My Vacation from the Medication

Eva (00:06):
You are listening to Less of You. I'm Eva.

Kami (00:08):
My name is Kami.

Eva (00:10):
Come with us as we confront our reasons for being obese while losing weight on semaglutide and roasting our past selves. Hi, Kami.

Kami (00:20):
Hi. How are you?

Eva (00:22):
I'm good. I'm having a good week. I'm a little frantic. I have to fly out to Vegas tomorrow for a conference that I'm recording for a client at. But I will tell you that in the past, I would've spent hours figuring out all my dinner reservations in Las Vegas ahead of time because that would've been my number one priority. And I just thought of it right now, like, oh no, I have no dinner reservations. I'll just eat a granola bar. That's pretty cool.

Kami (00:53):
Is that your cat?

Eva (00:54):
Yeah. All of a sudden she likes to make appearances on the podcast.

Kami (01:00):
Oh, all right. Hey, I'm not mad. Mine are sleeping on the bed in the other room, so.

Eva (01:05):
You know what I titled episode two? Chicken Burgers, Dead Birds and Kami's First Shot.

Kami (01:14):
Appropriate. It's accurate. So

Eva (01:18):
You have big news, right?

Kami (01:19):
I do. I passed my real estate licensee exam yesterday, so I am one of the newest licensees in the state of Indiana.

Eva (01:29):
What does that license you to do?

Kami (01:31):
To transact real estate? To basically act as a representative of a potential buyer or seller?

Eva (01:38):
You're not a real estate agent? Is that what you did or something else?

Kami (01:41):
Well, I was, when I lived in Washington, I was licensed in Washington, but I was not licensed here in Indiana. So I worked exclusively for a company, and when you are an employee of one particular buyer or seller, you don't have to be licensed in the state because you're an employee. So because now that I'm not employed and I still want to do real estatey things, I had to go get licensed.

Eva (02:10):
Cool. Was it hard?

Kami (02:12):
So the answer is for most people, yes. For me, it wasn't that bad. And I know that sounds really pretentious and obnoxious, but I've been doing real estate for almost 10 years now in some capacity, whether it be title and escrow, transaction management, licensed realtor, all that stuff. So I have a very deep industry knowledge. Right? So for me, it wasn't that hard. But if you're brand new and you don't know crap about real estate or how it is, then yeah, the test is going to be hard.

Eva (02:45):
Well, I'm glad that's out of the way.

Kami (02:47):
Oh, thank God. Speaking of losing weight, I walked out of that testing center and I felt like I lost 60 pounds. I was like, who needs a skinny shot? Just go psych yourself up to take a really intense state exam and then afterwards you'll feel like you weigh nothing, cuz that's how I felt.

Eva (03:02):
Yeah, awesome. That's how I feel when I get done with a big event, and it went well. I was in San Diego two weeks ago doing recording for this same client and it went flawlessly. I was very happy that I prepared well and I thought of everything and I gave myself enough time not to be in a rush for anything. Just every time I do it, it gets better and better. So hopefully goes well again.

Kami (03:30):
I'm sure it'll be fine. Well, it just comes with experience.

Eva (03:33):
And I posted a photo of myself on my Instagram, which is closed. I don't let work people in there or anything. It's just pictures of my kids for years and years, it's just been the kids. But I took a picture of me and the host of that show together, who I've known forever, and I got so many private text messages like Runarounds, where they saw the picture and just reached out and said, you look amazing. So that was really cool.

Kami (03:59):
Of course. Well, that's very well deserved and very true. That's very good.

Eva (04:07):
Yeah, it's fun. I don't want to get addicted to the attention, but it's nice.

Kami (04:11):
Nothing wrong with that at all.

Eva (04:15):
Another funny thing I wanted to tell you about was I feel like I get attention again from strangers in a different way.

Kami (04:23):
Really?

Eva (04:23):
No one's outright hit on me, no one would do that. I think I scream old mom now instead of some other thing.

Kami (04:34):
Not old mom? I dunno what the opposite of that is.

Eva (04:39):
Old mom of young kids. I forgot the other half, but I was downtown Austin for South by Southwest and I valeted, and the valet was exceptionally nice. Way above and beyond what I thought, the old me, no, it was a female valet parker too.

Kami (05:00):
It was a lady. Alright, okay.

Eva (05:02):
Yes, it was a lady valet.

Kami (05:04):
Oh, nice.

Eva (05:05):
And she really liked me.

Kami (05:07):
Well, it's okay to put off a lesbian vibe. I'm just saying there's nothing wrong with that.

Eva (05:14):
Nothing like rolling up Mazda with the car seats in it that gives off. <laugh>

Kami (05:22):
<laugh> Yes, yes. So do you think, okay, now this is just me kind of being a jerk, but do you think she was just buttering you up for a better tip?

Eva (05:32):
Well, I had already given her the giant, I'm a huge valet tipper. I tip on the

Kami (05:37):
So she saw you coming?

Eva (05:39):
Maybe that's what it was, a $10 bill. I had a really good friend when I lived in Houston who was the manager of the valets at the St. Regis, which is fancy. And so he taught me all about valet parking, which is a skill, it's a life skill. And this was in the early two thousands too, so this was like, I've updated my pricing since then, but he was always like five on the way in, five on the way out, and you will get fast service and they will take really good care of your car. And today I do 10 in and 10 on the way out. And it's actually true. They do remember.

Kami (06:18):
Oh yeah, yeah. Being in a service industry, I was a hairstylist for this feels like an eternity. And yeah, my good tippers got extra stuff.

Eva (06:27):
Yeah, always.

Kami (06:29):
It's a true story. And most of the time I really liked them too, so that was a bonus for me. They're really cool people and they tipped me really well. Those are the best ones. But how are you doing on your weight loss? Where are you at?

Eva (06:43):
Yeah, my numbers right now are 2 0 9 this morning my starting weight was 280 and my goal is I think still around 185. So I feel like at my current pace it's about three or four pounds a month right now. I still have probably a year at least, and I'm fine with that.

Kami (07:02):
Well, here's the thing, slow and steady wins the race and that's just what I've tried to wrap my brain around, because I stalled out and I don't even remember what I weighed last time we talked. I don't remember.

Eva (07:15):
I think you were down 15.

Kami (07:18):
Was that it?

Eva (07:20):
Well, yeah, where are you at?

Kami (07:21):
So I started at 250. I'm at 234, so I don't think I've lost that much since the last time I talked to you. I think maybe a pound.

Eva (07:34):
I do remember getting stuck right around this same spot and it was long, it was like two months of nothing and then it picked up again. So I just would tell you protein and water. Protein and water.

Kami (07:49):
I think my major issue is that I was just under a tremendous amount of stress going through these real estate classes and psyching myself up for this test. And so when you have cortisol, is that the stress hormone purging through your whole body, and it just didn't do me any favors in my weight loss journey. But I feel fine now, and so I think we'll get back on it. Mostly it was that really having a hard time concentrating on making good choices. I didn't overeat at all, but I was not eating really healthy, like the stuff that's going to help you lose weight, protein, and veg and all that stuff. For the last three days when I recorded in my tracking app, I put in a food item called I snacked all day, 1500 calories.

Eva (08:37):
At least you tracked it.

Kami (08:38):
And what was really funny is that there must've been somebody else that did that because when you start typing something autopopulate what it is, and I was like, okay, I'm not the only one, so can't feel bad about it.

Eva (08:52):
Yeah, I just opened my app and it says I've only lost 4.2 pounds in the past three months, so I have been stuck for quite a while.

Kami (09:00):
Yeah. What dosage are you on?

Eva (09:03):
2.4.

Kami (09:05):
How many units is that?

Eva (09:07):
I just had this conversation with somebody else today. I have no idea. The measurements are different based on, there's like three or four different systems out there and mine follows the way Ozempic and Wegovy are dosed and measured, which is 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 1.7, 2.4 is the top.

Kami (09:29):
Oh, okay.

Eva (09:30):
I was talking to a friend this morning who is telling me that there's places that are letting people take double doses way higher than 2.4 and I've never heard that before.

Kami (09:40):
Is that 2.4 milligrams?

Eva (09:42):
That's what it says on my labels, yeah.

Kami (09:44):
Okay, so it's 2.4 milligrams. So let me see if I can, how many units that is. I'm curious what.

Eva (09:50):
The syringe syringes got, it's full, so I don't know how many units that is like 20. But then for a different month they switched pharmacies and the syringe was a quarter full, but it was still 2.4.

Kami (10:05):
Oh so, you don't to,

Eva (10:06):
I don't have to do it myself. I get prefilled syringes.

Kami (10:09):
You get pre-filled syringes. Okay. Yeah. See that's where we're differing. So let's see.

Eva (10:14):
You get a vial, right? And it should have four doses in it, right?

Kami (10:19):
No, my first vial was two and a half milligrams, and then the next vial that I order will have 12. So she's like, you'll take your unit. So I measure out, it has the numbers right on the side of the syringe where it says 10, 20, 30, whatever it is.

Eva (10:40):
I know it's really weird.

Kami (10:42):
Maybe somebody smarter than us can figure it out. But yeah, I don't know. I just think my stress just this last month has really caused me to retain and not lose, but I haven't gained anything. So I feel like that's still winning. It's typically if I was not being cognizant or on some kind of medication and helping, I was just winging it on my own. I would've probably gained 10 pounds in the last month just from stress eating.

Eva (11:16):
Totally.

Kami (11:17):
Oh, so I will be going on spring break taking my daughter down to Tennessee. Has my mom told you about this?

Eva (11:25):
No.

Kami (11:27):
Oh, I can't believe she hasn't told you about this. So we're all going to go down to Tennessee for a spring break to visit my brother Mike. So that'll be interesting to see how I eat while I'm down there, when I'm with everybody and everyone's eating and all kinds of food and that's all that are usually our gatherings swirl around food. So we'll see how that's going to go.

Eva (11:55):
Oh, you know what else I came up with sort of the back half of the title. Our show is called Less of You, but we're on our way to becoming more of ourselves. I said it one day and I was like, oh my gosh, I just balanced it. We're talking about being on GLP ones because right now, while it's new and people are trying to figure it out, there's a fair number of people out there with misconceptions who think less of us because we're using medication. One thing that happened this week was your mom sent me this link to Oprah's special, and I know she sent it to you too.

Kami (12:29):
Yeah, she did.

Eva (12:29):
And I cried twice in the first half because they're finally talking about it the right way.

Kami (12:37):
I have not seen it, so I'm going to save it, watch it, and then you and I can watch it together. It'll be my first time, so it'll be genuine and authentic. So whenever you want to schedule that, you just let me know.

Eva (12:50):
But were you a skinny kid?

Kami (12:52):
Mm-hmm.

Eva (12:52):
I wasn't. And I started thinking about my weight. I remember as early as fifth grade knowing, being aware that 140 pounds was fat because I weighed more than everyone else in fifth grade.

Kami (13:09):
Oh, okay. And that's such a terrible time to feel like shit about yourself.

Eva (13:13):
Yes, because you're about to feel worse.

Kami (13:15):
Because puberty is knocking at your door. And even going through that and not having weight problem, I still felt like everything about me was wrong in every way. When I look back at photos of myself, I was just talking to my neighbor the other day and I was like, yeah, I was like, I got to get new pants for Cordelia cuz she's so skinny and she's so tall, nothing fits her, dah, dah, dah. And I was like, yeah, I was like that when I was a kid and I was like, I didn't get fat until I was an adult. She's like, oh my God, girl, me too. When I was young I was freaking smoking hot and I was like, yeah, those were the days, right. We were just referencing about back when you're 18 and perfect. And I was like, yeah, but I bet you thought you were fat, didn't you? She's like, yes.

Eva (13:59):
Oh totally.

Kami (13:59):
And I'm like, isn't that stupid? I was like, I would give my right arm to have that body.

Eva (14:06):
Yeah. Do you remember the Presidential Fitness Test?

Kami (14:08):
I don't.

Eva (14:10):
Where did you grow up in Washington?

Kami (14:12):
Oregon. Mostly in Oregon.

Eva (14:13):
Oregon? I wonder if it was gone by the time you went through because I'm 47. What are you?

Kami (14:18):
44.

Eva (14:19):
Well then that doesn't make sense. It was still there. There's this Presidential Fitness Test and they would make you do, the boys had to do pull-ups and the girls had to do the flexed arm hang, and then there was sit-ups and there was all these little physical fitness tests you had to do and then you'd get a certificate and I couldn't even do the flexed arm hang, I just would fail. And in seventh grade I got an F in gym and I was a straight A student and my mother

Kami (14:46):
Stop.

Eva (14:46):
My mom never did this stuff. She was a teacher, so she did not interfere at school at all. But when that happened, she marched down there to the assistant principal's office and she demanded that they fix it because you shouldn't be giving girls an F in gym for any reason. There is no reason for that.

Kami (15:06):
You only would get an F if you just never went. If you are showing up and you're doing something, please.

Eva (15:13):
Well, it actually changed the whole system and I still think it was that situation and my mom going down there that from that point forward, you were graded on, did you know the rules of the game? Like the written test about whatever we were working on. You had to know knowledge, not physical fitness.

Kami (15:33):
Well, because not all kids are created equal. I wasn't very physically fit. Some of the things that I struggled with, but I wasn't overweight or anything just because I just wasn't part of our, I don't know.

Eva (15:47):
My mom was putting us in stuff like music and language. We weren't doing sports from the time we were babies.

Kami (15:54):
No, we were not a sports family. We were in like, here, here's how to play five different instruments and here's how to sing and all the choirs and here's how to do our classes and write poetry. And that's a beautiful, wonderful way to raise a kid. And I am very grateful to my mom for that, but it was not like, the most physical thing I did was the marching band.

Eva (16:17):
That is not easy, by the way.

Kami (16:19):
It isn't. No.

Eva (16:21):
Down here, I think it's brutal because they put those kids in those uniforms and march 'em in the Texas heat.

Kami (16:27):
In the blazing hot sun.

Eva (16:28):
Yeah.

Kami (16:28):
No.

Eva (16:30):
Yeah. You have to be really strong to do actual marching band well.

Kami (16:35):
Yep.

Eva (16:36):
Well, good stuff.

Kami (16:38):
Anyways. Alright my dear. I do have to bounce though.

Eva (16:41):
Congrats on your test.

Kami (16:42):
Yes, thank you so much. Oh God, such a relief. You have no idea. All I've been doing is studying. I was like, I'm just now getting to my laundry, which is piled up to the frigging ceiling.

Eva (16:54):
Yeah, I know. We were there a couple days ago.

Kami (16:57):
So you let me know when you want to do the reaction to the Oprah thing. Just schedule it.

Eva (17:03):
Totally. When you watch it, just mark the times where something really hits you.

Kami (17:07):
Okay.

Eva (17:08):
We'll start there. It's going to be good.

Kami (17:11):
Okay.

Eva (17:12):
Okay, cool. See you soon.

Kami (17:14):
Alrighty, bye.

Eva (17:17):
Follow us on Instagram at Less of You podcast. Are you confronting the same challenges and have a story to tell? I'd love to hear your story on our Skinny Shot Stories podcast. Contact me for more details at skinnyshotstories.com. If you're a doctor and would like to learn more about sponsoring this or any of our cosmetic surgery and weight loss podcasts, go to less of you.com. Less of You is a production of The Axis, T-H-E-A-X-I-S. io.