An interview with Madison

Madison’s story inspired us so much, we knew we had to hear more. So, we sat down with her for an open and honest conversation about what it’s really like to navigate a GLP-1 journey. From figuring things out on her own to achieving a life-changing transformation, Madison shared the highs, the challenges, and the lessons that shaped her experience—and how she’s using what she’s learned to empower others to take control of their health.

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Claya: So, tell us a little bit about your journey so far.

Madison: My experience on a GLP-1 medication has been great. I lost 60 pounds in six months, and when I showcase before-and-after videos, those are the things people enjoy seeing from me the most.

Claya: So, as a social media influencer, what’s the reaction from your followers been like? Do you feel like your journey has had an impact on people? What are you hearing from the people you interact with?

Madison: As it relates to social media, I think people want to know everything about GLP-1s. They have tons of questions, and they want to hear from real people who have experience with it.

Claya: Are there any particular questions they have that really stand out? How do you think the story of your own GLP-1 journey is most helpful to people?

Madison: I think people really want to know about symptoms. That’s one of the major things people ask about when it comes to GLP-1 medications. If I were to explain my journey to someone, I’d tell them that while I lost 60 pounds in six months, it wasn’t without challenges. There are side effects, and a lot of creators don’t talk about the “dark side” of the medication because they’re trying to promote it and make sales. But people want to know: if they go on this medication, what can they expect? I think they also want to hear about the things I’ve learned along the way that helped me manage some of those symptoms and deal with concerns.

Claya: Let’s go down that path a little more. Tell us about the challenges you faced as someone who was basically setting out on this journey without a map or any real guidance. This was before GLP-1s really hit the headlines, before they became so popular, and you were basically winging it and figuring things out on your own, right?

Madison: Right.

Claya: So tell us how you dealt with the obstacles in your path when they appeared.

Madison: Sure. When I first got on the medication, things were fine. It wasn’t until about three months in that I started experiencing more of the difficult symptoms. I don’t know how familiar you all are with the dosing process, but basically, you increase the dose each month.

At first, everything was great, but around the third month—when I got to 1.7 mg—that’s when the side effects hit. I’m talking constipation, nausea, diarrhea, acid reflux—you name it. The higher doses were rough on me.

Claya: That’s where having a care coach to help you navigate solutions is invaluable. What was your strategy for coping when you got hit with side effects? What would you say is the most important thing for people to know?

Madison: My advice to people is this: while everyone’s body is different and experiences things differently, it’s important to know what works for you. For me, I decided not to move up to a higher dose. It was making me too sick, and I was dealing with too many symptoms.

Claya: Can you tell us a little more about that decision?

Madison: Specifically, when I was on semaglutide, I noticed that once I got past 1.7 mg, that’s when the issues really started. So, my advice to others is: if it’s working for you at a lower dose and you’re still losing weight, why push it? People are always interested in hearing about what worked for me and what didn’t, and I think that’s the most valuable part of sharing my story.

Claya: Everything you just said ties really well into what makes Claya such an important resource for people who want to try GLP-1 therapy. One part is access to the medication at better pricing. But the other component — the really important part — is having your own personal medical advisor, someone to help you navigate the “dark sides,” the symptoms, and the side effects. So, you’re not going in alone. You don’t have to guess.

And it’s because of experiences like yours that we wanted to create something more holistic and beneficial—something like Claya — something that gives people the best, most successful weight loss journey possible.

People don’t realize that everyone’s body responds differently. Someone who’s the same weight and height as another person could take the same dosage, and one might feel fine while the other feels terrible. Navigating those differences—figuring out how what you eat, how much you eat, and how you eat affects how you feel on the medication—that’s where we can offer real value.

Madison: Exactly.

Claya: Let’s talk a little about how you’ve been able to integrate nutrition and fitness into your life now. Does it affect the medication at all? Have you dialed in your protein intake or anything like that to offset symptoms? How has nutrition played a role in your journey?

Madison: To answer that — nutrition has played a major part in my GLP-1 journey. I wasn’t like this before. A lot of the content people love seeing from me on social media is “What I Eat in a Day,” because I make my food not only taste good and unique but also look aesthetically pleasing. People love seeing that kind of content.

I get asked all the time, “Do you have to eat healthy on this medication? Do you have to work out?” And while the answer technically is no, the medication makes you want to eat healthy because your body doesn’t respond well to certain foods when you’re taking it and so you just don’t want to eat them anymore.

The way GLP-1 medications work also affects how your body digests food, so it naturally played a big role in the types of food I started eating. I’ve always enjoyed eating healthy, but without the constant “food noise” telling me I’m craving sweets, cake, and all those things, it became so much easier to focus on eating healthy foods.

Claya: Can you talk a little more about this “food noise” concept? I keep hearing it from everybody. If you had to sum it up, what is food noise, and how does it feel when it’s turned off by the medication?

Madison: The best way I can describe it is like this: think about your favorite dessert or food. For me, I used to love sweets—let’s say ice cream. Before, if there was ice cream in front of me, I almost couldn’t resist it. But when you’re on a GLP-1 medication, it silences that feeling.

If I was in a room full of ice cream, I could just look at it and think, “I don’t even care to eat it.” I could easily say, “No thanks.” It doesn’t change the taste of food — for me, at least — but it completely changes the desire to eat it. It’s like, I could eat it, but I don’t really care to. It just takes the craving away.

Claya: Did eating healthier help make the symptoms easier to deal with?

Madison: Yes, absolutely. GLP-1s affect how food is digested, and I actually made a video about this a while back. Foods that are greasy or high in fats are harder to digest. For instance, if I ate French fries—because they’re fried in oil—it would make my stomach upset.

It wasn’t just discomfort—it was painful. My stomach would make a lot of noise, and I’d feel awful afterward. It also caused some other symptoms I won’t get into, but it just made eating those foods really uncomfortable. Over time, you stop wanting to eat them because you know they’ll make you feel bad, and you’re not really craving them anymore anyway.

Claya: Got it.

Madison: Yeah, that was a great question.

Claya: It’s a big one. It comes up a lot.

Claya: So what led you to GLP-1s in the first place?

Madison: Originally, I started doing my research because I was just so fed up with being overweight. I didn’t feel comfortable in my own skin—it was affecting my relationships and how I showed up for myself in every way.

At first, I was looking into bariatric surgery, but you have to have a BMI of 35 for that, and mine was 34. So, I wasn’t eligible, and it wasn’t like they were eager to make exceptions. That’s when I came across GLP-1 medications, and I ended up getting mine through a medspa. At the time, GLP-1s weren’t even that popular. They were just starting to surface in the media.

Claya: What do you think is the biggest misconception about being on this medication?

Madison: The biggest misconception is that you’re just taking a medication to lose weight—and to some people, that sounds crazy. To someone who isn’t educated on it, it might seem like “cheating,” or taking the easy way out.

That’s part of why I’ve been so nervous to talk about it on social media. But once people truly understand what the medication does, I think it changes their perspective. I mean, I work in the mental health field. If someone takes medication for depression or ADHD, it’s because they need it to improve their quality of life. GLP-1s are the same for people who have struggled with weight or obesity their entire lives.

This isn’t something I just made up overnight—it’s been a lifelong struggle. So for someone to judge me for taking medication that helps me, I just don’t think that’s fair. Once we educate people about everything GLP-1s do, I think minds will start to change. For example, two days ago, I was scrolling through my emails, and I got one from Lifetime Gym. They’re hosting a GLP-1 education class. At the gym! Can you believe that?

Claya: Yes. We’ve come a long way in the last few years, haven’t we?

Madison: It’s a gym hosting a class! I just think it’s so important to hear about this from medical professionals. When you bring in people who’ve studied medicine and really understand what this does to the body, people are more willing to listen.

Claya: Can you talk about some of the benefits outside of weight loss? How has this medication enhanced your life in other ways?

Madison: Oh, absolutely. Earlier, I mentioned how being overweight affected my life in so many ways. My confidence now is through the roof.

It’s helped my relationships, too. When you feel happy in your own skin, it allows you to feel loved better and to love others better. I walk into rooms with so much more confidence now—my head held high—because I feel good in my skin. Before, I didn’t. There are so many ways this has contributed to my overall happiness and success.

Claya: I love hearing that—that’s great. So, you’re currently on a maintenance dose, right? Can you talk about starting with the starter doses, moving up, and how you handled the symptoms that came with it?

Madison: I was really just trying to see what worked for my body. It was kind of trial and error during that season. With the medication, you’re supposed to take it every week, but sometimes I would only take it every other week.

By that point, I was already losing weight, and there was so much in my system that I didn’t feel the need to take it every week. I spaced it out differently and lowered my dose. I also paid attention to what I was eating during that time.

Claya: And what about maintenance doses—what’s the mindset behind continuing on them once you’ve reached your weight loss goals?

Madison: If you look into people who stop taking GLP-1 medications, you’ll find a lot of reviews saying they gained the weight back. And the thing is, if you stop taking the medication, it takes away the benefits—like how it quiets food noise or reduces your appetite.

So, yes, without those effects, you might regain weight. But if you’ve created healthy, sustainable habits while on the medication, you might not. It’s really about how you use it.

Madison: I’ve actually played around with this myself. There were times when I was waiting for the medication to arrive or decided to go off it for three or four months just to see what would happen.

Claya: Wow! How was that?

Madison: My hunger came back a little, but it wasn’t unbearable. By that point, I had already developed healthy alternatives and found ways to enjoy the foods I loved in healthier ways. So, for me, it’s about using the medication as a leverage point to create sustainable habits.
Some people promote GLP-1s as a lifelong thing, and honestly, I’d be fine staying on it long term if I continue to have access. But I’m also not afraid to go off it—I’ve built the tools I need to maintain my progress.

Claya: That makes sense.

Claya: I’m sure you get tons of DMs on social media. What are some of the main concerns people ask about? Is it the shortages, the injection process, or something else?

Madison: Symptoms are definitely the number one concern. People are nervous—they want to know how to take the medication and what to expect. When they find out it’s an injection, they’re often skeptical.
People also want to know if they’ll need to work out while on the medication. For me, starting out, I wasn’t going to the gym at all. But as I started to lose weight, my confidence grew, and that motivated me to get into the gym.

Claya: That’s an interesting point—how confidence from losing weight pushes you to take that first step into the gym.

Madison: Definitely. It takes so much effort to see progress at the gym, so people get discouraged. But when you’re already seeing results from the medication, it makes you more motivated to keep going. While you’re losing fat, you’re not necessarily gaining muscle, so it’s important to tone up to avoid things like loose skin.

Claya: What’s your experience been like with including fitness while on the medication? Have you been able to build muscle? Do you rely on outside resources, or do you have a trainer?

Madison: That’s a great point. I don’t have a trainer, but I have a man, and he is my trainer, I guess. So same thing. He loves to move his body. But I will say that being on a GLP-1 medication can affect your energy levels, and that’s a major thing.

When I was on higher doses, my energy level was really bad—super low. As I dialed it down, it got better. I also noticed that’s where protein intake becomes so important. GLP-1s suppress your appetite so much that you could literally not eat all day and feel fine. But if you do that, your energy drops a lot because it affects your blood sugar levels.

So it’s really important to eat high-protein foods and hit your protein goals—whatever that is for you. I noticed eating played a major role. And when it comes to moving your body, you have to make sure it’s fueled because your energy is already being affected by the medication.

Claya: That’s well said.

Madison: Thanks.

Claya: Can you tell us about the moment you realized the medication was working? Was it looking in the mirror, stepping on the scale, or something else? Can you go into detail about that moment?

Madison: Yeah. I actually lost five pounds in the first week of starting.
I weighed myself at first, and then after a week, I realized I’d lost five pounds. My immediate reaction was, “Oh my gosh! Pull out your phone and take pictures!” It felt like I was losing weight so quickly.

I was so excited, and I thought, being someone who’s already into social media, this is something I can use to connect with my audience in a really authentic way. I realized I could use this to educate people and do everything I feel like I stand for.

Claya: You touched on this a little earlier, but is there anything you wish you’d had when starting out that would’ve made your experience smoother, more pleasant, or more effective?

Madison: Well, you mentioned people will have the opportunity to talk with a medical professional or receive coaching if they decide to get on the medication. That’s something I would’ve loved because, for me, it was trial and error. I had to figure things out as I went.

One thing I thought about during my journey was that people are kind of just given this medication and left to figure it out on their own. I feel like people aren’t educated enough before they start. That kind of support would’ve been really important to have.

So, the only thing I can really think of is how helpful it would’ve been to talk to someone regularly throughout the process.

Claya: Right. With Claya, people will have their own medical advisor who can help them with things like dosage, nutrition, and ways to reduce side effects or symptoms. That’s huge.

Madison: And will people have someone they can reach out to, like through a system—email or text or something—to contact their medical professional? Or will it just be when they have their next appointment to move up in dose?

Claya: No, it will be ongoing support. They’ll have a care coach they can reach out to any time. We’re also working on a community aspect is they can connect with other people on the same journey and share what’s working or not working for them.

Madison: That’s wonderful. Awesome.

Claya: I guess just to clarify, you didn’t deal with a doctor much during your experience. But could you walk me through that process—like going to the doctor, dealing with insurance—any positives or negatives that come to mind?

Madison: So, my primary care doctor wasn’t even in my area. I drove an hour to see her because I’d heard she was giving people access to this medication. That’s why I specifically chose her.

Once she gave me the prescription, though, I wasn’t able to see her on a consistent basis. During that time, I didn’t know how I’d get access to the medication after those first four months. I already knew that either I’d have to pay a lot out of pocket after that, or I’d have to meet my goal weight and figure something else out from there.

Claya: Was there a point where you felt scared, like, “My medication is running out, and I don’t have a plan”? That supply issue we touched on earlier—it’s a real concern with the shortages right now. Was that part of your experience?

Madison: Yeah. I was definitely worried, but I played around with the dosage and how often I was taking it. That helped me prolong the supply. Even though I had four months’ worth, I stretched it to almost eight months by taking smaller amounts and spacing out my doses. But I wouldn’t tell everyone to do that—that’s just what I did. I just figured out what worked for me.

Claya: This is great—exactly what we were hoping for. Madison, thank you. This has been wonderful, seriously.

Claya: Do you have friends who’ve seen your results and decided to give it a try as well? Or maybe jump on the GLP-1 train?

Madison: No, not yet—at least not my friends. But people always say, “I need whatever it is you’re on!” I think it’s really just about access. People see the results and want it, but getting access can be a challenge.

Claya: Well, eliminating that challenge is one of the reasons Claya exists. We’re here to make sure that everyone who wants access can get it, and can get it consistently.

Well, Madison, we’ve really enjoyed hearing your story; you’re inspiring a lot of people. Thanks for taking the time to talk, and we’ll see you again soon.

Madison: Alright, well, this has been great. I really hope my story can help people feel less alone in all this, you know? GLP-1s have been such a game-changer for me, and if sharing what I’ve been through can make even one person’s life a little easier, then it’s worth it. Thank you so much for having me.

Madison’s journey is proof that GLP-1 medications can do more than change the number on the scale—they can change lives. Her determination, honesty, and insight offer a powerful reminder that success isn’t just about results—it’s about finding the confidence, balance, and freedom to live the life you want. We’re grateful to Madison for sharing her story, and we hope it inspires you as much as it inspired us.