The Weigh In: Taylor Strecker and Taylor Donohue on how their GLP-1 journeys impact parenting, partnership, and self-love

This week’s honest discussion about weight, health, and GLP-1s is with Taylor Strecker and Taylor Donohue. Partners and parents on a GLP-1 journey together, the Taylors open up about navigating pregnancy, parenting, and postpartum in the public eye. The women weigh in on body image across generations, the limits of white-knuckling weight loss, and what’s possible when you live free of food noise (and judgement). Watch the full conversation above, listen in on your preferred podcast platform, or read the highlights from the Taylors below.   

These are the kinds of real, honest questions — and much more about weight, health, and GLP-1s — you’ll find being discussed on The Weigh In, a new weekly podcast from Weight Watchers. It’s hosted by Samhita Mukhopadhyay, a journalist, author, and head of content at Weight Watchers. 

Note: The Weigh In is a Weight Watchers podcast, and is not intended as medical advice. Talk to your doctor with any questions.

“GLP-1s of course changed my physical body, but [they also] changed my brain.  I didn't even realize I was [a food addict] until I went on this medication. There's a thing called food noise, and it's very real, and it lives rent-free in your brain. And from the second you wake up to the second you go to sleep, sometimes even in your dreams or nightmares, you are constantly thinking about food, for better or for worse. I'm like, ‘Why are my friends so far ahead of me? Well…maybe it's because they aren't obsessing over food.’

The greatest thing that has happened from being on GLP-1s is that I have my life back. My brain can focus on things other than hating my body, or hating my food choices for the day. I am released. I'm not scared of food anymore. I used to be like, ‘Pastas don't exist. I don't even know who carbs are. I've never met her.’ Now I'm allowed to love food. I had an abusive relationship with food. It was a toxic boyfriend. Now [the relationship] is like a beautiful, harmonious marriage.”

Donohue: “I [thought], ‘Maybe this is selfish, but summer's coming up, and I do want to look a certain way in the summer. I don't feel good about myself.’ I didn't put too much pressure on myself to breastfeed for a certain amount of time. I [breastfed] for a few months, and [Beau] also loved the formula.  

I have more energy despite the GLP-1. I don't feel stuck. I want to be healthy. We both want to be healthy. We want to be able to chase Beau around the playground and not be out of breath. We don't want to teach her bad habits.” 

Strecker: “You're just a confident person, and I've never seen you question yourself more, or more insecure, than post-pregnancy. I was like, ‘Whenever you want to stop breastfeeding, whatever the reason is, I support this journey for you, because you can't be the best parent to your child unless you're being the best person to yourself.’ You're in the hardest time of your life already postpartum. Don't add any more weight to it with the judgment of other people. Just block the noise out and do what you need to do for you.”

“People were basically accusing [me] and Weight Watchers of false advertising because I didn't carry the baby; therefore, I'm misrepresenting what it's like to have a baby and lose the pregnancy weight. It hurt my feelings. Just because I didn't carry [Beau] I'm not her mother? Lots of parents have weight struggles whether or not they're recently postpartum. Having a child is a huge distraction in your life. [Beau’s] only 5 months old, and I can't tell you the last time I cooked a meal. I'm Mrs. Cook the Meals. I like to food prep, I like to food plan–and it's nearly impossible. You're so busy with the baby. 

A lot of people were confused. They were like, ‘Oh, she's on GLP-1s. Why is she working with Weight Watchers?’ Well, this is why we're doing this campaign. People actually don't understand that Weight Watchers has incorporated GLP-1s, which is such a smart move.”

“There are enough side effects that you need the help of your partner, to let them know why you're lethargic one day a week or not feeling so good. When I first went on [medication], I was still eating the way my brain wanted to eat, so I was overeating. I did get sick. I did vom a little bit here and there. How would you explain that to your partner [if they didn’t know you were on GLP-1s]? If you have two glasses of wine and then you get sick, they’ll probably think you're out like doing shots all night long. That'd be a hard thing!”

“We're both in such a good place mentally. Kids are sponges. They absorb everything and so if you are struggling with self-love, your kid will be able to feel that and sense that. It's our job to stay on this journey, to be the healthiest, best versions of ourselves, so that [our daughter] can learn it through osmosis a little bit. 

But kids grow up and they get insecurities and they fluctuate, and they have different growth spurts. When do you get to start introducing this concept of ‘live your life’? I don't have the answers for that. We'll have to figure that out.”

Strecker: “I was so insecure about the way I looked when I was with men. But maybe that was also just the time of my life that I was in.  [My husband] was a sweet baby angel and so nice to me. He was really a supportive partner. 

But I remember we were in Miami on a trip with a bunch of his guy friends who were not quite as nice, and one of his friends was [rating] women's bodies as they were walking from the water to their chairs to lay out on the beach. There I am, with my new boyfriend, and I was scared to get up to pee. I'm like, ‘If they're doing it aloud in front of me, they're doing it in their minds at the very least when I'm walking away.’ 

I think that self-love for me was impossible in that environment. Being with Tay has taught me so much about loving my body, loving my curves. Also, she's a woman with what I would consider one of the most beautiful bodies I've ever seen, so if she finds me attractive, maybe I actually am. Seeing myself through her eyes really helped me to find that kind of self-love.” 

Donohue: “I think that you gained 50 or 60 pounds, and I didn't even notice…I’m also a chubby chaser. I'll admit it here. I like it. I like it.”