Mom of Two Stopped Going Out Before Losing 70 Lbs. with Ozempic: ‘I Hermited Myself for So Long’ (Exclusive)
"I felt like everybody was looking at me," says Melissa Floro, 38
Courtesy Melissa Floro; AnJelica Paz Jardiel
Melissa Floro before and after weight lossLast spring, Melissa Floro, 38, would have opted to stay in their family's New York City apartment with her kids to avoid figuring out what clothes to wear to go outside. The shorts she owned didn’t fit. It was easier to entertain her two children inside, because I was “so ashamed about how big I was then,” she says.
When her kids asked to go to the park, Floro was filled with anxiety, followed by thinking how she was disappointing her children.
"I felt like everybody was looking at me," she says. "I hermited myself for so long because I was ashamed of how big I was. I missed out on so much."
Now, she has the energy to be an "active participant in my own life." Floro takes the stairs instead of the elevator without getting winded, looks forward to dressing up for date nights, and has "so much joy and hope."
The “worst part” of being heavier, she says, was the “mental part – feeling like everyone was forming opinions on who I was based on how big I was, equating that to my worth.”
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Courtesy Melissa Floro; AnJelica Paz Jardiel
Melissa Floro before and after weight lossFloro, a health care administrator who gained weight after having her two kids, now 12 and 10, takes Ozempic injections weekly through New York City's Lenox Hill Hospital and says the weight loss — 70 lbs. since Memorial Day weekend, when she was 228 lbs. — has been "crazy to see."
Previously, as her weight increased, her children had always come first — even if she didn't get the care she needed.
The most weight she was able to lose was 20 lbs.
"I had tried dieting and exercising, cutting calories, increasing exercise, and doing all the things you're supposed to do," she says.
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But now everything is different. “The way I think about food has completely changed,” says Floro. Her back and knee pain have improved, and the drug has changed her "dysfunctional relationship with food."
The medicine, she says, "gets into your mind and closes off those voices that are like, 'I have to have a cheeseburger today.' It was just boom, done. Those thoughts were gone."
She's kept side effects like mild constipation and nausea under control with lots of water and fiber in her diet. And she's seen unexpected benefits: "I used to come home and make two or three margaritas every Friday because I needed to wind down, and I really don't drink much anymore."
The difference in her life "is mind-boggling and gives me so much joy," says Floro, whose husband recently started on GLP-1s as well. "I love being able to feel my body move the way it should. I don't want to waste any more time being stagnant."
She’s mindful of getting enough protein and necessary daily nutrients, while walking as much as possible.
Floro doesn’t expect to be on the medication for the rest of her life but is open to the idea.
“If giving myself a shot means I stay healthy and present for my family and my kids, that would be a very small sacrifice to make.”
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