When I weighed 260 pounds and my doctor said lose weight and do PT, my knee pain was too great and the cure seemed too hard, and slow, so I said no thanks and took the steroid injections instead.

Three steroid injections over two years.
The first one helped.
The second one gave me a reaction.
The third one actually hurt me.

I was heavier than ever and, in more pain, than when I started.

I wasn’t a candidate for knee replacements. Too young. Not damaged enough. Just… suffering.
Waiting to get worse.

I decided to stop waiting.
I saw an ad for Dr. Novelli at the Knee Center of America.

Twenty-one targeted physical therapy sessions. Traction, TENS, red light therapy. 45 minutes away from my office. A huge commitment. But I had to try.

It helped. I had more space between my joints. A foundation to build on.

I did Keto. Forty-five pounds lost in a year.

Then a fitness studio opened in my town and I started strength training.

I had a slow start. It took about 6 months to make the habits stick.

I started working closely with Tani, my trainer.
I took her Midlife Metabolic Reset Program and her Journey to Hormone Harmony class.
While learning to train my body,
I took the time to reprogram my brain.
I literally had to detox from KETO.

I know I can only focus on one thing at a time, so I focused on strong and let the weight be what it was for a minute.

Tani is amazing. I have learned so much from her about my body, how it’s meant to move and what happens when you’re not using your body as intended. I learned about behavior change and how to habit stack. We worked through emotional eating, identifying triggers, all or nothing thinking and other mental and emotional roadblocks women have in their way. 

I’ve been taking part in Tani’s weekly group coaching calls. These have been most helpful. The support of a community cannot be discounted when it comes to any sort of change. 

Speaking of change. At the end of summer 2025, I went alcohol free. I don’t want to be dramatic about this. I didn’t have a “drinking problem,” but found that drinking just wasn’t serving me. I was doing it out of routine and not because I even really wanted to drink. And it was adding way too many calories to my week to make any progress. 

I’ve drank a few times since, on vacations, and honestly, probably won’t next time. I don’t miss it. I feel better. Less foggy. I’m sleeping better and not dehydrated 3 or 4 days out of the week. 

I started Wegovy in December. The scale is moving again. Sixty+ pounds down.

My knees are still arthritic, but not screaming out in pain.

It took about 6 months for me to hit my stride, but since Summer 2025, exercise has been part of my daily life.

I do group fitness classes in the studio, work out at Planet Fitness a couple times a week and have a home gym and office gym, so there are no excuses!

I’m not going to try to fool you into believing it was easy. It was hard. But that’s ok. Because I can do hard things!