I'm down 2 jean sizes and falling in love with exercise. How 4 months on weight loss drugs has transformed my life.

Taylor McDaniels wanted something she’d never had: a sustainable relationship with eating. But no matter which diets the 24-year-old tried, she felt like she was “gaslighting” herself. Her struggle was part of a generational cycle that she’d watched hurt her relatives. McDaniels estimates that 90% of her family has a history of stroke, heart attack and other health problems related to overweight and obesity. McDaniels herself has had high blood pressure. “I wanted to break that chain before it gets too far,” she says.

Enter GLP-1s. In the four short months that she’s been using the popular weight loss medications, not only has McDaniels lost weight, but her life has transformed. She explains in her own words in our new series On My Weigh by sharing how her day has changed, from morning to night. A far cry from the tortured slog of calorie restriction, the process has been energizing and joyful for McDaniels — a common refrain among people on game-changing weight loss drugs.

The weigh-in

• Name: Taylor McDaniels

• Age: 24

• The method: Compounded semaglutide for three and a half months, compounded tirzepatide, 7.5 milligrams, for the past five weeks

• The goal: I want to be 150 pounds, but my main goal is to heal my relationship with food.

• Progress report: Prior to starting a GLP-1, I was 350 pounds. Now, I’m 58 pounds down. I’m in the 200s for the first time since I was like, 19! And I’m down two jean sizes and have way more energy.

• Food noise volume: My food noise levels are pretty low now. Before, when I woke up, they would be the max volume they could be.

Day in the life

Rise and shine

I wake up before 8 a.m. This is new for me. Before taking a weight loss drug, I felt like eight hours of sleep was the equivalent of four hours for me. I’d wake up feeling like I needed to sleep another eight hours. Some days, I was sleeping 11 or 12 hours. And I would wake with very low energy levels, thinking about food. As someone who used to have to sleep until noon — and still felt tired — it feels so good to wake up early. It’s great to have that energy in the mornings. My favorite thing now is a grocery trip to Sam’s Club at 9 a.m.

1st bites

I start my day with a “proffee,” a protein coffee. It’s a protein shake with cold brew concentrate and some sugar-free syrup. I make that into a little iced coffee, keeping me full for a few hours. I used to rush out the door in the morning and just buy something to eat. I would want hash browns from McDonald’s or a Chick-fil-A breakfast — that was a top-tier crave. But now I can get up early and drink that protein coffee, which helps me hit my daily protein goal.

Get ready with me

A lot of the clothes I wear to work daily are really loose, so I recently had to buy some new pants (tops are a little easier to style oversized). It used to be scary to get ready. I would think, “Does my stomach look bigger in this? Can I wear this color?” Now, I’m trying not to shift my mindset. I’m kinder to myself in the mornings. I look in the mirror and think, “Look at everything I’ve accomplished.”

Let’s do lunch

I try to bring my lunch to work. Before, every single day I was DoorDashing something — meatball subs, Chipotle, Jimmy John’s, Chinese food. Meal prepping and stuff may be a little tedious, but the rest of your week feels nice and planned. That’s the thing about my health journey: My mind feels more at peace, and I’m able to meal plan and feel more organized and prepared for the day.

I currently have a hyper-fixation on Greek yogurt, peanut butter toast and a banana. I’m addicted to it. On other days, I’ll make a bento box with grapes, protein chips and maybe some cottage cheese to dip my strawberries or grapes in.

Make a move

I usually head home to change for the gym after finishing for the day at my job. I’m putting in the work and falling in love with exercising, but I’m not in love yet. It still feels new to me, even though I’ve always been active. In high school, they made us go to the gym, so I was working out and doing cheer, but I didn’t feel like I belonged. I felt like everyone there was half the size of me.

Sometimes, I walk around the gym like a lost puppy, wondering, “What do I do? What do I touch?” But it’s nice to see myself putting in the work there, sweating out the day and leaving feeling energized.

Happy hour

After the gym, I’ll return to my apartment and if I didn’t clean in the morning, I’ll tidy up. I love having the energy to do stuff. Some days, before taking tirzepatide, I would come home and collapse into bed after work and scroll, bed rot and do nothing. I’ll also read, which I’ve gotten back into recently.

My mental health has improved tremendously being on a GLP-1. That’s helped me be more social and out there with my friends. I was hard on myself at the beginning of this journey, thinking, “I can’t have this or can’t eat that, I need to be healthy.” I was scared to go to restaurants. But now I know my body better. It’s about building habits that are going to last, so I don’t feel guilty now if friends invite me out to dinner, because I know I’m not going to eat every single thing.

Dinner bell

When I first started on a GLP-1, I was throwing up all the time. I had diarrhea multiple times and I couldn’t figure it out. A lady on social media asked what I was cooking with. This was when the whole carnivore diet was popular and you’d see people posting videos cutting into steaks that were all buttery and juicy. So I was cooking steak with butter and olive oil. She said, “Butter and olive oil, that’s why you’re throwing up. Cut those out and see how you feel.” I am forever grateful. I haven’t thrown up since.

I use an air fryer for everything. I haven’t turned my stove on in so long. And the steak situation kind of scared me, so I’ve been repeating meals a lot. For the last two weeks, often my dinner has been Tyson’s lightly breaded chicken tenders, and then I take two thickly sliced pickles and use them as bread. It’s like a Chick-fil-A sandwich without the bread. I also like to make chicken with garlic-parmesan broccoli in the air fryer. I season it with lemon pepper and the broccoli gets nice and crispy.

I’ve also started tracking my macros. That was scary for me initially because I don’t want to calorie count or live the diet life, because that’s not sustainable.

Instead, I track my protein and water intake. I use a TDEE calculator to tell me how many calories I should be eating and how much water I should drink. Water is important because, on a GLP-1, you tend to get dehydrated. I try to drink between 100 and 120 ounces a day. My protein minimum is 80 grams (the ideal is 180). Between the protein shake, chicken and peanut butter, I can usually get there. Lose It has helped me track because you can scan the back of a package and it tells you the nutritional information.

Dose time

I take my injections on Tuesdays — tirzepatide Tuesdays! I always take the injections in the evenings, usually around 8 or 9 p.m., because the day after, I sometimes feel a little fatigued. So I may sleep a couple extra hours. Plus, if the shot makes me feel like I need to throw up, I can sleep through the side effects.

Let’s get the bill

The medication is costly and adds to my budget. But when I sat down with the Rocket Money app, I realized my monthly eating out was seriously costing me. It was in the $800 to $900 range! I was spending almost a third of my paychecks on eating out and DoorDash. I was like, “OK, I can afford $179 a month for medication.”

Want to share your weight loss medication story in On My Weigh? Email [email protected].