Meet Jennifer P. and How She Committed to Slow and Steady

I’m Jennifer, age 40. I live in Florida by the beach with my husband and our two daughters, who keep our calendars full. 

 

You could say I’ve been on a weight loss journey for nearly a decade. Like many, I gained a bit of weight in my 20s adjusting to my new career and lifestyle. For over 24 years I have worked full-time in veterinary support services. It keeps me busy but also keeps me regularly traveling across the country. Anyone who has ever had to frequently travel for work can tell you food options on the road can be limited. Healthy meals are not always an option.

 

This continued into my 30s. Through marriage, the birth of my children, and many moves around the country, I realized I had slowly gained nearly 50 pounds. I reacted by trying to eat less—but I would always slide back when I was traveling for work. Food was my go-to answer to stress and I was constantly having thoughts about food—I called it food noise.

 

The doctors told me the same thing: eat less and move more. But I already knew that—it was the actual doing it part that I needed help with. Desperate to make a change, I got a prescription for a weight-loss injectable medication from an online compounding pharmacy. I lost some weight on it, but every single day I was on it I didn’t feel well and I knew I couldn’t continue. 

 

After some internet research and conversations with my husband and sister (who are both doctors) I started thinking about CONTRAVE. I scheduled a telemedicine appointment through the CurAccess Program on the CONTRAVE website and got a prescription. 

 

So far, my journey with CONTRAVE has been a smooth and successful one; it has helped me lose weight. My appetite has definitely decreased, but the biggest impact has been that my constant thoughts about food have been reduced to almost nothing. Now when I get stressed, my first thought isn’t to eat something. 

 

Feeling more in control has motivated me to exercise more, as well. I go to our local gym nearly every day to do inclined and interval walks on the treadmill. There’s nearly always a treadmill in hotel gyms, so I can have some consistency while traveling for work. I also do some cycling and quick app workouts at home to supplement. In the near future, I plan to refocus on strength training to tone my muscles and improve my bone density (I am in my 40s, after all). 

 

One of the most important parts of my success is that I didn’t try to rush it. When I started my CONTRAVE journey, I told myself I had a year to really change my lifestyle and sustainably lose weight. I really changed my mindset around weight loss and allowed myself the time to lose the weight slowly and steadily. I wasn't looking for rapid weight loss which made this journey feel right and realistic. 

 

My husband has been great at giving me the time and space I need to develop healthy habits and prioritize my health. I am so grateful for all his support. It can be difficult to stick to my routine and habits next to packed schedules and a heavy workload sometimes, but it’s all worth it because it means being a healthier wife and mom.