For 35 years, Barbara Senich only owned black pants.
“I thought somehow, that would make me look less big,” said Senich, 69, who has struggled with obesity for most of her life.
At her heaviest, Senich, who is 5’11”, weighed 340 pounds. She lost at least 100 pounds twice on all-liquid diets but eventually regained the weight. Bariatric surgery helped her drop to 185 pounds, but the benefits turned out to be temporary, and the pounds began to creep back once again.
“I had like three or four sizes of clothes, in case I got fat again,” she said.
About five years ago, Senich finally felt confident enough to give all of her “fat clothes” away. Her weight has settled at around 137 pounds – a number she says she hadn’t seen on the scale since she was a teenager – with a combination of medications: the GLP-1 Zepbound; metformin, which treats insulin resistance; and a third drug that helps with binge-eating, called Contrave.
