I was fit — then my gyms closed during the pandemic and menopause kicked in. A GLP-1 has helped me get back on track.

Suzy Chase has always been active and, as the host of a recipe podcast, the 58-year-old is thoughtful about what she eats. Although Chase says she struggled to maintain her healthy weight for most of her life, by her 50s she had a solid routine in place.

But then the COVID-19 pandemic shut down her beloved workout classes, right on time for menopause to set in. Movement restricted and hormones akimbo, Chase’s weight crept back up. “Menopause and the pandemic collided at the same time that my fitness studio shut down,” she tells Yahoo. Even after the pandemic ebbed and the world — including Chase’s beloved classes — opened back up, things weren’t the same. Squatting hurt her knees; lifting made her elbows ache.

Then, she found Zepbound, Eli Lilly’s GLP-1. “The tirzepatide [the active ingredient in the drug] has really helped with menopause,” as well as weight loss, says Chase. In this edition of Yahoo’s On My Weigh series, she explains how the medication is helping her age well and work daily toward her new goal: “Training for 80.”

The weigh-in

Day in the life

Rise and shine

My sleep is so much better now. I go to sleep early and get up at 5 a.m. every day. I always got up early — around 7 a.m. — because I have a kid. But my sleep quality wasn’t great. I’d wake up and get my son up, but I was definitely sluggish.

Since starting Zepbound — and since my son is off to college — getting up at 5 a.m. is fun! I get the day started by heading to a morning workout class.

First bites

I used to eat whatever I made my son for breakfast: Eggs, bacon, toast; it was like a full-fledged breakfast. The moms of my generation really drilled into us that you have to get up and eat a full breakfast; that’s a good start to the day. But now I know that you don’t necessarily have to eat a full five-course meal right when you get up.

Instead, since starting Zepbound, I’ve realized I’m not hungry right when I wake up. So I have a tablespoon of peanut butter every day, because it’s hard to do my morning workout on a full stomach.

Get ready with me

I didn’t love being a size 16, and it was stressful finding clothes. It was a reminder of how overweight I was. It’s fun to wear smaller clothes, and I love that I can wear the sizes other girls do during my workout classes. But on the other hand, it takes your brain a while to catch up to the fact that you’re a size 8 or 10. I’m probably an 8 now, but I keep buying 10s because I can’t believe that I’m so much smaller than a size 16.

Before starting a GLP-1, people always said, “Oh, Suzy, you have such a pretty face,” which meant, “You’re really heavy, but your face isn’t bad.” So, I thought, “OK, I’m gonna lose all this weight and then I’m gonna be so hot.” But then I lost all that weight, and I’m still me.

So now, instead of, Wow, is Suzy hot yet?, I’m really focused on the data. Bryan Johnson is my hero. He’s a little crazy, but I’m all about the data, like he is, and that’s what’s filling me up emotionally when it comes to my weight loss journey.

Make a move

Before starting tirzepatide, I worked out more than anyone I knew. I did cardio, weightlifting, everything. I’ve always loved workout classes. My favorites in New York City are the Ness, a trampoline-based cardio class, and Liftonic, a weight-training class. The founders at both studios were so supportive of me when I was 194 pounds, during my weight loss phase, and they’re still supportive now that I’m maintaining at 144 pounds. They’re the best cheerleaders.

But then COVID hit, and my gyms were forced to close. I tried doing the on-demand classes in my dining room. But at the end of one, I just cried. I took my trampoline to the roof of my apartment building and just thought, I am all alone. Those fitness classes were my social time, my therapy, my everything, all wrapped into one.

After entering menopause — and after the world reopened — I went back to classes, but I felt like I couldn’t lift as heavy as I wanted to because I knew my elbow would really hurt the next day. When I would get my nails done, I’d ask for the chair massage at least once a week because my neck was killing me from being really active.

Zepbound changed all that. Now I can lift really heavy and my elbows don’t hurt. I can do squats and my knees don’t hurt. I can work out five days in a row and not feel like I got hit by a truck. I think in normal menopause, without tirzepatide, the muscle soreness would be a lot worse. Although I am also on hormone replacement therapy (I take progesterone, wear an estrogen patch and take a tiny pea-size dose of testosterone), I attribute that to the GLP-1 and its anti-inflammatory properties. My motto now is “training for 80.” I love being the oldest gal in all of my fitness classes. I want to be able to fall and get up without hurting something, and I want to be spry and fast and be able to lift heavy. I want to do everything that a 30-year-old can do.

Dose time

I reached my goal of 144 pounds one year after I started taking Zepbound, and I’ve been on 2.5 milligrams the whole time. I’m so glad that, after my first month, my doctor didn’t say, “OK, it’s time to titrate up” to a higher dose, because I think that would have made me really sick.

When I first started taking my Zepbound shot, I was doing it weekly. But I realized I could still feel it in my system at the end of the week; I wasn’t hearing any food noise by the time I was supposed to take my next dose, so it seemed like it was still working. So I started stretching out my doses by eight or nine days. Now I take a shot once a month, and I always do it after my Saturday morning workout. My only real side effect is fatigue, so I go work out, eat some high-protein something, take my shot and then usually just nap or hang out at home in the afternoon.

Let’s do lunch

I used to eat pizza, or get a big meatball sub or a burger for lunch, especially if I was out and about in the neighborhood. I guess it was just for convenience.

Now, I usually eat a late, protein-based breakfast after my workout. I might get some roast chicken and eat that with a seaweed salad. Or I’ll go to the bodega and get a bagel with two eggs but only eat half of it. I’ve become a creature of habit.

Happy hour

Before starting Zepbound, I could’ve had four glasses of wine at dinner. Now it’s just two, and that’s just fine. Although there’s definitely less drinking, my social life hasn’t changed at all. I go out to dinner with friends or go to shows.

Dinner bell

I have a cookbook podcast, so I make a lot of different recipes to test them out. I never really liked pasta to begin with — I know, that’s like a cardinal sin in the U.S. — but now I really don’t like it. When I have to test a pasta recipe, I know it’s going against my GLP-1, and I don’t love it. Instead, I’m seeking out more protein- and vegetable-based recipes.

I still make dinner at home four nights a week, and I cook similar things to what I made before I started taking Zepbound. I just eat less. Until my son went to college, I had a growing boy and a husband who both played squash, so they’d come home hungry. Last night, I made chicken and cheese quesadillas with a salad and some plantains. Tonight, I’m going to make chicken and some roasted broccoli.

It’s just my husband and me in the house now, and I don’t eat the amount that I used to. But both he and my son have been so great during my weight loss journey. My son is at college, where he’s playing squash. Since he’s very fitness-oriented, I show him my VO2 max stats and tell him what I’m lifting; it’s become something we can bond over.

Let’s get the bill

I pay $990 a month for my medication, out of pocket. Luckily, I’m taking Zepbound monthly instead of weekly, which makes the supply stretch much longer. Otherwise, my spending is the same, thank goodness. I think that’s a thing I’d like people to understand: When you’re on a GLP-1, you can have and do exactly what you did before, just not all of it. Have a piece of cake! Just have half of it.