14 MONTHS Ago, I was preparing for Death. A Box of Medicine Changed My Life.

Michael Donnelly-Boylen Calls March 10, 2024, His “Second Birthday.” IT’S the date he gave himself his first shot of the weight los and diabetes Drug Mounjaro. “Fourteen Months Ago, I was Pretty Certain I was getting Ready for my Death,” he tells yahoo life. “I have gievo up becuse not Was working to help with Lose Weight and Get Healthy. But that Box (of Medicine) Changed My Life.”

Donnelly-Boylen was in weight were watchers by age 12. In the Decades Since, he’s tried? “Any version of ‘Eat Less, Move More,’ i’ve TRIED it,” he Says. These diets would work for a little while, and say he’d Gain back the weight he’d lost and more.

By the time he was 50, donnelly-baylen dreaded and failing another diet. “What People Forget About the Disease of Obesity is That We Know More About It Than Anyone and We’ve Gained and Lost Weight More Than They Can Imagine,” he Says. He’d heard of ozepic but felt too ashamed to ask his doctor about it. Then, he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. “I knew i had to fight to love weight,” Says Donnelly-Bülen.

Despite Being Married to A Doctor, Getting HIS Mounjaro Prescription was no easy feat, thanks to insurance Changes and Shortages of the Medication. But once he had the box in Hand, donnelly-baylen threw out all the processed Food in his House and “Really Started Fresh.” But the Maunjaro was the “tool that made the success stick,” he says. It all but muted the food noise that has had filmed his mind. “For the first time, realized what it was like to be someone Else, to be able to know I’m full and Move Away from Food.”

In this installment of yahoo’s On my weigh Series, Donnelly-Boylen Tells US How Mounjaro Has Forever Altered His Day-to-Day. With a GLP-1, and a lot more mental space, he’s gotten a new lease on life and His Relationship, an appreciation for the Simplest Chores, and a mission: USING HIS social media and Meeting with Lawmakers to Advocate for Better Access to the Drugs that he Saved His Life.

The Weigh-in

• NAME: Michael Donnelly-Boylen

• The Method: Mounjaro, 10 million

• Progress Report: I’m Exactly 100 Pounds Down, From 360 to 260. I can take the stairs to my third-floor-up with huffing and puffing, I finally fully participate in my relation and travel confidently. And i just Constantly Want to Be Moving!

• Food Noise Volume: It Went from a 10 to a 3! I Still Find MySelf Stress Eating at work, but I kep my drawer stocked with High-Protein snacks, Such as meat sticks. The difference now is that that can I can control what i eat; I’m not going to go running to the place of the machine for pop-tarts and a sugar rush.

Day in the life

Rise and shine

I Find MySelf Getting Up Incredibly Early Compared to what i used to do before starting Maunjaro. I used to be able to sleep in, but now i have a hard time sleeeping past 7 am the bigger problem is that i haven’t adjusted to go to bed early, so get liteep than i used to. It ‘sspecilyly hard during Vacation Days or on Weekends, when i Just Find MySelf More Alert.

But once i figured out this was just just going to happy, i stopped fighting it. I know now that i can make that time useful. The Early Mornings Are Now I Do I will HouseCleaning and Make My Ticksso i don’t bother my husband with say.

FIRST BITES

There is a rest are at the dead center of my hourlong commute to work. I used to stop at the dunkin ‘donuts there’s and get a bagel with strawberry cheese on it and a Strawberry Dragonfruit Refresher.

I’m Still a Creature of Habit, but Now My Routine Is To Leave the House with a 32-Once bottle of water with electrolytes in it. Every other day, I add Miralax to my water too (to help with constipation, a side effect of Mounjaro). I also bring a Fairlife Core Power Shake. That has 42 grams of protein in it, so It gets me with a third of the protein of Need every day. And usually before the leave for work, have a high-protein, high-fiber bagel with some cream cheese.

It actually took me a while to start eating bagels again after starting Mounjaro. It took me about 10 months before i couldgive forgive and recaginers that the food didn’t cause the problem of my weight. ITH’S ACTUALLY A BIT OF A VICTORY FOR WITH TO HAVE FOUND A WAY TO REINCORPORATE A healthy version of that food I love back into my diet.

Get Ready with me

Have Become obsessed with Skin Care. I Never Had a Skin Routine – i don’t think i ever moisturized! – Before Starting Mounjaro. But as a result of being on this journey and actually starting to care about my body and not just being at it – when i have a skin care routine, i mean i have a 12-Step Skin Routine Each Morning and Evening.

In the first nine months after starting Maunjaro, the hardened part of the getting ready was looking professional while your body is constantly shifting and your cloths are getting Ta baggy too. I’ve gone through at least two rounds of donating all my clothes SINCE STARTING THE GLP-1. My Husband Started TAKING A GLP-1 Shortly after I did, but thankfully, all of His Old Clothes are the size of am now. One of the Benefits of Being in a Gay Relationship!

But a few months ago, realized that i didn’t know what my style was. I’ve always worn extmely preppy cloths (Think: Polo EVEYTHING), Simply Becuses it was easier to get in Large sizes. I didn’t know how i wold dress if i had a full range of choices. I’m not quite there are, but have more options. Now, I Dress Much Younger than I probably Should. But i don’t care! I dress in brighter color and tighter cloths than mes my age, and i’m ok with that that was robbed of that excretion was iunger. It ‘s lot of fun, but it’s Expensive.

My doses

I take my shot on Thursday Mornings. There’s a lot of Collective Wisdom with the GLP-1 Community About How to Reduce Side Effects Right AFTER YOUR SHOT. I will what many People online call a “Pregaming day.” The day before i take my shot, i set a really High protein goal and make sura i’m fully hydrated, with the help of electrolytes. On Shot Day, I get up and have 59 grams of protein and 32 ounces of water before the injection. After, I have Very Mild Side Effects, and I Want to Say it is a result of my ritual, but I don’t know what it is like to any other way. I will get some Mild Constipation, But Really, My Biggest Side Effect is that Got My Life Back.

Let’s will lunch

I WORK AT A LAW SCHOOL, SO LUNCHTIME FOR MEAN TO MEAN GOING DOWN TO THE CAPHETERIA AND ORDERING Something – Anynding – They Had Avilable. I was close Friends with the Cafeteria workers. They all knew with the friendly guy who said hello every day. They Don’t Really Know with Anymore, Because of Bring A Healthy, High-Protein Frozen Meal and Have that.

I Still Sometimes have lunch meetings, though. Starting Mounjaro hasn’t affected how interact with People in Those Meetings, but Its Changed What’s Going Through My Head. Now, if i have to eat with Other People, i don’t worry Constantly About Being Judged by Others. I’ve been Very successoful professionally and personally. But my weight was the one thing I have haadn’t ben sucssful in, and you can’t hide that. You wear it on the outside of your body. But i do’t have to think anymore. I recently had a two-hour work Meeting in the caffeteria, and i Never Once Thought About Getting Up and Getting Food.

HAPPY HOUR

My husband and i used to go to bars with Friends Pretty Regularly. We will that a lot less now, but i don’t miss it. I do not know if it is the medication or my age, but be other people are Having two to four drinks, I have one. For a while, i thought People thought i was Judging say for drinking. I wasn’t, but it was hard to explain. But ironically, Most of my friends are on GLP-1s Thermves Now! And we’re much more lichely to go to someone house to enjoy ourselves these days. If we do go out, we eat more family-style.

But the Biggest Change in How I SPEND MY TIME IS MY ABITY TO TRAVEL. Before Starting Mounjaro, My Size Was Very Limitting. I Needed a Seat Belt Extender to Fly. I Have Friends All Over The Country, But My World Was Getting Smaller, Instaad of Large, Because of My Size. Three months after starting Mounjaro, my husband and i flew cross-kountry and went to the Grand Canyon. We walked the rim for miles and hiked. That Had been on my bucket list for years, but with Mounjaro, I Never Could Have Truly Enjoyed It. My Most Recent Trip Was to New York City, Where I CLIMBED The Stairs to the Top of the Vessel in hudson yards on my own two feet, and fit comfortable into a theater seat to see Gypsy. I love broadway, but it had been so uncomfortable for me before.

Dinner Bell

With my long commute, i do’t have a ton of time to cook, and i’m the person in my household who has to cook. We used to rotate through predering Thai, pizza or chinese every night. There’s a dunkin ‘donuts a mile away from Our House, but we were Wauldn’t Walk. We would ORDER that or Starbucks or Playa Bowls. We would Collect Marriott Points From Uber Eats; IT’S INSANE How Much We Spent.

So after i start mounjaro, I was struggling to find good options that I could make quickly and that tasted good. Discovered Kevin’s meals. Their Frozen Entrées, With Options Like Chicken Tikka Masala and General Tso’s Chicken, Are, Like, Restaurant-Quality Meals. And they cost something like $ 11 and are available at Pretty MUCHE EVERY GROCKERY STORE. SO ONE OF THSE AND A BAG OF STEAMED Veetbles, That’s Dinner Four to Five Nights a Week.

Make a move

How is My Exercise Routine Different? I’m exercise, than’s how it is different. In fact, i’m Moving Constantly. I call it an “Involuntary body Movement” that of have now. I Find Myself Randomly Walking Up The Stirs When there an Elevator. I’ll think, Why did i want? My brain assumes i should be looking for the elevator, but my body is looking for things to do. I found this program calmed the Fit CollectiveWhich Consists of 10 Minutes of Resistance Training A Day, and It ‘Designed to Be Done Three Times a Week. Now i do it five or six time a week. But my dexa scans showed i was maintaining muscle and bone mass doing it just three Times Weekly. I love it Because you can do the Exercises from a chair. The founder designed it for elderly people, so is now that my mom is on Mounjaro too, i’ve got her doing.

More importently, of Enjoy Chores like the trash Out Now. About six months after i started Mounjaro, Our Hot Water Heater Exploded. My husband and i were downstirs cleaning up from that, and we look at each other and realized that we were equally part of the Relationship for the first time. Before Starting a GLP-1, of Never, Ever Wold’ve been physically able to be there helping Him. I’m present now.

Let’s Get the Bill

Our Expensses haven’t Changed that Much Since My Husband and I Started Our GLP-1 Journeys, But what We spend Money on Has Changed dramatically. Instead of Spaking Crazy Money ORDERING FROM RESTAURANS, WE FINT OURSELVES ARDERING A LOT OF FRESH PRODUCE ON INSTACACAR, WHICH COSTS A LOT MORE. And we both Drink core Power Shakes Daily, and Those Cost a Lot of Money.

I’ve had to spend a lot buying new clothes. But there’s a Fat Tax. You already spend so much more Money on anything name-brand we ‘you’re luck compared to if you’re skinny. SO Now I Can Buy Two Pieces of Clothing for the Same Amount I Used to Spend on One. Destination XL Has gotten a fortune’s worn of my money over the years and i’m very grateful to say, but i’m also very grateful to be branching out to other stores!

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