And then I'll just have you send that to me after and I'm going to also record the recording in progress as a backup, but zoom isn't always the best at doing the right thing.
Okay, okay,
so first, just tell me who you are. Now we'll go from there.
Oh my gosh, introductions. I'm CEBRA. And I am. Hang on, what do you need? What do you need? I just like my background like the one I told you on the phone earlier. The whole the whole shebang, like who do I? I mean, for example, I could say like, how? I don't know. I don't know what tell me what you need.
It's really just like me wondering who you want to be introduced as more just like, oh, who? Who are you? Oh, would it be?
Hi, I'm Sandra. Nice to meet you.
Yeah, all right, well, then just tell me your story or however much of your story you you want to tell me? And then we'll go from there.
Okay, so um, so I understand you're doing a article on Weibo v. And there's more text coming in. And so semaglutide type drugs like it was vampiric and would go away. And I think there are some others and so, so my story is, I have been a yo, yo Dieter, all my life since basically, I was 12 years old. I've been on every diet. I have. I'm very, very, very committed when I'm on a diet, and I'm excellent little Dieter, but long term living has been you know, I've lost over 100 pounds. This is my third time in my life, I'm 50 now. And so, and of course, in that process, you know, I go way back to like, the, the the original, like fat free diet kind of life. And now, you know, in that process through, I've learned a lot about food, but I have also really destroyed my metabolism and and gotten to myself to a point where I was at the end of 2021 I was the heaviest I've ever been, I was very unhappy. I was very unhealthy. And, yeah, so. So I'm a Christian. And I had prayed about this, this process and this problem, much of my life, or actually more recently, I think, but I feel like, you know, I didn't know much about these drugs. And I'm kind of anti Well, America is very, like, you know, turn turned it, pharmaceuticals for everything. And that hasn't. That's not, that's not my comfort zone. So when I was introduced to this program called Inara, the Inara group, it was the first time I worked with a doctor that will actually I'm going to back up a little bit. I'm going to back up, I at the end of 2021 on New Year's Eve. I I had to change my life I it was the moment where I'm like okay, this is and I I know you're going to edit this so I'm going to stutter for a minute. Don't use this until I get myself together and think about how I'm going to explain this. At the end at the end of 2021 I found myself having yo yo dieted most of my life and lost and gained back and lost and gained back over 100 pounds and I was at a point where I felt hopeless. I felt I had lost faith in my ability to find balance in and and control with with my eating and with my dieting. I had been on keto and and which is actually a good program for me and I had been exercising and I had been working on my weight much of 2021 and I've and what would happen would be that I would lose weight extremely slowly having wrecked my metabolism over you know, almost an entire lifetime of dieting. I Mmm, maybe over like, I think let's call it like four months, I wouldn't eat any carbs, I would be going to the gym, I'd be exercising as much as I physically could, which I was very heavy and uncomfortable, but I was walking, or I was trying to lift weights and, and I would be like, I'm not even exaggerating, counting my carbs down to less than 20 net carbs a day. I mean, I'm not kidding, when I say I was a good little Dieter, I would follow the rules. And so I could lose weight, but it was so slow. I would find that I'd gone like months without any cheating, or without any, you know, being bad sort of, quote, unquote. And maybe at the end of that four months, I'd lost like nine pounds. And I was so defeated and so depressed because it didn't even show on my body at that weight. And so what would happen is I would I would get, I throw in the towel be like, Screw it, I'm just this weekend, for example, I'm going to, I'm going to eat with my family normal food, I just want to have, you know, my husband and I are gonna have a bottle of wine and I want to have dessert. And it's an I would do that knowing that I was going to be starting another diet. And I would go, you know, into like all or nothing thinking. So where was extremism? There's either extreme diet, or there was extreme. Like, Oh, I better enjoy it now while I can. Because right around the corner, there's another deprivation diet coming. Anyway, this puts me at January, well, December 31 2021. January one, I'm starting, you know, I'm starting my my Keto and my exercise or my low carb eating, and, but there's a lot of praying about it. And I did not know what exact program would work for me. But I will, I will say that I didn't have a lot of how do I say this. As a Christian, I did not have a lot of help. I did not have a lot of like, my my prayers were not answered with regard to having an easy time losing weight, or finding like that, you know, like my metabolism sped up or that I felt more satiated, whatever, but but I had something happen in my heart. I didn't like God spoke to me, but in not like I didn't hear words or even hear a voice. I just I had been praying about it. And it would be my third time, the beginning of trying to lose all this weight. And I had such an such a defeated feeling about being able to lose it and keep it off. And I didn't really understand like, what's the point if I'm just gonna gain it all back? And so that is that prayer. I did have that prayer answered, I had a knowingness like a piece in me. That was before I learned about Wigo V or in Word, the scenario program that I'm in now, or semaglutide, or any of its derivatives. I did have a feeling of, it's worth it. And it will be permanent. I knew that, that it wasn't a voice. It was just a comb. It was a knowingness. And I still have that. I know that 100 pounds, I have lost that I will not gain it again. And that is the difference this time versus this the lat that is where I feel like oh yes, God has definitely answered my prayers. Because there's just a confidence. I do not know that it will be will govi for the rest of my life, but I have a feeling it will be something similar. Anyway, I'm monologuing so much. I think I need you to ask some questions. But it was great. I um, so my story starts with that kind of that knowing like, Okay, I'm going to jump in with faith. This is going to be permanent. I didn't know how and I had a lot of fear and I still do I still do but I won't come back in I don't know if it will always be because there will be something to help me I don't know if it'll always be working will go up but I I have a feeling it'd be something like that. Yep.
So So is that kind of assuredness? Did that come on? Like January one or were you saying that you were like defeated then and then it um, the later time it wasn't
like a it wasn't like a light switch? It was it was that I've had through 2020 Full through most of my life but through 2021 I had just had dieted a lot I had lost probably I don't remember exactly, maybe, maybe like 22 pounds or something and then gained back like 28. And you know, these are I never was just out of control eating, it was always like dieting. And then are you hearing this? Somebody else?
Yeah, it's alright.
I can hear you. Okay. Okay, got it. But I can hear them. So throwing me? Um, yeah, no, so no. So to answer your question, I just I knew that if I started this, if I started this probe, I don't remember, gosh, I don't want to lie. I don't know, if I remember exactly whether I knew I was starting Inara. Or if I just knew I was going to be starting, I had given up the last half of 2021, which is how I got so big. Because I threw in the towel, I didn't, I lost faith in the ability to if I lost it, that I could keep it off. Because I couldn't on my own. I couldn't, I could barely even lose it on my own. And I'm with all the commitment that I just described. So I had I had lost faith that I could control it by myself. And I was just at the point where I was trying to find a solution that would be lifelong. And I was considering very seriously, having my stomach what I called stapled. It's not literally staples, but like they like take 80% of your stomach out. I was going to do one of those surgeries. I was like this is I was I don't know, whatever it was few years ago. So I'm 50 now. So I was I was like this, I have enough life left that I have to make a dramatic change. And so this, I can't remember if I already knew about the Inara program. I don't think on New Year's Eve, I knew about what go V specifically. But this column and this piece did come into me around that time that do it. Do it Do take, you know not this. I didn't know what it was going to be. But I didn't want it to be the surgery. And so that, that maybe I didn't know what it was going to be. But it turned out this in our program has been like a multi pronged approach. Where I've had, I've worked with a doctor and this doctor, they did genetic testing on me. You know, they were able to tell all kinds of interesting things. It's fascinating. But one of the things that I learned was that I was not imagining it. I actually have a gene for satiation since satiety science, I don't have the word being satisfied, and calm and not hungry anymore. That is not very effective. Um, it's like, I don't know, I don't know what Gene it is. I'm sure Dr. Dr. Alexander could describe that better, but, but one of the things that came back on my genetic tests was that I'm prone to being not satisfied. And that was like something that I used to experience. And it was so embarrassing and shameful, that I would be physically full and still have this. Like, in my mind, it felt like a crying unsatisfied, baby, like, I couldn't calm it. And so I would still feel snacky or I would think well, now I want something sweet after dinner, or if I had something sweet, I would then want something salty. And, and when I was in a phase of my life where I would be eating sugars and carbohydrates, it was out of control. I was completely addicted. It had me I'm like real addiction. And but even when I was following extremely low carb eating I still had this nagging like never fully satisfied feeling and that isn't normal. I wasn't normal. And it was I willpower. I mean it certainly eating low carb helped. But I never felt like what I see other people like Oh, I'm so done. I can't finish or just having or forgetting to eat or having no interest in I mean, like I never had that. And so my so when Dr. Alexander introduced me to different options for medications for me, I was very anti pharmaceuticals. I've been on diet pills. I have been all, not literally but all speeded up on diet pills. And I was so irritable and not nice. Intense. And yeah, my appetite me my appetite went down. But it was a lifelong solution for me and I was looking for that, that that lifelong solution that was in alignment with that knowingness that I felt when I prayed about it, that this is forever. I'm not just looking to lose weight, I'm looking for balance for life. And maybe, yeah, so when she introduced me to what smuggler's hide, or govi was, I was I was pretty resistant to pharmaceuticals is the solution in the first place. But because I knew that I knew my history, I, I needed it, I needed help. And I was a real candidate for it. And I know that people are abusing it. I know it's being prescribed in places that it shouldn't be. I know people are having a hard time getting it who genuinely need like, it was the epic, for example, for diabetes, I've heard the stories, I have had a hard time getting it sometimes at the pharmacy and I've had to chase it and spend, you know, a long time calling different pharmacies or go it's very, it's very difficult, but I mean, it's been life changing. For me, it's been absolutely life changing for me, I still have to use willpower, I am still extremely low carb. I go to the gym multiple times a week, I am doing all the good little Dieter things that I used to do. But this is a tool, not a crutch for me. And it's important to me that it that it was not a crutch because if it ever was not available, or, or if my insurance didn't cover it, or if it whatever, I needed to know that I was in a permanent life changing solution. Right. So So I I'm not actually I don't know, I'm, I'm edit this part because I'm
trying to find my words, but yeah, I don't know. I don't know how to explain what I was thinking. But anyway, I hope that's helpful.
Yeah, that's, that's really helpful. Yeah. Um, so. I mean, are there ways that this is being used badly? You know, we talked about some of those,
um, I've read articles about, like, I've heard about people, you know, like, was it the Kardashian I can't remember, but like, people in Hollywood taking it and you I know, I've heard or I've heard stories of people who are trying to just lose a little bit of weight using it, I I wouldn't want to use it that way. Because then you just gain it right back. If you start taking it to lose, whatever, like, I'll have 25 pounds before this wedding or something. I mean, as soon as you stop taking it, it's going right back on. It's not if it's not a lifelong, permanent change of lifestyle. And you know, I mean, for me, I anticipate that as long as I'm able to be on it with me, I will be because I need it. So I went to enter when it took it for the first time I entered this relationship with this pharmaceutical thing that I'm really resistant to with the understanding that like like a thyroid pill is probably for the rest of my life. It's it you know, but it was still such a better option for me than getting like whatever you know, stomach stapling. I was scared to death from that so so for me this was the solution instead of that.
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And I mean, it's like like a blood pressure medication. You know, like we take medications like this for our health. That just has to be done. You know,
exactly. I also take a thyroid pill for my thyroid and I will be on it for the rest of my life. My thyroid is a little under functional. Well apparently so is my feeling satiated gene, whatever that gene is. And, and my metabolism and so what this does in my experience, is it and my understanding, it keeps you full longer. So you feel it ups the feeling of being satiated and it isn't just the stomach feeling. It's not just because like we talked about a minute ago like the like I had times where I would eat a full meal and know that my stomach is full and I still felt snacky or hungry or wanting but I so it's doing something I guess in your brain that also is calming that that nagging like a snacky like wanting feeling doesn't mean I don't get hungry though I do, I listened, I'm able to listen to my body's hunger cues that are real now that aren't like false signals. I was always getting false signals. You know? Like, it was weird. Yeah, that makes sense. So it calms that you still feel hungry. But then when you eat, you feel your I am able to listen to my body better. And it tells me, You know, when I can stop and I have enough. And then apparently, it your stomach empties into your, your guts. Slower, so you're full for longer, which at first was a weird feeling cuz I was worried about it. I'm like, well, doesn't that slow your metabolism? Because aren't you actually slowing the entire metabolizing your food process? But it doesn't it? It's been really perfect for me. It's been, I feel really balanced. I feel really calm. I still eat but I don't. I don't necessarily, like always feel like something. Something's calling or wanting? You know if that makes sense. Yeah. And I also by the way, I'm not just taking a govi I'm also following extremely low carb diet. And it's not I'm not counting my carbs below 20 net carbs. Like I used to. I'm, I'm able to eat in restaurants again. I'm able to eat like, but but I'm able to fairly normally, but I don't eat bread. I don't eat sugar of any kind. Like, I don't eat crackers, or potatoes or rice or anything like that. And I expect that I won't. That's another thing lifelong. Like I don't, I'm not gonna be able to do that. Even with this. I've heard of people. I even have seen videos of people when I was first taking it. I watched a lot of YouTube about it. And there was one girl that was like, talking about how she's eating like half a pint of ice cream now and I almost like I was like, Are you kidding me? You're taking this drug to eat and you're still eating ice cream? What? You know, like no, it you. For me. That was abuse of the there. So there is abuse of the drug out there. And I think in all cases with medications that that's going to happen. But I don't I don't think it should be prescribed carelessly. Because it's it's something that I mean, it's a it's pretty committed, you have to need it. I think there needs to be a need for it to be prescribed 25 pounds for a wedding is not a need for this.
Yeah, makes sense. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, I think that's just about all my questions. Do you have anything else to say about it? Ah, you did a great job. I think you I had a list and you answered them, so it's great. Well, then
you can do a lot of editing for me, because I'm a talker. Do I have anything else to say about it? I'm very, very, very grateful for for this in my life. I don't want to advocate it to people who don't need it. But there are a lot of people doing reporting and expos days on the abuse of it. And to the point where it's not just being abused, there is a genuine there are people who need help. I mean, it helps, it can help. It's just like any other medication it has to be really well thought out. It has to be needed and it has to be respected. Try everything for you know, do all the others if you're taking it and then eating a half of a pint of ice cream instead of a whole pint of ice cream. I won't I don't know. That's not the point. Unless it's low carb ice cream. I don't know. So that those are my thoughts. I hope it's helpful.
Yeah, that's me. Yeah. Very much so. All right. Well, thank you so much. I'll do you want me to send you what I use. It'll probably be a fairly underwriting it having something ready tomorrow morning.
I don't know. I might not want to ever listen to it. I might not want to see it or hear it. You just edit it to make it as balanced and fair. As you can. I'm probably if I hear it all just I'll just be like, Why did I say that? Why didn't I say this? Yeah, no, it's like listening back to you hear yourself singing. You know?
I really had to get over that. I'm still okay. My boss told me I have to listen to it. So
yeah, no, I don't have to. So no, don't send it to me. Just edit it. You said it's gonna be like five minutes.
Yeah. Okay, that's the whole piece will be five minutes. So it'll just be a couple things from you. And then we'll go on. I also talked to Alinea. So we'll have some stuff from her and different things.
Okay, well, then you have a lot to cut out and you can find the little pieces that you feel are the best. And I think it's, I think it's great. Thank you.
Perfect. Thank you. Yeah, just an email the that recording and then we also have,
okay, all um, I hope it emails is pretty big, I guess. But yeah, I'll send it. Okay. Usually mix. Okay. All right. Thanks. Take care. Yeah, you bet. Bye.
