I don’t care what other people think. Really, I don’t.
I’ve been quite honest about using a GLP-1 to lower my A1C, lose weight, and improve my overall health.
What I do care about is the misconception that taking a GLP-1 is somehow “cheating.”
Putting in the work.
Cheating implies that there was an easy way out, that the results came without effort, discipline, or sacrifice. Anyone who believes that has clearly never walked in the shoes of someone who has struggled with their weight, battled food noise, fought insulin resistance, or watched their health decline despite making genuine attempts to improve it.
What many people fail to understand is that there are countless reasons why someone gains the weight they need or want to lose. Weight gain is not always the result of poor choices or lack of willpower. Sometimes it is illness. Sometimes it is medication prescribed to treat another condition. Sometimes it is extreme stress, grief, trauma, or life circumstances that leave little room to focus on yourself.
In my case, a serious car accident and the spinal surgery that followed changed the course of my life. Chronic pain, reduced mobility, medications, and the challenges that come with recovering from a major injury all played a role. Add years of stress on top of that, and weight gain became a symptom of a much larger story.
Yet people often look at someone who is overweight and assume they know how they got there. They don’t see the medical history, the injuries, the medications, the sleepless nights, the emotional burden, or the years spent trying to regain control of a body that no longer responds the way it once did. They just judge.
For years, I did what people tell you to do. I dieted. I exercised. I tracked calories. I made healthier choices. Sometimes I succeeded. Sometimes I failed. More often than not, I found myself stuck in a frustrating cycle of losing weight, regaining it, and feeling like my body was working against me. It actually was. As I would lose weight, my metabolism would think it wasn’t getting enough nutrition to do daily activities – and it would store it as fat.
A GLP-1 didn’t magically make me thin. It didn’t force me to exercise, choose healthier foods, drink more water, or develop better habits. I still have to do those things every single day. What it did do was help address the biological and metabolic challenges that were standing in my way. It quieted the constant food thoughts, improved my blood sugar control, and gave me the ability to make healthier choices without feeling like I was fighting an uphill battle every minute of the day.
No one tells a person with high blood pressure that taking medication is cheating. No one tells someone wearing glasses that they’re cheating because they need help seeing. No one tells a cancer patient that treatment is cheating. We recognize that medical conditions sometimes require medical intervention. Obesity, insulin resistance, and metabolic disease deserve the same understanding. Maybe I should have just had liposuction to lose the weight. Instant results. Would that be cheating? Why the double standard?
The truth is that there is nothing easy about confronting your health, changing long-established habits, and committing to a better future. If a medication helps make that possible, that’s not cheating. That’s using a tool that modern medicine has made available.
My A1C has gone from pre-diabetic to normal. I’ve lost nearly 40 pounds. I have more energy, better mobility, and, for the first time in a long time, I truly believe I can reach my goals. Those results didn’t happen because I took a shortcut. They happened because I finally found a treatment that works with my body instead of against it.
So when someone says using a GLP-1 is cheating, what I hear is someone who doesn’t understand the full story. They don’t know where I’ve been, what I’ve overcome, or how hard I’ve worked to get here.
And frankly, they don’t have to.
I’ll be over here improving my health, extending my life, lowering my A1C, and feeling better than I have in years. That’s not cheating. That’s healing. And after everything my body has been through, I think I’ve earned it.
Thanks for reading.