AFTER JULIE SIMONSON SURVIVED A SEXUAL assault, she turned to the 7-Eleven across the street for comfort food. Her weight skyrocketed, along with her shame.
“I would cope by basically overeating,” the psychotherapist from Philadelphia says, recalling how her health declined in the aftermath of the attack.
Eventually she turned to gastric bypass surgery and lost 160 pounds. Simonson, 50, endured skin removal surgery, a tummy tuck and an arm lift, but the pounds slowly came back, despite her best efforts to restrict calories and work with a trainer.
Finally, in 2023, Simonson’s doctor put her on Mounjaro, one of the new class of highly touted diabetes and weight-loss drugs, and the pounds finally came off and stayed off. She says she feels amazing.
But beneath Simonson’s joy, she’s found…