Asking for help is not cheating

I grinned at her. “Ozempic!” I proclaimed, loudly enough for everyone in the room to hear.

I’ve always been open about my problems. My dealings with anxiety. My ADHD diagnosis. And my weight, which at its highest, hit 320 pounds on my bathroom scale.

I’ve tried countless times to lose weight and only been partially successful. About 10 years ago, I even started chronicling it in a weekly blog post at Metro Winnipeg, where I had all sorts of reactions. It was mostly cheerleaders, which was always wonderful, and a few detractors, including one person who told me I was the most selfish person in the world.

I never did figure out that logic.

But despite the cheerleading, I struggled. I struggled so, so hard.

I tried all sorts of programs. Weight Watchers, cottage cheese diets, starving myself. Always, I would lose weight and then gain more back.

Was it a moral failing? Why could I lose 40 pounds and then gain 60? Was I really as feckless as every expert told me I was? How could I be so disciplined in other areas of my life but not this one?

What was wrong with me?

Well, turns out that when your body tells you to constantly overeat, if you can turn off that voice, you stop overeating. Crazy how that works.

A few months after I started, I called my sister, whom we would call “naturally thin” and asked her if this was what it was like to be her. No mindless cravings. No constantly wondering about my next meal. Eating only when you’re actually hungry.

I could practically hear her shrug over the phone. “Yeah, sis.”

I’ve seen in numerous spaces online, where people who have lost weight using a GLP-1 are told they’re cheating. This is rooted in the ignorant belief that overweight people deserve to be overweight.

There is no virtue in suffering to lose weight. I needed help, I asked for it, and I was privileged enough to get it.

I hit the halfway mark to my number goal a few weeks ago. However, my real goal is to get back on my bicycle and to join a slo-pitch team next summer. I used to be a whiz-bang pitcher.

A GLP-1 isn’t for everyone. It really should be a discussion between you and your doctor.

But there is no shame in asking for help.

And it’s not cheating.