The ever-growing popular weight loss solution of the past few years is the weight-loss shot. There are several different shots on the market like Ozempic and Wegovy. I am no expert on the shots but from what I have been told the shot basically curves your appetite by manipulating your hormones. One of the biggest side effects of taking the weight-loss shot is substantial muscle loss. As many of you know, muscle development and retention are two of the most important things that you can do as your body ages.
I am in the process of losing weight through diet and exercise. I am also in the process of gaining muscle through weight conditioning. Taking a weight-loss shot would sabotage a big part of my transformation so there is no way that I want to go down that road. I have talked about the weight loss shots with my doctor at length and decided that what would work best for me would be to get in shape the old-fashioned way with just some hard work.
I am not judging or bashing people if they opt to take a weight-loss shot. I know several people personally who are currently on the shot and have dropped significant weight. But like I said, along with the weight loss came significant muscle loss. One of the people that I know decided he wanted to get back into weightlifting after being on the weight-loss shot for about four months. What he found is that he had lost half of his muscle strength and had to significantly lower his resistance training weight.
The weight-loss shot is a quick fix.
I started this journey because I wanted to do a complete body transformation of mind, soul and physical appearance. Part of that journey is my two foundations. Having a solid biblical foundation, meaning that I regularly read my Bible and am in a personal relationship with Jesus. Doing this gives me the power to conquer the things in life that have been struggles and roadblocks. Once I was solid in my journey, could I then tackle my mental health.
Mental health looks different for everyone. One of my favorite coping mechanisms to deal with stress is to enjoy food. The fix was temporary and the devastation that it took on my body is apparent every time I look in the mirror. I was helping calm my stress through food while self-destructing at the same time. The unhappiness caused by a vicious cycle of stress, eating to cope with the stress and growing fatter every day took a toll on my body. My weight steadily increased so much to the point that I was the highest weight that I have ever been in my life.
In order to ignore the situation more, I just kept eating. Excuse making is the main symptom of lazy people who cannot grab hold of their mental health. After I got things right with God, I developed skills that I needed to stop being my own worst enemy. I started tackling my mental health by holding myself accountable for what I ate and the activity that I did. Now it is a priority in my life to lift weights and exercise. To make sure that I don’t undo that hard work, I had to get my diet in check.
Take control of your life.
As an adult, I acted like a child with my food. I looked for every opportunity to eat as unhealthy as possible. Not only overindulging in unhealthy food but also overeating significantly. The Bible tells us that gluttony is a sin. Unfortunately, pulpits often neglect talking about this because they don’t want to offend the fat people in their audience. I wish I would have heard that message. Something to guilt me along the way to change my ways. But that wasn’t God’s plan. I just had to tackle the issue on my own.
Every adult is capable of resisting food temptations. Every adult is capable of exercising. Not every adult has a spiritual foundation or mental foundation to make sure that they show up every day and do what they are supposed to. If you have tried diet and exercise before, only to fail, I know how you feel. It is a complete lack of will power and laziness. My hand is up too. Until I built my spiritual foundation, I was not mentally in the right place to tackle this journey.
The road ahead without the spiritual and mental foundation in place is very intimidating and challenging. With the two foundations in place, this experience has been a breeze. Yes, it requires hard work and dedication, but the path is way easier than it has been before. The hard road is doing things naturally by putting in the work and working on your inner self while at the same time working on your outer self.
This is why I will not take a weight-loss shot to cut corners on my journey. I want the fight. The challenge will make me lean on God more and will exercise my mental habits. I am not seeking to new skin on an old body, I want to transform everything at the same time. There is peace in the struggle that comes with overcoming mental challenges. I am embracing the struggle now.
I would encourage you to focus on your foundations before you jump headfirst into weight loss. There are so many people out there with so much advise that it is hard to know what to do and what not to do. I am telling you this from experience, get right with God and work on your mental health first. Your physical health will be led by your inner progress instead of the other way around. What happens on the inside is reflected on the outside.