I was recently speaking with a postpartum client, and she casually mentioned that she’s interested in taking a semaglutide both for postpartum weightless and preventive ageing. Which took me by surprise, mainly because I haven’t had a conversation like this before. And before ya’ll come for me, this is a special postpartum client, her kiddo is a bit older at 9 months, and our sessions are more just about support, and our experiences on becoming parents at a bit of an older age.
For context I was able to conceive spontaneously at 36. My client is a bit older and had some struggles with spontaneous conception. Prior she did struggle with weight a bit, and let me tell you, being older AND overweight you’ll get some unwanted comments from others. There was a point in my life that I put on a lot of weight, this was earlier in my doula journey, really after my little one started daycare and I jumped into work full throttle. The only thing was that my kiddo was a bad sleeper, and I was doing all the nights AND trying to make a career for myself. It was impossible, and to compensate for the lack of sleep, I turned to sweet treats and packed on the pounds.
One terrible moment was when I went into lululemon to try on some new workout clothes a couple years ago. Before I never paid that much attention to the fluorescent lights and the multiple mirrors. But overweight?? It was highly uncomfortable, and I ended up not buying anything and leaving close to tears. I had never been overweight, and I was unaware of the privilege that being skinny provides.
And skinny privilege is huge. My client has stopped chestfeeding and even picked up new sport pickleball! She goes to a local court that uses pickleball booking software which makes it really easy for her to schedule some time away from baby (which is one of the reasons why I’m still seeing her!). But even with these changes she’s had the hardest time losing weight, and she was sharing that her mental health has started to suffer. And I get it, I couldn’t really look in the mirror after I gained the weight. I had to buy new clothes… none of them felt good to wear. I hated it and it was only after stepping back from my doula responsibilities and taking care of myself when the weight started to come off. And I told my client this, and frankly this happened much later for me. My kiddo is 4.5 years old and while I am not really close to my pre-pregnancy weight, I’ve lost 6 kilos since Janurary, and have been working on recomping my body, to great success.
I’ve heard that it can really reduce the food noise and I really think she should make whatever choice works best for her. So often with parenthood the primary parent makes so many sacrifices and being uncomfortable in your body is one noone should have to deal with. So I’m proud of her! It takes a lot to figure out what you want and how to move toward your goals. Good on her.