Tirzepatide Results After One Year: What Happened to My A1C, Cholesterol, and Body Fat After Menopause at 60
One year ago today I was sitting in my naturopaths office staring down the barrel of a loaded gun. My body was a metabolic shit storm.
Today I’m sharing the metabolic marker stats of my yearlong journey of being on Tirzepatide and what it has done for my overall health. While everyone looks at the weight loss, I’m sharing what I’ve gained: The best METABOLIC health my body has had in at least a decade, if not two! Yes seriously. I’m healthier now just over a week away from my 60th birthday, than I was at 40. I’m taking the “you’re getting older and less unhealthy” bullshit and throwing it out the window.
You Can Be Fit & Healthy at 60!
Me at 58 compared to to almost 60.
A little background: In my early 40’s I was smoking a pack or more a day and drinking like a fish. Thankfully I quit smoking for good in August of 2009 and the heavy drinking went along with it.
About the same time I heard the word “perimenopause” for the first time from my doctor and what came along with it? Cholesterol and blood sugar levels creeping up. Weight gain that seemed to come out of nowhere. My normally 140-150# I used to weigh became 160, then 170, 180 and for a brief time 7 years ago, 190!
It seemed like no matter what I did, I could lose a few pounds, but then gain it back. Gain some muscle, and lose it again. It was a roller coaster of not just my health, but my mental health as well (something I am admitting for the first time). On the outside I was “happy” to everyone else, to myself I was crying. There were nights I’d go to bed early with tears in my eyes.
March 30, 2025
I had been hitting the gym consitently for three full months with little to no changes in my health markers or weight.
Back to a year ago and that loaded gun. My doctor went over my full panel of labs and the numbers were not pretty actually they were…pretty scary:
My A1C was 6.5, a full blown, Type II diabetic.
My total cholesterol at 254 and my LDL (bad) cholesterol at 179 (something that concerned my doctor the most)
My waist circumference was almost 42”
My bodyfat percentage was over 40%
My inflammatory markers were off the charts.
These are just to name a few. Many of my other bloodwork markers were high or low with just a handful of the dozens of tests coming back as normal.
Now here’s the thing. I had gotten back into the gym in January, got my shit together on my eating and from January to May, not much had changed and my doctor said we need to do something. I was a heart attack waiting to happen. It was the figurative slap in the face I needed to hear.
I didn’t go into the shot thing lightly. I had to try a couple other medications first (insurance required it) with little success and actually felt worse being on them. After a long discussion, my doctor suggested the lowest dose. 2.5mg, of Tirzepatide AKA Monjouro. She gave me the list of side effects and we weighed them against my current health situation and I took my first dose a couple days later.
For the first two months I kept track of my weight and waist circumference each week, the morning after I my shot. In the first week I lost just over 5# and 1.5” off my waist. What that told me…inflammation was leaving my body, something I struggled with for the better part of a decade. For the next couple of weeks, I’d lose about a pound but nothing off my waist.
After four weeks, she increased my dose to the next level of 5mg and in the first week I dropped four pounds and 2” off my waist. Just like my first dose, after that, the weight and inches came off slowly. From a 1/2# to 2# and some weeks my waist changed, others there was no change.
By six weeks I had lost 18# overall and almost 4” off my waist. I wanted to get a better idea of where my body was at and started to regular InBody scans at my gym to track my muscle and bodyfat %. I was a little scared at what I might find with muscle, but was very happy of the 18# I lost, only 3 was muscle. Many people who start these meds will lose over half the weight in muscle, which is why their metabolism crashes!
7 Weeks Into My Journey
When I saw this photo Mark had taken of me, it was the first time I could see the difference in myself. June 28, 2025 at the Alaska Scottish Highland Games.
My doctor also ran a few labs and my A1C had dropped from Type II of 6.5 to a pre-diabetic level of 5.6! My cholesterol was still high but it was trending down! The best part, I had NONE of the nasty side effects everyone talks about.
No nausea
No upset digestion
No significant hair loss
None. Zero. Zilch.
But here’s the thing. I was being very proactive to make sure they didn’t happen.
I prioritized protein - 100g a day getting it anyway I could. If I had to drink it in a protein shake, I did. (Check out my last blog post on how I get 100g when I don’t want to eat).
I made sure I was getting 100oz. of water a day and added electrolytes. Super important on the shot
I hit the gym 3-4 times a week lifting heavy weights. While I didn’t gain a ton of strength during that time, I was super-excited to not lose any either.
I utilized high quality digestive enzymes to break down food that sat in my gut longer.
I also used a carbohydrate to fiber enzyme when I would have carb loaded meals. I didn’t want those “sugars” even if they were something like potatoes sitting in my gut either. (And I still use it for carb heavy meals).
I didn’t eat large meals at one sitting (why some people get nauseated)
I avoided alcohol at all costs for the first six weeks and only had a small glass of wine for a long time if I did.
What you don’t see in the list above; I never avoided any foods (except the alcohol, but that’s not a food). If I wanted chicken fettuccine, I ate it. If Mark was having ice cream, I had some too. If I wanted a burger and fries, I had it. I just ate less of it at one sitting. These days I don’t have to take the digestive enzymes and occasionally I will take the sugar to fiber one, as I don’t want to spike my blood sugars, ya know?
As the months wore on I continued to lose weight and inches slowly. Sometimes it was frustratingly slow, but I knew I just had to trust the process and keep going.
Competing In Strongman As a Lightweight!
I had done two Strongman competitions in 2018 but competed as a heavyweight! I weighed 40# less in the show in November than I did in Feb of 2018 and competed as a lightweight! I’m not going to lie, losing weight and trying to get stronger is not easy, especially with my work schedule. I was happy to maintain my strength, especially at 59!
In November I competed in my first Strongman competition in 7 years! And this time, instead of being a heavyweight, I weighed in as a lightweight! I don’t recall my exact weight, but it was under 150#!!! The best part about that, my weight was a tiebreaker that gave me the trophy of winning my division as I had tied my competitor in the events and and I weighed in lighter than her….AND she was over half my age!!!!
By the end of last year (just 7 months in) my A1C was NORMAL. Since hitting perimenopause in my mid-40’s I had been pre-diabetic!!! My total cholesterol was ALMOST normal and my LDL “bad” had dropped significantly and was the only lab marker out of the normal range! Not only that I had lost over 44 pounds and over 10” off my waist. I went from wearing an XL in a shirt/14-16 in pants, to a medium/size 8!
The best part? I had only lost another 1/2” of muscle. Yes, I am on TZ and only lost 3.5# of muscle and was at the lowest bodyfat level I’ve been since my last figure competition…26.8%. During that time I also competed my first Strongman competition in 7 years! While I didn’t feel super strong, I won my class, beating out a gal who was half my age!
Since January I have kept up my training, competed in another Strongman comp, even qualifying for Nationals! Since the end of the year my weight hasn’t changed much at all, I’ve lost another 1% in bodyfat and maintained my muscle mass. I’m overdue for my bi-monnthy scan as the last one was in February. So I guess I’m going to go quarterly now. Lol
Frozen 6 Masters Champs!
After we both “won” our Masters Strong man divisions (I say “won” cuz we were the only ones entered in our divisions…we started an Instagram page @ironandore_ Follow us there!
What I’ve learned in this last year, you don’t have to listen to the naysayers and the Negative Nelly’s. At this point, I don’t want to lose anymore weight, I want to gain it…but have it be muscle. I do want to drop a couple more %’s of bodyfat and I’m curious what my next scan will tell me. Working at a gold mine with 12 hour shifts of 4 or 5 day hitches makes the average person’s “weekly” consistency tough, but I do hit the gym hard on the days I can on my days off.
I continue prioritizing protein and water (which reminds me I need to go fill up my glass) and taking supps to help me along the way. I’ve added another protein source of unflavored powdered collaged added to my coffee as I’m working on upping my protein intake to 150g a day.
A couple of things I’ve added: A plant-based GLP-1 drink for added fat burning that also has digestive support, a couple types of magnesium for “moving things along” if you catch my drift and a testosterone cream as that was another marker of mine that was in the toilet. It’s since gone into a healthy range and my voice hasn’t lowered, I don’t have an Adams apple…so far so good!
What It Feels Like To Have Your Health Back
This photo is a visual representation of what it feels like to have to look and FEEL good at age 60.
Ladies (and gents) you CAN be healthy, strong, fit and energetic in your 60’s. The key is getting your hormones under control and optimized.
Something else I will suggest for you. Find a doctor that listens and works WITH you. If he/she doesn’t listen, find a new one. It sucks to have to re-establish, but in the end it’s worth it.
If you've read this far, something in here probably resonated with you. Maybe you're staring down your own loaded gun. Maybe you're just tired of being told that feeling like garbage is a normal part of getting older. It's not. If you want the exact list of supplements I use, my simple 100g protein guide, or just want to talk through where to start — send me an email at mary@shestotallyawesome.com.
No pitch, no pressure. Just one woman who figured some thing out.
