Certified personal trainer and fitness nutrition specialist Natalie Wilgus has always been able to maintain a healthy weight through healthy eating and consistent exercise.
But after giving birth to her son in 2019, Wilgus experienced a slew of negative physical and mental symptoms, including weight gain, muscle loss, severe mood swings, thinning hair and an insatiable appetite.
Doctors assured her that her body was adjusting to life as a mother and that her weight would stabilize in time.
That wasn’t the case, Wilgus said. Women’s Health“Despite doing everything ‘right’ (eating clean, watching my macros, exercising daily), not only am I not losing weight; Acquire Weight.”
After two years of trying without success, Wilgus finally went to see an endocrinologist, who discovered that her body wasn’t producing testosterone. She began giving herself weekly hormone injections, but saw no change in her weight.
After three months, she decided to try Munjaro, a diabetes drug called tirzepatide, which helps people lose weight quickly.
“Maunjaro was literally my last resort, as I was desperately searching for something that would make a difference,” explains Wilgus, who has polycystic ovary syndrome but has not experienced the weight gain caused by the disease. “Before I got my first injection, nothing I was doing was working — daily exercise, diet, testosterone treatments.”
Wilgus and her doctor set a goal weight of 140 pounds and agreed that once she reached that point, she would stop taking Maunjaro and move onto a “maintenance phase.”
Her body responded quickly and powerfully to the injection: “My appetite immediately subsided and I cut my food intake by more than half,” she says.
Wilgus continued his pre-Munjaro fitness program of cardio and strength training, working out 45 to 60 minutes a day, five to six times a week.
“I think that’s what helped me lose the weight so quickly,” she told Women’s Health magazine. “I was already doing the ‘right’ things from a traditional weight loss standpoint, but before I started Maunjaro, my body just wasn’t responding.”
Wilgus lost 10 pounds in the first two weeks of taking Maunjaro, and ultimately lost more than 55 pounds.
While some people who get weight-loss injections experience significant muscle loss, Wilgus was determined to stay strong. “I pushed myself to lift heavier in the gym and focused on increasing my protein intake to maintain my muscle mass,” she said.
Six months after starting Munjaro, Wilgus achieved her weight loss goal. She slowly tapered off the medication over a two-month period, thankfully without any side effects.
During her weight loss period, Wilgus learned to maintain the habits and food portions she had developed while taking Maunjaro, which she believes helped her maintain her weight.
“I decide how much I’ll eat as soon as I arrive at the meal, and if I’m at a restaurant, I order a to-go box at the beginning of the meal so I can eat smaller portions and not be tempted to overeat,” she told Women’s Health. “When I cook at home, I decide in advance how much I’ll need and save the leftovers for another meal.”
Wilgus explained that several factors led her to stop taking her medication, primarily reaching her weight goal.
Part of her reason for quitting the diet was the cost: Insurance didn’t cover the injections, so she paid out of pocket, shelling out more than $1,000 a month for most of her time in Maunjaro. “But I think it helped me because it made me want to get to my goal weight faster and I didn’t have to keep paying!” Wilgus said.
Another reason? Body dysmorphic disorder.
“It’s real, and I’m no exception to the psychological toll it takes, so choosing a healthy, sustainable weight was so important to my overall success,” she told Women’s Health.
But if Wilgus notices he has gained more than 10 pounds in weight over a six-month period, he’ll take a low “maintenance” dose of Munjaro for two weeks.
“This was recommended by my doctor, and because I only use two Munjaro pens for my maintenance dose (instead of all four in a monthly pack), one pack lasts me a year and it’s much more affordable,” she told Women’s Health .
Wilgus hopes her story will lessen the stigma around taking drugs like Munjaro to lose weight. “A lot of people feel embarrassed or ashamed to say they’ve had medication help, but I’m glad we live in a world where such things exist. My body feels stronger, I’m more confident and I feel more in control of my health.”
