watch me to watch her swim across the

00:38:12.700 pool yeah my eight-year-old needed a snack and i'm like oh my god i'm and my husband was just

00:38:16.740 incompetent and like also our nanny was there and like she wasn't doing anything and i'm like i am

00:38:20.760 everything to everyone right now yes that is what we're doing like the crazy aging parents and the

00:38:25.160 little kids and the husbands who like meanwhile but like aren't really meanwhile but they have

00:38:28.780 to be programmed they need like you don't know how to log into power school like what's the past

00:38:33.300 like all of the things all like mental things that we keep track of in our heads at least we

00:38:38.260 can do this upbound or whatever and and buy new clothes and and feel good yeah exactly exactly or

00:38:44.120 go through the all the old ones and they feel really good and it feels like you're getting

00:38:47.660 new clothes because you haven't worn them since i haven't worn them in eight years and it's like

00:38:51.780 the original sex in the city right yes exactly exactly and i think there's still boxes like in

00:38:57.220 different parts of the house too that i haven't even discovered yet so i have so much more thing

00:39:01.120 i have so much to unearth but i'm in my jorts i'm telling you i'm in my i'm gonna put some jorts on

00:39:05.400 after I go do my do my weightlifting class. Oh, my God. Well, thank you so much for having me on.

00:39:10.420 I love this. This is so great. And we'll talk more when your book comes out.

00:39:13.980 OK, sounds good. I can't wait for your book. Everyone. Oh, you're going to. Have you started

00:39:17.700 it yet? Oh, my God. I did. I started it last night. I'm already like I'm already in a little

00:39:23.020 bit deep. Not super deep. Page 30. It's a wild ride, girl. It's a wild ride. Rebecca. I'm on

00:39:30.600 to Rebecca. I'm good. Okay. Well, and enjoy it. Enjoy it. Oh, I will. All right. Thank you so

00:39:35.600 much for having me. Thank you. Bye.

00:40:00.600 Thank you.

Under the Influence (with Jo Piazza) - June 26, 2025

Real Talk on Weight Loss Drugs

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