By Nan Donovan, columnist
I was watching that show about weight loss on Tuesday night. It featured Ophra Winfrey. Remember her? When I saw her about five years ago. She was chunky. Now she looks marvelous and she looks younger. I don’t know how she did it, but it has the opposite effect on me.
For years I tried to loose weight. Usually I only made it for a week, then I would gain the two or three pounds that I just lost back. I finally gave up on trying to loose weight all together.
According to Oprah, her weight loss came not from a regular doctor, but she probably had a team to help her loose weight. If you have money, I suppose if you want something bad enough, you get the very best.
Are any of you fighting the bulge? Have you always had an eating problem or is this something new to you?
The entire program was about “don’t blame yourself, weight gain is a disease, not something to be ashamed about.” Just ask the people who are over weight if they are not ashamed, ridiculed and worried.
In my case I was not what you call “obese,” but I was about 35 pounds too heavy. About two years ago my doctor took me off the insulin for my diabetes and prescribed Ozempic. Now I am about 45 pounds lighter. So much for being over weight. I like that idea, but there are other side effects I can’t seem to overcome. Food, any food, does not have that delicious taste, so it’s usually four o’lock when my belly growls and I remember that I haven’t eaten today. Then there’s all the goodies I brought home from the grocery store. Chocolate candy? Doesn’t taste as good, or I should say there’s no taste at all. Shrimp, my very favorite? Can’t remember the last time I bought those.
And do I look any younger? My whole body has gone south, so why would loosing weight make me look 20 years younger? So if you’re feeling well and the doctor doesn’t say you have to loose weight, remember, it’s not your fault. It’s a disease, not your fault.
But there is something I wonder about often. Where does the 45 pounds that I lost go? My daughter, I call her my personal ‘Doc’, tells me it’s in our system. Then why don’t the scales pick it up? And over the past five years, I’ve shrunk four inches. Now I’m four-foot-nine. Way too short for basketball.
So there it is. Ozempic is for diabetes only. Nothing else. If you would like to start giving yourself a shot once a week, you would have to have diabetes and believe me, you don’t want that. If you have no medical issues for being over weight and your doctor agrees, don’t worry about your weight. It will hold you down on these windy days we’ve been having.
Till next time, be safe.
“The Right Age” is a weekly column written for senior citizens by 84-year-old Nan Donovan, who has lived in the Shenandoah Valley for 45 years. She has worked for newspapers, as well as radio and television stations, including WLCC. She moved to the Valley from Pennsylvania.
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