For most of my life, an all-inclusive vacation meant one thing. Unlimited food. Unlimited opportunities to overeat. And the almost guaranteed feeling that I'd come home heavier than when I left. But this time, I brought something different to Jamaica. Ozempic. And apparently, even an all-inclusive buffet is no match for a brain that isn't obsessed with food anymore. Welcome to week five of my GLP-1 diary. This week, I'm recording from Jamaica, where I'm surrounded by buffets, restaurants, sugary drinks and more delicious food than I could possibly eat. Normally, this would be a recipe for disaster. But something very strange is happening. I'm eating slower. Not because I'm trying to. Not because I'm counting calories or forcing myself to put my fork down between bites. My body is just naturally slowing down. I used to be someone who practically inhaled food. If something delicious was sitting in front of me, there was this urgency to eat it. Almost like food was a scarce resource and I needed to get as much of it into my body as possible. But now? I cut my food slower. I bring my fork to my mouth slower. I actually think about whether I want another bite. And the most incredible part? I'm not doing any of this intentionally. It's like my brain has finally figured out that food isn't an emergency. And that realization has been absolutely fascinating. Even at the resort's teppanyaki restaurant, where I was served a beautiful plate of food, I simply stopped eating when I was full. I left about a quarter of my dinner behind. No panic. No disappointment. No desperate need to squeeze in a few more bites. I just stopped. The old Sarah would never have believed this was possible. And it gets better. Before leaving for Jamaica, I went for my usual vacation preparations, including getting a Brazilian wax. While chatting with my esthetician, I mentioned that I'd started Ozempic. And she said something I wasn't expecting. She could see that I'd lost weight. In my hips. Now, considering this woman has a pretty unobstructed view of my body, I figured she probably knew what she was talking about. But still. I've only lost about six or seven pounds. Could it really be noticeable already? Apparently, yes. And then something happened on vacation that made me emotional. My partner and I were taking some photos together. Normally, when I look at photos of myself, I'm immediately looking for everything I don't like. My double chin. My round face. The camera angle. I'm usually telling my partner to hold the camera higher so I don't look as big. But this time, I looked at the photos and thought: Holy f**k. My face is thinner. My jawline was showing. My face looked less round. And for the first time in a long time, I wasn't cringing at photos of myself. I was actually happy with what I saw. I've been walking around this resort in a bikini, feeling comfortable in my body. Not because I've suddenly lost a massive amount of weight. But because I can finally see something changing. And perhaps more importantly, I can feel something changing. I feel less big. It's difficult to explain how emotional that is. After years of struggling with my weight, feeling like every pound was a battle, I'm finally experiencing something that feels almost effortless. And I actually said something this week that I never imagined I'd say about losing weight. This is f*****g easy. But before you think it's all sunshine, bikinis and buffets, there's another side to this story. The anxiety. Oh, the f*****g anxiety. I've always been a bit of an anxious traveler. I like my home. I like my routines. I like knowing where everything is. And when I'm away from those comforts, my brain sometimes decides that we're obviously in some kind of emergency. This week, I've been waking up at four or six in the morning with waves of anxiety. Racing heart. That horrible shaking feeling inside. And nausea. Lots of nausea. There have been several moments where I've genuinely been trying not to throw up. And now I'm left wondering: Is Ozempic making my anxiety worse, or is the nausea from Ozempic triggering my anxiety? Because here's the problem. When I'm anxious, I feel sick. And when I feel sick, I get anxious. It's a wonderful little circle of b******t. Thankfully, I've found ways to manage those moments while I'm here, including using cannabis to help calm my anxiety. But it's definitely something I'm paying attention to. Especially because I brought my Ozempic pen with me and I'm continuing my injections while on vacation. At one point, I even accidentally called it my anxiety pen. Freudian slip, anyone? And yet, despite the nausea and anxiety, I wouldn't trade what I'm experiencing with food right now. Because here's the biggest revelation of this entire vacation. Food doesn't have power over me anymore. I can walk past a buffet. I can see a beautiful dessert. I can imagine melted brie spilling over the side of a toasted baguette. And instead of feeling hypnotized by the need to eat it, I can simply think: That looks delicious. Maybe later. Or maybe not. That freedom is something I genuinely didn't know was possible. Last year, I went on vacation to Punta Cana while trying to lose weight on my own. I'd been making progress. But vacation meant eating more, drinking more and eventually coming home feeling bigger. And somehow, I never really got back on track. This year feels different. For the first time, I'm not spending my vacation worrying that I'm going to ruin my progress. I'm just living. I'm enjoying myself. And food is no longer running the show. I also attended an interesting workshop here in Jamaica about peptides and some of the treatments people are exploring to manage the physical effects of significant weight loss. Things like hair loss, loose skin and changes in facial appearance. It opened up another conversation I'm interested in exploring as this journey continues. Because losing weight isn't just about watching the number on the scale go down. It's about understanding what happens to your body along the way. Speaking of the scale... I'm not weighing myself this week. I'm in Jamaica, and I'm certainly not trusting some random resort scale that's never met me before. So I'm waiting until I get home. Next week, I'll have my first weigh-in after two weeks, including an entire all-inclusive vacation. And I genuinely cannot wait to see what happens. Because historically, vacations have always been where my weight-loss efforts fell apart. But this time? I think I might actually come home lighter. And if that happens, it'll be another first in a journey that's already full of them. So week five ends with me in Jamaica, wearing a bikini, feeling better about my body, managing some frustrating anxiety and discovering that unlimited food doesn't have to mean unlimited eating. For the first time in my life, I'm on vacation without feeling controlled by food. And that freedom? It's priceless. I'm also sharing additional behind-the-scenes diaries and footage from this journey on my Substack, including the moments that don't always make it into the weekly podcast. You can follow along for free or become a paid subscriber to support the show and get access to additional content. Next week, I'll be back home, back on my own scale and finally finding out what happened to my weight during this vacation. Did I actually lose weight at an all-inclusive resort? Or is the scale going to have a different story to tell? I guess we're about to find out. So I'm still holding the flashlight. Come with me while we find out what happens next: the good, the bad and the unexpected. AI disclosure: I used AI to write the summary of my episode based on the transcript. Disclaimer: I’m not a medical professional, and nothing in this video is medical advice—I'm simply sharing my personal experience. I’m not paid, sponsored, or endorsed by any medications, products, or brands mentioned. ***** Subscribe to my Substack to get behind the scenes content, additional footage and more https://quietingthefoodnoise.substack.com/ ***** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
