Rule #373: Only take photos from 6 feet above

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

Kami (00:09):
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. I see you have smaller chipmunk cheeks than last time I saw you.

Kami (00:23):
Yeah. Anytime I've ever gained or lost weight, it shows in my face pretty readily.

Eva (00:30):
That's a nice place for it to start. It was a good 30 pounds for me before anyone said anything, and those are people who were watching, but it was like at least 50 or 60 before anybody really was like, wow.

Kami (00:45):
I don't know what it is. I don't know why that it's like that with me, but it's so.

Eva (00:50):
Yeah, my gut's going to be the last thing to go, I think.

Kami (00:53):
Yeah, probably my thunder thighs for real, because. I am like, you just got to learn to love them.

Eva (01:02):
Yeah.

Kami (01:04):
So I am at the very beginning of my fifth week, so I upped my dosage. I was doing 10 units. Now I'm at 20. Huge difference. Huge. So mostly because the side effect of heartburn was pretty intense this week. It's gotten much better in the past couple days. So I think I did the shot on Monday. So Tuesday and Wednesday was pretty rough, but today has been fine. So the good news is if you've ever experienced that, it'll go away pretty quickly, which is nice. But I definitely noticed more of a curbing of my appetite for sure this week. So that's been great. But yeah, as far as rewarding myself, I haven't had the urge to do that, but I've also been really mindful of it. Right? So I'm trying to get out of that like, oh, I had a really rough day, it's okay if I have a larger portion of ice cream or extra Girl Scout cookies. Girl scout cookies. Yo.

Eva (02:17):
I didn't even order any this year. I just ignored them.

Kami (02:20):
Well, you're better than me, I guess. I can't, not even if I don't. So I got,

Eva (02:25):
And I guess if a cute little girl had been in front of me.

Kami (02:30):
Yeah. I just feel like obligated. So I get the thin mints. And what I have to understand is that that sleeve, that's not one serving.

Eva (02:40):
It's not?

Kami (02:40):
It's not. No. Apparently four cookies is one serving. So I'm like, have I ever just only eaten four and not sat down and devoured the whole sleeve? Have I ever done that? The answer's no. So I was like, oh, alright, well let's just try.

Eva (02:59):
Do you freeze them?

Kami (03:00):
Fuck yeah. Oh yeah. Freeze them.

Eva (03:02):
Just making sure.

Kami (03:03):
Yeah, because that's how you do it. So I was like, oh, alright, I can just eat four. Cool.

Eva (03:11):
And you just ate four.

Kami (03:13):
Mm-hmm.

Eva (03:13):
Did it make you feel weird?

Kami (03:15):
No, it was fine. So I was like, oh, this is cool. So that's been progress. So I have been mindful of trying to not reward myself with food, or if I have a bad day, it's like, oh, you can have this extra thing. Or if I have a great day, you can have this extra thing.

Eva (03:35):
Graeter's Black Raspberry,

Kami (03:38):
What is it?

Eva (03:39):
I mean, if I had a bad day, I'd go straight to the fancy grocery store and get a pint of Graeter's Black Raspberry. Have you ever had that?

Kami (03:46):
I never have.

Eva (03:47):
It's like this special ice cream from Cincinnati and it's got gigantic dark chocolate chunks of real chocolate in it.

Kami (03:58):
Ooh. So usually Ben and Jerry's is going to be my go-to, or if we're really fancy, then we order Jenny's.

Eva (04:09):
Oh Jenny's

Kami (04:10):
Yeah.

Eva (04:11):
Yeah. Ice cream was my jam for so long. When I quit smoking, I replaced it with ice cream. Did you ever smoke?

Kami (04:20):
No, I never did that. But I mean, my mom smoked for years and then quit, and then my sister. So it's like I don't personally know the struggle, but I know from their struggle, so.

Eva (04:31):
Yeah, I've always wondered about the brain chemistry part because you got the little nicotine bump that would make your brain happy. And when you stop, then you just feel sad all the time, cuz you're not doing that to yourself anymore. It's like a dopamine.

Kami (04:46):
Oh yeah, those brain chemicals, they will mess you right up.

Eva (04:49):
Yeah. The way that I finally quit, and there was this just weird mental trick where I heard that after seven days, there's no nicotine left in your system, your body's not addicted to it anymore. It's gone. So whatever's happening after that is your brain playing tricks on you. So all I had to do is get to seven days. And I did. I mean like everybody, I had to try a bunch of times, but eventually I got there. But there was almost never a time where I didn't have ice cream in the house, and then I was always having the battle of how much is a serving like you and your thin mints? Well, if I have two servings or if I skip lunch, I can have more ice cream later. I was negotiating with myself.

Kami (05:40):
Yes, I've done that before too. Yeah. Yeah. You're like, okay, well if I do this and then you're trying to be good or whatever. And then by the time, and that's the thing is by the time the end of the day rolls around, I'm like, fuck this. I don't give two single shits. I'm eating what I want and I'm getting in bed. Do you know what I mean? Like you're just done at that point, and so you have no more willpower left.

Eva (06:02):
None.

Kami (06:04):
But that's good about being on the semaglutide, cuz, I'm like, oh, this is actually really helping me stay on track.

Eva (06:13):
Yeah.

Kami (06:15):
Oh, we never did original weight, current weight, goal weight.

Eva (06:19):
Yeah. Where are you at?

Kami (06:20):
Originally at 250. I am down to 240 and my goal is 150. So I knocked 10% off of my goal. So I did that in a month. So I'm thinking that with being on the higher dosage now that I'll have a little bit more success in that part over the next four weeks is what I'm expecting.

Eva (06:46):
It's still a really good pace.

Kami (06:48):
Yeah, I think. So I did set some goals for myself and some rewards. So right now, once I hit 25 pounds, I'm going to reward myself with a massage. Haven't had one in years and one of those lymphatic massages that's supposed to really get in and move all the crud around and get all whatever out. So I'm going to do something like that.

Eva (07:18):
Good idea. I started just to get my stats in there on this episode, I started at 280. My current weight is 211. I busted through this little plateau finally. I was stuck, I've been stuck for almost three months, right around 213 and this morning I was at 211 and I have been trying to figure out what to do differently to get it moving again. And I had a follow-up appointment a week ago and she was like, no, you're still losing, so we're just going to keep going with what you're doing. Just keep going. Sort of get the feeling, they're like, it's good enough. You've reached this point where you're at, it's good enough. I'm like, it's not good enough because my goal is 185. If you run the fancy BMI calculator online, that's still overweight. It says that one 70 is the top of my normal weight range for a person of my height and age. I don't know that, I think that if I got down to 170, which is what I weighed in college, and I know this, you know why I know this? Because in college, tell me if this sounds disordered. I had a piece of paper inside my closet door and every day I wrote my weight down on the paper.

Kami (08:38):
Every day?

Eva (08:39):
Every day, every day.

Kami (08:42):
That's excessive.

Eva (08:43):
And I just remember it was always like right around 170. That's why I remember what it was in college of that piece of paper. We had a cafeteria with amazing food and I gained weight really fast in college because it was just unlimited good food all the time. I'd put five pieces of cornbread on my tray with butter. It's probably a thousand calories of cornbread. Oh, I like cornbread.

Kami (09:07):
Yeah, at least.

Eva (09:08):
Yeah.

Kami (09:09):
Well, and your brain is using a lot of energy too, and so I think that <laugh>

Eva (09:18):
<laugh> Was it?

Kami (09:19):
Maybe causes you to want to eat more. I don't know. I'm really trying to make you feel good about yourself, so

Eva (09:25):
Thanks. That was 30 years ago.

Kami (09:29):
Yeah.

Eva (09:31):
Yeah. I think, did I just go to my 25 year reunion? Yeah. Okay. 25 years since graduation. So yeah, it was 30 years ago. I haven't weighed 170 in 30 years is what I'm really saying.

Kami (09:44):
Yeah.

Eva (09:45):
So maybe part of it is the idea that I don't even know if that's attainable. What would my face look like at 170?

Kami (09:52):
You'll be fine. You're really not that far off.

Eva (09:55):
Okay, here's a weird non-scale victory. I'm going to give you one and then you got to come up with one for me.

Kami (10:00):
Oh, okay.

Eva (10:01):
I put a hat on last night that I hadn't worn in a year, and I swear my head got smaller. It was a trucker hat and I have never been able to wear those on anything but the very last hole and I put it on and it was gigantic. There's no way it's the hat. This has to be that my head got smaller.

Kami (10:25):
I don't know if I have anything to top that.

Eva (10:28):
Is it even possible?

Kami (10:29):
It certainly is. Yeah.

Eva (10:33):
How would I have fat on my head?

Kami (10:36):
Everybody has a very thin layer of fat underneath their dermis, all over their body. It's fascia or something like that, and so.

Eva (10:45):
Oh, thanks Dr. Kami.

Kami (10:46):
I guess, I mean, I read things. I don't pretend to know shit about anything, but listen from having a lot of experience doing hair and giving lots and lots of people, inspecting their scalps and giving them scalp massages, some people's scalps are squishier and some are not.

Eva (11:07):
You know what though? I hope my husband never listens to this podcast because he has a chunky neck in the back.

Kami (11:15):
Yeah, it can happen.

Eva (11:16):
So now that I'm saying it, thinking about his giant head, I think because that's where the hat gets bigger and smaller is right there on the back of your neck.

Kami (11:27):
It's certainly possible.

Eva (11:28):
Do you have a non-scale victory?

Kami (11:31):
Not really. I mean because I'm only down 10 pounds, I don't really have any.

Eva (11:36):
Well, I think only eating four Girl Scout cookies is kind of a

Kami (11:39):
Maybe.

Eva (11:40):
That could count.

Kami (11:42):
I have a plan for myself for when I've set up milestone goals and then I'm wondering, I should do smaller ones in between, but for 25 pounds I'm going to give myself and I'm not going to give myself, but I will pay a professional to do a massage. 50 pounds, I'm going to buy myself an Apple watch. 75 pounds, I'm going to plan a trip either, alright, we might go out of town, we might not, but I want to go see a comedy show and stay in a hotel. So even if we go to

Eva (12:17):
Can we do that together and let's take our girls to Vegas and let's see comedy in Vegas together.

Kami (12:23):
Yeah, totally. Yeah. It'll be a blast. Let's go. So that's the 70 pounds and a hundred pounds, I'm going to treat myself to four nights away in a cabin in the woods somewhere. I'm not sure if I'm going to invite anybody. I may just be like, I'm going to go on a momcation, I don't want to talk to nobody. I want to do shit.

Eva (12:46):
I like that.

Kami (12:47):
That's my plan.

Eva (12:49):
It's a solid plan.

Kami (12:51):
So I was like, I really feel like, because normally I'd be like, oh my God, I lost weight. Let's go out to eat.

Eva (12:58):
Can't do that now. I mean you can, but it's sort of like, wah-wah.

Kami (13:03):
It's just totally not productive at all.

Eva (13:08):
We're trying to change. We're not trying to do things the same way.

Kami (13:11):
Yeah.

Eva (13:12):
Okay. You had a follow up appointment with your, you do Telemed, I go in person. I want to ask you some questions about the Telemed.

Kami (13:20):
Yeah.

Eva (13:21):
So do you feel like you have a relationship with this provider?

Kami (13:25):
Kind of. So what I like is that their patient portal is extremely easy to use and if I message her on there, she messages me back right away. So I told her, I was like, I've been on four weeks, I was doing 10 units. I've lost 10 pounds, I want to go up. And she's like, yes, go ahead and go up to the next thing. Cool.

Eva (13:47):
Yeah. Was that the plan? Did she say after four weeks you're going to go up if you feel fine?

Kami (13:53):
Right. So when we talked about it in the beginning, it was like, you're going to do this for four weeks and then we'll see how you do and then we'll see if you need to up your dosage. She's like, we want you to stay on the lowest possible while you're getting results. So she's like, if you do really well at 10, then you'll stay at 10 units, but if you need to go up, you can, everybody's different. So we'll just see how you do basically. And I was like, okay. So it could be that 20 is going to be my thing, maybe I'll stay on 20 for six weeks or another eight weeks or however long.

Eva (14:25):
Sure.

Kami (14:26):
So it's basically reevaluate every four weeks and see where you're at.

Eva (14:31):
And then she gets on a Zoom call with you or something similar?

Kami (14:35):
We just messaged.

Eva (14:36):
Okay.

Kami (14:37):
Yeah. So she may want to request a video call, follow-up appointment, but she hasn't yet. So I mean wouldn't, certainly wouldn't be opposed to that if she wanted to do it.

Eva (14:47):
I was at a training course for this program over the weekend that a doctor was putting on and I got to actually share my own experience and show my photos and talk about marketing a little bit. Because at work I'm thinking about other people signing up for these programs from the medical practices that I work with. So I have a really unique perspective in that I've been a successful patient and I also am helping other practices find patients to do this and implement it in there. That was a really interesting experience and I think, I love that I know all the people in the office have been going now for 12 months, maybe a little, yeah, maybe 13? And they all celebrate with me every month. And it feels more serious to me that they're seeing me in person. I don't have to go in person, but I like to go in person. Plus I work from home and so I like having opportunities to get out of the house. It keeps me moving. And so one of the coolest things was they took pictures of me speaking at the course.

Kami (16:03):
Yeah.

Eva (16:03):
They're on our Instagram, I think. And I don't even recognize the person on the stage because it looks so different. And finally putting those before and afters side by side and showing them to the world was kind of a big deal. I never thought those before photos would ever see the light of day because I didn't take them. I took them for this stupid Orange Theory transformation challenge, and they were not ever supposed to see the light of day, but in order to win the money, you have to let them take the pictures.

Kami (16:33):
Right.

Eva (16:33):
And then they were there on my phone in a secret folder so that I wouldn't have to look at them. Do not open this folder. Actually, the folder is titled Fat Eva now.

Kami (16:44):
Oh, stop.

Eva (16:45):
And it's got those and it's got all the pictures my kids took of me from below with my own phone. You know when they do that and you're like, oh, no, no, no. That photo must be taken from six feet above so that I don't look bad.

Kami (16:59):
Yeah.

Eva (17:00):
I'm not worried anymore. I'm like, just take a picture. It's fine.

Kami (17:04):
That's a good place to be.

Eva (17:05):
I'm not scared of you camera.

Kami (17:08):
I know I was for a long time. What's so funny is that there was times in my life that I was a lot thinner than I am now, but I thought I was fat then.

Eva (17:19):
Me too.

Kami (17:21):
I'm looking at this and I'm like, that girl is hot. And she did not know she was so hot. What happened there? So I dunno. I think it has a lot to do with just being older and being more comfortable in your own skin. And that was a kind of tough road for me. And I didn't really get there until, gosh, just within the last 10 years. And so I used to be terrified of people seeing fat Kami or my pictures that weren't flattering. Now I don't care. I'm like, that's what I looked like. Who cares? Literally who cares? Nobody. And the truth is, no one cares but me,what I look like, literally nobody.

Eva (18:07):
Nobody.

Kami (18:07):
I was like, everybody else has their own stuff they're dealing with and their own lives and their own hangups and their own mental baggage and garbage and crap. They don't have time to be worrying about what I look like or whatever. Nobody. So I'm like, oh, that's a really good place to be. Alright sister.

Eva (18:27):
Alright mom. Glad to hear you're doing so well.

Kami (18:29):
Yeah, yeah. I'll keep you posted for sure.

Eva (18:34):
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.